How to Get Through The Tough Times The Old Style Way.

Larumbelle

SammyKaye, Mary is right, most netbooks don't have DVD drives, although there is software you can use to 'rip' DVDs so you can transfer it over as a file (AFAIK this is legal if you own the disk in question and it's for personal use). And do be careful about battery life as well - it can be appalling.

Have you considered getting a refurb/graded laptop from somewhere like Here? You'd get it cheaper and possibly a better spec too. I know people who have used them and said that the service etc is very good.

Just had a slightly surreal experience - I found a butterfly having a kip on the side of the rice jar! It's a brimstone, a little early for them so I think it decided to come into the warm over night I have just popped him outside in the sun, I think it might be a slightly better place for him to be!

stiltwalker

Sure that's right about netbooks, thats whey we were advised not to get one for OU as wouldn't be able to use the DVD for the coursework. Refurbed laptop good idea or we have a specialist computer place called CCL near us would be worth looking for a similar sort of place near you as computers are much cheaper there than in PC world and curry's type places. Don't worry if you don't know much - the (mainly) young men tha work there are very helpful and don't treat you like a muppet even if you know nowt about technological stuff! I got my desktop for my OU work for £300 all in (monitor, keyboard and operating system, the lot) which would have been £500 min at a high street place even if I could have got something in the sale or on offer. Looks like I'll have to share it from October though as my OH has been inspired by my studying and signed up for a BA (Hons) in History! Just finished my current unit 3 weeks early and going to start on he next block tonight or tomorrow so I'm well ahead when babes decides to put in an appearance. 2 weeks and 6 days to due date - not that I'm counting or anything!

Congratulations Gailey, like Jedi I'm jealous you're little one has arrived and I'm still waiting like a beached whale. Just hope baby Joe is as quick off the blocks as your Marley as had a terrible time with DD ans ended up in hospital almost a week in total with OH smuggling me in food so I didn't starve to death. Hospital food is really nasty in our local hospital!! More prepared this time and he'll be bring me homemade pasta bake and soups and stuff in the food flask this time - ha ha! But hoping I won't need this and I can be in and out cos DD will miss her mummy nuggles.

Well yellow ball gone here today - just when OH was going to cut the lawn it started to rain! Glad we made the most of it yesterday, we went to a local spot and had picnic by the river - realised when driving to OH's parents on the way back that at a similar time last year we'd been to the same place for a walk and there was still snow in the lea of the walls up on the fells!! And this year we had the suntan lotion out.

redlady_1

Ah it seems Larumbelle has beaten me to it. No, it wasn't a pay site. I just googled it. I find it quite disturbing that yet again the poorest are being hit with what amounts to very dangerous practices. Now I rarely buy jars but I know many shop in pound shops so thought it was worth bringing to everyones attention.

Larumbelle

redlady_1 wrote: »

Ah it seems Larumbelle has beaten me to it. No, it wasn't a pay site. I just googled it. I find it quite disturbing that yet again the poorest are being hit with what amounts to very dangerous practices. Now I rarely buy jars but I know many shop in pound shops so thought it was worth bringing to everyones attention.

It definitely was Redlady! I am the same, I don't buy many jars, but people have a right to know what they might be buying so it's well worth spreading the word!

OH tried to make some soda bread today, and it was minging! It just tasted of salt - I looked at the recipe he used and it has 10g salt to 500g flour. The recipe I usually use has 350g flour to 1/2tsp salt, which is about 3g. So it's about twice as much as usual. I can't decide whether to make breadcrumbs or just bung the lot out for the birds.

So we went and bought some bread, something I haven't done for ages. OH picked tiger bread. We had a quick look in the charity shop a few doors down - it's ages since I've got out the house, so I was excited - and I found a Hannah Hauxwell book for 50p :j she is a bit of a hero of mine and I enjoyed her first book, so I am happy and would even go so far as to be happy that the bread failed!

mardatha

I love her books too, she is a real survivor eh ?

raphanius

i hope this is the right place....

i just wanted to say that i'm really starting to feel the need to tighten my metaphorical belt more than ever(it was on the last notch before xmas.) my money doesnt seem to be going as far as it did earlier in the year and i am forced to be imaginative with ingredients i have rather than buying more from mr t. i simply cannot afford to do a weekly shop and thats bad. the government's answer was to give me a rise in tax credit... an extra £2 pah. that'll buy a lot.

i also feel the media is pulling me in two different directions (and before you say it, i know ITS THE MEDIA DON'T LISTEN) but i am a consumer. one the one hand there is a big message to be frugal and a savvy shopper. on the other hand there is a lot of pressure to buy british and organic AND heritage foods. i have a veg box each week as part of my moral obligation to my family and the planet but have you seen the price of organic meat let alone heritage goods they are astronomical.

i find it hard to resist the food p*rn in magazines and want to cook the lastest recipes, i guess out of boredom more than anything but i can't keep buying fancy ingredients while my cupboards are still groaning from the last fad.

anyway i'm off to cook a reasonably priced dinner. rant over. thank for listening.

Puddleglum

I feel your pain raphanius and so too does my wallet. I bought a woopsied chicken today, even though we don't eat much in the way of meat here because so much can be done with it. Just a little bit more money to spend each week and we'd be able to have those nice ingredients; like cheese, olive oil, fruits, prawns... Sorry, drifted off into a fantasy supermarket there!

lostinrates

raphanius wrote: »

i hope this is the right place....

i just wanted to say that i'm really starting to feel the need to tighten my metaphorical belt more than ever(it was on the last notch before xmas.) my money doesnt seem to be going as far as it did earlier in the year and i am forced to be imaginative with ingredients i have rather than buying more from mr t. i simply cannot afford to do a weekly shop and thats bad. the government's answer was to give me a rise in tax credit... an extra £2 pah. that'll buy a lot.

i also feel the media is pulling me in two different directions (and before you say it, i know ITS THE MEDIA DON'T LISTEN) but i am a consumer. one the one hand there is a big message to be frugal and a savvy shopper. on the other hand there is a lot of pressure to buy british and organic AND heritage foods. i have a veg box each week as part of my moral obligation to my family and the planet but have you seen the price of organic meat let alone heritage goods they are astronomical.

i find it hard to resist the food p*rn in magazines and want to cook the lastest recipes, i guess out of boredom more than anything but i can't keep buying fancy ingredients while my cupboards are still groaning from the last fad.

anyway i'm off to cook a reasonably priced dinner. rant over. thank for listening.

I love to cook. I love good food and love good ingredients. Sometimes food !!!!!! is hard to resist....but I comfort myself with the thought I am one of a movement of people doing better than the commercial food !!!!!!. Shepard's pie with red lentils is Better than the one without....I use breadcrumbs not oats too, and LOADS of veg. Weekday eating here is sloppy and simple....but my veg soupd are equal in taste to anything in the covent garden soup cook books...and out o their packets too. When I have a bought soup, most of the time I feel smug.

The tearing in two directions is someting I feel at times too. I do eat good, Britash, ethical meat.....thus....we eat meat less frequently than many people do, as its too expensive to eat that every day.

Its coming to the time of year where foraging IS the coolest foood about. The steak from the freezer we ate as Florentine stle ''sliced'' steak we had with some local goats cheese shaved instead of parmesan....because that is what we had...and no rocket growing yet, thouh I've sown it, so we had dandelion salad. A supper fit for a king, and made like a peasant from steak bought on the day of its ''expiry'' and the same with the cheese. The balsamic vinegar was the only thing paid full price for.

lostinrates

Puddleglum wrote: »

we'd be able to have those nice ingredients; like cheese, olive oil, fruits, prawns... Sorry, drifted off into a fantasy supermarket there!

Seafood often has good end of day reductions...but you have to be of stout constitution and have a flexible meal plan to work it in. Whoopsied cheese saves many a meal here. OO I can't think of a cheaper way...we buy it and are sparing with it. We have on occasion brought some back from a trip with us...but only cheap if you are already on the trip for a reason. Fruit etc....seasonal in the main, and green grocers if you have one, are always cheaper for me.

butterfly72

lostinrates wrote: »

so we had dandelion salad

oohh... whats that then? I've 100s of dandelions all over my allotment! I do make dandelion tea, which is supposed to be good for the waterworks, but never heard of a salad.