As The Workhouse Approaches....How To Do Everything To Avoid It, the Old Style Way

cat_smith

ceridwen wrote: »

- I've given up flying

I take it that this is in the aeroplane sense rather than the MS sense:rotfl:

Go for it. Wish my public transport allowed me to give up the car. Now trying to avoid all but essential journeys.

fuddled_2

In our first house that we rented we painted our bedroom floor boards white gloss and put rag rugs (they were horrible I might add, a disaster project) but the painted floor boards did the trick

ceridwen

I've checked my "library" - and I still have that book on painting floors. So try checking out Amazon and see if theres a copy for sale of it:

"Decorative Floors in a weekend - simple step-by-step projects for maximum effect with minimum effort" by Catherine Cumming.

mardatha

We need a car. Buses used to run one an hour and have now moved up to half hourly but rumours abound that they will be cut. Plus you have to get to the main road to get on the bus...
Nearest shop is 11 miles and that's a tiny village postoffice/general store. Dentists, library, bank, supermarket are all at least 15 miles away, Doctor is 11 miles, hospital is a nightmare involving 2 buses and a very poor service.
I wouldn't die without a car but I'd probably want to !

Winchelsea

Have been a lurker here for a while as seem so busy - I just drop in now and again for a catch-up. So now I am SO looking forward to GreyQueen 's crack team of OSers hammering at the door! Will have to break in to the hoard of bargain teabags and knock up some OS cakes! I might be in the garden when you come, admiring my pretty white pea blossoms!

ceridwen

ceridwen wrote: »

I've checked my "library" - and I still have that book on painting floors. So try checking out Amazon and see if theres a copy for sale of it:

"Decorative Floors in a weekend - simple step-by-step projects for maximum effect with minimum effort" by Catherine Cumming.

Whoops...that was "fatal" looking that up.

There are 20 copies of this currently on Amazon for 1p each (if checking on "decorative floors" - rather than by author name).

Errrm...twas "fatal" - because I spotted a book on kitchen makeovers by her - and bought it...ahem:o

sammy_kaye18

ceridwen wrote: »

Wet room - instead of conventional bathroom - errm....actually I know I'd love a wet room instead of bathroom as such. Got used to wet rooms abroad and not keen on British style bathrooms ever since....So - that sounds okay to me I have to admit. My ideal would be a bathroom (with bath in) AND a wetroom (with my preference being on wet room). But - it will work anyways....

No stair carpet - well...am now wondering whether I still have a book I specifically bought "for future consultation" on painting floors (ie rather than carpeting them or putting vinyl or - these days - laminate on them). One can buy really hardwearing paints specifically for painting floors and I do recall seeing a description in that book about how to paint a "runner" up the stairs in cases like this. I think that would work perfectly well until such time as you can afford a staircarpet.

Loft insulation - there might well still be a grant to cover the cost. Thats how I got some more years ago - ie when I bought B.H. (aka "Blimmin' House"). I'm reasonably sure there is still grants available towards this.

All sounds do-able to me...:)

Wet Room - the only thing concerning me as far as this is concerned is how to bath holly - in a shower? Could be interesting but I do still have her baby bath and now shes fitting I think she will be able to use it for a fair bit longer. Ben loves showers though - and to be honest my mother in law lives across the way so if they are desperate for a bath they can possibly go over to hers to have one!

Stair carpet - I want to paint a runner - Im glad we are on the same page Ceridwen! Owen however disapproves! I think it looks nice but he cant do without having carpet on the stairs. I have however noticed in town that a shop sells small like half tiles of edged carpet. Its like a small rectangle - but I'm thinking they would be big enough to cover the top of a step and then I could have my painted stairs in white with a colored top - does that make sense?

Grant - I am going to see if we do a warmfront grant here still as I know we had cavity wail insulation done on our flat but I will look into one for the new house.

Have sat and made an idea list of things to do to help us conserve our heat/electric now - because Im bleeding freezing tonight!

grandma247

Rainbow you can dry tomatoes in it. I slice mine and If I dont have time to dry them I freeze them in bags and when ready I leave to thaw in a colander over a bowl. Then I spread out the slices on the trays and dry. The watery juice that is in the bowl goes into the fridge for adding to a soup or stew. The tomatoes do stain the trays a bit but that doesn't bother me. I find it depends on humidity, moisture and thickness as to how long things take to dry. I dry all day switching the trays at one hour or so intervals after the first couple of hours.
I dry tomatoes till crisp then place in a jar on the side for 24 hours. Check the jar for moisture and put back in the dryer if there is any on the jar or inside the lid.

smileyt arnica is wonderful stuff. you can get homeopathic tablets too.

Stiltwalker congratulations on your little bundle.

ginnyknit we are all broke because prices keep going up but at least we can keep the wolf from the door.

de 1 amo I have a diabetic friend and he says 1 chocolate biscuit is worth one hours excercise

Celeriac chips are yummy.

ceridwen my husband could not get to work without a car and he is too old to be riding a bike that far then doing a very hard physical job and ride back home again. Thankfully he retires in six years unless the goalposts are moved again.

jackieglasgow

Sammy get on to your energy supplier and apply for insulation grants. eg British Gas are offering free loft or cavity wall insulation to all energy customers, and most others offer it in some form or another, and you can also get it free if you are on certain benefits.

mamaninie

Sammy_KayeCan I add some thoughts about stair carpet? Without carpet, stairs can be very noisy and also it will not help your heat loss problems. There is no point in sending expensive heat up the stairs and hallway, so not carpetting could be a false economy:) Sounds like getting some loft insulation via grants/ housing assoc/council? needs to be a top priority too.:)

Also some musings about cars..... I used to have to have a car for the job I used to to (visiting people at home and carrying equipment), work subsidised the lease car which cost £150 pm, I paid £93 + a few quid extra in tax from my pay packet each month. The car expenses were part of the reason I changed my job after my second mat leave as it just didn't make any sense. I now cycle 10 mins to work and walk and bus everywhere else with the kids, but then I'm lucky (??) to live in a lively, active community in a city. There are a few occasions when life without a car is really bloomin inconvenient, we have always planned for me to use the odd taxi in these situations as the costs of that still don't compare to running a car. When I take the kids to my mum and dads I take the bus to the train station, get the train to Norfolk, then get a cab from the station to mum and dads where I've got 2 car seats and my name on the insurance so that I can use their car to get myself around.