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

sammy_kaye18

Morning all

Well we 'moved' in officially yesterday - we started at 2pm and finished at 9.30 - only thing properly in and made up though is Hollys cot!

Still a fair bit in flat but we decided whilst we had the van yesterday we would move the big things up there so its only small stuff to move in now really - small boxes and black bags os miscellaneous items!

Have just walked down to my flat this morning and got absolutely drenched in a strange on the spot shower - not good - especially since I packed my coat but it was the only one Owen missed in the flat!

Had a surprise sprung on us too that we had to pay 2 weeks water and rent in advance so that was £178 gone before we'd even set foot in the door but that gets us two weeks ahead as we don't officially start paying rent until the 30th May. Although Owen has assured me he will give me £160 of that back as its his job to pay rent so he'll give me my £320 as normal this month which would be our rent but because its already paid I will use that to pay my bills that I had to put off to pay it!

House is lovely - dog was unsettled half the night so we have come to the conclusion we have to close him in the back porch otherwise hes trying to jump on kitchen sides all night. Apart from that had a good nights sleep - owen was restless but he always is when we move house.

Note to self - must pack toilet roll! :eek:

Other note to self - ring gas man to come and check boiler and fire etc.

Right - this will be me signing off until Wednesday now possibly depending on if I have the heart to dismantle computer. :rotfl: but need to pack a few more bits up and take them up the house - and need to make a start trying to make some sort of organised chaos out of my living room in both places!

Owen has already decided too that next week he will be attempting his first barbecue for Bens birthday. :eek: and he spent a good 40 minutes last night attacking one of our two hydrangea bushes which is covered in bindweed plenty of gardening to be done and the last owner kept it immaculate so my name will be muck if its not kept accordingly!

Plus dont want to leave the dog too long!

Will be back soon with lots of pictures but I have facebook on my phone if anyone has me on there!

Talk soon girls and boys! and be good!

x x x x x x x x x x

ceridwen

Good luck with that move Sammy.

Dont forget - kettle and drinks supplies readily available first - to keep spirits up whilst organising your new home.

Are you going to be planting up some food now that you have space to do so? You could have some salad crops out of that garden in a few weeks time:D

EDIT: Re your "name being mud" if you didnt keep up the garden...I dont know what sort of road you will be living on now....but was wondering whether you could "take a leaf out of book" from my own thoughts. I have already decided that if I ever manage to get a better house - then I will take advantage of the fact that it would be in a short Crescent or Close or similar (ie rather than being a long "through" road) and will start up the idea in my part of the country of putting out a box of surplus homegrown food with a note to peeps to help themselves (ie in order not to waste owt - and encourage other peeps in the road to do the same and we end up with a suitable "road bartering system" in place - whereby we can all work our way round the road picking up a bit of fruit/veg at this house and something different at that house and we end up sharing our stuff and hopefully none of us having to buy much fruit/veg from the shops).

That plan will have to "stay on the backburner" for myself unless and until I get a better house - but you might be able to set it up for yourself now...

jackieglasgow

Ceridwen if you are near a Poundstretcher I saw they have those mini plastic greenhouses for £10 at the moment.


Sammy I am glad it has gone well so far for you, can't believe it all happened so quickly (well I can, but you know what I mean) - you must be dizzy

GreyQueen

"It's just like concrete!" gasped my lottie neighbour as we were working alongside each other after work last night. She was planting things (hammer and chisel optional) and I was shaking the soil out of the tufts which I'd chiseled off the edge of The Rough. That's the untouched bit at the top of my allotment which I haven't got around to yet. It's a hellish patch of great tussocks of couch grass, bindweed and about 50% of the green stuff in there is acutally horsetail. Not to mention buried carpets, tarps, wood, chickenwire, nettles, docks and Uncle Tom Cobbley and all. Eww.

My cunning plan is to sneak across The Rough about 1 foot at a time, chiselling in from the edges, gradually baby-stepping my way across it. It's between one-quarter and one-fifth of the whole plot area and I have Plans. Said plans involve a mixed bed of flowers and herbs and several fruit bushes. I want an arbour (dream on) and to be able to sit up there of an evening with my mates, with a cheap wee beer and enjoy myself. It's so far from being there that it's comical just to type this but I'll get there in the end.

Took 12 more pints of ex-bathwater to the lottie after work and watered the strawbs which will need de-runnering again. The strawbs are close to full-sized but still white except one is off the plant and laying on the ground 18 inches away! What do you think could've done that? Mice?!

I brought my squash and courgettes from the h.m plastic greenhouse into the h.m-from-wombled-timber cold-frame yesterday and I hope they're OK in there. Will need to get them toughened up and into open ground within the next week or two, but said ground needs some clearance first. I plan to lever up the Compost Dalek to get the good stuff from the bottom. I'll make a "bowl" in the soil and fill it with compost, plant a 4 pint pierced milk bottle and put the plant in. Used that trick with the courgettes last year and it worked very well. I'm not doing tommies this year as I don't have a lot of luck with them and they need daily attention and I sometimes absent myself from Provincial City and take off into the Sticks with pals in the summer and the allotmentino needs to be able to mind itself when I'm away.

I think the reason my little Mr T is going out of Basics range (it never had many) is that it's a small city centre store with a very high footfall and it's much more economical for them to concentrate on alcohol, sweeties and premium processed dinners than it is for basic groceries and fresh veg. Plus they're Mr T and barstewards.

I'm a very promiscious shopper and go all over the place for stuff on the pushbike or on foot, the advantage of living in the city. Also, when I visit the parental units, I aim to engineer a visit to a big Mr T if I have vouchers or need to stock up on bulky items like 12-packs of loo roll. In my defence, I do their shopping as well as mine.

L!dl have 4 pinters of milk at £1 and I'm mostly buying those but Mr T did have them at that price but you'd to buy 3 at a time the other week. I had the freezer room so did so. Wish I had room for more than a wee counter-top freezer but I don't but I really make it earn it's keep.

This galloping food-price inflation at a time of stagnant or falling incomes is downright scary. I don't think that priveleged bunch of (add noun of your choice) in Westminster have a blinking clue about how hard so many of us are finding life. As an adult, I can wear clothes and shoes until they fall apart but anyone who needs to clothe and shoe growning children.........arrrrggghhhhh!!!!

Well, have finally caught up with the leftovers which means I have no clue what will be eating tonight. Unless Mr T makes me an offer I can't refuse it'll be something from the store cupboard......thank heavens I have one.

Have a super day and hope something bargainous comes to all of us.

starsandmoon

CRANKY40 wrote: »

Not far from the Blue Planet is a Hungry Horse pub called The Rake. Don't know the postcode so you'd have to look it up, but the food is more reasonable than the blue planet plus it has an indoor soft play area and a large field outside with children's play equipment. It also has a duck pond, but it is fenced off.

Oo ta for that. Il keep it in mind. Il Google it although I always get lost so could end up in deepest Wales. Took mum shopping to Chester once, got lost and ended up in Wales but found a nice pub instead :rotfl:

Aha so Value jelly has been barred so managers earn more! Even Asda dont have it, not sure about Sainsbury's. Luckily I have the time (and the shops) to shop around as I work part time. I always get comments about how I must spend the days I dont work getting my nails done and shopping (for clothes etc not food). Point out to them(full time colleagues) I earn part time money so that time is spent seeing to DD and cleaning, shopping for bargains etc and that I live in a rough area and have an old car and no abroad holidays due to my choice to work part time.

Today Im ironing and cleaning my front door, oh the excitement :rotfl:

rosie383

GreyQueen Have you been sneaking into my allotment???? I swear mine is the same as yours at the mo. So glad that I got my digging hoe. Best tenner I have ever spent! The ground is truly like cement. I have managed to clear about half my plot now, and am determined to use maybe 3/4 of it. I need to look at my seeds now to see what else I can plant this year. So far I have tomatoes, potatoes, courgettes, beans, lettuce, raspberries, strawberries, chillis and peppers. I was just so lazy and disorganised earlier in the year and am paying for it now.

I have started to visit a fruit stall in our area. It is one of these 'every bowl for a pound' affairs and is run by a young Afghani man. He always makes sure that if you pick a bowl, he takes out any 'dodgy' looking bits of fruit and replaces it with good ones. And he always gives me extra. Eg, yesterday I got grapes, maybe 2kg in the bag and got home to find 5 extra pears. I know the fruit doesn't last very long, but I just buy stuff that we all enjoy, and just put out big bowls of whatever is around every day so it doesn't go to waste. The other day he gave me 4 extra free apples and 2 punnets of strawberries.

Oh, and while clearing the lottie the past few days, I keep finding some of last years potatoes that were missed in the ground and were growing new babies for this year. They couldn't stay in the ground, so I took them home and got enough for 3 meals!!!

I have also started to think about where I do my shopping. I have always gone to Asda to shop as I love their whoopsies. Just sorting out my money for this month, have 30quid left, and realised that I should go to Sains to buy what is on offer, make a meal plan around that. Use my 6pounds off a 30 pound shop voucher and have the 6 pounds to buy my fruit and veg and milk. Can't believe I wasn't doing this before. And I still can't find the pound symbol on my laptop after dh reconfigured it!!!!

redlady_1

Right, with the price of fuel I need to walk to the supermarket. However, being put together with metal, carrying bags backwards and forwards can be quite difficult. So, I am on the hunt for a wicker shopping trolley with a walking stick handle that doesnt cost £100!!! Now I know you lot know "stuff" and if anyone can, you lot can

Is anyone able to help a knackered old bird please?? :rotfl:

jackieglasgow

Does it need to have a walking stick handle? I have seen a few on amazon around the £40 mark but with loop handles. Also try greatbritishbaskets they have a few I think

short_bird

starsandmoon wrote: »

Well I went to Tesco today with mum. Bargains were fleece throws for £1.25 and they are nice quality. Plain in teal, purple, brown and cream.

INSTANT THERMAL CURTAIN LININGS FOR THE WINTER!!! Just add safety pins...:rotfl:

Sorry, I'm shouting, but this is the time to get them while they're in stock and competitively priced.

jackieglasgow

Found one for £70? http://www.englishwillowbaskets.co.uk/acatalog/Stylish_Shoppers.html erm its a bit small?

I am off to paint my son's room now, but how about this? It a fab buy! http://www.coopersofstortford.co.uk/coopers-of-stortford-willow-shopping-trolley-prodst07939i/