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

elona

Broomstick :T

You have me sniffly now (I blame hayfever).

You have tapped into the "essence and philosophy" of old style.
What a lovely post and idea of "living mindfully".

It would certainly look much nicer to have even a nearly empty glass jar of flour, sugar etc than a scrumpled and tatty paper or plastic bag.

I have some glass jars I used to store home made elderberry syrup in - they need treating to get rid of the smell of elderberry before using for other foods but would be great with neatly written labels on for storage.

I also have a few Douwe Egberts coffee jars bought when on offer that could be used as well.

You have now got me enthusiastic about the idea of organising kitchen cupboards.

[Deleted User]

Edinburghlass wrote: »

My boss and his wife are there at the moment, he works hard and plays hard. All sorts of people will be gaining financially because of his 3 day trip

I am glad those days are over for us, it was very hard work making small talk with strangers, who you knew could help the business to grow and hence keep people in work. The trips I liked best were the ones to a box at the races, lunch and tea included. The long weekend in Rome and ditto in Paris. The evening dinners were harder and many a time I have had to work hard to stay awake during the long speeches and some of the council run ones were mega. Anyway those days are long over now so I won`t dwell

All that bonding helped because when the half salary request came from the MD one day in the 70s, every single person offered to go on half pay with full hours just so no-one had to lose their job

Business is often about who you know and the funny handshake, which dh never had. Very closed shop really

Dee5565

Westlothianlass, I have just reserved that book at the libary, had wanted to get it but forgot the name. So thank you.
Busy cleaning the spare room up over the next few days as we have friends coming from Manchester on Sunday night, they are staying until Thursday morning.
Also going to go through the wardrobe, chest of drawers and a few other places to see if I can declutter somethings on ebay this weekend.
Next door neighbour is very kind if she sees anything that cheap or on whoopsies while she is out and about she will also get some for us.
As she knows I dont get out much. She got me four of the blue fleeces in Ikea for a £1. She called in yesterday and commented on the scarf I was knitting ,so when I finish it I will wrap it up in some ribbon with a note of thanks for alll she does for us.
Love the idea of the glass jars , reminds my of my grans kitchen that is all she had in her.

freudianslip

Not long since back from butcher warehouse, another couple of bogof chicken pieces. straight in freezer.

I've bookmarked the threads about making gifts for chiristmas, my sister will be getting a chunky crocheted scarf whether she appreciates it or not. I'm not sure about the others just yt which is why I need to read further into it.

washing on line but soon going to sploosh down by the look of it.

My new bread tin has worked a treat, I've a very healthy loaf just come out of the oven. Practise definitely makes perfect.

JosieJump

I have a small shelf with 3 glass Kilner jars on that I picked up in Dun£lm a few years ago. They're square with 'Kilner' in raised letters and the Douwe Egburts type lids. They look very attractive but the lids don't fit particularly well. I haven't dropped them yet but I'm sure it's just a matter of time!

On the subject of breaking glass a word of warning - I chipped the edge of my microwave turntable about a year ago. Last week I was nuking some jacket spuds and there was a loud bang. I assumed that a spud had exploded but the turntable had broken into 6 pieces! Cue several hours on tinternet trying to find a turntable for a 13 year old microwave.

maryb

Phew, finally caught up. Had to read fairly fast so apologies if I don't refer to people individually but some random thoughts on things that caught my eye as I whizzed through:

I came over all funny when someone mentioned consolidated accounts - and I last did an exam question on them in 1979!! Still gets me slightly panic stricken

Taking the smell out of vinegar for cleaning - I saw a post on an Australian blog that I got to through Rhonda's Down to Earth blog where she made citrus vinegar for cleaning. Jar of white vinegar and every time you use a lemon but don't need the zest, peel off the rind without any pith and pop it in the jar. Keep adding until the jar is full. It's antibacterial, good on grease, is a beautiful lemon colour and smells lovely and it's making use of something that would otherwise be thrown away. Dilute it about 50:50 in a spray bottle.

Storage - I love having all my dry goods lined up in storage jars rather than packets. I've got several that I got from Lidl which are like the cereal dispenser type but which come in different sizes and stack on top of each other and I find they will fit perfectly between the shelves in my cupboards. So that's a good compromise for me even though I also love the look of Kilner jars. I also have huge storage in our cellars and I have a pantry down there which I use for stockpiling. I've got lots of sweet jars which I get from a local sweetshop and they are perfect for flour, oats. pasta rice etc. Makes me feel positively Amish.

What bugs me about the very highest paid people is that they get paid large incentives to maximise company profits but in a lot of cases they can only make those profits because of tax credits which subsidise minimum wage jobs - and the money for those tax credits comes mostly from people who don't get the big rewards - but a lot of them still pay higher rate tax. At least it has become rather harder for large bonuses to be paid without income tax.

Good to hear you are getting settled CBHM - I love the expression 'making the pennies yowl'. I agree with whoever said your style is like Annie56. Staffordshire obviously breeds resilient ex nurses!

Primrose

westlothianlass wrote: »

On a positive note I'm reading Hovel in the Hills by Elizabeth West at the moment so a big thank you to whoever posted this suggestion many moons ago, as i'm really enjoying it.

If you're enjoying Hovel in the Hill, you will enjoy her follow-up books, Garden in the Hills, and A Patch in the Forest. Elizabeth West also wrote two very entertaining books about her life as a school secretary after they left 'The Hovel". Can't remember the precise titles but they're something like "Suffer Little children" and "Insufferable Little Children.

elona

Kittie

We are still finding stuff to do and we moved in September last year.

New burglar alarm is in, replacement outdoor security lights, more insulation in loft and people are coming to look at cavity wall insulation late next week. We can't take anything for granted in the house - had electrician round the other day for wall socket which did not work - turned out it had never been wired up in the first place

We need to get an energy efficient fridge freezer in the kitchen as well as a new hob and gas oven (hob is broken and grill and small oven does not work) but will need to wait till good deals or sales are on. I really want the kitchen equipment, loft and cavity wall insulation sorted out by Autumn.

I would love to get some more decorating done but the serious stuff like cooking, heating, insulation, showering and safety has to come first. If my small company pension comes through in September then I could use that for some of the stuff like decorating - unless the boiler gives up the ghost!!!

[Deleted User]

I`m logging off the internet for the day soon as it does suck up time. I think my next job is to get to the allotment and put some tubes on some leekes. Dh cut some plastic piping up for me, they will just help to get longer white parts. Then I have a chicken to take apart for freezing as pieces and bits goes a lot further than a whole roast and maybe I will read my book after that. It is called `scarlett` and is gone with the wind continued

Re my ascot comment. How wrong I was :rotfl:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2004421/Royal-Ascot-2011-Brawl-breaks-Ladies-Day-chair-legs-flying.html

Kimitatsu

Kittie took me years in some cases to finally get my boxes all unpacked and in some sort of semblance of order! Like you I learnt quickly that its better to have something solid that you can move with you to anywhere rather than worry about built in stuff.

Broomstick I love your posts! They really epitomise what we should be grateful for, I think it was your comments about abundance that really brought it home to me It wasnt until I decided to retrain that I really stopped to smell the roses and appreciate what was under my nose all of the time and although not as well off am infinitely richer for it :T

Sammy Kaye check your freecycle site, I got a second hand freezer in better condition than that from there. It lives in our garage, and there is nothing wrong with it, its just tatty. The hole in the bottom would worry me if you are going to keep it inside, it only needs something to fail and you could have coolant and/or a lot of water all over your floor!

Bread is in the BM today - had to put it on late as DS1 asked if it could be ready for when they come home, as he loves the smell of the fresh baked bread when he comes in the door. Made me smile this morning and made me think of a comment that FS made earlier this week. Its not about "only" being a mum, actually its THE most important job in the world to those you are a mum to I worked full time as a highly paid manager for a charity and when the funding came to an end it gave me the chance to reflect on the time I was working full time. The boys had everything they wanted but they spent a fair amount of time at the child minders, and although things are tighter financially now, they are so much happier because they always get home made meals, fresh bread and time just to witter some days, others to have a deep and meaningful conversation.