Double Trouble - Nothing by halves

Double_Trouble

I have been exercising my grey cells should really be exercising all my cells but that's another story

It is all down to Bob :T and her link to Frugal Queen's blog which led me to read other blogs you know how it goes ................

But I am inspired - I have to be really as money is really dire and I am conscious that every month the BOE holds the interest rate I breathe an almighty sigh of relief but that can't last for ever

I am in grave danger of increasing my CC debt not decreasing it I now only use my Mr. T.s card but the danger is that if I have a tight month I don't clear it all and hope I can do so the next month which is a slippery slope so I am going to give frugal living a try I will never be as frugal as some but I can do a lot more than I already do. We have down branded in most products but I don't cook everything from scratch and I don't batch cook so there is much room for improvement I won't be embracing composting toilets :eek: and thankfully we are not on a water meter and our water bills are miniscule (the only bill that is ) as we have a sceptic tank which has only been emptied 3 times in almost 14 years so won't have to follow Frugal Queen's shower/bath/toilet flushing regime

So the plan is to cook as much as I can from scratch - which in reality should be everything use my Mr. T. card as I want the vouchers hoping for double voucher event on toys again at Christmas as I got all the kids toys and my daughters new bed with vouchers last year but and this is the big BUT every time I spend on it I will pay off the same amount from my current account I know that initially that will put me in overdraft as I have had some madly expensive unexpected bills recently but being in overdraft will really bug me and I will do anything to get rid whereas CC accounts I can just not log on to and then just die when I get the monthly bill when it is all too late whereas I log on to my current account every day

The next thing I want to start tackling is Christmas and I am determined to have a mostly homemade but definitely cash neutral Christmas using vouchers etc and I need to start now so knitting patterns and stored wool will be scrutinised for ideas stuff sold on ebay to fund crafting essentials etc. etc. I know a lot of you already do all this and more but I am always a bit slow on the uptake

On other matters I have really enjoyed simple things today my Kids making OH and I necklaces, my silly wonderful OH making a carrot birthday cake for my little boy's toy bunnys birthday which was announced as being today and to whom we sang happy birthday and when I say carrot cake I mean a cake shaped out of a raw carrot with candle duly lit which my little boy happily ate as he said bunny prefers tomatoes :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: They grow up so quickly I need to savour these days. My Mom is going to stay with my sister for 3 weeks in August so we will be free to go out all day without having to worry about her so I am going to plan a staycation we live in a lovely area that people come to for holidays so shouldn't be too hard and will use money off vouchers and tesco vouchers for special treats and lots of free day ideas but I want to make it special so that they have good memories of the days spent together. They have both started swmming lessons so I am hoping that swimming will form a large part of what we do so that they will become more confident in the water and so that at the end of the day we will be able to talk about the fun we have had.

DTxx

hypno06

You can do this - you have so much going for you in terms of location, creativity, talent, and support of your family.

:T:T:T

Souk08

Sounds ace DT, if anyone can do it you can X

moo2moo

Double_Trouble wrote: »

we have a sceptic tank which has only been emptied 3 times in almost 14 years
DTxx

So often??? Not knowing any better I waited until I could see the level of solid in the vent pipe approaching the top and then phoned to have it emptied a mere decade after moving in. Apparently its a v. good way of disposing of corpses too. You just lob em down the hatch and wait. Apparently the rate of decomposition is acclerated between five and ten fold depending on the temperature. Perhaps thats an alternative form of income..... Body disposal for serial killers.

Karmacat

Isn't the Frugal Queen amazing! I read her after reading on Bob's thread too I'd already been using cheapo shampoo for liquid soap, but thanks to her when I was in Sainsbo yesterday I found some Basics bath foam - 18p for a gazillion kilos! It was staggering - I checked the ingredients, and its the same as the Carex handwash - in slightly different proportions, admittedly, but thats all.

Go for it! And tell us what you do!

gilligansyle

You are very creative you will be able to do this. Cash neutral Christmas should be relatively straightforward, you managed well last year with the double points etc.
I generally give everyone something home made for Christmas, and it is always appreciated. For relatively small outlay, you can make soaps etc. quite easily. If you've got lots of bits of wool, look out some bazaar knitting patterns and make clothes for teddies etc. And you did that jewellery making course last year, do you still have any of the findings?

Double_Trouble

moo2moo wrote: »

So often??? Not knowing any better I waited until I could see the level of solid in the vent pipe approaching the top and then phoned to have it emptied a mere decade after moving in. Apparently its a v. good way of disposing of corpses too. You just lob em down the hatch and wait. Apparently the rate of decomposition is acclerated between five and ten fold depending on the temperature. Perhaps thats an alternative form of income..... Body disposal for serial killers.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

One of the emptyings was just after we moved in when we didn't know any better as in the house where I grew up the tank had to be emptied twice a year we wait until the cattle grid pit starts to fill (I know TMI) always a sign that an emptying would be a good thing so in reality twice whilst we have been here and as we have at times had up to 10 people in the house not bad going :T

Karmacat wrote: »

Isn't the Frugal Queen amazing! I read her after reading on Bob's thread too I'd already been using cheapo shampoo for liquid soap, but thanks to her when I was in Sainsbo yesterday I found some Basics bath foam - 18p for a gazillion kilos! It was staggering - I checked the ingredients, and its the same as the Carex handwash - in slightly different proportions, admittedly, but thats all.

Go for it! And tell us what you do!

She is amazing I won't be able to approach what she does but I shall do my darnest to be as frugal as we can

gilligansyle wrote: »

You are very creative you will be able to do this. Cash neutral Christmas should be relatively straightforward, you managed well last year with the double points etc.
I generally give everyone something home made for Christmas, and it is always appreciated. For relatively small outlay, you can make soaps etc. quite easily. If you've got lots of bits of wool, look out some bazaar knitting patterns and make clothes for teddies etc. And you did that jewellery making course last year, do you still have any of the findings?

I have wool, I have some patterns, I can knit, I can crochet, my sewing is not so good but I can learn and I do have a machine, I want to make soap so will be asking questions about that as yours was lovely how do you get such a nice sharp shape? I would like to try candles too so need to research, I have loads of jewellery stuff so as you say Christmas should be a doddle, I have quite a few card blanks so need to count up to see if I have enough - I have seen a Christmas stamping set I would like so may treat myself to that once I have sold something so that it comes out of my paypal account and I have loads of jewels to add a subtle bling so all in all I am a happy chappy

Oh and I will be watching moo2moo carefully as I want to make jam and chutney too and sort the garden out as well

Can you see a flaw here too much to do and too little time :eek:

I really must get on - shopping list calls

Have fun folks I intend to

DTxx

gilligansyle

Nice sharp shape was accomplished with .... a nice sharp knife! The moulds leave a slightly rounded edge that I don't like, so I just use a plastic box and then cut!

Double_Trouble

gilligansyle wrote: »

Nice sharp shape was accomplished with .... a nice sharp knife! The moulds leave a slightly rounded edge that I don't like, so I just use a plastic box and then cut!

That is why I liked yours I don't like the slightly round edge either I am impressed that you have cut it so neatly :beer:

I have just threatened to take two 5kg bags of bismati rice to bed as I love them this is one item we have not downbranded on as yet and even buying the 2x 500g packets as they were cheaper than buying one 1Kg bag go figure we were paying £3.99 a kilo :eek: Today I have bought 2 x 5kg bags of gold range extra long aged to perfection basmati rice for £10 making £1 per kg :T it has made my heart sing even Mr. T's value bismati is £1.27 per kg and its best before May 2014 not that I take too much notice of dates so I will be buying some more before the offer ends at the end of August. I have also bought a large bag of pasta which although not offering a big a saving as the rice is still better than what we were paying before and we eat a lot of rice and pasta.

So storage rears its ugly head as there is not enough room in the kitchen but we have decided that we can put a couple of shelves in the coat cupboard to store the dry stuff and the pickles and jams I intend to make. Anyone got a recipe for salsa? Also storage for the rice and pasta what does everyone use would plastic milk bottles be airtight enough? I should ask on the old style thread really but just in case anyone has any suggestions I would be grateful.

DTxx (who today is mainly smiling about rice - fast show!)

Karmacat

Hi DT! I store a little bit ahead with rice and pasta .... I keep them in the plastic they came in, tbh ... tho when I was lodging in London many moons ago, someone who did that ended up with weevils or something _pale_

Plastic milk bottles ... they'd have to be properly sterilised, I think, otherwise over the period of a year or so (is that what you're thinking of?) they could easily go mouldy :eek:


**note to DT**
This is KC speaking tho ... absolutely not good in the Old Style department :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: