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Countdown to Freedom

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  • roubaix
    roubaix Posts: 44 Forumite
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    Tilly I think you speak a lot of truth with your post earlier today.

    When my dd was a few months old the health visitor gave me a DVD on weaning which is produced by the health board and given to all new mums. The DVD introduced basic vegetables such as potatoes, carrots etc. It showed what they looked like to help identify them in the supermarket and showed how to chop, boil and mash them! I was shocked by how ridiculously basic the DVD was so mentioned it to the health visitor and she told me just how few basic kitchen skills people have now compared to even a generation ago partly because of the availability of convenience food so they have to keep it very basic! Eye opening!
  • Secret_Saving_Squirrel
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    Really agree about the supermarkets. Remember when my children were small making apple pur!e for almost nothing. Now they sell it in jars for really crazy money. Oh and I manage to spend very little in the shops just because we don't like processed food and don't eat a lot.
    Paid off mortgage nine years early in 2013. Now picking and choosing our work to fit in with the rest of our lives!
    Still thrifty though, after all these years:D
  • Watty1
    Watty1 Posts: 5,084 Forumite
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    edited 8 November 2014 at 11:25PM
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    , to be precise we have 9 payments left to go :T

    OMG that really does make it real :)


    Tilly x


    Tilly, just 9 payments wow!! How exciting. And thanks for all the encouragement you have shared along the way :)


    found myself agreeing with the 'rant' too - and that is from someone who used to be a convenience shop girl. Somehow cooking and filling the freezer is so much more doable and enjoyable these days. And I know if we want a 'cake' there is a banana loaf and an orange and polenta cake in there ready to go.
    Made it to mortgage free but what a muddle that became

    In the event the proverbial hits the fan then co-habitees are better stashing their cash than being mortgage free !!
  • Karmacat
    Karmacat Posts: 39,460 Forumite
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    Hi Karmacat, completely agree with elderly and ready meals. My mum has a few a week - she's cooked for over 80 years, I think she deserves a rest :)
    Same same, more or less. My mum's 88!
    I'm looking forward to her moving in for the winter. It's been delayed due to good weather in October.
    What a lovely idea! Mum is over 300 miles away, and at one stage I was giving her a lecture on what to do if flood water started running in the street - one of the red flood zones was about 200 yards away from her house. She still tries to tough things out, and I was sure she'd try to walk out - and probably get caught, because she'd just flag. Moving in for the winter is a great compromise, very much setting your mind at rest.
    Best wishes Tilly x x
    :kisses3:
    roubaix wrote: »
    When my dd was a few months old the health visitor gave me a DVD on weaning which is produced by the health board and given to all new mums. The DVD introduced basic vegetables such as potatoes, carrots etc. It showed what they looked like to help identify them in the supermarket and showed how to chop, boil and mash them! I was shocked by how ridiculously basic the DVD was so mentioned it to the health visitor and she told me just how few basic kitchen skills people have now compared to even a generation ago partly because of the availability of convenience food so they have to keep it very basic! Eye opening!
    :eek: I thought that was fable! Oh my word. Thats scary. Thanks roubaix.
    2023: the year I get to buy a car
  • gallygirl
    gallygirl Posts: 17,228 Forumite
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    Another one in agreement with the rant. Though the thing that really gets me is soap powder/liquid. Pardon my language, but !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want something that washes clothes. And fabric conditioner. As long as it smells 'nice' I don't really care whether it's 'night jasmine hand picked by dusky virginal maidens' or 'scent of orange blossom from spring orchards'. Just give me something that smells ok and is a good price. Hate to tell you marketing people but it's the price that attracts me, I haven't selected that one after an hour of reading all the blurb. The choice is obscene. Consumerism gone mad.

    When I've been to 3rd world countries I always go to supermarkets and am always ashamed of how much crap we sell in ours.

    And as for P*nec*ne surveys 'I would talk to friends about this' - em, apart from talking about a v good offer I'm pretty certain I have NEVER discussed a new shampoo/toilet cleaner etc. Do people REALLY talk about this rubbish?

    'Rant over' and it's not even my diary :rotfl:.
    A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort
    :) Mortgage Balance = £0 :)
    "Do what others won't early in life so you can do what others can't later in life"
  • katep23
    katep23 Posts: 1,406 Forumite
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    I have posted on my diary before that I find the major chains quite obscene in the quantity of stuff they sell. As I don't shop in these places much anymore I can ignore it but seriously how many types of chicken nuggets does anyone need.


    Delurking to say I totally agree with this and I wonder if it is part of the reason Aldi and Lidl are becoming so successful.


    A full shop in Lidl takes about 30 - 40 minutes "oh I need tinned tomatoes, there's the tinned tomatoes", as opposed to probably an hour to an hour and a half in the other supermarkets "which tinned tomatoes do I want, which are best value". Too much choice is not always a good thing.
  • Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS
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    Morning, feel free to join the rant - I agree about soap power and fabric conditioner. Plus now I've started, may as well carry on - how many washing up liquids do we need? There are whole aisles devoted to cleaning stuff. When I look in my larder shop, I see vinegar (L!dl), whichever washing up liquid was on offer. I buy a massive container of fabric conditioner from C@stco, then decant and water down 50%. Polish is whatever is on offer and I buy a largish bottle of tea tree oil and a smaller one of lavender oil. I have a steam mop for the floors and sprinkle one of the two fragrances depending upon what's needed or I fancy.

    Bleach - I buy a large container from Costco for downstairs and buy lidl ones for the bathrooms.

    If people have the nibbles they make something here. DS frequently makes up sausages of biscuit dough for the freezer. Then slices some off and hey presto biscuits on the table.

    Can I just add I don't live a completely OS life but I do simplify the house hold needs and make do with cleaning products.

    I need to take DS to parade now - he has a starring role in the local Rememberance parade and he's feeling very proud (as are we :))

    Best wishes Tilly x
    2004 £387k 29 years - MF March 2033:eek:
    2011 £309k 10 years - MF March 2021.
    Achieved Goal: 28/08/15 :j
  • katep23
    katep23 Posts: 1,406 Forumite
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    I buy a massive container of fabric conditioner from C@stco, then decant and water down 50%.


    Ooh, never thought of decanting it and watering down! I buy washing liquid and conditioner from Costco, kept losing track of what I had so bought whenever it was on offer. When I did a stock take I calculated I had two years' worth!!
  • gallygirl
    gallygirl Posts: 17,228 Forumite
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    katep23 wrote: »
    Ooh, never thought of decanting it and watering down! I buy washing liquid and conditioner from Costco, kept losing track of what I had so bought whenever it was on offer. When I did a stock take I calculated I had two years' worth!!
    In the good old days when Tesco introduced their Double the Difference campaign I had a few year's stock of free soap powder, conditioner and dishwasher tablets :T. Strangely enough, the free wine didn't last as long :rotfl:.

    Hope young Mr T enjoys his starring role.
    A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort
    :) Mortgage Balance = £0 :)
    "Do what others won't early in life so you can do what others can't later in life"
  • Karmacat
    Karmacat Posts: 39,460 Forumite
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    I love this :j:j:j

    Tilly, you're a star :A:A:A
    2023: the year I get to buy a car
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