Edinburgher gets cracking!

southerndave

Ours is all gone. Just had home made-ish chicken burgers (Birds Eye Southern Fried Chicken in home made rolls!) with spicy potato wedges (Saturday is junk night) but a bit overspiced the spuds! HOT! Still, washed down with remains of last nights wine weren't too bad. Just had cake and looking forward to a nice JD nightcap later.

Enjoy the pizza fatboy!!!!:D

pennyforthepot

Yay - just finished reading your thread Edinburgher - wow, you are so knowledgeable and extremely focused. Wish I had your understanding of knowing where to invest. I've written down the name of a couple of books you mentioned which will keep me going for a while :T

Looking forward to reading some more as the days,weeks and months go by to support you on your way to being mortgage free - and gleen some more knowledge from you :j

Great to catch up at last

PFTP x

edinburgher

pennyforthepot wrote: »

Great to catch up at last

PFTP x

Lovely to have you around PFTP, thanks for reading

Today was one of those days where nothing was planned, but I've needed every minute of it!

Went to our local out of town mall with Mrs E so she could return a frock. No luck with the frock, but we did manage to get 2 pizza trays, 4 espresso cups and a bowl we hadn't planned from TK Maxx! In our defence, we didn't actually have any espresso cups and every time we use our affordable Morphy Richards machine, we dice with death re. getting the too big cups out from under the nozzle :rotfl: Less than £20 all in, so not too bad. No spend on food/snacks either, which is good for us.

Got home, loads of housework. Hoovered, tidied up a few rooms, made Bolognese sauce for tomorrow, made lunch for tomorrow, currently cooking HM white rolls with fennel and black poppy seeds. Also managed to polish shoes and clean the fish tank.

Mrs E managed to paint the 'feature' wall of the living room yesterday and did a wonderful job. I think the main feature was its ability to annoy us that it didn't fit in The new colour is much more suitable and looks the room look even bigger than it already did.

A productive weekend, but horrible weather and we are niggling at each other in a very silly fashion. I think a small drink, a wind down and peace making is in order

• £1.24 to Freedom Fund
• £1.50 to Remortgage Pot
• £1.50 to Kitchen Pot

edinburgher

Ridiculously quiet at work for some reason, hence early update

We didn't actually use our petrol budget for the month (I guess we're not heavy car users!), so the £50 from that has been recycled into the current account for other savings.

We are winding down financially for the month, as we get paid on Thursday. Still, the usual MFW footling has taken place:

• £1.33 to Freedom Fund
• £2.50 to Remortgage Pot
• £2.50 to Kitchen Pot

Inspired by Alchemilla (and a relative), I have started to think about home brewing (beer). I enjoy what's probably at the fancier side of the beer spectrum (is it any wonder, when my local tipple is Tennent's? ) and I think that I could probably turn my hand to making something decent if I can find economical solutions to the production process.

Still at the stage of reading, but the mix of chemistry/cooking/alcohol/cost definitely ticks a lot of my hobby? boxes.

PositiveBalance

edinburgher wrote: »

Inspired by Alchemilla (and a relative), I have started to think about home brewing (beer). I enjoy what's probably at the fancier side of the beer spectrum (is it any wonder, when my local tipple is Tennent's? ) and I think that I could probably turn my hand to making something decent if I can find economical solutions to the production process.

Still at the stage of reading, but the mix of chemistry/cooking/alcohol/cost definitely ticks a lot of my hobby? boxes.

I SO want to make my own wine - I just bought two of the big vat/tub/whatever they are calleds to do it with.

I'm quite partial to a fruit beer as well, if the opportunity arises.

I think it's a great idea - go for it! :T It's quite hard NOT to make a saving overall, athough you probably have to consider the equipment over several batches to see that.

edinburgher

Thanks PB - I made strawberry wine a couple of years ago - it was a bit rough when young but became highly sought after as it matured and supplies dwindled :rotfl:

I am torn between starting off with the basics for beer (i.e. a bucket or two, a kit and a couple of plastic demijohns) or going a wee bit more high tech and attempting an all grain beer.

Don't want to run before I walk, but I've already had a wee bit of experience and strawberry wine from scratch is more involved than a kit beer. Then again, I have some of the basic kit in the basement at Mrs E's parents.

southerndave

Go for a kit to start with Ed, get the basics right. Bottling takes ages although better for storage long term and for giving to friends. I used to brew a lot and kegged mine in a CO2 pressure keg. Keeps the beer better, its always on tap and easier than bottling, or of course you can mix the two. Beer is similar to wine making, but can be trickier. As ever cleanliness and sterilisation is the key to good brewing.

This is the better of the forums I found for homebrew and you'll learn a lot just reading.....

http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forums/

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/index.php

I found the Youngs Harvest range a good starter kit with nice flavours and fantastic value. The Milestone kits are also very good with stronger results.

edinburgher

Thanks SD - a relative has advised that there's a good homebrew shop a mere 15 minutes away by car - will pay it a visit at the weekend

I'm sure that you're right about starting with a kit. Much of the basic equipment I already have and I can borrow spare buckets etc. if I want to try my hand at secondary fermentations etc. I think it should only cost me £10 or so + the kit to get started with my first batch.

Did anyone else read this article about Mr T food waste today? This is part of why I'm trying to be a bit more self sufficient in terms of baking, brewing etc.

misscousinitt

edinburgher wrote: »

Did anyone else read this article about Mr T food waste today? This is part of why I'm trying to be a bit more self sufficient in terms of baking, brewing etc.

I used to work for Mr T 20 years ago in Stock Control and the waste was horrendous. I used to reduce loads of bread every day - but to be fair to our store manager at the time, he would prefer to reduce stuff and flog it than throw it away (one Christmas Eve we pushed trays of bread out into the shopping centre for people to have for free - the staff did well too).

I think everyone should take responsibility for waste (including shops; though I know they do keep a log of it - hence the known figures) - I am much better than I used to be - but still have dodgy veg at the bottom of my fridge from time to time. The more organised I am, the better it is.

MCI

edinburgher

I managed to beat my financial month :j

Last day before payday tomorrow and I have made it through with 38p to spare (and a free coffee from my old loyalty card at work).

That's about all I have beaten today, feeling somewhat tenderised after several battles over the most ridiculously petty topics :eek:

For anyone familiar with the chapter 'Barriers to change' in 'Early Retirement Extreme', I think it's safe to say that I have 'increased my dissatisfaction with present situation'

I am going to kick my savings target up the bum next month!

• £1.33 to Freedom Fund
• £2.50 to Remortgage Pot
• £2.50 to Kitchen Pot