make do and mend for tougher times

Mrs_Chip

If that's the case Fuddle, it might be better that it died . That would be an awful lot to make up before you get any benefit from having it.

If you really need the extra freezer space look around for bargains new, as these all come with an energy rating that says how much they cost to run. If you can get through winter without (colder months stuff could be stored outside) you could save enough to but a cheap one that is also cheap to run.

VJsmum

smileyt wrote: »

I've felt before that for some reason they don't really like me, but I don't know what I've done - no-one has ever complained about me and I've never cheated and claimed for hours I haven't worked. I am looking for other work but it's difficult to find because of my health. Oh well, it could be worse, at least I have a job and I do enjoy the work.

I know how you feel - I always say that I am Mrs Invisible at work. There are various things i've introduced / set up btut others come along and take the credit. One of my colleagues is often battling on my behalf as it drives her nuts! But, like you, I like my job on the whole and would never find such a well paid job for the flexibility I have.

maryb wrote: »

It's very hard to work out how much a freezer actually costs because it's not running all the time. I did plug in one of those meters that tells you how much electricity you have actually used in a given period and it suggested that my 20 year old chest freezer uses 1.4 units per day which on my tariff is 13.5 pence per day so approx £50 per year. Do I save £1 per week using it? Not sure actually. I have another freezer which is an upright with drawers and that is essential but the chest freezer tends to be used for bread and chicken stock and a few bottles of milk for emergencies. So I'm really paying for convenience

I think I probably save £1 per week by having a second freezer due to not having to cook meals every day and not using petrol to go to a shop because we are out of somehting. With not having been here for nearly a week we have run out of almost everything as OH didn't get round to doing the shopping he promised so, for example, yesterday I had to pop to the shop to get DS some ingredients for cookery today. It was stuff I would have had in the freezer if I'd been prepared. Even things like bread and milk save a trip.

The upshot of not much shopping being done for 2 weeks is that today I spent £175 :eek: in, as GQ puts it, Tosco. I only do a "big 4" supermarket shop about once a month so i have to get things then that I can't get (or don't like) in Aldi or my little Mr M. So I do have to stock up when I go - things like my Ecover cleaning and laundry products and "lady" items for me and DD (by crikey they can add up!!). Not too many bargains today - tho i did buy a mahoosive bag of pasta for not much - and I did have some money off vouchers. But at the beginning of the year I was spending about £150 a week - now it is usually about £75 a week for 3 weeks and then a biggy, so i am a lot better and I don't stint.

I have 2 episodes of !!!!!! to watch so am looking forward to that - am going to start my chunky winter cardi knitting (the summer one never quite being finished, can be put away for next year ) THo first I have to make DD a costume for Dorothy in the wizard of Oz - I am thinking blue and white checked gathered skirt with a "bib" attached with a white blouse underneath.

Oh and the house is an absolute tip and a half so my weekend is to be spent on homely things. Can't wait

valk_scot

I'm lucky enough to have two OS neighbours, they both have allotments on the same site as me and one of them keeps chickens, has a logburner etc etc. We've got six kids between us in a span of ages so good for passing clothes and sports gear around and we share skills...one is good chutneys and jams, another at baking, I used to be the vegetable lady till they got their own plots! None of us ever buy if we can borrow off the others so things like my big Kenwood Chef gets borrowed for veggie processing for example, then it comes back with a jar of jam and six eggs or whatever.

We've also got a fourth neighbour in the cul-de-sac with kids the same age again. Nice woman, nice kids but she's the total spendthrif that I've referred to before...new every year! She watches us with some horror tbh but she's also great at passing things along. She's very funny about offering though, she thinks she's going to offend and then we're almost snatching the Monsoon and Boden kids'clothes out her hands, lol. Her kids like our houses too, they say our houses are more "interesting"....

On other OH news here, I tried dying a pink Ikea rug to purple yesterday. It was a pink chenille runner thing that DD had in her room when she was younger, she's gone to Goth Purple now and wanted a purple rug. Purple rugs are quite pricey so I tried a £5 pack of Crystal Violet Dylon instead, in the washing machine, and it's come out perfectly purple. Such a sucess that we're going to try dyeing the loose covers for her armchair next. To purple of course!

I also emptied the freezer yesterday and wrote a meal plan for the next ten days to use up all the odds and sods. Did the same for the larder and storecupboard too, some of the items dovetail with the freezer meals of course but there's another four or five days of meals there that I'll only have to buy minimal ingredients for. I've got the last of the summer crops on the allotment to use up too. So that's two weeks of meals sorted with minimal spending input, mostly using leftovers and frozen YS stuff.

Off to take three outgrown school jackets to Neighbour With Chickens now. With any luck I might get a few eggs in return.

Mrs_Chip

For anyone interested, on the J Vine show R2 at 12 they have a discussion about depression - and the weekly report from the R2 allotment in the Welsh Valleys!

D&DD

Val how lovely to have friends like that my neighbours are great here but not really OS at all would love to have a jamming day or drying day with friends maybe when we have our meet up I could persuade Annie and Caterina etc

Fuddle I'm not sure if drying via the oven is cost effective TBH the price of fuel now unless you could use residual heat somehow..I actually posted about my tchibo dryer on the dehydrating thread that I'd say was my best ever buy at around £20 you only really need an all singing one if you grow a hell of a lot and use a lot of dried products its not for everyone and I think if you just tweak the way you shop and mealplan you can easily do without..just gutted for you losing all that food :eek:

fuddle

I suppose I am lucky that I have access to the coop. It will be interesting to see what my electric bill is in the coming months.

D&DD I forgot to say on t'other thread that your garden is brill There's hope for me yet.

A bug bare I'm having at the moment is that seed suppliers are sending my their catalogs. That's not the bug bare, as I ordered them. the bug bare is they all offer free seeds... flower seeds. I wish one of them would offer veg seeds.

I remember growing up that there was a long strip of grass of the lawn a different texture to the rest. Apparently my dad dug our garden up to grow leeks and onions. Good bloke my dad. Wish he was around and my grandma - I'd know so much if they were here.

smileyt_2

I have good news. JSA have finally, finally, finally paid me! After 16 weeks. I haven't had a letter yet but when I checked my bank account there was money in there from them. It will go on paying off my credit card bill and I will not spend any of it on anything silly! (Well, I might treat myself to a craft magazine. And a flapjack when I meet up with some other forum users on Sunday. Last of the big spenders, me!)

I cannot tell you how relieved I am. I'm still nervous, though, that I will receive a letter in a couple of weeks' time telling me they want it all back. Although I have definitely filled my side of the contract and religiously applied for jobs every week, even though most of them I had no chance of getting, to be honest.

Speaking of which, I have to dash off as I'm due to sign on shortly. I will be asking how to sign off next week :T.

Possession

Congrats Smiley!! A celebratory flapjack is definitely warranted.
I have some nice news to share too - MIL sent FIL round with a notelet this morning, and inside is £50 for us to have fish and chips (!) this weekend. She is very sweet, and very naughty! DH doesn't know, but we might have a takeway and the rest will go towards the curtains I have been holding off buying for my winter prep. Just put the pressure curtain rod up this morning to see if it stays up.

kidcat

Mar - I do hope it gets sorted for you, isnt it awful that they couldnt get you to just go to hospital once for the Xray and ECG save two sets of travel.

Smiley - excellent news.

grandma247

I grew up without an accent due to living abroad in different countries and have been accused of being posh "Sigh" if only they knew