The commonsense thread

[Deleted User]

I love the autumn as I can make lots of soups and pad them out with pasta to turn a plate of soup into a hearty lunch.
Today I had the left overs from a tin of tuna and sweetcorn with a jacket spud and some salad.then for pudding I had half a tin of rice pudding from the store cupboard with some fresh pineapple
Tonight I was still full up from lunch so I just had a toasted sandwich with some of my HM soup
Tomorrow I will have some more soup for lunch with cheese and crackers and dinner will be bangers and mash from the freezer.Using soup as a starter at dinnertime or a replacement for lunch is a cheap easy way to fill up on veg without spending too much on meat I am cutting back on the meat as its just getting too expensive and replacing it with fish, either tinned or from the freezer.I live quite near to Whitstable so I can get fish from the market that's almost jumping off the plate its so fresh.I'm not that keen on the trend for alaskan pollock though I'd rather have less and a bit of what I really like .Salmon cultets now can be cheaper to buy than lamb chops or steak and taste and cook a lot quicker as well.
Great idea for a thread by the way

Dazi

I think gadgets are ok if you are going to use them, not just have them on show to say to your friends oh I wouldn't be without my.........waving a hand vaguely at a worktop full of gadgets lol

CupOfChai

Oh I completely agree with what you say about autumn and making soups. Since it's begun to get cooler again I am dying for pumpkin season so I can make more of the pumpkin soup I discovered last year!

Dazi

I am just about to blitz a spicy lentil soup that has been cooking nicely in my slow cooker all day

chirpychick

thriftwizard wrote: »

Here's an old tip that seems to have escaped some of the younger families locally; don't skimp on curtains! I'm not advising people to rush out & spend thousands on designer stuff, but seek out sturdy, well-lined curtains that fit your windows generously & keep the draughts out. You could even consider window quilts, or using blinds as well as curtains. Some of my neighbours don't use curtains at all, or only have thin tab-top voiles, and you can literally see the heat waves coming of their windows in winter, as well as everything they're up to. Never mind climate change (and I do) & privacy, that's money that's literally flying out of their windows! Double-glazing & loft insulation can't work miracles... In the last few days I've seen many well-made lined curtains in our local charity shops, in a wide variety of colours & styles; you don't need to spend a fortune to stay warm.

There don't seem to be many 2nd hand curtains around where we are, when we moved into our house we invested in one pair of heavy lined curtains and then we got one set for doors and roman blind from eBay (but didn't get these until last winter). But Upstairs we brought very cheap thin curtains from argos and come winter we added a £7 blind. This worked for us and they are all still going strong 6 years later (as an idea for those who can't find or afford the heavy curtains). But I totally agree with you - the power of curtains is under estimated. Not only do they keep the heat in but there is nothing nicer than shutting the world out on a grotty day Fleece blankets and old towels have been used in this house to black out the room when we have been poorly too. Either just chucked over the curtain pole or safety pinned on

Popperwell wrote: »

If I am honest...no one...just me...:):(

Perhaps I might concede and buy some LED Christmas lights and put them around the bedroom window...it is a pity as I did like Christmas...but as a oster said even if you are alone try and enjoy the festive season and do it for yourself and in memory of your loved ones so I shall try not to be miserable and a grump!

We cut back on fairy lights, we now only have some on the tree.
I know quite a few people who don't like Christmas (I love it) but they tend to do something small, even if it isn't necessarily "Christmassy" but a single male friend of ours turns down dinner invites every year so he can order a curry and watch a dvd box set by himself with a few beers, he tells all his friends and family after 12pm he is unplugging the phone :rotfl: it's his favourite thing to do and he loves the day.
I think Christmas and any "silly season" is about doing what makes you happy (and of course friends and family if you are lucky enough to have them). So I say do something that makes you happy it might be curling up on the sofa with a good charity shop book and some chocolates or a glass of wine whatever it is i think its a nice time to do something to make yourself happy.

In regards to the gadgets and the things you need to be OS I have found this too, I like to think of myself OS and to me that means make do and mend, make money stretch, make food stretch, but create memories and enjoy life along the way.

I am *desperate* for a kindle LOL not OS at all! I have wanted one for such a long time. Other things have taken precedence for about 18 months now maybe longer (I don't remember when they came out but ive wanted once since then). It isn't necessary, it isn't OS and I don't NEED it at all! BUT in a month or 2 I may have saved enough to actually buy one - literally only putting £1 or £2 away each week and refusing to dip into that money. There have been times when I have come close, by god! But it meant so much to me to save up for it and get it. I have to make about £30 more in order to buy the last of the baby stuff, Christmas is done, hubbys birthday is done, winter coats, shoes etc done and come pay day we will have food in the cupboards and so when I can make sure nothing else needs paying for I will buy one. I will feel so guilty LOL but sometimes we do need to treat ourselves, all the working hard, the stressing, the stretching every penny, it has to be worth it otherwise whats the point?
And sometimes I think being OS is about helping ourselves to stretch our money so we can enjoy a few luxuries every now and again.

sorry for the massive long reply!!

Popperwell

Chirpychick, a fantastic reply...and thanks...

System

Are you buying this because you need it or because you are trying to fill the empty spaces in your heart?

Wow, how profound.

babyshoes

There's more to life than money. When there isn't much of it in your pocket it can seem otherwise - but when that happens, as the saying goes, you can't see the woods for the trees. It isn't money that makes you happy, though it can make life a whole lot easier in certain ways. I seem to recall hearing a statistic that rich people are just as likely to be unhappy and commit suicide as poor people. Their worries may be different in some ways, but are felt no less keenly! Grief, loneliness, depression, mental illness, addictions, family strife etc are indiscriminate and cannot be solved with money.

I find that recalling this episode of my life often helps me to get a little perspective:

When I was a student in South Africa, we did a drama project with some students in a township school. The people there are not the very poorest in the country - not actually starving to death, but compared to most people on benefits here in the UK they were very poor, yet the kids were still able to smile and play spontaneously. Most families lived in a one or two room self-built house, very close to their neighbours, with a single outdoor toilet and single outdoor water tap shared amongst a large number of homes. Many had electricity by then, but many were still without it.

I recall a feedback session after our first visit, when we were puzzled as to why the kids were so reluctant to join us sitting on the (fairly clean) classroom floor for a game. Our tutor had to gently explain that they probably only owned one uniform which got washed at the weekend, and if it got dirty before then they would be in a lot trouble, as washing facilities were extremely limited - a bucket or stream for most. Those of us (who were at that time "poor" students) with more outfits than days of the week and washing machines to use, simply hadn't considered that possibility!

At around the same time, my partner and I suffered a series of break-ins, mostly to steal speakers out of the car. Often though, items would be taken which had little monetary value, while something which cost more (but had little practical use for someone in the township, like a games console) would be overlooked - people were so poor that they would literally break into your car for a jumper left on the back seat, or break a house window to reach the laundry pile. It is difficult to hold a grudge against someone who caused you no harm except inconvenience to steal one of your many jumpers because they didn't have any jumpers and were cold.

In comparison to those people, I have never been poor! Even when my OH and I were living on a friend's sofa with laround £100 to last us until we could find work (and therefore a paycheck) we were warm, fed and clothed, with a support network of family and friends to stop us from starving on the streets if it had gone completely wrong.

Try to stop worrying about money. Of course you need to think about it and plan around it, but if you spend all your time worrying about what might be, you will miss the stuff that is - stuff that could make you happy, if only you'd stop and notice it. Happiness doesn't often come in big chunks, it can be something as small and mundane as your pet curled up on your lap, a child's laugh, sunlight through the leaves, smelling the roses, a cuddle from someone you love, a hot cuppa and a good book.

A few things that made me feel happy today: a pretty view of the park in the autumn sunlight with squirrels running around seen from my car window, foraging for fruit with my partner and a new homemade fruit picker which worked well, finding a few sloes for the first time in our urban environment so we can make a tiny batch sloe gin, noticing my new haircut in the mirror at work and liking it even more than I did before, an unexpected phone call from my parents not for any reason, just to chat.

(Perhaps we need another thread similar to (but different from) the 5 OS pleasures thread - "small things which made you happy today" - to counter some of this doom and gloom we are all feeling at the moment!)

Soundgirlrocks

snowleopard61 wrote: »

This is inspired. I have to admit my granny used to call it 'clean up the kitchen' and my mum used to say the description made her visualise my granny scraping bits off the floor etc (ew!). Antipasti it is from now on.

My Dad used to call it a bits of tea, because we would have a bit of this and a bit of that:D

Popperwell

Babyshoes,
The examples you give are very much the kind that have meant a lot to me and I have given as examples as to what is important in life and what I miss most are my loved ones...but my life was enriched by having them in my life.