The commonsense thread

Popperwell

melanzana, yep generally that's me...I find myself talking to strangers, shop assistants, taxi drivers, people sitting next to me if at a theatre, on a bus etc...I'm not the annoying person who goess on and on or the "Nutter" on the bus Jasper Carrot mentioned ages ago but just friendly. And it does make a difference.

Popperwell

esmf73 wrote: »

Popperwell, am just south of Darlington, but know what you mean. Perhaps it's the run up to christmas, the cold weather or the fact that children have just started school, so the inevitable bugs are going around.

I don't mind too much though, specially if I can get round the SM quicker!

Perhaps the reasons you suggest are playing their part esmf73 but everywhere seems less busy than I remember and that includes the daytime too, as you are in the area perhaps you have seen the supposedly improved Sainsbury's in Darlington that was pretty empty when I popped in, I don't think I saw any increase in food choices just a larger clothes/electrical area which will take more money away from the shops in town.

I don't know which direction I am outside of Darlington but approx 7 miles away.

SpottedLeopard_2

Make full use of your local library by reading the newspapers/magazines (as well as books, obv!) rather than buying a daily/weekly. Don't know if you can also ask to have old copies of papers if they don't need them anymore, which can always be used around the house. Also use and abuse the Recall function on books you'd like to read when on the online catalogue - library should be able to order it in from another one in the area!

fuddle

Be aware of charges from getting the library to order a book from a different local authority though. It was going to cost me £11 to get a Richard Mabey foraging book brought in from outside my local council's jurisdiction... I declined.

Popperwell

fuddle wrote: »

Be aware of charges from getting the library to order a book from a different local authority though. It was going to cost me £11 to get a Richard Mabey foraging book brought in from outside my local council's jurisdiction... I declined.

That is just crazy...

I do wonder why to save on the cost of buying books why libraries could not buy books from CS's or ask for/suggest people clearing out their private collections donate the books. We're fortunate that any library is able to stay open, I notice the large one in Darlington is closing earlier than it used to. But aren't they all?

fuddle

Yes pops, all our libraries are soon to have their hours drastically reduced. We are lucky that all our libraries are staying open I suppose. Ours is opening Tuesday and Thursday and Saturday morning... less than part time really.

Popperwell

I think that probably many who could/might use them are retired/ill but those kind of hours might give councils the chance to cliam that libraries are not used but if they open when most people are working or at school they are restricting times they might be used by more people, some could be used more for other reasons than borrowing books. They can help those who cannot afford access to the internet at home.

The buildings might be able to be rented out for a fee...

fuddle

To be fair to the council they are giving each library a choice of three opening hours. The people who use it have a questionnaire to fill in stating which hours are best for them. Option 2 is winning at ours so that it what (by rights) they should open. I'm just pleased they haven't closed it down completely. Small mercies

Common sense. DD's birthday today. Instead of buying overpriced commercial decorated (not very nice tasting) cake (imo) I have made a birthday cake and bought sweets and chocolate for the girls to decorate it with. They are more excited for doing this than going out and choosing a ready made character cake. Should be fun

Possession

Happy birthday Miss Fuddle.

Skint_yet_Again

Have just enjoyed reading the whole thread and lots of sense on here !

These are my common sense "top tips" Some of which have probably already been mentioned and some people may not agree with me but thats ok they work for me :cool:

1. I have tried cheap cereal with DS (age 17) but ended up throwing it away. Now I buy what he likes when on offer and hide it - otherwise he would eat several bowls a day.

2. I ignore the fancy cleaning aisle & fancy adverts for cleaning products - I stick to bleach and stardrops and elbow grease, and a cheapo bathroom cleaner from a!di. The cheapest (nice padded/quilted ) toilet rolls we can get are 4 for £1 and these are from £land or ice!and so I get 4 packs a month to last us.

3. Other than cereal mentioned and loo rolls for a month, I do not stockpile. Limit budget & found food was just money sitting in my cupboard/freezer. I got rid of chest freezer as I found we only ever ate less than a 1/4 of the contents. I have a fridge/freezer which has 2 drawers for frozen stuff and I keep enough frozen bits to make a quick meal and a loaf of bread. I cook enough for 1 meal and then any leftovers are eaten for lunch the next day. This works for me, but I do understand batch cooking works for others

4. My only gadget i have bought is a pressure cooker. It makes lovely meals from tougher/cheaper cuts of meat in about 10-20 minutes, soups, stews, casseroles, curry.

5. I make flapjack and desserts in my microwave in about 5 mins. I also nuke jacket potatoes and then finish them off on the convection setting as its a combi microwave to crisp up

6. The dreaded Xmas ..... my family have agreed a limit of £10 - £15 each as we all agreed it was nice to give something and we ask one another for a list of a few items we would like so its a bit of a surprise but at least the present is wanted/useful. Last year my mum bought me shower gel, shampoo, hair products. I have also had new gloves and scarf another time.

7. I have cut down on petrol to the bare minimum and do not fill the tank. I once filled it and then fell ill and the money was sat in the car outside my house when I needed it for other things. Now I buy petrol once a week just enough to get to work/shopping and a couple of emergency trips and luckly I have got it down to £10 a week

8. We have extra blankets and throws for winter. If DS moans hes cold I tell him to put a jumper on. If my nose gets cold (not quite to the stage when it has icicles on !!) I put the heating on

9. My washing machine kept making small holes in tshirts. Not sure why have checked for sharp bits etc... anyway, rather than buy a new machine I have bought a mesh laundry bag. I put all tshirts and any delicates in there and there have been no more holes. The tshirts were repaired (darning ) and are worn for slobbing around the house/gardening/decorating or the really bad ones were cut up for cleaning cloths

10. Old sheets/duvet covers past their usefulness are used as decorating dust sheets

11. Meal planning - I work out 7 days meals for example if I buy mince I work out how many meals it will make and incorporate it into that weeks meals ie 1 pack mince will make 2 meals for us so that week we might have shepherds pie and hm burgers. If I buy a pack of 8 sausages then that will be 2 meals that week.

12. when washing clothes I always make sure they are actually dirty, and make sure I have a full load or I make use of the 1/2 load 29min wash on my machine which was chosen specifically for this purpose. Or I do a full load on the "fast wash" cycle which is an hour. Do clothes really need to be washed for 1-2 hours unless they are really heavily soiled ?