Simple living in our tiny 500 sq ft cottage, on our way to becoming mortgage free.

Youknowme_2

Hi GemDoll,

Looking forward to reading your diary. I am intrigued by prospect of living in a 'tiny' house. If it were not for family visiting regulalry and need for a guest bedroom I would be up for the challenge. Not sure about OH though!

GemDoll

Youknowme wrote: »

Hi GemDoll,

Looking forward to reading your diary. I am intrigued by prospect of living in a 'tiny' house. If it were not for family visiting regulalry and need for a guest bedroom I would be up for the challenge. Not sure about OH though!

Hello!
Tiny house living fascinated me so much we decided to actually make the jump and do it! I found the idea intriguing, especially with children in the mix. There are loads of Americans doing it (lots will come up on Google about it) but the idea hasn't caught on so much with people in the UK doing it intentionally (I'm sure there are lots of people experiencing it who have nochoice if you see what I mean) It was actually a huge shock to the system when we first moved in from a such a large rental with a 100 ft garden to boot. My brain had to get used to literally living in a smaller space and seeing the walls closer together :rotfl: before moving we were literally giving away furniture etc that wouldn't fit in the cottage. Bin bags and bin bags of stuff got given away to charity. I have no clue what percentage of stuff we had to give up but it was HUGE.

We have two girls and they share a (tiny) bedroom, I grew up sharing with my sister and we loved it so I'm hoping they don't feel too hard done by!

Crumpets

Hi Gemdoll, sorry to hear about your soggy bottomed quiche, I'm yet to attempt blind baking but I'm hoping to make an apple pie this week so will be giving it a go. I was wondering what you used to blind bake, do you have baking beads or do you use an alternative. I'm hoping not to have to buy baking beads but I don't know what else I could use.

My girls also share a room, and until recently all 3 of mine were in the same room and they got on fine. I'm sure your girls will love sharing.

Crumpets x

KolaKube

Hi crumpets, (and sorry to take over your thread Gemdoll!) - we use a bag of dried peas to blind bake with. Obviously you can't use them as peas after that but I just keep them in a tupperware ready for next time lol.

Gemdoll I am also intrigued by small house living - we looked at a lovely house when we were searching but it was petite to say the least - having downsized so much stuff must give you an amazing sense of Zen!

xx

SmlSave

Hi Gemdoll and Crumpets I hope your blind baking goes ok You can use anything to 'hold' the base down like pasta or even cutlery!

I find the best way to blind bake is line the pastry with tin foil and then put your beans/peas/pasta on top for 15mins and then take the foil and weight off and bake for 5mins more. The tin foil helps you lift the beans off without burning yourself/making a mess.

Lots of luck I find it hard to get crisp bottom as I like my pastry thin and often have a tiny hole where my egg mixture escapes!

I'm very impressed by your frugal food Gemdoll

Crumpets

Morning all! Thanks for the baking tips :beer:

Have a good day x

GemDoll

SmlSave wrote: »

Hi Gemdoll and Crumpets I hope your blind baking goes ok You can use anything to 'hold' the base down like pasta or even cutlery!

I find the best way to blind bake is line the pastry with tin foil and then put your beans/peas/pasta on top for 15mins and then take the foil and weight off and bake for 5mins more. The tin foil helps you lift the beans off without burning yourself/making a mess.

Lots of luck I find it hard to get crisp bottom as I like my pastry thin and often have a tiny hole where my egg mixture escapes!

I'm very impressed by your frugal food Gemdoll

Thank you for tips! I'm taking all of this on board. Pastry will not beat me!

GemDoll

:mad: So we had extra little visitors in the house this morning! Nits! So that was my little one sat in the tub for an hour before school while I put the nit comb repeatedly through her hair. I'm washing all the bedding towels as we speak and am going to have to put it all through the tumble dryer as it's damp out

I Was meant to be making bread rolls today and bean burgers but that has had to be put on the back burner while I sort the laundry, so we will have the same meal as last night and my husband has just e.mailed to say he will sort the dinner out tonight and do the chopping etc :T I slept badly last night so I'm not having a good day :mad: I'm in long term remission from cancer so when I don't sleep it's BAD, I suffer from fatigue anyway.

GemDoll

Thing are back on track today, bread rolls have been rising in airing cupboard this morning and are currently baking in the oven. I'm using half of the rolls for homemade bean burgers for dinner tonight and the other half I will be slicing when cold and filling with grated cheese to pop in freezer for grabbing for children's school lunch boxes. Have been busy getting quotes for work being done on our cottage, currently trying to get a staircase made. All slow progress though.

GemDoll

Cooking a carrot and lentil soup right now with ingredients from fridge/larder cupboard. I'm planning on baking cheese scones to go with it. Considering we spent £50 on food this week I feel like we're eating well!:j

Tumble dryer on again, it's raining outside so no chance of being able to line dry. Didn't want to attempt to line dry indoors because the heating isn't even on. I try and avoid line drying inside because I don't want to cause damp. :eek: and it's a bit miserable to have the window open to let the moisture escape. So tumble dryer it is! :mad: