Friday 17th October - What small DFW things will you do today?

peony40

Thank you for the welcomes.

It is nice to read what others are doing, it gives me ideas.

I have managed to squirrel away some loose change that I found in an old purse, I will walk up to town next week and use the change machine at my bank (no charge to use) and put in my savings to start an emergency fund.

Sometimes, I can get discouraged as I don't have my own money due to having to give up work through ill health about 3 1/2 years ago. I am at the age now when i am trying to work out the best way for my hubby and I to manage when we reach 60+. I have ten years to try and get things sorted.

Off to tidy up the kitchen and then get my copy of the TWG out and seek inspiration.

Take care all.

DawnW

Ratison wrote: »

DawnW, your chilli jam sounds lovely. I always do at least one hamper for family members at Christmas, and I have a chilli plant, so I will have a google for recipes.

Hi Ratison, I grow chillis as well. I used Nigella Lawson's recipe, which is really easy. It states the long red chillis which I would think are probably milder than the hot little horrors I have grown (and used) this year! No worries, it just means we will use less and it will last longer

foxgloves

Hello Friday Frugalistas,
Bit of a downer last night as we learned that mr f will shortly be back on Section 188 at work ("You are at risk of redundancy"). We thought we'd be OK for 2 years before this reared its head again, but it seems not. More austerity cuts, more job losses to come. No use worrying too much till we have hard facts, so will just continue with our frugal ways.
Today's stuff:
*Have saved a bit of energy by sharing bath tub, doing laundry overnight on Economy 7 tariff & line drying it, turning dehumidyfier off & opening windows instead (warm sunny day) & not having any heating on at all except for towel radiator.
*Cleaned whole house using minimal products - my annual bottle of 'Stardrops' is still going!
*Cleaned out the fridge.
*Found some over-ripe tomatoes. Made lentil & tomato soup in the slow cooker. It will go in the freezer for lunches next week.
*Did a few surveys.
*Planned a free day out tomorrow. Decided to visit nearby NT property (we are members) taking a picnic & a flask of coffee so we avoid the cafe. We have both almost spent all our October 'Personal Spends' allowance......well, I have a bit more left than mr f but I want to save it for our holiday.
*Baked 6 St. Clement's muffins (Mary Berry recipe.....they are yum!)
*Rescued 2 pairs of thick winter gardening gloves. Both brand new, still with tags. Our shed roof is leaking, these gloves got soaked & then thoroughly slimed by a slug!! mr f was going to chuck them in the bin until I stopped him. He said "But that's SLUG SLIME!!" & I pointed in the direction of the house & said 'And that's where hot water & soda crystals live!".....anyway, they are now fine & drying on the line.
*Washed 2 coloured glass lanterns which were also destined for the bin. Now have new tea lights in them & are hanging in the tree on our courtyard. More items kept out of landfill!
*Won the food battle with cat today. He licked all the jelly off his meat last night & refused to eat the rest of it. It was served up to him again this morning on a new dish. Refused again. Stomped off. Then tried mega charm offensive. I did not cave in. Finally today at 4pm, he ate last night's dinner. That round goes to me, oh yes! I am not wasting perfectly good food which we have paid for.
*Continue current knitting project which is a pair of silk lace socks for me.......going to wear them over black lace tights. A bit ageing hippy, but who cares?
Ziggy - Glad you are feeling better.
Welcome to all the newbies. If your folk at home get sick of you talking about money saving, just get on here....we bloody love it!
f x

ziggy2407

Bagpuss741 wrote: »

Morning Ziggy, we seem to have two threads:o How to I delete mine??

oops, sorry

peony40

Foxgloves, sorry to hear about Mr F and possibility of redundancies at his workplace.

I can just imagine your cat being 'cat like', well done on winning that round.

I think I have a very old bottle of stardrops lurking in the cupboard. Do you use it for everything? I have a whole assortment of cleaning bits and pieces that I need to work through.

Your lentil and tomato soup sounds nice. Hubby keeps mentioning soup so I must make some next week.

twiggy86

peony40 wrote: »

Thank you for the welcomes.

I have managed to squirrel away some loose change that I found in an old purse, I will walk up to town next week and use the change machine at my bank (no charge to use) and put in my savings to start an emergency fund.

Do you mean like the change machines you get in supermarkets to put all your loose change in but the supermarket ones take a cut?


If so I need to check out my bank as I normally use the supermarket ones and it annoys me how much they take!

peony40

Hi Twiggy,

That's right, my bank is the HSBC if this helps at all. It is handy as it is credited to your current account.

Not sure if other banks offer this service or not?

foxgloves

Hi Peony40,
I do use Stardrops for most things. I dilute it in a bucket for cleaning floors & that kind of jobs, & use it neat on a cloth for hard to shift grease like cooker hob. Mostly I use it diluted in an old recycled spray bottle & that takes care of the bathroom, sinks, work surfaces, fridge, everything else, really. I buy loo cleaner, washing-up liquid, laundry powder & also soda crystals (about 89p a bag) for tough cleaning jobs plus things like unblocking sinks/drains, removing stains on laundry, cleaning the oven, etc. I use washing up liquid diluted in warm water with a squirt of lemon juice or vinegar for cleaning windows, then polish it off the old fashioned way with scrunched up newspaper. I do still have a few remnants of other cleaning products I'm using up, which I won about 5 years ago......stuff like stainless steel cleaner & marble cleaner......I'd never buy that, but am trying to get it used gradually to save on waste. I like beeswax type polish for furniture (if it ever gets lucky & gets a polish). I like doing all the old-style stuff.....cooking from scratch, preserving, growing fruit & veg, making do & mending, etc.......but not cleaning! I do one big clean each week usually Friday so it's nice for the weekend, then that's about it. Always better stuff to do with my time than clean!
f x

Aloofdragon

Just a small wee thing I done today was finally pluck up the courage and stop dilly dallying to contact S/C and have them take the pressure off our lil family


I read this thread daily and have had umpteen fab ideas from here I am now going to start posting and doing instead of festering in the background x

peony40

Thanks Foxglove, I need to try and sort out all my cleaning bits and pieces.

Hello Aloofdragon, that is a good first step you have taken today. I am very new on this thread so am enjoying picking up tips too.