NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

fairy3

Evening all - nother NSD here as nowt needed but will be going to the market tomorrow for fresh stuff and butcher run. Have menu plan and list and will stick to it (hopefully) but have the back up of the GC to keep me on track. Have a knitting pattern for a top for myself which needs wool so may have a look and see whats on offer.
Mount Washmore is massive with 3 young adults and I do approx one wash per day and two on weekends for bedding. Am okay with stuff 'going again' and on the morning sweep of the bathroom quite often put the towels on the radiator, fold and put back in the bathroom. Powder or liquid is halved and I keep an additional empty bottle of conditioner which is diluted so two for one which keeps costs down, really should try the laundry recipe so thanks edwink
Am saving lots on shampoo due to the lush bar which is going strong, lathers well and sits in a glass ramekin (free with dessert from M&S many moons ago) kept away from the shower. It was half price in the sale at £2.57 and will be a keeper and would never have known but for this thread.
nursemaggie - thanks for the linky will watch it later.....
Eat well for less thoughts - well was not any better than last week and as others have said it is not factual enough to be educational and the 'healthy' side of it is poor - out of the amount of money only mince was swapped from the butcher and many of the meals were still fast food given to the children. It was unclear what mum or dad did all day apart from going to the SM and there was a real missed opportunity to get the children involved with preparing and helping cook some of the meals. A couple of good cookery books would have been a boon and the reduction of £114 a week still left a ridiculous amount to spend.
I will keep watching though in the hope that Greg and the other bloke actually meet some real families to help.

edwink

Fabric Conditioner Recipe for those that would like to have a go at making it!!!

BAKING SODA
WHITE VINEGAR
WATER
ESSENTIAL OILS (OPTIONAL)

ADD 1 CUP OF BAKING SODA TO A LARGE BUCKET
THEN ADD 1 CUP OF WATER TO THE BAKING SODA
THEN "SLOWLY" POUR IN 6 CUPS OF VINEGAR (LET IT FIZZ)
ADD 6 MORE CUPS OF WATER TO THE MIXTURE
STIR ALL TOGETHER

ADD ESSENTIAL OILS AS REQUIRED (LAVENEDER IS NICE)

POOR IN TO CONTAINERS READY FOR USE (I USE THE WHITE VINEGER GLASS BOTTLES (WASHED OUT))

Many of you might think that your laundry will come out smelling of vinegar but it doesn't. Once you have made the conditioner there be no vinegar smell to it!!!

I always enjoyed making this one!!!

Edwink x

suzybloo

Evening folks, thoughts with those going through difficult times :-( x
This not buying in 2015 has really got a grip of us hasn't it! Shopping wise I am around £42 so far out if £160 so doing not too badly. Incidental buying budget of £100 has not been touched yet, along with another £5 off ebay into the pot- things so far are looking promising for February. I have 4 other items on ebay and have watchers on 3 - fingers crossed they sell as that's another £40 in the pot. I am Definately finding meal planning for all meals and lunch boxes is the way to go, no waste and no extra buying.
Sorry can't remember who was asking if we have any purpose to doing this, mine is to be debt and mortgage free by December 31st 2019!
Keep going folks- the further we sail the easier it's becoming!

GreyQueen

:eek: I've just finished watching the second Eat Well for Less on iplayer and I can honestly say I have never seen anyone make such a fist of prepping carrots.

Take a carrot in one hand and one of those peelers with the edge held horiontally, whip it along the carrot, rotating in your hand. Peels a carrot in seconds, top and tail it. run the (small flexible) knife along from top to tail once, still holding the carrot, rotate 180 degrees and run the blade along again, still holding the carrot together, cut into two or three lengths, still holding the carrot and drop. Et voila, carrot sticks in less time than it took to type this, no chopping board necessary.

I guess if she had a job as well as a family she'd've been faster. What a waste of a super kitchen, let's hope they get better at cooking in the future.

I was taken aback by the portion sizes they gave to even the smallest children, and the amount of food left piled up on even the adults' plates at the end of the meal. To my mind, it would have been better to have the stuff in serving dishes on the table, serve smaller amounts to the children, and allow them to request seconds if necessary. Then you'd have usable leftovers if it wasn't needed, not bin-scrapings.

Busymumofthreeplusdog

edwink wrote: »

Fabric Conditioner Recipe for those that would like to have a go at making it!!!

BAKING SODA
WHITE VINEGAR
WATER
ESSENTIAL OILS (OPTIONAL)

ADD 1 CUP OF BAKING SODA TO A LARGE BUCKET
THEN ADD 1 CUP OF WATER TO THE BAKING SODA
THEN "SLOWLY" POUR IN 6 CUPS OF VINEGAR (LET IT FIZZ)
ADD 6 MORE CUPS OF WATER TO THE MIXTURE
STIR ALL TOGETHER

ADD ESSENTIAL OILS AS REQUIRED (LAVENEDER IS NICE)

POOR IN TO CONTAINERS READY FOR USE (I USE THE WHITE VINEGER GLASS BOTTLES (WASHED OUT))

Many of you might think that your laundry will come out smelling of vinegar but it doesn't. Once you have made the conditioner there be no vinegar smell to it!!!

I always enjoyed making this one!!!

Edwink x

Where do you buy large quantities of baking soda?
The recipe I use for washing powder uses soap, borax(substitute) and soda crystals.
Busy x

Synonymous

I have just watched it too GreyQueen, was shocked that the three-year-old had a bigger portion of chilli than I would have. It was the same last week too. They should call it "Eat whatever you were eating already, for less" The quality of food health-wise hasn't been changed, they're eating exactly the same in different packaging and at a different price.

I can see that many people need these baby steps, or to not have their worldviews challenged too strongly, but in this case the only way you would be eating 'well' for less is if you were eating well already but paying over the odds. After savings I think they were still over double the national average for a family of six.

Edwink, thanks for the washing recipes, do you know what other essential oils work well as I don't get on with lavender?

Someone recommended summernaturals when I asked about bulk Bicarb and vinegar (thank you!). However for me their £7 postage wouldn't make it worth it and the white vinegar is actually cheaper in Tesco I think at about 44p per pint. Does anyone have other bicarb supplier recommendations please? I searched 4 asian supermarkets this week but they were non-plussed. We have quite an affluent community of Chinese students so prices are actually quite high and the only think they sold in bulk was rice and flour. Also, where do people get cheap dried lentils, beans etc please?

NBI is going well here, less than £40 spent on food this year, no toiletries or clothes so far. I do 1-2 loads of washing per week and to the person who mentioned doing half loads (sorry I'm bad with names!) I read recently that there's no real benefit to half loads, even if you have a special setting, so it might be worth saving up longer for a full load? I sometimes wear/use clothes, bedding etc in appropriate colours to make up a wash.

purpleshoes_2

would epsom salts be able to be used in place of baking soda? I got 10kgs of those for 14 quid on ebay.

edwink

Busymumofthreeplusdog wrote: »

Where do you buy large quantities of baking soda?
The recipe I use for washing powder uses soap, borax(substitute) and soda crystals.
Busy x

Hi Busy

I used to try and get the baking soda if I saw it on offer, which I know can be rare!! I bought the little pots of baking soda and called that a cup for making these recipes, I should have mention that in the recipes earlier!! So for the fabric detergent that makes 2 Gallons it would be 2 pots and the fabric conditioner that makes 13 cups it would be one pot. Two gallons is quite a lot so you could halve it or make even less if you wanted to just to see if it is worth making. Also the fabric conditioner will last for ages. That needs to be put in to glass jars or bottles and not plastic!!

Would you like to share your recipe for the washing powder that you make? I wouldn't mind having a go a making that myself. Maybe others would like to try that if they prefer powder to liquid detergent!!

I tried once to make washing up liquid but I did not find it much of a success as I didn't find that it made soap suds, not that you need bubbles anyway but it just seemed flat I suppose. I made a lovely smelling Almond oil one without the bubbles, smelt adorable but did not find it washed the grease off of plates etc.

Anyone have a good recipe for washing up liquid they would like to share??

Edwink x

GreyQueen

Yeah, they didn't seem to 'see' the amount of food which the children were leaving behind. There's a big difference in what the 3 year old and the 10 year old can eat. They're pretty obviously an affluent family, and my own background is pretty basic, factory workers, but I found the food waste shocking. If you don't want it, don't put it on your plate.

After all, leftover chili con carne is just begging for another outing as a topping on baked potatoes, isn't it? :rotfl:

Busymumofthreeplusdog

Washing powder recipe

1 bar of soap, any will do but I use a shop basic lemon scented bar
2 cups of borax
2 cups of washing soda ( soda crystals)

Finely grate soap ( I grate then blitz with hand blender) mix with borax & washing soda. Tis done! 1-2 tablespoons per load.
I wasn't convinced the whites were coming up as good so in this last batch I've added a table spoon of v@nish, (the one for the White wash) in the mix

Think I will try the liquid next and the fabric softner. Thanks for the recipes x

I ended up buying a borax substitute from Am@zon