NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

suki1964

Long time no post

Welcome back jackieO. Glad to hear all went well and you are on the road to recovery

Edwink sorry to hear you are still struggling. Hope you get a respite soon


And I must ask your advice re chickens, we have ordered a coop:eek:

But I'll annoy you in pm if that's ok?

So yes we are adding chickens to our lives. Not money saving at all because it's cheaper to buy eggs, but it's something I've always wanted and now the grand kids are getting into growing your own, it's a step onwards for them in learning about the food they eat. Coop is on it's way ( managed to negotiate free delivery from the mainland ) and I was down the hardware shop this morning getting posts and wire for a run. We have a huge side garden where they are going. Will save us time and money mowing there. Not sure what chookes to get but the sales are first week in the month so will take advice

The weather here is dire a couple of warm sunny days, and now cool, overcast and down right stormy at times. Our veg is so far behind The only things that are on target are the spuds. Still I'm pleased to say I have flowers on my courgettes so they are being nursed along

We had the kids and grand kids here for the weekend, first time in a while, and I was really mindful at how much the shopping bill increased - just on veg!!! Seriously it was an eye opener and it really must be hard for those who cook for families every day.

De cluttering has come to a standstill and has indeed taken a step back. Hubby picked up an edwardian chaise lounge the other day for £20 and spent the week stripping it back. We had to pay for an upholster as it was too beautiful for us to attempt it ourselves - seat recovering is our limit. So now I have a beautiful piece of furniture that I have to find space for. It's for the bedroom eventually but right now we have the grandsons bed in there. He just doesn't seem to be too keen in having his own room when he stays, possibly because it will be on a different floor. But I will have to bite the bullet and insist he gives it a go when he comes for the summer.

Work is getting busier. Unfortunately my aches and pains increase with each shift. Now have tennis elbow as well as a frozen shoulder to contend with I'm often sat here at night with an ice pack on the elbow and a heat pad on my neck lol. Still hubby is really enjoying his work and best of all he's home at 4.30 every night so we have plenty of time to be together working around the house and garden which after 8 years living apart is just joyful

Busy cooking at home today. Got a reduced lump of pork which is going to be slowed cooked pulled pork and some very cheap lamb shanks which are bubbling away in red currant and rosemary. Smells beautiful in here, can't wait for dinner:beer:

Take care everyone x

nursemaggie

A blessing to count I never thought would be, my tiny kitchen with so little cupboard space.

You cannot hoard food if you have no where to store it. There is no storage space anywhere in the house. My wardrobe we could not get upstairs has two huge draws which do nicely for sheets and towels. The wardrobe part has coats in it. We keep it in the front room which is my study come craft room. Some seasonal stuff like summer or winter duvets are kept in DS's fitted wardrobe. That is the sum of our storage space.

In 3 days it will be 2 years since I had my brush with death. I collapsed due to lack of blood I was bleeding internally. It turned out to be a huge cancer tumour that was bleeding. As I had to have 4 units of blood in theartre I must have come close to death.

That sort of thing sure focuses the mind and I had a big clear out of everything before we moved here. We did live in the town centre so I went to the charity shop two or three times a day for about a month. I had lost a lot of weight so my clothes were culled and I bought a few essential. I have only bought underwear and a coat since.

I was really drastic and even got rid of all the china I got as wedding presents and lots of thing like that. I actually over did it but it sure made the packing easy.

I do worry that if I was taken seriously ill again there may not be much food in like there was two years ago as I was due to go to the bank that day and then stock up on food. My freezer is well down so I think we will go shopping when I finish this. No big stocks though I just don't have room for them.

vulpix

Crumbs Nurse maggie,a brush with death focuses the mind alright.

I have sorted out the herbs and stuff and threw a bit away.I also remembered the shelf with salt,pepper,stock cubes,custard powder etc,etc.Food stuff you may not use every day but costs a fair bit if you had to replace all at once.

We went to Aldeeee today.I bought the usual £26 some pence but added a jar of carbonara to start a little stock of foods for the family when i am in hospital and after the op when i can't imagine i will feel bothered to cook.

Lovely to hear from you Edwink and Suki.There is nothing like the achievement of growing your own and even renovating pieces of furniture.As for hens they are so entertaining,worth it for that alone.

take care Vx

edwink

suki1964 wrote: »

Edwink sorry to hear you are still struggling. Hope you get a respite soon
And I must ask your advice re chickens, we have ordered a coop:eek: But I'll annoy you in pm if that's ok?

Yes of course that's fine Suki, anytime just PM me and I will help where I can. Don't worry if I delay in replying it is just that my vision has been disturbed by the Gent treatment. Hence the reason I am using a larger text at the moment as it is easier to see!!

Hope all on board have had a good day!! The weather has certainly cheered up!! Great for us veg growers and those with hens!!!

Edwink x

kboss2010

Primrose wrote: »

Oh I,m with you on the hoarding problem. Having had to clear out my parents' home of thirty years and now getting older myself I'm getting increasingly anxious to declutter before I grow incapable of coping with the exercise. The trouble is I,m married to a "might come in useful one day" hoarder and it sometimes becmes a topic of domestic dissent.

As a person who likes to try and plan ahead for the future I realise there quickly comes a point when you get beyond being able to cope with such a wholescale exercise but my husband is happy to let the future take care of itself. He always has something more interesting and productive to do, and I agree, decluttering isnt much fun but it's very liberating once it's achieved. I might ask for the promise of a "decluttering weekend" as my next birthday present. Not sure how that would go down! :eek: but at least it wouldn't cost anything!

On behalf of all of us hoarders, I apologise! Although there is hope. I'm getting better slowly, de cluttering one bag at a time

Lynplatinum

Ahoy there

I always thought of myself as someone who only bought what was needed! Well when my kitchen cupboards were replaced the other week I threw out half a carrier bag full of herbs, spices, powders for dips, strange things that had gone all sticky round the bottle tops - oooh yuk you dont wanna know!!! Since I now have less cupboard space I am now questioning what I keep 'just in case'. Its amazing! for example - ever since I can remember our family (my Mum, my Auntie and Great Aunt (when the were alive) and now me kept a tin of cherries in syrup in the cupboard. the last time I ate same was last year and, tbh, I did not enjoy them. times and tastes change (or maybe the manufacturer's recipe does???) and they tasted v bland and boring. However, out I went, and out of family habit I bought another tin of cherries. And there they lurk - looking at me and taking up space!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have decided that I will buy large tub of yogurt in next week's shop and puree them up with some almond essence and pour over the yog. With a bit of luck that will be tasty (ish) and then I wont buy any more!! Am now looking round @ other just in case items and thinking - would I really use that??? what about you folks do you have family 'just in case' items? :T

NBI today - went to the tip with the old kitchen cupboards but gave one to a friend who wanted it to store tools in garage! :cool: Also cut up an old pair of tracksuit bottoms for rags while watching the TV. I have got my ladder back from my sons and am gonna use up the paint in the shed to spruce up bathroom and boys bed rooms! But thats tomorrows plan! :j

am definitely on a quest here! I ll let you know how I do tomorrow! Nite all!

GreyQueen

Still NBI going on here, although I also have eyes on some paint in my shed. I'm (or rather my rented flat) is being scheduled for rewiring soon and it may well be that some of the decor needs to be redone afterwards.

My walls are all just emulsioned, most of them in the same colour, of which I have a half-full can, so will look at kondo-ing that onto the walls if possible. Also have some gloss painting to do, at some point when I have time off and the weather is too ropy for gardening.

For those who have paint etc that they don't need, that is no good to be donated to a community project/ given away via Freecycle etc, it might be worth keeping an eye on your local authority website looking out for hazardous waste amnesty days at the tip.

Many things which aren't routinely accepted at tips can be taken in on these special amnesty days. HTH.

[Deleted User]

Good Morning shipmates I did well at the shops yesterday and spent my 'cashback' from Capitol One card on the weeks 'big' shop.I had £17.06 to use and I spent £17.71 so Sainsbobs came to 65p for all my fruit and veg and week's shopping etc, then I spent £4.35 in M&S for eggs, reduced watercress and reduced strawberries so my spends for the week came to a fiver in cash :):) and no more shopping to buy for at least another week-ten days

My cash food purse has over half the food budget for the month intact so fingers crossed anything left over will wing its way to the holiday fund at the end of the month.I will be sorting out the cupboards this morning to see what can be used up over the next few weeks.
I too have a 'just in case' stock and my children always laughed at it but it has come in useful at times .I always have a couple of tins of sardines/pichards in store as they have often been used when times have got a bit lean.I even made a sardine and cheese Pizza once for my kids when they turned up with several pals in tow It went down a storm with the kids.here is another recipe thats cheap as chips and makes a change

Sardines with Couscous

1. Dice up some onion, pepper, carrot and courgette and cook in a tablespoon of olive oil in a medium frying pan.

2. Add the tomato juice from a cheap (Lidl?) tin of sardines and augment with 200ml of water/stock mixed with some tomato puree.

3. Season with pepper, garlic powder (and salt, if you absolutely must).

4. Simmer for 30 seconds, then remove from heat and stir in 200 gm couscous and the chopped up sardines. Cover and allow the couscous to absorb the flavour.
2 x shelled hard-boiled eggs, sliced in two. 2 dollops of mayonnaise. Surround by sliced cucumber, sliced cooked/pickled beetroot and lettuce. Maybe 2/4 slices of wafer-thin ham mixture.
This is gorgeous when the weather is hot and you are fed up with ordinary salads

Very tasty and streeetches well when feeding hungry youngsters

I guess you could use any tinned fish its just that sardines /pichards seem to have lots of flavour
Right time to get the kettle on
Have a great day what ever you are doing
Cheers chums
JackieO xxx

edwink

Just a little tip my ship mates might be interested in regarding tins of paint etc.!!!! After decorating, before we seal the tins to put away under the stairs cupboard we always put some in a jam jar and keep it under the kitchen sink with a paint brush attached by an elastic band. So If we ever brush past a wall and make a mark on it we have the right colour paint and a paint brush handy under the kitchen sink ready to do a touch up of the mark on the wall. There is no hunting around for the large tin of paint and then having to hunt around for a paint brush as it is all there ready to use. If you have different coloured walls around the house you can still do the same but just label the jam jars accordingly!! I have done this for years and have found it so very useful.

Hope this is of some use to some of you!!

Have a good day shipmates!!

Edwink x

[Deleted User]

I always store my paint tins upside down as well so you don't have that skin on the top to break .If you run out of undercoat I sometimes use plain white emulsion instead