Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

Herbyme

Hi all,
Just had a rush of money/energy saving enthusiasm. Switched suppliers to save about £20 a month, and dug out the OWL box which tells you how many pence of electricity you're using right now. Many things have been turned off. Fast.

I usually buy Weetabix cereal. After watching Eat Well for Less, I tried Asda and that was fine. Today I bought Aldi's version... hope it's ok, the nutritional panel makes it look almost identical... if it's eaten, it's a 'make do' result!

Still slow progress with my lettuce seeds. Have watered them with some Miracle Gro to see if it's the compost but not much change so far. BUT making do with the supermarket pot of coriander, re-potted in a bigger pot, does seem to be working, at least it hasn't died yet, they don't usually last long without re-potting. Thanks to whoever it was for that tip!

Sadly all efforts at thrift are undone by the vast cost of paying a supplier to come and deal with the two little 'villages' of clothes moth larvae in bedroom carpets. That'll teach us to have wool carpet. I fear they came in in a huge batch of rug wool I bought second hand. Oh dear. NB the pest man said insects often come into houses in second hand books - oh dear again, I love second hand books.

Mamaninie, you made me laugh! I used to HATE World Book Day (or bl**dy WBD as I used to know it) when mine were that age!

Right, now to really cut the electricity use, switch everything off and go to bed!

cheerfulness4

I'd not heard of Clothes Moth Larves before, Caroline. Googled them and can understand why you'd need to get shot of them quickly. Destructive little things and unpleasant.

Should be getting up but I'm laying upsidedown typing on my tablet in bed. Its so warm and cosy.

The plan for today is errands morning, trip to town for a look round the market and then home to sort through my seeds for the next sowing session of salad veg and possibly a few flowers.
DH has to fit my new cover on my plastic greenhouse and anchor it to the wall firmly ready for some of my seed trays. Then he has to repair the gate as the winds have loosened some screws and I'd like him to dig over one of my raised beds, avoiding disturbing my beetroot which will soon be ready for cooking in my large slow cooker.

Plan a late afternoon visit to mum and dad and then chilli jam making if not done this afternoon. Finally an evening round the telly knitting with DH.
Thats me sorted then. I can hear him fetching us a coffee in bed now.

Herbyme

Cheerfulness, your day sounds really lovely. I hope you really enjoy all those cosy activities

Well, the Aldi 'Weetabix' were pronounced 'exactly the same' by DS2, so that's a result! 5p each instead of 10p each. So 2 a day over the course of a year makes about £36 of painless saving (thank you Greg).

And wow, thanks hugely to Prinzess for the Open University idea! Once I'd found it on their website, I found some brilliant short courses. I have to show evidence of CPD for my professional accreditation so this is a real boon.

misstara

Morning all

I've accumulated a small pile of mending (mostly OHs stuff) so plan to get out the sewing machine to tackle that tomorrow. Long day at work today so have got my HM soup and YS baguette to take for lunch and then will get my tea for free

I was out for tea last night with a couple of friends, had a lovely time catching up and spent a grand total of £12 so was really pleased with that. Hope everyone has a good day.

[Deleted User]

Louth sounds a brilliant place to live,I live in the Garden of England (Kent )and if I want to drive down to Faversham there is a gorgeous shop there called Macknade's which do a variety of stuff ,herbs spices cheese etc but it also has a usually pretty hefty price attatched as well.So I go there on a 'Happy Cah day when I have saved up to splash out a bit on things I cannot buy locally. Its like a mini Harrod's food hall and just the smell as you walk into the shop makes you want to buy everything in sight
Even Aldees store is in Sittingbourne about 6 miles away excellent and spotlessly clean. There is one in Gillingham a bit closer but its not up to much and everything seems piled on the floor in an awful mess
Well I have the day off today as son-in-law is working from home so I don't have the school run to sort out.So today I shall just please myself and just potter about indoors .Tomorrow is Aldee big shop day so I shall work out what I can get and use my voucher so with £20.00 left from February's budget and £15.00 from March's one I shall be looking to buy enough to keep me going for several weeks.Some of my basic cooking bits need replenishing Icing sugar,honey,soft marg etc and my tinned store of fruit need topping up.I think I'll get several long life milk cartons as well as I don't use that much milk and have found that a 4 pinta is often too much to use in a week unless I use it up with milk puddings.
Well the sun is out here in Kent and I luckily got all of my washing dried yesterday so I may do a spot of ironing.But another NSD for me today making it no.four this month :):)
Have a good and frugal day chums
JackieO xxx

silvasava

Sunny here in Hampshire - so a load in the machine for pegging out. Off to the boat later for some more sanding, getting there & she's looking good!
House fairying inbetween
Have a good day everyone

vhalla1478

Good Morning, Everyone, I hope you're all ok,

JackieO, have you considered freezing milk if you prefer fresh to longlife? I live alone most of the time and that's what I've started to do; it doesn't seem to hurt it or impair the flavour - I do use full fat milk, though; I don't know whether it would work with semi-skimmed.

I was very pleased to hear, on the news today, as I'm a coffee drinker, that 3-5 cups daily are good for the heart and prevention of strokes; apparently there's now evidence that they help keep the arteries unclogged. A few years ago when I was very stressed out over my second husband's behaviour, I was prescribed blood pressure tablets which made me feel terrible even though I tried different ones. I decided I'd rather have high blood pressure than feeling the way medication made me feel, so didn't renew the prescription. A couple of weeks later I had a phone call from my GP asking why I hadn't. He said, 'We're concerned - what would you say to us if you had a stroke because we hadn't looked after you? I replied 'I probably wouldn't be able to speak if I had a stroke, so I wouldn't say anything'. To give him his due, he cracked out laughing. And when I did split up with my husband soon afterwards my blood pressure went back to normal, whatever 'normal' is.

Here's a nice recipe for exotic fruit scones - I can't remember where I got this from, but as it's scribbled in one of my little note books, I must have got it from a friend at some time. I always carry a note book with me, for measurements, 'wants' for the house etc; I don't make too many mistakes on size that way. That is, apart from a cupboard which I fell in love with when I moved in here and was sure would fit in the bathroom for my towels etc. It did, but wouldn't go up the stairs (they twist round and have a low ceiling from the kitchen) so my DS had to take the window out of my bedroom and slot said cupboard through with much muttering under the breath. But it does look good!

Anyway, I digress.


Exotic Fruit Scones - makes 12-15

12 ounces SR flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting, one and a half tsp baking powder, 3 ounces butter at room temperature, 2 ounces sultanas, an ounce dried apricot slices, half an ounce mixed candied peel, 2 large free range eggs, beaten, plus extra for glazing, 110 ml whole milk.

Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees. Place the flour and baking powder in a large mixing bowl, then rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add all the dried fruits and stir to combine. Mix a well in the centre and pour in the beaten eggs and milk. Mix with a wooden spoon, starting from the centre of the well and stirring outwards until you have a sticky dough. cover the bowl with clingfilm or a damp cloth and leave to rest for 5 minutes.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour, then knead the dough vigorously for 2 minutes until it's smooth and elastic. Rest the dough for another 5 minutes.

Roll out the dough to approximately one and a half inches thick and use a 6cm fluted cutter to cut out the scones. Place on a non-stick baking sheet and brush with beaten egg. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes until golden brown.

Have a good day, All. I was going to sew today but if the weather holds I might start getting rid of some of the detritus in the garden and even (!) start decluttering the shed!

Viv xx

oldtractor

yesterday was a NSD hoping today will be too.

[Deleted User]

I did think of freezing milk ,but it would take up space in my freezer which unfortunately I don't have at the moment. I am still wading through my bulging freezer

I have been sorting out my stocks a bit this morning and found a big bag of lentils that went OOD end Jan 2015 ,but I'm not fussed as I have decanted them into two lock'n' lock jugs and they are now on the shelf in the kitchen where I can see them, apparently they are practically bomb-proof to store, and 5 weeks OOD is nothing :):)I am trying to get rid of surplus packaging in my cupboards and so far have repacked semolina,pudding rice and a packet of dried onions that forever kept falling out of the cupboard.Nice and neat and stored in my L'n'L boxes where I can see at a glance instead of thinking I have run out and buying more :):)
next on the agenda is repacking my freezer to try and find some space and revising my list of stuff that I have on the outside of the freezer to remind me whats on the inside :):)
Onwards and upwards chum
JackieO xxx

vhalla1478

Just a quickie - a pinch of bicarbonate of soda in the cooking water helps soften dried pulses and beans past their sell by date. But don't add salt - it has the opposite effect.

I've a WW2 recipe for cheese and lentil pudding which is cheap, filling and tasty; I'll try and find it later.

Viv xx