Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

silvasava

Lynplatinum - it was me that posted about the living lettuce. I got it from another poster on one of the forums last year.
All you do is replant the lettuce in a container that's about 4 times the size of the little shallow one they come in. I carefully pull them apart and replant like seedlings - give them a good water and they recover pretty quickly and will grow on for ages. I'll try to post a picture of the ones I did about 3 weeks ago. I used 2 packs in an old window box - very MMM and convenient!

janb5

JackieO wrote: »

I have to phone EDF later today as I am £265 in credit towards my coming year's bills and they have said that my D/D just won't increase!!! now that I don't mind ,but I fail to see when they have a large chunk of my cash why they should hang onto it 'just in case ' for the next year .Its like going into Sainsburys and paying them £265 to cover any possible increases in food prices for the coming year !!! I think not :):) words will be spoken after my coffee booster shortly :)


JackieO xxx

Jackie- have a look around at other utility companies just to get a comparison. I think you said in previous posts that you live in a cottage . I read somewhere that the utility companies have to give you a refund at the annual review but might be mistaken. Certainly I have had refunds when I have overpaid.

EDF arent known for their brilliant customer service. Have a look on Martin`s suggestions, I`m with the Co op and they have been quite good.

cheerfulness4

Hi folks,
I'm here Lyn reading along as always. Viv's right too, I've been galivanting everywhere while DH is off work. Yesterday we took my mum and dad out to dinner at the little garden centre we'd discovered in the country. Dad was thrilled at the HM meat pie. A lady in the village bakes all the scrummy things they have on the menu.

Now I'm laid low with a rotten cold, the full works, can't breathe, can't taste (isn't that just the worse bit!) and be bothered to do anything much. DH goes back to work tonight so we'll have a quiet day I think pottering round the garden.

Lyn I too have been looking at my own budgets at the moment and making decisions. This year will be a year of various mini challenges within the main one I originally set myself. My £3 per day plus extras & non foods budgets will still remain the main theme I will follow but I've given some thought to certain times when I will loosen the purse strings for a set period of time.

In the next few weeks I have a holiday coming up and I should have another hospital appointment. For both I should really lose some weight. (I can see my doctors face now, 'Oi, you were supposed to go down, not up!')

Now I could lose weight on the budget I've set, I'm quite sure of that, but would I stick to it? That I'm not so convinced of. The other consideration is do I want to do it on that tight a budget?
My money saving means I have choices now. I could afford to ease the budget for a given time without it causing us financial difficulties.
I've been pondering these decisions.

By tonight I will make my mind up but I think I will probably increase my budget until the end of June, while assessing along the way if it is indeed making it easier to drop some weight.
I do know for a fact that the option to rejoin a Slimming Club online is rejected. (I don't do groups as I'm anti-social:rotfl: )
I don't feel I'd benefit from that again and would rather use the money towards food.

Well that was a very long post after being a bit quiet.

Today will be a day of browsing my Nigel Slater cook book on the sofa for foody inspiration and also sowing my beans and some more Morning Glory and Sweet Peas I have soaking.

cheerfulness4

Love the quote in your sig, VJSMUM.

janb5

Hi Cheerfulness. You might find that your doctor has the option to nominate you for 6 free slimming sessions with either SW or WW. My friend has been given this so it is worth an ask. If you dont like groups just weigh and go but some people find the chats afterwards quite helpful.

I am currently doing SW ( having done most diets in my life!) Sadly I am not going to grow so need to monitor my weight as I am only 5`3"

Or in the interests of MM &M you might find it easier to do it as a family and tweak your existing diet. It can be done without spending a fortune.I refuse to cook different meals for everyone and there are 5 of us here. HTH

VJsmum

cheerfulness4 wrote: »

Love the quote in your sig, VJSMUM.

Yes, me too I was re reading "three men in a boat" (hilarious book, thoroughly recommended) and it jumped out at me:)

cheerfulness4

VJSMUM, I remember one brilliantly hot summer and laying in a lounger readingvthat book, laughing out loud as I did. Not many books make me do that.

Jan, I love SW. The lads joined me before and kept lots of theirs off, DS more so, but we didnt finish the job so to speak and I've popped on a fair bit of whst I lost.
I know the programme well, its easy and there is masses of help online in various places so I should be fine with the menu planning part.
Its the getting my head in gear part that takes longer. Losing weight can be quite a complex thing emotionally for many of us.
I've got in the groove before and I dare say I shall again and DS and DH have both jumped onboard to support me again. You watch me sulk as the weight just slides off them. How do men do that?!!

janb5

It`s so unfair how men do that. For some bizarre reason two of my boys were whippet thin whereas I am have generous boobs and a broad back to boot. Maybe the broad back is to protect me from insults along the way!

Anyhoo, after a lot of winging and crossness on my part that I had dieted before, lost the weight and put it on again to discover I need to do it AGAIN because, as my mother used to say , of an " overactive fork" ( My mother used to come out with this saying in the 50`s when people blamed your `glands` and she refuted that claim!


So now I have lost half stone with possibly another stone to go. SW is fine- just don't like the Americanisms such as see you at Group etc.

cheerfulness4

'Overactive fork', I just love your mum's saying.:rotfl:

Just tried a dressing from my Nigel Slater book. It a thai style twist on a normal omelette.
His was a recipe for a basic omelette with spring onions chopped in and fresh coriander leaves.
He then made a dressing for the omelette (didn't know we dressed omelettes :huh: ) by mixing 1tbs lime juice, 1tbs fish sauce, 1tbs dark brown sugar and a little chopped chilli & grated ginger. I drizzled it over my salad leaves, too.
I shall be using that one again, it was lovely and fresh.
It was a recipe from Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries 2. I love how fast and simple his ideas are.

silvasava

Just a quickie - this is 2 packs of the living lettuce replanted - they only had the one type but I've noticed there are a couple of different assortments so I'm going to do another lot.
I too read 3 men in a Boat - my english teacher at school back in the late 50's had it on her curriculum - there is also a follow on - 3 men in a bummel!

Have a good day all x

ps: Cheerful - do take a look at the 5:2 diet - easy to do with the family, very MS and there's a thread on it here too. I love it as there's no 'faffing'