Always Pass on What You Have Learned

wishus

I'm feeling much better today, though I am dreading having to face friends again, which I will have to soon.

Pretty tired as well. I spent most of last night cleaning, tidying and sorting out more bags of rubbish as things from the loft got transferred from their temporary storage space in the office to another temporary location in our bedroom. In the meantime, OH finished fitting carpet squares and fixing the loft ladder in place, so now I can access the space without feeling like I'm about to fall and die - at least on the way up. :eek:

Today's job is getting the electrician to fix the lights in the study, and OH hopes he'll switch the switches for us too, which he'd rather not do himself. We have dimmer switches fitted which don't cope too well with energy-saving light bulbs. :idea:

You know, reading a horror story about renting a room in a grim, haunted house like No One Gets Out Alive while you are working on your own badly decorated, dilapidated, dusty house, creating small rubble falls and uncovering mystery bits of paper and plastic detritus... well, its a bit unsettling, I must say. Halfway through, and it's horrible and violent, but very good. I will have to finish it before it starts haunting me! :eek: _pale_

But on the cheery side, I've been listening to The News Quiz and Marcus Brigstocke while I've been working, and thinking about dinner and how I'm going to use up that blue cheese I brought from Lidl that needs eating. I have to heartily agree with Mr Brigstocke that I cannot function without cheese and may have to adopt his faux-Latin motto:

Nulla cheesium nulla brainio :rotfl:

wishus

Hooray!!!!!! :j:T:j

Why all the cheers? My office light is fixed! Huzzah! No scrabbling around for the lamp to do anything in there!

The electrician came and only took an hour to fix that, plus fit 2 switches. Good job, well done. Plus, he reckons we don't need the house rewired as we had feared. That's a huge relief! :shocked: He has quoted us for a couple of other jobs for another time too.

OH got busy and fitted the coat rack in the hallway, so we no longer have to have them put away or else draped over chairs looking messy.

However, I got stuck in the city for hours as my bus was cancelled. I didn't get in until 7.30, and that was only because I caught a second bus from town to my house instead of walking back like I wanted to, so I didn't quite hit my steps target yesterday. So many times over the last week that bus has been cancelled. :mad: I pity the poor people having to travel further than my town as they only have one bus an hour as it is... and, well, when I did manage to get a bus, the regular one that was cancelled was also the last one to the city!

So getting home late, I basically cooked dinner and then was too tired to do anything else apart from the washing up. We had meant to shift boxes from the bedroom back into the now-ready loft space, but I was shattered. Conversation regarding money... I had saved £71 last month by getting the bus instead of the train, but if the buses are going to be regularly an hour late, I won't be fit to do job 2 in the evenings at all. But because the next project isn't a big earner, if I get a train pass the difference wipes out any profit after tax. What to do?

Before I went to bed, OH had a bath, so I watched Hugh's War on Waste on catch-up. Having read a review thread on here, I had expected it to be a little proselytizing, but actually thought it was quite informed, informative and eye-opening. So, I'm not the only one who would eat 3-day out of date hummus, but I'd never thought about adding it to soup! And the sight of all those parsnips going to waste was disgusting!

We have people going hungry in this country, relying on food banks. If we have excess food, we could be value-adding to it by preserving, which would then enable it to be passed to these centres, or sold on through regular consumer channels. Frozen parsnip roasties? Parsnip soup? Parsnip cakes, again, which could be frozen. Why is all this food being thrown away? Why can't we just buy the parsnips anyway? Morrisons, you say we wouldn't buy them. you are lying!:mad:

But then I thought about me... I'm an MSEer, so I ought to be brilliant already, but as I have signed up to the campaign I am making the following personal pledges:

• To reduce my food waste through smarter shopping and storage*
• To use up my leftovers where possible**
• To be vigilant about my recycling***

* Smart shopping I can do. Smart storage? Well, I have my egg crock now, and have flour tubs on my gift-wish-list. The flour I bought recently went into the freezer for a few days - all to help the war against weevils. I store my bananas away from other fruit now, but I have a squishy pear I don't know how I'm going to use up. Three tomatoes that are looking a bit squashy will go into tonight's chilli.
** Currently eating leftover Halloween cake as I type. Throwing food away should be a crime, so I won't stand for it, and will go for a 5km run after if I must! :rotfl:
***Well, here I admit a small fail, but one I can undo. I was sorting my office waste and I know a lot of paper went into a black bag which could be recycled. But that hasn't gone to the tip yet. I'll sort it out later.

I've made an effort already (besides eating the cake) . This morning I got up early and made a trip through the rain to the soggy bottom of the garden, where I emptied my kitchen compost into the garden compost bin. That will stop me throwing peelings in the general waste tonight. Well done me. :A

glass_half_full

Hi wishus,


Love your diary. Thanks for bringing the War on Waste to our attention. I heard the radio 4 thing about wonky parsnips, but I hadn't followed through to sign up on the petition, which I have now done.

mothernerd

I've gone a bit more extreme on food waste. Have recently changed bank accounts and now have access to cash and am shopping in cash. If I go out the back way and then into the library (adjacent side of the car park behind my house) the quickest way to the cash machine is down a back alley, behind some shops. last week there was an in date, unopened sandwich on top of one of the bins (on the lid not inside), no-one anywhere near that it could belong to, so I brought it home. Possibly someone decided on a pub lunch after buying the sandwich.

Today I followed the same route, half hoping the sandwich fairy had left me another gift. The bins were all lined up (think they leave them out all the time) and I saw something orange behind one. A whole pumpkin on the floor. Presumably the bar or one of the shops was using it as decoration and had discarded it after the celebrations. Not sure what to do with pumpkin but I believe it makes good soup. So it came home with me.

David123456

I have never accessed the forum part of MSE but have taken plenty of advice over the last 5 or so years. I felt compelled to share some advice with other who are on the path to freedom!

Today I made my final debt repayment (excluding mortgage), the feeling is worth the effort of paying down all debts, I can assure you all of this. 12 Months ago my wife and my debt combined was £18,000 split between a loan and two credit cards, 80% of this was refurbishing a property we bought but no other way of borrowing more from our mortgage lender. So not the biggest debt but sizable.

It took 10 months to repay this debt in full, £6990 was repaid once we sold the property to move to a bigger house, but the remaining £11,010 was paid off over 10 months, averaging £1101 per month.

This is how we did it, maybe it could work for you...

1) Cut all non essential spending, this included trawling through our direct debits, cancelling all music subscriptions, credit file checking services etc... this is the money equivalent of a dripping tap!
[Saving £100/Month]

2) Stop eating out so often - So we went from eating out 3 times a week to once. This saved us around £350 a month. You may not spend this much but I bet you spend more than you think on this, or perhaps buying lunches which you could make instead. I have a friend who spends £11 a day on lunch!
[Saving £350/Month]

3) Commit to repaying the debt - want to do it, be empowered by it and enjoy it. This will sound mental but it really helps. Its a game. You win when your debt is £0.00.
[Saving £0/Month]

4) No lottery, No gambling, No scratchcards - a personal bug bare of mine but I saved £40 a month. I have committed to stopping this ongoing.
[Saving £40/Month]

5) Using Topcashback.co.uk - I used this with military precision, took all offers, discounts, bank account incentives, life insurance bonuses, etc... This was tough but yielded £900 in 10 months. This is free money but 9/10 difficulty as it requires a large time investment and managing all the payments going out and stopping these when bonuses are paid.
[Saving £90/Month but this is maybe not for all of you]

6) Reduced our monthly personal sending budget from around £1000 a month to £600. This was fairly simple but it means not buying clothes or buying anything new at all really. The nomadic life for a few months.
[Saving £400/Month]

I think that the underlying theme was to stop the frivolity of wasteful spending.
My wife and I do have very good salaries but this was not the most powerful tool in paying off the debt. Everybody can save a good % off their monthly frivolity, and if your debt is in keeping with your income (ours was 20% of our annual income) then perhaps you can have a similar result but set a realistic time frame. Any payment off a debt is a positive and powerful move.

I hope this is of use to at least some of you and the very best of luck.

David:money:

wishus

glass_half_full - wonderful! I think HFW has a great initiative, will be proud to do my bit!

mothernerd - awesome finds! Sandwich fairy is probably me in my house. :rotfl:I hope you find good use for the pumpkin. I know they roasted slices on Saturday Kitchen for a savoury-sweet dish they were cooking for Nick Frost. Sadly doesn't seem to be listed as a recipe, but the episode is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/programmes/b06nvtvg

David123456 - great ideas! My sticking point will probably always be my dear OH. He's on board in principle. In practice, well...

I'm going to have to buy a new TV for the smart options as he will just not have it that our HD TV is good enough to use with a freeview box, and we are spending so much on subscriptions. I could do without any, myself! :undecided

Also, he likes being , erm, spontaneous. And generous. Gets in the way of a well-planned budget just a bit, that.

wishus

If your pets are skittish, the air smells of cordite and your hair smells like lapsang souchong, you too will have been doing Bonfire Night, I imagine.


It has been a rather pleasant evening round a neighbour friend's garden, eating barbecued food in the drizzle and looking out over the local park where the council were putting on a display. We could hear all the music from the park and see all the display as he has a great vista. All of the entertainment, plus we could drink our own tins, eat our own grub and have a bit of space to ourselves! The fireworks were brilliant, company even better.


A few things on my mind today. We had an unscheduled drink last night because our friend had a good check-up and was able to give back her crutches. It wasn't much, but it was right at the beginning of the month, and I would be happier if that budget pot didn't get dipped into until further in. And our friend tonight has also asked us down the pub tomorrow. Nice to be sociable, but we can't cope with too much of it, and not just budget-wise if you know what I mean?


But, in now, and cosy with a onesie and a (Mozza own brand) malted drink.


I have also now officially earmarked budget over to the train rather than the bus. It was ridiculous tonight. It was supposed to pick up at 5.35 and get to town by 6.20, but didn't come until after 6. Stuck in traffic, it reached my town at just after 6.50. The bus driver then got off, leaving me the only person on the bus, and even though we had spoken about him going, he turned the lights off, so I couldn't read my book. The next driver didn't come for 15 minutes because he had to take a break as he was over time. Finally got to the barbecue at 7.30, just before the fireworks started. :mad:


I can't continue like this. It is stopping me from having the energy to do my work. What a shame.


And tomorrow I have to go and rant at Morrisons as I tried to buy 4 beers for £6 and assumed that was what I had paid, but no, I got charged full price. Boo!

wishus

More hoorays today. I can actually take a few pennies off my grocery total as I took my receipt back to Mozza's today for the beer they'd overcharged on and they gave me 75p back!

I spent 27p of it straightaway though on 2 x runner bean packs at 9p each and a double pack of gem lettuce for 9p. If you're early and quick at the store, you can sometimes grab veggies at the day before's final markdown price... only if the assistant comes round to clear them away, he'll grab them off you and won't let you buy them. Too quick today! That's good food, saved for my belly, saved from the bin!
:money:

Can we get a spinning HFW head as well?

Today I have made good use of whoopsies and food saved from the bin.

Breakfast:

Asda smart price muesli + milk = 11.8p + 4p =15.8p

Snack:

Shortbread biscuits saved from being chucked out of office - free!

Lunch:

100g Couscous 6.5p with garam masala 1p, YS spring onions 8.3p, YS spinach 1p, YS cabbage 3.9, mushrooms 10p, YS tomatoes 8.75p. = 39.45p. This was yum!

snacks if I need 'em.

YS banana 1p + YS apple 25p = 26p

dinner:

chilli con carne for 2 (which I'm doing tonight instead of Wednesday) and rice, with a bit of cheese.

onion: 5.5p, mince £1, passata - 16p, garlic 2p, kidney beans 10.5p, grated carrot 2.25p, mushrooms 20p, rice 14.8p, wyke farm cheese 20p, chilli flakes 1p = £1.92, or 96p each.

So today's food will be for me: £1.78 :T
Hopefully very balanced and nutritious too.

OH has been continuing work on his den/office space and it is beginning to look fab. My office is also now looking quite roomy. It's stressful, as he is a bit obsessed with getting everything done, but it's going to be brilliant in the end. A place for everything, nothing hoarded for the sake of it. Bliss!

glass_half_full

Hi wishus,
I just wanted to say 'wow' you are seriously hard core when it comes to grocery savings!

wishus

Hey, thanks, glass_half_full - I do try, but I will probably be getting more hardcore as the month goes on!

Bit of a fail this weekend, but I already know not to take OH in the shop with me. He came with me yesterday, so I felt compelled to buy everything I said I was going to buy right then. If he weren't with me, I'd have probably come out with bread, cat food and gone, nope, we'll just use what we've got, this is a bargain-free-zone! :rotfl:

It's such a stressful experience for him. We're total opposites when it comes to retail therapy: he loves clothes shopping, I can't stand it. He hates food shopping, I am like a food-shopping-diva. I think that's his decision-making and hunger battling it out and being extra bamboozled by crowds, lights, confusing labelling and Taylor Swift seemingly on permanent loop over the speakers.

Actually, if I do need new clothes, it's great to have him along. He's like my Gok Wan. Plus he takes me for hot chocolate when I get too frazzled.

Traffic lights were the bane of OH yesterday. He knows what red, green and amber are on the road, but stick them on a box and he can't tell them apart. But he has a cholesterol check tomorrow and is trying to avoid anything too fatty. In the end some seafood sticks chopped into a stir fry gave us a cheap, low-fat, high-protein, tasty supper. I kept saying, "That's red" and I swear he growled and turned a shade greener each time.

The house is a bit chaotic at the moment. We haven't counted how many books we have, but apart from a few that were too dilapidated for charity that we took to the recycling centre yesterday, we have every single book we have sorted into little piles on the floor - in 4 rooms! :eek: A weekend's work!
We have bought 6 squat shelf units for the new den, 2 tall ones for my office, and recycled a broken one. Now the lounge shelves are bare, we need to climb up them, clean them, and get them ready for their re-sorted collections. No more books stuffed in bags in nooks and crannies. They will all be in logical order on a shelf. Every book has been selected and unwanted ones put for charity/library. A small selection has been put aside for a friend who might like them, and one big Atlas for a nephew's Christmas present. There will always be something we want to read/reread within easy reach. I think over a hundred have been decommissioned. That's the industry I work in: a lotta free books.

I'm not sure I can manage a strict in/out policy on books now, but I will try. :A

On the budget front, I have finally quit my Graze box. I am fed up of getting olives and tiny squares of cake that I could do myself much cheaper. I love the surprise, but I am a grown lady, I'm sure I can sort my own nuts out. :rotfl:

Christmas lunch is now all paid for. We have an early sitting at the pub. Takes the stress away from us. I did argue I could do Christmas dinner much cheaper than OH managed last year, I mean, he cooked so much we were eating it for a week. This was a compromise. At least it's all paid for now and isn't going to be a runaway expense.

Looking forward to Hugh's War on Waste tonight. Fuming to read this report on Morisson's 'experiment' with wonky veg. You go get 'em, Hugh! :T