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Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2016
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Hi Lyn
My mum completely controlled her type 2 by diet, and now has been told that she is not diabetic. Her diet has become very restricted now, but for other medical reasons, but I used to bake apples with sultanas and nuts in the core, no added sugar. Another I have done is peaches "en papiotte" in a parcel of baking parchment put quartered peaches, almonds , some star anise or a vanilla pod and a splash of something alcoholic - I use wine and bake for a bit. Serve with creme fraiche or cream. I am afraid I am rather "it's done when it's done" rather than exact timing.
We have been doing well at eating from stores. I have been using online shopping, which ironically saves me money as I don't get extra bits, and I also don't stock up on ys food which lives in my freezer for ages. I have managed to work down from 3 to 2 freezers, so pleased with that. Now all I have to do is find someone who wants the spare. I have offered it to 2 people I know who have either recently bought their first home, or have moved into their first rental. Neither have much money, but both have decided to buy brand new. Mine is only 5 years old and while not immaculate is in good condition. When I first left home which is only 9 years ago...I was a late developer...I was very grateful that people passed on things to me. Ho hum.
I have managed to find a local supplier to replace a number of windows for me, they have been recommended so I need to call them to get a quote. Several of the double glazing units have blown and even more don't open. Project to plan and save for.
S X£400,000 starting Jan 2020 current end date Aug 2041 I would love the end date to be 2027 but will aim first for 2037.
1% target £4000 so far £20 paid0 -
Iamsalt - suggest you try Freecycle for your freezer. My last one died and I posted a 'wanted' and got one the same day from someone who was having a new kitchen. Don't know how old it is but it works fine!
We also had a lot of our double glazed units replaced that had blown - it wasn't as expensive as I thought but we did them in two stages - front of house first as they were the worst.Small victories - sometimes they are all you can hope for but sometimes they are all you need - be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle0 -
Thanks silvasava, I shall try that.
S x£400,000 starting Jan 2020 current end date Aug 2041 I would love the end date to be 2027 but will aim first for 2037.
1% target £4000 so far £20 paid0 -
Good Morning chums and another greyish sort of day at the moment Just got my bil for gas& electric utilities and I'm pleased its less than last year.It seems I use more Electric than Gas, but even that has come down a bit .So using the Remoska and microwave more than the oven/cooker is paying off.I had a bill from June-Nov and the gas was pretty low at £64 odd,of that £40 was standing charge !!and the electric was a bit higherat £70= but again the standing charge was just under £30. so my actual useage was around £100 odd and £70 odd was standing charges .Bit of a rip off I think at times,especially when VAT is whacked on top.But doing a comparison with the same billl as last year I am about 20% down which is good.It has helped having a fairly warm autumn i guess,and putting on an extra jumper rather than the CH. My electric I have got down by turning off the main light and only using a sidelight in the evenings andI am slowly changing the light bulbs as they go to LED ones ,they are a bit pricier but are supposed to save cash over the year. I also have a good few candles and tea lights when watching tv which give a nice soft light and cost very little.
Every little helps as they say:):)
I did a small shop yesterday afternoon and topped up on fruit and veg and used a £5.00 voucher which brought the cash outlay down a bitand at almost a third of the way through the month and over half of my food budget cash still in my seperate purse I am quite happy with that. I am now stocked up for at least another 10 days so a few more NSD ahead I hope .
Tonight I am off to the physiotherapist with my youngest DD she has a trapped nerve in her foot which has been playing her up quite a bit so fingers crossed they can fix it for her.
Mick the gardener comes this morning and its the last time before the winter sets in and my garden will be 'put to bed' until the spring.
Hope everyone has a good day and <<hugs>> to those who are in need of one
Take care chums
JackieO xx0 -
I haven't posted for a while but I've been reading and trying to do a little MMMing each day:)
Today was wet and cold so I got all my jobs done this morning and spent the rest of the day pottering and cooking which I've really enjoyed.
Make do - I was going to make spicy bean soup but I had no kidney beans so I made Tomato and basil instead. I added the last scrapings of garlic and herb soft cheese to it and we had some for lunch with cheese on toasted YS ciabatta rolls and it was lovely. The rest has been portioned up and is in the freezer.
Minimise - some freezer food. We had chilli and rice for dinner. Also a pack of YS potatoes from the freezer were turned into leek and potato soup ( so I've ended up putting more freezer food in!) but it will be nice to have two different soups for lunches this week as its so cold and we've had snow a few times already.
Mend - bled DS radiator so his room is now nice and warm.Original mortgage £112,000 . Final payment due August 2027.
Mortgage neutral achieved August 2020 - 7 years early!!!0 -
Good morning fellow frugalers
Minimising my wool stash with my charity blankets I am making a stripey one in squares at the moment using up the tail ends of the balls of wool,
Mended: Well I reattached an hook that had come away from the wall, I always hang my car keys on it in the kitchen so I can find them easily and it had been hanging askew for ages and every time I picked my keys up I thought hmm must fix that ,so as I had a pottering lazy day yesterday I did:)
Made do : I dug around in my freezer and found a bag of frozen leeks and made two litres of leek and tattie soup for this weeks lunchesI am slowly working my way through the freezer in the hope of defrosting it before January
have a good day chums what ever you are doing
Cheers JackieO x0 -
Morning all
Haven't posted for ages but reading along daily to find out what everyone else is up to
Still doing bits and bobs to the new flat, however, very aware that the lease on this place runs out in 7 weeks time so need to get a move on.
I have a diy question which I hope someone can help with. We had a carpet put down but now the doors don't fit. Have tried to use a plane to take a bit off the bottom but it's quite a thick carpet so there's a lot to take off. Was thinking of hiring/borrowing a saw to do the job instead. Has anyone tried this? Is it difficult? Neither me or OH are particularly good at diy so may have to get help if it's hard to do.
Painting is done, at least for now and we're getting a washing machine delivered next week. Just need to get more furniture now. My dad is up for the weekend so he brought up some stuff that my parents have given us.
He also brought up eggs from their hens so have had super yummy scrambled eggs for breakfast. OH is planning to make honey and mustard chicken for tea tonight, the chicken breasts are huge so am going to pinch a bit to put into pasta salad tomorrow for lunch.Mortgage 26.4.25 - £108,500 1.7.25 - £106,653.66
Mortgage overpayment savings - £33.53/£50
Mortgage overpayments so far - £612.990 -
Misstara, we have only ever planed the doors, I have always felt that a slow small amount being taken off is more likely to be done right than me attacking it with saw. Doors which are framed with wood are often hollow inside so you can take too much off.....learn from my mistakes! I think you can get slightly less tall doors if all else fails.
We had a scare last night when we were out, and OH was taken unwell, demonstrating similar to stroke symptoms. luckily there were a number of people around who were nurses and GPs, and they helped us. He was given the all clear by the ambulance and felt really embarrassed, but i was so grateful and overwhelmed for the kindness of friends and strangers. It made me realise a few things -
I need to revisit my first aid training. Since I changed jobs I don't get automatic training, but I can arrange it for myself.
OH needs to do a will and an enduring power of attorney-mine is done already.
The reminder of the kindness of strangers, and that we are lucky and so many others are less fortunate, so I want to make sure I pass on the kindness I was shown in my own way.
We are having a lazy day, making chicken tikka, naan and matar daal all from stores, and the Christmas puddings . Sorting out some food from the cupboards for the food bank collection at work and then I will look at the toiletries too.
S x£400,000 starting Jan 2020 current end date Aug 2041 I would love the end date to be 2027 but will aim first for 2037.
1% target £4000 so far £20 paid0 -
Hope everyone is well
I defrosted the freezer this morning, and last night I started a beaded jumper to use up some wool and beads I have.SPC~12 ot 124
In a world that has decided that it's going to lose its mind, be more kind my friend, try to Be More Kind0 -
Morning MMMers hope everyone is well.
Minimised a load of glass into the bottle bank last night, have a bag of batteries and another of clothes to take down to thier baknks today. Also spotted poppy collection/recycling box in Sainsbury's last night so will have a sort round and take any that need recycling down to there.
Got a load of crafting stuff sorted to take into school for decoration day I'm making Christmas wreaths with the children so have enough wool, ribbon buttons and CDs for 30 to be made.
Made a cuddly owl toy yesterday and got another one to do today then they can be passed on
Knitting the jumper is slow going it's in 4ply from my stash so will take a while as it knits up really slowly.
Tonight plan to make veggie lasagne so Dh can have left over portion for his lunch tomorrow. Think that about covers all my mmming.
Have a good day all.SPC~12 ot 124
In a world that has decided that it's going to lose its mind, be more kind my friend, try to Be More Kind0
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