What small DFW things will you do this week? w/c 19/12

foxgloves

Hello Festive Savers,
Well, it's almost Christmas & unlike the Naughty Old Foxgloves, who would doubtless have been hitting the city centre (or Meadowhall....shudder) for big spendyness today, it's been a pretty good day on the money front:
*Popped across to village farm shop for breakfast & paid using our December 'Personal Spends' so zero effect on bank account.
*Asked butcher for 3 x 1lb bags of local sausages. They are £3 a bag so I had £9 cash ready but it turned out to be 3 bags for £7.50. Divvied them up when I got home. Enough for 2 big 2lb loaf tins of sage & onion stuffing, 6 to 8 mini-sausage & apple pies, lunch for mr f today & his breakfast tomorrow (I can't eat sausage any more because of my extremely dodgy gallbladder....boooooo!) and still enough for making everyone (except me) a big chunky pig in blanket at the end of the month when we are cooking a Christmas dinner to share with friends.
*Visited local Co-op to buy the other very few groceries we needed. Paid with the dividend points on my card so this means that we appear to have ended December's grocery budget on target!! (New budget starts on Dec 27th). More divi points that I remembered so there is still £20 left on my card for another time.
*Baked another dozen mince pies. Hmmm. Bit of a story attached there, as I was assured we "only needed 12", but no problem as I had 2 jars of my home made mincemeat still in the pantry. Leftover pastry & last 2 tbsp mincemeat made into a little saucer tart which mr f is eyeing for his dessert tonight (I can't eat pastry either now, more booooo!)
*Baked a Belgian cake to use up more mincemeat. I am foiling it & freezing then will ice it & chuck silver balls on top when we need it.
*Dinner is a freezer dive......a bag of chicken drumsticks we had forgotten about.
*Did lots of surveys. Seems quite a lot about today. Especially Onepoll.
*Did last load of laundry before Christmas. All on heated airer. Defo cheaper to use this than when I used to crank the guestroom radiator right up & dry clothes in there.
*Knit more of my sock order.
*mr f has valeted the inside of our car.
That will do. The storm seems to be making its way over to us now. It's gone really dark, the wind is really getting up & the rain has started. We're not travelling till Christmas Day so I'm hoping the worst of it might have abated by then.
Unless I am overtaken by an incredible wave of money saving zeal tomorrow, I probably shan't post, so I will wish you all a very Merry Christmas. It sometimes seems strange chatting away online to folk I've never met, but I have come to welcome all the support, advice, culture of sharing & humour that's been created on this thread. If anyone reads this thread & hasn't yet started tackling their own debt mountain or spendy behaviour, why not make 2017 your year? Mr f & I used to be a right pair of naughty spenders. We never budgeted, failed constantly to live within our means & frittered cash away like you wouldn't believe. We had around 30k of debt at its worst (in addition to mortgage). It can be dealt with. People can change. We were only talking about this earlier this morning & saying how very much happier we both are than when we were buying stuff all the time. mr f said he has 'never been happier' & it's the same for me. I've always had strong left-wing values & would always have described myself as being environmentally aware, so my silly levels of spending were completely opposed to everything I believe in. I had so many times where my 'lightbulb' flickered for a day or two.....then went straight out again, but once I got into a different way of thinking, I have so enjoyed becoming a 'money saver'. So if this is something anyone out there wants to start.....go on, make 2017 your year. And post on here if you like. There's always lots of support & ideas.
Oooooh, mr f's brought me a cup of tea.........just got to find the fudge recipe for Bob now.
F xx

carrielovesfanta

Afternoon all!

So the frantic last minute crochet-fest ended at 11:20pm last night, which meant that I could bung the item into the wash on a short cold wash to freshen it up, get it dry overnight and deliver it this morning. It was very well received

One more item to finish before Christmas but it's a toddler hat so hopefully I can finish tonight while OH is gigging.

However, did do myself a mischief at the gym today. Did a power snatch and instead of gracefully throwing the bar overhead, I pulled it straight into my face, just above the bridge of my nose.

It's a miracle that I didn't:
a: split my eyebrow
b: smash my glasses
c: break my nose

I do have a rather large bump over the corner of my eye/nose area! :eek: it's a bit sore but I put ice on it for a while and it's gone down a lot.

Anyhoo - moving swiftly on...

• B/L/D from stores
• Wrap Christmas presents
• Finish hat
• Early night after two late ones
• Might try and sort some of the veg in the fridge out.
• Be festive
• No alcohol after mulled-wine fest on Wednesday (which was very nice )

Have a good afternoon all and stay safe in the weather - it's tipping it down here (NW)


clf x

foxgloves

Right Bobarella, m'dear, let's sort out this fudge. It's an old recipe so it's all in Imperial measurements.
You will need:
*1lb ordinary white granulated sugar
*2 oz butter
*1/4 pint evaporated milk (Yes, this IS the thin stuff that our Nans used to pour over their tinned peaches NOT condensed milk. No need to buy branded. I use own-label & it's fine. I've used Aldi & Co-op. Co-op do a tiny tin which is the metric equivalent, about 142ml so no waste)
*1/4 pint whole milk (just ordinary supermarket blue top)
*a few drops of vanilla essence/extract

You also need a medium heavy based saucepan, a wooden spoon, a shallow square tin (about 7-8") lined with baking parchment, a small bowl filled with cold water & a sugar thermometer if you have one, though this isn't essential.

OK, this is how I make it:
Weigh out all the ingredients except the vanilla extract & put into the saucepan. Put on gentle heat, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved. Pop in the sugar thermometer now if you have one. Bring pan to the boil & boil steadily, stirring now & again until the mixture reaches 'soft ball' stage where a little of it dropped into the bowl of cold water makes a blob of fudge that can be rolled into a
ball between your fingers. Experience tells you the difference between a very squishy sort of blob & an actual mini-ball of soft fudge. (You do need the latter......my only failure was early days when I got so excited by the squishy blob that I poured it into the tin before it was ready),
If you are using a sugar thermometer, it should be around 240 degF/115degC or 'soft ball' which some thermometers are marked with at that temperature.
I find that the fudge is generally ready just before it gets to these thermometer readings. Its appearance changes when it's ready & I use that as an indicator now more than anything else. It goes thicker, darker, more viscous & sort of volcanic-looking. You can also sometimes see dark flecks appearing in it where the milk proteins are catching the heat (don't worry about those).
When it's ready, remove from the heat & place pan quickly on something heat-proof. Quickly add the vanilla extract & using the wooden spoon beat the hot fudge hard until it starts to 'grain'. This does take around 10 min or so usually. I didn't understand what 'grain' meant, but I now know it's when the fudge is cooling & thickening sufficiently from all the beating to start looking like it is setting around the top edges of the pan & the mixture is getting a grainy look. While it is still just pourable, transfer it to your lined tin. Cool, then put in fridge to finish setting. Turn out & remove baking parchment. Trim the rough edges (you get to eat those bits for being the fudge-maker) & cut into squares with a sharp knife. You do need a sharp one. This is the proper crumbly fudge not the soft sort made from icing sugar, which I've always thought might be microwaved.
If you did get dark flecks in the mixture in its latter stages of boiling, don't worry. Don't think you need to throw it away. This mixture is really hot & when you start beating it, the flecks will simply dissolve right back into the mixture.
I know I've included a lot of detail but as you say you have always failed at fudge in the past, I'd love it if my recipe were to be the one where you succeed! It does go down very well as given as a gift. I save pretty little boxes, ribbons, etc, to make it look pretty & everyone I've made it for has loved it......though I do know a lot of greedy fudge-hoovers, frankly.
Good luck!!
F x

allydowd

foxgloves wrote: »

Right Bobarella, m'dear, let's sort out this fudge. It's an old recipe so it's all in Imperial measurements.
You will need:
*1lb ordinary white granulated sugar
*2 oz butter
*1/4 pint evaporated milk (Yes, this IS the thin stuff that our Nans used to pour over their tinned peaches NOT condensed milk. No need to buy branded. I use own-label & it's fine. I've used Aldi & Co-op. Co-op do a tiny tin which is the metric equivalent, about 142ml so no waste)
*1/4 pint whole milk (just ordinary supermarket blue top)
*a few drops of vanilla essence/extract

You also need a medium heavy based saucepan, a wooden spoon, a shallow square tin (about 7-8") lined with baking parchment, a small bowl filled with cold water & a sugar thermometer if you have one, though this isn't essential.

Wee Geek's metric conversion....for anyone who doesn't love our enigmatic imperial measurements:

You will need:
*454g ordinary white granulated sugar
*57g butter
*142ml evaporated milk (Yes, this IS the thin stuff that our Nans used to pour over their tinned peaches NOT condensed milk. No need to buy branded. I use own-label & it's fine. I've used Aldi & Co-op. Co-op do a tiny tin which is the metric equivalent, about 142ml so no waste)
*142ml whole milk (just ordinary supermarket blue top)
*a few drops of vanilla essence/extract

You also need a medium heavy based saucepan, a wooden spoon, a shallow square tin (about 19cm) lined with baking parchment, a small bowl filled with cold water & a sugar thermometer if you have one, though this isn't essential.

:T

allydowd

foxgloves wrote: »

Unless I am overtaken by an incredible wave of money saving zeal tomorrow, I probably shan't post, so I will wish you all a very Merry Christmas. It sometimes seems strange chatting away online to folk I've never met, but I have come to welcome all the support, advice, culture of sharing & humour that's been created on this thread.

Have a lovely time Foxgloves. More than anything else I love the humour on here....we're all barking.

1LuckyLady

Foxgloves, that sounds lovely! Good luck Bob! Also your mention of Meadowhall brought a smile to my face. I remember the year it opened, my sister, parents and I went for the first time, their decorations were all lovely and we walked in at one entrance and my dad made us all leave and go home via the next set of doors as it was so very busy, my dad often refers to that shopping trip as a reason for my mum to go shopping alone! Many years later it was also where my husband & I met for our first ever date
La E, Have a wonderful holiday!
Clf, ouch!

Todays been a busy one, which included Mr T delivering our shop an hour early whilst we were all still in our pj's! :eek: Took quite some time to get it all sorted and away and split off into what was ours and what was my parents but worth doing as we made the most of offers on the toiletries etc that we always buy anyway and our shops for months now will be just perishables

Other small things
* Checked both credit cards statements, all as expected (we use cc's for daily spends but pay off in full each month to maximise cashback/points etc)
* Checked banking/updated spreadsheets
* Ys bread and ys crumpets from the freezer for breakfast
* Put away washing, nothing needed ironing
* Made peas & ham in the SC for lunch, we didn't get round to eating until 2pm though as it was a different sc that I was using and it took longer to cook for some reason. Everyone enjoyed and commented that it was lovely for a change. My dad brought a ys lemon cheesecake for us all to share as a dessert.
* Minimum heating on as lots of blankets, the heating will probably be on a lot between tomorrow afternoon and Boxing Day night as we have family staying over who like to be warm!!
* Cleared coats from the hallway ready for out guests and added 2 coats to the cs bag
* My youngest put a pair of trousers on this morning that suddenly looked very short on him so they too have been added to the cs bag (these trousers came from a cs, my eldest had them and then the youngest and they still look great so back to the cs for someone else to get the benefit from them
)
* Rehung a picture frame in our living room after changing the furniture around a bit yesterday.
* Sent a very large frame to my sisters that we'd won from Ikea in the Summer, she's going to make a collage with lots of photos of family,wrap it and give it to my niece for xmas. Pleased she can make use of it as it was such a nice frame but didn't fit anywhere here.
* Hung 4 picture hooks in the kids bedrooms, have printed off some images of New York for my eldest and some Lego superheroes for the youngest, put them in frames and wrapped them ready for them to open and hang in their bedrooms. (This will finish off their bedroom refurb which formed the majority of their xmas pressies although it took a lot of time and effort from me & my dad, we reused/repurposed existing furniture, used various bitand pieces from other jobs we've done in our house/tenants houses etc and both rooms had the horrible carpets replaced with the laminate from our kitchen.) The only things we bought for the room were blinds and gas lift chairs, spending £35 each in total (but they don't know that! )

Still to do
** Check luckyphone/numberplate/fpl
** Share bath water and continue using various lotions and potions
** Leave hair to dry naturally (and add a bit of mousse that I'm trying to use up, its nearly done!)
** Watch a film with the kids& hubby using the now Free trial
** Tonights food is finishing off last nights stew with jacket potato or chicken & jacket potato, I'll have whichever is left!

That's it for me now. Looking forward to a chilled start to tomorrow (apart from changing the spare bedding again as my niece was in it last night and my parents are going to be in it for the next few nights and a quick hoover round before family start arriving at about 1.30pm (and my dad is bringing lunch with him for tomorrow too so I don't need to do much tomorrow :T)

carrielovesfanta

Hi Ally,

I think it's 454g sugar (1lb)

allydowd wrote: »

Wee Geek's metric conversion....for anyone who doesn't love our enigmatic imperial measurements:

You will need:
*57g ordinary white granulated sugar
*57g butter
*142ml evaporated milk (Yes, this IS the thin stuff that our Nans used to pour over their tinned peaches NOT condensed milk. No need to buy branded. I use own-label & it's fine. I've used Aldi & Co-op. Co-op do a tiny tin which is the metric equivalent, about 142ml so no waste)
*142ml whole milk (just ordinary supermarket blue top)
*a few drops of vanilla essence/extract

You also need a medium heavy based saucepan, a wooden spoon, a shallow square tin (about 19cm) lined with baking parchment, a small bowl filled with cold water & a sugar thermometer if you have one, though this isn't essential.

:T

Bobarella

Foxgloves thanks so much for kindly writing that menu out. And to Ally for translating into new money

Thanks FVD for sharing your banoffee recipe too!

La E have a lovely trip!

Dawn what a kind hearted thing to do. I hope you find the person.

Legomum The bedrooms sound super. Lucky boys.

Carrie ouch! Hope you aren't in too much pain.

Determined yes do update on the turkey!

Maria Hope 2017 will be good to you financially.

allydowd

carrielovesfanta wrote: »

Hi Ally,

I think it's 454g sugar (1lb)

Oh so it is.......this Plague I have has gone to my brain. This is why I need a new calculator for Decemberfest. :rotfl:

YORKSHIRELASS

Good post Foxgloves. I feel like its been quite a spendy couple of days but compared to previous Christmases I have done quite well. And when I heard people at work talking about spending £60/£70 on turkeys I felt quite smug.

Busy busy day, work all finished till 3rd Jan. The great thing about juggling 2 jobs is that you really appreciate having a bit of time off!!

Catch up with you all tomorrow, I am on taxi duty tonight, DS1 and DH to collect from the pub tonight, just chilling until then.