Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

There's some really expensive stuff on those channels, joeyjimbles, that's for sure. I think the cash converting type of chain pawn shops must be stuffed with all the various 'wonder cooker does it all' gadgets once people realise how much work surface space they take up.
One of the worst prices I saw was when they were selling seed potatoes at £15 for 10 !! We'd been to our village garden centre that same day & bought a 5kg bag for half that. And of course, being tv shopping, they were making out that theirs were the only failsafe seed potatoes for beginners. Total rubbish!

foxgloves

Just seen such a nice little activity in a years old copy of the Prima makes magazine (am sorting through Mum's Christmas magazine stash & pretending I've got new ones.....well they're new to me, aren't they?) It's a lovely magazine anyway. Basically, you buy a pack of marshmallows, scoff the pink ones then using a black food gel pen, you dot 2 eyes & a row of black dots for a smiley mouth onto each white marshmallow.Then you use an orange gel pen & colour in a little carrotty shape nose. Arrange on a plate & serve mugs of hot chocolate. Your guests (or kids, as I bet they'd love making these) float a couple of snowman on the top & watch them melt.
I would think the gels should last for a good number of snowmen so should be a cheap fun festive activity. Never mind kids, I fancy doing this myself!
F x

wishingthemortgaheaway

Sounds like a great activity. You can buy giant marshmallows in some shops, only white ones in those packets, but they are huge!

crazy_cat_lady

I want hot chocolate with melting snowmen on!

Onebrokelady

Love the snowman idea:) There is a Smiths in the hospital where I work and tonight I went in for a packet of crisps and by the door was a whole stand of Xmas magazines,I was overcome with longing but I walked back out with just the crisps,I swear my heart rate went up when I saw them all :rotfl:

PurpleFairy26

What a great idea Foxgloves especially as I have a small who doesn't like hot chocolate but loves marshmallows so letting her eat snowman seems like a real treat :rotfl:

foxgloves

Lol - I think we'll all be having melty snowmen at this rate!
OBL - I too have been looking at displays of Christmas magazines. I think I will allow myself just one, but I'm going to choose it really carefully. I'm not interested in how 'celebs' spend Christmas, particularly people I can't stand (like posh craft programme presenter just for instance.....) & I'm know how to cook turkey & that there's no need to put the sprouts on in November. I shall peruse the festive magazine offerings with a critical eye & choose one with plenty of reading in it. I like home type mags, but swing between being able to use these positively for creative ideas & envy of the owners of the beautiful properties featured which are several hundreds of thousands of pounds out of my price range. But then I think that I have quite a nice home......ok, it needs a lot of work doing to it..... & was able to buy my 1st little house at the age of 30 before mortgages required the huge deposit that people have to find today.
So I shall enjoy choosing my magazine & will pass it on to a friend when I've finished with it, so I'll have had my money's worth.
And now I must get on with today's job list.
F x

foxgloves

As I sit here by the fire knitting my new jumper, I've been thinking about my yarn stash. It has grown this week, as I've added some of my Mum's yarn to it, from when I was clearing out her craft stash. My yarn stash used to live in one of those vintage 1930s Lloyd Loom ottomans. I could barely get the lid down. I sorted out all the stuff I thought I'd never use & posted it to a knitty friend then purchased a large plastic storage crate. New yarn home. Only with a condition attached. My new rule was that my yarn stash HAD to fit in that box WITH THE LID PROPERLY SHUT! If it didn't, then I'd have to get rid of some of it.
So at the moment, I can just get the lid on. I need to knit up this yarn stash & I think that as soon as my jumper is finished, I will set myself a Yarn Stash Challenge, in which I see how many things I can knit using just my stash, without buying any more. I would think I can maybe knit up a couple of decent gifts from my current supplies & possibly a few bits to sell. I'm actually feeling quite inspired & resourceful just thinking about it. But my new jumper needs finishing first, so I shall crack on with that, then see just how many things I can knit for zero spend.
Cheers for now,
F x

Onebrokelady

foxgloves wrote: »

As I sit here by the fire knitting my new jumper, I've been thinking about my yarn stash. It has grown this week, as I've added some of my Mum's yarn to it, from when I was clearing out her craft stash. My yarn stash used to live in one of those vintage 1930s Lloyd Loom ottomans. I could barely get the lid down. I sorted out all the stuff I thought I'd never use & posted it to a knitty friend then purchased a large plastic storage crate. New yarn home. Only with a condition attached. My new rule was that my yarn stash HAD to fit in that box WITH THE LID PROPERLY SHUT! If it didn't, then I'd have to get rid of some of it.
So at the moment, I can just get the lid on. I need to knit up this yarn stash & I think that as soon as my jumper is finished, I will set myself a Yarn Stash Challenge, in which I see how many things I can knit using just my stash, without buying any more. I would think I can maybe knit up a couple of decent gifts from my current supplies & possibly a few bits to sell. I'm actually feeling quite inspired & resourceful just thinking about it. But my new jumper needs finishing first, so I shall crack on with that, then see just how many things I can knit for zero spend.
Cheers for now,
F x

What a good idea for using up your stash,I look forward to hearing about the things you have made

crazy_cat_lady

My yarn stash is immense! I'm grateful for it at the moment as I can't afford anything new so I'm pleased I have plenty to keep me occupied. I'm working through it slowly but surely. It's been a while since I knitted though, and I may see how I feel about picking that up again...