Keep calm and carry on....

South_coast

Well the rain you've all been talking about for the last few days has arrived - it's absolutely pouring down. Still no thunder and lightning though, which is disappointing. It also makes me simultaneously very grateful to have a roof over my head and not be out in it, and sad to have had to abandon my charity donations for now - but I know I'll pick it up again as soon as I have a stable income. It makes me wonder about getting into some kind of charity work, something where I could see a tangible little difference I was making every day.... Hmmm, maybe not right now, as I think the money would be quite a drop (although lot more than the "nothing at all" I am facing 😐), but maybe in a few years' time when the mortgage and refurb are crossed off.... Lots to think about, and now is definitely the time!

South_coast

In other (and completely unrelated) news, I have just ordered some tea towels. Why on earth are they so expensive??? They're only rectangles of cotton 😠! It's not Amazon's fault (specifically wanted to buy from there as I had £12 on a gift card from S&S), I distinctly remember feeling the same last time I bought tea towels, which was from Dunelm and at least 6 years ago (the outrage has clearly stayed with me and I have avoided buying more, but needs must as I'm using them more being at home full-time - plus I appear to have lost one?)

I ended up going for retro Glass Cloths, a pack of 10 for £7.95 and free delivery. My Gran used to have the same ones, didn't know they still made them! So that will make me smile when I see them. At least 10 tea towels will probably last me 20 years.... (or I could donate some to BF, as he goes through tea towels like nobody's business)

Anyway, just wanted to share my horror that my £12 budget wouldn't have bought most of them 😮!

coldcazzie

South_coast said:

coldcazzie said:

My old phone also randomly inserted the word Ingrid into sentences. By the end I assumed that's what the phone's name was, and she just wanted to make sure I was still appreciating her.

Ooh yes, respect Ingrid! Bow down to her or she will stop working and you will be scuppered!

That reminds me of the airing cupboard in my parents' house. It was in the lounge and the doors used to ping open at strange times - my stepdad said it was the house's previous owner (who'd died) making his presence felt! Many conversations were abruptly interrupted by "Fred" - until they asserted their authority by taking the cupboard out 😂!

Well she did stop working, and now I have a new phone, so...

Gosh our teatowels are SO OLD! From when we first moved in together, or possibly when we moved from the flat into our first house, which would make it 2003/2004? Which suddenly explains why so many of them have holes in them we've been saying for about the last 5 years that we could really do with new ones, but tbh they still function, so....? I was very tempted by some in Asda a few months back that had smiley avocados on them!

South_coast

You could probably run some up yourself if you're handy with a sewing machine? I was thinking that when I was looking at them on Amazon!

I've got so many things that are ancient (definitely in the "if it ain't broke...." category here). Currently sat here listening to my 2002 freezer whirring away, and today have been listening to my stereo purchased in 2000 (yes, I did say "stereo" - that's how old it is 😂) and brought nicely up to date with a bluetooth adaptor for the iPod. I like it, things have character 😀 Makes me think of my Gran when she used to get out her ironing board and rolling pin that she received as wedding presents in 1953 and stayed in use as her only ironing board and rolling pin until she moved in with my parents 50+ years later 😂!

coldcazzie

Yeah I'm there with you. Our upright freezer was a £25 jobbie from someone's grandparents' house clearance and has gotta be nearly as old as I am. The washer is probably about 12 years old? We bought it new while Medium Small was still in washable nappies, and he's 13 now. This year we had to replace the pump, but that cost us about £45, and compared to the cost of a new washer... if it lasts us another decade it'll have done a cracking job. Tbh, if it doesn't and dies at some point, we'll be bastardising the drum for a fire pit, so it'll still live on! So yeah, probably won't be getting/making any new tea towels anytime soon (you're right - making them is a viable option)!

debtfreeoneday

Our washing machine is slowly protesting at being used. It owes us nothing after 10 years of kids but I don’t wAnt to spend the money. 

South_coast

Mine's not very happy either, the terrible layout of my kitchen currently means it is completely freestanding and wobbles all over the place on the spin cycle - I have to wedge the bin and food waste box down the side to give it something to vibrate against 😂!

Loving the idea of the fire pit conversion - it will be like a phoenix, with new life rising from the fire 😀!

themadvix

I have recently inherited some wooden clothes pegs from my Nan, at least one of which must have come from her mum as it has her maiden name on it and Nan didn’t move out until her marriage. They still work, so why not? And I love using them - they are much better made than today’s pegs and they’re smooth from decades (potentially getting on for a century?) of use. I love the feeling of continuity they bring - antifeminist though it may seem - the thought that I’m one in a long line of women doing the age old chore of washing.

 And all our tea towels have holes in them!

South_coast

Ooh, I'm intrigued why they would have her name written on them Vix? I can't see how they would get mixed up with someone else's - it's not like school jumpers after PE is it? Great momento though, brilliant to still be able to give them regular use. It's true when they say they don't make things like they used to!

themadvix

I can only assume they may have gone on a trip somewhere - my great uncle’s National service or something? I don’t really know - it’s only one that has the name on though - Welly peg at girl’s brigade camp? (Nan was a member)... I can only speculate, but I love the connection it gives! ☺️