The thriftyish way to debt freedom

MagicCat

I didn't use fabric softener until I had children, my mum was so horrified at the idea of washing baby clothes without softener I started adding it - it's a baby one though so no real smell. Not sure what it's really achieving now I think about it!

Re instant pot - I love the pressure cooker for cooking up chickpeas and lentils that you'd usually have to boil for ages, I freeze them and then it's super easy to add to anything. Soups, rice and risottos are all good. I'm less good with the slow cooker function, there always seems to be too much liquid.

f0xh0les

Mine!! I do not use it, have never bought it I don't think, but did have a huge bottle each time I had a baby (in their freebie gift box ) which lasted until 24 months later when I had the next one! So technically I probably had one in the house for about 10 years.

  I use z0flora as a disinfectant for mopping the kitchen floor, but it has all sorts of uses, I keep a  squirty spray bottle filled with water and half a cap of z0flora as an emergency air freshener in the loo, and use it if the teen's bedrooms smell like a sweaty rugby changing room. It is known as 'smelly boy spray' in our house - as in Muuuum!!, where's the smelly boy spray gone???

It is often on special offer in Mr T's for £1 or in discount stores.

Baileys_Babe

I'm another who has never bought or used fabric softener, nor does my sister. My Dad is encouraging my Mum to stop using it, partly because what's the point and partly as it makes his chest tight. She now only uses it in 1 wash (tights/stockings/slips) and is supposed to warn him if she does a 'smelly wash' as he calls it.

missymoo81

Ah I love the smell of fabric conditioner and don’t seem to be able to get such a nice long lasting smell from washing powder. I have a massive ocd with washing and if it doesn’t smell of fabric conditioner, I have to rewatch it. It’s from being a child and my mum never bothering to Wash our clothes so I took over the washing. Would love to shake the habit and find something that smells nice without the need for FC.

Thriftyish I meant to ask, you mentioned (on someone else’s thread I think) you use a reusable razor and get a big pack of blades. Would you mind sharing which ones you use?

Bluegreen143

We don’t use fabric conditioner, I have many MSE sins but that’s one thing I’m too tight to pay for 😅

All your meals and cooking sound amazing and your new gadget seems to be a great addition to your kitchen! I go through minimalist phases too, but I’ve accepted that we can’t be too minimalist in the kitchen. I saw a great comment once on one of the old style threads (I love re-reading some of the big old threads over there, sad I know!) saying that people with hobbies need to have a certain level of “stuff“ - it’s easy to be minimalist if you just like watching TV but if you like to cook, craft, create etc you need “stuff” to do that. And that made me reassess being so keen on minimalism because I was a bit guilty of getting rid of stuff then needing it later 😂 I have an instant pot and love it. Tend to use it for soups, stews/chillies, pot roasts, ribs are amazing in it. And risotto as well.

Bluegreen143

Oh and I agree with @MagicCat, I also use it for cooking dried pulses in bulk then I freeze them in one can portions. 

thriftyish

I feel so much better knowing that so many others don't use fabric conditioner! We might be in the minority overall, but I feel less like I am depriving DH and the kids! 

@missymoo81 I did miss the smell for months, we went back to using for a while because we both missed the smell. But since stopping again I am a-ok without a smell now. DH, on the other hand, keeps saying he would like to go back to it when our situation is better or the kids have left home and its not a laundrette. 

I tried the z0flora @foxh0les and DH couldn't tell. Tempted to spritz clothes with it after they are dry a- la 'smelly boy spray' to see if I can hold the scent better. Or he can wear aftershave. I am going to make up some smelly boy spray anyway. My DS's  (age 10, nearly 11) room is starting to whiff on occasion, so I've also mentioned he might like to shower before bed in this heat. He's currently asleep on the sofa with DD1 after both dozed off mid famous five so that didn't go to plan. Sometimes he is thrilled with the idea of a shower and makes it sound like a rare treat. Other times we have to almost force him through the bathroom door (with stern words). There is no happy medium. 

@MagicCat @Bluegreen143 Thanks for the instant pot tips, I've lots to try. I am loving hummus at the moment but keep finding y/s 6p bargains at M0rrisons so haven't made any yet, also don't keep tahini in the house much, but thought I might be able to add some sesame seeds instead, would that work do you think?

@Bluegreen143 That's a good point about hobbies, I have far too many hobbies really, but I think my photography stuff hogs the most space, aside from the overlocker my MIL bought that I need to learn to actually use! DH wins me, he won't part with anything that might be useful at some point in the next 20 years so our sheds are full of random odds and ends and it drives me crazy. In fairness, if anyone needs anything fixing, especially tech-wise, he can usually find something to fix it from the depths of beyond. 

@Baileys_Babe This is my razor and blades - the blades work out about 8p, and have two sides that can be used. They are really sharp though, I do cut myself a little more with these than with disposables. I bought these at the end of 2018 and have more than a 3/4 of the packet left!

Yesterdays Food
We had pesto pasta with y/s garlic bread yesterday. Then chocolate courgette cake for dessert. It turns out that my other 'squash' are actually just different shaped courgettes. I didn't plant those courgettes, so the seed I planted must have been incorrectly labelled!  I will start giving away locally, and on oli0 because there is no way I can eat that much or I will start looking like a courgette. I had a lightly fried courgette, with tomatoes, feta and nuts for lunch yesterday. 

Todays Food
Breakfast was y/s bagels. I had a portion of freezer chicken soup with a bread roll, and the kids had y/s flatbreads with cheesy fillings. Tea was toad in the hole with miniature Yorkshire puddings, roasteds and veg. 

Tomorrows Food
I nabbed a tgtg box to collect tomorrow. I nipped out to buy milk & y/s shop today. I collected 8 y/s croissants for 50p (breakfast sorted) 6 cheese breadcakes for 25p, some 20p pizza pastry sticks (dinner sorted) and I have lots of tomatoes from Mondays L1dl box I am going to turn into a pizza topping, to have with freezer pizza dough (tea sorted, just need some mozzarella cheese) 

Shopping so far £97.62. Just need the mozzarella and some chocolate treat cereal for the weekend from L1dl tomorrow. I wanted to be under £100 by today to be on track to spend £200 this month.

Chicks
The chicks have been evicted from the office to the shed. I could cope with the noise, I could cope with the sawdust everywhere, I just couldn't cope with the smell. I read they start the smell at around three weeks and they really did pong!

We also had to purchase a new feeder and waterer. They had a chick version, but they kept covering the water with sawdust which meant that the waterer emptied and they could no longer drink. I had to refill the waterer 4 times yesterday. They are not clever. The new one hangs off the ground so they can't cover it in sawdust. We spent £13.90, which was an expected spend, but hadn't expected to spend it quite so soon!

A clean office
Since I evicted the chicks, I have had a good clear out and I am going to make this space my temporary eB@y sorting area. Everything is cleaned, mopped and sparkly and feels so nice again.

I found a greenhouse!
For £30 on FB, we are collecting on Saturday. I am slightly worried about dismantling so DH is coming for moral support while we leave the children in SILs garden. DHs neck is still awful. I need to phone the doctors for him an appointment tomorrow because although he had a day of feeling better, its worse again, and painkillers aren't helping. I wish I had taken him to hospital last weekend, next time I will insist!

missymoo81

Love the update Thriftyish, I’m definitely going to try and grow courgettes next year! I always struggled to grow them in my old garden. And thanks for the razor info. I’ve found a Gillette one online I think I may purchase, do you have to using shaving foam or does normal shower gel do the same job?

thriftyish

@missymoo81 I think I tagged incorrectly in my last post, sorry! I just use shower gel and seems okay. I have the courgette planted in two different spots at my allotment. I didn't sow any myself this year, my FIL grew a full tray of 16, so I planted a few and found homes for the rest. The ones out in full sun in the big bed have gone crazy, the ones under the hedge where it's quite dry & in partial shade have been slower to produce -  but its worked in my favour as they don't grow so fast!

f0xh0les

Is there a 'terribly manly' essential oil smell he likes?  You could try cedar balls in his drawers/wardrobe to scent his clothes, it is subtle though, not like fabric softener, you just add a little oil to the balls to freshen them every 3 months or so.  We have done sandalwood,  frankincense, bergamot etc.

To be honest, if the rest of you are happy without, why not buy a bottle and just keep his stuff separate? Maybe a separate laundry basket for his clothes, and then you can just do his clothes once a week with smell.  The bottle would last flippin' ages then - more if you watered it down a bit.  More Kudos to you if you can get him to put his clothes in a basket!  I am on year 23 and still trying to train mine.

If he layered up a shampoo and soap and face lotion and spray then he would spend the whole day smelling how he wanted to.   But ......I have found that a happy man goes  a lot of the way to a stress-free life.  If the cost of that is a Sunday morning 'just for men' laundry session and a bottle of artificial smell then I might well just be inclined, for a quiet life, to do it for him. If it is making him anxious and self conscious at work.

Fab news on the grocery spends coming in under under-budget.  Don't forget to have a quick cupboard and freezer inventory, and work out how long you could survive without a shopping trip - and use that for the last financial week of the month.  You can do this.