Simple living in the country - back to basics

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, missed you there KC! Lunch at home sounds good too 😊 We often congratulate ourselves on our thrifty endeavours by saying 'this would have cost £8.50 in [insert name of posh cafe we used to go to sometimes]' 😂😂 We decided this morning's egg and veggie sausage paninis and tea/coffee would have cost us at least £14 in the cafe 😂😂

Jellytots- good rice advice! We've often cooked stuff a bit like that, wrapping in a couple of tea towels and leaving it. Never managed it with brown rice though - although I'm pretty sure it didn't need the 2.5 hours we abandoned it for. We're like kids with a new Christmas toy this week though - anything that could possibly go in the haybox is going in it for novelty purposes 😂 And yes, I'll be freezing the rice then probably microwaving, or making the occasional fried rice 😊

Instant pot sounds ace TMV - I've never used one but keep hearing good things. I confess part of my haybox  desires stemmed from the sheer amount of hay we've got lying around the place 😂😂 At this point I'm tempted to stuff a mattress to sleep on 😂

Kajikita - I think what you've said does indeed make sense - and I'm all for framing stuff in whatever way makes it work for you. I'm already wavering on Frugal September (having been out to both a restaurant and two cafes and it's only the 4th) so Sensible September sounds great 😁 

1.5 hours of scything done today, and I won't be doing anything else useful tonight. Gosh, it was lovely to come in to a nice curry, still hot in the haybox 😁😁 After 2 hours the green lentils weren't quite done, but after 4 they were. I've put a bit too much water in (I'm just experimenting here, no recipes) but we ate it anyway, Mr Cheery skimming off some of the liquid for a kind of curry soup. I brought it back up to the boil (which took less than 2 mins, it was still pretty hot) and have shoved it back in, probably til the morning. 

Busy week ahead. Working at home tomorrow, in the office Tuesday (until late as Mr Cheery has a band practice so we'll travel together), and Wednesday. Friend arriving to stay on Wednesday afternoon, I'm working Thursday morning, then taking the afternoon off for a local event, and he's happy to be put to work, so we'll try to do several hours of scything and hay gathering while he's here. 

Right, I'm being summoned to help shove some stuff in the loft...

elantan

loving the conversationa on here just now everyone, I'm learning so much, thank you 

Karmacat

Cheery_Daff said:

Ooh, missed you there KC! Lunch at home sounds good too 😊 We often congratulate ourselves on our thrifty endeavours by saying 'this would have cost £8.50 in [insert name of posh cafe we used to go to sometimes]' 😂😂 We decided this morning's egg and veggie sausage paninis and tea/coffee would have cost us at least £14 in the cafe 😂😂
Excellent ⭐

Kajikita - I think what you've said does indeed make sense - and I'm all for framing stuff in whatever way makes it work for you. I'm already wavering on Frugal September (having been out to both a restaurant and two cafes and it's only the 4th) so Sensible September sounds great 😁 
I love this too: after all, the "Frugal" bit originally came from alliteration for February, didn't it, as well as "Frugalwoods"?  Sensible September sounds an excellent renaming  

1.5 hours of scything done today, and I won't be doing anything else useful tonight. Gosh, it was lovely to come in to a nice curry, still hot in the haybox 😁😁 After 2 hours the green lentils weren't quite done, but after 4 they were. I've put a bit too much water in (I'm just experimenting here, no recipes) but we ate it anyway, Mr Cheery skimming off some of the liquid for a kind of curry soup. I brought it back up to the boil (which took less than 2 mins, it was still pretty hot) and have shoved it back in, probably til the morning. 

I find it fascinating that you're actually using the haybox - I have a half made one upstairs, with a wooden frame, the body made from pieces of vinyl flooring, and some castoff insulation I begged from a skip years ago - nowhere near finished, though.  Brilliant to just use a crate!

Cheery_Daff

elantan said:

loving the conversationa on here just now everyone, I'm learning so much, thank you 

Me too El! 😊😊😊 I'm enjoying reading back over old diaries too - just seen you popping up in Tilly's diary from 2013 😂 That conversation was ranging all over the place too - I love how we all end up wandering through each other's lives and pondering new things 😊😊

We may yet make a more elaborate hay box KC - in fact I probably would have done, but Mr Cheery just grabbed a plastic tub and shoved some hay in it 😂 Usually it's the other way round, with him making things (in my opinion) unnecessarily complicated... This is working well for now! 

Had a couple of loft-based revelations earlier. One was that we never finished putting the pipe lagging on after the plumber finished last winter - really must finish that before this winter (and before the mice eat it all!) I think October is definitely going to be 'winter prep' month around here.

The other was kind of related - I've been thinking about ways of making the study warmer while I'm working over the winter, and I was considering having a carpet fitted, as it's just tiles and one big rug. While I was scything today it dawned on me that in our old attic (which was a room, not a loft space) we just had a mish mash of rugs down on the floor.

No idea why it took me so long to think of that. 🙄 They're all rolled up in the loft, so we had a rummage today, and also found the offcuts from the new bedroom carpet- I'd forgotten we even had those.

Anyway, between all those we'll have enough to cover the whole floor, and still be able to put the current jute rug (which i don't think adds much warmth) back on top. Hopefully that'll make a nice difference! 

Got 3 sets of visitors coming to stay over the next couple of weeks so not going to be messing about moving furniture til after they've gone, but hopefully that'll make things quite a bit warmer and won't cost anything! Woo hoo!

badmemory

I often wonder if Tilly knows just how famous she still is!

Cheery_Daff

I did see she had popped back in a couple of years after she'd left to ask if people were still using it 😂

No TTs for me today though, bank account is the same as it was yesterday and the day before, so September TT total remains at 2p 😂

Will do the Happy Wheel this evening, but I'm in minus figures so far in Sept 🙄

Washing machine is on, although it's a bit foggy and grey out there and given the dreadful lack of spinning ability of my washing machine, it's likely it'll end up inside by teatime with the dehumidifier on. Oh well, can't be helped (well, it could, but I refuse to shell out for a brand new machine so will have to sit tight til a suitable 2nd hand one comes along!)

MSE action of the day this morning has been to apply for a credit card for Mr Cheery. Same account as mine, so everything will stay the same - just means he'll be able to add diesel and food spends to it as well when I'm not there, so hopefully the cashback, although paltry, will build up a little quicker. I think it's at about £5.60 now since July.

Right, best get on with some work...

LadyWithAPlan

Morning  
I think it was me who mentioned Tilly’s diary as I read it all amidst my Ms Doolittle phase and found it so inspiring. 

i find part of the joy of a TT is I feel
everyday I am moving towards my financial goal and making things happen. Plus when you have just TT 54p or whatever then when you go out spending you are sublimally aware of money and how you just saved 54p so less likely to splurge 
I move TT over into their own pot -2 actually as I have 2 bank accts I do them from) then move them into my ISA once a week or once a month of over £25 for a PB
You could try having another pot for them so less multiple movements 

inspired by your Frugal Sept I am calling mine Soaring September as I get closer to my financial and other dreams 
My reframe Is ‘I am choosing to not spend on x so I can achieve fabulous life changing financial goals such as a paid for beautiful home for myself’ 

I am LOVING your hay box  science experiments 

Cheery_Daff

Good ideas there, LadyWithAPlan, and you've just reminded me I've not checked on yesterday's curry which is still in there! 😱

Cheery_Daff

OK, yesterday's curry is cold, but has a nicely well developed flavour. Still a bit too much liquid but I didn't put much in that would soak it up - green lentils soaked a bit but don't go mushy like red ones, mushrooms, frozen peas...

Today's experiment is going to be another one of the 5 year old finds from the unpacked moving boxes 😱😂 A load of soya chunks (TVP).

 Theoretically they don't take that long anyway, but they might as well go in the haybox as not. I think I'd normally do them in a stew or something but since I've not had them for so long I can't remember what I used to do 😂 and since they're so old, I don't want to ruin anything else, so I'm just bunging them in with some stock and we'll see...

themadvix

Think the frozen peas and the mushrooms will have added to the liquid rather than absorbed any. Still, a good experiment and good flavour is excellent.

@KajiKita, yup, totally get where you're coming from - if Sensible September works for you, then go for it. (Bizarrely, 'Sensible' makes me baulk and dig in against it, so I'm sticking with 'frugal (challenge) September!' I know it doesn't alliterate but it just gets me motivated!)