Dusty's Frugal Fortnights Return!

dustydigger · 9 August 2022 at 11:02AM

Well,of course I will keep on packing glassware etc in a box while he is working,and will doubtless be doing all sorts of little jobs in parts he is not working on.,but we really needed to get big stuff out of the way. That boy has no patience,he would not enjoy moving crates etc around.I suppose we can keep the curtains up today,and he can take them down before painting tomorrow. The blinds can stayed undisturbed,thank goodness,unhooking dozens of vertical slats would not appeal to him at all

the extra troubles are because of doing two rooms at the same time. Otherwise we could just move stuff and stack in the other room.

Got to wonder at these minamalist houses that appear in magazines. I dont think they ever do any cooking,,have large apartments,are mostly young professionals who are out on the go,no children,no nostalgia for old stuff and have living parents who keep all the extra stuff at their home - or have a secret stash at a storage facility. Or are super human. No normal person could have so little stuff.

tooldle · 9 August 2022 at 12:25PM

I'm by no means minimalist, but having stuff stacked all over and behind the furniture would have me sweating. If it doesn't fit in the existing storage in our house, it either goes, or something else goes to make the space for the item which must be kept. There are two of us living here with an occasional third person and we can only use so many things at any one time.
My FIL is a hoarder and his house is packed with important stuff. Unfortunately most of it is inaccessible in a packed loft, garage or the under house storage. Some poor sod (likely my OH) is going to be lumbered with clearing it all, one day soon.

weenancyinAmerica · 9 August 2022 at 5:02PM

My great-aunt actually had two houses for her stuff - she was given the second one next door to her house for caring for the neighbor. When she died, it took her family 5 years to clear everything out. She even had a 50 year old car in one garage (only driven 8 miles home from the dealer) under all the piles in the garage. My father was the only who knew it was there. I'm trying to avoid that situation here. But my roommates just keep making things worse.

dustydigger · 9 August 2022 at 5:06PM

Oh boy,the heat!. Supposedly only 22C in my area,but it feels much more indoors. Cooking dinner,with rings and oven blasting away didnt help either.

Realized at 11.45 I hadnt got potatoes with my asd@ order. Again they didnt have our favourite marabels,and I had ntended to go off my list to check out other brands,but Mr Dusty talking to me,the TV chattering,and my featheweight brain meant I didnt do it.

I had a few new potatoes,and naan bread in so I coped. Really need to get out and buy spuds.Unless I can get DS1 to goout,but thats rather unlikely with all he will have on his plate. Also need a strong oven liner to stop spoiling my new oven trays. All I need is the strength and gumption to do it. Oh dear,no energy,no gumption.

ight,dinners done,but not washed. Mr D is dozing,I usually dump all washing up on him.So wash up,carry out several bags and boxes of kitchen stuff,destination the yard.Move the plasti drawers and shopping trolley out so I can tun the table around to get at stuff still under the table and on a 1 ft high shelf behing it. All sorts of rubbish on there to remove and then wash ready for painting.No idea exactly when DS1 will come,possibly DS2 will help,but he works all over the place,and may not be available till 6pm - if at all.

.......................

Oops,didnt post this,so its 2 hours later,still no DS1 in sight. Mr D joined me after his nap,and we have cleared away so much stuff,mostly to the yard,hoovered,moved the kitchen table and cleared everything out. beneath and behind. Now only table,kitchen unit and a few items need to be moved around to get at kitchen walls,before it wouldnt have taken forever!

dustydigger · 9 August 2022 at 6:06PM

tooldle said:

I'm by no means minimalist, but having stuff stacked all over and behind the furniture would have me sweating. If it doesn't fit in the existing storage in our house, it either goes, or something else goes to make the space for the item which must be kept. There are two of us living here with an occasional third person and we can only use so many things at any one time.
My FIL is a hoarder and his house is packed with important stuff. Unfortunately most of it is inaccessible in a packed loft, garage or the under house storage. Some poor sod (likely my OH) is going to be lumbered with clearing it all, one day soon.

How big is your house? Ours is a council house built in the 1930s,so quite small - although houses in the last decade are almost as small once more,though many only have two bedrooms now.

Mr D is a packrat,and we still have stuff belonging to our kids,and of course stuff from breaking up my sisters' houses. I am going to bite the bullet and start getting rid of stuff.

Back in 2017 I started to clear clutter out. Mr D and the family howled in protest,and I could only do my own stuff,plus kitchen. It took months,doing it a little at a time because of health problems. I got the whole house clean and sparse in places,but continuing health deterioration has made all the excess stuff tiptoe in once more,and as far as health is concerned the last years,almost aligning with the covid which has made us housebound,so has meant a serious dropping of standards. Maybe when all of my plans for the living room come into being,plus a garden shed to clear out the cupboard under the stairs,and perhaps extra storage in the diner,I will no longer keep expecting the roof to blow away.I have £2500 budget but now with energy prices so high,I may have to cut down drastically.

I just close my mind to the two bedrooms Mr Dusty rules over,or I would be sweating like you

dustydigger · 9 August 2022 at 6:42PM

Here's my budget,better late than never.

Dusty's Frugal Fortnight #7 : 8th August- 21st August

part is online,part cash

online income for fortnight : £79 pension ,£200 sent to bank from our Pension Credit,total £279.Then £123 cash to HBB (Home Budget Box) .

Total income -£402.

All bills paid online as follows(rounded up)

Charity DDs - £3

Water rates - £37

Insurance - £20

Home Insurance - £10

Asd@ monthly delivery pass - £6

Asd@ food deliveries - £125(estimate)

total - £201

to bank buffer - £78 (for buying things online)

===============================

only outlay from cash HBB is window cleaner,£5,phone £10,leaving £108 for daily expenses .This is the fortnight with lots of cash to be put in the savings binder ''in transit'' envelope. Whenever it reaches £100 in one denomination it goes to a savings pot.This time I think it will go in my personal pot,I need new shoes,new underwear, blouses.I only have £200 in that pot.

I will be extracting from my House and Home fund. Have to pay for paint .Once that is done I will be after a carpet,and a couch and two fireside chairs,lighter,higher and easier for us two dodderers! But lets get the painting over with first

No sign of son,must has been caught up in work. A spray for mould was delivered this pm,so it looks like everything is pushed back a day.

tooldle · 9 August 2022 at 6:45PM

dustydigger said:

tooldle said:

I'm by no means minimalist, but having stuff stacked all over and behind the furniture would have me sweating. If it doesn't fit in the existing storage in our house, it either goes, or something else goes to make the space for the item which must be kept. There are two of us living here with an occasional third person and we can only use so many things at any one time.
My FIL is a hoarder and his house is packed with important stuff. Unfortunately most of it is inaccessible in a packed loft, garage or the under house storage. Some poor sod (likely my OH) is going to be lumbered with clearing it all, one day soon.

How big is your house? Ours is a council house built in the 1930s,so quite small - although houses in the last decade are almost as small once more,though many only have two bedrooms now.
Mr D is a packrat,and we still have stuff belonging to our kids,and of course stuff from breaking up my sisters' houses. I am going to bite the bullet and start getting rid of stuff.
Back in 2017 I started to clear clutter out. Mr D and the family howled in protest,and I could only do my own stuff,plus kitchen. It took months,doing it a little at a time because of health problems. I got the whole house clean and sparse in places,but continuing health deterioration has made all the excess stuff tiptoe in once more,and as far as health is concerned the last years,almost aligning with the covid which has made us housebound,so has meant a serious dropping of standards. Maybe when all of my plans for the living room come into being,plus a garden shed to clear out the cupboard under the stairs,and perhaps extra storage in the diner,I will no longer keep expecting the roof to blow away.I have £2500 budget but now with energy prices so high,I may have to cut down drastically.
I just close my mind to the two bedrooms Mr Dusty rules over,or I would be sweating like you

We are in a 3 bed bungalow, built in the late 70’s, and no inbuilt storage. It is very small. I use one bedroom as an office. We downsized from an Edwardian 4 bed. Daughter is with us intermittently and uses bedroom 2.

In the past few months we’ve been slowly fitting a kitchen (cabinets have a long lead time at the moment). Subsequently we’ve culled our kitchen kit still further as realistically we’ve been living with a multi pot, a remoska, a frying pan and a big pan with steamer sections. We’ve 8 plates, 6 bowls, 8 mugs, 8 glasses etc. Even if we washed up only once a day, we would not have used all items.
I did have quite a bit of stuff from my parents house and have whittled this down to a few key items.
I have a disability myself and don’t always find it easy to maintain a full time role and housework. The less ‘stuff’ we have, the less there is to look after, move etc.
it does sound as though you are struggling with day to day life, and the moving of stuff to create room is not helping and wasting your physical and mental energy. Culling the excess may be helpful.

dustydigger · 9 August 2022 at 7:26PM

weenancyinAmerica said:

Book #1 in the Nancy Drew series has been rewritten at least 5 times - I have that many variations. Was originally very racist and was changed through the years. I don't know how many changes book 2 has had.

Better late than never,Nancy I reply to your post. . I am about to read Nancy Drew #2,The Hidden Staircase for my children's book challenge this month. Interestingly this 1991 edition of the story is a facsimile of the original 1930 edition. There is a frank introduction,explaining how changes in society led to rewritng of the books from 1959.

The introduction to this reprint of the original says

''The modern reader may be delighted with the warmth and exactness of the language,the wholesome innocence of the characters,their engagement with the natural world,or the nonstop action without the use of violence; but just as well the modern reader may be extremely uncomfortable with the racial and social stereotyping,the roles women play in the books,or the use of phrases or stituations that may conjure up some response in the modern reader that was not felt by the readers of the time''

The publisher replies to queries as to why bring these back.

''These books are a part of our heritage. They are a window on our real past.''

There are points both for and against this argument,but I am quite interested in reading this 1930s book. I wont be around in 50 years,but I bet there will be plenty of people deriding the ethics and positions of our society today in 2022 in ways that would surprise us greatly!

I never forget Shakespeare Merchant of Venice. People rush to defend our William,against racism,but some of the text is a tad anti-semitic to say the least.Walter Scott's Ivanhoe comes to mind too. And as for Huckleberry Finn! Oh boy.....

On a tangent,I get really annoyed with social media reviews of my favourite SF era,the 1950s.They tear their hair out because there are no female characters,or they are token and just not feisty,prominent etc in a 21st century way. I just say to myself,''Why the hell read such books when you know it was a totally different culture back then?''

weenancyinAmerica · 9 August 2022 at 9:27PM

I give a lot of family history speeches. I point out to people that you can't change the past. You have to accept that things happened and deal with it. You can't let the terminology or the events that happened stop you from tracking down your relatives. Sometimes it is hard to deal with, but trying to "whitewash" everything just isn't good for anyone. Though some of the histories I have found have tried - "He was assisted in leaving the country after having sold sheep without ascertaining the ownership thereof".