Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Makingabobor2

This is very interesting about the recycling. A subject very dear to my heart....DH actually works for a large recycling company, Midlands based, starts with a C & ends with a K.  He runs the weighbridge office and it is a continual flow of lorries.  

themadvix

I think the European (French, German and Dutch - at least in some areas) idea of communal underground general waste and recycling bins at the top of each road would be an excellent route to take - no more endless bins at home, fewer emissions from lorries and everyone being that bit more aware of how much they're creating when they have to carry it a little bit further. I can imagine the outrage here though from people should they have to actually make any effort to take responsibility for their waste - and no doubt the feckless fly-tipping too.

Makingabobor2

themadvix said:

I think the European (French, German and Dutch - at least in some areas) idea of communal underground general waste and recycling bins at the top of each road would be an excellent route to take - no more endless bins at home, fewer emissions from lorries and everyone being that bit more aware of how much they're creating when they have to carry it a little bit further. I can imagine the outrage here though from people should they have to actually make any effort to take responsibility for their waste - and no doubt the feckless fly-tipping too.

I think most European countries, especially Scandinavian, seem to take pride in their country and their surroundings. Here, I think those of us that do, are in the minority. Its very sad, it makes me very cross when we walk past houses and see the junk and rubbish thrown in front gardens or fly tipping on country lanes. 

foxgloves

Lots of interesting comments here - thanks for contributing. It does definitely come down to attitude though & that's the problem, as far too many people simply don't give two you-know-whats about environmental issues. Some of the bin problems people regularly moan about also come down to poor practice. For example, I recall a conversation with an ex-colleague dating back to when her local rubbish bin collection had dropped from weekly to once a fortnight. I saw it very much as a good thing, but she was not at all happy because of the maggots, flies, smell of rotting food, etc. She said she just couldn't believe that wasn't a problem for me & I said it absolutely wasn't because a) We don't waste food and b) Any inedible stuff such as meat rinds, bones, fish skin, etc, is well-wrapped in newspaper (which degrades) & tied tightly into a parcel with string before being put into the bin. Vegetable peelings, banana skins, contents of jellybag when making preserves, used coffee filter papers, etc, are all home-composted. Surely bins are only full of stinking rotting food if households are over-buying, not planning & wasting stuff.
F

foxgloves

And now for today's (mostly non bin-related!) post:
Pleasant day of low-key Valentines-ness. Mr F loved his tin of home-baked jam buns & home-made card, so they were shopped from home successes. We have moved our planned outing to Sunday as tomorrow's weather forecast seems to be off-puttingly heavy on sleet & rain. We did think we could just put our waterproof coats on & go for it, as it isn't a very long walk, but then we thought about how we like to take our time to spot wildlife, identify plants (me), do a bit of photography (him), & how we'd get so much more out of our visit on a dry day.....meaning better use of petrol cost too, of course. Tonight we are treating ourselves to a (planned) pizza from our favourite little indie place. Takeaways became so much more of a treat once we drastically cut the regularity of their appearance back when we were debt-busting. We availed ourself of the supermarket offer of a bottle of prosecco & box of champagne truffles for £10 so no silly levels of treat spending going on there either. I think we are going to watch a 1970s ghosty thing tonight which is one of Mr F's faves & I am trying to challenge him to a 'Scrabble' match tomorrow. I am also really enjoying my book - 'The Reindeer hunters', 2nd in 'The Sister Bells' trilogy so any time I get to immerse myself in historic rural Norway today the better!
Right, enough yak (does the woman ever stop?!).....has there been any money saving apart from home-made Valentinesey bits?
*Not a no-spend day as Mr F popped into market for local farm stall veg. Also, I ordered new filter cartridges for our coffee machine. I think I might complain again about there being seemingly no way of recycling these (- it's a decent-end kitchen equipment manufacturer & they should know better). I ordered a year's supply. Mr F is adamant that everything still runs fine if we get 4 months out of each cartridge instead of the recommended 3, so although I resent the cost of these (non-branded don't fit this coffee machine), at least I know this is a year's supply. To ensure I qualified for free click & collect, I also ordered a planned item towards a family birthday present which was actually about £6 less than I'd anticipated.
*Today's home care hour - Emptied out a double kitchen cupboard, washed it out, reversed the shelves as the back edges were in newer condition than the front ones, then sorted through every item with Mr F to see what we wanted to keep. Very useful - 5 items added to charity shop bag, an outdated jar of malted milk drink which I bought just pre-pandemic to make Nigella's fab Malteser cake binned (it has sat there concealed at the back because I only use it for that cake recipe, neither of us would drink it & it had become way too ancient to pass onto anyone else, so yes, I actually have to hold my hand up to a bit of food waste there, don't I?!) Mr F can be a bit of a hoarder re coffee paraphernalia so we decided to keep one cafetiere because we could use that in conjunction with our gas hob kettle in a power cut, but I asked him to go through all the odd bits of old cafetiere & see what he really needs for 'spares'. And the answer was.....NONE, because none of them fitted & were all from other models. Ha! Result! Mr F isn't a hoarder, but there are certain categories of stuff i.e coffee stuff & bits of techy cables where he does kind of nod in that direction.
*Baked the sourdough loaf I mixed up yesterday.
*Checked for surveys, but very little available so far today & I will be switching my laptop off shortly.
*Checked chilli seedlings. Another variety has decided to start popping through. 
And apart from these minor things, a relaxed lazy day following a good night's sleep for both of us. We are both poor sleepers on the whole so this always feels like a positive start to the day.
Nothing else to do in the job line, apart from seeing if Mr F can achieve the 3rd day in a row of getting Ash's gum paste into his gob before he realises what's happening. Soot would already have been onto us by Day 2, so I'm glad it wasn't prescribed for him! Those lamb sticks I found wedged at the back of the cat cupboard earlier this week when I was cleaning it out are going to provide their Valentine's Day snacks.
That's me over & out,
F x

Makingabobor2

Glad Mr FG enjoyed his jam buns.  I gave DH his recycled/reused card this morning, hidden in a recycled gift bag with a gift voucher I treated him to. He said he was in too much of a rush to open it and I should save it for tonight....think that's code for "oh dear, I forgot it was today".....lol.  

foxgloves

Lol, it may have been, @Makingabobor2. I'm just glad there has been no knock at the door today from a delivery person bearing a big bouquet of flowers because much as I love flowers, raiding the Presents Pot to pay for them would have contravened the entire point of Project Surbiton. I received a lovely well chosen card & I'm more than happy with that.
F x

Blackcats

Mrs F - We have a lot of techy cables here too, it's like a tangled mass of snakes and I'm sure MrBC would not know what most of them are for.  I'd like to throw the lot of them away but it's not my hoard of wires so the box(es) sit in the garage avoiding sorting or disposal.
@Makingabobor2 - quick thinking from your OH!

Makingabobor2

Blackcats said:

Mrs F - We have a lot of techy cables here too, it's like a tangled mass of snakes and I'm sure MrBC would not know what most of them are for.  I'd like to throw the lot of them away but it's not my hoard of wires so the box(es) sit in the garage avoiding sorting or disposal.
@Makingabobor2 - quick thinking from your OH!

Yes, we have dozens of cables as well. DH does know what they are for, and is certain that we will need them one day!   I have actually removed and recycled about 6 in the last 2 months, and he's none the wiser. That's how many there are, that he can't actually tell when there is less in there....lol.  I'm pretty certain we will never need any of them. Some must be at least 15 years old or more. He also has far to many dvds and cds that he won't part with. I have got rid of the majority of mine, but he says he might need his one day....some are still in the cellophane wrapper and at least 25 years old!

rtandon27

foxgloves said:

...Right, enough yak (does the woman ever stop?!)...

Personally I love the yak!  Please don't stop, it's such a lovely part of the day!