Simplifying Life

mary43

Hi Aril - lovely quote as always as so true.

ceridwen - I'm beginning to get a mental picture here of a female Heath Robinson...................lol Visions of all sorts of gadgets catching water upstairs,downstairs, outside - everywhere..................lol
Don't know how we'd be able to divert bath water to flush the loo ?? Meantime we'll have to satisfy ourselves that at least we've got the water butt in the garden. Mum had three !! Never had to use househole water once for watering the garden. Unfortunately I can't work out where we'd have the space to put one what with compost bin and three wheelie bins !

greenshield - hello and thanks for the link.............I'll have to get OH to look at that and see if it would work for us.

Well, I've been to local village boot fair, collected yet another tele for our young lad.............this one thankfully works with his ps2 ! So, he's a happy chappy, much as I wish he could divert his brain/energy towards something more creative that blowing someones head off in the name of a 'game' !!!
I have tried but other than creating a card for his Mums birthday he tends to look at me as if I've lost the plot !
So, one more tele to add to the collection............I do hope OH removes the big portablle from our bedroom............I don't really like laying in bed watching the last bit of a film in what appears to be cinemascope -our room isn't that big ! Then there are the other teles........which ones to dump ? Well, the one young lad brough back from his Mums doesn't function at all, plus two more of ours............that'll leave two spare......one for our room and one for the spare room (just in case)
Also from the boot fair I got a cauliflower for 50p (they were over £1 in the shops!), cork board to decorate up for grandson for christmas, candle for ex foster lads christmas or birthday box of bits, two nursery books for baby grandson and all the herbs and chilli plants I wanted...........brilliant and I have change from a fiver !!!

Ex foster girl called............well fed up having to still live/sleep in the extension room of her house ............building work not yet started on her house since the fire. She's seriously lacking some 'me' time so a shopping trip looks on the cards in a few weeks when money (hopefully) has started getting back to normal.

Now I have reports to do on both lads for meetings tomorrow about each of them..................ggggrrrrrrrrrr...............:mad: don't like it but it has to be done.

Greenshieldstamp_2

Hi Mary43,

Just a thought but wondered whether your new foster lad might want to help with one of your recycling / gardening projects. Perhaps they might be interested in making or building something that would be useful. It could be "their" project (with some guidance from yourself and OH) and be moneysaving at the same time. Green and recycling is an issue that young people are interested in and quite often know a lot about.
(Probably a silly idea and I wouldn't dream of telling you what to do, just an idea).

mary43

Thanks greenshield - with this particular lad it wouldn't work........believe me I've tried/encouraged etc. but its a no-go. It does become hard when they arrive with an already set pattern of behaviour/upbringing ........we've had some youngsters who are dead keen on doing stuff like that.......girls that used to love raiding the charity shops and make/alter skirts and tops so they became 'individual' items but the two boys we've got just aren't that way inclined and think we're both 'bonkers'..............lol - wouldn't even come to the boot fair with us.

Ex foster lad we had who created the wild life pond.......now he was very different and would love (and still does) making something unique to him....junk shops are like alladins cave ! When he first arrived for my birthday he made me a man and a dog out of old scrap metal......very square looking and basic but he made it especially for me and I'll treasure it always. Her was also a great one for painting up old bits of furniture, adapting anything to create a plant pot in the garden,...........you name it, if it involved anything like that he was all for it.

It's sad that these two are so involved with things involving remote controls, push buttons, phones that do anything and everything and they seldom use them for phone calls............and everything they where has to have a 'label'..................well, not while they're with me it doesn't which can be a bone of contention at times until I come home from the charity shop with a couple of Nike t-shirts and £2 each ! Then all of a sudden, second hand is ok !.............lol

Charis

ceridwen wrote: »

Thanks for confirming my thoughts on a couple of "water butt savings". I have just put a large bucket type thingie in the shower - experimenting coming up with keeping the water from it for other things (like flushing the loo - and, on non-workdays if I'm feeling supremely virtuous;) then wondering whether I might wash the dishes in it - it will still be hot - and with "cleaner" in already - ie my soap - well it could work:cool: ).

If it's cool enough to shower in, it won't be hot enough to wash dishes. I gather the bucket is to collect the cold water you run off while waiting for the hot. However, on another thread someone suggested putting your washing in water to soak. Soaking washing means you need far less detergent when you later put it into the machine to wash. The OP reckoned none, sometimes. If you have an over bath shower, just put the plug in to save all the water for soaking the laundry.

While you are dashing upstairs to flush the loo with water butt water, have you factored in the wear and tear on the stair carpet? :rotfl: Did you know that wee makes an excellent compost accelerator? Water it down to one part in nine. It's a myth that only males' urine will do the job. That way you will not have to flush at all (nor wear out the stair carpet if you can use the jug downstairs) :rotfl: :rotfl:

shaz_mum_of__2

Hi all

Ceridwen i guess if you had a twintub you could use rainwater for washing clothes as it heats everything up and could be filled with a bucket (from memory)

Mary soapmaking is not complicated but it can be dangerous (you use neat caustic soda)it's not cheap either . I would reccommend lots of research first ther is a thread on mse somewhere i found useful cant re find it though at the mo

try here to start with

http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soaprecipes/a/grocerysoap.htm

i must say i haven't made anything saleable yet though bit rustic looking but works well

Shaz

mary43

Thanks shaz - I know about the perils of the dreaded caustic soda from my days years back when I stripped pine furniture with it. It can be lethal stuff.
I'll have a look at the link and see whether I think I dare have a go................lol

shaz_mum_of__2

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=355501&highlight=soapmaking

Mary The soapmaking thread i couldn't find before

mary43

Thanks shaz - made a note of that. The oatmeal scrub looks good...........have to see what works out easiest.Never done anything like this before..........

mary43

Hello all................well been a day of meetings.............one this morning about one lad, one this afternoon about the other...........head was going round by the time we'd finished so have had some 'me' time with computer since I got back...........felt I'd earned it.....kids were watching a dvd and I felt like doing nothing in particular.
Tomorrow, must pull my socks up and actually do something productive.........like housework -well just a bit anyway, then I need to delve into my 'aladinns cave' and sort out presents for ex foster lads birthday due very soon and make a special card for him..........he wants me to draw one for him like I used to but so far all my efforts have been awful ! Get the feeling he'll have to have one concocted with paper and glue............lol
By the time I've done that young lad will be back from school as he only does half days............no doubt we'll get the deep sighs followed by 'I'm bored' despite the fact he has his play station. He finished watching dvd with the older boy and has forthe last hour given many deep sighs..................:doh:
OH is now instructing him (with the patience of a saint) on how to cook tandoried lamb.....................as deep sighs of boredom have now changed to 'I'm hungry'......................lol
Good gracious............he is now laying the table............:T

Greenshieldstamp_2

Hi everyone,

Mary43 - sounds like everything is working out just fine with your new foster lad. I have a funny feeling you will end up with a new hobby that your new lad will teach you in some way. I loved the post about the man and dog that your other foster lad made you.

Had a " open the fridge and wondered what I can make for tea with two lettuce leaves" day today and am chuffed that I managed to make a meal from my storecupboard that turned out better than a meal which I would have planned (yep I know meal-planning is better), and more importantly OH loved it! (phew, thank goodness). For once, adding a bit of this, some herbs, some sauce etc. turned into a yummy veggie spaghetti bolognaise. Yippee - this stocking up the store cupboard is starting to work.
Thanks everyone. Simplifying Life is proving so useful
(Cheers to Ceridwen for starting this thread)