From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

I'm overwhelmed with so many visitors and with all your kindness, support & suggestions........ Thank You.

kayannie - what do you feel about having a doer-upper?  I don't mind from the point of view 'we have a house/home and are therefore very blessed', but I did think that at this time in my life I might have just been able to have a house to 'live' in 🙂  The one thing about my 1980's kitchen is that the worktops are just a modicum shorter than the more modern ones that were in the rental house.  It makes it (for me as a person who wasn't gifted lofty genes), sooooo much more comfortable to cook/food prep 😁Something for me to bear in mind if I ever get to install a new kitchen here - or in any other abode; functionality first and foremost, aesthetics, fashion and 'prettiness' waaaayyy down the list 🙂.  Thanks for popping in - lovely to "see" you.

greenbee & RT - loving all the chat about efficiency measures - taking it all in here and considering what we can do.

roblou - thank you for popping in.  I hadn't thought about the fan idea, but I can see how it works.  Unfortunately we don't have a fan and I don't think we currently have the room to do that kind of set up, but it's certainly a tip to remember and who knows, may help someone else reading.  Thanks for being here 🙂

newgirly - well done you on the replacement airer!  I actually had been offered one of those, several years ago.  I was always offered it when I hadn't the transport to carry it away, and the opportunity has passed now/someone else has possibly snaffled it.  Ho hum, the circumstances at the time were very straining, so it was just one of those things.  Definitely something to consider, as we too have some clothing that falls into the heavyweight cotton/denim categories - or even bedsheets (particularly brushed cotton sheets in winter).  Thanks for your support - it's appreciated.

Cheery - ay up!  Lovely to 'see' you.  I'm pondering the 'replacement' route, I think i shall definitely investigate if the 'concerted focus on mood/responses' doesn't yield the behaviour modification I seek.  I'm certainly feeling better - naturally I am far from perfect and let myself down, daily.  But compared to where I was.....  I still keep telling myself that the path to zen-like calmness will be worth it, as by the time I have achieved it, LG will be hitting their hormone addled teen-years! 🤣  What revenge they will wreak! 🤣  Thank you so much for popping in and as ever, for your supportiveness 😁

Waves 👋 to beanie - thanks for popping by, love 😁

So tea last night was a curry plate.  I was originally going to do Ramja Masala (red kidney bean curry) anyway, but in the book by Dr Rupy that I got from the library, there was a recipe for Ramja Makhani, so I thought I would try that instead.  I think - correct me if I am wrong - that Makhani is the 'butter' curry - so chicken Makhani would be butter chicken?  Anyhoo, the Dr's book obvs doesn't have you cooking everything in lashings of butter/cream/yoghurt, but you blitz some of the beans for creaminess,  I must admit, I didn't find his version flavoursome.  I added in some extra curry powder (he uses just garam masala - and they differ from company to company/home mix to home mix), and extra beans (mine was too soupy), ran chopped coriander through the dish (not just fresh on top), and served with a blob of greek yoghurt.  It was OK by that point - but I won't bother repeating, as it was 'no better' than  the masala recipe I already have.  The good thing is that LG got served a portion and ate it.  I did notice that they stirred everything together - curry, dhal and rice, but their plate was clean at the end, so another 'new thing' tried, and eaten up, even if it probably wasn't entirely their preferred foodstuff of choice.  

I did tomato soup for lunch, which went down well.

DH's work clothes dried quite well on the line outdoors because of the stiff breeze (thankfully).  The clothes weren't out for as long as I had hoped, as it came to rain, but they were dry to the touch, and with the work of the de humidifier pootling off and on, they have dried overnight and I have put them away.  I am always relieved to be up to date with work clothes and school uniform.......... 

I was planning on doing pizza and wedges for tea tonight (sorry to mess with your head RT), but the news was talking about possibility of power outages with the bad weather, so I might have to reconsider.   I may well do soup for lunch again though, it will be vegetable tomato if we have it, as I have a portion of tomato 'sauce' that I removed from the Ramja Makhani last night to use up.

I moved the position of the de-humidifier last night.  It can't stay where I have it now, as we won't have the space in the living room to actually..... live.  But the kitchen location is currently flawed, as I realised that the machine was de-humidifing air pulled in from the garage 😕So that's another urgent job for DH to get onto - gap blocking where pipes enter/exit.  However, I am pleased to report that we woke up to clear windows again.  Slightly tempered by the 'higher' (relatively) outdoor overnight temperatures, I am sure.  But there was only a slight line of condensation at the bottom of the bedroom windows - possibly from residual moisture in the putty/wooden frame as much as anything.  This is easily removed by wiping and/or having the windows open for a little while. I open the windows for an 'air exchange' anyway, so that is no problem.   I have seen more condensation on 'more modern' double-glazed windows in neighbouring houses, so I will take that as a win.  

Today should be a nsd (as yesterday was).  We very nearly had a tea crisis this morning (for DH - I prefer coffee), as LG came urgently to tell me that there were 'only 2 teabags left for daddy', and that we would have to go shopping 'for more'.  I told them were to find the new box of teabags (2 inches from where they were standing 🙄), and on inspection, we have a full tea caddy (now), and there is still one box left 'in store'.  So my methods do work - even if my darling family members don't think to look in cupboards to see if a replacement exists...... 🙄

At this mo, I can't think of any ways that pennies can be diverted into pots.  But I have learnt to never say never, so we shall see.  

Thanks for popping by, reading, commenting, supporting.  It is all greatly appreciated, always.  By me.  Thank You.  

Greying X

EssexHebridean

Goodness - a near tea crisis is a scary thing - thank goodness that was averted! Excellent training of LG to be a tea-bag-depletion early warning system though! 

I too started HRT in the course of last year - mostly to deal with the brain fog aspects and a few others things directly related to current physical and mental state, but the main thing is that the health benefits of taking it are massive overall. Heart, bone and brain health among other things, and in these days of trans-dermal applications and body-identical hormones most of the potential negatives from years gone by have been eradicated. With hindsight I really wish I'd done it far sooner - for me specifically it does have a couple of negatives due to a health condition, but that doesn't apply to about 98% of the population thankfully. I'd personally say "never mind waiting to see if "Shreiky Greying" departs, look on the HRT as something to be done regardless. 

I can also identify with the shreiky anxious person emerging at stressful times - indeed I think the time directly around our move was probably not the most cheerful of times for poor MrEH as there must have been a period of time when he was pretty much scared to open his mouth, poor chap! You've reminded me that perhaps that persona hasn't retreated entirely, and that I too could probably do with a degree of "stop and think" - or as my Dad used to say "put your brain into gear before engaging drive on your mouth..."! 

Condensation along the bottom of windows - entirely normal particularly in rooms people are sleeping in I would say - we get it at the ne house some days but the key thing is that it is nothing LIKE as bad as it was at the flat where it used to form puddles on the sills! 

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon MFW'rs

Sorry to have been AWOL.  Not alot to report really.

I have been doing some 'bitsa bobsa' shopping, so need to tally it up and record my spends.  

I did pop across to the next town along today to hopefully snag a bargain with the 2kg bags of Laila branded lentils that MrT had on special (thanks for the heads up redofromthestart).  The normal price is £3 (which is good), but they are £2.70 at the mo for clubcard holders.  I don't particularly like price reduction offers that are linked to the loyalty cards - mostly because I don't have all the loyalty cards - but do still have a clubcard from days of yore when MrT's 'Valoo' range filled our cupboards with stripey goodness.......  If anyone else is interested, it would appear that split red lentils, chickpeas and chana dhal (chickpeas deskinned??) are in the offer, along with some other Laila products which does include their basmati rice.

As well as the pulses, I did also pick up a couple of inexpensive greetings cards, a punnet of their 'Valoo' (equivalent) grapes and a bag of YS'd pears. I won't take this receipt out of my grocery budget, as it contains mostly stuff that we will eat over the course of a good few months. 

Thankfully we have survived unscathed (as far as I can determine) from the storms.  LG's club went ahead last night, so against my better judgement we went out in the storm 😬  Thankfully we were returning home just as things were really revving up.  I sincerely hope everyone else is safe and well, as I realise that we didn't have as bad a time as some parts of the UK.

My only monetary 'find' of late was a random 10p coin found in the car.  So that has gone into the 'piggy bank', but we're still a long way off filling a cash bag with 10p's as yet. I really hope I can squeeze something out of the remaining grocery budget, otherwise we are going to struggle to hit the £30 target for January 🙁  And there are still 4 more instalments of £15 per month to find in Feb, Mar, Apr, May...... 😕

It's not payday yet, so we're still kinda treading water to see what, if anything we can divert into the 'Pounds 4 Panes' pot 😕

The de-humidifier is pootling away.  Naturally the weather is milder, so bedroom window condensation is not such an issue, however, the machine had filled the reservoir again by this morning, so it's getting moisture from somewhere!  Overall the house is warmer and the heating does heat the house up more quickly when it is on.

We have not been keeping to the meal plan as such this week, but have been eating leftovers, or using what we have.  I made a tortellini, and blackbean taco soup in the SC on Monday night.  I don't think I have made a 'dump and go' dish before - so it was a departure for me, but we needed something that could putter away whilst we were out at LG's lesson and which could be dished up pretty soon on our return.  It was OK, I am guilty of making it too liquidy and because I used 2 vac packs of tortellini, it served 4 (generously).  Not an issue from the point of view it all got eaten for tea/lunch over 2 days, but from a budgetary perspective.......  LG didn't 'love' it - mostly because I used a bought packet of taco seasoning, and just dumped it all in.  I should have been a little more in tune with LG's lack of experience/ dislike of 'hot' things (although they often confuse the heat of say ginger with the heat of chilli), as they found it too spicy - but managed to finish off all the tortellini in their dish 🤔I would make it again (maybe not anytime soon, as it isn't necessarily the most rounded nutritionally), but would be much more careful with seasoning.  And I discovered that 'dump and go' doesn't necessarily mean that the flavour is compromised.

 Can't think of owt else to report.  I shall pootle orf and add up my receipts to update my grocery budget totals 😬

Ta for popping in and supporting me.  Appreciated.

Greying X

debtfreewannabe321

Afternoon Greying  
I have read through your diary over a few days. I am sure I remember you from the DFW diaries when I was on there last (fair few years ago now?) 
I was gifted a dehumidifier when I bought my first home by the elderly couple who sold it to me. They told me the front door would get condensation and to leave it on in the hall. It wasn't all that bad but I did as I was told that dehumidifier moved with me many times and was a godsend in some homes. I downsized it eventually to a smaller one as it was pretty big and we still have that one now.
I have recently re-joined the diary land again and moved to the MFW instead of DFW and we have gone through tonnes of options to heat my DP office in the garage. The oil heater was costing a small fortune. I dug into the mse part of my brain (which was hibernating for a fair while) and remembered dehumidifiers don't necessarily warm a room but will dry it out (office is quite damp) and the temperature does raise somewhat. He's been quite happy with it so far so it was a win! I am glad yours is working well for you! It is cheap to run too as we tested it!
I also bought the lakeland three tier heated airer years ago after hearing about them on the DFW boards. It was great! I had three kids at home at the time and it dried a whole wash (with a sheet thrown over the top).

As for the windows. I have recently done up three houses (in the last three years) one for my dad, he wanted a full refit of double glazing, new units and all. And we made friends with the guy who did it. He was a local chap and friendly and we kept his number. When I wanted to sell my house I got him to come round as our double glazing was probably from the 80s. Got him to quote us. He said the units were fine. We only needed to replace the blown glass and have it re-sealed and he could change all hinges and handles to make it look like new! It cost a fraction of the price of what we paid for my dad's house which was similar size! So we did that. I sold that home and bought the one I am in now. Again the double glazing is old. I got said glazier back round and asked to quote on best way forward (was happy to repair or have new windows whatever he recommended) and again he said let's just repair, the units are good. So if you have double glazing units already (I can't recall if you do or not) you could go that way of just repairing. When I was initially thinking I had to replace the whole thing he did say to me why don't you just pay for one every month or so and the whole house will be done in a year....so...perhaps another way round this? He wasn't fensa but maybe the other one. But when we sold and showed the documents there wasn't any arguments over it so legit enough even if not fensa registered! 

Sorry I have rambled enough. Hope you have a good day (and ps I am in awe of you even attempting to dry clothes outside at this time of year!) DFW321

Greying_Pilgrim

DFW321 - Hello!  Great to "see" ya - for sure I remember you from DFW 😁

Thanks for all the useful info regarding windows.  We do have DG - it's the 'slim' stuff though (UPVC DG has a wider space between the 2 panes.  I suspect it could be regenerated to an extent.  I remember the electrician we had to fit the bathroom extractor telling me he had had wooden framed DG installed (country cottage/period home etc etc), and I think the guy who installed it had made it for him 🤔  So I suspect it would take someone like that to renovate, but not out of the question.  It would be worth asking, as with my 'untrained' eye, I suspect that the frames are too far gone (in some instances), both with rot and with mould impregnation, to be saved.  Certainly several panes are blown, but the style of those isn't something I'm keen to hang onto, so I would prefer to have them changed.  But if it was a case of just re-bedding, re-sealing and redoing the external putty, then I suspect the renovation route would be extremely economical.

You're quite right to relate your experience though, because everything should be considered - both in terms of money saving, reusing and the extent of upheaval we want to put ourselves through.

I'm so lucky with having a garden (albeit more or less northerly), to hang washing out in.  I have done LG's bed sheets today, and fingers crossed, they should be pretty much dry by the time I bring them in - having pegged them out with 100 pegs per inch of fabric 🤣.  I will put them on the airer, just so that they are not going into the cupboard stone cold, but at least they aren't coming into the house dripping.  And yes, that is something else laundered that I have not had to go to the launderette with - which is just as well, as I don't formerly have a 'launderette' budget 😕It's something else to try to find out of the food budget.

Greying X

badmemory

Thanks for the heads up about the Laila basmati rice.  It lasts until mid April too which means I won't need to buy it urgently.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

I've not taken the opportunity to update my gratitudes list in a while, and yesterday I was indeed most grateful for;

information sharing between MSE'rs allowing me to save some £'s
the weather being conducive to drying brushed cotton bed linen (albeit with 1000 pegs per item 🤣)
a vehicle and a bit of petrol to pootle about 

Chats about dried chickpeas (in particular) have given me the kick up the bum prompt I needed to soak and process some chickpeas that I have had for at least a year - and which [puts needle on record] we moved houses with....... 🙄 Anyhoo, I soaked 1kg of the 2kg bag over night, and cooked them up this morning.  I am such a fool - they have plumped up beautifully and look, and eat , to all intents and purposes like tinned chickpeas.  I freely admit, I do use tinned chickpeas, sometimes because I'm lazy, sometimes because they are convenient when plans change or sometimes they can produce a better result (sometimes tinned chickpeas make nicer hummus than old, hard, dried chickpeas).  But these chickpeas will be just the job for curries and stews - which is the mainstay of what I use chickpeas for in my cooking.  From my 1kg dried pulses I have cooked up 2.150kg of chickpeas - they really did plump up beautifully.  The brand is H3era, and I am pretty sure I got them from the world foods shop in the next cosmopolitan town along.  I soaked them overnight (12 hrs +) and cooked them on one bar in the PC (my PC has I or II bars), for 8 mins and I let them naturally depressurise.

I have also been shopping to MrL this morning, so need to add £30.86 to my grocery total.  No, I did not get anything for my money 🙁 I didn't find any YS'd things today - there were very few about on the shelves, even for things I wouldn't buy.  

In theory I have just under £20 left in the grocery budget to last to the end of the month.  I have menu-planned until the 31st, and thankfully I listened to my gentle nagging voice in MrL today and went back down the aisle to pick up a bag of porridge as I suspect the oats in the box won't last until Wednesday.   Because I was shifting things around to accommodate lentils yesterday, I knew there wasn't a bag in hand, but I forgot to add it to the list.......

We had an omlette buddha bowl for tea last night.  I used up the part bags of frozen veggies out of the bottom of the freezer, a pot of dhal and some microwaveable brown rice, and the omlettes used up the last of the eggs.  I don't routinely buy microwave rice, for no other reason than I usually have the time to cook rice on the hob.  I bought these pouches (from MrAl I think) before Christmas, to have on hand in case we needed something 'quick and easy' or in case illness struck.  I prefer freshly cooked rice, I think the wholemeal rice in pouches is quite dry (which obviously is fine if you are pairing with a curry, or dressing a rice salad etc), but it was perfectly fine, and we had clean plates all around.

Tonight's tea will make use of some of the cooked chickpeas, as I am going to make Anjum Anand's Lemony Spinach Hotpot - which is a firm favourite with DH and me, and was on regular rotation when we lived at the Towers.  Not too sure we've tried LG on it. I won't be putting aubergine in tonight's pot, as I haven't got one, and I forgot to look to see how much they were in MrL today.  We'll go one exotic vegetable at a time, as I suspect that LG isn't going to be overly enamoured with spinach........

DH has been paid, and we've been very blessed that this year he has been included in the company bonus scheme (I think he may have missed out last year - if there was a bonus awarded - due to still being in the probationary period/not having completed a years service).  Although he did mention that it may be coming, and has had to listen to colleagues bragging about how they are going to spend the money on this, that or the other expensive trinket.  DH has already said he would like the money to go into the windows pot - he is such a team player for his family 🥰 And there was no way either of us would bank on getting the money until we see it on the payslip.  Last time DH worked somewhere with an 'annual' bonus was in his first job, and his boss used to thrust £100 in cash into his hand on Christmas Eve..... Delightful when it's your first job out of school and you were on £25 a week, but the amount stayed the same all the time DH worked there 🤣  Mind, £100 bought alot more in them days too............strains of Dvorak's New World Symphony heard in the background......🤣

Anyhoo, I need to do my sums and money shuffling, but there will be 'something' to go into the 'P4P' pot this month.  When we have 'something' that could buy and have fitted, a window or two, I think I may start ringing around to find quotes - including renovation - as we're most likely to do this work piecemeal, on the basis of how the house 'works' (or doesn't) this winter.  

Right, I'm away to update the grocery total and put the cooked chickpeas in the freezer.  Can't think of owt overtly MSE, that I have missed off.  Oh, I will trawl through my purse to see if there are any small coins that can go in the coin bags.  Got to try to keep that ticking over, as we still need to save the money.  My mood is much improved - still haven't attained perfection, but general everyday emotions are moving toward even keel.  I'll definitely take 'moving toward'.  I haven't started anymore charity blankets, but will do at some point prior to the end of the month.

Ta for popping by and reading.  Appreciated.

Greying X

Cheery_Daff

Glad to hear you're feeling better Greying 😊😊 And excellent news on DH's bonus! Very impressed with you cooking your chick peas. We have some dried beans we moved house with - and we moved house almost six years ago 😱😂

redofromstart

I have to admit the batch of chick peas I did the other day had been in the tub for some (many, lots) of time. Mr Redo reminded me of the nice oven roasted chickpeas too, must make those again.

I used to buy the cooked rice pouches for fried rice type things when I was working, there is a good food recipe that involves stir fried ping rice with grated carrots and plain cashew nuts which we used to really like and was a good fast option. 

Hurrah for the bonus, we used to allow ourselves 10 percent each for personal fritter off any bonus type gains, which is why I have a stand mixer and electric pressure cooker - the real one scared the life out of me!

EssexHebridean

Deeply entertained by all the chickpea chat on here - I think it must have been that which also prompted me to cook a batch at the weekend as well. I never know what weight I've cooked as I just tip the entire contents of the tin I store my "to hand" stocks in, in to the pan. I do know what this time round though I ended up with a little over 1.1kg of cooked cp's as it was 5 "tin weight" tubs. 

As for the "microwaveable" pouches of things, I always have the mixed grain type things to hand - the "Merchant of Gourmet" brand when Lil's have supplies at a bargain price, and Al's own brand when they don't! I don't buy microwaveable rice as a rule because my microwave rice steamer turns out lovely rice in 7 minutes with really minimal input from me, but I did note that T's had some exceptionally well priced sachets of several different types of rice in their current incarnation of their budget range - and thought that it may be worth getting some of those in as they'd perhaps be a nice starting point for egg fried rice rather than the faff of cooking and rapid cooling.