My Off-grid and need to be frugal diary

AnimalTribe

It's been a pretty lazy Sunday, I did my usual Sunday phonecall catchups. DH worked on his hobby and I worked on mine. 

It's been really cold here today, so I've pulled all of my and DH's jumpers out of cupboards so we can go through them and see what to keep, what to take to the charity shop and what to bin. The cupboards are fuller than they should be and I'm sure neither of us needs that many clothes.

AnimalTribe

The jumpers are sorted. There's nothing to bin, but there's a few things to go to the charity shop next time I'm passing.

DH went into the city today and I asked him to do some grocery shopping while he was there. I gave him a list and he managed to get most of the things on it, but he came back with loads of tins of soup. I'm not a great fan of tinned soup, I prefer home-made. However, I do keep a stock in case something happens to the oven and I need food that's easy to heat or in case we're ill and can't face cooking. I don't know where I'm going to put it all. I guess it's good that he's thinking ahead for winter preps.

I bought a job lot of broken jewellery to take apart for the beads, but I've found some decent stuff. A couple of good items with just a stone missing or a broken catch. I've managed to fix them from my crafting stash and I'll re-sell them. They will probably more than cover the cost of the job lot.

teapot2

Also not a fan of tinned soup but I usually have a couple of tins in the cupboard for similar reasons.  Can't believe how expensive 'good' tinned soup is these days though.

Well done on the broken jewellery purchase 

peb

Gosh.   I have to admit I now can't eat tinned soup (though no doubt I would in a proper emergency!)

Dropping the jumpers off helps 

AnimalTribe

teapot2 & peb after home-made soup tinned soup just doesn't taste right, it either tastes chemically or too salty to me. Still the time I had flu and DH had to go into the office to work I was grateful to have tinned tomato soup as it was about the only thing I could manage to find the energy to make for myself. I couldn't really taste it but it was warm and soothing.

In terms of cooking options if the Calor gas cooker ever broke I have a microwave, a camping stove, and a Kelly kettle so I think I would always be able to cook something.

The jewellery was an absolute bargain. I’ve glued in loose stones, found replacement stones, straightened brooch pins, polished away scratches – easy fixes, and I’ve enjoyed working on the pieces.

The material I ordered online has arrived. I’ll eventually make it into seasonal bunting, but it will probably take me a while to get around to it.

I think my extra job tomorrow will be to go through my jeans if I have enough time.

AnimalTribe

I managed to find somewhere to put all the tined soup. Although, I don’t know what’s in my large freezer, I know exactly what tins I have. I’ve got all the non-freezer stuff listed on a spreadsheet (that I keep up-to-date) – that probably makes me a very sad person, but I find it very helpful. On top of the tins, I write what the contents are and the use by date – that way if something’s at the back of the cupboard I don’t have to move everything at the front to read the label. I do make sure I rotate the cans when I add new stuff though.

Today DH has posted a few eBay sales and I’ve sorted out my jeans (only one pair to add to the charity pile), and one pair I’ll use as gardening trousers.

I’ve done a bit of craft sewing and made a few bracelets above the normal household stuff, so it’s been a productive day.

AnimalTribe

DH & I have been out with friends the last two nights. Nothing extravagant, a trip to the pub on Thursday, and a small house party on Friday. For the party everyone brought something. I took carrot cake muffins with red & green cream cheese icing and monster faces. I’m quite pleased at the way the muffins turned out. I wish I’d taken a photo.

I’ve cleared out the last plants from the greenhouse. Some went outside and a few I’ve transferred to the house. I’m still amazed at how well the ‘Webb’s Wonderful’ lettuce is growing. The first of the original plants I planted in April has just started to bolt. I sowed a huge amount of lettuce and just pull off leaves daily rather than pull out the whole lettuce and the Webb’s Wonderful plants just recover.

The last of the sweet peppers that have been growing in the porch are now in the freezer. I’ve only got some chilli plants left indoors.

On a very happy note, my big dog is fine. I had found a small lump so off to the vets she went to have it checked. A biopsy shows that it’s just a fatty lump. I had suspected that but it pays to be sure.

Rhyddid2026

Great news on the pooch! That must have been a relief, even though you were pretty sure it was fine. Like you said, always better to know for sure. 

AnimalTribe

Rhyddid2026 thanks. Yes, a huge relief, and although DH & I are the practical sort, neither of us could settle to anything until we knew for sure.

AnimalTribe

Yesterday DH pulled new internet cabling through the loft. I was his helper pulling the cable through holes in the ceiling. It’s another job done that’s been on the ‘To Do’ list for a while. I also dug up some plants to give to my sister, fixed a picture frame and ordered a couple of replacement parts to fix a lawnmower and a clock. The lawnmower just needs a specialised screw for the handle, and the clock needs a new mechanism. It isn’t an expensive clock, but it is one that I like as it has pictures of different birds.

Today I did a fridge triage. I would normally do this on a Sunday but I just wasn’t in the mood. I found some red peppers and chillies that will need to be used soon. So, I made red pepper & chili soup for DH. I don’t mind the red pepper, but I can’t eat chillies. I’ve left one portion out for tomorrow and the rest will be frozen. I have some cooking apples to use but I will bake tomorrow.

I also found a prickly pear and a dragon fruit. I bought both of them for the seeds to see if I can grow an interesting house plant. The dragon fruit will go well with yoghurt, but the prickly pear has too many tough seeds to eat, and it’s too much of a faff to process the juice. The seeds of both are drying on kitchen paper and I’ll pack them up in a few days.