My Off-grid and need to be frugal diary

AnimalTribe

It snowed here this morning, but fortunately it is nearly melted. No sun or wind, so the battery charge is running down which means that the generator is likely to start running. When it does, I'll put some potatoes in the microwave and reheat them for dinner tonight and tomorrow - so a very easy meal. DH and I try to balance our electricity usage so that we don't run the batteries down, we only use the microwave rarely (just for jacket potatoes really) but we only make those in the summer when we have loads of power or in the winter when the generator runs.

I've just come back from another good walk. It's so still and calm and not another soul around for miles. 

The supplier of a missing parcel has agreed to send me a replacement at no extra charge so that was a good win. Unfortunately, the Help Desk I contacted about a misplaced payment was absolutely useless. I phoned twice, as the first person was so brusque and clueless, to see if I could talk to a different person. The second person was at least polite, and tried to help, but their system kept taking them around in circles. In the end I've e-mailed customer services and asked them to sort it out and I'll see what they come back with. 

Fibre broadband has finally come to our remote area, at first, they weren't going to include us in their roll out, but we contacted our MP and the broadband company agreed to add us. It means that we can get a package deal on our broadband and telephone. This will be much cheaper for us and the broadband is faster and has unlimited usage. Our current satellite internet has a data cap (which is quite low, and it is also much slower). The only downside is that we will need to leave the power for the internet switched on because otherwise we won't get any incoming calls. We currently only put the switch on when we need to use the internet. When you generate your own power, you have to consider every power draw no matter how small. The internet switch doesn't use a lot of electricity so it shouldn't be too much of a problem, and the extra data amount, the faster speed and the lower cost make it worth it.

weenancyinAmerica

A quick question - have you tried making your own vegetarian marshmallows? I see there are several recipes on the Internet. Then you wouldn't have to order them by mail.

AnimalTribe

weenacyinAmerica thank you for this. I've looked up a few recipes online and I've found a couple that I'll definitely try. 

I had a nice relaxing day yesterday. A walk in the morning followed by my weekly phone calls to family. Watched a 25p DVD I bought in the charity shop last week and read a book. That's my kind of Sunday.

You know I said it was going to be that kind of week; well, I think it's going to be that kind of month. DH had a suspicious transaction on his credit card. Fortunately, he spotted it and the bank is refunding the money without a fuss, and his new card will be delivered this week. It just shows that you have to keep an eye on your accounts.

The e-mail I sent to the Customer Services department to complain about a missing payment, mentioned in a previous post,  was bounced back as undeliverable (It was the address on their stationery). I've found another e-mail address from their homepage so I've resent the complaint - I hope that will be more successful.

On the plus side my first seedlings have appeared - white alyssum, so that will add a bit of interest to the garden when I get to plant them out. I've also passed the £10 mark on Microsoft Rewards. I like Rewards because, unlike surveys, you don't get screened out, and the points only take minutes to collect. Often, if one of the tasks is a quiz, if you click on the button, and then go back to the home page the points are allocated without you having to answer any questions. That's what I do for all the points buttons, I click on them and then go back to the home page (mostly I've received the points without any further action). I tend not to do the boxes with the searches, as this takes a fraction longer.

I also tackled my e-mail inbox that had grown so very large. It's now cleared out and I feel very virtuous.

My extra jobs today are cleaning the fridge and darning a sock.

Tonights dinner is an easy vegetarian stew that will do for today, tomorrow and possibly a third day, blended as a pasta sauce.

AnimalTribe

Today is another overcast and cold day. I haven’t managed a walk this morning but I’ll be going for one this afternoon. As well as trying to enjoy the local scenery, I’m also trying to increase my fitness as I was a ‘couched potato’ over winter.

DH and I went shopping this morning and spent £43.69 (dog food) and £83.04 (food and DH snacks) in Aldi and Sainsbury's. This will keep me going for most of the month though, apart from milk and bread. DH posted an Ebay sale at the same time, I posted a birthday card, and we went to the recycling centre. DH and I try to do multiple things on the same trip as it saves travelling time and fuel.

The birthday card I sent was a very nice one I bought from a charity shop. I hadn’t noticed that the envelope flap was stuck down. I didn’t have another envelope the same size as the card, but DH came to the rescue and dampened the stuck down part and left if overnight so that it separated. The envelope also dried overnight so I just had to use a glue stick to seal it. It saved me having to find another card.

My extra task today (I always try to do something extra to my normal routine) is to try on some jackets that I haven’t worn in a while. I'll probably make some fruit flapjacks too as I have some dried dates to use up.

foxgloves

Oooh, that's reminded me that I haven't baked any date slices for absolutely ages, @AnimalTribe. I love those & the recipe also works really well with dried apricots. I haven't ever thought to add dates to flapjack....something I would also doubtless love! 
 I also like to get as much as possible done on a trip into town. Our village is only 1.5 miles outside of town, but all those £1.50 parking charges soon add up over a month if we keep popping in for things we've forgotten through silly lack of planning. Also, I don't have access to the car in the week (apart from alternate Fridays) so I like to make the most of it when I do. As our village post office has closed, I no longer have the option of sorting out postage locally either......though tbh, since the manager was spectacularly rude & unhelpful to me a few years ago, I only went there when absolutely necessary as I am not the best person for keeping my mouth shut on such occasions!
F

AnimalTribe

Foxgloves date slices are lovely. I haven’t had one for years either. Dates are lovely in flapjacks, but I will put any kind of fruit in that I have to hand, or seeds or coconut or chocolate chips. My DD used to get annoyed with my cooking habits as I often change ingredients about (or add less or extra) but I never write the changes down. So, if she really liked something I often couldn't give her a precise recipe.

I can understand your annoyance with rude post office staff. DH had a similar experience with a rude Hermes (now Evri) drop off point at a newsagent – he never went there again. Our nearest village is 6 miles away, but the post office staff there are great.

It’s still cold here, but spring isn’t far off now.

The replacement for my missing parcel is due to be delivered today – yeah. Also, the e-mail to customer services about the ‘disappearing’ payment has been answered and they say they have sorted it and confirmation should arrive in the post soon. I’ll wait and see but it’s a step in the right direction.

Today my extra job is looking through my stash of flower seeds – it’s a job I love. Picking up all the packets, reading them, thinking about if I have space for them? where they will be safe from rabbits\sheep\deer? Making sure any poisonous ones are planted in a dog free zone. I am so sad LOL.

foxgloves

I've earmarked tomorrow for flower seed decisions. Yes, it's a lovely job, so full of promise. We've decided on this year's vegetables, but flower decisions are solely down to me, though Mr F, like me, is keen on plants which attract pollinators so is always happy with the selection I choose. Then I will be sorting all 2025's chosen seed packets into recycled envelopes according to their month of sowing. I also label an extra envelope for seed packets where I will come back to them to make a repeat sowing.
I had 2 attempts at a flapjack recipe which had a layer of stewed apples in the centre. It was tasty on both occasions, but I couldn't get the consistency sufficiently firm to slice, so it was more of an appley-oat falling-to-bits dessert in a bowl. We had breakfast at a not-too-far away NT place on Sunday. I chose a warm cheese scone, as they are always lovely there, but was very tempted by a plate of chunky date slices. I didn't think they were a good breakfast choice, but why not? They are mostly oats & dried fruit after all! I wished I'd bought one to bring home with me to get the lingering 'date slice urge' out of my system!
F

AnimalTribe

DH and I aren't really into Valentine's Day so we didn't do anything special, other than a nice dinner at home. The day was a pretty relaxed one we went to a large village and did a small grocery shop (£9.46), dropped some clothes off at the charity shop and bought some books. The rest of the day we just did our own thing - DH did stuff on his laptop and I just read the next in the Hannah Dennison 'Honeychurch Hall' books. The books are a very easy read (a bit like MC Beaton's Agatha Raisin). I woke up to a smattering of snow again this morning, but it already almost melted. Today is just going to be an indoors tidy up day

AnimalTribe

There has been snow here for the last few days. It’s only flurries though so it’s not staying on the ground. However, It's very cold and now I have a cold. I don't get colds often and when I do, they don't last long. 

The good news though is that the phone line has now switched over to a cheaper supplier than BT.

I’ve just taken delivery of a sack of wild bird seed. I have plenty of fat balls, but I’d run out of seed. DH has now filled up the bird feeder. When DH & I first moved here the only birds we would see were crows and swallows, now we have a wide range of birds visiting us and nesting here, and it is such a pleasure to see them.

Today’s extra tasks will all be laptop based, as my cold kept me awake last night and I’m a bit tired. So there’s a couple of financial things to do, a couple of recipes to find so that I can use up  some ingredients, research I’ve been meaning to do about edible flowers (the nasturtiums I grew last year were good), and a couple of books I want to buy.

teapot2

Hope the cold does one soon.  Enjoy your research,  I am also a fan of nasturtiums - both to admire and munch.