More good sense from Down To Earth

Angelina-M

moanymoany wrote: »

Absolutely, I think this is something I will put on my - ever increasing - list of things to do in the new house. lol

You reminded me of something - years and years ago I was at my beloved Aunty Margarets. I was looking at a plant she had, 'What sort of plant is this Aunty Margaret?' I asked. Turns out it was given to her by a friend. Yes - it was!

:rotfl: :rotfl: I'd have loved to see that!

Here's a picture of one of my indoor gardens. I have little indoor ones with lights so I can grow over winter, of course I dont need light for my outdoor growing and they are on a much larger scale.

It kept me going with lettuce all winter http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i119/cooip/aerogarden.jpg

rosieben

Angelina-M wrote: »

Oh lol don't get me started on hydroponics, I could go on all day! :rotfl:
...

Sounds really interesting and I'd like to know more too, so any chance you could blog about it please?

Angelina-M

rosieben wrote: »

Sounds really interesting and I'd like to know more too, so any chance you could blog about it please?

I sure will! Bit too early yet though as I've got no seeds in. I shall get myself up and runnng and blog the lot lol!

Thank you for asking

rhonda_jean

Hello everyone! I came over because my stats keep telling me there are lots of people coming over to read my blog from this wonderful forum.

I just want to thank everyone for the kinds words. You're right, my aim is not to tell people how to live, but simply to share how we live in the hope it might give others some ideas. Sometimes the harsh realities of everyday life hide the possibilities that are there for all of us.

Angelina, I was growing in an aquaponics system. It's like organic hydroponics - the fish waste provides the nutrients for the plants and you produce vegetables and fish in the same system. : )

Angelina-M

rhonda_jean wrote: »

Hello everyone! I came over because my stats keep telling me there are lots of people coming over to read my blog from this wonderful forum.

I just want to thank everyone for the kinds words. You're right, my aim is not to tell people how to live, but simply to share how we live in the hope it might give others some ideas. Sometimes the harsh realities of everyday life hide the possibilities that are there for all of us.

Angelina, I was growing in an aquaponics system. It's like organic hydroponics - the fish waste provides the nutrients for the plants and you produce vegetables and fish in the same system. : )

Hi rhonda jean, lovely to 'speak' with you.

Ah right I've seen the system you speak of but have never used it. Don't you think these systems are pretty amazing? There's no waste as the water is recycled back into the system and not lost through drainage.

Great blog by the way. I hope that you have chance to look at mine some day :-)

Atalanta

I've just read Rhonda Jean's comments and the comments others have made, and they are really inspiring. Especially the bit about not needing a big house, this really struck a chord. We live in a 3 bedroom semi which is plenty big enough for the 4 of us - the thought of having to move brings me out in a cold sweat, but it seems lots of people aspire to moving to the "perfect" big detached house....

thriftlady_2

Atalanta wrote: »

I've just read Rhonda Jean's comments and the comments others have made, and they are really inspiring. Especially the bit about not needing a big house, this really struck a chord. We live in a 3 bedroom semi which is plenty big enough for the 4 of us - the thought of having to move brings me out in a cold sweat, but it seems lots of people aspire to moving to the "perfect" big detached house....

Yes, this is what really struck me too. We're 5 in a 3 bedroomed house. Our 2 boys (11 and 12) have always shared a room. We don't mind this except that space was becoming a problem. As the boys got older they needed a bit of privacy and a little space to call their own.

This is what we did last October. OH and I swapped rooms with them. THe master bedroom isn't much bigger than the second bedroom but we were able to arrange it in such a way that each boy has his own 'cell' for want of a better word.

OH reversed the doors to the built-in wardrobe so that it opened in the second bedroom (fortunately the rooms are adjacent) this meant we had no need for more furniture in our new room. He boarded up the original wardrobe opening with tongue and groove panelling. It looks great.

In the boys' new room we made a partition with two tall bookshelves adjacent to each other, one facing one way and the other facing the other way. We placed the boys' beds along the length of the bookshelves and a small wardrobe each on the other side of their beds. They have the back of one bookshelf to use as a pin-board, loads more storage than they had before in their new wardrobes, storage space on top of the wardrobe and bookshelves and also under the beds. DS1 has the benefit of being at the window end of the room and DS2 has the advantage of more wall space for his posters etc. They both have a shelf over their beds with a reading light.

The room looks pretty dark with the bookshelves along the middle of it and DS1 has only a narrow space to walk through in order to reach his part of the room, but they are thrilled with the new arrangement and have stopped arguing and horsing around in the bedroom. They also keep the room very tidy as they now have a place for everything.

I don't know how much we spent but the 2 wardrobes were very cheap from Ikea, the shelves were those Billy ones also from Ikea, that plus 2 reading lights and panelling for the wardrobe reversal was all we spent - about £300 I think. Way cheaper than moving up, or even extending over our garage (for which we were refused planning permission).

Lateral thinking

moanymoany

We moved into our 4 bed detached 18 years ago when only a shrewd elite knew about frugal living. For the past five years we have wanted to downsize, but as we were coming up to retirement and wanted to move out of the area we decided to wait. Our little dream semi bungalow awaits us.

What has amazed me is the type of people who have looked at the house. Out of five couples only one are young with a family of two. Three are the same age as us and are upsizing! The fifth have one teenager at home and are also 50's.

They don't look wealthy people and I do wonder if they have given their retirement a thought. Still, if one of them wants to buy our house we are willing to sell it to them!

It's nice to see that Rhonda Jean has read our thread. The 'frugal' strata of society is pretty well hidden. It sometimes pops it's head above the parapet on TV and that is usually so that it can be laughed at. There are threads asking if we tell others about our frugal living from time to time and not that many are out and proud.

Dh comes home with tales of what his colleagues spend, the cars they buy, the holidays they take and the money they spend at the supermarket. He says nothing! I'm sure that is because they simply wouldn't understand.

A single mum was interviewed on GMTV at the time of gas price rises. She was saying what the result of the price rises had on her and her family. The main change she said she would have to make was to buy own brands rather than the branded products she and her family love.

A lot of people are going to have to change the way they spend and what they buy as the increases in the price of staple and fuel rises. We 'frugal livers' are going to find ourselves way ahead of the game.

ps - thanks Rhonda Jean, I was curious about the fish you mentioned. What sort of fish are they?

moanymoany

I've just sent a link to this thread to my ds who lives in Australia.

I watched Martin's programmes and enjoyed them. I was disappointed because we had so little of the OS stuff. Sadly, I think that although there are lots and lots of us OS'ers there isn't the public desire to see how to cook from scratch or to meal plan and shop.

There may not be endless OS'ers willing to go onto the tele, but they could use OS'ers as consultants and use presenters and cooks like Margarite Patten to do the stuff. THIS is what people need. We know how easy it is to make basic and delish food for far less than the ready meals or takeaways people fall back on. How easy to show a good storecupboard and how to build it up.

I sometimes stray to the DFW threads, I'm sure many of them realise how much they can save to pay towards their debt by using OS methods, but there must be quite a few who don't. IMO, it is no use telling people how to save money here and there to reduce their debt without giving them the basics in the practical shopping and cooking part of thier life.

catkins

I found the blog very interesting and will read more when I get some time.

One thing I totally agree with is house size. Why do people want big houses? Most of my friends have houses with at least 4 bedrooms even if it is only the 2 of them. Also they say if they win the lottery they want a big house!!! Why? I have never wanted a big house. More to clean, more to keep warm and more to furnish. Okay if you won the lottery you would not be worrying about the cost of furnishing or heating but what is so great about a big house? I could think of a lot more worthwhile things to spend money on than a large house.