How do you fit it all in ??

fairylights_2

aliasojo wrote:

Don't mind me asking.....but what kind of bars does he make?

And how????

Well, it started with a fab book I got for my birthday called the Complete Book of Cookies and the section about Bar Cookies - that way he felt like he was having cookies rather than proper breakfast and that made him all smug :rolleyes:

It has a chunk of recipes for quick and easy - like apricot oat squares, flapjacks (of which he seems to have now tried EVERY permutation, Fruit and nut bars, mango and pistachio slices (didn't like mango, so I ate them! ) and we're saving the recipe for Stollen bars for Christmastime.

Just make a big recipe up of flapjack in a tin and cut it into long thin chunks, and then wrap it up in cling film (or tin foil, which you can reuse the following day)

£Ronnie

OOOHhhhhhhhhh i am so stressed this evening! Really want a cigarette but I gave up 03/01/06, and this is the first real craving I have had.:eek:

This is a long one, advise you make a brew before you start!!!

I woke up this morning full of the joys, and full of good intentions about what I was going to do............. but each and every part of it somehow went pear shaped.
I was going to bring the house back to shining, ( have somehow managed to keep it reasonable for the last week/10 days!
But as it stands right now it looks like a pigsty!

While my daughter was at preschool i had intended going to find Aldi in a town about half an hour away to fill freezer with the great intention of then working a menu plan around that, as I am not familiar with their bargains, and topping up with non aldi stuff in tesco eg baby formula etc! however couldn't find it until I only had 15 mins left before I needed to leave to collect daughter. So in my stubborn ways I decided I would collect daughter from preschool then return to do aldi shop. On our way back to aldi my son (7 months) made it quite clear that he had had enough of sitting in the car seat and I was not going to get a successful shop done. So I abandoned that idea and decided to pop to our local tescos instead to get JUST the bits I needed till tomorrow, .......£26 later we left tesco. £26 on what??? :eek:



Anyway bang goes January's grocery budget, but to make matters worse my daughters teacher told me that she won't get funding for this term, because they haven't got any morning places for her, even though she turned three beg of December. I had believed that once she turned three it would be free(up to 12.5 hrs/wk) whtatever time of day she went, so that really puts a spanner in the budget. :mad:

Anyway my question is this: are you all on speed or something?? :rotfl:

I have been a lurker for some time, but I am still struggling.
I just don't understand how ye have the time or energy to do all you talk about in the daily diary. I really love the idea of being more old style in our home but I think I have achieved something when the washing is all clean and dry, bearing in mind that it goes straight into the tumble drier from washing machine and never sees an iron!:o

I love cooking but somedays I can just about manage taking a pizza from the freezer and shoving it in the oven, let alone make stock from carcasses etc.

And every minute I spend on here I feel so guilty that it is robbing someone else of my attention, (eg DD DS DH or even Dme)but it is sooooo addictive and has saved us so much.:money:


So come on tell me your secret....
There must be some little trick to make this easier or even more consistent.
I would like to think that its because I have 2 small children ( and a teenager type thing if you include DH) but quite a few of you do?????????????

So i'm off to my bed now, hopefully will wake up in the morning with renewed vigour, and a whole load of tips from you guys to help me achieve this.

Thanks in advance!:A

ChocClare

Hi £Ronnie
Have you heard of Shirley Conran and Superwoman ? If so, get a copy of this book and then THROW IT AWAY!!!
I sometimes read entries on this site about people feeding a family of fifteen on a budget of 27p a month, sewing/knitting/growing their own fruit and veg/keeping chickens, getting a pig in return for some carefully-saved (value)crisp packets and I, too, think, HOW DO THEY DO THIS!!!!

Actually, I'm pretty OS myself. Just not as great as some of the people on here.

How do they do it? BABYSTEPS. Concentrate on just getting one thing done (or nearly done). Once you've mastered it, move on to the next thing. Next month, it may all go wrong. So what?

Make a spag bol sauce but use twice as many ingredients. Freeze one half. Now you've got a ready meal for next time you're stressed. Next week do the same again. Now you've got two meals in the freezer.

I'll bet you that's how most people on this site got going - by taking really small steps and gradually getting better at it. Obviously there are some who were really thrown in at the deep end, and didn't have any other choice - and hats off to them - but you CAN make changes and you WILL - just don't try and do it all in one day.

Incidentally, if you've packed in the fags, that's the best money-saving, health-promoting, life-enhancing thing you could do so WELL DONE. Why do you think you need to do more?!!! I quit smoking four years ago. At the time, I never thought I'd get through it and couldn't imagine life without a fag, but once you're off them, you honestly can't imagine why you ever bothered!

Keep lurking on the site! You'll save money by osmosis! You'll pick up loads of tips! And everyone will be nice to you when you've had a bad day!

Mrsbojangles_2

Awww Ronnie, your not alone, don't beat yourself up, put today behind you and start afresh tomorrow, if the washing doesn't get done, so what, its not the end of the world, as my 10 year old would say "Chillax" (SMILEY) One step at a time, set yourself a small target each day and always set yourself realistic targets!

Take care and from stressed mum to another ((((hugs))))

XxXx

GIRLPOWER_2

Hiya,

I sometimes feel like this... what has helped me is spending a little time the night before planning whats instore for tomorrow and make a list.

today I have a very clean lounge, kitchen and dinning room, bread baked, spag bol made for tea and some in the freezer for another day, packed lunches done, 2 hours of paperwork, 1 wash load and children takencollected at school, reading and bath/bedtime.

However.. upstairs has not been touched and looks like a bomb site, fridge empty, lots of bills/phone calls/letters to do, about 4 wash loads waiting, beds need changing, bathroom and downstairs loo need cleaning, windows and so on...

But some of these are on tomorrows list by which time the downstairs will need doing again!!!!

If like most you do not have enough time in 1 day to keep everything bang upto date.. just list what you want to do and do that..(I am very sad and love to tick it off the list as I go!)

All we can do is our best and if they don't like it they kinow where the cleaning cupboard..(renamed vinegar cupboard) is!

jcr16

i have 2 small kiddies and the only way i can do things is to be organised. my alarm goes off at 6am. so i can get up and make my husband lunch. make a cup of tea. hang washing on airer or in tumble drier. i do a wash every evening. all the clothes from the day,and towels etc. so i don't ever get laundry built up , as i do a bit each day. bedding always get changed on same day , a saturday . so when hubby downstairs with kids i strip all the beds and cots. and clean upstairs , hoover. i clean downstair daily , but only the bits that need doing. i only dust about once a week.
if i cook spag bol , chilli etc i make lots to freeze it down. my system works fanatastic. i shop at tesco on-line in the evening so it gets delivered once kids are in bed.
but trust me i have days when i don't do anything. i spend all day in dressing gown and kids in pj's and we chill. but i will still make dinner and do laundry.
i try to spend every other day at home. so i don't feel under pressure to get out by a certain time every day.
also i try to do something different for my daugther at least twice a week. like today i made her playdough. and we also spent the morning painting while my 5 month old son was asleep.
i do sometimes find there not enough hours in day but both kids go to bed at half 7. and it amazing how much that can get done in an hour when no kids around.
i do agree tho , i read some posts and everyone else seem to be like super women. and i wish i had the energy of them

HTH

skylight

You are not the only one. I finally emptied the washing basket yesterday.

And EXACTLY 23 minutes later (I am sad and timed it!), the elder 2 had tidied their room and filled it up again. Great.

Not one person in my house picks anything up. A piece of paper on the floor will be deliberately stepped over until I make a loud rude comment.

I work part-time, OH works weekends Part-time and stays with the little 2 during the day (and the lazy lump is only capeable of doing that unless I am in a really foul mood and then by a miracle the washing up fairy might come ).

But Little Steps. I do cook most of my own food now (except sausages). I don't boil carcasses or keep sheep/pigs/chicks (but would love to try!).

And every so often, I try something new from here (in OS). A New Years resolution if you like.

Each week its a new tip from here. Last week was butter. This week is Baileys Cheesecake.
I bought a Slow Cooker - set it up at 9am and its ready for tea by 4.30/5pm.
My best by last year was my Food Processor (bought with boots points, so free!). I spend Sundays making cakes and pies when the oven is on with the Roast Dinner. And freezing them. Takes no time at all.

Stuff Diamonds (for now - wait until a Sugar Daddy comes along). A large Freezer is a girls best friend. :A

Shopping is done at Tesco - online to get extra points tokens to pay for our 3 holidays this year. If instore I leave kdis behind, eat first and take a well honed list.

Meal Plan. Essential bit of kit. Decide what you are cooking and when. then you can buy what you need to fit around that. I was so chuffed when I got a £90 a week food bill to £55. Thrilled when it dropped to a now average £40. (6 of us). First few weeks were a little more round the £55 mark as I had to buy the cupboard essentials - flour, cooking ingredients etc.


Regarding housework - My mother wont actually visit. :T Because she wont sit on my sofa and the dog smells. (Suits me actually!) Okay. I have 4 kids. And I dream of retiring and having a lovely all white, minimalistic house in about 30 years.

It will never be spotless. And it took me some time to accept that. Its clean (ish). There are no giant bugs about and you wont find anything icky to put your hand into or find anything growing. But its okay. Not allowing it to become cluttered in the first place can be difficult.

And I tackle one room a day. Proper clean/polish/furniture move type of hoover (all rooms are hoovered every day) And get the kids to help. DD3 (3 yo) is the most helpful at the moment. Easily bribed (!) :rotfl:

And Lastley (long post - sorry!) I LIST everything. Shopping, Meal, To Do. I have a family timetable of whos doing what and when so I can work around that. I have a week list and a daily list. Dailies are short ones, but it keeps me upto date with exactly what needs doing. I normally write the next days list with a wine before bed (like now!) so you can plan your week. Like this week - we have a hospital check up , 2 x docs, and dentist appointments - not usual, but it means I am having Tesco deliver as I dont have time to get out. The £3.99 delivery charge on Wednesday is a lot, but I feel my time is worth more this week. (plus points coupon for the equivilant £20 in deals!!)

And finally (honest this time!) :T Well done on the non-smoking side. Gave up 2 years ago and its a haul - but another week or two and you'll start to smell/taste properly again!

Smiley_Mum

I burn the candle at both ends continually, not good I know. Was so knackered today I could barely keep my eyes open, had a kip when kids went to school for an hour and a half and that gave me a second wind. Feel so chuffed with myself that I can actually keep up with the ironing now. I'm terrible though, burn the candle, live on the wind practically. Oh well...

mandi

Smiley_Mum wrote:

I burn the candle at both ends continually, not good I know. Was so knackered today I could barely keep my eyes open, had a kip when kids went to school for an hour and a half and that gave me a second wind. Feel so chuffed with myself that I can actually keep up with the ironing now. I'm terrible though, burn the candle, live on the wind practically. Oh well...

what your ironing now?? :rotfl: :j

Smiley_Mum

Usually I have an armchair full of washing to be ironed continually but SG makes light work of it now. That's the one thing that really bugs me is washing needing to be ironed, rather get it done and put away. I've just set up a casserole in the SC for tomorrow, finished the ironing.