Anyone had a lightbulb moment with anything OS-related ?

youareallhelpingme

dixie06 wrote: »

Mine was a bit like this too, gradual I've been posting and lurking quite a while but I do think you get a moment when its a week after paypay and you've no money left and you think things have to change, that for me was this month so started seriously about two weeks ago meal planning, etc. Hoping to be a bit better off next year and better at managing my money.

Hi Dixie

I had felt pretty alone as others around dont have to worry, but this site is brilliant. Little steps at a time, here's to 2009!

moanymoany

My LBM came when we did our first money makeover. It was after doing this that I started reading Old Style. It all started to be fun (there is fun in simply not spending - I mean here fun in actually being OS) when I 'got into' Thriftlady's wartime thread. I loved that so much and I thought that it would make the most fantastic book.

You don't need recipe books to find those ideas for the meal plans. Here are a few sites I know and like - there are more if you search.

Martha Stewart Everyday Food - just google this, I can't give you a linky because it includes my email address! I have a few Martha cookbooks that dh brought me back from the US. There are some fab recipes, not all sugar and cornmeal!

http://allrecipes.co.uk/ Allrecipes have now got a UK site.

http://www.deliaonline.com/search/?qx=frugal+recipes Good old Delia. There are some good recipes on this frugal part of her site.

[Deleted User]

I have been given a package of German cornbread ,any ideas as to what its like, and how I could use it .I have never had it before I don't think.The package is all in German so I havn't a clue.

toffifee

I know a bit of German so could try to translate if you like... but first you'd have to type it all in! (And if you're going to do that you may as well use one of the translation sites since you'd probably get a better result ).

My LBM was bread. The cost went up so much and I realised that I had a bread machine sitting unused in a cupboard. Now it lives permanently on my worktop and I measure out four loaves worth at once into tiny containers (salt etc.) and bags (flour) so that all I have to do is measure the water and yeast and tip it all in. (I work full time and have two small kids so time is limited).
At first the kids didn't like the bread (50/50 white/wholemeal) but bread improver from ebay has made the texture much better and now they have stopped complaining.
DH was useless at slicing (massive wedge shaped sandwich, anyone?) , so I bought a machine to do it for £30 and now we have lovely even slices.
I reckon even after buying the slicer (can also be used to slice left over joints of meat) we'll be saving money within 10 weeks. :j

Swishy_bell

not only have I trained my oh to be a bit more OS but my mother in law too! she always used to shop at sainsbury's till I took her to tesco + fed her value stuff. she was amaed at doing the same shop somewhere else saved her 20% everyweek and that my cooking was better even with cheaper ingredients. she now has a MUCH bigger spice rack and smaller shopping bills

Maxjessdru

my favourite things to make OS are pizza and sweet & sour sauce. I have always made my own curries, spag bol, lasagne, etc, but always avoided Chinese (not sure why!). Then I found a receipe for sweet & sour when looking for something to do with leftover pork - it was the most delicious sauce ever using store cupboard ingredients and cost pence. Never, ever buying a jarred sauce again!

picklepick

hi all ive only just stumbled on this thread, dont know where ive been all this time! luckily my OH is an excellent cook and we hardly ever eat ready prepared food. its liuterally once in a blue moon. id like to take this a step further though as we're running out of meal ideas. all we can do at the minute are spag bols, lasagne, stir frys and one pot things like casseroles and shepherds pie. wheres best to look for recipe ideas?

whats the recipe for the sweet aqnd sour sauce max? sounds yummy!

lilmisstrouble

My LBM came last year when all the advice was coming to fix your energy prices. Iwas paying £80 for dual fuel and the cheapest fix I could get was £110 which didn't seem like a good deal. I therefore decided than rather than try to get the cheapest deal so I could carry on using the amount of fuel I was, I would look at reducing my usage which would stand me in good stead for years to come. Some were easy. I stopped my house being a beacon for all planes flying north and applied a one person one light bulb rule (even the low energy ones) - who needs 3 lamps on to watch tv? and why does the garage light need to be one all night? I'm sure you know what I mean
Another easy one was to not have the immersion heater on all the time and use the central heating boiler to heat the water - can't believe I used to do this. Then I had my gas fire repaired so I don't have to turn up the heating (my house is like the med upstairs but arctic downstairs). I had a door curtain fitted to my front door where a lot of cold draughts came through. My final point which I haven't done yet is to get a washing line to stop using the tumble drier. I will do this in the spring but till then I don't just switch on the drier for maximum time all the time.

So far I'm still in credit with my dual fuel account - I check it each month and will pay extra if my usage is up. They tried to put it up 60% even though I was in credit but I just old them I would move if they did and to my surprise it remains at £80 - I can't believe how wasteful I was and hope to carry on the good habits me and my kids are learning

Olliebeak

lilmisstrouble wrote: »

......My final point which I haven't done yet is to get a washing line to stop using the tumble drier. I will do this in the spring but till then I don't just switch on the drier for maximum time all the time.......

Have you thought about getting a couple of airers for drying clothes indoors in winter? Also what about radiator rails? You may not be able to get everything dry this way, but it should help to lessen how much you need to use the TD. If you have an upstairs bannister, how about using it to spread out duvet covers/sheets? I can dry my kingsize duvet cover overnight on mine.

Hope that's of some use to you .

lilmisstrouble

oooooh you should never dry clothes on radiators unless the room is ventilated - it causes damp, condensation and black mould. I do have a line and airer in my garage where I hang the stuff that won't go in the drier and as my tumble drier and boiler is in the garage at least the heat generated from these is helping