Oldstylers: Could I be your greatest ever challenge?

PasturesNew

southernscouser wrote: »

My mum even still makes my bed ... cooking, washing, ironing, cleaning, generally running a tight ship.

Beds are easy. Fitted sheets and duvets.
Cooking. Trickier, takes time, possible to make a mess, it can taste !!!!!!
Washing. Take off your best clothes the second you get home. Wear either just pants/socks round your flat, and/or wear the same old trackie bottoms and big comfy T shirt.
Ironing. Try to never do it. When you wash things, dry them on the hangar already and hope it'll drop out. If things need ironing, stop wearing them.
Cleaning. Less rush = less mess. And 'little and often'. If you aren't making the mess it doesn't need cleaning up, so just be a bit careful that you're not dropping/splashing/staining. Shoes off the minute you're in the door.

southernscouser wrote: »

I can cook. Lasagne. And chip sandwiches. And I make a cracking pancake. I'm also quite fluent in ordering takeaways. But something tells me that's not quite sustainable.

Make sure you've always got a box of cereal in and a big stock of packets of flavoured noodles. You can go days on these alone if you've got nothing in or can't be bothered. I've been on noodles and beans on toast for the last 3 days and now it's "shopping or beans on toast or noodles" and as I've already had beans on toast and noodles each once today, I'll see if I can go shopping ... although it IS getting late.

Generally, I find my basics are:
bread
baked beans
mature cheddar cheese
eggs
box of cereal
pack of sausages
noodles
tins of tuna
tins of pineapple chunks
onions
potatoes

That lot pretty much does me for 95% of what I eat, I can get it anywhere.

The biggest challenge when you live alone is: buying too much stuff that you won't be able to eat before it's out of date. So watch the dates on things and double-check your trolley that you really CAN eat everything that's in there, bearing in mind what day of the week it is now, your plans and what might prevent you from getting through it all.

This lot will now tell you how to do it all properly .... I just gave you the "single girl, lives alone, no visitors, no freezer, minimum effort" viewpoint.

Good luck.

PasturesNew

You can pretty much forget jacket potatoes. They'll be a thing of the past now you're fending for yourself.

My oven takes 25 minutes just to heat up ... and that's a lot of space/heating going on to bake one spud. Never mind the cooking time. If I eat one jacket spud I'm full so it's a long time too for what's just one spud.

They're nowhere near as good, but it's microwave spuds or forget it from now on really. Unless you want to go mad, splash out and hang the expense .. and put the oven on just for one lonely spud.

pretz_2

pasturesnew you can batch cook jacket spuds and then freeze them if you prefer them cooked in the oven its a gd way to use up spare pots aswell also if you have space in your oven whilst cooking other meals i generally shove a few in and freeze for when i cant be bothered to cook days

southernscouser

falady wrote: »

hi ss,

how are you getting on with your planning? Have you got a date for the big move yet?

Ali x

It's going quite slowly. :rotfl:

I'm spending my time making sure I've made enough money towards my target first! :doh:

On a non-cooking side I've been doing some research into furniture and other boring stuff I'll need. Think I can do all that for £2,500 with stuff I actually want rather than scrimping which is pretty good. That includes a 40" LCD tv aswell! :T :rotfl:

Not gone to view anything yet. I feel maybe it's a bit early as I don't want to move in until the 2nd week of July. Was gonna start in June. But I guess it's only 8 weeks or so away! :undecided

southernscouser

mrbadexample wrote: »

:wave: Sorry I'm late....I've been on 'oliday.

Right, I know nowt about cleaning or tidying, apart from I wish someone else would do it for me.

As for cooking, my advice would be pick something you like and have a go. Ask LOTS of questions. If you start a thread then all the info will be there for next time.

In the beginning, I found it pretty expensive. I had nothing, so had to buy lots of utensils, herbs, spices etc. On the plus side, once you've got them, you've got them. Don't buy anything too expensive unless you're sure you'll use it a lot.

Don't be scared. It's not actually that difficult to make edible stuff.

How you doing bud? Long time no see. :beer:

What I really want to know is, have you given anyone food poisoning? :think:

:rotfl:

PasturesNew

pretz wrote: »

pasturesnew you can batch cook jacket spuds and then freeze them if you prefer them cooked in the oven its a gd way to use up spare pots aswell also if you have space in your oven whilst cooking other meals i generally shove a few in and freeze for when i cant be bothered to cook days

Only if you have a freezer. And how would you reheat them?
How long for? Sounds minging... do they really look/taste the same?

PasturesNew

southernscouser wrote: »

...I've been doing some research into furniture and other boring stuff I'll need. Think I can do all that for £2,500 ...That includes a 40" LCD tv aswell!

So that's £2,490 on a TV and £10 for a beanbag...

Rikki

I can see some very exciting new threads in the months to come SS.

I'm looking forward to it.;)

arkonite_babe

mrbadexample wrote: »

:wave: Sorry I'm late....I've been on 'oliday.
Don't be scared. It's not actually that difficult to make edible stuff.

I was wondering how long it would take before you surfaced

Nice to see you again MBE :wave:

poorandindenial

southernscouser wrote: »

It's going quite slowly. :rotfl:

I'm spending my time making sure I've made enough money towards my target first! :doh:

On a non-cooking side I've been doing some research into furniture and other boring stuff I'll need. Think I can do all that for £2,500 with stuff I actually want rather than scrimping which is pretty good. That includes a 40" LCD tv aswell! :T :rotfl:

Not gone to view anything yet. I feel maybe it's a bit early as I don't want to move in until the 2nd week of July. Was gonna start in June. But I guess it's only 8 weeks or so away! :undecided

Hi SS

I managed to rent somewhere 6 weeks in advance of when I am moving, but that is quite rare.

I would say keep an eye onthe area you want to live in, have a look at a couple of places and get a feel for what you get for your money (as a good MSEer I guess you will have done this already:p)

Are you planning on going through an agency or direct with landlord?

You do occasionally get good places coming out early with a move in date that is in the future (like the place I have hopefully (subject to references:rolleyes:) got) so keep an eye out from about 6 weeks before, but often places come on the market and are available immediately or in just a couple of weeks (my letting agent reckoned the average for my area was 2-3 weeks between choosing and moving) so don't be disheartened if you are still without future home that close to moving and remember that once you have chosen somewhere it can still take up to 2 weeks for them to sort their paperwork (references etc)

Anyhow, the short answer is that June is fine (I just done't seem able to say anything in less than 500 words these days )