Saturday 31 December 2016

2017 budget and food resolutions

I have entered the last of the Christmas spending on food and household goods plus the price of a loaf which is the only thing we needed extra between the two holidays. Over 12 months the accounts tell us we spent £2,800.40 on feeding ourselves and any guests at home.  £53. 85 a week.  I would like to make this £2600 or £50 a week.
This would be a small reduction plus absorbing the (much promised by the media) food price rises in 2017. It may also mean increasing the fruit and veg we grow slightly. Last year we had a lot from the garden but failed on apples/pears, peas, sweet potatoes and swede in particular!

How else can I save money?  Resolutions?
1. I will continue to get the regular shopping on line and delivered for £1. I may have to plan ahead a bit more to make sure I book the low cost deliveries as lately I have not done this too well.  It is still cheaper than driving the car on a 12 mile round trip and using up half a day shopping instead of gardening.
2. Plan the veg so there are no gluts which fill up the limited freezer space I have and that restricts any large scale batch cooking. Already have the New Year exciting reading arriving to drool over!


3. When I do go into town FREE on the bus I must make sure I know the supermarket price of the sort of household goods you can get in Pound shops and look out for bargains I can carry.  Trouble being if I go over 8 library books on these trips I then have an extra heavy bag to drag back up the lane! I can't take much advantage of shopping for yellow stickers or Aldi/Lidl as the supermarkets are not near the bus station and savings would not pay for the petrol.
4. Portion control. I have made a habit now of weighing out meat and pasta/rice but I think I need to go a little further, We are not massively overweight but it is tempting to have that extra portion that's left - if I don't cook it then it will save money and save weight gain.
5. Look into bulk buys of dry goods. I recently found buying granulated sugar 5kg is a lot cheaper per kg. I will soon have the kitchen improvements that will make this possible to store.
6. This year we have often had home made cake instead of shop brought biscuits at coffee/tea times but I need to get more in the game and make more home biscuits as it must be cheaper!
A sort of resolution:
Went to have my blood pressure reviewed again at the GPs and it is only slightly above normal (considering Xmas). I have had 10 days without SALT and the nurse thought if I could go on for another week taking the salt out of our otherwise healthy diet I could make it lower. Another review booked.
so NO SALT diet for 2017. Which will be hard as I love salted stuff.

Happy new Year to everyone!


Friday 30 December 2016

Jingle bells

Our neighbour popped in to wish us Happy New Year and to tell us he was going away. We apologised profusely.

Being semi detached usually does not worry us, but the high pitched 201+ renditions of Jingle Bells by a 2 and a half year old had penetrated the walls. He did not mind, saying little 'un was obviously a happy chap.

The happy chap either sang, talked about tractors or trains, explained his imaginary games which included a lot of running back and forth, or repeated phrases/stories of postman pat continuously until he fell over exhausted.

Unless at the beach -

Or driving a tractor at the farm park -

Silence is indeed golden after a while. His parents loved us reading quietly to him in another room!  Not many gifts needed for him (some charity shop lorries and a kite) just a lot of time given with love.

Grand daughters came over too. One loved playing the spelling game "hangman" on her ipad until it went flat, but was amazed when we got out pencils and paper and showed her how to do it the "old fashioned way", She is home schooled. She beat us (all university graduate adults) 5 games to 1. Nothing wrong with her spelling or logic!  She loved reading stories to her cousin and reads exceedingly well. I am not sure I liked the older grand daughter making efficient paper air planes for him, as I found many of them stuck in the top of Xmas tree for days afterwards!

It is amazingly quiet here now. Miss them already (I think even granddad is a little bit sorry to see them go. Just a little bit - well, now that he has found the TV changer they lost again anyway!)



Thursday 29 December 2016

Dangerous Xmas gift

My youngest son and family brought me just one gift - a fantastic kitchen knife!
There was  lot of teasing around women should stand back and the men would demonstrate the correct use of knives.  Two meals later my daughter in law and I showed our "clown" hands, unscathed, while the men examined their plasters. It really is sharp!  I found a special place to store it so people have to think what they are doing before pulling it out and slicing willy nilly.

In fact all our adult presents were house orientated. I found a nice lounge side lamp on sale (reduced to £20) just before Xmas I got for my husband and I as we have one dark corner in the lounge. We had discussed it for ages but put off "treating" ourselves.

My husband worked hard before Xmas to fulfil my request for kitchen improvements before Xmas and completed the first kitchen makeover.
It fits in neatly, further back than the original and can house all those big things at once. It is painted a sort of marine turquoise. Temporary top as we will have proper worktops all round when it is all done. Just taking the overhead cupboard out helped open it up and give a lighter feel. We had just enough poly-filler and just enough left over paint to hid the hideous yellow under the cupboards and fill the 20 or so old screw holes.
It has made life a lot easier especially with the extra Xmas cooking.

Monday 19 December 2016

Nylon shirts?

I have just been reading a novel by Sian Thomas (the late wife of Robert Preston the economics journalist  BBC) called An uncommon murder. She sets the atmosphere well in 1946/7, especially the grey post war with rationing. BUT at least two of the male characters are described as wearing nylon shirts.

My husband and I compared memories and could not recall nylon shirts being worn by males in our families before the 1960s. I can't find any clear information on the Web either only that there were nylon stockings of course.  Can you remember when nylon shirts became commonplace?

We enjoy reading a lot, getting through 5 or 6 books a week, and often discuss how well books are written and their accuracy!


Tuesday 13 December 2016

New tastes

My husband treated us to a magazine while we out the other day. In truth I think he was worried he would be stuck in the Opticians with 3 year old magazines that day and  the previous week he had to wait in the GP surgery and had forgotten his Kindle!
We thought we would try this new one. Having tried Grow Your Own and Home Farmer in the past and got wearied when articles/topics reappeared within a year, we hoped this one might offer something different but not be too up market like Country Living or the county magazines. So far I am quite impressed. 
The quality of photos inside are fantastic. I can see me cutting them out for crafting or art purposes!
The recipes have been within our price bracket - quite a few on using lentils and veg which was interesting.
Some nice craft ideas from found things -  "twig" ideas  I might follow up as  I saved some interesting birch branches from the bonfire a few months ago.
Still reading it - in fact keeping for next waiting room visit.

While he was in the opticians (for ages, the necessity of having to renew your driving licence at 70 when you have glaucoma can make life fraught) I took the opportunity to wander round the supermarket. I was looking for ideas to spice up lunches. I brought this garlic sausage for £2. So far we have had 3 "lumps" off it for lunches and there are 2 or 3 more. Used with pasta and eggs in various ways.  Bit like SPAM I thought, a bit firmer so it browns well, and not really spicy or hard like Chritzo.



Completed first stage of curtains. Making the pattern run across and match! The wholesalers advisory note in the delivery said they may shrink 2 to 5% if hung over a radiator. So I have put them up unlined and not hemmed. Standing back for a few days to see what happens before adding the lining. I am thinking of a way to put add them so it is detachable as I have had curtains go twisted and lop sided before when washed!

 None of this getting us any closer to Xmas. All I have done is put in an on line delivery of basics for 21st which will take the sting out of any heavy duty shopping! Must write cards today as I hear the Post Office may go on strike? Is that not an own-goal when so many of us are reducing our postings at Xmas anyway?
We watched a history programme on the decline of the Glasgow ship building industry last night and the effect the unions had on the business just after  WW2.  Silly people with far too many internal disputes (like Southern Rail!!). They redeemed them selves for a while with the "work-in" but it was too late. I actually remembered the work-in happening which is terrifying when you're life is labelled "historic".

Do you feel "historic"?

PS just seen a woodpecker on the peanut holder!!





Monday 12 December 2016

Sewing projects

Have filled the cabin with  sewing projects for the next couple of weeks.

As husband and I have fallen foul of the local GPs and both being sent for various tests at the local hospital I thought I would make up this blouse from the material stash. It will have sleeves so I can abandon coat and cardigans as we get deeper and deeper into the hospital complex and it gets hotter and hotter!

Its a green with a white/silver small pattern.

My second project is some new bright curtain material for the bedroom so will be making that up. I got this on the internet, direct from wholesalers so the cost with lining is £37.  Tape, thread and new hooks from my sewing supplies stash.  These plastic hooks do deteriorate quickly in the sunlight don't they? Every time I change or wash curtains another couple snap!
The old stuff will be remade to fit the sewing cabin. 


I said I needed a clock in my sewing cabin in my last post. Picked this one up for £10 in the British Heart Furniture shop in Kings Lynn. It is a pity someone had left a sticker on the face - it took the paint off!  Will repair next time I have some white paint out.



Some of the furniture in that charity store was better than the stuff in our house.  Oh dear.





Wednesday 7 December 2016

Sewing cabin update

As promised some updates from my sewing (log) cabin.  My part has been to make two cushions in yellow and blue checks to go on the yellow and blue chairs.



My husband has been much busier in his workshop.  He is so lovely.  He has made a long narrow bench for my sewing machines to go down one side of the cabin. He had to relearn how to make drawers as it had been a long time since his last furniture making. He left a space to the right so my dressmaking dummy and ironing board can be tucked away.


For the middle of the cabin he has made a table/bench for cutting out material and planning things.  It is higher than the work bench so I won't have to bend and stoop. There is a shelf underneath where I can store materials.  I got the patterned boxes in The Works for storing fabrics.

I have moved my old cheap desk over to the right with my old Ikea storage box for painting.


We have put up curtain poles now.  At present I am using an old curtains that were lurking in cupboards. None match!  I will address that later when I can - I might find some in charity shop etc.

I think I am all set for some fantastic days our there now. Feel so lucky.

(I need a clock next. I loose track of time!)



Tuesday 6 December 2016

Old and new

How old is your bank cheque book?  Just fished ours out to make a purchase by post and of the 3 part used ones the oldest started in 2002!  Just another 11 to use up before we use a new one printed in 2014.


Tried out a new soup recipe - "Use up root veg soup"
Lump of swede
Tails of several parsnips
Couple of big carrots
Not very big onion
Gnarly ends of two stalks of celery
Garlic glove about to sprout
bit of dried chili (from last year)
Cheap stock cube (why did I buy these? They were in a basic range but are not good enough for meals. Definitely off my shopping list now.)

Chopped it all up in as small as diced bits as you can manage and simmer for 30 mins. Whizz with blender, season and serve.  Probably enough for 6 bowls.

My husband has started to think about the kitchen renovations.  Wandered into the kitchen this afternoon to find everything everywhere and the tape measure out. Not sorry to see the back of this stupid little cupboard!

Besides only being wide enough for a packet of cornflakes it was built 4 inches away from the wall!





Saturday 3 December 2016

BT internet email

All week it has been demanding a password 10 to 20 times before it will even think and receiving emails. So I give up and not bother for 3 days. Today, just one password and there they were!  Pity it was just sales offers and the library reminder - nothing interesting at all!

Give up!

Friday 2 December 2016

Hot curry

Welcome to new follower!

Just used 2 tablespoons of Balti curry paste to liven up left over chicken and veg (carrots, mushrooms, onion, few potatoes) with a packet of frozen tomatoes from the garden.  Nice and hot and has cut through the snuffles and sore throat nicely.

Image result for hot curry cartoon

Quiet a warm day here (8C) so shuffled out to dig a few carrots, fetch a couple of wheelbarrows of logs down to the house and add some more shrub trimmings to the bonfire.  As soon as the wind changes direction (and the flu goes) we will have to have a big session.

In the next few days my husband will be installing the bench and things in my sewing cabin.  Will publish some pictures when it is all fitted and tidy!  It has been a bit cold in there this week, down to -2C.  Which is a bit disappointing as we paid extra for thicker wood which was supposed to be more insulating.  Hopefully with furniture and curtains it will feel better.