One Step at a Time

The Biggest Kitchen Table - Living deliberately & Money

2009-07-04T15:30:00.002+01:00

Hi All,

Been rather busy so I am catching up now.

Rhonda Jean at Down to Earth is doing a week of 'the biggest kitchen table' posts so I have decided to join in although I have to play catchup as I missed yesterdays!

So firstly...

Living Deliberately & Money.

No spending week - It was suggested that we all partake in a no spending week where we do not spend any money at all on anything. Unfortunately I cannot participate in this as I need food shopping & Loo rolls, fuel for the car and as part of my part time job I go to our local social club to do the bookkeeping so need to buy drinks etc.
However I will try to keep Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri as no spending days!.

Living Deliberately
Rhonda Jean makes a great point about making sure that you are living in the moment and are sure of your goals and motivations so that you are always working towards them (and not being tempted to stray onto another path).
My main aims in life are...
To have a family and stay at home to raise the children and keep the home. I aim to do this by ensuring we have sufficient savings now whilst i'm working so we have a buffer in case of any unexpected bills. I also will ensure we have a strict budget to ensure that we pay all the bills but also that we pay the minimum so that there is more left for savings/family time & experiences.

Money
Thankfully at the end of last year we managed to pay off all of our debts we do not owe anyone for anything we have no loans, credit cards, overdrafts, car repayments, finance, even bills on installment. Everything now is saved up for and paid for in full no matter what the cost.
I like the idea of Rhonda's envelope system and think we will put this into practice as we have a few categories of spending which are a little haywire.
These are purchasing of food and going out! So I will make up some fabric envelopes and start this system soon! I think I will also make up an envelope for Allan to put his skittles money into each month.
We also have a 'bill account' as a separate account on our online banking and once a month we transfer a lump sum into it. This is analysed on a spreadsheet and the account basically is then split into categories for tv licence, mot/repairs, car tax, car insurance, christmas, birthdays, baby fund, electric, water, gas, contents insurance, pet insurance, pet emergency fund, general emergency fund and dentist and each month is equivilent to a monthly installment against this.
This system works really well for us it is just the food and going out parts that are an issue so we will work on these.

So to achieve the above I need to make some envelopes and start using the envelope system for cash purchases.

Things are moving on...

2009-06-23T16:06:00.002+01:00

Ok so the posting every other day didn't exactly go to plan!

Things have been very busy over the last week.

I have started buying some things for the baby. Although to be 'green' I should probably buy as much as possible second hand we have decided to get the bigger 'essentials' new and ensure we buy to last as we are hoping that this child is the first of many and we therefore want to 'recycle' the items for each child. All of the items we have purchased are bright and colourful but are neutral so again they will will used for each child (we certainly won't be redecorating the nursery for each child!). Most of the things we have so far (I am extremely lucky to say) have been gifts from the families even still we have ensured that they are the best quality and are a good price/on sale. We are trying to ensure we have everything we need in the best quality at the lowest price, then hopefully we will have some money left in our baby budget for the things after birth that come up unexpectedly.

The garden is also coming on.
The peas are coming up, courgette seedlings are in, green beans and runner beans are growing well, spring onions are up, lettuce is getting there and tomato seedlings are doing well.
I have also planted some parsnips and carrots.
I will post some more pictures too!

The budget...well at the moment there is a very loose one in place but from 01/07/09 that is going to be tightened up! We need to get on track again after the house move to ensure we are saving as much as we can ready for a year without me working eeeekkk!!

I also started to feel a few kicks since last weekend so it is a very exciting time!!

I am really looking forward to being the best mother, wife and all round stay at home mum whilst i'm off work and I hope that I enjoy it as much as I think I will (i.e I am thinking about not returning to full time work but I may change my mind!).

Hope everyone is ok and the sun is shining where you are.

The Update

2009-06-14T11:18:00.009+01:00

Well, I think we can class today as a success!

I started the morning with a lovely cup of 'proper' tea using my tea for one set...

Baking - Using a book that I purchased 4 years ago from a charity shop (the book itself is 20+ years old) I decided for the first time to make rock cakes. Allan's mum always has rock cakes on offer at the farm so I know as long as they come out OK they will be liked by Al!

They looked quite good going into the oven...

And here is the end result. They look really hard like rocks but they are gorgeous and moist inside and so yummy!

I also really enjoyed watching Millie relaxing in the sunshine whilst I was washing up. She looked so cute sat on the warm earth in the newly dug over beds that I had to sneak out and take a picture!

Also we made some substantial steps forward with the garden...

Here is the before shot, this was taken last weekend and we hadn't done anything during the week. The 'pond' was dug over and planted last weekend. The rest of the earth was weeds and various patio slabs.

Here is the 'after' picture across the 'patch'

Here you can see the newly created and dug over bed by the shed, I have planted peas in this bed and as you can see we have had to put nets over to protect the (hopefully soon to be) seedlings from the numerous pigeons that visit the garden. Also you can see the pots I planted yesterday with lettuce, spring onions and cherry tomatoes.

Unfortunately we did not manage to plant anything in these beds yet. The soil is very sticky and clay like and it took us a while to dig it through and break it up.
We have put the canes in ready for the runner beans and we will have cucumber and courgette in the front of one bed and carrots and parsnips in the other.

Here is a picture of the 'pond' bed at the bottom of the garden.

An up close picture of our lettuce seedlings coming through in the pond bed (the ones that have so far survived the slugs and snails that is, 50% have already disappeared)

And a picture of the french bean seedlings coming up, we will both eat this as french beans and also dry some pods for kidney beans.

We were also lucky enough to borrow a pressure washer from a friend so we cleaned the patio up which was very green and stained. It now looks lovely.

Oh and I managed to do all the ironing in 40 minutes!! every last bit.
It feels really good to be back up together with this.

So all in all a very productive day. I am really starting to feel tired now. I didn't work solidly throughout the day though don't worry, I am making sure I take regular breaks to put my feet up and rest. I have 'bumpy' to think of now!!

I hope everyone enjoys the week ahead.

Stacey xXx

Today's Goals

2009-06-14T09:58:00.002+01:00

I am a list lover. I make a list with about 30 items on it and then feel really deflated when I only manage to achieve 5 things. I always attempt to do too much and then feel that I should have tried harder.

So today I have decided to list 3 things to do today and concentrate only on these:
(These are aside from the general day to day tidying etc)

1. Dig over the vegetable beds and plant some veggies

2. Bake something for lunchboxes

3. Do at least half an hours ironing and put the ironed clothes away(I have a huge pile which has been accumulating since before the move, normally I'd say get the ironing done but half an hour it better than nothing!)

Allan was working all day yesterday, then out in the evening (until 3am!!) and then working on his parents farm from 8am until lunchtime today.
I am therefore going to try and do a nice dinner so that he can relax this afternoon and not have to do too much. It is amazing when you take a step back and take pride in your role as a wife, you can get a great deal of enjoyment for providing for your husband.
Granted I certainly don't wait on him hand and foot nor am I a perfect wife, but I try to do the best I can.

Enjoy your sundays, I'll try and post later with some pictures of our day and an update on today's goals!

Hello Again...back to blogging and my news!

2009-06-13T18:34:00.006+01:00

Hello,

Well life has certainly been busy and has kinda got in the way of my lifestyle aims, 101 things and general greening of our life.

Our news that I mentioned many weeks ago is.........I'm pregnant!!

We were trying for 7 months (my it felt longer than that) and I am now proud to tell you that I'm 17 weeks pregnant.Above is a little ornament that a friend gave us in hearing our news - how adorable.

We have also moved house. We knew that we would have to leave the bungalow next year so we decided to bite the bullet and move now so we didn't have the upheaval with a baby to deal with as well.

I absolutely love our new house, it feels like home, almost like it was made for us.
I never had that feeling at the bungalow, I wanted to change so many things but it would have cost many thousands of pounds and so was pointless as we knew we would leave there shortly.
I know Rhonda Jean from the blog 'Down to Earth' talks about shutting her gate to the world and relishing her role as homemaker in the garden/house that is her safe haven...for the first time I know exactly what she means.
We are still renting unfortunately but I think as long as we are happy where we are and enjoy our life it doesn't really matter too much!

So due to the pregnancy, and house move (we've been here for 3 weeks now and have just about unpacked) I have somewhat wandered from the path I had chosen and ultimately the path that makes me happy.

Whist watching the 4th hour of television this afternoon and feeling oh so bored and unfulfilled I knew what I had to do, get back on here, get back blogging, turn the ruddy television off and start living my life again!!

So I promptly went out and planted some veggies and flowers in our new garden and then came on here!.

A few pretty flowers in pots we had from the bungalow.

We have rearranged some slabs that were strewn over an area of earth that was weeded over. Now we have a narrow bed next to the shed and two larger beds which we will dig over and plant veggies in.

We are guessing this was a pond and it has been filled in with compost therefore making a perfect 4th bed. We have a variety of lettuce in the first half (you can just see the seedlings) and then french beans in the other bit.

Various seeds were planted in pots to (hopefully) germinate and then be planted outside.... Cucumber, tomatoes, courgette, basil and oregano.

I have also planted spring onions, more lettuce and cherry tomatoes in pots outside and also put our runner beans into the propagator.

Unfortunately we may have missed the window of opportunity with some of the veg that we have planted as it is a little late in the season but we figured even if half of the things grow its better than doing nothing!!

Please accept my apologies for lack of posting over the last few weeks/months, I am going to aim to post every other day (more if possible).

Looking forward to re-establishing this blog....off to check my progress with the 101 things now.

Stacey xXx

P.s please leave a comment if you read this as I am wondering if any of the previous readers will still see my blog?!?!

Its been a while

2009-03-25T18:02:00.004Z

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the lack of posts I have still been scurrying away in the background.

Just like my friend at Notes from the Frugal Trenches I am working on something that I will be able to announce in a few weeks!!

For now though I will update you on a few goings on...

First a couple of weeks ago now I went to my aunties wedding. It was a beautiful day and very much a make do and mend wedding. A few things she did was:
- borrowed a marquee from another auntie
- hand sewed white cushion covers for outside chairs using old sheets
- wedding cake made by daughter
- wedding rings were 'commitment rings' they already had
- old, borrowed and blue were all things that were previously owned.
- wore a black and white dress that can be worn again
- lights in marquee borrowed from grans house
and so on.

I really wanted a fascinator to wear but lets face it i don't go to that many weddings and at £25 a pop they are really expensive. So I butchered some black thick ribboney stuff off of an old hat i had, twisted it around, sewed it up and hey presto:

Also the purple sprouting brocolli has sprouted purple!

Home cooked slow cooked beef stew tonight, it looks a lot nicer than in the picture I can assure you!

Millie asleep in her bed. Her bed is an old sofa cushion which has now been pulled to shreds 'in the name of making it comfy' by Millie!

I also had some not so good news this week, I (and the whole company) will probably be going onto a 4 day week and therefore taking a 20% paycut.
This is even more reason to stick to budgets etc and to bring our spending down to an absolute minimum. Although thankfully I do not have a mortgage and therefore this pay cut will be manageable.

I hope everyone is ok and best wishes to all who need them.
Stacey x

Busy,Busy, Busy

2009-03-08T18:28:00.003Z

Well I have had quite a good weekend.

Friday night I decided that we needed to take 'another step' forward with the decluttering.

So I decided to do the TV cabinet.
The TV cabinet holds, the TV, stereo, playstation, sky box, DVD player, a few DVD's, loads of CD's and there are two basket type things next to it holding about 25 DVD's each.

Firstly we removed the HUGE stereo system from the unit and the two large speakers that stand either side of the cabinet. (they are about 75cm high and about 30cm square each).
This is going to be sold at a car boot sale. The tape deck is broken and we have a micro stereo system in the spare room. Do we need two? No. So the small one stays and the large one goes! Hurrah I'm making progress.

Next we sorted out our CD's. We are keeping our 'favourites' and storing them in 2 of the 3 CD racks incorporated in the unit and two CD boxes again held on the unit. Around 60% of the CD's to be sold at a car boot sale. (Any good songs on these CD's will be loaded onto itunes first).

DVD's we sorted through these a while ago and got rid of about 40% of these. Keeping the most watched. These are now neatly lined up on the TV unit as there is now space where the CD's and stereo once were!

Allans Playstation has some cables to charge the controllers, an earpiece and a few other bits so these are now stored in the 1st of the 3 CD integral racks so they are to hand but out of sight.

The net result of this is that we have removed 1 HUGE hifi system, approx 60 CD's, a few DVD's and everything for entertainment is all on one unit and is pleasant to look at.

OH MY GOD.

You will never guess ..... I am doing it .... I am actually deluttering!!!!!

Now today I have so far,

Washed up last night's tea things and put the dishwasher on, cleaned the surfaces in the kitchen and sorted through the paperwork on the dining room table.
Cleaned the kitchen sink, and cleaned the window over the kitchen sink.
Swept and washed the utility, kitchen, toilet and bathroom floor.
Quickly cleaned the toilet, sink and shower and washed the soap dish and toothbrush holder and changed the towels in the bathroom.
Moved all of the wheely bins (1 x green, 1 x black, 2 x black boxes, 1 x abel & cole milk box and 1 x bokashi) and swept all of the dirt, twigs and stuff up and out of the way so it is not getting brought into the house.
Cut up the last 2 magazines I had and glued my favorite hints, tips, sewing patterns and recipes into my project books.
Sorted out the doggie basket by the back door and decluttered so that only the basics are in there and it all fits into the basket (instead of having a big jar of treats next to it)
Updated my diary with my plans for the forthcoming week.
Saw my best friend from 11.45 until 3.00pm for a good old chin wag and a nice cup of coffee at mine!! Sheer bliss I needed a bit of 'friend' time!!
Sorted out the sideboard in the living room and made Allan sort through his IT wires, CD's, Work laptops, IT Books, etc etc etc. Net result = 1 full cupboard and 2 drawers sorted and now only half a cupboard full!!
Made pizza bases in the breadmaker and Allan is just doing the toppings for tea!

I am going to have tea and then set the timer for 1 hour. I am then going to see how many of the following items I can get done before having a lovely relaxing bath.

Things I need to do.
Change bedding and put the old on for a wash.
Do a packed lunch for me and Allan for work tomorrow. (already got brown pittas out of the freezer).
Put away as many clothes as possible leaving only an ironing pile ready for tomorrow.
Hoover living room, kitchen and hallway.
Do washing up from tea stuff and empty dishwasher.
Get clothes out ready for work tomorrow and polish shoes.

It is funny, if I am really busy and get a lot done at home, just pottering about at a steady pace Ialways feel so fulfilled and happy.
When I sit in front of the laptop/tv all day I don't.

Lesson learnt!

Batch Cooking & Pancakes...

2009-02-25T17:20:00.000Z

Well I had to try my recipe to check it worked ;-)

Step 1 - Mixture poured into the frying pan...

Step 2 - Flipping it!! Takes much concentration by the looks of it!

Step 3 - Smother with lemon juice and sugar..

Step 4 - Gone!!....Next...

Now, I have had a somewhat turbulent couple of weeks and during this I had my first Organic vegetable box delivery (*Yey*).

I am really pleased with the contents of the box I absolutely wholeheartedly believe in paying more for Organic & wherever possible UK produce, we also had Organic Milk and Bread delivered. The service from Abel & Cole has been absolutely fantastic as well. They phoned the day before delivery to say it was coming and to see if i had any questions and then phoned the day after delivery to check I was happy with everything!

The only problem I face is that due to recent circumstances I am spending large amounts of time either with family (here or at theirs) and therefore do not have the time (or inclination) to cook.
I am still getting over the flu I had over the prior weekend as well and I know that in order for my body to feel well and to have a better sense of well being I need to feed my body with something decent.

So instead of eating the veg fresh as and when needed I am going to batch cook as much of it as possible (otherwise it will end up in the compost as it was not used as i didn't have time).

So perishable contents of fridge:
cauliflower, white cabbage, swede, lettuce

Perishable contents of cupboard:
potatoes

Perishable contents of veg box:
Leeks, onions, potatoes, celeric, mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots, green cabbage, lettuce

What will I be cooking?

Leek & Potato Soup (using the leeks & half of the potatoes)(Chopped 5 leeks and 5 potatoes and fryed in butter, added 2 pints of chicken stock, blended and sieved it smells delicious!)

Italian tarts (using mushrooms and tomatoes and puff pastry from freezer)(Puff pastry rolled out and cut into squares, scored 1cm from edge, tomato puree spread on middle, chopped tomatoes, mushrooms and cheddar cheese placed onto and drizzled with olive oil) (Also made sausage meat and stuffing plait to use up the rest of the pastry).

Cornish pasties (using potato, onion, swede, carrots and minced beef from freezer will make shortcrust pastry from scratch)
Cabbages, lettuces and grated carrot use as salad with tarts or pasties.

Cereriac ?? Never had this before I have no idea what to do with it! Anyone??

Also in a recent post I said I would use the old style ashtray/soapdish by the sink...here it is...

Also the old style pot I had from grans is being used to hold my utensils, and you can see the lamp in my kitchen to save me using a bazillion lights in the kitchen fittings! You can also see my notepad where I had just been listing the freezer contents!

And to sign off I thought I would list 5 things I am thankful for as I haven't done it for a while and it is very easy to become wrapped up in yourself when you are grieving.

1. That my gran & gramp are together. It may be difficult for me and the family to move on without gran but ultimately she is back where she belongs, by his side.
2. My Ipod. I used to sing in a band with my sisters from the age of 10 to 15. We made a few CD's and did bookings at pubs and clubs a couple of times a month. Although I do not regret giving it up I absolutely love singing. I got my Ipod a few christmases ago and singing along to it helps me deal with so many thoughts and feelings. I feel really good when I have just sung my heart out!
3. That I am fortunate enough to have a job which enables me to save for an emergency fund/house/baby fund. And that alongside this I still have some spare to help charities and people who need it. I am going to do a car bootsale soon to raise more money for the house fund and (mainly) to declutter. How fortunate I am to have excess to sell off.
4. I am thankful for my parents in law and husband being 'OK' with gran coming here to die. I am filled with such peace and calm knowing her wish of being 'at home' was fulfilled and her being here enabled all the family to be her when she passed. I will NEVER ever stop being thankful for that.
5. I am also thankful for my family. They are not perfect be any means and they may cause me shedloads of stress but they love me. I am so lucky to have a family that love me and are there for me.

I hope everyone is ok - please share your 5 if you leave a comment!!

Pancake Day

2009-02-24T07:30:00.002Z

It's Pancake day!! So here is a recipe for pancakes and their various toppings
Ingredients:
110g/4oz plain flour, sifted
pinch of salt
2 eggs
200ml/7fl oz milk mixed with 75ml/3fl oz water
50g/2oz butter
Steps:
1. Sift flour & salt into a bowl.
2. Make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it.
3. Whisk the eggs & flour together.
4. Slowly add the milk and water mixture, still whisking.
5. Whisk until the batter is smooth, with the consistency of thin cream.
6. Melt the butter in a pan, spoon 2 tbsp of it into the batter and whisk it in.
7. Pour the rest of the butter into a bowl and use it to lubricate the pan, using a wodge of kitchen paper to smear it round before you make each pancake.
8. Get the pan to a medium heat and ladle the batter into the pan (don't use too much).
9. As soon as the batter hits the hot pan, tip it around from side to side to get the base evenly coated with batter.
10. After half a minute or so to cook flip the pancake over with a pan slice or palette knife - the other side will need a few seconds only.
11. Slide it out of the pan onto a plate.

To Serve (Just a few ideas for toppings):
1. Sprinkle the pancakes with caster sugar and lemon juice.
2. Or, Chocolate spread.
3. Or, Golden syrup & bananas.
4. Or, Strawberries and drizzled dark chocolate.
5. Or, Peanut butter and Jam

Roll or fold up the pancakes to serve.

Enjoy!

Happy Pictures

2009-02-23T15:48:00.003Z

The service was very emotional today but went very well.
The hard part starts now, moving forward whilst dealing with the grief.

However I'm feeling really positive and looking forward to getting the house straight and getting things back on track after the recent upheaval here.

Here are a few pictures of things that have been making me smile this week:

Me and my Gorgeous Niece Jessica (here she was about 8 hours old) now 11 days old!
My daffodil collection - they have always been dear to my heart since I heard a story that Gramp ate one for a bet! When Gran came home I collected some daffodils in bud from the garden to flower inside. As she was passing away one (just one out of all below) was opening until when she had left us it was completely open. Magical just Amazing.
The real daffodils from the garden are in the vase, the ones in the plant pot are fake and were given to me by the family as a everlasting reminder of 'that' moment. The small daffodil head is a daffodil pin that we all have (donation of £1 to Marie Curie Cancer for each one) and wore to the funeral today. You will also see a locket which have daffodils on, I have one and I gave one to gran (in her coffin).

When I was down Grans the other day I found this book in a drawer, it seems that she was 'green' at heart to!! I can't wait to read this!

It is funny what things are sentimental, here is one of gran and gramps butter knifes. I just 'had' to have one of these for a keepsake! Fond memories come flooding back just looking at it. Almost every time you went in they would have bread and butter spread really thickly.

This was on the windowsill at grans as well. I think she used it as an ashtray, however it was just so adorable I have brought it home. I'll probably use it next to the kitchen sink to keep the dishcloth etc on.

We have also been very lucky in being able to have a solid wood sideboard which is just beautiful, I will post a picture of this when we have it.

I hope everyone is well and I look forward to posting a bit more regularly now!

I'm off to do some cooking and cleaning to try and realign myself back to normality.

Grief & Finding the Peace

2009-02-16T17:37:00.005Z

Just a quick update to let you all know that Gran deteriorated over the last 10 days. We were told we would have her with us for a few weeks/days on Friday. As she couldn't go 'home' she came to mine on Saturday at 5pm and passed away peacefully surrounded by her family at 3.35am on Sunday morning.

It has been a hard weekend and I'm sure it will be difficult for a while yet. Her funeral is on Monday so I am going to take some time out until then to try and find some peace.

Grief is a funny thing one minute you are immensely sad and overcome by the tears the next you are laughing at funny memories. She will be very sadly missed.

I know gran is at peace now and reunited with gramp who passed away just over a year ago. I need to reconnect with my soul and find my peace with the situation so that I can regain strength to move forward day by day.

Life and death are part of the same cycle and my Niece was born on Thursday and she has certainly helped me see the other side of the cycle and cheer me up.

To make matters even better (she says sarcastically) I have the coldy fluey thing going round and have been quite ill over the weekend.

However the sunshine and birds singing today quietly reminded me that however bad things get...they always get better.

Organic Vegetable & Fruit Boxes

2009-02-10T19:32:00.003Z

Well after my post about recycling and how annoying it is having fruit and veg wrapped in ten layers of plastic, it was suggested I consider a vegetable box delivery.

We hubby and I have mulled this over and think it is the right way to go.
We decided on using Abel & Cole as they are wholly organic and try wherever possible to use UK Produce and as it is delivered in a box there is no packaging and any packaging there is can be recycled.

We are going to have a large fruit and veg box, some milk and bread delivered every other week.

So lets see how this goes!! Its feels really good that amongst all of the chaos and madness in the family at the moment we are still moving forward with our aims and goals.

I am currently preparing for a 'homemade' valentines evening but I cannot write about that until Sunday as I do not want Allan to know what we are eating!!

What a weekend!

2009-02-09T08:03:00.002Z

Hi everyone,

Just an update from me. Gran is still in hospital they won't start the chemo until she is feeling better and is stronger.

My auntie went to collect a few of Grans things to take to the hospital on Saturday and then saw it.
The tank in the airing cupboard had split, leaking water into both of the bedrooms, through the floor/ceiling into the lounge and the dividing wall downstairs!.

I spent most of Saturday afternoon trying to lodge the claim and get things moving.
** Red Tape Alert ** Can you believe that even when I explained to the insurance company that Gran was in hospital with terminal cancer and we didn't want to tell her of the true extent of the damage as we were worried this could make her worse. The insurance company would not speak to me. I gave them her name, address, DOB, policy number etc etc but no. We had to get my auntie who had gone to visit to phone the insurance company on her mobile in hospital (which you are not allowed to do!) and get gran from her hospital bed to say I am allowed to deal with it.
You would have thought in these circumstances they would have showed some leniency!.
Ok Rant over.

Anyway we managed to get the company dealing with the contents out yesterday and he has said with his experience that it will probably take approx 4 months to sort. As they will probably have to pull up the floor upstairs, pull down the ceiling downstairs, strip the internal wall, dry out, re plaster, and then redecorate and re carpet the whole house!

So I have managed to get a day off today to try and sort it with the insurance company to find alternative accommodation. Even though Gran is ill she is still fiercely independent so would not live with anyone! Poor Gran!

So that is the long story as to why I haven't posted on here!

Hope everyone else is OK and hopefully when this week settles down I'll be able to get back to Greening/Simplifying/Frugality!

Finding the happiness in simplicity

2009-02-06T18:09:00.003Z

I think that to be truly happy we need to find 'simple' things every day that make us happy. It is an affirmation that today was a good day and that you have made a difference.

Today has been an average day. The snow was so bad in the village I was unable to go to work.
I feel tired and am nearly ready for bed. As it has been snowing for 5 days on and off this is nothing new.

Yet out of this average day I suddenly see all of the simple, frugal (no cost) things that have made me happy today. Some of which are-
1. A snowball fight with my sister and mum
2. Making a snow woman
3. Digging my mums car out of the snow (It is the first time in my life I have had to do this).
4. Walking in the snow so much that little Millie has slept for 5 hours straight.
5. Having a log fire to warm the house using 'used' newspapers, homemade firelighters (tumble dryer fluff stuffed inside toilet roll inners) and logs from a fallen tree at Al's parents farm.
6. Standing in a snow drift so deep it went over my wellies!!
7. Whilst giggling at a friend who slipped over in the snow, having Millie even the game by pulling me over!
8. Drinking a lovely cuppa.
9. Drying my socks on the radiators and trousers in front of the fire.
10. Cutting my favorite parts out of magazines to go in recipe books - green tips, recipes, organising, home ideas, sewing patterns you name it - its in there!

I could go on and on. Although I don't feel bouncing off of the walls happy every day. When I think about it I have a lot to be happy about and a lot to be thankful for.

Things are never straight forward but hey things would be boring if they are.

Thank you all very much for your comments the other day. I'll be taking note of them!

The Crossroads

2009-02-04T21:10:00.003Z

I am there...the crossroads. I am stood in the middle and I don't know which way I should turn.

Things are a little difficult at the moment. Gran is ill. Although the family in general get on very very well, my immediate family (mum, dad, steph and soph) are not.

As hard as I try to keep out of it I always end up being the mediator and thereby my feelings get hurt and my stress levels rise even though I am not in the argument.

My dad has Multiple Sclerosis, he has had it for nearly 10 years. He can still just about walk with a zimmer frame but is getting worse every day. His grip is going in his hand. He is only 50.

I sometimes close my eyes and imagine how life would be, living in a smallholding in rural wales or yorkshire. Having farm animals and chooks, letting the dog roam free and maybe a polytunnel. Letting the kids run amok and play dens and just be free.
I imagine how lovely it would be having no 'ties' with family. No family members ill whose bedside i'm rushing to, no rowing family to quiet, no referees outfit to wear.
And then that thought makes me sad and happy and the same time. Happy because it would be lovely and sad for the same reason.

I love my family very much and would do ANYTHING to help them.

But today I have come to the conclusion that they cannot be helped.

I am at a crossroads do I go down with them or stay strong and look after No1?
Do I concentrate on putting my family first or should I be putting my all into my career?
Am I being sucked into their negativeness and risking my marriage with my moodiness?

How do you include family in you life when 90% of time it brings sadness?

I am at a crossroads and I don't know which way to turn.

Sorry for this rather negative post, I'm sure my path will pick me soon and tell me which way to walk. I just feel a little lost at the moment.

Recycling

2009-02-03T17:00:00.002Z

We really try and recycle everything we can.

As a rule this is what we recycle:
Cans
Glass Bottles
Newspaper/Junk Mail/Magazines (Either sent for recycling or used for fire)
Yellow Pages/ Telephone directories
Plastic bottles
Cardboard
Tetrapaks
Clothes/Shoes/Bags (either sent for recycling or charity)
Wood
Electrical Items (taken to recycling centre)
Ink Cartridges for Printer (sent to help child line)
Food waste - all non cooked items composted.
General Household goods/furniture (Offered to friends/family/freecyle/charity)
Plastic bags

We do aim to recycle everything we can. One problem we face is the over packaged fruit and vegetables. We try to eat organically and find that more often than not these items are in a non recyclable plastic carton wrapped in plastic.

We also try to find multi uses for things by adapting them to fit our ever changing needs.

For example we have a cotton duvet set that has become misshapen and therefore we do not use it anymore. I will be 'reusing' these as I am going to turn them into cot blankets and also rags.
Also I am going to go through my wardrobe and 'declutter' so I will be bearing my fabric pile in mind before recyling anything I no longer need.

Can anyone think of anything else we should be doing?

Water Usage

2009-02-02T17:00:00.005Z

Well as if it wasn't bad enough the water bill arrived today.

Over 210 days we used 67 units which means a bill of £235.88.
We used on average 0.32 of a unit a day and therefore £1.12 a day.

My target with the water usage is to get the bill to approx £1 a day max.

One little good thing though is that our monthly DD payments of £38.50 had exceeded the value of the bill by £104.94. We will therefore be phoning the water company and getting a cheque for this and putting it into our house savings.

Things we do currently:
- We have a water butt
- We normally have showers (bath once a week)
- Turn the taps off when brushing teeth
- Don't have a swimming/paddling pool
Actually that is all I can think of that we do to save water. (Oh Dear)

Things we will do:
- Retain bath water to 'flush' toilet (must find a container to keep in the toilet).
- Ensure Stacey's showers do not overrun (might have to get a waterproof timer!!)
- Reuse cooking water to water houseplants.
- Only hand wash a 'full load' rather than a few bits here and there.
- Reuse water from condenser tumble dryer to 'flush toilet'

Any other tips would be really appreciated.

I would really like to become more self sufficient in energy & water!

Decluttering & Organising - Step 1

2009-02-01T19:01:00.000Z

I am a hoarder. I believe it is genetic as my mum was the same. I need 'spares'. It will come in useful some when. Why chuck it away when I might need to buy it again some when. It is of sentimental value. It is a good solid piece it would be a shame to throw it away. How can I be green if I get rid of things.

These are all things I have said to myself over the last week.

Step 1 to decluttering and organising.

Admitting that things have to change and wanting it to.

The admission that even after saying all of the above excuses I have too much 'stuff'. That I am struggling to live a simple life surrounded by all of these 'things'. And that no matter how hard it is to part with 'things' I really want to do it.

I have a real issue with getting rid of things.
Stationery, clothes, shoes, ornaments,photos, paperwork and on and on and on.

Things have to change.

I am going to start small as I really need to take 'one step at a time' with this.
I'll start with the area around my desk.

My findings:
Staples - 2 boxes - decanted into a small jar
Post it notes - one huge block and 10 small ones!! - retained 2 small ones
labels - 2 small packs different types - OK.
paperclips - one box - decanted into small jar.
26/6 staples - one huge box and one small (for a stapler we used once to make wedding invites!) retain big box get rid of small
Filofax - address pages, post it notes, ruler & ruled notepad. - don't need any more.
140 ink cartridges in assorted colours (I haven't used a cheap fountain pen in years)
4 glue sticks - 2 completely dried out so threw these away, others will be used for scrap books)
4 sharpeners - only need one!
15 mini highlighters - don't need
4 medium highlighters - keep
1 pen highlighter - keep
1 jumbo highlighter - don't need
3 compasses - only need one
11 felt tip pens - don't use.
Colouring pencils - use occasionally.
6 sketching pencils - use occasionally.
Bottle of tip ex - cheap bottle and is rubbish!
1 bottle of good tip ex - keep.
Assorted rulers - retain one of each.
2 Parker fountain pens and 14 ink cartridges. - keep one pen & Cartridges.
4 fountain pen correctors- don't use
8 permanent markers - keep for labelling boxed when we move out.
5 assorted permanent markers - don't use
2 'security markers' - keep and label TV etc.
51 pencils - keep 10 best
10 red Biro's - keep 4
4 green Biro's - keep 4
49 black/blue Biro's - keep 25
1 silver paint market - keep
3 calligraphy pens - don't use
1 pack invisible mounts - use for scrap books
1 pack - bulldog clips - use
2 staplers - keep one
2 mini rolls of sellotape on dispensers - keep
2 hole punches - keep one
3 erasers - keep one
3 calculators - 2 scientific and one mini - get rid of old scientific.
2 rewritable discs - keep
1 pair scissors - keep
Various envelopes - all OK
cream 'special paper' and burgundy card - use for crafting.
one ream of printer paper/wallets & dividers - all OK
large A4 sheet of 10 labels - OK.
sellotape - 2 rolls.
one magazine file full of 'lined paper' - sell Filofax paper keep 3 a4 pads.
one magazine file full of 'other paper' - keep a4 square pad, a4 journal pad, graph paper, give white card to mum and get rid of white paper.
three pencil cases! - keep one

Oh my god!! This stationery was in my desk and dotted about here and there but when I listed it even I was shocked at how much there was!

I have put the unwanted items onto freecycle. Hopefully someone will make good use of them.

Now which drawer/shelf shall I tackle next?

Electric Usage - Arrggh!

2009-01-31T17:00:00.000Z

Well I have some bad news! We have had the electric bill! Gulp!

It was £255.91 for 1535 units over 135 days!
This equals an average of 11.37 units a day therefore £1.59 a day! Oh dear.

We have now discovered that:
1. We can actually live a decent life without every light in the house on.
2. Maybe we do not need to use the dishwasher/washing machine/tumble dryer quite so much
3. The dehumidifier we bought (only used on 14 days out of the above) doubles our electric usage each day! (Oh My God!)

Our target for the average this year is going to be 8 units therefore £1.12 a day.

We will achieve this by:
1. Turning off lights at every opportunity and using the lights with least amount of bulbs in each room.
2. Reducing the usage of dishwasher/washing machine/tumble dryer.
3. Only using the dehumidifier when necessary
4. I've changed from a electric alarm clock with a light that comes on half an hour before you wake to a wind up alarm clock - only small savings but still worthwhile.
5. We have taken everything 'off' standby and removed plugs from sockets where possible.
6. Trying to optimise the use of the oven (i.e have more than one thing in at a time).
7. Only filling the kettle up to the correct number of cups.
8. Ensuring the fridge freezer and chest freezer are at the correct temperature.
9. Stacey not using the laptop so much (this one is gonna be tough!)

Hopefully I can update with some progress at some point this year as we are using way too much!

Homemade Cards - No 16

2009-01-30T17:00:00.000Z

Well I have been a lucky bunny, I have put as one of my challenges that I would like to buy 'homemade' cards from my mum rather than buy cards for the coming year.
Well I went round mums the other day and had a look through her stash and found a few I liked, I then happened to mention that we had been given a turkey over Christmas that was too big to fit in our oven.
A little bartering took place as my mum said I could have a years worth of cards for the turkey and she would invite me & Allan to the meal when they cook it. I agreed there and then and feel like we have both profited from this agreement!

The cards I selected were:
Mum has said I just need to write down how many more I need and she will make them!

The Vegetable Garden - Seeds & Sowing Plan

2009-01-29T17:00:00.004Z

Well I have now purchased all of my seeds and I have quite a few!

Here are the seed potatoes & onion sets (we are still waiting for the garlic to arrive)

And here are all of our other seeds, some are new & some are from last year. I have checked the date on the packets to ensure that they are 'in date' and therefore they should have a good germination rate.

This year we will be growing:

Fruit - Raspberries, Strawberries, Cooking Apples, Eating Apples, Plums, Pears, Red Grapes (All Existing plants/trees)
Vegetables - Plum Tomatoes, Normal Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Cucumber, Courgette, Swede, Parsnip, Carrot, Calabrese (green broccoli), Cauliflower, Green & Iceburg Lettuce Heads, Mixed Lettuce Leaves, French (green) Beans, Peas, Onions, Leeks, Kidney Beans, Potatoes, Garlic and Spring Onions.

Our plot is 12ft x 37ft.

I have a spreadsheet on which I have drawn the plot to scale. I then use this to work out where each item should be planted and how much of it I should plant.
I then look at each packet of seeds to see when each should be planted/propagated, thinned and harvested. I put this onto a spreadsheet having columns for each type of vegetable, and a weekly date.

This means at a glance I can see that during the week of the 15th April 2009 I should be sowing mixed lettuce, sowing 2ft peas, propagating 2 cauliflowers, propagating the courgette seeds and tending to the parsnip seedlings.
Although the weather could throw this plan out completely it at least helps me see where I should be each week and remind me to do various things to try to avoid gluts.

If anyone would like a copy of this spreadsheet just leave your email address on a comment and I'll email it to you.

Vegetables are so easy to grow, all you need is dirt/compost, water and sun.
All I normally do is put the seeds in the ground, water when dry and weed around them. That's it. I have many commitments outside of full time work and yet I still manage to keep a vegetable patch and harvest delicious vegetables.

Even if you are a beginner just try some mixed lettuce leaves and cherry tomato's, both can be grown in containers.

Want healthy food straight from the garden?....Dig for victory!

The Vegetable Garden - January Update

2009-01-28T17:00:00.001Z

The veggie garden is coming along, Allan has been hard at work digging the plot over and I think he has done about a third of the plot.

The view down the plot...

You can see our raspberry bush in the front of the picture above. It was about 50cm high when we bought it last year and it is the same height as me now - 150cm!

This time of year for us is a time for preparing for spring and we never usually produce much.
We have some purple sprouting broccoli in which I don't think we will get any result with but we'll see. Everything else has been harvested. We have some courgette in the freezer and some cooking apples as well and also some onions hung outside.

I have ordered all of our seeds & sets for growing already and most have arrived. I will do another post listing what we will grow and when.

And I think spring is on its way, we have daffodils coming up

And some other unknown bulbs coming up:

I'll try and post a picture of these when they are in flower so we can all (myself included) see what these shoots turn out like!

2009-01-27T20:20:00.002Z

A few lines about what living simply means to me:

Love - Your family, friends, neighbours, surroundings, everyone & everything.
Interpret - Watch how everyone else you admire lives & interpret your own version.
Vegetables - From a little acorn a huge oak tree grew, grow veg & fruit and reep the rewards.
Invent - Make do & mend and invent your own uses for 'old' things, buying new is a last resort.
Nutrition - Your body is only as good as the food put into it. Consider organic/seasonal produce.
Green - Being aware of the environment and controlling your impact on it.

Sleep - We spend half our life doing it so get enough and ensure it is good quality!
Interact - Stop texting and emailing, visit people, join your community, talk face to face.
Money - We all have to have some to get by, we don't need excess, budget & you can live on less.
Peace - Find an activity that creates some peace in your life (yoga/meditation), rest a little.
Live - Start living life now, tomorrow never comes, enjoy the day to day living.
You - You're the most important person in your life, spend time on you doing things you want to.

We may not be able to stop things happening in our lives but we can change how we react to them and live life consciously and positively.

No 4 - Make my own dishcloths...

2009-01-27T17:00:00.001Z

...is complete!

I have been trying for a while now to 'get the hang of' knitting and I just couldn't do it. So I ended up getting my mum round to show me where I was going wrong.

Firstly I was pulling the wool too tight, I was trying to ensure there were no big holes and just ending up making my life difficult!.
Also I was knitting about 3 rows and then deciding it didn't look right and so unpicking it and starting again. Now if I had got to row 10 I would have realised that I was doing it right in the first place but that it just takes a while to see the results.

I have now managed to knit my first dishcloth and will never buy new again. Wahoo!

For anyone who hasn't mastered knitting please keep trying, once you get the knack it is very easy and therapeutic. I was given a book on how to knit by my parents for Christmas. It is aimed at kids but I found it very easy to understand and was able to put the words into actions. It shows you how to do a few different types of stitch and also how to knit a few different things. I have taken a picture of it so that you would recognise it is you saw it.
It is the Usborne Art Ideas How to Knit book.
Oh and i have just found it on The Book People's website for £2.99! Bargain.

Happy knitting!

Green Cleaning

2009-01-26T17:00:00.000Z

By the end of 2009 I want to be using solely Green Cleaning Products.

I have made a start. The first thing I did was instead of using a huge scoop of branded washing powder I changed to using a mix of 4 parts supermarket own brand washing powder, 2 parts Borax and 2 parts soda crystals and only using about a 1/3rd of the recommended amount. I found this cleaned my clothes just as good and have had no problems with it. (When I run out of the current mix I will swap the supermarket brand to Ecover washing powder).

Next I swapped my window cleaner for good old white vinegar and newspaper. This was quickly followed by changing my furniture polish from the spray polish to lemon juice and olive oil (1 part olive oil & 3 parts lemon juice, give it a shake before applying). I dust my furniture with microfibre cloths as I find these pick up the dust really easily and I only need to polish the furniture every 6 to 8 weeks. I store the white vinegar in a reused spray bottle and the lemon juice and vinegar in a reused glass jar (make sure you wash the bottles/jars out thoroughly before you refill them)

I also started using bicarbonate of soda and white vinegar to clean the drains with. I also put a small bowl of bicarbonate of soda in the fridge to remove moisture and smells.
You can see from the picture below:
Boxes of borax & bicarbonate of soda, bottle of lemon juice, bottle of white vinegar (non brewed condiment) and microfibre cloths.

My plans for the future are:
When current washing up liquid runs out change to Ecover.
When dishwasher tablets run out change to Ecover.
Find a multi purpose 'spray' that I can make to clean the kitchen worktops, bathroom and floors. (Any ideas other than Ecover?).

Hopefully this area of my life will be completely green by the end of the year!