Eating our fill...

Celebrating in our family is always fun! 

We have over the last few years tended to do for experiences, especially those we can share. That was sorely missed during the lockdowns, but now we're up and running again.

My birthday this year meant afternoon tea with my mum and sister at a local hotel, overlooking the sea.

As you can see the plates were groaning and even we can't put away that much...

 Month 4 - Bite 30

Many years ago when we were both based around London, my sister and I used to meet up with a friend of hers and go to a Dance Studio once a week. We quite often followed that up with a trip to an American Pizza Company - just to replace the lost energy you understand.

It was one of those 'here's your plate, help yourself' salad bar places and it was incredible to see how many students could eat from one small plate! One of the best examples of maximising was a group of four who had obviously worked it all out beforehand. The plate's size was massively increased by placing celery sticks out like spokes in a wheel until it was at least twice the diameter of the original. This based they then filled in layers until it resembled a food mountain. They then ordered one giant pizza between them and shared their meal until they could eat no more.

Now comes the best part. The establishment automatically brought a food box for leftovers. We'd always been chuffed with taking home enough leftover pizza for the following day, but the delight of the mountain builders at taking both some pizza and the salad was a joy to behold.....

We were talking about this while enjoying our tea when the ladies at the next table told the waitress that they could eat no more and it was a shame they had to leave it. 

'You don't' she said and produced boxes for them to pack and take away the surplus, bringing us boxes to do the same. We just had to sign a form to acknowledge that we'd done so just in case we kept it too long and gave ourselves food poisoning by not looking after properly!

From now on it's away with the embarassment of asking and in with the request for a doggie bag! Oh and no, we didn't store it incorrectly - the leftovers were eaten far too quickly for that...

Your money may go down as well as up

 Here's a cautionary tale that fits the 'maximising' theme. Fortunately it's one I'm pleased to report worked out well for us! It means today's bite is a bit retrospective as it's what I did yesterday, but still...

As the day approaches when we're due to take our break and go abroad for the first time since lockdowns started I need to order the currency for our trip.

Normally I have an amount stored as the best deals are for larger amounts and, up till 2020, we went away more than once a year it was worth ordering more than one trip required to get a preferential rate. It also helped if we were about to see our Italian 'branch' and there were birthdays or Christmas approaching so that we could give them cash for the occasions to take home and spend if that was what they chose.

Month 4 - Bite 29

I tried to buy my Euros online, but met with a computer glitch so I popped down to town to buy them in person. I was horrified to find out that the difference between online and in person would cost me about 30 Euros so returned home and tried the computer again.

As luck would have it the computer was with me this time and co-operated. All I had to do was go back to the very same Bureau de Change I visited this morning and pick up the cash at the better rate.

Having read that the pound was having a bit of a moment (!) I went online this morning to see what had happened to it and saw that now I would have got another 20 Euros less than I did yesterday...

Just goes to show that timing, research and a bit of luck can make a big difference. So now I'm about to write in the diary about a month from when we're considering going abroad again to make sure I learn from this experience and start checking currency exchange rates early...

Is it worth it?

 During the lockdowns when we were eventually allowed to travel short distances to meet in twos and then sixes it was lovely to join up with my family. Even nicer when there’s so many beautiful open spaces midway between our homes.

The downside was the parking fees!

I bought a season ticket for all the area’s car parks, it meant that we didn’t have to worry about buying individual tickets or second-guessing how long we’d stay anywhere before we bought them.

I've just had the reminder that the ticket is about to expire, inviting me to renew. Well, do I?

Month 4 - Bite 28

As life has changed ( I won't say gone back to normal) I'm not sure how much use I'll make of a season ticket now. I ask myself is it worth it?

There's only one way to find out - for the next few weeks and months I'll keep a tally of the times I use the car parks and how much I pay out starting today when I go down into town. Then after a period of time I'll see how much I've spent and where so I can  make an informed decision about the cost effectiveness of the scheme. It will also tell me if I would be better off buying into a part of the ticket (round here you can buy it to cover specified locations for various different amounts), the whole annual ticket or just pay as I go!

Sharing the Problems

 Do I mean problems? or dilemmas? or issues? Oh I don't know, it's just making the most of sharing what we need and want.

I was over at my sister's examining my shopping list and realised I hadn't put food wrap on it! 

'Oh,' she said 'I think I've got some I won't use, do you want it?'

I gratefully accepted and watched as she opened her under sink store and proceeded to bring out this lot...

I now have enough food wrap for months - we were puzzled though about when she might have got it as she doesn't use it at all...

Then we compared shopping lists - it would seem that many items we buy are the same or similar and we have often both commented on the quantities needed to get the best deal - mostly more than our two small households require.

Month 4 - Bite 26

Neither of us want to buy and then have to store extras, especially when they're part of a BOGOF/Buy One Get One Free offer or in a large pack that we won't use up before its best before/use by date. 

It makes sense then to combine our lists. It won't work if there's too long a gap between meeting up and going shopping, but there are lots of occasions when we can buy from our lists and split both the amounts and the cost. 

That makes the current task writing my list and sending her a copy so she can tell me anything she wants to go halves on.

Month 4 - Bite 27

That led me onto thinking how many other things we might have that it would be more economical to share. There's plenty of large items that we could swap between neighbours, family and friends that would cut down on buying, storing and so on. That's without the contribution it would make to the environment if less of these needed to be produced.

I know in our garage and shed there's a whole host of stuff that can be shared around.

                                               

So for the next on the list it's off to the shed where I'm sure we've got a heap of empty plant pots that we won't use. They can go next door to my neighbour for her seedlings. We then get the benefit as she always has more than she needs and we get free plants for the garden.

I'll also dig out our shaker that we use to spread feed on the lawn as I know the neighbour the other side is about to do hers.

Sharing the Problems, More like Sharing the Solutions...

That Reminds Me

 Going through my last post I started to remember all kinds of things - my grandad growing almost all the veg we ate and my fear of his question 'Do you want a cabbage Marg?' - I still hate cabbage to this day. Or my other nan who was a farmer's daughter with her growing patch, which meant at certain times of the year bags full of apples being lugged home! And we didn't live in the countryside either - South London it was - way before The Good Life!

A walk down our garden path jogged my brain into gear too - just a glance showed me that the herbs are beginning to regrow after all the work on the garden last year.

Month 4 - Bite 25

The mint and oregano are well underway as well as the basil on the windowsill doing well. I should be using these instead of depleting my shop bought stores.

Today I need to pick some as, not only do I want them for tonight's meal, but they'll grow like crazy while we're away and it'll be a waste to let them romp on. Once picked the leaves will need freezing or drying so my job today is to look up what to do and then do it!

My Favourite Things.....

 When my sister and I were little we used to look forward to particular meals and treats. She is left with a life long love of jelly and fish fingers - I just love food!

We were talking a while back about these favourites and the memories associated with them - cheese and potato pie, dad getting the mouli out to mince up left over meat for rissoles, pastry cooked on a plate, sponge cakes with sickly spoon licking. 

We'd never really realised that these events all tended to happen towards the end of each month until mum pointed it out. She went on to explain why she could be so sure about the timing - it was all to do with need.

As we got close to the end of month, apparently, things would get a bit tight and so she would bake and make pastry as fillers to bulk up our diets and the other meals were the cheapest going and used every scrap of leftovers as there wasn't the money to waste.

She was somewhat amazed during our conversation to find that these belt tightening measures had been seen by us as treats and that they still form the major part of our list of favourite foods!

So here's a selection of bites that seem to follow on nicely from that...

Month 4 - Bite 21

A list is needed of all those 'fillers' using the most basic of ingredients so that I can draw on it to add in a nice cheap 'treat' on a regular basis. Many of these will be non-meat based like the cheese and potato pie which keeps the price down and can have some other more recent additions like the pasta bake which I tend to do each week using minimal ingredients.

Month 4 - Bite 22

Back to basics next. I've got a range of store cupboard regulars to hand so the next research/list needs to be the meals I can conjure up with few added ingredients. Pancakes and pasta have got to be in there. In fact stuffed pancakes or tortillas it will be tonight - I've got some odds and ends of vegetables just crying out for roasting with coriander and cumin!

Month 4 - Bite 23

One meal we generally always had on Sundays evenings was salad. Dad would get it all cut up and put in dishes for us to help ourselves and the meal was always accompanied by much banter and singing along to the radio show 'Sing Something Simple'. Once again we'd been unaware of how the menu was chosen and why it was presented in this way.

Leftovers from lunch were served up and we all took whatever we wanted from the array of sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, grated cheese, boiled potatoes and sometimes sliced hard boiled eggs. Now I know that everything looks a lot more when it's served in communal serving dishes and is cut into smaller slices or grated. The salad we had seemed to go further like that - two tomatoes looks much more when thinly sliced and a mountain of grated cheese or thinly batoned carrots certainly fills the plate more that larger pieces.

My task now is to unearth the grater and mouli so that I can start to present our meals to emphasise how much we've got rather than using individual portions that make us think we need much more in the way of ingredients!

And finally I need to bring my nan into the picture.

Month 4 - Bite 24

We often went to nan and grandad's  - especially if mum and dad had to go out to Scouting meetings or it was at a time when both were working and we needed child care after school. Nan was the master of the oven. Meals round there were thick, warming casseroles and creamy rice puddings. 

She used to say that if she was putting the oven on for part of the meal it was wasteful not to use it to the max. Her meals were planned so that as much of the meal was cooked in one go or followed one dish after another to make full use of the oven, even after if was switched off.

My final list for now then has to be the meals where I can combine a number of elements in one place to save on energy use. So things like roast potatoes and parsnips cooked in the same oven as chicken. Or vegetables all cooked in one saucepan just added at different times. 

Or even making sure that I'm using the hob economically. I used to cook spaghetti and rice by bringing it to the boil, cooking it for part of the time and then turning the gas off, putting on the lid and then leaving it to finish cooking in the residual heat.  I wonder why I stopped?

Don't look a gift horse...

 While I was tapping away about food yesterday the doorbell rang.

It was a friend from round the corner brandishing rhubarb! He's got an allotment at the top of our road and often drops some spare pickings from his patch. It's kind of accepted round here that we do each other favours like this. 

It’s easy where we live as all the neighbours have got to know each other over the years and are happy to keep an eye out for each other. The neighbourhood is really friendly and the more we get to know each other the easier it is to find help.

When one of us is away another household will water plants or make sure the post isn’t sticking out of the letterbox for example. If one of us is stuck with a computer glitch or plumbing issue another of us is able to fix the problem.

Month 4 - Bite 20

Accepting help and trading favours comes from the relationships we’ve built together. Because our community is happy to get to know each other we’re relaxed about the giving and receiving that goes on.

Today I’ve a couple of job list to-dos on this one.

First I need to pop across the road to let one neighbour know we’re going away soon and ask her to check now and again that any post is pushed right through the door - she’s got a key too just in case she needs to get in.

Secondly I must sort out the leftover fencing wood and roofing felt from work on our garden to deliver to our rhubarb gifting friend who wants to use it up on the allotment........

Food for Thought

 Or perhaps that should be thoughts of food....

It's the time of year when everything around has started growing at a pace so in making the most of it style for this month I need to begin work for some food for later in the year.

We don't dedicate much of our outside space to growing food, but the produce we grow ourselves is always welcome and well used. This was some of last year's bounty.

As you can see it doesn't take much room - in fact I'm always amazed by how much you can pack into pots and small areas using vertical opportunities. There was also a great supply of rocket grown in an old wooden crate lined with a rubble sack - much cheaper than the stuff you get from the supermarket

Added to that was the basil which supplied us with pesto all summer.

Then there was the spare from my sister's patch to make the most of...

Month 4 - Bite 19

I know I can't start sowing just yet as we're about to take a bit of a holiday, but today is all about making sure that the containers are ready, the geraniums begin their journey from the shed to outdoor pots and the canes are clean and sorted for the beans. 

So off out into the sunshine I go..

Fighting off my sweet tooth...

I know it's bad for me and I've tried to give it up, but to no avail.

The rest of my family gave up sugar while I was away at University - just like that - stopped using it overnight and never looked back. I've found it a struggle all the way through.

When I visited home during Uni I tried to fall in line. I just couldn't do it, everything tasted wrong and I guess I wasn't home enough early on to go through those cold turkey moments in kicking my habit. So, to this day I'm the one who takes sugar. Addicted to sweetness you might say.

Now, it's not like I haven't tried other ways, cutting down or using sweeteners. The result is always the same - sugar cravings and the cracking of brittle willpower. 

All of which brings me to ...

Month 4 - Bite 18

Give up adding sugar to drinks.

The plan goes like this... from now on the first step has to be sugar in tea and coffee. I'll attempt to go without and will buy a backup store of sweeteners for when I'm feeling a bit weedy about the taste. 

My other main use of sugar is to sweeten my porridge. No, I won't be going the whole hog and using salt instead! I might, though, take to honey if I need it and fresh fruit to add some sweetness.

Saving money on sugar will be great for my pocket, but even better for my health - perhaps I'll adapt that as a mantra to convince myself.

No to sugar is yes to cash and health, no to sugar is yes to cash and health, no to sugar is...

Well, we'll see - it's worth a try...
 

Time for another box

 I'm keeping with the celebrations plans for the next few bites as I find it easier to keep focused when there's a common theme to the tasks!

Month 4 - Bite 16

It's about time I replenished the food stocks so I'm off to the supermarket. It's also a chance to get Bite 16 on the way.

This item on the list is to start looking out for BOGOFF or two for one offers where I can use one part of the offer myself and then store the other for presents. 

Month 4 - Bite 17

Oh yes, it's find a box time again...

This time it's a box for cards, wrapping paper and so on. As a matter of fact I've got one in mind - one that my financial bits and pieces grew too big for.

As I find, buy or make cards I'll add them to the box and so whenever there's an occasion to mark I'll be all ready. No more dashing out in a rush spending more than I intended because I haven't left enough time to choose wisely. I just need to track down that box....

Slight pause while I disappear into the loft....

.

While I was hunting down that box I discovered a rather nice Christmas box and bag to add to the storage. They can hold any presents I make along the way for Christmas (or birthdays). I'm intending to add to them each time I see or make something suitable, rather in the same way as I've been adding to the Lucky Dip/Tombola/Treasure Hunt stash.

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

 Now these couple of bites came to mind when we were chatting about birthdays the other day ... nothing to do with the fact that one of them is mine I suppose!! 

Month 4 - Bite 14

As a family we’ve always enjoyed a good celebration! That doesn’t mean these occasions are necessarily lavish or expensive affairs. On the contrary waste is never a good thing. For example anyone celebrating usually gets asked well in advance what they’d like so that any gifts are the right thing and not blow out throwaways.

Sometimes the asked-for present is somewhat small or one of us doesn’t know exactly what we’d like. At that point we do fall back on vouchers and deciding what kind is easy! There are one or two stores  that sell both groceries and other things like clothes so we tend to choose vouchers from them. The recipient then can choose to spend the voucher on something they want in the store or they can buy something themselves to that value and then spend the voucher to do their food shopping.

My sister and I joke about the fact that when we were younger it was seen as unimaginative to buy certain older members of the family bath stuff, moisturiser and so forth, but now we seen to have turned into the very ‘old ladies’ that actually want that kind of thing. It’s fun to get mini parcels of the sort of everyday nice things you use without spending your own cash on them. 

So it’s not usual for us to ask for something useful like this for our birthdays or to say that we want vouchers towards a bigger item -my niece and her husband trumped the unexpected request list by asking for vouchers towards paint to decorate for their Christmas presents! 

Anyway - today's the day I examine my list of stuff I need and let the family know what useful things I'd like this year... think some vouchers for my e-reader might feature!

Month 4 - Bite 15

From thoughts of my birthday to some others... For today's task I need to start listing what I might need to buy or make over the next month or two - in our family the occasions come thick and fast from June onward.

We've had to think ahead with part of the family in Italy and have come to an arrangement whereby the presents get sourced over there, even if they are ordered online for delivery direct, and then the wrapping paper, card and gift tags are sent over from here for use. That way the gifts are still personalised while keeping the postage costs down.

I also need to look at multiple versions of the same presents for similar recipients both for birthdays and Christmas as it's often cheaper to buy in bulk or, alternatively, time efficient to make similar items in one making session. Although I'm not actually buying or making today a planning list is needed.

Clear Vision

 

For the next couple of bites I'm turning my attention to all those screens and gadgets that seem to have pushed their way into modern life!

Month 4 - Bite 12

When I was working full time and using the mobile and computers constantly I often mis-typed or mis-read information and now and again my fingers didn't seem to command my messages as well as I thought they should. My nieces have multiple examples of texts and messages referring to having a mice holiday or some other such typo and were thinking of saving them for a book which would also include all those occasions where I hadn't noticed the predictive text had taken over with hilarious results...

When this happened a lot I realised that the screens needed attention - my lack of clarity in taps and reading were due to smeary screens in a lot of cases. It's okay when it's between us and creates a laugh, but there are times when the odd wrong tap on the touchscreen can insert the wrong detail, digit or information - don't want that to cost any time or money.

Since I retired I still seem to spend a lot of time online, but I haven't paid as much attention to the condition of the screens as I should. Reading an e-book lately I noticed the print was again getting difficult to read - time for action. So, today it's out with the cleaning materials/lint free cloth and on with the clearing of the screens. Then any mistakes will just be up to me, I guess....

Month 4 - Bite 13

The previous task set me thinking about how often I use my devices. I thought I was charging them rather a lot because the batteries were getting old, but maybe it's because I'm just using them too much.

It's not the purposeful tasks that are using up the energy. It's the mindless checking and rechecking of emails, social media and the such like. I'm therefore adding monitoring my screentime to the joblist with the intention of cutting down on the frequency of accessing the internet. I suppose it got a lot worse with the pandemic - checking data, reports, seeing if family members were ok, that sort of thing. Now there's the current world situation too. I'm not sure these constant referrals to wall to wall news reports are doing me any good so tackling this need to endlessly look at what's going on can only improve my mental health and finances too. Don't get me wrong, I don't intend to cut myself off from what's going on, just to cut down on my far too frequent need to know. 

Going online needs to be purposeful for me from now on.

                                                        

Every Last Drop

 or drip...

Month 4 - Bite 11

The kitchen tap is playing up! The drip, drip, drip has been going on for a while - it's time to get it fixed - not just because of the constant annoyance of the unstoppable water noise, but also because it's costing us money. Cash straight down the drain you might say!

The bite for today is twofold.. firstly to order whatever's needed to fix the problem and get on with the mend and secondly to check for water wastage around the property. All the taps need checking for leaks and fixing where necessary. Then it's outside to the water butt, well it's more of a tank, to check the feed to it from the gutters is clear and flowing freely. 

This tank will become even more important once the weather improves and the garden needs water. By harnessing rainwater we shouldn't have to reply on paid-for water unless we hit a really dry spell when the tank could run dry.... Not wanting to spend money like water unless absolutely essential, eh?!

Fully Loaded

 When the lockdowns started I went mad with cleaning! Every day the dishwasher went on regardless of what was in it and I put the drainer in too just to make sure all the kitchen stuff was as clean as I could get it. 

Now while I still want everything hygienic and clean it's not really necessary to go overboard.

Month 4 - Bite 10

I need to take a look at how we use the dishwasher.

Am I filling it sufficiently each day to warrant running it? Or should I reassess what's there each night to see if a hand wash would be more economical while staying effective? Today I need to start investigating!

The Boring Essentials

 Now I didn't mind the gathering together of all the instruction manuals or reading through to find the most economical/environmentally friendly way of using all the household devices. However, the routine maintenance sort of got shelved a bit. Yes, I do defrost the freezer to make sure it runs at its peak - although ours is rather old and tends to ice up so it rather reminds me to do it automatically.

So...

Month 4 - Bite 9

Dealing with the boring essentials of maintenance is today's must do. These need more attention than I give them or they can be quite literally a drain on efficiency and therefore cost.

I'm pretty good at replenishing dishwasher salt....

Once again there's a handy little light to remind me when it's needed, but the drain needs checking more often I'm sure.

The same goes for the washing machine, so that's on the list for now too.

                                                      

I only have one burning question.. if these things are so darned important, why are they always so difficult to reach?!

Limiting Laundry

 You'll remember how many bites it took me to get a grip of the clothes mountain that had accumulated over the years? Well now it's time to maximise some of the outcomes of that massive sort out...

Month 4 - Bite 6

I did put together a group of clothes for wearing to destruction and I'm doing pretty well with those so they are nearly ready to hit the bin. The selection of dresses, t-shirts, socks and underwear is now pretty close to the end of its life. In fact that time will come this week! If the fabric is good enough to use I will, but for most of the items the next few days will see their final wearing. This will not only see more space in my storage, but will also mean that they won't be a burden on the iron at all - just think of all that saved electricity. Today's task is to put these at the ready and to start by disposing of them from today. All of them except one outfit, from underwear to capri pants.

This is just a selection!

We're due to go away next  month. Travelling can be grotty on clothes and yet you still need to wear something comfortable. So the outfit I'm saving will be fine for the day of travel, but it won't be coming home again. No washing of it, no ironing and no carrying it! 

Month 4 - Bite 7

I do have another pile of clothes that have plenty of life left in them, but they no longer fit. The next task is to ring round everyone for a clothes swap party. We've not been able to do this while the restrictions were in place so it's something to look forward to. Organising it should be straightforward. Guests will just need to bring along anything they want to swap and pass on and I'll supply the mirrors, tea, cake and clothes rail. Then we can spend an afternoon or evening selecting new wardrobes from our offerings and anyone who doesn't have spares to swap can always make a donation to charity!

Again, the tip of an iceberg...

                                         

Month 4 - Bite 8

While I was looking at the laundry and wondering how I can trim the costs of it further, it struck me that I'm not being too clever with what I'm wearing. I tend to wait till the laundry box is fairly full then sort it ready for washing. This usually ends up with at least one half load, if not more as there's 30 degree items, whites I don't want to wash with darks, delicates and so on. What if I were to plan and organise what I wear so that there will always be a full load? So, it shouldn't take too much to group my stuff so that I wear mostly 30 degree wash items for a number of days in a row till there's a full load, or make sure I wear mainly whites when I'm doing the bedding, or - well you get the idea... I'm off to group clothes now!

                                                   

If you've paid for it - use it!

I'm guilty of getting all enthusiastic about something and then letting the passion wane. One of the things I missed with the lockdowns of the past couple of years was my club/gym membership. The club had to close just like many others and my regular routines went out of the window. Now don't get me wrong, we're very lucky in that our surrounding encourage the getting outside type of exercise - running, walking on the beach and so on. I was fine to start with and then the motivation sort of slipped!

Month 4 - Bite 3

As a way of keeping up I joined online classes in Combat - one of the club classes I'd really enjoyed. I asked for contributions towards the subscription for it for my birthday and by rearranging the garden room quickly I was able to get stuck in with really good sessions which seemed even more enjoyable without all the fit young things I used to try not to look at in class!!!

The second year of it however, even though I paid the subscription I've let it slip. I reckon each session I've done over the past 12 months has cost me about £10! Some of that came once we joined a local tennis club and I spent more and more time on court along with the restart of ParkRuns and there are only just so many hours in a week.

Those are mere hiccups though so in order to make best use of my subscription (which is now due) I need to make an effort in using the online classes starting today. Just to make sure I'm going to note down how many I do partly for motivation, but also so I can see the cost per class tumble as I complete each one...

Month 4 - Bite 4

The other exercise routine which has been a success is joining a new tennis club. The people are really friendly and there are plenty of invitations to fill in for others when they can't play as well as club open sessions. So, my next step on the elephant eating road is to play as much as I can to get the maximum value out of the very reasonable subscription.

I don't need to record these session to know that playing twice a week on my present subscription makes the cost of each one less than £1.60!

It's a popular club - here's one prospective member who keeps returning and strutting their stuff courtside. Give a whole new meaning to the term game bird I guess.

Zen ironing and the joy of slow hoovering

 Month 4 - Bite 5

I've already touched on batch ironing previously. It's not my most favourite occupation I'll freely admit. I usually put the TV on as a sort of wallpaper while I tackle it. However I think I'm missing a trick. There are one or two podcasts I enjoy - by Jen Carrington and Sara Tasker mainly. I regularly download them and then forget to listen to them leaving me with a whole pile of unheard broadcasts.

Instead of flicking from one TV channel to the next I should really be clearing my backlog of podcasts - so that's what I'm going to make my next target. That way I can get stuck into a pile of ironing using the electricity efficiently while concentrating on the words of wisdom in my ears.

That's not the only task for today though. I read a while ago that rushing at hoovering doesn't actually maximise the cleaning potential of the machine. Apparently to get the most out of your hoover/dyson/whatever the passes over the carpets and floors need to be slower and more deliberate so that the brushes pick up as much dirt, fluff and dust as they can for as deep as they go. So, once that pile of ironing has shrunk I'm off for a spot of slow hoovering to get the most out of the chore and presumably if you do it more thoroughly it won't need to be done so often. (I haven't any evidence for that bit, just wishful thinking!)

Month 4 - Making the Most of It

 This month is all about making the most of everything - maximising what 's around. Hence this very happy little elephant!

I'm not sure how it'll all work out and whether it may get a bit more random as the month wears on, but hey.. let's go for it!

Month 4 - Bite 1

Let's start with my favourite area - food!

It was my sister's raffle prize that started it. She gave me a few items from her cache including the rather splendid cauliflower. That made up the bulk of last night's meal - cauliflower cheese. Some of the other veggies are tonight's offering - Mediterranean roasted vegetables.

It got me thinking. I get a bit stuck in a rut sometimes with our routine menus. Not that there's anything wrong with our diet, but a change is as good as a rest and all that...

The veggie box nudged my brain to think of abandoned recipes so perhaps it's time to nudge it again! When the first lockdown started I was good at planning meals, cooking fresh pasta and trying new ideas. As it got to be less of a novelty I drifted back to our staple choices, especially as life returned to more or less normal. 

Today's task needs to be a voyage of discovery. Time to look again at the contents of the fridge, freezer and cupboards and list all the possible meals I can think of using the ingredients there. Then I can list any that only need one or two additions and add them to subsequent shopping lists. Then, finally, I'll reward myself with a browse through some of our cookery books for something new to try!

Month 4 - Bite 2

I'm setting tomorrow's task straightaway as it's been prompted by looking around the kitchen while planing the above. 

On the windowsill was the basil plant that I got from the supermarket. One plant usually does us three pesto meals until it keels over as well as providing leaves for pizzas, etc.

                                      

Once the weather is better I usually grow basil from seed and that keeps us supplied for months, providing cheap, fresh pesto. I had a feeling that there was a pack of seeds from last year so I've investigated the shed and 'yes' there was along with a pack of rocket seeds. The rocket is a big saving as salad leaves, lettuce and so on from the supermarket are sold in quantities too big for the two of us to use economically, but we buy them anyway. Growing our own stocks means that I can pick exactly what we need for each meal and there will still be more growing with little waste!

Tomorrow I'll be checking the Sow Before dates on these and any other seeds packets up in the shed and then checking I've got everything else I need ready for sowing it all (once the geraniums vacate the shed/greenhouse!).

Something for Nothing!

 Now the next couple of items I'm not sure come under the umbrella of finding more income, but as they should generate stuff that I don't have to buy, thereby meaning I don't have to spend out I think they qualify!

Month 3 - Bite 29

Sending off for things...

                                        

I have in the past been surprised by what you can get sent to you for free! I dabble from time to time when I notice something in my inbox and fill in a form, but perhaps it's time to take it a bit more seriously. There needs to be a rule about this as just sending off for anything is wasteful, but if it's something I can use or can be stored away (bonus mouthful to come!), then why not.

As it happens I've got one or two things that have arrived in the last few weeks...

So now it's time to address this is a more organised way and explore which websites list the best links to freebies.

Month 3 - Bite 30

Now and again I've entered free draws and raffles and have been known to buy the odd lottery ticket! I don't often win, but when I saw what my sister won at her recent slimming club raffle it did make me think that perhaps I ought to be revisiting this. Not that I'm willing to part much in the way of funds - or it doesn't really count as money saving, let alone extra income, but there are free draws and competitions out there - time for me to find out about them!

                                                

And so to that extra mouthful to round off this month!

Bonus Mouthful 3

It's something I've mentioned in the distant past when writing about Christmas. Here's some of it...

A few years ago after I'd moved to Devon we were able to get all our diaries aligning and got together on Christmas Day. It was a bit last minute and I wanted to take something, but my sister had already got everything sorted out. The only thing I could think of was a Lucky Dip'. I amassed a number of small items, wrapped them randomly and we spent a long and enjoyable time picking our Lucky Dip items out and swapping any inappropriate ones with anyone else who'd appreciate them more.

It sort of grew from there. The year my younger niece, who lives in Italy, got married in England she even took a mini Lucky Dip for her household back with her, as they were having an Italian Christmas and wouldn't be with us.

We then moved onto a Christmas Tombola for a couple of years. This year, with luck 'our Italians' will have moved to England and there will be loads of us including a gaggle of little ones! So, we're going to have a Lucky Dip for the adults and a Treasure Hunt for the littlies (well that's the plan anyway). I'm about halfway through the clues so that's going well, but what about the presents you may ask. Well, that's this bonus mouthful. Throughout the year we collect up any freebies (see above)  and extras that we all see along with sending off for anything that will be suitable and buying bargains (especially when Christmas items come on sale). That gets topped up with makes - coasters, decorations, and so on. Throw in a few lottery cards and mini Christmas sweets and hey presto! a Christmas fun time for all of us (we now do it on Christmas Eve) and without spending oodles of cash.......

Cash or Trash!

Hopefully it won't be long until we go on our first holiday abroad since the first lockdown! We're all booked and keeping our fingers crossed that all goes to plan, but who knows... Anyway a bit of planning meant hooking out the box with spare currency that hasn't been touched over the last couple of years to see what's there and that led to..

Month 3 - Bite 26

In amongst the Euros that I need I found some other coins, that led me to wonder about any others that might be around, even old sterling. On chatting to my sister she reckons she's got some too. So today's task is to track down any that are hiding around the place and research where I might be able to make use of them (and my sister's too). I remember reading about a website that takes old and foreign coins so it's time to find out more...

Month 3 - Bite 27

Talking of reading, I also recall an item about rubbish. Yes, rubbish - that you can sell. It seems that there's a market for empty perfume bottles, plastic bottle tops, all sorts of things so no prizes for guessing what the next task on the list is!

                                         

Month 3 - Bite 28

I've been looking at the list of what I can do that I made a couple of days ago. I won't go into how many times I put things on the list only to take them off when my confidence waned and then having to force myself to put them back on again! 

The list is useless unless I find something to do with it so research at the ready I need to find how the skills, etc. can be used by looking at some websites such as Fiverr where you can market yourself and offer your skills for sale...