Wibbly blanket update and coastal craft room beginnings.

Just a quick few pics of my Coast Ripple blanket in its new home. 

This is/was my daughters bedroom but, as she is pretty much settled in Edinburgh, I am starting to give it a bit of a coastal theme. I've nicked a few bits and bobs from other places (no money to spare as usual) and some of Bethany's stuff is still here, but it's coming together slowly.

It's such a tiny room it's really hard to photograph. For the same reason I don't think my idea of turning it into a craft room really works. It will be good for keeping my various stashes and WIP's in one place though, and a cosy place to dream of all those future projects - once I've got Bethany to clear out a bit more space!!

(Don't worry, dear reader, Bethany knows she's welcome home any time, her bed is still there if she needs it!!)

Keep on keeping on!

Egads, I can't believe I haven't posted since August!

It's no surprise really after failing miserably with my Summer hols 30 day challenge. I put it down to the fact that I'd done most of the big stuff (cancelling expensive cover, insurances etc. changing suppliers and working out debt reduction plans) ages ago. Most things that I looked into when doing the challenge I'd either already done or weren't viable for me.
Ah well, I'll keep on keeping on!
This month has been particularly hard as I got paid earlier than usual in December and wasn't able to be sensible enough to hang onto it. Today, as it's still 5 sleeps until pay day, I decided to swell the lunch boxes with some fruit scones made from store cupboard ingredients.

These little beauties used up the last of a bag of supermarket basic mixed fruit. I used a different type of sugar, marge instead of butter and ordinary milk instead of buttermilk. Sorry about that Delia, but I'm sure they will all disappear very quickly anyway!!  

Summer hols 30 day challenge - Day 14

In an attempt to get back on track I signed up with Approved Food today. I've had a bit of a browse around and found some bargains but much of the stuff I can get just as cheaply at our local Heron Foods shop. As with everything, research is the key. I also need to do a stock take and shopping list and will probably place an order next pay day to restock for the following month.  

Anyone else using Approved Food?

What are the best deals you have found?

Does it pay to bulk buy?

I look forward to reading your comments.

Summer hols 30 day challenge - Day 10

Nothing to declare today, sorry, I don't seem to be achieving much with this challenge. Our telly appears to be on the blink now too, and I cancelled the cover we had on it months ago due to lack of funds. 

Bummer!

Summer hols 30 day challenge - Day 9

Does anybody out there use Quidco? 

Have you made any money from it?

I signed up for Quidco ages ago but, since I don't really have any disposable income I rarely buy anything. As a result I haven't given it much thought lately. 

This week, however, I decided to have another look so clicked the link on an email they had sent me. 

Hmmm - not about to book a holiday; hubby doesn't need a new suit; can't afford any home improvements or DIY projects; don't need a new phone deal (£5 pay as you go on my old brick lasts me months!) This is why I'm not their ideal candidate.

Hang on a minute, ClickSnap, what's that?

Apparently you can earn cashback on your grocery shopping by uploading your receipt if you buy any of the weekly offers. This week there haven't been any products that I would buy but as they cover the 3 supermarkets that I may use I thought it worth signing up for. From what I've read it is similar to TopCashback's Snap & Save scheme and it's a good idea to use both together. I shall check out TopCashback when I get a moment.

Any tips on getting the best out of Quidco or TopCashback?

Summer hols 30 day challenge - Days 6, 7 & 8

I would love to say that I have discovered some amazing money spinning/debt reduction secret and I'm about to share it with you here! In reality I have spent the last three days chopping up shirts, ironing and die cutting to produce more tiny triangles for my new quilt idea.

My son was throwing out some shirts this week, so naturally I nabbed them for my stash.

I also sorted out the next batch of material.... 

.....and die cut some old magazines....

...to add to the English paper piecing 'tumbler' quilt I'm working on.

I wish I'd gone more random rather than stripy now, what do you think?

Summer hols 30 day challenge - Day 5

More die cutting of triangles yesterday, my pile of old shirts is almost gone. 

I fear, however, that my iron is about to pack up on me having tripped the electrics twice on Thursday. I've been using a circuit breaker since then but need to start looking for a bargain just in case.

So much for saving money, eh?

Watching the watcher

Here's our dog, Angel, watching the neighbours cat watching the pigeon that nests in our tree every year. I couldn't quite get all three in but they made me laugh anyway!!

Summer hols 30 day challenge - Day 4

Malcolm has spent some time lately getting rid of a lot of junk from the garage with the intention of being able to put his beloved Beemer in there over the winter (a money saving manoeuvre in itself)

 When he bought a motorbike a few years back it was kept in the garage while the car was relegated to the driveway. The bike was sold some time ago but the accumulated 'stuff' that took up residence beside it still remained.

That includes my stash!!

Much of the wool I had was used to make this crocheted blanket 

and what's left fits into one plastic box. The bulk is taken up by material that has been begged, stolen and borrowed over the years and it is long overdue for a sort out.

So, as part of my 30 day challenge, I have begun the process of turning my stash into 

• soft furnishings for our home or the kids uni flats
• Christmas presents/birthday gifts for friends and family
• items that I can try to sell online, either Ebay or in my currently abandoned Etsy shop

This morning I began with my stash of checked cottons, most of which began life as my daughters shirts.

From this....

....via the ironing board.....

....and the die cutter....

 

....to these lovely triangles just waiting to be made up into something new and gorgeous!

So far I've only used the smallest scraps for these tiny triangles, the larger pieces may become different shapes - hexagons or tumblers perhaps?

Summer hols 30 day challenge - Day 3

This morning I spent a fair amount of time getting up to speed on our credit card debt. Between us we have 3 cards all of which we went over the limit on some time ago. Not a fact I'm at all proud of, we took them out when times were rather more secure, then used them as a 'lifeline' when they weren't. Ah well, no use crying over spilt milk.

Having checked up on all 3 balances, I've decided to take a leaf out of Frugal Queen's book. I'm hoping to pay more money towards the smallest one first while still paying the agreed amount on the other two. Then I can snowball onto the next smallest, paying the agreed sum plus what I was paying on the first, then snowball those amounts onto the third.

Well that's the theory, there's never much left at the end of the month, but it's got to be worth a try! 

Oh, and Malcolm gave Sam a haircut - a number 2 all over - with his hair grooming kit, saving him £6-£10. I bought Malcolm the kit a few years ago and it's saved him a small fortune by now. 

Summer hols 30 day challenge - Day 2

Today I began my reclamation of the wilderness that has become the garden!
As Malcolm had already done a lot of cutting back at the weekend the garden bin was pretty full and not due to be emptied until next week. I reckoned that I could squeeze in a few weeds though and, as it was a gloriously sunny morning, I set too weeding our driveway.
As you can see it is a long overdue job......

.......and a rather long driveway!

So how does this fit into my challenge? Well Malcolm's solution would be to zap it all with expensive weedkiller, wait hope for it all to go brown and then let me get down on my hands and knees to pull all the dead weeds out.
 An hour in the peaceful sunshine, chatting to neighbours passing by, no money spent - result!

Any tips for gardening on the cheap? 

Hallooooo! Summer hols 30 day challenge, Day 1.

Hi everyone, sorry I've been away so long - where has the time gone?!! 

 I've been stopping by on all your lovely blogs as often as I can, I just haven't had the time to comment let alone post anything new here.

Today is the first 'official' day of the school holidays and I am sooo ready for six weeks off. It has been such a tough year for us mentally, physically and financially. Since September I have been working 8 hour shifts with 2 yr old children in a Nursery and Malcolm has been back with the Council grass cutting and emptying bins since February.

At 50 and 53 it has taken it's toll on our increasingly aching bods, but it's good to be working - I'm just glad that I'm term time only!

Unfortunately Malcolm's job is only seasonal, ending in October and not due to start again until April next year. This and several years of unemployment following redundancy have meant us racking up some serious debt. We are constantly trying to live within our means and reduce that debt where we can. Many thanks to those of you with good advice to offer on frugal living, I have already made big changes.

To keep me focussed and help us further on our way I have set myself a 30 day challenge. During my six week break there are 30 'working' days (weekends off - don't want to be too drastic, it's my first ever challenge!) On each day I will take at least one action to

• reduce costs 
• save money 
• make money
• find extra work 
• generally help our financial situation

Today I have sorted out our Annual Renewal for Tax Credits.

I'm not sure where this fits in with the above as it may result in a reduction in income - obviously not the desired effect. However we were overpaid last year for Working Tax Credit (our fault, not theirs - oops!) so I really wanted to get back on an even keel. This seemed as good a place to start my challenge as any, it feels good to have it out of the way too.

Wish me luck!

What have you done recently to help your finances or live more frugally? I'd love to read your comments.

Turnip!

My husband popped home from work today toting a black bin bag that appeared to be rather heavy. 'I bumped into Ray' he said, in explanation and drove off again. I lugged the bag into the kitchen, it being indeed as heavy as it looked and man-handled it (or woman-handled it) onto the table. The shapes inside felt like severed body parts, I was sure I could make out at least one head!

Inside was this haul of jumbo veg.

The potato is there to show scale and is a very ordinary, medium sized potato!

Ray,to explain, is a friend of ours who has an allotment and keeps chickens. Over the years we have had tons of delicious eggs, potatoes, peas, beans, tomatoes and other veg in season delivered to our door by Ray. He single-handedly kept us in the freshest of goodies while our children were growing up - all for, quite literally, chickenfeed (allotment keepers can't sell for a profit, only seed money etc.)

Ray, however, does NOT produce baby vegetables!

We are used to cabbages as big as your head - but this turnip beats them all!!

This baby weighs in at 5 kilos and has a circumference of 70 cm. I think I will be cooking it until Christmas, please excuse me while I head to the shed for a saw!!

Bless you, Ray, you're a star :-D

Love you, Dad!

Here's my lovely husband (somewhere under there!) trying to enjoy a Friday night beer while getting a Valentines Day 'kiss' from our dog, Angel lol!!

A quick catch up.

Wow! Where did the last couple of months go?

Life in the Hunter household has been so very busy of late. 

Since I last posted I have begun my new job which has meant 8 hour days with a 30-45 min journey each way. Thankfully I work term time only, so I've just had a lovely lazy week off!! Malcolm's seasonal job ended in October and he has been a star - cooking, shopping, cleaning and dog spoiling walking - so I can relax when I come through the door!! 

We have also despatched two of our three children to Uni and had a 21st birthday to celebrate. Bethany has settled well up in Edinburgh, having managed to find a job and a boyfriend! We rarely hear from Sam, although he chats online with Tom. We figure no news is good news and look forward to seeing him for Tree Day!
Needless to say there hasn't been much crafting done but I'll show you my latest WIP soon. There are also a couple of Christmas pressies in creation, best keep those under wraps for now though!

Peace, Love and Marshmallows.
xx

The Houseproud Sloven: Bathroom cleaning.

I'm ashamed to say that yesterday I cleaned the bathroom for the first time in weeks, even by my standards that is deplorable! I've had plenty of excuses, the most frequent being "It's too hot!" and "I'll do it in the summer holidays!" So much for an end to procrastination, lol!!

Well the holidays are here and the sun has stopped shining (although it is still very warm) so I have finally set too. Of course the rest of the house has been equally abandoned  - well there was crocheting to finish - but you've got to start somewhere! 

Now I would like my bathroom to look like this

but actually it looks like this!

Anyhoo, my daughter (who is most responsible) and eldest son will be away to uni in September so I will leave the decluttering side of things in here until then.

So, after bunging the towels and bathmats in the washing machine (and remembering to switch it on, lol), giving the room a thorough clean and depositing the grubby shower curtain in a bath of bleach and water, I headed downstairs for a well earned glass of juice (I know, what a party animal!)

I'd just started writing this post when my eldest son, Sam, wandered down.

 "How long does that curtain need to soak? Me mates just rung and wants me to meet him in 5 minutes and I need a shower."

This is what I'm up against!!

Sooooo...juice half drunk, post only started, I headed once more unto the fray to give the curtain a bit of a scrub before rehanging AND THE DARN THING RIPPED ALONG THE BOTTOM SEAM!!! I wish I'd just bought a new one in the first place - bloomin' frugality!!

Sam was very apologetic -  not that it was his fault -  and, as I told him him, he had at least got me away from posting about cleaning and back to actually doing it.

'And on that bombshell' I did all the hoovering too!! 

P.S. Some of you may be wondering where my promised cleaning lists are. Weeeellll I

have decided to leave that to the many wonderful blogs that do it so well. I ain't ever gonna be no cleanin' guru!! All I'd like to do is share my attempts at creating the home I think my family deserve - if we share a few laughs along the way then all the better :-D 

Two 'jobs done'.

Yay! I've finally finished Bethany's crochet blanket!

Well it's more of a throw in size than a blanket a. because I was getting fed up and b. because (shock, horror) I had just about used up my stash of DK!!

Anyhoo, it is big enough to wrap around her on winter nights and will certainly brighten

her room at uni. (And, yes, I've already bought some new wool, lol!)

The other thing that I've just finished (yesterday) is my job as a part time Teaching Assistant. I have worked in the same First School for 8 years now - the longest I've stayed in any job. Unfortunately funds are short and, as the child I support is moving to Middle School, they are unable to keep me on  :-(

Thankfully, though I have a new job for September as a Childcare Practitioner (there are so many different titles these days!) at a Day Nursery, working full time!!

Now that my children are all but grown I was looking for more hours anyway, so things have worked out for the best. I will miss the staff and children at my old school but as it's local I'm sure to see many of them around :-)

The Year 4's, who are also leaving, made me a card with thank you messages and a God's eye, one of the many crafts we made together.

The staff treated me to a meal out, some gorgeous flowers

a beautiful scarf - I just adore those hedgehogs

and also a voucher for Hobbycraft!! Best of all I've got the whole of the Summer holidays to decide what to spend it on :-D

Much love and thanks to all my colleagues - have a fab Summer xxx

Our new car - everybody needs good neighbours!

As you may know, a couple of Saturdays ago my little Renault Clio threw up her bonnet in despair and declared she'd had enough! 

When I contacted the insurers I was told that the car would most likely be written off and my no claims bonus would go down from 9 years to 2 years! Now given that I didn't pay much for it in the first place I wasn't expecting a huge payout from the insurers anyhoo. There were quite a number of other things that needed fixing before I started my new job. Was it going to be worth losing so many years NCB and having my future insurance premiums go up? I didn't think so!

As luck would have it a neighbour, who deals in scrap, offered to take it off our hands. We were happy enough just to have it towed away for us and with a bit of cash towards the next car, it was a deal.

Enter another (car restoring) neighbour, stage right!

My husband and our neighbour are both big BMW fans. We have owned two in the past, one second hand and one new. The new one was my husbands pride and joy, it was a 3 series tourer and took us on many a family camping holiday to Mull in total comfort. I must admit we all loved it!! Sadly, due to redundancy and subsequent financial constraints we had to sell it (and his motorbike - I wasn't so sad about that, lol) and were left with my then car, an old Seat :-(

Imagine Malcolm's joy when our neighbour told him he had a beemer for sale :-D

Only £200 more than I'd paid for the Clio, a 5 series saloon! We had be discussing the need for a bigger, more reliable car anyway, the Clio had ONLY JUST made it to Leeds to get our son to uni and our daughter's Punto had ONLY JUST managed to bring him home again!  With both of them going to uni in September we were really not looking forward to the journeys. I have long believed in fate and this keeps me believing, and our long run of bad luck seems to be coming to and end.

As you can see husband and youngest son (car mad since the day he was born, BMW was 'bee-em-diddle-oh' when he was tiny) are in their element!

Oh, and it's an automatic which has been fun getting used to. My left hand and foot don't know quite what to do with themselves!

                                      

P.S Thanks for helping out (yet again!) Mum, we'll pay you back I promise :-D xxx

Oh no! One step forward, three back!

On Friday my beloved husband got his first full months pay check in three long years! We celebrated with an Indian takeaway and had a lovely night.

On Saturday I crashed my car!!

Well I didn't actually crash into anything, it kind of crashed itself. Maybe my poor Clio was fed up with all the negative comments it gets (from my family, not me - I love my little car!) Maybe it was fed up with being compared to my husbands previous BMW or my daughters Punto. We shall never know - it left no note - just decided that it had had enough!!

I was giving Bethany a lift to her friends house on Saturday evening as they were going out for a meal for her friends birthday. We were quite happily driving along and chatting when there was an almighty BANG and I suddenly couldn't see! The car bonnet had flown up and cracked the windscreen. Luckily no other cars were involved, the road - often busy and fast moving - was quiet, and I managed to stop at the side of the road safely.

The photos aren't great I'm afraid, but you get the gist.

The worst thing was that we couldn't get the bonnet back down as it had been forced past it's hinges, so we had no choice but to call the AA.

 Malcolm got my Mum to drive him to the scene, drop him off to wait with me and take Bethany home. She couldn't figure out why so many people were tooting their horns at us until I pointed out that she was wearing a skin tight, black lace dress (Bethany, not my Mum!!)

So Bethany and her friend didn't get their meal out and Malcolm and I didn't get the fish and chips I was supposed to be fetching on the way home!

Worst of all it looks like my poor car is a write off. If I claim on my insurance my no claims bonus will be reduced from 9 years to 2, putting any further insurance premiums way up :-(

One step forward, eh?

Our family, thank goodness, are adept at finding a funny side. On this occasion it was me set to relay the AA's number from Malcolm, over the phone, to Bethany; Bethany poised with a black eyeliner to write said number on her hand; then Malcolm reading out 

THE MOST EASY TO REMEMBER PHONE NUMBER IN THE WORLD!!

Maybe you had to be there but, if your an Only Fools and Horses fan, it was a real Trigger moment!!

Oh well, RIP little Clio, you were loved :-)

Reasons to be cheerful!

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, I seem to be chasing my tail a lot these days. Malcolm working full time again (yay!), my work schedule changing weekly to fit around school trips, sports days etc., new job jitters and general, everyday 'stuff' seems to have me more than usually frustrated and tired. 

I'm also trying to get my house in order, quite literally, but with each task I begin to tackle  I'm thinking of all the others still to be done! Add in the mountain of debt we're supposed to be trying to clear and......well....*@#*!!

Anyhoo, time to find something to make me smile :-)

I made my first sale on Etsy! These lovely little crochet pots are winging their way to a lovely lady in the USA, I do hope she likes them.

Don't get too excited, it's taken me a year to get a sale, but hey it's a start :-D 

The lettuce is growing well,

enough to make a salad to go with our quiche, they're sort of 'cut and come again' so I just pick what we need, when we need it, no more left over lettuce going soggy in the salad drawer,

and the spring onions are growing too. I know I should probably thin them out but it always seems mean to the ones I remove!!

The pumpkins have failed to put in an appearance, though!

I used Frugal Queen's idea of making an inventory of food in an attempt to get meal planning under control (we used to be sooo good at this!!)

Freezer	Dry goods	Tins/jars	Baking	Seasonings/spices
1 portion lasagne	¼  pack prawn crackers	Hoisin sauce		Fajita mix
Sm. Pot cooked, diced pork	Gravy powder	Wholegrain mustard	Golden syrup	Malt vinegar
4 bags fresh herbs	Cornflour	½ jar gerkins	Black treacle	Sea salt
5oz sliced crusty bread	Red lentils	½ jar pickled onions	Custard powder	Fish sauce
Sm. Portion hot pot	Star anise	¼ jar beetroot	Suet	Oyster sauce
4 flour tortillas	Cinnamon sticks	Branston pickle	Cocoa powder	Rice vinegar
7 homemade samosas	Box cloves	Pear halves	Gelatine	Dark soy
½ bag cooked mussels	Box dried red chilli	Sardines	Baking powder	Light soy
3 orange lollies	Box whole cardamom	Beetroot pickle	Bicarb. Of soda	Sesame oil
8 pack white rolls	Barley	Marmite	Cream of tartar	Chilli sauce
½ bag peas	Broth mix	Honey	100’s and 1000’s	Worcester sauce
½ bag sweetcorn	3 poppadoms	Peanut butter	Glace cherries	Balsamic vinegar
½ pack raspberries	½ pack lasagne	Chocolate spread	Easy bake yeast	Sherry
1 mini choc ice cream	Mixed pasta shapes	3 cartons chopped tomatoes	Mixed fruit	Ketjap manis
4 portions Bolognese type sauce	Spring roll wrappers	1 tin corned beef	Currants
500g lamb mince	Egg noodles	1 tin cannellini beans	Few sultanas
2 sm. packs beef mince	Basmati rice		Handful dried figs
500g pork mince			Sm. pack flaked & ground almonds
2x8 pork sausages			Vanilla extract
1 pack cass. steak			Jelly glaze mix
1 pack pork chops			Handful mixed nuts
Whole chicken			Plain flour
Ready made steak pie			Self-raising flour
5 chicken breasts			White bread flour
			Icing
			Caster sugar
			Demerara sugar
			Wholemeal bread flour
			Dess. coconut
			Ready to roll icing

 and as a result we also have two scrubbed clean and organised kitchen cupboards! Two birds with one stone - result!

Just a few reasons to be cheerful but I'm feeling better already! Perhaps the best thing that has happened this week is that Malcolm received his first full months pay cheque in three years and his self-esteem is well on the way to being fully restored :-D (I'm now off to pay the car tax!!)

Peace, love and marshmallows 

Louise x