Dark, Dark Monday

Well, it is the first 'dark night' of the year since British Summer Time ended and Daylight Savings Time began. For the first time, we left the office in the pitch black.

It has been really nippy too, for the first time this year. So tonight's dinner needed to be frugal and hearty.

We had four sausages left in the fridge from the weekend (the Lovely Boyf does enjoy a sausage sandwich as a weekend treat). In the light of my recent frugaldom, and the news about processed meat, I wanted these to go as far as possible.

I mixed these four sausages (£2.00) with some leftover mushrooms (80p), an onion (30p) garlic (6p), tin of mixed beans (60p), chopped tomatoes (50p), pasta (60p) and olive oil, which I had used to soak some sun dried tomatoes which were a gift (20p). We had a tiny lump of leftover cheese in the freezer, so that went on top, as did some basil from a plant that has been going for months!

 

So, the total cost was £5.06. There was enough for four portions - so that is lunch sorted tomorrow - at £1.26 per portion. Bargain! It felt like the right sort of dinner to be eating on a dark, dark night.

 

The only problem with this kind of budget dinner (which is mainly carbs) is that it isn't great for my waistline. This is something I have encountered in previous frugal phases - pounds accumulate on the scales, as well as in the bank. I will work on devising some cheap and healthy dinners.

 

It is really hard to study on nights like this - I am tired after a hard day and  just want to slob in front of the TV on the nice, warm sofa. But, I am super-busy at the moment and I need to get as much done during the week as I can.

So I have resorted to a technique that seems to work - I make a deal with myself that if I do just one hour of study, I can have the rest of the night off to spend as I please. I set my iphone timer and I DO NOT MOVE until an hour has passed - even stopping the clock to go to the loo!

 

Sometimes time just flies, and before I know it I am stuck in. That did not happen tonight - I checked every five minutes and the time dragged. But I am pleased to say I did it. Now don't mind me, I'm off for a Lidl Hot Chocolate and Eastenders!

 

 

 

Have a good evening.

 

 

 

 

Frugality Makes a Return

I have come around to the view recently, that I need to rein in my spending - a lot.

I am lucky to have a good job which is well paid. But I am 34 with nothing at all (financially speaking) to show for it - although I would argue that the money I have spent on travel and pursuing hobbies shows on the inside!

But really, it is ridiculous to work as hard as I do during the week and yet to have no financial security. What's the point?

I suppose it depends on what you want in life.

So, I asked myself the question - what do I want? What is success for me?

My gut spoke. It said: Wilderness - I want to live in the countryside, so that I am surrounded by nature. Preferably in a solid little house with character. Security: I want to make somewhere my home, and I want to be financially secure enough not to be worrying about having to move if I don't want to. Space: I want to be able to live the lifestyle that is important to me - growing my own food and with a greenhouse of my own so that I can propagate my own plants. Not self-sufficient, but...ish.

This one would do fine!

...with one of these please.

In fact, my own greenhouse has always been high up on my list of priorities! Something in my soul needs this connection to the natural world and I really feel the lack of it, living without a garden (to speak of). It isn't very ambitious I know - I wish my life's dream was more altruistic, grand and honourable than my own greenhouse, but it is just the person I am.

At the moment, with no real assets, this isn't ever going to happen. I will be forever renting at this rate, which means I am very unlikely to ever have a garden and greenhouse that is truly mine. Also, in the last six months I have managed to run up debts of £2,500 on credit cards (stupid! why!?) which need paying off. 

So from now on, I will be focussing on ways to save money and appreciate a slower pace of life. Autumn is a good time for this, I think. Everyone slows down a bit, there are less social occasions (Christmas excepted of course) and it is OK to just rest, spend nights in front of the fire or the new season's TV and take things easy. There is so much beauty all around to enjoy for free. Also, I have plenty of university work to keep me occupied - every second of my spare time if I let it!

So without further ado, I have done a few frugal things this weekend:

We kicked off the weekend with homemade pizza, instead of a takeaway. This came to about £1.50 each. Bargain!

It's all about the hairy fish! I love anchovies on my pizza.

 I sold some unwanted clothes on ebay, including a beautiful Ted Baker dress I bought for a wedding earlier this year (credit cards!) and am unlikely ever to wear again. I always find it is amazing, ebay - you don't think your used clothes are worth anything, but there is always someone, somewhere who wants them. I raised over £100! 

With this, I paid £100 off pesky Credit Card number 1. About £250 left on that one now. I have plans to sell my old iphone as well, to chip away a little more of the outstanding balance. Very satisfying paying such a good chunk off!

Normally by this point of the month, I have run out of cash and resort to the demon credit cards for the last week. Not this time! We get paid on Thursday, and I am determined not to spend a penny until then. So, I took stock of the fridge and have 'cooked ahead' for the week.

I made some seasonal Pumpkin and Apple Breakfast Muffins by adapting this recipe - I substituted sugar for honey and half stewed apple to the pumpkin, to use up what we had. They don't rise like proper muffins, as they have so much moisture. But they are filling and taste amazing!



And I have a pot of Leek and Stilton soup bubbling away on the Stanley to take for lunches. I try and avoid bread during the week, so we will probably have this with some oatcakes. I am also making a fish pie using some white fish we have had languishing in the freezer for weeks.

I am pleased to say, this weekend I haven't spent a single penny! And how relaxing it has been. Last night was spent in front of the fire, with my little dog and LB, knitting to my hearts' content.

And yesterday, while the rain poured all day long I got down to some serious studying. I feel so much calmer when I know I am up to date. As it has gotten so dark, so early now that the clocks have gone back, I am happy to study into the night with a nice hot coffee.

So, it doesn't make for a very interesting blog, but it has been a very relaxing, happy and frugal weekend!

I hope yours was too.

Five Things Friday - 23/10/15

I am joining in with Amy for Five on Friday toady.

It's been a lovely week, which has gone in a flash. Beautiful autumn days and colours and a real feeling of seasonal change. Five things that made my week were:

1. The Last of the Summer Colour

I love the way that clever gardeners can extend the season like this. Late summer flowering perennials were still hanging on in this raised bed I spotted in Avebury last weekend. Dahlias, Verbena and Cosmos, still flowering their hearts out. It reminded me to plan for the whole season next year, if I plant any flowering plants at all. If you are smart about it you can have colour from May to October. So cheerful!

2. Turning On the Range

It's bliss! In our little rented cottage our central heating is powered by a lovely old Stanley Range, known affectionately as 'Mrs Stanley'. Well, she is a temperamental old bird, and no sooner had we turned her on to heat the house for a couple of hours (she also heats hot water as well as being used for cooking), she spluttered and gave up the ghost.

The joy of renting of course, is that we just call the landlord! She was fixed up again the next day and I have been revelling in the heat. But it isn't just that - it is the ritual that I love - pulling the right levers and switches, the roar of the burner starting and the soothing, low rumble. There is something much more romantic about a range than using an electric mini-oven/hob and the electric water heater, which we switched to in the summer.

Using the range means you have to have the heating on at the same time that you cook - and if you only want to do oven chips, it really isn't worth the expense of heating up the whole system, to get the oven hot enough to use. But in the winter when she is working anyway, it is great.

Another great thing is that shirts dry in a couple of hours from the residual heat!

3. Autumn Sunshine

You appreciate it so much more when you know it will soon be gone for the winter - this week has seen the most glorious, bright gold Autumn sunshine in Wiltshire.

 

Walking the dog - just LOOK at that sky!

 I even found five minutes to hang out some washing during a lunch break one day.

4. The Riot of Colour

Not a surprise - bloggers across the Northern Hemisphere over have done this much better than I can - but the autumn colours are so, so unbelievably beautiful this year. These photos were snapped in the village I live in. Acid green and that deep purple - a-mazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. My Apple and Mint Jelly (and the return of roast dinners!)

 



 

 
Last year, a friend gave me a load of unwanted Bramley apples - she has done the same today! But I had almost forgotten, what with a house move in between, that last year I used them to make chutney, and this Apple and Mint jelly for lamb.

 

and with the return of the roast dinner - another autumnal pleasure, it felt really good to be using preserves I had ferreted away last year.

 

Sadly I don't think I have time (what with my degree and working full time) or enough spare jam-jars to make a lot of preserves this year. Who knows where we will be next year - hopefully better on both counts as preserving feels like such a natural human response to the shortening days, saving the bounty like squirrels burying their nuts!

 

Every week is a good week, when you can extract so much pleasure from the simple things :-)

 

Yarn Along 21st October 2015

Joining in with Ginny this week again for Yarn Along.

I am still working on my baby cardigan - front and back are now complete and I have moved onto the sleeves. It is a nice, easy pattern, which I can easily follow in front of the television without thinking too much.

I am reading Back to Sanity by Steve Taylor. I spotted it in a 'new age' bookshop in Avebury on a Sunday afternoon walk. It is funny how in life, when you need help, the Universe delivers! I have been feeling a little lost lately in terms of direction. I am conscious that I am consuming too much and not spending enough time looking after my soul, feeling a bit disconnected and unbalanced. I am confused about what I want out of life.

 

What appealed to me was a paragraph on the back cover:

 

"Why is it that so many human beings are filled with a restless discontent, and an insatiable desire for material goods, status and power?'

 

So far, its fascinating. According to Taylor, our restless minds (you know, the constant chatter when you close your eyes and try to switch off!) are basically driving us crazy - and we try to escape by distracting ourselves with anything that grabs our attention - the TV, radio, mobile phones...which makes us more miserable, because we fail to be present in our lives, and we miss out on so much.

 

Apparently, the key is to get to the point that you can live with yourself, alone. This week I have made a point of turning off the radio in the car or at other times when I would otherwise be silent - washing up, brushing my teeth etc. Mobiles have been banished to the landing at night. I will see whether it makes a difference to my outlook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Kind of Weekend

Unbelievable that the weekend is almost over already. They go so fast!

It's been a good-un, despite my not spending a penny. Here's what I want to remember...

It began with a good friend, log fire, hummus and bottle(s!) of red wine, chatting long into the night.

Then a glorious walk in the woods with our dogs the next morning. So autumnal, amazing smells and a nip in the air, so that the breath of the cows in the fields hung in the air for a moment.

Harley won't stay still long enough to take a decent shot!

 Then, a blissful afternoon spent working on my quilt in front of the BBC iPlayer. This is a long, fiddly project, so chipping away at it in little bursts is fine. It was very satisfying to press ten more squares flat and add them to the pile. I am using some gorgeous Scandinavian fabric - I adore anything Scandinavian and so it is a total joy to work with.

And then a short 3.5 mile evening run. Lovely running as the darkness drew in - the bright white hedgerow asters and Snowberry bushes stood out in the twilight. I didn't take many photos, but I run through some beautiful and remote Wiltshire villages, with houses dotted down windy lanes with hedgerows you can barely see over.

As I ran, people were just turning on lights, pulling curtains and settling down for the evening in their cottages. As time went on, the smell of wood smoke began to linger in the air, so I assume as it was a chilly evening, they were lighting their fires as well. Beautiful - lots of bright red leaves and birds  noisily chattering in the trees, bickering over their chosen branches as they settled down for the night. I came back totally invigorated and once again, reminded myself that I love running because otherwise, I would miss these precious moments.

 

Sadly though, not every day can be spent doing whatever I fancy. After a leisurely lie-in, today has been spent catching up on University work, with a moral support from my canine study buddy.

 

 

I do enjoy my course (I am doing a Business Masters with the Open University) but at this time of year, I would rather be outside. Still, here I am blogging instead of working, so I must return to the books.

 

 

I hope whatever you are doing, you have had a wonderful weekend.

Five Things Friday

Today I am joining in with the lovely Amy for Five on Friday.

Here are five things that made my week:

1. Getting the Slow Cooker Back in Action

 As the nights have started to get chilly, I have been craving warming casseroles and stews. On Monday, I popped a couple of free range chicken breasts in the slow cooker with some balsamic vinegar, garlic, onion, chilli flakes and stock. By the time we got home it was all soft and tender. I used forks to 'pull' it as you would with pork, and added chick peas and peppers. It was delicious with a sweet potato and some kale. We had enough for lunch the next day too, so it was economical as well.

2. Misty Mornings

Walking the dog in the morning is not my favourite thing - I am not a morning person. But this morning, the landscape was transformed by moody autumn mist - beautiful. With the fog came a jewelling on the leaves of the plants and cobwebs were transformed into strings of minute beads. Lovely!

3. Candles

The nights draw in and the candles come out in our house. I am never without candles in autumn/winter. Flame is such a human pleasure.

 

4. My Quilt

It is all wonky and full of mistakes, but I love this quilt that I made over several years using leftover scraps from work shirts, nighties and curtains. I reserve it for my favourite visitors, and I enjoyed using it to make my spare bed cosy for a good friend staying this weekend.

5. Sunsets

This beautiful sunset from my run earlier this week blew me away.

 

Very much an ordinary week of living and working, but wonderful in its own way.