Beanz Meanz........

 ........ more beans next year.
Wherever we are living next year I hope to grow a few things including runner beans, and here they are, shelled out yesterday from beans dried from this years crop.

Yesterday I just about got the washing dry before we had heavy blustery showers, followed by sun again later. We popped out in the afternoon for picking up tablets from the doctors and a few bits of shopping including an orange and lemon for the mincemeat. Col went and looked at the self-storage place in Leiston because there will be some furniture that won't fit in a small 2 bedroom bungalow. But what a lot they charge.To have somewhere for the dining table, chairs, boxes of crockery etc it would be a £100+ a month. That's crazy, it would be better to sell the stuff at auction and buy second-hand things later if we need them.

My low spend November saw me avoiding some yellow ticket reduced to clear boxes of local handmade chocolates and walking straight past the magazines again, just picking up the free Coastal Scene paper instead. So to add to last Tuesdays running total is £1.32 for fruit and veg and £4.19 for other stuff, 56p for pharmacy and £9 Christmas presents. I've also been ordering pressies from the childrens Amazon wish lists.
We've topped up the car with diesel after the hospital visit and house hunting trip because Col is up to hospital again next week. I shall do half monthly running totals tomorrow.

 I missed out the 13th money saver tip yesterday which was - If you need more than 2 prescriptions from your doctor each month then a prepayment card will save you money. This is quite apt for the-man-who-was-never-ill-until-he-hit-56 because now he has so many different tablets to take that it would cost us over £80 a month. The alternative to the prepayment card is to reach the age of 60- like me- then prescriptions are free. The odd thing is that while individual prescription costs go up each April the annual prepayment card hasn't gone up for a couple of years.

Tip number 14 was to find out about free events at local museums or look for things like National Trust free open days.Our local museum - The Long Shop  in Leiston is always free on the opening day each season.

Thank you for comments yesterday, are you like Dawn - very cynical  about the whole Children in Need thing or like me - just enjoying watching all the different things people will do to fund raise. Yes, in an ideal world there would be no need for charities, but the world we live in is far from ideal and probably never has been.

Today I plan to get my mincemeat started and then bike down to the village to support a charity sale there.

Back Tomorrow
Sue.

Yesterday + more money saver tips re-hashed from 2013

Yesterday was Saint Martin's Day or Martinmas, a date that featured often in rhymes about the weather, long before the days of weather forecasts.

If ice on Martinmas will bear a duck

The rest of the winter is mud and muck

 

According to my Chambers Book of Days, St Martin of Tours is the patron saint of soldiers he was born into a pagan family and served in the army. After sharing his cloak with a freezing beggar he saw a vision of Christ and was baptised in AD 354. The cloak became a sacred relic and was carried into battle by many French monarchs. When not in use it was stored in a special sanctuary called a chapella (from the old French chape - a cloak) This is where our word Chapel comes from.
A period of warm days often occurs around this time - so true this year and as the ice on the 11th this year was definitely not thick enough to bear a duck then we may be in for a cold winter.......or not! Because another weather say says that if the wind is SW - it was- then it will stay that way until February and that means a mild winter. I'm thinking we might as well just wait and see.

Yesterday was also the day I used my new jelly bag and stand for the first time. After this disaster back in February  I chucked out the slightly rusty metal jelly bag stand and didn't replace it until we were away in Cumbria and visited the Lakeland shop in Windermere. Then it's taken me until now to start the Quince and Apple Jelly using the easy snap together plastic stand. There are little hooks to catch the edges of  the jelly bag so hopefully I won't have the same messy problem again.

I left it to drip all night and will finish it  today, another item for the Christmas hampers I think.
While I was thinking about Christmas I decided to do another collection of goodies for Father in law. Not so many chutneys but a few bought food things added to the homemade. I can't think of anything he needs being well over 80 and quite poorly. Col's brother still lives with his dad and I have no idea what to find for him for Christmas. More food?
Then I got to thinking of all the things I could make for food hampers if I didn't have a garden and loads of produce and made a list which I will add to when I get new ideas, that's really planning ahead!

Also Yesterday Col had a bit more energy and spent a couple of hours sorting through more things that he wants to take with him. For years we've had a lot of stacking bread crates that we used to use  for taking books to country fairs now they will be handy for piling up with tools etc and stacking in the horse box trailer.

My 11th tip for saving money is one we use all the time so it must have saved us a fortune. It is to invest in a flask and take tea or coffee with you on a day out. We actually take a flask of boiling water, two mugs and a tub with coffee and a teaspoon. A bit of milk in a small bottle and we have a drink as good as we have at home. If we are taking lunch too then it's either a home made salad-in-a-box  and two forks when we've got salad in the garden or sandwiches or rolls the rest of the year.
Tip number 12 was on the same lines - Don't waste money on bottled water - stand a bottle of tap water in the fridge overnight to take with you next day. We almost always take a bottle of tap water with us when we go out, often handy.

Probably Back Tomorrow
Sue

Oh you lucky people - 2 moneysaving tips........

..........in one day, because I forgot to do one yesterday!

The 9th tip for saving was cut down on how much shampoo, toothpaste lotions and potions that you use to see if less will do the same job
and the 10th was Before you buy anything STOP and think if you already have something that will do the same job. Which is why we don't have a dishwasher because I have a person who can do the washing up much more cheaply!

Did you see the programme about Aldi?  They didn't sound like very good employers and their attitude to health and safety regarding fire exits was dreadful. I wonder if Lidl are the same? Hugh FW War on Waste was good again, we've both signed his petition and I've vowed to try and use the fruit and veg shop in Leiston as much as possible. If I'm heading the other way to Saxmundham then there is no choice except Tesco and Waitrose.

We have no need to buy apples for a while. This is our late apple tree seen from the back door, it's behind the Bramley and still has a few apples hanging on,

  it's only when you get closer you realise there are actually quite a lot

So most have been picked wrapped and boxed, six layers deep. There is also a basket full that are either small or windfalls to eat first.

We've got a trug full of earlier apples out in the shed and another trug full in the craft room that will need eating before we even start on the ones in the box.

We had to pop to Woodbridge today to take all the forms to the solicitor and it seemed silly not to go to The Grape Tree to get the fruit I needed ready for mincemeat and Christmas cake although of course that meant spending money in November that would have waited until December.We also needed milk and yogurt and a few other bits.The last time I opened my purse was last Friday so to add to the £49.12 Food and £29.24 other stuff we have another £9 on store-cupboard stuff and £6.50 for things that go in the fridge. I also picked up just over £8 worth of food things that will be gifts  or made into gifts for the hampers.
No spend November? Ha Ha Ha ( But I was a good girl and only looked at the magazines in W.H Smiths- again!)

Thanks for comments yesterday. Bovey Belle asked if we were right off the Wales idea. The answer is not completely but because of this latest health issue and wanting to have a short chain we are basically looking for something empty that we can move into quickly. Not a forever house and not something perfect but just somewhere small and inexpensive(?) to live while everything is sorted out.When we know what is the matter with Colin this time we  can then either stay or rent it out and move somewhere else. Our original plan was to go back to the mid Suffolk area of Stowmarket that we know so well but there is nothing for sale there that's suitable at the moment AND it still means a 15 mile journey to hospital. Whereas where we looked yesterday, although we may pay a bit more for a smaller place, the rental return would be a lot more and it's only  a mile and a bit to hospital.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

More wood cutting

It was a wet and windy afternoon here yesterday, with no reason to venture out we just watched Rugby on TV (I was wrong when I said yesterday we would be watching snooker on TV - that's next week  and tennis on the 15th) and read and  I got the Christmas list book out to see how many spaces could be filled in - several ideas still needed, although I've worked out exactly what's going in the hampers for sisters and brothers-in law. I'd like to say what will be included but that will spoil the surprise because my sister might read this. I'll have to take a photo and put it on the blog after Christmas.

Although this is what you see on our sale ad  I'm assuming we will here for Christmas, although the couple we are selling to want to be in by spring for planting, they are in a rented house in Suffolk with a flat in London which is almost sold so it will take a few weeks to sort out. I also need to find out who (family) is where over the holidays. So far we know our eldest is away at the in-laws in Devon and Col's Dad will probably be too poorly to travel over here from Mid Suffolk.

This morning - Sunday -we've been cutting more wood, it's good to have large amount cut as we get through a lot on the woodburner and Rayburn.

This is where I sit to chop kindling wood, I like to keep a few bags ready to bring in.

Clearing the big poly-tunnel is now finished, it's all ready for whatever the new owners want to grow

The middle polytunnel has carrots almost ready, swedes that might grow given time, beetroot at the back right. Lettuce that we are eating leaves from in the foreground, radish and rocket in the middle and at the back are small plants from a £1 living salad tray from Lidl. There were more than a dozen plants Col was able to divide and plant out. On the left the pepper plants are still hanging on with a few peppers still to be picked as we haven't had a frost yet.

The 8th money saving tip from the 2013 list  was swap an expensive hobby for a cheap one.
 Someone Col used to work with had a boat for a while and said it was like pouring money into a hole in the sea. I guess any hobby is as cheap or as expensive as you can afford it to be. Reading is cheap if you borrow library books but expensive if you want to buy everything in hardback and brand new.

Thanks for comments yesterday, it is a little cooler today- thankfully.

Back Tomorrow
Sue



.

Warm November days and other notes from the diary

This was the time this morning when I took this photo of our thermometer on the outside of the kitchen window.

It's not very clear as the weather was so dull but it says16℃ that's 61F  at 8am on the 7th November, No wonder I'm hot all the time.
With Col not A1 I've been getting up and leaving him in bed, doing a quick 20 minute walk up and down the road, collecting a wheelbarrow full of wood from the shed on the way back in and then lighting the kitchen Rayburn, by which time I'm HOT. I don't like it this mild when you need a coat because it's drizzly and,  as the rather rude Kathy Burke said on Not The Nine O'Clock News last night, " I need a cool breeze up me ****** at my age!"

Yesterday we had some heavy rain again, for about the 4th day in a row. We'd decided to go and look at a couple of empty houses just down the road in our local town, booked up before the edge of Ipswich idea. Anyway we went and looked, one had had the garden chopped off the back for no apparent reason and the other needed too much work.Now we've gone off the idea of staying in this bit of Suffolk we're going to go and look at a few more empty properties near Ipswich next week. We are hoping to make a short chain by moving into something empty.

The rain started this morning not long after I'd got back from my walk so it was out into the poly-tunnel for more clearing and then we'll probably do a bit more woodcutting.

As well as the second Hugh FW programme on Monday there is also something on about Aldi on Channel 4 at 8pm which might be interesting. Tennis was on TV this time last year but I've searched through the listings and can't find it but there is some snooker on tonight. We are both enthusiastic armchair sports watchers!

Thanks for the comments yesterday, I shall pop over to finish replying to them. Also welcome to new followers numbers seem to have jumped by 3 without me realising. Hello and I hope you enjoy reading.

The 7th money saving tip from the 2013 list was - Christmas is the same day every year so don't get caught out and have to run up debts to fund the extra shopping - Start in the January sales!

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Gunpowder,Treason and Plot

Remember, remember the 5th of November

Gunpowder, Treason and Plot.

I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

Every year ( or maybe memory deceives) in primary school we would copy out this poem in our best handwriting and decorate around the edges of the page with pictures of fireworks, bonfires and Guy Fawkes.

Once home, after tea we would go outside for a bonfire and fireworks  which would have been bought a few at a time over the last month.Our neighbours on one side would come round and perhaps Grandad would be there too. The fireworks didn't last long then it would be back indoors for hot dogs.

It was such an adventure, looked forward to for weeks -  Simple times.

This year we won't be watching fireworks as Cols outpatients appointment at hospital is at 6.30pm tonight -an  odd time. I have to confess to being a bit concerned at this new problem which has come on rather suddenly. It may upset all our plans regarding house moving and leave us not knowing what to do next.

The fifth £1 money saver from April 2013 was/ is - Buy Refill packs if you can.

Years ago we had a shop locally where we could take Ecover empties and refill with washing up liquid and laundry liquid. No longer there. I used to buy refill packs of the Kenco De-caf coffee, now more often than not I can buy jars on special offer cheaper than the refill packs.

I may be back tomorrow
Sue

4th November

On 4th November 1987 our youngest arrived in the world. 6 years younger than her brother and 7½ years younger than her big sister. The oldest two were at school, I was older and somehow caring for a baby seemed much easier than it was before. I had more time to enjoy having a little one in the house and consequently she was a very easy baby and toddler to look after.
 She hardly remembers living anywhere before we came here - she was 4½- unlike the older two children who had lived in 3 or 4  different homes before this. Although she's made up for it since - renting 4 different places in Leiston since she moved out 9 years ago. She says it will be odd knowing someone else is living here.
 Happy Birthday A. Our "baby" is 28. Blimey we're old!

We have pouring rain here this morning but the weather was a bit brighter yesterday and no fog. Col went down to our farmer friends to get our grass topper but it was wedged in behind other machinery and he couldn't get it out of the shed. So he did some weeding instead and picked off all the green tomatoes to bring them in to ripen.

 Our tomatoes plants have virtually finished and we'll be clearing them all out of the poly-tunnel soon.
 I had a frustrating time trying to do the main monthly shop at Tescos in Saxmundham. NO milk powder - empty space,NO value range soft cheese, NO Kenco de-caf coffee refill packs and NO own brand de-caf - they've stopped selling all those here in Saxmundham. No value range  mackerel fillets ( Have to go to Sainsburys). I just end up cross and with a quarter of the shopping list not bought.

Tip number 4 re-hashed from 2013 is Re-read the instructions for your washing machine and see if you can use a shorter cycle.
 Because we dry stuff outside, I've turned down the spin speed, hope that saves a bit of energy. I do all washing on 40℃, our machine is quite old and there is no lower wash temperature and unlike machines in the States no way of doing a cold water wash as the machine is hot and cold intake.

November No/ Low Spend Challenge - spent yesterday - Milk £2 , Veg £2.68,  Food that goes in Fridge and freezer £20.13, Store Cupboard food £8.26, Meat 80p, Laundry(Washing Soda) £1, Kitchen roll ( for tissues and other odd jobs) £1. Cats £24 (enough for one and a half months).
Pharmacy 50p.
Then very annoyingly had to pay 74p to post 2 small bung bits for the water storage things that Col hadn't included when he delivered the tanks in September BUT that was cheaper than driving 25 miles!
£1.40 off at Tesco with vouchers and price match.
Total spend so far this month Food £32.47 Everything else £27.24

I avoided spending on some yellow ticket RTC chocolate eclairs and a Christmas magazine!

I'm not sure about this posting everyday - seems to take up more time than I remember from the spring, may have to slow down again.
Back Tomorrow - probably
Sue

Two Tired Carrots and the 3rd £1 saver idea

Yesterday was another foggy day not quite as dense as Sunday and it even brightened up for a while early afternoon.
Col was out in the loo block turning off the water, draining the system and covering the basins and cisterns  with dust sheets to keep out the spiders and flies. The mats are laid up against the bottom of the doors to try to stop the leaves blowing in, but I bet when everything is opened up again in the spring there will be leaves and cobwebs everywhere. Dustbins and picnic tables are stored in the recreation room.  I had a big clean up indoors and chopped some more kindling.

I enjoyed  the Hugh FW programme about waste. I'm pleased to say we are NOT one of the millions who waste food like those featured on the programme! I'm guessing that most of the bloggy friends who read this don't waste much either.
There is only one more in the series so I'm not sure if Hugh can do anything to carry on this campaign. I hope so because all that waste is just criminal.

As I said not much gets wasted here. Since our youngest moved out I've had 9 years of cooking for 2 people, I know how much to prepare and we rarely have left overs after meals but sometimes things get left in the fridge a bit too long.
This is what I do with 2 tired carrots.

But before that I'll ask - how do you store your shop bought carrots? . If they are in a plastic bag, and the value ones usually are, I take them out of the bag and lay them on an old clean tea-towel in the salad drawer of the fridge. Then I cover with another clean tea towel. They are then dark, cool and dry and keep well for 3 or 4 weeks.

Anyway, when they get really ancient - Top, tail, wash and peel off any manky bits, grate the rest into a saucepan. Add one finely chopped onion, a vegetable stock cube and a little water to just cover the veg. Bring to the boil, turn down heat, put lid on and simmer gently until carrots and onions are soft, adding a little more hot water if needed. When they are soft stir in 2 tablespoons flour, add 1 tin of cheapest tomatoes and whizz the whole lot up in a liquidiser or whichever machine you have for whizzing. Add more water to thin it down then heat it up and enjoy a delicious bowl of tomato soup. This amount would make 4 bowls.

When I first began blogging someone( can't remember who) had a Food Waste Friday when they would take a picture of the food that had been chucked out for whatever reason. They reduced their food waste a lot over the months. Perhaps we should start this again?


The third Save a £1 tip from April 2013 was - Don't start pets on expensive food.
There is now a problem with this tip because as far as I can see there is now no such thing as cheap pet food!


No Spend/ Low spend November challenge - Yesterdays spending = Nothing

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Checking the freezer + another way to save £1

Welcome to Stephanie a new follower over there on the right.

I came across other poems with the title "November", one is by Ted Hughes and starts

The month of the drowned dog. After long rain the land 

was sodden as the bed of an ancient lake.

Another poet American William Cullen Bryant also wrote a November poem and that's weather related too it finishes

..............we will try to bear.

The piercing winter frost,and winds and darkened air

Whichever way you look at it, November poetry is depressing.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the freezer to get out some tomato and herb bread rolls and there were none there. I usually know when we are running low, so it was time to make a double batch of rolls and maybe time to do a freezer check just in case there is something else we are running short of.

I'm even re-hashing old photos too!

I've seen lots of freezer inventories in blog posts and I often think - Good Grief - what a lot of food people keep in their freezers, but then I remember that when the children were at home we had 2 chest freezers full and when we bred sheep there were 3 large freezers running when the lambs came back from the butchers, before we sold them in half lamb freezer packs.

Now we have 2 freezers - a medium sized chest freezer out in the shed and the bottom half of a normal sized fridge freezer in the kitchen and I don't want to store too much in case we move soon.

Got my gloves on, rummaged around and here's what I found

FRUIT:- Several small bags of apricots about 15-20 maybe more, a few bags of raspberries, cherries and a couple of pounds of pears and 4 bags of cooking apples left  from last year (Do I use them now we have tons outside or chuck?). All home grown. 6 small bags blackberries from the hedgerows.
VEG :- Lots and lots of chopped peppers, 1 bag cauliflower and 1 bag sweetcorn from here and half a bag shop bought frozen peas
CAKE:- Small box of sultana buns, one layer of coffee sponge, one layer plain sponge and a few chocolate sponge squares. All home made.
MEAL PORTIONS:- 2 boxes of pizza topping, 2 portions salmon and broccoli pasta bake, 1 portion bol. sauce, 1 portion veg curry,1 portion Liver and gravy, 1 portion Aubergine and tomato sauce. All home made.
PASTRY:- 2 Chicken and leek pies, 2 cheese pasties. 4 quiche bases, 1 pie bottom and top. 1 Apple pie. Home made except the cheese pasties.
MEAT. 400g and 200g beef mince. 4 chicken wings, 3 chicken thighs, 2 x 8oz chicken breasts, 2 x 6oz sausage meat, 4x4sausages, 2 x 2 pork belly slices, 2 bacon steaks, 4 x 6oz bacon bits.
FISH:- 5 pieces of Fish in crumbs,1 smoked mackerel fillet,1 random salmon steak
BREAD:- 10 Home Made Tomato and herb rolls, 8 HM Naan breads, 1½ packs Tortilla wraps, 6 finger rolls, 1 sliced Granary bread. 2 HM loaves.
ODDS & ENDS. Box crumble mix, box dried breadcrumbs,bag white breadcrumbs. ½ pack Chinese mini veg.spring rolls. 3 Tesco Vegetable quarter pounders, Remains of 2 litre value vanilla icecream. 2 choc/mint Tesco"Magnums"(His! I don't like them otherwise they would be long gone!) Small bag of chestnuts, pack of puff pastry divided into 3 and the too salty dried tomatoes that I can use in the tomato/herb rolls.

Save £1.... day 2 of the 2013 list
TRY VALUE RANGES IN SUPERMARKETS to see if you can use them in place of branded products.  Aldi and Lidl are more widely spread than when this list was first published and often better quality than value ranges but at much the same price. Use My Supermarket price comparison website to check before you shop. Especially if you live somewhere with choice - that is most places except here!!


I will be watching the new Hugh FW programme on TV later. When I mentioned it the other day Jen left a comment which I have only just come across about The Real Junk Food project, running cafes using food that would otherwise be wasted. There's one in Ipswich which we will try out when we go into town in December.

No Spend November Challenge - Yesterdays spending = Nothing

Back Tomorrow
Sue

The woman who doesn't do challenges.........

.........does a challenge!........... NO SPEND NOVEMBER!..........Well sort of.

I'll be buying some food, feeding the cats, paying bills and starting some Christmas present shopping (because I'd panic if it was all left to December) but other than that I want to avoid opening my purse.

Why?
It could  be because after our  breaks last month we need to go more carefully
Or it could be that our income is now tiny and we are living on savings

The trouble is that because of the Direct Debits for Council Tax, water, phone/broadband and a small charity donation....... whooosh out of the bank goes £253 without me even getting my purse out of my bag!

I looked back at the accounts (posh term for notes in the diary!) for November 2014 to see where the money went last year and then looked back on here to see what we were doing, then out of interest I scrolled back to November 2013. That was the month I reprised the 30 ways to save a £1 from earlier in 2013 when lots of bloggers earned £30 for sending their list to one of the money websites.
Now I had been thinking about going back to daily posts,  so an ideal opportunity to re-reprise those old savings ideas and keep myself on the straight and narrow.
That's the plan.
I'll see how I get on.

Here was/is Number 1.
1. ASK TO PICK UP ANY WINDFALL APPLES THAT YOU NOTICE
They can say two things, either " Yes" or "No". 
 in 2012 when we had a apple-less year due to the rotten weather, we asked for and were able to pick up windfalls from 2 different peoples trees. Without this we would have had hardly any fruit in the freezer for winter pies and crumbles. So asking saved us probably £20 - £30+.
For many years we fed windfalls to our goats, goats LOVE apples, but this year even though I've picked up loads for us to use and given lots away there are still more on the ground than the birds will need in the winter.
No one has ever asked if they could pick up windfalls here. I would say yes- help yourself!
 ( Why are the windfalls always the rosiest biggest apples?)

A box of windfalls for processing or giving away

Or if you wanted some picked off the tree they are £1 a bag

This "cheerful" November poem was published in 1844. It's perfect for today here in Suffolk where we have had thick fog for most of the day

NO!

 No sun, no moon

No morn, no noon

No dawn, no dusk, no proper time of day

No sky, no earthly view
No distance looking blue.................

...................No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease

No comfortable feel in any member

No shade,no shine,no butterflies,no bees 

No fruits,no flowers, no leaves, no birds,

November!

The poet Thomas Hood was wrong about No fruit as you can see in the apple pictures and he's also wrong about  No Flowers because our Alstromeria are having a second flush so I brought these in today, the first frost will be the end of them but in the meantime we can enjoy them on the kitchen window sill.

 Thanks for comments yesterday, I think I answered them all and welcome to Phil a new follower. He has an interesting blog from the other side of the world that you can see HERE

Edited in to ask is anyone having trouble leaving comments on some blogs? I tried to comment on Joys Diary of a teacher and can't and  yesterday it was another blog I was unable to comment on.



Back Tomorrow
Sue