I don’t know if I have done the right thing. I was warned by ‘Vanessa’ that there was a £100 exit fee which made me think they know something we the public don’t but you know what I just can’t spare anymore of my thought processes on thinking about such boring things.
I am planning a winter of austerity living like a peasant…. Lots of hearty slow food (which I understand is trendy) wearing cardigans (very on trend) and huddled around my wood burner which I have been asked not to mention because it makes me sounds pretentious and up myself….I’m not but I concede wood burner ownership is a middle class badge but as I’m as common as muck I see myself as exempt :)
My husband can get old pallets for nothing so it’s kind of free heat and it supplements our logs.
The other gadget I am thinking of buying is a paper bricket maker….as we buy a newspaper everyday I thought I could use them as fuel…my mother says she wants to be in charge of making them….which is akin to a child saying if they got a pet rabbit they would clean out the cage…..
Flowers made from felt scraps....waste not want not!
Anyway I have spent most of the summer reading about doom and gloom; I've got our food waste right down by planning which doesn't come naturally to me so I've decided to try and enjoy the winter and have some fun saving money.
Positive mental attitude....
I woke up cold this morning, I thought, should I put the heating on just for a minute? Nope, put a scarf on in the house. Our fuel bills are shocking in the summer, so I am dreading the winter. Eating raw food may be the way forward.....
ReplyDeleteI have a woodburner too and I bet I is mnore commonerer than you!! :) I don't think its quite the same when you burn old pallets (as we do too!) lol :)
ReplyDeleteFunny but I have stopped mentioning my woodburner because of the ooh get you looks!!
We got one of the brick maker things to burn the bricks on the woodburner but found it tricky to get the soggy newspaper dried out so the bricks burnt. The squelchy 'squeezing the newspaper in the shaper' bit was fun!
ReplyDeleteI think I have been on another planet, I've been living like this for years, now the weekend papers are full of 'frugal' tips which are a natural part of our life...oh, I recommend a beanie hat too, keeps the heat in nicely if not very glamorous. :) On a money saving matter, I stopped getting a paper everyday a few years back, as it rarely got read page to page, saving a couple of hundred pounds a year. Which is a lot of wood for the woodburner.
ReplyDeletei don't have a woodburner but i would love one and i am not posh either!
ReplyDeletethere are some lovely cheap winter meals to be made such as scrumptious soups with lots of pearl barley or oxtail stewed or lentils - yum!
just keep warm with your trendy cardigans and be happy!
ax
Yikes, I wish I had a woodburner. Seriously. I've got the dogs to lie in front of it! Hey ho.I like your little flowers.
ReplyDeleteActually I'm enjoying the challenge of spending less, I'd got a bit complacent and buying pretty much what I wanted at the supermarket,having a very large monthly home delivery and topping up each week. Now I'm shopping around, going to Asda instead of Tesco, buying fruit & veg on the market, and finding some real bargains. Ooh and I'm as common as muck too but would LOVE a wood burner (if only I had a chimney), my husband is a groundsman and could bring home fuel every day!
ReplyDeleteOh I feel so cheesed off cos I haven't even reached the un-frugal stage yet!!!! Guess that's what happens when you have hoards of kids. Love my log fires and plan our meals all the time (which I can sometimes get sick of so deviate from set plan just as a rebellion from time to time). Rarely have waste with this lot of gannets. Well done you and let us know how the brick thingy goes xx
ReplyDeletewoodburners are the best thing. we got ours becasue we have a lot of power cuts and at that time an electric cooker. It has a hotplate on top of so we can boil a kettle on it.(Although by the time its boiled the power has usually come back on.)We used to burn recycled wood from demolition sites but in the morning we'd have a melted mass of hinges, nails, and coathooks in the bottom.
ReplyDeleteAt least you haven't got an Aga!
ReplyDeleteWe plan to have 3 woodburners if we ever actually get round to building the extention - so get us!
But then again I am afriad we are incorrigibly middle class.
But then we won't have any other heating so I think it will be a case of multiple layers and stompy trips to the wood pile.J
You've inspired me ~ read this and then went and pulled the slow cooker out of the cupboard and made a long list of veggies to get to make lots of lovely casseroles ~ ta chuck.
ReplyDeleteA fab thing about the cold weather is the stews and casseroles, mmmmm.
ReplyDeleteWow, so you're really are being very "eco" then, I should take the example too!
We have another baby coming in November and no Gas connected as yet( we only had the pipe put in in the summer and our new house had a money-munching oil tank!) anyway it is VERY expensive so we are fretting about where all this money is going to come from! Oh well, maybe I should take your great example and save elsewhere! xx
Lets hope that you don't have a very cold winter, but the way summer has been, even where I live it is not sounding hopeful.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to heartier food though, I must admit I am getting a bit fed up with salads.
martin lewis would be proud of you!
ReplyDeletethe food and cardigans plan sounds wonderful + i'll definitely be joining (trendy) you. we burn anything and everything in our woodstove + i've just lit it tonight for the first time since spring! i think it'll be our best friend this winter...i've not succumbed to putting the heating on yet + plan not to for as long as possible.
my plan is to prep lots of evening hand sewing to do so i can be in the sitting room where the heat is...then run up to bed with many layers of blankets. oh + with just the 2 of us i'll be cooking lots of big things that i can portion up + freeze.
have a lovely weekend friend xxx
We fixed our prices too but like you not sure if it is the right thing to do.
ReplyDeleteI made a slow cooking veg soup today as it feels like winter!
We have had rain and gales all day.
Hi Gigi,
ReplyDeleteYes, I didn't know whether to fix but if you ask me it's all swings and roundabouts.
Slow cookers are the best. Lamb Stew, Beef Stew, curries, and you can use cheaper meat as it cooks slow and you can leave them cooking all night and they use hardly any leccy.
Woo
xx
Let me know how you get on with the brick thing if you buy it as I might get one too - because I never have a single idea that is totally my own.
ReplyDeleteLove my woodburner...as we live in the forest, it's perfect...such warmth!! Too cold at the moment in the evenings, and it's only the beginning of Sept!
ReplyDeleteBeing frugal is such a way of life now...difficult at times...needs must!
Hi, I have stumbled across a blog via another, I love it. Love the photos on this post, great work. I have you as a link on my blog.
ReplyDeleteHi there Lyn,
ReplyDeletewe have been out today looking at Woodburners! Does that make us "terribly" middle class too?
Although, It's more to do with trying to save on the heating bills in the winter.
Hi Pixie comment queen
ReplyDeleteYou can't go wrong with a good woodburner. We have a morso squirrel retreaved and revamped from a friends pottery studio. 30 years old and still going strong.
About the brick maker. My mum and dad got one when I was a kid and it was a complete waste of time because you had to wait for two days or something for it to dry out. Now unless your stove is super magical I can't see one brick lasting that long.
Lots of love and thanks for all your support.
x Sarah