In Praise of Chick Peas...

...the secret weapon of the frugal housewife!

At the end of December my budget went seriously off the rails.  This morning I settled down to review my spending for the first three weeks of January and I'm proud to report that our food/household budget is currently £25 per week.  I don't have a useful chest freezer for bulk buys etc. - just the small one below the fridge - so I'm really pleased with this total!

I'm also pleased that darling hubby isn't complaining.  He's a committed carnivore so it's been quite a challenge to 'hide' the smaller cuts of meat by adding more veg.  Given that he also takes left overs and microwaves them for lunch...you'd think there would have been some kind of whimper!!  However, at the moment I seem to be getting away with it.

His favourite, frugal casserole seems to be Chilli Chicken.  I can stretch two chicken breasts into five portions with this one.  I just cube the chicken; chop up a couple of onions, celery, peppers and carrots; put it all in a large casserole dish with a stock cube, a tin of chick peas and a couple of tins of chopped tomatoes; add garlic, paprika and chilli powder and cook for a couple of hours. 

It re-heats brilliantly and works really well with a cheesy breadcrumb topping, rather than rice or potatoes.  To be honest, I think it would be equally nice without the chicken at all... but I suspect that might be a step too far for my little meat eater!!

Welcome to my new follower Jan.  I'd love to follow your blog too but can't find a link from your name.  Please could you pop a quick "Hi" against one of my posts, then I should be able to find you without difficulty in the blogosphere!

Rewarding me... for a complete lack of loyalty!

 

Last week Sainsburys sent me another pack of 6 X £6 off a £30 shop.

This is probably the fourth pack that I've had from them since October.

I think their huge database of nectar point information can't handle the fact that we get weekly fuel points (because Mark likes to put BP fuel in the car) but we never shop at the stores.  As a result, they are desperate to reward my complete lack of loyalty/"entice me back" (depending on your view point!)

 

I am actually a very loyal Aldi shopper - but there are still a small number of 'branded' items that we use and we tend to pick these up anywhere that we see them discounted.  I checked the cupboards this morning and decided that I was low enough on these items to commit to a £30 shop at our local Sainsburys....

 

I approached the whole exercise in a 'super-strategic' way, with a detailed list of things I needed or that could be added to the store cupboard/freezer.  I walked round the store with my vintage Casio calculator and added up everything as I went along.....

 

Goodness only knows what the CCTV and shop security thought of me as I circled the store several times to get my best bargains!!!!!!  Maybe they thought that I was on some kind of 'frugal reality TV show'????

 

 

Anyway, even the checkout assistant was amazed by my £30.30 shopping basket - reduced to £24.30 with the voucher.  Here's everything spread out on the work top when I got home....

 

 

Mostly I targeted items that were already substantially reduced, then had the additional pleasure of the extra 20% off.  There's a bag of frozen chicken pieces (already reduced to £2.50 before the voucher), damaged tins of soup and a premium peanut butter brand with a cracked lid (49p before the voucher), and lots of other sauces and dry goods that happened to be reduced this week.

 

When I handed over my Week One voucher the till went wild with BONUS voucher slips.  I've now got 'Triple Nectar Points' on my week two shop AND 200 Bonus Nectar points without spending anything at all (plus a couple of regular vouchers linked to a cheese purchase!)  If I use all six vouchers then I'll also be entitled to another large number of bonus points.

 

So - am I going to be enticed into a Sainsbury's shopping frenzy?  I'm not sure...

I know that my regular Aldi shops cost me £22 and £25 for a similar quantity and range of food.  It's nice to pick up some items that Aldi don't stock (like wholemeal pasta) and to enjoy that sense of 'grabbing a bargain' from one of the big supermarket chains. 

 

Beyond that, I feel a bit "miffed" with Sainsburys to be honest. 

My parents go to the same shop at least once per week and I'm pretty convinced that they spend about £250 per month there.  What price my parents' loyalty?  They never get these generous discounts and bonus vouchers...  Grrrrrr!!!!!

Do you feel the same way about the 'big' supermarket chains?

Jx

Presents and Plans

I'm definitely "time rich and cash poor" at the moment, so I'm digging deep into my crafting skills to make as many presents as possible.  I made this bag on Tuesday afternoon (when it was pelting down with rain here in Worcestershire).

 

 

Then I made a second bag in a different colour-way yesterday afternoon.  (I am in a group of three friends who all have birthdays in November - so we always meet up for a joint celebration and swap presents at some stage in the month.)

 

The material is a really lovely quality with attractive details in the leaves.   I bought it from a clearance bin in a interior design shop in Hereford.  Each piece of material was about 34 inches long and 16 inches wide, so I've got some useful pieces left over from these projects.  I think I paid about £8.00 for five pieces - so the bags have cost me less than £2.00 each (plus lots of love, time and cursing over pricked fingers!!!!)

 

With the benefit of hind-sight I wish that I'd picked up more pieces... but I was in the early days of developing my fabric stash and didn't recognise the potential.  However, I've got the same design in a pretty blue colour-way which may be nice for my Mum for Mother's Day.  The other two pieces are a kind of bold stripy deck chair design.

 

Thank you for all your suggestions for Saturday night. 

You really kick-started my creative juices and I'm now having loads of fun with my plans.

Here's the provisional menu...

 

Golden Peach Cocktails

~

Glowing golden autumn vegetable soup

~

Cold Roast meats

and a selection of hot and cold 'sides' including

Roast Veg with Double Gloucester Cheese

Lightly curried potato salad etc

~

"Climb Every Mountain" dessert (a profiterole pyramid)

Golden fruit pie

A lemon syllabub

~

a 'Golden' cheeseboard

 

I've got loads of autumnal coloured tea light holders to dress the table and a vase for some yellow flowers.  I've also decided to develop the expedition aspect of the award by giving each guest a placemat that's personalised with a section of OS map of significance to them.  H. will get a map of the area that she walked in; I. will get a map of the area of north wales where her best friend lives; B-in-Law will get a map of an area of the Lake District where he went open water swimming for the first time this summer... and so on!  Hopefully it will work...

 

Fortunately I've only got a couple of pupils in the next few days so I should be able to organise this in a 'calm and measured manner'!

What are your plans for the weekend?

Jx

Rainy Days and Patchwork

The last few days have been wet and miserable over here - the perfect excuse to immerse myself in another patchwork project...  I saw some seaside-themed fabric in Dunelm and guessed that it would pull together all the stripy denim and checks from my fabric samples pile.  I must confess that it took me ages to work out the width of the repeat in the pattern, and how I was going to create the patches.

 

 

I've never made a bag before in my life - and I didn't have a pattern - so it also took me ages to work out all the sizes and dimensions from another soft fabric bag.  The final challenge was to work out how to fix the handles and lining.  It took quite a lot of creative thinking during last Tuesday's thunder storm before I worked out that I had to stitch the first seam at the top of the bag THEN turn it inside out to finish off the top stitching!

 

This bag has excellent frugal credentials....

I've only used a third of the material I bought at Dunelm (about £1.50's worth)

This is the fourth project I've made out of the £10.00 pile of clearance fabric.  There's still masses left so I'm guessing that these pieces are worth about £1.00.

The lining is inherited from my Great-Aunt's fabric stash.

The handles are made out of the back of an XL Denim shirt (M+S Blue Harbour - £1.00 clearance from a local charity shop.   There's still loads of useful material left from this shirt so I'd guess that the handles cost me 50p)

I've done all my patchwork so far on an ancient Singer sewing machine that we inherited from Mark's Grandma.  (I call her 'Sissy the Singer' because she's a sweet old lady who doesn't mind machining at my slow speeds!)

 

 

This bag is going on holiday with me shortly.

(I'm very excited about the prospect of a September holiday.  Currently the weather in the area we're going to visit is a very pleasant 20-25 degrees, with sunshine and light cloud.   I'm hoping that it's going to stay like that... I'm not looking for a heat-wave but some blue skies would be nice!)

 

To all the teachers out there... I hope that the start of the new school year is going well for you.

All the best,

Jx

First Steps in Patchwork...and other crafting projects

Last week my lovely next door neighbour showed me how to make a basic patchwork cushion.

This week I've practised my new skill by making two cushions for the conservatory.

I bought two books of fabric samples from the clearance area of a local Interior Design company (£10 for a huge pile of fabric.... I think I'll be making patchwork items for the whole family this autumn!)

 

 

I'm really pleased with the way that the samples allow me to play around with designs and colour-ways.... but the two cushions end up with a similar 'look'.  The material is also really nice quality so it's given my work a nice finish (for a first attempt).

 

I was so inspired by my progress that I went back to the clearance area for another look.  This time I came home with two enormous sample books.  These were more expensive but still good value, given the size of the fabric samples.  I plan to make a set of complimentary garden cushions etc. for next year.  (Our current garden furniture is plastic and falling to pieces, so our families gave us a very substantial amount of money as a Silver Wedding present to buy new furniture for next summer.  I can't wait to have a meal surrounded by a 'grown up' garden furniture suite!!)

 

 

I've also been busy doing my needlework...

(This is a small sampler that I worked for my friends wedding anniversary.

It's a mixture of two traditional 'Florentine' designs and various textured cross-stitch patterns.

The colours tried to reflect the fact that 35 years of marriage is 'Coral')

 

 

Thomas has really got into the idea of having a human at his "beck and claw"..

He likes to supervise,while grooming, from a chair in the conservatory..

 

Then falls asleep mid-lick.....

 

 

His white fur hides the fact that he's an old cat....

Jx

So - the reality of the 'Great Escape'...

So far, so good.... 

I am spending more quality time with my parents.  I've completely lost the 'inner stressy voice' that was constantly auditing the hours of my day and the unrealistic amount of work that I still had to complete.  I've given up clock-watching.

Mark is amazed to find that, even though he's still working long hours in his very stressful job, he's more relaxed because he doesn't have to listen to my 'work woes'.  He's also gained time on his commute because he doesn't have to drop me at work first, then fight his way through Solihull rush hour traffic in the evening to collect me.  He's also gained time because I'm doing all the 'background house jobs' during the week.  As a result, he's got more physical and emotional energy, and has even started to work on his projects in the garage again.

We are financially secure, providing that I continue to be 'quietly frugal' on a day to day basis.  To be honest, we don't have a mortgage or children, so we could easily live off Mark's salary.  However, I saved almost 80% of my salary in the last 12 months to create a 'financial cushion' (in addition to other savings) and I've got a small number of private pupils starting in the Autumn.  At this stage, it feels good to still be earning SOME money....and I'm definitely looking forward to teaching without the politics of a large institution.

Most importantly, I'm giving time to my own emotional and physical fitness.  I practice my harp every day for an hour or so after breakfast.  When my back starts to complain, I pop on my shoes and do a brisk four mile walk round the north side of Worcester.  The rest of day is divided up between family and friends, crafting, house jobs, the occasional lesson and more practice (if a performance is looming).  I thought, by this stage in the holidays, that I might miss the 'ramp up' to the new term.   Absolutely not!  I WILL miss a small group of pupils who were important to me but I've lost any inclination towards classroom teaching whatsoever.

I'm making steady progress through a small bucket list of 'Things I couldn't do while I was a teacher'.  Mark and I are going to South West France in September.  We have built a three-centre holiday around a classic motor-racing event that we have always wanted to attend.  It's very exciting.  I have also learnt the basics of machine patchwork and now my imagination is full of little crafting projects.  I've wanted to learn this skill for years and I'm so proud of my first few efforts!   We are also going away for a four-day break on my birthday weekend at the end of November.  (Every year I asked if we could go away, even for one night, and Mark always vetoed it on the grounds of concerts, parents evenings and report-writing exhaustion.) 

We've also booked Le Mans Classic in July 2016.  (We went in 2008 but I had to take two days of un-paid leave.)  After 26 years of being tied to school holidays, we are still exploring the best way to spread Mark's annual leave from Land Rover across the rest of 2016.

So, on balance, things are going well.  I'm sure that grey clouds will sometimes cover my current blue skies - but nothing would induce me to go back to a Head of Department job in any school at the moment.  I'm off now to finish another patchwork cushion.  Expect a 'crafty' post with lots of pictures next.
Jx

Frugal meets another world.....

While Mark is completely supportive of the fact that I'm leaving teaching in the summer, he has also made it clear that our reduced income must still cover our motor-sport activities and events (which is his main hobby and enthusiasm).  I completely understand and support his point of view... after all, he would like to give up work as much as I do.  So, on Saturday, we headed off in the silver Marcos for a weekend at the Donington Historic Festival...

 

You'll remember from previous posts that I'm preparing and saving for the summer by living on an extremely frugal income.  This doesn't sit very comfortably with an environment where people have spent more on a car than I would live on for a decade........

 

Our Marcos may look gorgeous - but cost virtually nothing (in classic car terms) because Mark built her from re-cycled parts in our garage.  Nevertheless, she attracts a lot of attention because she is rare and unusual..

 

 

Here's how I kept the costs down...

 

.1. We took 6 bottles of water from Aldi.

.2. We took a flask of coffee and a picnic for the first day.

.3. We rented a 'Serviced Apartment' in Castle Donington, rather than going to a Bed and Breakfast.

(which ended being this rather cute little cottage)

 

 

.4. I took a frozen meal for Saturday evening that I had made earlier in the week.  It acted as an ice pack for the picnic during the day.

.5. We took our own drinks for the evening.

 

 

.6. There was a 'goody bag' of food waiting for us in the cottage.  I used all the bread to make sandwiches for Sunday. 

(We also bought home the 'Bonne Maman' jams and a couple of small cereal boxes.)

.7. We re-filled all the water bottles in the cottage too.. and made more coffee.

.8. We bought the tickets for the event a long time in advance and at a substantial discount

(less than 1/2 price)

 

It was a completely amazing weekend...

The cottage was a lucky find on Booking,com.

The bedroom and wet room were enormous..

 

 

...and I couldn't resist taking a photo of this tap.

I've never seen a 'Waterfall' design like this before.

Isn't it cool??

 

 

The cottage cost £99 per night.

The two day ticket for the event (for both of us) cost £16

OK.. it's not super-frugal, but I think we kept our costs down

(and enjoyed things more because we didn't feel that we were being 'ripped off' with £3 cups of coffee and £6 jacket potatoes)

 

This weekend will be quieter... I'm spending most of Saturday at a Quaker event in the Meeting House in Worcester.

Jx

 

Nice Stuff... for Free

.1. Walks with my camera and dramatic distant views.

.2. Sunny mornings in the conservatory (with a book from 'Books for Free' in Droitwich.)

.3. Kind teenagers, who still hold doors open and genuinely care.

.4. A couple of hours chatting quietly with a very ill friend.

.5. Designing the first of a few personalised leaving presents for the colleagues who really matter.

.6. Some fabulous quality and condition 1960s fabric from my Great-Aunt's stash

(in a bag of fabric from my Mum last weekend)

.7. Kind words from Parents at the recent concerts.

.8. Cuddles from Husband... and Cat

.9. The prospect of a Bank Holiday weekend...!

 

To be honest, I'm a bit tired and fed up at the moment.

Mark is being an absolute rock...

I do love him!!!!!

Jx

Still Here...

...but things are a bit frantic!

 

My Mum has Shingles.. My Dad also has such a severe chest infection that they have given him 15 days of medication BEFORE they are prepared to x-ray his chest.. They are staying away from Mark because my dearly beloved has never had Chicken Pox.  I'm doing everything I can to help - while still keeping my distance from Mum's spots.

 

In the meanwhile Mark has also gone 'shed construction' crazy and it's largely my fault.  He put up the new one quickly and easily last weekend.  I then suggested (in the great spirit of living frugally) that he should up-cycle and reconfigure the good wood from the old shed in a 'lean to' one the north side of the house.  This was a fairly narrow alleyway only used by the neighbourhood cats. Now it's a 16 feet long shed for Mark's scaffolding and the enormous stash of car parts that he seems to have collected (big stuff like full sets of wheels, gear boxes and engines!)  He's really happy.... but I've got a bit fed up with all the banging and crashing!!!

 

School has settled down into the usual routines.

I've got a concert tomorrow night and one next week as well.

Year 7 reports and attainment grades for all year groups are due by the 29th.

I'm also scaling the usual small mountain of marking.

 

Today I took my baby harp into school so that I could share 'Professional Practice Strategies' with my Year 10 pupils.  It's the first time that I've ever taught this part of the curriculum in this way.  The pupils assured me that it worked well - because they could look at the strategies objectively when they were observing an instrument that they'd never seen up close before.  I'm glad they found it helpful...

 

I've also spent some time with a Head of Music Department colleague from another South Birmingham school.  He is currently struggling a little with the Verification process for the Level 2 Btec.  He 'borrowed' a load of my teaching resources earlier in the year... and I was delighted to hear that they had resulted in some really good grades for his pupils.  As a result I have decided to approach Pearson, who publish all the teaching resources for Btec, and see if they are interested in my work (a little bit of extra income for next year!)

 

Last week (on Tuesday) we also celebrated my older niece's 18th Birthday.

Next weekend we are going to a 'Ball' in the new function room at the Worcester Cricket Club.

I just hope that I can stay awake!!!!!!!!

Jx