Making my Mind up Monday

In the interest of economy I am paring my spending back to the bare minimum for September, along with many other bloggers I aim to use what I have and make it last.
I am also intending to repeat last years Stoptober, there are many reasons for this, some are:-

1. I have spent a great deal of money this year.

2. I have given some respectable sums of money to some of the younger members of my "family".

3. My cupboards are brimming full after a few weeks of hoovering up bargains.

4. I an running have run out of space in the kitchen and consequently have filled a tall shelf unit in the sewing/dining room with groceries.

5. My 2 shelf units in the under stairs cupboard and utility annex are also full.

You get my drift I hope, just as with my 100 items from stash I need to cook from stash. If I do not I am in danger of having a path through the house with teetering piles of boxes all around me.

I do intend to buy an embroidery machine but that has been budgeted for.
My oven is cavernous and gobbles up electricity like a contestant in an eating competition. To deal with this I am buying a mini oven and grill, I have some Argos vouchers and found one with a sizeable reduction in price. After a load of research this was the best option for me, I did find one on Amazon but if it goes wrong I am faced with the palaver of returning it, whereas with Argos it is  a 7 minute drive to get a replacement, and it is the cheapest option by over £35. simples.

Now here lies the rub, to make room for this I need to jettison something else, maybe 2 somethings.

On my utility shelving I have the following,

My trusty processor, this is at least 20 years old and is starting to slow down. I only use it on the odd occasion so it is high on my list to go.

My bread maker, only around 18-24 months old, I do not remember exactly, and used regularly as opposed to often. There are 3 recipes that I make over and over again as they have never failed me. I could make these by hand, and would not do so frequently and therefore would save money and waistline,so once again a possibility to go.

The slow cooker, this will stay, I use this regularly and it saves time and money.

 My charity shop[ steamer, once again this will stay, I use it every week.

My griddle, I have used this a few times, mainly for toasted sandwiches, but with the new mini oven will not need it. Out it goes.

The yogurt maker and the spice grinder, these do not take up much space but.... I can not remember the last time that I made yogurt. The spice grinder is ideal for small bits of parmesan rind and a hand full of breadcrumbs, as it is so small it can stay but the yogurt maker is out.

Easy peasy, out goes the griddle and yogurt maker and the processor can go into a box for 3 months, if it does not need to be used in that time it will go as well.

I am ruthless elswhere in the house, one in , one out is the rule. I shop for the basic toiletries and cleaning stuff monthly and every now and then get a "free" month. I am using the library more now and am only buying books second hand, my new to me Elly Griffiths books were 1p each from Amazon. Yes I had to pay postage but they still came in at £2.81 each and I will keep them.

I am not about to make a meal plan yet, I know that it works for lots of people and I have done it myself. At this stage I am going to work my way through the oldest food first and then settle down to work out a plan after a week, give or take a day or two.

The rain has stopped and there is sunshine and a light breeze so I am off to gather blackberries shortly. These will be washed, drained and frozen for when I need to add fruit to the menu. I have a supply of apples for the next few weeks and some of those will be bottled, frozen and I am going to try drying rings in the residual heat when the big oven is used.

My word, I think that is enough for one post, my reasons to be grateful are very simple most of the time and today is no exception.

1.  I have the ability to work through the next 2 months with minimum spending.

2.  I do this because I want to, not because I have to.

3.  I have a head start with the stash of foodstuff in the house.

4.  The sun is shining and Ben is snoring.

5.  I have friends around me, and my blog list to go to for encouragement.

There are so many more, all pertinent to me and possibly/probably senseless to others.

That,s it for now, toodles, I hope that you all had a good weekend.

                     TTFN                                                 Pam

Order out of Chaos and a happy find.

It's been a busy old day, I woke up full of "get up and go" and did not want to waste a crumb of it. It was glorious and sunny although by the time I had 2 loads of washing pegged out it decided to go black and rain. Oh well the soft water will make it all lovely and soft.
I decided that Today was THE DAY, the day the utility and under the stairs get blitzed.

This little box opens off the kitchen and I used to avert my eyes when washing up. It was a dumping ground and I had a clear path to the washing machine, the rest was full. A trip to Ponty to pick up storage shelving and an hours sweating and swearing and all is nearly well. I just want to put some hooks up to hold the broom, mop and brush and dustpan, and find some little shelves to stand on the deep shelf at the back, all Ben's stuff is there and my cleaning kit and so on. 

(An hour later and the bottom 2 shelves now hold my boxes of jam jars and my stock of new lids for them, they had been hidden right at the back of the understairs cupboard.)

I then took my life in my hands and emptied the cupboard under the stairs, it is deep and narrow. There are some coat hooks on the wall behind the door and my Drizabone will live there with some umbrellas to keep it company, I will need to have some wellies also.

This is where all the clutter went to be sorted, the sewing/dining room, needless to say I have done no sewing today. Also the weather did a U turn and my washing is dry so I have an overflowing ironing basket.

This is the result, all electric tools on shelves, big bits of kit stacked right at the back and I managed to empty 3 suitcases and stow them away, result.

I will not be showing you the sewing room as there is still a pile of things to go through before it is presentable. My ironing will have to be done today, I hate hanging it over to the next day, it seems to take twice as long. 

There is a chicken in the oven that will go nicely with roasties, cabbage, broccoli and some swede and carrot mash. I did not cook dinner yesterday, I just cut some raw veg sticks, opened some cheesy snacky things and made some dips, lovely.

Tomorrow I will make a Lamb Curry for the freezer and huge, as opposed to tiddy, Oggies using some lamb, potato. swede and peas in a minty gravy.

Reasons to be grateful.

1.  A much tidier house.

2.  Room to move in the utility.

3.  Laundry done and dried outside.

4.  As always the Sunshine.

5.  Lots of help of the muscle variety.

There is no way that I could have moved all that stuff by myself. My 2 outside storage units have been assembled, 1 is in its designated place and the other is ready to be sited once the area chosen is ready ( a job for tomorrow maybe)

I have Michael to thank for all this achievement, he has worked hard for 3 days getting everything assembled and in place.

I ordered some storage units for James and Carys from Argos, they were out of stock and I was promised an E mail once they were available......Nada, zilch, a big fat nothing. So I looked on line a little while ago. Oh Yes they are in stock but the price has gone up quite considerably. I had a pootle round on the web but could find nothing else. Then I thought about Ikea. My nearest branch is in Cardiff, a 100 mile round trip which if you count the cost of petrol and time will effect the cost. I am going to have a look at their site later and see if I can get what I want and if they deliver. If the stars are in alignment and with a back wind James may get his storage soon and Michael will be putting yet more stuff together. Fingers crossed everybody.

I have still managed to get Ben out and walked and this afternoon I made a wonderful discovery. Peeping out of an overgrown bank of shrubs and blackberries was a beautiful crab apple tree, it is not laden with fruit but there will be enough for at least 2 batches of blackberry and apple jelly, and the berries will be ready to pick in a couple of days.

I must go and check up on the one and only Elder tree that I have found. I will be extremely peeved if I am beaten to the fruit.

The chicken smells wonderful and the roasties have to go in shortly, all the veg is in the steamer and I am really looking forward to it, I am rumbling.

  I have tea to drink so I will see you all tomorrow.

                          TTFN                                               Pam