Showing posts with label frugal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label frugal. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Leftovers


Regular readers will know that I love nothing better than whipping up a dish out of leftovers. Last night's dinner featured this pasta bake. I boiled some pasta for until tender and then mixed up with some Courgette and Tarragon soup and topped with some 'past their best' tomatoes before baking. The soup was one I made earlier in the summer when I had a major courgette glut. We got 10 portions out of the recipe including two I froze. I had the remains for lunch today and they were even more delicious (if possible). And there is still a portion in the freezer for me to play with.

Since I had the oven on anyway I also baked some plums, pears and apples. Preperation took place while the pasta was boiling.

Tomorrow night I'm trying out an experiement using left over celery and tomato soup, gluten chunks and rice to make a kind of casserole. I'm hoping it will be divine.

Monday, January 07, 2008

Clothing I bought in 2007

  1. 1 pair tights - following boot sole crisis - new

  2. 2 pair socks (came as a two pack) - for the moonwalk with lovely padded bottoms - new

  3. Gold shoes (for hen party) - second hand

  4. Thongs (sandal type things, not knickers) - secondhand

  5. Boots - from Bourgeois Boheme - new

  6. Necklace - From the Vintage Fair - new

  7. Jeans - From Oxfam. Old ones had actually worn out. - secondhand

  8. Sequined dress - Christmas party dress crisis - new

  9. Black velvet dress - Further panic over Christmas party - new

I didn't think I'd actually bought that much, but listed here it seems like lots. Also the ratio of new to secondhand was 2:1. I'm going to try and make it less then 9 items this year. However, I must confess I bought a new dress today. This is a further consequence of Christmas party panic. I saw the dress prior to Christmas and when I saw the price was much reduced bought it.

I'm going to buy less in 2008. Surely I must have everything I need...

Friday, July 06, 2007

The Renaissance soul

I commented to a colleague yesterday that my biggest problem is that I have too many interests. I want to read, walk, cook, grow vegetables, make clothes, make cards, make present bags, run a business, do my own website design, make my own beauty products, enjoy wine, dance, blog, watch DVDs, write, trace my family history, catalogue family photographs, practice Tai Chi and Yoga, manage a website, be involved with my professional association, enjoy the Sunday papers, keep in touch with friends...

I was reminded of a blog entry I read a while a go about a book called The Renaissance Soul. It suggests that having lots of passions and interests is a good thing. Rather than worrying that I have too many interests I should enjoy the variety and how these various passions enrich each other.

I've also thought about ensuring that I can enjoy each of these passions without taking on too much. Hence I have written to the town council asking if my allotment plot can be split. I'm finding my huge plot a challenge to keep up with and think a smaller plot would give me much more satisfaction. Not buying stuff if ?I can possibly help it has also helped here. I waste less time working out what to buy, adding up receipts and just generally browsing.

Isn't life great? Aren't the possibilites in life just endless?

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Pride comes before...

...your boot falls apart!

Let me start at the beginning. I headed off to a meeting this morning feeling rather smug. I've taken to wearing leggings (so much warmer and so, so much more comfortable than tights) and long in the winter. Alas the leggings were a little worn (i.e. ripped to the knee) after 2 winters but a few minutes with the sewing machine sorted them out. Any lining my boots might have had had also worn away but I made some lovely inner soles to stop my getting sore and keep them warm.

As I'd arrived early for my meeting and congratulating myself on my thriftiness I went to a coffee shop to enjoy a large cup of Earl Grey. As I sipped I read a little more of Not buying it. the time came when I finished my tea and exited the coffee shop. However as I did so I lost my balance. Righting myself and hoping that I didn't look too stupid I then realised there was something odd going on with my boot. The sole was hanging off.

Admittedly I noticed the sole was a little loose in places the other day, but I thought it would last me until the end of the winter. It became clear almost immediately that I was going to have to take some action. Should I buy some blue tack to hold it in place? Would chewing gum work? I shuffled into New Look who, of course, aren't stocking boots at this time of year. I tried all the charity shops in the area. They either had no long boots, the boots were leather, too small or had skyscraper heels. I then decided the answer was to buy pair of tights to replace the leggings and some colourful flat shoes.

Unfortunately I bought the tights before I realised that all the shoes available were too boring to spend money on, over priced, open toed or way too high to walk in. I was also cutting it rather fine for my networking meeting.

Working on the belief that people don't tend to notice flaws unless you point them out I tied sole to the top of the boot and went to the meeting. Once there I stayed seated (with my bag practically on top of my boot) for as much of the time as possible and left at the earliest opportunity. I couldn't concentrate anyway and spent part of the time making a list of all the shoes and boots that are currently sitting in my porch waiting to be worn. They'll be seeing a lot more action over the next few weeks and I will be buying new, good quality boots next autumn.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Time for a rest

I'm training for the Playtex Moonwalk once again. I did 8 miles on Sunday and got totally drenched. I only realised how wet I had gotten when the clothes were still wet yesterday. I took advantage of the better, although windy weather yesterday to enjoy a number of hours working on my allotment. The planting season will be here soon. I'm still finding potatoes from last year's crop as I dig the ground over. These are very welcome as the pantry at present only contains those too small to bother peeling.

I also did lots of cooking (and therefore washing up). I redyed my hair for the first time since I had it cut short (dyeing with Kool aid doesn't really count). I'm used to having a large porous surface (i.e. lots of hair) to soak up the dye so yesterday it was going everywhere. I looked like I something form a disaster movie. Hence the bathroom then needed lots of cleaning.

Anyway as a result of all that physical exertion I began to ache all over yesterday evening. Therefore I'm planning on a nice quiet evening with a book on the sofa. I've just finished World War Z : an oral history of the Zombie War by Max Brooks. It's an amazing book, but one that does tend to stay on your mind (paranoid? me?).

Tonight therefore I will be reading Not buying it: my year without shopping by Judith Levine. I imagine that this will have no mention of zombies. I'm hoping it may provide further inspiration for my frugal quest. Additionally I've heard very mixed reviews. I read an extract in one of the weekend papers last year and I must of enjoyed what I read because I wrote down the title to check on the library catalogue.

I'll report back later this week (hopefully) on if Not buying it was worth the wait.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

My monthly update

Managing to do this post in timely manner is definitely a good start. So here is my progress for this month and my to-do's for March.

Use what I have
  • Still no clothes purchases
  • Resisting buying excess food
  • Utilised an old laptop bag to make a portable craft bag (all the little pockets come in really handy)
  • I am still not buying glossy magazines and I do think this has made me want less. I started to keep a list of things that I wanted to buy in January and some of them would have been very easy to justify. Of course, vacuum storage bags would be a good thing to buy. A big bag would make carting all possessions around much easier. But as time as gone on I abandoned the list because I didn't seem to be generating the same wants. I'm currently reading (borrowed from my local library) The New Spend Less Revolution by Rebecca Ash.
EBay/ Freecycle at least one item per month
  • 5 items sold on EBay this month. It is so nice to be freeing up space in my study.

Count my blessings

  • Still loving this one. I have so much to be grateful for.

Be more mysterious
  • Trying to keep quieter but I've found an urge to share the joys of positive thought. Perhaps I'm denying my true (non-mysterious) nature?

My to-do’s for February

My to-dos for March

  • Dye two t-shirts that I have in my projects to do bag. I have the dye I just need to find a vessel to put it in. This project has been waiting ages to be done.
  • Make 4 gift bags and tags to photograph and sell.
  • Scan 25 photographs from the old family photo album.

Have a great March!