Long update on caravan living!

Well everything came together in the end! We have now been living in our static caravan for 3 months and love it! We wake up every morning to no traffic/neighbours noise - just the sound of the sea.. We took the decision to down-size to live more simply and have some money as a wee cushion and to enjoy some holidays but I am still being as frugal as I can as we want to be able to pay all our bills and manage without touching the capital unless necessary - I am working 3 days a week and OH (although a casual worker) is working 2 days every week at the moment so things are ticking along.... One of my budgeting problems is going to be gas and electric - in our old flat I paid it by direct debit of £108 per month - here we get an electric bill twice a year from the site and gas bottles are £65 each but lord knows how long one will last - we are still on our first bottle. W have gas central heating but only put it on for a while in the morning and boost it at night and use an oil filled radiator on low to keep it from getting too cold - its a new caravan with residential standard insulation but at the end of the day we are still living in basically a tin can!. We do cook at lot and because its bottled gas we are becoming a lot more aware of ways to save on the gas - I only ever use the oven if I can have something on all 3 shelves. I always use steamer pans (sometimes I have 3 steamers on one pan!) and we are using the slow cooker a lot more. So I am still budgeting the same amount every month and after a year will see how it matches up. Housekeeping - the problem is we only have a 3 drawer freezer and I was used to a huge freezer in my old shed -I relied a lot of buying reduced bargains and freezing them but now we cant (also dd has been on a gluten free diet and is feeling so much better but its working out rather expensive) We have a plastic shed outside the van (to house the washing machine) and are thinking about buying a small freezer to out out there too but not too sure how it would fare in the winter. I have noticed we seem to be throwing out food which I have never done before but I am still not back into making menus etc cos we have had so much to do. Although we are sticking to our budget I always feel I can do better... We only got our washing machine a few weeks back - we are not allowed to have washing lines so have caravan drying racks on my decking but stuff does not dry like a good old washing line. THere is a launderette on site so I have been using their tumble dryer (£2 a shot which is well worth it as it saves the inside of the van being full of wet washing) Our treats have been 2 new (second hand) cars - OHs car died the day we moved so defintly a need not a want! And a bus trip holiday to Oxford, the Cotswolds and Bletchley Park which was great but exhausting. Christmas is going to be a challenge too - I have always bought in the Jan sales and picked up barginas during the year but we do not have the room to store excess stuff so will have to re-think presents and probably give vouchers which will be more costly. The storage aspect is definlty a challenge and making decisions about buying wants not needs a lot easier as we dont have a lot of room for unnescessary stuff!

Moving day this Friday! (we hope)

When we sold our flat we agreed the moving day was this Friday coming...turns out there all sorts of problems their end which is holding up papework...our solicitor is still confident it will be Friday but I can see us actually signing the missives with all our stuff in the van - aaarrrrgh! So we have been in limbo but I have decided to start packing up properly. As we are downsizing so much we dont have a huge amount but it needs boxed up. We are getting rid of all our furniture as we dont need it in the caravan and even that is proving difficult - I have advertised stuff free to take away - nobody wants it - we can no longer take things in a trailer to our local re-cycling so what are we going to do with two couches, a double bed and a dinning table with 6 chairs??? Our local recycling charity wont take them as they dont have fire retardant labels - grrrrr. OH has now decided to take a grinder to them to cut them up into reasonable chunks and we will make many car journeys to the tip! I'm going to have one last push trying to get somone to take them - I seriously hate waste! Everytime someone comes for a visit they leave with something!!!

Back to blogging, seriously downsiszing!

And I am back! Been a busy year - I now have 2 grandbabies who I love to bits, have had 2 funerals, 1 wedding, been off work for the last 6 months with a knee problem, managed to put back 2 stone 10 lbs of the 4 1/2 stone I had lost, OH had got a job 2 days a week and I have gone from full time to part time...busy busy busy! One of the effects of being stuck in this flat unable to walk has been we decided to sell up to release capital(been talking about if for years) and today have accepted an offer! So we are moving from a 3 bedroomed fairly large flat to a.........static caravan! Its brand new and you can live in it all year round and still fairly pricey but we have talked it over and it what we want to do. We have been majorly de-cluttering (thank heaven for Marie Kondo!) and selling everything that wasnt nailed down. If everything goes to plan we will be moving mid July fingers crossed... Really looking forward to living in a much smaller space with much less stuff - its been a long road getting rid of stuff - goes against the grain not to keep every last bit "just in case" but we are not getting any younger and need somewhere easier to maintain. So it will be a complete lifestyle change and I'm up for the challenge! So will keep you posted on how things are progressing.....

Marie Kondo decluttering!

I have just discovered this blogger app so bear with me & i will try to upload before and after photos of my de-cluttering attempts using the Marie Kondo idea of only having posessions that inspire joy...

Further de-cluttering - and musings on clutter...

I downloaded a sample of a book on de-cluttering into my Kindle (actually I got a load of samples as they are free!)Most de-cluttering books tend to be American and yes, there are some interesting things in it but I do like a British persepective....so when I read the sample of Banish clutter forever by Sheila Chandra I was so impressed with it that I actually bought the Kindle edition! A major event for me as I simply wont buy Kindle books but I really like how she wrote about clutter basing things on the toothbrush principal (ie you always put your toothbrush back in the same place and never lose it) So bascially there is a home for everything. I really like this book - although its repetetive (and I need that) there is some really good ideas and insights into why some de-cluttering never seems to last. I have read it all now and am letting it sink in. I will read it again when I have time to do the excercises and see how it goes - a lot of it makes good sense to me and rings bells.

So on that note I attacked my too-small wardrobe - now regular readers now I have lost 4 stones and whilst on my diet journey I was putting away clothes I came across in jumlbe sales and car boots that I would like to get into.....the problem about losing so much is when you are bigger you have an idea of what you want to wear when you lost weight - however, when you lost that weight those clothes might no longer be what you want to wear and this has happened to me. So in my de-cluttering last night I put 11 (yes 11!) tops into the car boot pile!

Ongoing de-clutter total - 30

Money from sales - £3 (sold my iron!)

Cut price shopping and this weeks menu

This weeks menu (from the cupboards/freezers!) is

Spag bolog

Prawns/jacket pots

Turkey curry

Macaroni cheese

Barbecue chicken wings

Jambalaya

Most involve left overs from Christmas. Wrote out a shopping list to accompany these and decided not to go to Asda as too many temptations so just went to our local Co-op - bought exactly what was on my list (thats a first for a long time! lol) - I spent £30, got £3 off by using my Student discount card and had a £3 voucher off so it only cost £24 for the week! The Co-op is more expensive but I am not tempted by lots of offers so with the discounts it worked out much better. Next week will be dearer as there are meals to be made for me and dd but will have to buy stuff for dh (dodgy tum) but will work on the same principle of the spreadsheet and see how it goes.

Spreadsheet for pantry, freezers and meals

I am going to change the way I do my shopping and meal planning - both seem to have vanished since I have been working full time and its all my fault so need to get a grip! I do love a spreadsheet! I have tried to be organised with food as in knowing whats in the cupboards and our 2 freezers but paper doesnt work (even when its on the fridge to fill in when folk take out stuff!)so me and dd went through all the cupboards and freezers today and wrote down what we had (chucking out all the out-of-date stuff as we went along!)

So wrote what we had on a spreadsheet under 7 headings

Mains ie meat, fish, chicken etc

Sides, such as veg, beans etc

Carbs, ie potaotes, chips, rice , bread etc

Sauces ie curry,stir-fry etc

Portions or frozen meals

Then at the end I made up a heading of Meals and then under another heading Shopping.

Went through everything we had to easily make up 7 meals, added any wee bits we needed to the shopping list and Robert is your mothers brother! Highlighted anything we were going to used for the meals and once the week is over I will take off those things

Once I can get my cupboards and freezers down I can take advantage of whatever is on special offers and both dd and oh will muck in with the menus instead of leaving me to think of everything

Well - thats the plan anyway!! Will post my menu and this weeks shopping list onces I have the go-ahead from the troops!

Bought a dress for my dds wedding in the sale!

Have been very good and not spent any money at all....then went on to the House of Fraser website...I bought a gorgeous dress for my sons wedding last year from their Eliza J range (full skirts - very 50's) and have been watching a grey dress for a while - got all excited as it was in the sale reduced from £140 to £39 but was out of stock!!!! But there was a lovely damson plum one very much like the one I got last time but this time with beaded cap sleeves - reduced from £140 to £78 so I ordered it and its arrived and is beautiful! It is also 2 sizes smaller than I am now so that will keep me on the straight and narrow of my healthy living plan! I lost 4 stones for my sons wedding, put a stone back on (over a year thats not bad!) - have now lost that stone but might have put a bit back on over Crimbo - so I reckon another 2 stone off and the dress will fit perfectly. The wedding isnt until September so plenty of time....

Havent done any de-cluttering as busy at work so total is still

3 x beanie hats for a lady with cancer

3 paperbacks for car boot sale

Ongoing de-clutter total - 19

Money from sales - £3 (sold my iron!)

Home made butter

I had a carton of double cream lurking at the back of the cupboard - still in date so decided to have a go at making butter - it was so easy and totally delicious! I put the cream and 1/4 tsp salt in a bowl and using my trusty hand mixer it took exactly 7 mins to produce some butter! I drained it through an old pillow case and have kept the buttermilk ready for scones etc and was left with a lovely yellow creamy butter. So I have filled up small ramekins and froze it so when anyone fancies lovely crusty bread with soup you cant beat home made butter mmmmmmmm. Next time mind I will add more salt and apparantly to make it spreadable straight from the fridge you can add a wee bit of olive oil so might try that.

Decluttering continues....

3 x beanie hats for a lady with cancer (waiting to be picked up)

3 paperbacks for car boot sale

Ongoing de-clutter total - 19

Money from sales - £3 (sold my iron!)

De-clutter - the start!

Doing a bit of de-cluttering at a time....todays efforts are......

3 t-shirts for rag bag

6 x lipsticks that dont suit me at all - bin

My ironing cover (done me 18 years - time for a change!!) - got a new one in the sales - bin

Iron - again, had it years and got it 2nd hand and its always been rubbish - got a shiny new one in the sales - Freecycle (might do someone a turn!) if not collected will be binned.

Ongoing de-clutter total - 13

Money from sales - £0

Nice day out, student discounts and some bargains

We always treat ourselves at New Year to a meal out and a trip to the movies - saw the last part of the Hobbit and it was brilliant! I have a student discount card (as Im with the OU) so got in a bit cheaper. Then met up with dd and her fiancee and had a lovely meal at the Handmade Burger Co in Ocean Terminal up in Edinburgh - really lovely meal and a great natter with dd and her df - got 15% student discount too! Then went shopping at Matalan as I had some Crimbo money left - got 2 packs of cards reduced from £2 to 50p and a present for next Christmas for £3 reduced from £8. My dd had forgotten her Matalan card so she gave me the money and put all the stuff through my card and got my student discount of that too! I also got £5.15 back in cashback for using my debit card (been months to get that much!) so with that and the student discount money I got back today I have put away £20 in our holiday account!

Happy and frugal 2015!

Have been low with some awful lurgy so did not go out last night and am going to have a quiet day today - steak is cooking ready for the traditional steak pie followed by the last of the mince pies with the last of the cream. Have been sorting out my yearly finances and re-assessing what amounts go into what pots (I use whats called a Freedom account to control my finances - basically I have virtual pots for various categories such as Holidays, Household etc and divide all my money into these) This year I was under budget with my Christmas spending due to some canny buys in the sales but as I am now working full time I dont have the time off to chase bargains. So I have had a re-think and have reduced how much I spend on birthdays and Christmas. The adults will get a token and a card and even partners grandkids will be reduced. I have a wedding to look forward to and my first grandchild is due end of May so the family is getting bigger all the time. My increase in hours last until end of June - have been finding it very stressful working full time and trying to run a house and do a History degree. Its been a bit of treadmill - I have had to increase my housekeeping cos I can cook as much from scratch, petrol has gone up, I need more clothes etc. I was actually wondering if it was more fun working part time and trying to manage on what I had.... We have also been discussing moving. We live in a bought flat with a council flat upstairs and a new family has moved in with kids and dogs (and no carpets!) We only have a small mortgage but are stuck in that even if we downsize from our 3 bed to a 2 bed we will still have to get a bigger mortgage as the prices in this town are very expensive. So we arent sure what to do - this place is needing more and more repairs too.... So our first steps are to de-clutter and see what we can make from car boot sales. Neither oh or myself can be bothered with the hassle of Ebay so we will also be selling stuff on Gumtree and Facebook - I help run a selling group just for our town on Facebook and its getting more and more popular. I also like to give things back so got rid of an old computer chair and a bobbly duvet only fit for a dog bed on Freecycle yesterday. I am also going down the route yet again of trying not to buy so much stuff - although its always at charity shops or car boots I really dont need it all. There is a fine line in that as I work full time I like to treat myself but again - I must stop and think IS IT A NEED OR A WANT? My house is bursting at the seams and if we do downsize heaven knows where it will all go. I am defintly a hoarder of the "just in case" theme - having had no money to buy anything at all I see to be always buying stuff nw just in case I run out of money and dont have anything! So when I figure out how to put photos from my phone direct to blogger I will put up photos of all the stuff I am letting go of! Had anyone else any plans to be better off this year?

Charity shop bargains and Student discount card

Ooo I do love a Charity shop! My fave one is the Salvation Army - at the weekend I got a black spotty top for me (£1.50), a black peplum top for dd (£1.50), a pure wool scarf for 50p and a Rosemary Conley hardback recipe/diet book for £1. Yesterday went out in my lunch time - the charity shops in the town where I work are a bit dearer = got a lovely rust coloured light jumper (M&S) but paid £4 for it and a Weight watchers cookbook for £1.50. As Im studying with the OU I'm entitled to a Student discount card - costs £12 and this is the first time I have got one - you can use it at the Co-op for a 10% discount. I mainly use Asda but often top-up at the Co-op and so far have saved a grand total of £1.50 off!

Good news on job front and update

Cant believe my last post was March! Well, things have taken a turn for the better - my youngest dd left school so we lost the WTC and Child Benefit but she managed to get a job within a week of leaving - its only an apprenticeship (grand £2.68 per hour!!) but its with the Council where I work so no travelling costs and she will have an SVQ 3 at the end of it. So even on her pittance I still get dig money! And I have secured extra hours until the end of June next year so I am now working full time. Thats a bit of culture shock and to add to it I am still doing my History degree with the OU and just started my 5th course but first at level 3 which is going to be a lot harder - bring it on! We decided rather than fritter that extra money away its going straight into a savings pot - this house is desperate for new window sills, re-pointing and the bathroom is a disgrace. We bought it 15 years ago from the council and heaven only knows when the last time the bathroom was upgraded - still have the old toilet with the black cistern! We dont have a shower either. So thats our plans...which means I am still on the frugal wagon and watching every penny.

Todays outfit.....

I was adding up how much todays outfit for work cost....M&s trousers, £2 charity shop, Bonne Marche top, £1.50 charity shop, Boots, £2 charity shop and my big padded duvet coat was £4...from a charity shop!!! The only thing I bought new (apart from underwear and I draw a line there! lol) was my handbag and I actually got that in Primark sale for £3. So top to tail for £12.50 - not too shabby!

Loads of reduced meat!

Well I had carefully made out my weeks menu including lunches, given the troops the "we will be eating more pasta and pulses" speech.....got to Asda and struck really lucky on the reductions....£45 worth of stewing steak, braising steak, some lamb mince and chicken kievs for 10p per packet!!!! I spent £1.10 and have an extremely happy family!

Cheapest milk....

I must admit I had always thought that the cartons of uht milk would work out cheaper than fresh milk but I was wrong!!! Fresh milk in Asda works out as 44p per litre whilst the cheapest uht milk is 57p per litre - although uht milk is handy as I always have a couple of cartons lurking in the cupboard.....you live and learn!

Frugal soup

Well after yesterdays pity party I have girded my loins and got on with it....Todays menu is porrige made with water for breakfast, chicken and rice soup for lunch (made from Sundays chicken carcass and left over tiny bits of scrap chicken with rice, carrots and onions) Tea is Sausage hotpot (a la Frugal Queen) with pancakes and golden syrup for pud..

Heading for deep doo doo

I checked and yes, the Child benefit Child tax credit will all stop.....heaven help us...deep doo doo......So, I have picked myself up and have looked again at our finances.... First, we have no debt at all except for our mortgage which is really small. I only work part time but it will enought to cover our mortgage and all our necessary bills (ie Housekeeping/electric/gas/phones/internet. I will cancel Netflix and my Gift giving from my wages. I run our money via a Freedom account where I have "virtual" envelopes for all our spending - its broken down into different accounts. So I earn enough to pay for following accounts - Car tax & insurance, Xmas, Birthdays (with a reduction in these both). The other accounts - Holidays, Household, Emergencie and Car repairs - will be added to when I can by selling stuff and car booting. We both had allowances we paid for clothes we needed and entertainment - I will not have enough for this....OH is looking to see if he can pick up any casual work but as he has back and neck problems its virtually impossible to find anything. We do have some savings but I need to keep them for emergencys only - its a slippery slope if you start using your savings for day to day stuff. I am looking for more hours at work but there isnt anything available at the moment.... Its dd I feel sorry for - she was getting £30 Education allowance for staying on at school and that will go - if she got into uni at least she would get a bursary but as it looks like it will just have to be college she will have to try and get a part time job but as we live in a very small town is really difficult. Sorry its a bit of a miserable post but its rather hard to be cheery at the moment...

Facing even tougher times....

Just when we thought things couldnt get worse it occurred to me that when youngest dd leaves school in June we will lose both CWTC and Child benefit... that will push us over the edge! She wants to go to college (didnt get into uni as she wants to be a midwife and there are only a few spaces and lots of applicants - still waiting for one uni to reply but shes not holding out much hope) so shes applied for a years course and will try again for uni next year...Im not sure when the child benefit stops so off to look that up now.....