Making changes and preparing for spring!

Hi everyone and sorry for my lack of blog posts. I have been so busy, but also haven't felt that I have anything to share with you. I have been cooking from scratch and baking as usual but nothing new really. The decluttering has been so important as I'm already seeing the benefits...I love to see a clear work top! I still have more to do (trying to rid myself of the feeling that I should keep things just-in-case). I do recycle...I'm not just binning things!! I'm working towards the nicer weather when we will be outside nearly all day (lots of plans for the garden too) so I need to be in a position that my housework is done quickly in the morning so we can make the most of the sunshine.  We go out now, but not for long because it gets so cold. 

So basically I've put some changes in place so I can be more organised. Before I tell you about my first change, here are some snippets of our recent thriftiness...

I haven't had my hair cut for over a year! Last weekend Charlotte cut and coloured it for me (I haven't got a photo of it now but will ask someone to help me there!) I bought a box dye from the supermarket when on offer, so my new look only cost me £4. She went on to give me a facial, manicure and did my make-up...so good to be pampered! 

Cornflake cakes...simple but a great treat! We had these as part of our living room picnic tea on Sunday. Daisy was in charge of the arrangements :)

I got a lovely joint of pork last week when on offer and it did two meals...Sunday roast 

then cold on Monday with bubble and squeak.

I put my washing out on Sunday and have been getting two loads dry a day ever since. It feels too cold outside but it has been drying well. I hate having laundry in the house so this makes me happy!

On Tuesday we made playdough. So simple and so much fun. 

While in a crafty mood, I found some bits and bobs for Daisy to stick with. I always cut pictures out of magazines and comics after reading them. I save old pots to use for pva glue too. I buy crafting supplies cheaply from Wilkos or the Works so we always have a stash. Old foil dishes make good containers and  the blue bowl contains old packaging. Thrifty and resourceful but using up what we have.

Ok, so my first change is the way I shop and meal plan...

Previously, I would look at what I've got and plan around that.

Now I am going through my huge amount of recipes and buying only what I need. I still have a few stock cupboard staples for emergency meals though. This has helped my kitchen cupboards...I now can see what I have instantly. There is no risk of things getting out of date too. 

In order to declutter my recipes, I decided to go through them week by week, chucking what I know we won't eat anymore and testing out the others. I will put my meal plan up if anyone is interested??? This is the sort of thing I mean...

As I've shown you before, this is full of recipes...

My recipes date back to my Home Economics lessons in the 1980s!! 

Most recipes have been cut out of magazines in years gone by.

The little box is full of clippings and above  is a folder with recent finds. I pick up the free magazines in the supermarket...these are always good for seasonal recipes.

If we like a recipe, it is transferred into a new folder that is divided into cooking and baking categories. I hope to be able to reduce my recipes by half at least. 

Thanks for reading,

Mandy x

I've had my hair cut!

Hi everyone!

Well the title isn't very exciting, but for me it is...

This was my first haircut in 20 months...that's almost two years!!!

I used to have my hair cut every 6-8 weeks and have it coloured by a mobile hairdresser. I stopped using her because she was continually cutting it shorter than I requested. Then we got a new hairdresser who cut our hair as a favour (a friend of my son) and we paid a very small amount for it.

Circumstances have meant that we haven't been able to have her cut our hair for a while and I actually cut my own hair! Not something I would do again though. My daughter visited her salon, but I just left mine to grow. I ended up looking like a scarecrow and asked to have a much needed restyle.

Yesterday I had very long hair cut off to shoulder length and although I don't like my hair being this short, it was badly needed. It will grow again and hopefully I will look after it better now with regular trims.

I colour my own hair and buy the dye when it's on offer. A job I hate doing, but I'm not ready to be grey yet!

I have 'let myself go' in many ways over the past couple of years and didn't seem to care. This is due to living with stress and the constant feeling of 'what's the point?' I expect bad things to always happen because they usually do!

A new year approaching makes me think about what the future holds for us and I really want to think more positively about things then.

I will start to compile a list of small goals that I want to achieve - I think it helps me to have something to work to. This could be as simple as making time for myself to paint my nails. I used to do this all the time and now I don't bother, even though I know it makes me happy. Perhaps I need to put down my thoughts on paper and then I can free-up some space in my mind for more important things. Then coping with the big stuff when it is thrown at us should be easier???

I am hoping to get going with my Christmas plans now...

Back soon,

Mandy x

The weekend

Hi,

I'm still annoyed, but the weekend was good.

We did another carboot sale on Saturday and I took £70!!! That's a lot of stuff decluttered because I brought back 6 empty plastic boxes. I sold my stuff for 10p, 20p, 50p or £1. We were swarming with customers and a little hectic at times, but well worth it.

I have decided that I should only keep things that are beautiful or useful. I am a dreadful hoarder and keep things just-in-case they may be needed one day. Every piece of ribbon or buttons are saved, bubble wrap and envelopes, the list is endless, but I have to stop! I am keen to recycle and make things out of recycled materials, but I haven't got the space. My utility room is full of crates for carbooting and ebaying, sewing and crafting. My aim is to sell as much as possible so I can have my utility room back. What's the point in having a beautiful oak worktop (which my husband made) and a lovely belfast sink with smart cupboards and a quarry tiled floor, if I can't see any of it???

I've had a really bad headache today (which began yesterday) so I've pottered about, but I have organised my junk ready to sell again next week.

My daughter has handcrafted some lovely jewellery, but people just aren't interested at boot sales because they want everything for 10p!!! She also hand paints mugs which are beautiful. We want to sell at craft fairs one day, so I have encouraged her to increase her stock. I collect vintage items but want to part with most of it because I need to raise cash for my other daughter for when there will be a big event in September. This is our dream, it's just a question of how to put it into practice.

So I'm happy with the money I made for Alice and also I had my hair cut. Not very exciting to most people, but I haven't had it cut since December and now I actually have a hairstyle!

Tomorrow I plan to have shifted this horrible headache and get selling/crafting.

Mandy x