It All Adds Up

Is it Spring yet? 

When I took down the Christmas cards, as usual I cut up any that were suitable to use as tags on presents next Christmas. This isn't very money saving, as tags are cheap, but I like to do it. It's nice to get another use from the cards and I like that they are all different, rather than the usual packet of tags. I've taken my birthday cards down today and will do the same with those.

Both EDF (our current electricity and gas supplier) and the MSE Energy club alerted me that I could save by switching. There were various options, including switching to another company to save £117 a year, but I chose to switch to another EDF tariff, as we are happy with their service, and the new company also had a £30 charge if you switch away from them within a year, which I never like.  We will save £60 over the year.

I cancelled my subscription to Country Living magazine. It expires in March and would be £30 for the next year. I'm not enjoying it like I used to and often find that two or three months of the magazine have piled up unread. 

I signed up to Abel and Cole's weekly vegetable delivery box scheme again, after receiving several vouchers from them that I can use over the coming weeks. In my first delivery I received a free tea towel and a bottle of organic extra virgin olive oil. In the coming weeks there are money off vouchers I can use, and a completely free veg box on the fourth week. 

How I didn't save money this week was by forgetting to go through a cashback site when I ordered myself some new clothes. That's £13 I could have made and didn't. I'm annoyed that I forgot, but pleased with the savings I did make this week. Over the next few weeks I'm planning to see where we can save in different areas. It's surprising the little changes that can make a difference, such as changing energy supplier or broadband provider (that's next on my list). 

I'm also hoping to reduce our grocery bill by about a third to a half without compromising on free range/organic meat as much as possible and probably continuing to receive our weekly organic vegetable box. Now there's a challenge. 

That Was The Week #2

Contrails over Kent

On Monday, I did a LOT of laundry. Did you know you only need about a tablespoon of washing powder? That's all I use, and I have never had a problem. At one time I made my own washing powder, but these days with a little more money in my purse and a bit less energy, I am not frugal to the same degree as when I was a penniless, home educating single parent. Although then, as now, a lot of the money seemed to go on books and getting out and about. Priorities!

I have no recollection of Tuesday, I expect there was a Tuesday last week, there usually is, but I can't remember it at all. I can safely say I probably spent too much time on the internet and drank a lot of coffee, forgot to eat either lunch or breakfast, or both. That would be a fairly standard day.

On Wednesday, the Prof had a couple of business meetings in Kent, so I went with him for company. We had lunch in one of our favourite places, MacKenzies in West Malling. The Prof had his usual pizza and I had what I always have, the maccheroni carbonara which is the best carbonara I have ever had. Other than that, I spent a peaceful couple of hours writing and reading in cafes, whilst he had his meetings.

Thursday was a bad day. Maybe I did too much on Wednesday, but I was wiped out and spent most of the day in bed.

On Friday the Prof finished work a couple of hours early and we went to collect the disposable cameras from our wedding from the developers. We put a camera on every table at the wedding reception, for people to capture candid shots. I sent the Prof on his own to collect the pics, and I was right to do so, because exactly as I suspected, one of the films contained a photograph of someone's bare bottom. I guess there is always one arse at every wedding.

On Saturday we drove into London, as we had tickets to see Warhorse, and were hoping the Rapture would hold off at least until after the performance. We had lunch first, then made our way to the theatre, only to see smoke pouring out of the roof. Not good. Several fire engines promptly arrived to deal with the smoke (which was caused by an electrical problem in a restaurant in the same building, and was not the beginning of the Rapture). The performance went ahead eventually, about 45 minutes late, as soon as the building was deemed to be safe. Warhorse was excellent, gut wrenching but very good. The puppetry involved in working the horses was nothing short of brilliant. Go see it!

We had quite a relaxing Sunday, a long lie in followed in the evening by dinner at our friends' house. Always nice to have dinner cooked by someone else! We took the scenic route home through the beautiful Kent countryside.

To make your own washing powder:

Grate some soap

Put in dispenser drawer with some washing soda

Run machine as normal.

Apparently you can add Borax. I never did find out what it is, let alone track it down in the supermarket. I didn't notice it's absence!

You can add a few drops of essential oil: I didn't bother, though it is a bit strange having clean washing with no scent. We are just not used to it. Sometimes I used Ecover fabric conditioner as it has such a lovely smell, other times (when I was more skint) I used vinegar, which makes an excellent fabric conditioner. It softens things up beautifully and leaves no smell. I did find the home made washing powder did not have the same stain removing qualities as biological, so if necessary I used stain remover. Perhaps that was what the Borax was for. Ah.