Christmas Preparation Update 1

The photo above is of our tree last year, we don't have a theme just a lot of happy memories as each year I would take the children out to choose a tree decoration, (still do this with our daughter). Some of our tree decorations date back to my childhood! I think I will post photos of my favourites with each update. Don't worry all is still in the loft - I just took a lot of photos last year : )

As I mentioned before this year I intend to get organised and keep track of just how much Christmas is going to cost. We normally get through far too much money and like many others cannot afford to do that this year. Also this will give me something to focus on as the news regarding the global financial crisis is very depressing and this seems to be an excellent way of keeping control of part of my life. We are going to try for as traditional a Christmas as possible and just enjoy spending precious time with family and friends. I hope to be able to buy some fresh cranberries Christmas week to make our own sauce but have picked up a jar just in case as our daughter loves this in her sandwiches, so it won't be wasted.


Presents
So far I have finished knitting a scarf for my sister and as it is in lovely lavender and blue colours I have also tucked into it a lavender sachet (she loves lavender). I am finishing off a knitted dishcloth with a cat on (she also loves cats lol) and just need a couple of other little bits to add. So a lavender/cat theme going on there!




I have also started to knit a scarf for my brother in law in a lovely tweedy wool and will add some thermal socks and a wind up torch Mr C managed to pick up from Lidls today. Again a couple more little bits to add.

Present box:-

4 wind up torches from Lidl @ £3.99 - £ 15.96
Lavender sachet £ 1.50
Wool for scarf (lavender/blue) £ 3.00
wool for tweed scarf (charity shop buy) £ 1.00
1 eyemax solar/wind up torch/radio £20.00
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£41.46


Food
I have enough in the pantry now to make a start on the mincemeat, home made mincemeat is lovely and much nicer than the overly sweet stuff the shops sell. Hope to get this done over the weekend if I can find the energy. I will add pics and recipe then as well.

Christmas cupboard now has:-

5 bags of Lidls choc coins @ £1 - £5.00
1 tin chestnut puree (for stuffing recipe) £1.75
1 jar cranberry sauce (dd loves this in sandwiches) £0.57
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£7.32




I learnt a very important lesson at Christmas many years ago, a friend was struggling financially and had no money to pay for Christmas that year. I had gone round to give her a huge bag of reduced items I had found at the supermarket on Christmas Eve and found that she and her 4 children were very happy and content. She had got the tree and decorations out from the loft the same as always and the children after helping her to decorate were having a lovely time playing with some board games they had found in the loft. Family and friends had made sure there were some presents under the tree and there was a chicken dinner ready to roast and some pound shop crackers on the table. She told me that you can't "cancel" Christmas it happens whether you have the money or not! What matters is quality time with family and remembering the true meaning of the season. I left feeling very humbled but wiser.

20 days of changes!

It's been 20 days since I started this blog and what have I changed?

Well for starters I put myself on a reduced grocery budget (£150 for the month) and lived out of the cupboards and freezers. We had some interesting meals this way but at the end of the month we had enough money for me to make a bulk order (£47) on some organic beans and pulses and some oats and soya mince (all regular standbys apart from the chickpeas - have to get used to using these!) I should have enough to last a few months anyway. With the residue of what I would normally have spent I bought a Remoska which should save me 80% electricity over using the electric oven. I cooked up a (happy meat) roast chicken in it last night and it was lovely and moist, will definately do that again.

We have also added another vegetable bed and planted up some runner beans, courgettes and spinach. The digging goes on though as more beds are planned. The greenhouse is full of tomato plants with a promising amount of fruit already and Mr C has planted up some pepper plants. We are very much beginners in this field though and have much to learn.

We are using the library more and the only books I have bought were the bargain bags from the church fete which included one treasure - a 1964 edition of Good Housekeeping Look and Cook which includes the GH childrens cook book that Mum used to teach me to cook! Mainly rock cakes, flapjacks and jammy buns! Ah good memories are priceless!

I have started to knit again, easy stuff so far - dishcloths using cotton yarn from our market and charity shops, so useful and cheap. I have yet to dust off the sewing machine, that is next on the list.

Entertainment is now a 50p or less film on video (they are so cheap now) from the charity shops or boot sales, there are so many films out there that I haven't seen so this will keep us going for a while and much cheaper than renting dvd's. Barbecues in the back garden with family and friends are top of our list at this time of year and hopefully we will soon be able to provide home grown salads.

The main thing I have learned is to stay away from the shops as much as possible and to avoid shopping as a sport/hobby, I now look at what I have and make do!