A cunning plan is forming!

My main aim at the moment is to save enough money to start to pay down our mortgage before retirement. Unfortunately I have had to call it a day on my part time job as the stress and physical lifting etc., were causing more cfs episodes so I will not be going back next term. It was very part time so the wage (£130 a month) was not very much but it does mean that I will have to find more ways to save now! Hopefully I will start to regain the energy to do what needs to be done and that means more to us. So far I have stopped my gym membership £50 as I wasn't really well enough to use it, walking the dog and a small amount of gardening will now be my gym, and I have cut down on our abel and cole order so we now get an organic delivery once a fortnight so that has saved another £25 so £55 to find a month! Then I must find some more pennies to put towards the paying down the mortgage fund! Not too much pressure then!!!

I already feel a lot better for making the decision and am eternally grateful to have such a supportive husband, now to get organised on the rest! I think a spending diary would help and maybe a plan to "use it up" before buying anew with relation to food and household goods. I allow 10% of my funds for charity and some of that can be spent in charity shops so finding Christmas and birthday gifts there will be my aim. Maybe I can sell some of our "clutter" on amazon and ebay? I sense a huge learning curve coming my way.

Courgette bake

Now the tomatoes are ripening fast and I am starting to harvest some courgettes, I need ways to use them. Our favourite way is to make a courgette and tomato bake. It is very easy to make, freezes well and is lovely served with some oven baked sausages or just on it's own.

Simply slice a couple of courgettes and fry gently in a pan of olive oil with a little crushed garlic.

Drain and place into the bottom of an oven proof dish. Cover with a layer of skinned and sliced tomatoes (if making in winter use a tin of chopped tomatoes). Sprinkle on a generous layer of wholemeal breadcrumbs and a handful of grated cheese. Bake in a moderate oven until heated through and cheese has melted to a golden brown.

I meant to take a photo of the finished dish but the family got there first!!!! this was all that was left.

Car Boot Bounty!

I was quite restrained at this weeks car boot sale! The 2 Mason Cash pie dishes were only 10p each, the tupperware 20p, 6 banana split/melon dishes £1 and a teddy for the puppy 20p. We also bought 4 Penstamons, which love the soil around here, for only £5, 2 for us and 2 as a gift for a friend.

The small pie dishes are going to be essential for making leftovers into useful meals, and although I want to reduce the plastic around here I feel the tupperware is good quality for the freezer and at least it is not going into the landfill.

I have also managed to get 1 large crate and 1 large bag of "stuff" to the charity shop this week!

We have also discovered the joys of freecycle this weekend! A single bed, a puppy harness and a bag of puppy training pads have now found new owners. They say what goes around comes around and although we haven't yet found anything on freecycle for ourselves, we have been given some office furniture, for the new home office and a portable tv for our son as his is playing up. We are blessed with some very good friends.

3 years ago today

3 years ago today we were lucky, very lucky indeed. Both my children live and work in London but on 7/7 3 years ago my son was on holiday in Spain and my daughter had just come home to prepare for her graduation.

I and many others like me will never forget that day, the horror on realising that the "power outage" the media were reporting was obviously much more serious and the painful task of waking my daughter to tell her what was happening. Although she didn't graduate until the next day, many of her friends were graduating that day and were travelling across the city to get to the venue. With the phone networks on overload it was an impossible task to check everyone was ok. My sons phone was working ok out in spain and as he hadn't seen the news he was very puzzled about the many text messages he was receiving to check if he was ok.

The following day, with my daughters graduation going ahead (the university said they would never let terrorism win) we like many others decided to drive into the city. Another day I shall never forget, people still in shock but all determined to carry on with their lives, the blitz spirit lives on in London!

We were very lucky that day and so were my son and daughters friends but many were not, you are all in my prayers and will not be forgotten.

Organic delivery

This weeks organic delivery! £12.80 I forgot to cancel it, oops! On the plus side the strawberries were lovely and sweet though! I will cancel next weeks and do a farm shop for comparison. I already have plenty of carrots in so will make a carrot cake!

1st harvest

It's not much but boy does it feel good to bring into the kitchen something we have grown ourselves. They seem to taste nicer too!

Roll on the rest of the home grown produce!

The last rose

Life can be a roller coaster ride as my Grandparents discovered!

In 1936 after years of struggling my Grandparents had to reluctantly accept that their drapers shop was no longer paying and had to close down, times were hard and it seemed that life couldn't get worse. Grandad took up a laundry round to put food on the table.Then in 1937 Grandad won a magazine competition with enough prize money to buy a large but ramshackle house for the family to move into. The house had been made into "bedsitters" and needed a bit of work to make it into a family home and with next to no money they did the best they could. There was however a large garden and Grandad soon got to work and made a beautiful garden filled with some lovely roses and fruit trees. With the advent of war, Grandad joined the ARP and in any spare time he had, set to and a lot more of the garden was made over to an air raid shelter, vegetables, fruit, chickens and rabbits but still the roses survived.

I remember playing in the garden as a small child, it was a wonderful place, full of secret paths and trees to climb.

Sadly, in the early 1970's about 10 years after my Grandmothers death, my Grandad's house was compulsary purchased and he moved in with my aunt and uncle. The house was knocked down and for many years until recent re-development, the land lay bare, except for the garden. Every summer the roses continued to bloom and one year I took a cutting, sadly it didn't take but I still have the photo of one of Grandads roses. I found the photo recently and it got me thinking that the truly good things in life can and do survive the hard times just like my Grandparents and their roses!