Who's On Board For A Thrifty 2010?

Well! that's it then, out with the Old in with the New, and all that.

A brand spanking new year! Here's wishing you all whatever you would wish for yourselves!

I'm not making any New Year's Resolutions - I can never keep them. Lets say I hope to do better in all areas - more crafting, better thrifting, better money management, healthier living - all the usual really.

I do hope you all had a good Christmas/New Year break - it makes a change doesn't it - a bit of feasting, spending time with family, general jolliness. We did.

We even got our little bit of snow - some of it is still hanging about.

We just had a couple of inches, nothing much really, but once it had frozen, thawed a little and frozen again, conditions underfoot were treacherous!

So much so that I went to the local supermarket and bought some bags of rock salt to scatter on the paths. I really don't want to be falling down - I have a good track record in that department ( Hubby P is convinced i do it as an attention seeking ploy - well last time I had two hulking ambulance men come to my aid! ).

I must say, I was very pleased with the service I got at the supermarket - when I went for the salt. There was a young man there who loaded my trolley for me, he assured me the bags were very heavy and I really should have help (strange really, I am beginning to feel that bit older - did this young man see me as an 'older lady' ?- I suppose he did! I did have a granny hat on! ). Anyway, I sent a message to his manager, I think it is so important to give a positive response, to say you appreciate good service. So often we are so quick to complain about shoddy service.

Just before the snow, I set up this little indoor garden,. The little cloche/glass house was a Christmas present from the family - how well they know me!

We had looked in the Garden Centre for a very small fern, or something similar, but there was nothing suitable, so I pinched a little one from my hedgerow (there were lots, I took only a little). The fern is still a little too big, but it looks pretty, and can you see - peeping out, some little 'pennies' of navel wort amongst the moss.

Its nice to have a little bit of fresh green to look at, lets hope Spring is not too far away!

Thrifty Snippets

This year I am really going to try hard to make my pennies stretch. It shocks me sometimes - how costly it is, just to live!

So I am looking at all and every way to save money and not waste anything. I thought I would blog my foray into Thriftyness, then perhaps we can share ideas and experiences, I think reading lot of your blogs, a lot of people are of a similar mind. It would be nice if you could either leave a comment on you thrifty ideas or slip it in your own blog ( I know a lot of you are anyway) What we need is a community of Thrifty Seekers - all there to help and inspire one another!

So today's Thrifty Snippet - Lidl was selling Brussels sprouts at 36p a big bag, I bought two, peeled them, saved the outer leaves for the rabbits and chickens (its so hard to find green stuff for them at this time of year) and put the prepared Brussels in the freezer.

As you can see, I had them a few days before I got around to dealing with them, and they were getting past their best - note to self - get on and deal with the fresh veg!

Whilst at the animal feed place getting my rabbit feed, I bought a big sack of Pony carrots - huge sack for £1.99. and really fresh, clean, tasty carrots.

I emptied the veg basket, and all the odd bits and bobs left from the Christmas week - half a butternut squash, half a Swede, some slightly withered onions a few parsnips etc, I chopped them all up, with plenty of the carrots and bagged them up as soup mix, and put them in the freezer.
Nothing is to be wasted, the animals eat all the peelings, and the carrots are cheap enough to feed to the rabbits - and they do love a fresh carrot!

Whilst on a thrifty mission to 'deal' with the veg, I emptied the fruit bowl too. I peeled and chopped all the slightly wrinkled apples and pears, added a few blackberries from the freezer, and made a Thrifty crumble.

Yummy with a tin of custard found at the back of the cupboard!

I know really what I am doing is just common sense, and what our Grandmothers did

without even thinking about it. But i think we just get so lazy, food is so readily available, and relatively cheap in comparison to other things, so we take it for granted, a lot is wasted, shocking really. As my Grandmother use to say - just think of all those little Children in Africa! Starving they are - what they wouldn't give for your crusts!

I don't know if that is very PC, but its still as true today - and what Grandmother's say always has a ring of truth about it.

xxx Take care for now xxx