There's help out there, if you need it

I've spent a lot more time on the computer today, not good for my eyes I know. Sometimes I find interesting stuff, one page leads to another, and before I know it a couple of hours have passed by. Many will see it as time wasting, but I look on it as furthering my education. I can learn about all kinds of things, I wish we had the internet when I was at school, lessons would have been so much easier.

You know that my favourite topic is ways to save money. There are lots of good sites, and blogs to read, but my favourite has to be www.moneysavingexpert.co.uk I have been having a good look round the site. Every aspect of personal finance and money management is catered for, anything you want to know about, regarding saving money, is right there on the one site.

I spend a lot of time reading the Forums, and learn a lot from other people posting up their questions, and dishing out their advice. The boards are very conveniently sectioned under the headings, Pure Money, Work and Benefits, Home and Play, For Who and Where You Are, Bargain Buys, Sassy Shopping, and Fantastic Freebies, Money Saving and the Site, and Moneysavers Arms. They all have sub boards, so there is a lot of topics to choose from. This is a very busy forum, I can see that at the moment there are over 9,000 reading it, that's a heck of a lot of people. 

The boards that I visit the most often are, Old Style Money Saving, that's all about thrift, Food Shopping and Groceries. UK Holidays, Days Out and Entertainment, Motoring, In My Home DIY Moneysaving, Marriage Relationships and Families, Health and Fitness, Debt Free Wannabe, and Loans.

Some of the posts can be light hearted and quite amusing, but at the other end of the scale there are some heartbreaking stories of people in terrible financial difficulties. I try and help if I can with my little bit of knowledge of living within my means. 

People looking for advice can post up their Statement of Affairs, it's a very brave thing to do to admit that you have thousands of pounds of debt, then to let other people pick over your statement. A lot of people are grateful for the help and are willing to make changes to get themselves back on the right track. However, I also notice that some people do not want to give up anything at all to free up money to pay off their debt. They somehow believe they can go on living the life they enjoy, and are not willing to cut down or give up anything. I don't know where they think the extra money will come from. A thread can go on for a long time, with lots of posts from people offering good advice, but if the original poster does not take heed, then they will never get out of debt. I have just contributed to such a thread, suggesting they cut right back on their drinking and socialising, as this would save a lot of money. Others posted similar comments, but I am not sure that the original poster took it all on board. I find it all quite exasperating, but as they say, you can lead a horse to water, but..........  

There are lots of questions about bankruptcy, whether it would be better to throw the towel in and give up. I am amazed that people think they can just walk away from it all. Becoming bankrupt can have enormous implications on future finances. People assume it is free to declare yourself bankrupt, I am not sure of the exact figure but it's around £700, and most people in dire straites haven't got that money. 

There are lots of questions on consolidating debts, taking out a loan to pay them all off, then only having the one repayment to make, usually over a longer period of time. There are numerous stories from people who have done this, but several months down the line, they are in a worse position than they were before, because they kept on spending on the plastic, instead of cutting the cards up. 

Every day there are new posts from people who have found themselves in the Payday loan trap. Short term borrowing which is paid back when they next get their wages, leaving them nothing to live on for the following month, so they need another loan. There is no getting out of the vicious circle except by not spending any money at all for one month, to catch up. Even with my frugalness I would find it difficult to do that, unlessI have a stockpile of food to live on. No, Payday loans are to be avoided at all costs. 

Anyway, I don't know if any of my readers are in need of  help with their debts. I certainly can't help, I don't have sufficient knowledge and I am not qualified to give advice. All I can suggest to you is to get onto the Money Saving Expert web site, read the Forums, and read up on all the help there is available. One thing you won't find are links to financial advisor companies which charge a fee. On no account pay anyone to help you work out the best plan for you. A good place to start is here........

 http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan

Links to free advice sites.....here....

 http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/

Or try here......

 http://www.stepchange.org/

And here.....

http://www.payplan.com/  

Ha ha, this made me titter.

No time to write much else now. A quick peek at my lunch. I couldn't be bothered to stick my hands in the pea burger mixture again, so I just scooped some out of the bowl and dolloped it into a pan with a splash of oil and cooked it on the hob, then under the grill. Still tastes the same whether it's in burger shapes or one big mass. Lynn asks if they would dry out if they were done in the oven. Yes, I think they would, unless you minced the peas and left some of the bread out. It only needs a couple of teaspoons of oil, just to stop them sticking. I don't like fried food so I use very little oil.   

Not sure where this artwork is going. Playing with ideas, something will happen eventually.

Toodle pip.

Plastics and pea burgers

We've had some right funny weather here today. First it's sunny, then it gets all windy, then big black clouds come over and chuck a load of snow at us, then the sun comes out. Temperature wise, it's flippin freezing cold. Not a good day for going out. So what did I do? I thought you might be interested to see how I organise this cupboard.

I have a big wall cupboard in the kitchen which houses all my plastic containers and bottles, it could do with a sort out and a tidy up. These bottles are different sizes, I keep them because they are useful for making up diluted fruit juice drinks to take with me when I go out for the day, or several days. The bigger bottles I fill with tap water if I take a trip in the car.  I wash the bottles out when I get back home, and if any of them are looking a bit grotty I chuck them in the recycling bin. The old bottles get thrown and new ones are bought to replace them. Most of these have come from the cash and carry, or the reduced section of the supermarket. I never pay full price for a bottled drink. The smaller bottles will fit nicely in a shoulder bag, along with a sandwich and a banana. A handy lunch for the day.

In this pile are an assortment of small pots and tubs. Some are used for freezing portions of soups or stews, others can be used for storing any small objects in them. You never know when you might need a small plastic container, so it's a good idea to keep some handy. I haven't yet found a use for the small white Coffee Mate shakers. They could be used to store any dried food and herbs. Some of these could be used to propagate seeds, especially the yogurt pots, and the milk bottle. Just cut the top off the bottle and make drainage holes in the bottom.

I like to keep a few microwavable dishes, for heating up portions of my home made soup or stew. There's no need to buy any of these from a kitchenware shop, just buy a few ready meals and keep the trays they come in. They can be used over again, and replaced and recycled when they are worn out.

These are storage boxes which I have bought from shops. I bought them long before I started my frugal journey, some of them must be more than twenty years old. I won't be buying any more, these will last me. Sometimes I make up a salad in a box and take it with me when I go out for the day. They are also useful for storing portions of food in the refrigerator.

I keep a selection of smaller containers. Some of these are handy for packed lunches if I want to take some tinned fruit with me. I can put some into a tub with a tight fitting lid. I use them for camping and hostelling. Coffee, sugar, and dried milk containers.

The small ones store nicely in this big plastic box.

All sorted and tidy.

So, what happened to the peas. They soaked in a bowl for 24 hours. Then I followed the instructions on the packet and rinsed them, boiled them for ten minutes, and simmered for 40 minutes. Then they were done. I added about half of them to the vegetable curry I made yesterday. Then put several spoonfulls into a mixing bowl. They were a bit sloppy so I added three slices of crumbled granary bread and some grated cheese. I chopped an onion and fried it in a small pan with some garlic, a crumbled veg stock cube, and some dried mixed herbs. When the onion was cooked I added it to the peas. It would have been better if I added an egg, but I didn't have any left.  

 

Next I made three small burgers. They were falling apart a bit because the mix wasn't stiff enough, I don't have any flour so I opened a cheap packet of stuffing mix and used this to coat them, and firm them up. I cooked them in the pan with a drop of oil, and flipped them over to cook the other side. Here they are, my pea burgers. They were very nice, but the stuffing had such a strong sage and onion taste. Perfectly acceptable but maybe I won't use the stuffing mix next time.

I'm going to freeze the rest of the peas in portions. There's a heck of a lot of peas in one 45p bag of split green peas. I shall probably buy them again, as they are a perfect filler for soups and stews, and maybe more experimental burgers.

Toodle pip.

Give peas a chance

Here I am suitably refreshed after having a day off yesterday. Well not quite the whole day off, I did feel a tad guilty about letting you all get on with it, so I thought it was only fair that I replied to your comments, just to let you know I hadn't abandoned the ship altogether. You did a grand job, your comments were very entertaining and interesting. It's nice to see that many of you live similar lives to myself. We are all fruglers in this together, all trying our best to make the most of what we have.

I think I can safely say that the excercise was 100% successful. I enjoyed reading about your lives, and I'm sure you all learnt a bit more about each other. It would be nice if you could follow it up and click on some of the links of our fellow bloggers. Thank you for taking the time to write my post for me.

Right, what's on the menu today. A bit of a chitchat, ooops, about food again. I forgot to mention that I did go shopping last Thursday night to Tesco, that was 15 days after my last shop there, so they are never going to make any money out of me, ha ha. I wasn't able to get any reduced veg, none left, but I did get some salad, and I got loads of good quality bread loaves, seeded, wholemeal, and granary, all for 15p a loaf, that's 90% off. My freezer is full now. 

Todays lunch. I got a large flat bread, supposedly with cheese and tomato on it, for 11p. I cut it in half and trimmed it to fit a small frying pan. I beat two eggs in a bowl and added some minced garlic and a splash of milk. I'll just mention here that the jars of Nishaan Minced Garlic are on special offer in Tesco at the moment, at 75p. I stocked up on it. Then I put half the mix into the lightly oiled pan, and put in the bread and poured the rest of the egg on top. I added four slices of tomato and some grated cheese to it, and cooked the bottom on the hob, and the top under the grill. Ate it with half a packet of salad leaves, very tasty, bit like a pizza, but much better with the egg cooked into it.   

Tonight's dinner was another veg curry. The celeriac, leeks and one of the peppers were given to me. The red onions I got from Aldi, won't be getting them again, there were four rotten ones in the pack. Although I photographed these ingredients before I started I didn't need them all. I filled the big pan up to the top, and  have plenty for several more meals.

I cut the peppers up and zapped them in the blender first, this chops the skin into tiny pieces.  

I was halfway through making this and I realised I had to go out, I put it all in the pan, with curry powder, two veg stock cubes, garlic, turmeric, and black pepper, got it to the boil, simmered for five minutes, then switched it off and left it. When I got back later and checked it, I was surprised that it had all cooked through and was ready to eat. I didn't bother to make any rice, a slice of bread with it was enough.

I found these green split peas in Morrisons when I went in for a browse to compare prices, and buy some Whiskas dry cat food on special offer. I thought I would get these, the packet was 45p, not sure why they are a lot cheaper than yellow split peas. It says high in protein on the packet so it's a good food to buy.

Anyway, I thought I wouldn't faff around cooking just a few of them, why not put the whole packet in a bowl to soak. I can find lots of uses for them, will probably bulk up the veggie curry with them when I have eaten some of it. Blimey, they haven't half grown a lot, they have swelled to double their size. This bowl is a really big fruit bowl. Good job I love peas, and for that price they are worth buying. I think I'm going to do a little experiment with them, I will make up a new recipe, ha ha. Watch this space.

I am itching to get on with another art project, but I'm struggling for ideas. I did have something in mind, but I need to visualise how I might put it together. Maps spring to mind. I'll get there eventually. 

Toodle pip. 

Your turn.....

Hey, I'm having a day off today, can't be bothered to write a blog post, so I'm handing it over to you. All you peeps out there can write it for me. Howzabout it? What have you got to say then?

Here are some topic suggestions.....
What I did yesterday.
What am I going to do today.
What I do to save money.
What do I spend my money on.
What crafty things I have made.
What did I make for dinner.
Where I am planning to go on holiday.
Where do I go shopping.

And any other topic you can think of. Burnsy calls his show on the radio  a Free for all Friday, when he can't think of anything to say.

So this is the Monday Magazine, where I get to read what you have to say. Yes, you got it, basically it's a cop out, so get your thinking caps on. Ha ha. Usual rules apply. Spam will be zapped. Sarcasm and nit picking, will be zapped. Comments subject to my approval before they are published. I'll be back later to check up on you.
Toodle Pip.
PS. Anyone got any good jokes?  

Take a virtual world tour with this site.

Hi, I know some of you like my photo's and I am chuffed. I love aerial photography, not mine, ha ha, but those photo's that other people have taken from helicopters. I don't fly very often but when I do I love the views you get from the air. I shall remember forever the sight of the Grand Canyon, and Las Vegas, when I flew over in a helicopter. It was a fantastic adventure. Approaching the Scilly Isles in an eight seater aircraft was another memorable experience. Another good experience was going up in a glider at an airfield close to here. I love the way you can view the countryside, seeing it all mapped out down below.

Imagine my delight when I found this web site. AirPano fly all over the world taking aerial photographs of all the famous landmarks.
www.airpano.com

Image copyright AirPano

I've had a lot of fun with this site, the photography is stunning, and I love the way you can use your mouse to view from different viewpoints. You can look at all the amazing places in the world in glorious 360 degree photography, without leaving your armchair. Have a play with it, and maybe choose your next holiday destination.

Toodle pip.

Two villages, one town, and one hamlet.

At last, I've been out for a walk today, it was a suny morning so I got my skates on, packed a sandwich, filled a bottle with a fruit drink, and off I went. I started off from Scawby, a village between Scunthorpe and Brigg. There's a nice big layby there near the church. First job was to pop in the shop for a bag of choc eclairs, I like to suck a sweet as I walk.

There isn't a big choice of footpaths around here, so I took a quiet road, crossing the A15 trunk road, towards some woods. This seemed a popular place for dog walkers, and I soon got chatting to a woman who was going in the same direction as me. She told me she was off to Spain next month for some long distance walking. We parted company when we reached the B1398 road, I went south and she went north.

A short distance down that road and I turned off to the right down a narrow road to Manton. This is a small hamlet, with less than a dozen houses and a couple of farms. I remember coming to look at the church here about ten years ago, it was advertised for sale. Not that I could afford to buy it, but I was curious. It hadn't been used for a long time and was sadly neglected, but what a fantastic location. I would love to live in a church. Look at it now. Looks like it was bought and done up by someone with lots of money. They have had to make a completely new vehicle access road as there wasn't one before. Doesn't it look stunning, the brickwork has been cleaned up and it has a new roof. I would love to look inside. It's like one of those renovation projects that you see on the tele.  

It was a lovely sunny day, but quite cold, best to keep moving. This is Cleatham Hall.

From Cleatham I took a footpath which went past some ponds. It was very pretty.

Once past the ponds, the path went straight on over a ploughed field. I decided not to go that way, and turned right down a farm track which came out on the B1400 towards Kirton in Lindsey. Just before getting into Kirton I passed the railway station. There are still a few trains that pass through, but not many. This is the platform at the back.

And this is the front of the station. It has been turned into a house, so someone lives here.

When I got to Kirton I called in at a shop to say hello to an old friend. I haven't seen him for about a year, so it was nice to have a chat. He tells me he will be 50 this year, I said, don't worry, it's not that bad, ha ha. This is Kirton Town Hall. It looks nice and tidy.

The rest of the town looks a bit shabby though. The pub could do with a lick of paint.

This funny little barber shop always makes me smile. It is a small three story building stuck in the middle of the square, surrounded by roads and parked cars. It's got a side door which presumably is the entrance to the flat upstairs. A strange place to live, with hardly any privacy.

I left Kirton on the B1398 heading north. Not far along there is the Windmill. It's a working windmill, they make their own flour and bake their own bread. There is a tea room and a shop. I have no time to stop, as I'm a bit behind time because I stopped far too long to talk to my friend. Must press on.

The next half an hour was spent staggering and stumbling over ploughed fields. I thought this was safer than taking my chances walking down a busy road with no footpath. At one point I wondered if I was going in the right direction as I seemed to have lost the sign posts. Luckily I came across a farmer in his tractor ploughing a field. He pointed me in the right direction, I wasn't far out. Eventually I came down a minor road into Hibaldstow. These guys were in a field at the junction where the two roads met. Aren't they lovely. As soon as they saw me they came running across the field towards me. The big black one was bellowing, he looked quite fierce, but when they came close to the fence, they were real softies.

Someone must have been to feed them as they had dropped some hay on my side of the fence. I threw it over and a third one came running across to get some.

Edit to add this link

www.highlandcattlesociety.com 

It was a case of following the road back to Scawby then. I could see this beautiful sunset over to my left but I couldn't get a good photo of it as the houses were hiding it. Then I reached a road junction which gave me a better view.

What better way to finish a walk than to have some fish and chips. I was surprised at the price of them,  I am sure I only paid about £4 when I last had some. Mind you it was a long time ago, These were £5. Bit of a rip off really, but they were nice.I brought them home and zapped them in the microwave for a couple of minutes.

It was good to get out again and blow the cobwebs off me. Got to keep the old legs moving, don't want to sieze up, ha ha.Total 13.20 miles, I'm chuffed with that.

Toodle pip.

It's what I believe

Right where was I? Ah yes, someone asked me a question. I try and answer all questions, if I remember, and if they are not too intrusive. So here goes....the question, ooops, there are two questions.

I love the strength of your convictions - were you always like that or did it take a while to "grow into yourself"? I'd also really enjoy learning how you ended up being a lorry driver and how long you worked as one. Many thanks for your wonderful blog.
Anonymous on 24/01/13

Hi Anon, and anyone else who wants to read this. I'll take question one first, logical, ha ha. The strength of my convictions, was I always like that? Some of them I was born with, and some came at a later date. My mother went through the second world war in Hamburg, which was pretty much bombed out, she was a very strong woman and had clear boundaries of what is wrong and what is right. She drilled it into me to be honest, speak up for yourself, and tell the truth. She was right, it's the only way. I was a very shy schoolgirl, often upset by bullies, I was not very good at speaking up for myself then, my confidence came later.

I have always hated confrontation, I cannot argue with anyone and cannot have a row with them. I don't know how to row, I would rather walk away. I suppose that could be seen as a cop out, but I feel nothing is gained by two people going hell for leather tearing a strip out of each other. Sometimes it takes strength of character to walk away. My strength is knowing how to protect myself, and how to respect myself.

I have a very strong sense of what is right and what is wrong. I remember one incident when I was bullied at work. Another driver, a lot bigger than me, stole the ropes from the back of my lorry, I caught him walking away with them. I went to his lorry and asked for them back. He hurled a load of abuse at me. I found the strength to stand my ground. I don't know if you have heard of 'broken record', the one that goes round and round saying the same old thing, well that's what I did. I repeated over and over again, 'give me my ropes'. After what seemed like an eternity he finally lost his rag, and threw the ropes across the yard, more foul language, then he jumped in his lorry and fled. I stuck with it because I knew I was right, even though I was close to tears and worried sick that he might punch me.

I believe in everyone having an equal chance, no one is better than anyone else. I think is is most unfair that some people earn vast amounts of money for doing very little at all. That is wrong. I have no time for rich folks who are stuck up their own backsides. I am no better than anyone else, and other people are no better than me. I like to think I am always fair with people.

Question two. How did I become a lorry driver, and how long was I driving for?
I left school with no qualifications at the age of fifteen. I worked in a variety of jobs, shops, offices, and factories. Then I got a job as a van driver, delivering spares for a garage. I liked the job because it meant I could organise my own work. I was given a new territory and went out and found a lot of new customers, I built up my round. At that time I contacted the driving school that I learnt to drive with, and asked for extra lessons because I wanted to take the Institute of Advanced Motorists test. I enjoyed driving so I though this would make me a better driver.

I passed the test and the owner of the driving school offered me a job as a driving instructor, so I took it. I found I didn't like this very much and only lasted nine months. By then I had noticed big lorries on the road and fancied doing that. I went to an HGV driving school and booked a course of lessons, ten days for £250. This was in 1976, so it was a lot of money. Thankfully I passed the Class 1 test first time, I had my licence to drive articulated trucks. 

It took three months to get my first job, no one was taking me seriously, but I knew I had a right to a job, so I kept applying for any job I saw advertised. Once I got a start I could build up some experience, and apply for other jobs. To help me I also did extra driving tests, all voluntary, with the I A M, and RoSPA, I managed to get Grade 1 advanced certificates, in a car and a lorry. I also passed a test and got a licence to drive buses and coaches. I was qualified to carry hazardous goods in tankers, and had three years of transporting abnormal loads under police escort. The only jobs I haven't done are livestock and car transporters. I finally finished driving at the age of 59, after 32 years on the road. I have to say, that getting my licence was the best thing I ever did, I loved my work.

My years on the road taught me a lot about equality, as you can imagine I had an uphill struggle to be accepted by my male counterparts. What kept me going was the fact that I had a right to do any job I liked. I am pleased to see that a great many more women are now following their dream.

That part of my life is now over, but I still feel deep down inside that my destiny is in my own hands, barring illness of course. I have never blamed anyone when things have not worked out for me. If something goes tits up it's because I have made the wrong decision.

I hope that has answered your questions, Anon. Toodle pip.