The Canny Lass

I promised myself that I would write a blog post in this newly resurrected Canny Lass blog every week without fail. And I nearly failed this week. I have good excuses though.

1. My laptop died on me at the tail-end of last week. I was updating it and the screen went blank and the laptop turned itself off… and refused to turn back on. Cue: panic. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Many hours of checking various internet pages and following their instructions did not result in it coming back on. I worked out that it was unable to reboot, so tried all the advice to make it happen again. I even tried the restore USB I had created only the week before. Guess what? The bloody USB stick restore files did not work. I had two options: contact our local IT guy, Gareth who is Welsh and is pretty good at fixing my laptop. But that might have cost me. Or buy a new USB stick with booting software. I opted for the second option first. I bought a USB stick for around 30 quid from Amazon, slotted it into my laptop and prayed to the God of Broken Tech with all my might and… it worked. I managed to get my laptop back. It took more than an hour to get most of my files back (that’s okay cos I have a backup of the missing stuff) and it’s taken me a few days to get all my apps (etc) back on. I’m still trying to restore my list of favourite web pages, but that’ll take more time.
2. I have been Mrs Sociable all week. Although I only worked two days this week at work (I work part-time), I’ve hardly been in this week. I was out for lunch on Wednesday, Thursday and today, and had friends round in the morning and afternoon of yesterday. So, that’s left me with very little time to do anything else. I know, it’s my own fault for putting so much stuff in my diary, but I only had one lunch in for this week for ages and the rest of the sociable stuff crept up on me and whammied me. I had a fab time at all the events though. I’m hoping to have a quiet weekend now, although I am going round to a friend’s house tonight. I know, I know!

So, I’m continuing to try and be better at being frugal although it’s proving to be harder this week. Having been out for lunch three times (I only paid for two), it has bit into my bank account, but I’ve got nothing else planned for a few weeks, so it should even itself out.

I am continuing to try and make meals from scratch again. I used to do it, but life got in the way and I came away from it. However, I am back. But not this week because the lunches made me full and so I was only eating sandwiches at night because I was still relatively sated from earlier. Today, though, I made pizza. That’s fine except I can never get a good crispy base from home-made pizza. In fact, the base was soggy and nasty and, although I ate half of it, I didn’t enjoy it and ended up throwing the rest out. Does anyone have any tips for great pizza base done at home? Do you cook the base first and then put toppings on? Or something else? Please share!

Tomorrow, I’m going to plant some seeds. I already have the equipment, so I bought some seeds in the hope that I can grow some herbs and vegetables this week. I’ve done it before and there’s nothing like home-grown veggies. Carrots are just so much more carroty and potatoes are amazing. I’ve got a bit of work to do in the garden, but I have loads of pots and some raised beds (not yet made up) that I can use. I also want to start herbs again. I have mint in the garden, but I want to grow some herbs that you can’t buy in the supermarket like Chervil and Dill. Plus it’ll be cheaper. I’m also going to grow some salad stuff like tomatoes and lettuce. My wee Silkie chicken, Buttercup, loves lettuce and it’ll be good to have home grown ones to hand for her as well. Although I also feed her dandilion leaves when they grow in the garden… she adores those.

Frugal things I did this week – I started up menu planning again and bought only the veg I need. My freezer still has meat in it, so I’m not going to buy any more meat until it’s all used up. I also purchased (I know, but it’s already good cos there’s stuff in there I didn’t know) this book:

It’s full of advice on a range of stuff from cooking to repairing stuff and being more frugal when socialising (which is what I need!). I can already sew on a button and some of the advice I know already, but there’s other tips there that will be useful. This is my last book buy for a long while. My house is bursting at the seams with books, so I DO NOT NEED TO BUY ANY MORE. Sorry, the shouting is for me, not you, because buying books is a major addiction for me. I will have a good read of this book and let you know if it’s worth the buy. It’s an American book, so the few recipes within it are in American measurements, but so far it’s pretty good.

I’ve also been scouring the internet for other great tips and tricks for being frugal and more money conscious, and I’ll share those with you over the next few weeks.

I’ve also signed up for Top Cashback. My friend referred me and both she and I got £30 for me joining. This site is much better for cashback, it seems so far, than other ones I’ve been a member of, including the one my employer offers. So, if you want to join – and there’s no pressure here, but I will get some money if you do and so will you – please click on my link: https://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/member2123867492002

Right, now that’s over with here’s a couple of week frugal tips I’ve learned over the years:

When you have a box of wine and you’re coming to the end of the box, you can get the rest of the wine out by removing the wine bag inside and simply snipping off one corner. Don’t, as one of my mum’s friends used to do, try rolling the bag or folding it to get the wine out. That’s too much effort. Just cut the corner off and pour.

Similarly for toothpaste, you can snip off the end of the tube and stick your toothbrush in. I’m currently trying out some paint tube/toothpaste squeezers that I bought from Amazon. It was two for £7.99. I usually just roll the toothpaste, but hopefully these will get more out. I’ll let you know. If not, I’ll use them on my paint tubes. I’m not an artist, but I love to paint and draw and pootle about with art. It’s so relaxing. I made all my Christmas cards last year using stamps and water colour paint, and it was so fun doing it. Plus it got me away from the television and doing something else instead (how very Why Don’t You? You have to be Gen X to get that reference, I think!). Making your own Christmas cards is not in anyway cheaper than just buying cards in the sales in January, but it was a very peaceful, relaxing thing to do and I loved doing it.

Top Tip: To reduce damp and mould in your home, open windows for at least 20 minutes a day to allow air to circulate, especially if you are drying clothes on rails. Do this even in the winter. Mould can appear due to condensation which has built up up in the house because of lack of circulation. You could also invest in a humidifier. I’ve heard good things about these and they help dry clothes quicker apparently.