Staycation day 2 for £3.40

Today we took our bikes and rode the Camel Trail, which follows the river Camel from Wadebridge, to Padstow. The only expense we incurred, other than getting there, was the £3.40 to park all day. We didin't even pay for the sugar for our coffee. Dearly Beloved got some free vouchers from the paper (which he freegans from the train) and gets coffee from Starbucks, we also gather tonnes of sugar, ketchup, salt, pepper from the occasional trip to Mc Donalds or other huge companies who wouldn't miss them.
So, on arriving close to Padstow, after the five mile bike ride; we stopped and enjoyed the incredible views. (Sorry about the face pulling, but I'm blowing on hot coffee).
We parked up the bikes and walked into Padstow.
The tide was dropping all the time, revealing the sand banks and the wading birds.
When in Cornwall, try to have a Kelly's ice cream, they are still a major employer and have hudreds of people in their factory in Bodmin; we didn't succumb today.
It was another overcast day today, but Padstow was as busy as ever. It was thick with tourists, typically the Phoebe and Quentin types, who didn't know what to do with Tarquin and Tabatha now they'd given nanny the fortnight off! They had arms like stretch Armstrong, laden down with bags of surf clothes and the multitude of goodies sold by Ricky Stein!
In some streets, Steiny boy had three shops next to each other selling: art, clothes and the cafe, in another street he had a pasty shop, several chippies and of course his three story, bar on the roof terrace restaurant. It might be over kill, but it brings tourists to Padstein all year round and keeps people employed.
We on the other hand, just soaked up the ambiance, took our picnic and found a bench by the harbour and sat, ate our sandwiches and drank our coffee. We then snuggled up in the afternoon sun and listening to a folk musician busking and watched the tourists try to keep their children from falling in the harbour and spending all of their merchant banking city bonuses!
After snoozing together for a while, just generally being lazy and on holiday; we walked further from town and towards the beach. We've never done this before and I can recommend it. We walked through a field that led to the war memorial and we met with a line of benches at the top of the hill. The views of Rock and the estuary were wonderful.

After taking as much sun and lazing around as we could cope with, we headed back. The hedge rows were groaning with crab apples (Malus Sylvestris) and by the time we got back to Wadebridge, we managed to pick half a basket full. The blog about what I did with the crab apples will follow later!
Our journey by bikes was so slow as we stopped to watch the Canada geese and their aerobatic displays, to watch the wading birds and so often just to sit by the estuary and watch the world go by. We didn't go to a fancy restaurant, we didn't step foot inside any shops, not even for a coffee but we had a fantastic day because we had time and each other.

Car boot, closing down sale and ebay

We don't often go on a shopping spree, but we did today. The posh frocks and handbag shop is closing down, so we bought the posh essential oils for £1 each.............a blog will follow with what I will do with them.

The car boot sale didn't have anything I wanted to buy today but people were selling surplus from their gardens, I bought the veg for 50p a bunch and the cucumbers for 20p each, so £1.90 for our veg for the weekend.

The bargain of the year was my purchase for Dearly Beloved and he's always wanted one. I've been watching a trailer on ebay, I sat and waited at the end of the auction, no one bid and I put in my bid and bought this trailer for the unbelievable price of £50.01

It used to be a trailer tent, but now it's just a trailer and will be brilliant for our camping trips, when we've paid off our debts and can go again..........probably this time next year at the rate we're going. Talking of debts, today I paid off the last of Dearly Beloved's HSBC card of the balance of £609.14 and another £500 off our Virgin card, which we have at 0% and another £225 off Barclaycard which we also have at 0%! It may be extreme debt repayment and a massive overpayment each month, but the debts are just melting away.

The trailer is in good order, the electrics work and all it needs is a number plate and we can go off camping for a few days.

At £50, it has to be the best bargain I've ever bought!

Staycation with Dearly Beloved

It's misty murky day; neither hot nor cold, we've no money and I couldn't be happier. Dearly Beloved now has a week off and we're going to make the most of that we value the most, time and each other. We packed the dogs into the car and headed for Cardinham Woods and the steep 4K inclines of the Callywith Wood Walk. It's just enough to get the lungs and calves working and some of the views are as breath taking as the steep paths.
There is something Tolkeinesque about forests which make me think of Hobbits and elves. I find it an incredibly romantic and beautiful place.
It's also lovely to have the time to tease funnel web spiders out of their hidey holes. If you gently tickle the web with a blade of grass; the vibrations are similar to that of a trapped insect and the spider, with it yellowy brown face and long tendril like front legs will come out for a nose, only to be disappointed and reverse back into the safety of his lair. It was a game I played for hours as a child, we even used to trap flies to feed them to the spiders, the bigger and the deeper the funnel, then the bigger the spider. They still bring out the little girl in me when I see them now.
The paths through Cardinham are wide and easy to walk, a few puffing cyclists (as Patsy would say "buttocks like two boiled eggs in a handkerchief") make it look easy. But we took it as an hour long hand in hand gentle stroll, chatting as we went.
The woods are loved by local families and are a great activity for people on holiday, come rain or shine the BBQ area, with free to use BBQs are well frequented, with parents on benches and children playing in the grass of the gently burbling river.
If you have children, or are just in need of somewhere away from commercialism and full of peace, then this is the place to go. It's still drizzling now and I'm still stuffed after homemade carbonara for lunch. Today's adventures are not over yet and Friday is the day of the local car boot sale and as it's pay day, who know what we might find.

Walk a mile in my shoes.

Come with me, through Respryn woods, along the River Fowey and share what I thought of today.

In 1997, after five abusive years, I picked up my two kids and left. I left a man with in excess of 2 million pounds worth of assets who then took me to court for custody of our daughter and kept me in and out of court for the next four years. Each time, he would turn up with a barrister and as I was not entitled to legal aid, turned up and defended myself, until, in desperation I too hired a barrister. Each 'bout' cost us about £7,000 for a few hours or so in front of a judge. Every time we did this, with no money, all we could do was remortgage the house. Anyone with children would have done the same. In the end, we spent almost £25,000 just to stop him taking my daughter away from me with no reason but spite. So we got into the spiral of debt.
We initially bought the only house we could afford in a district of Plymouth called Keyham (btw - I left my ex with nothing but scars and our clothes), nice enough but not a safe area. We worked hard, renovated our home and moved to the only house we could afford in a good area of Stoke, another district in Plymouth. We replaced every downstairs floor joist, all the render and plaster, we built and extension, installed a kitchen and bathroom and carpeted the place. At the same time, I had two jobs and went to Exeter university to get my English degree. Like many modern students, my education also added to my debts.
I reflected on my life, my walk as I walked the dogs today. There are people who read this, who have known me for years, who will vouch for what I say. I haven't run up debts on designer handbags, but clothes for work, shoes for my kids and keeping a roof over our head...........especially when we found dry rot and had to have a new one built! I don't drive a Mercedes, I drive a Fiat. I bought a four bedroomed house as five adults moved into it in 2007 when we bought it! I renovated the entire of the house I now live in for five thousand pounds and as it had cat piss stained pink shag pile carpet and groovy wall paper and smelt like and old people's home........I had little choice but to do the place up.
We did holiday for four years in France and my exam marking money paid for it. I haven't run up debts being extravagant; I just used to kid myself that I could afford to have the heating and lights on at the same time! Both my kids went to 'good schools' and every school trip, choir tour, £100 blazers!!! were bought with credit cards if I couldn't afford them and the kids had to have them.
We then moved house, when I got a new job in Cornwall in the property boom of 2007, when house prices were at their peak and we ended up with a huge mortgage. Cornwall is one of the most expensive places to live in the UK and I had no option but to take out a 200K mortgage! Then prices of: food, fuel, utilities etc went sky high and suddenly we were financially worse off. After having a mortgage application for a smaller house refused, we decided to pay off what we owed and drastically change our life style. We have halved our debts since doing that but the privations are extreme. We could have taken a softer longer journey but I prefer the short term pain. My family and friends have supported me every step of this rocky journey as have people who read this blog, and for that am I extremely grateful.
Even my work place have embraced my lifestyle, allowing me to teach the kids 'real' cooking on a budget as a school activity. Colleagues who read my blog have taken up tutoring and a more frugal lifestyle to pay off their debts and people openly talk about the money they owe and how they want to get off the 'commercial' money go round and live differently. People I work with proudly show me their charity shop finds and how they made a few quid on Amazon and Ebay.
As I turned the corner in Respryn woods today and saw this sign, I looked into the distance and saw the castle and even though it looked so close, it was still up hill. My castle is now in sight, but it's still up hill. I still have further to go than the distance I have travelled and the terrain gets rougher as I push myself harder. We are getting better at doing more with even less, better at earning more money and better at living ethically and with less impact on the planet. I genuinely appreciate the words of support that came with me on my walk today; I don't do it alone.

Taking a break

I have my ups and downs like most people and this blog has served as a release and much better than the Fluoxetine that I have weaned myself off! I've just read an entire blog page slagging me off personally and it's hit me to the core and sent my depression back to square one! I hope that person is now happy with the extreme hurt they have caused me. This is the first time in over a year that I know I will not get through today without going back on medication.

Upcycling

Some of the material on the bed are clothes I have bought off the 50p rail in the Woodside animal Shelter shop, just for the fabric. I will use it somehow some day. I have a couple of old shopping bags full of material and quite frankly it needed a more suitable home.
I made the bag from old strips of vertical blinds, again from Cornwall Scrapstore. I love the concept of upcycling and although the bag is a bit rough as it's the first time I've tried to use such a difficult fabric, it does the job. The blinds are not in landfill and I have somewhere to keep my scrap fabric and it cost me nothing.

End of the month frugal recipe.

When we are 'flush' we take ourselves for a day out in Totnes and go to one our favourite shops that sells ethical/vegan/vegetarian food. We shop in: Greenlife, Riverford Organics and we eat in the best restaurant in the world, that also happens to be a vegetarian restaurant called Willow; lunch is about £6 and we manage to get there once a year as a special treat. When we go to Greenlife, we buy Dolmades and a whole selection of tofu and veggie burgers, most of which I can copy and make at home. I don't buy vine leaves as they are expensive but make a pretty good version on the theme of Dolmades myself. Here is what I do. Take a selection of veg; I used parsnip, carrot, onion and courgette and grated them finely with the food processor. I then slowly steamed/fried them in the wok. I added some lemon zest and corriander.
Whilst that was cooking, I took the outer leaves of a cabbage and cooked them for about three minutes, so they were only just cooked. I drained them and left them to cool.
When the veggies were cooked through, I added a packet of savoury rice,that I had already cooked. It already has spices and herbs added to it and at 24p from Asda, can make anything a bit more interesting. You can add any flavours you like. I have a pack of Asda cous cous flavouring that is lemon and coriander based and gives it that 'Greek' theme.
I then spread the cooled cooked cabbage onto a board.
Filled it with the rice and rolled it into little parcels. I then added some 34p Asda tomato sauce (the stuff you use for pasta) into the bottom of the dish.
I placed the stuffed cabbage onto the sauce, the parcels on top and covered with the rest of the sauce. I covered the whole dish with foil and baked for about half an hour in a hot oven.
We had it with a tomato salad and Dearly Beloved likes grated cheese on his, but I don't. We eat some very interesting food at the end of the month! but even though this is a left over veg concoction it is one of our favourite things to eat.

Free gifts part 2!

I am having such fun! Remember my scrapstore haul from yesterday? The material at the bottom of the photo is now bunting, the material to the left of the 'tartan' is silky dress material, it was samples and I had about five sample pieces. Well the photo below is what they became!
I love that French looks of wrapped and knotted and I wear scarves to work with a blouse and it can make a plain suit look colourful and yet remains formal and smart. My mum also loves scarves and accessories and she can make any outfit look so feminine with a slight adjustment! I think the scarf looks quite 'Hermes' and I'm sure she'll love it.
The scarf above is pure freeganism, I found it in the road. All wet and dirty, so I took it home, washed it and put it on the line. I'm also going to wrap that and give it to mum, she'll love the story of it being found in the road.
Here are the scarves again. I sewed the squares together, then cut them in half length ways and repeated the 'pattern' again. Turned it inside out and then turned in the ends and sewed it again. I'll wash it, dry and iron it and wrap it later. That's two presents so far that haven't cost me anything.

Free gifts.

I must admit, I find Christmas difficult! It is what it says it is to me...........a Mass for Christ, a celebration of the founder of my faith. So; I find the financial side of it difficult for different reasons. I can't afford it and I wouldn't want to if I could. I suppose I'm answering Foster Mummy's question "What do you do about Christmas and Birthdays". Well, of course, I give frugal presents. This year is going to be different. I'm going to make every present I give. Yesterday I had fun making bunting and that's now wrapped for Dad's present; he has a sense of humour, lives in Fowey and will love putting bunting in his garden in regatta week! Today, I will make something for my mum, who has a birthday at the end of August and then I will think of something I can make for her to open at Christmas.

Most of my family and friends would be happy to receive a pot of jam, some homemade chutney or a hand knitted scarf. So, this year my usual budget of £100 will be decimated and you might be receiving something unusual. Oh, BTW...........I saw some gifts, wrapped in colourful pages from old magazines and as Dearly Beloved brings me magazines that he finds on the train, even the wrapping paper will be free, also I will try using garden twine (usually a deep winter green) and I will use some scrap store off cuts to make ribbons and decorations. Now for my challenge!!! Christmas without spending any money.....one gift down and around 10 more to makes! Anyone care to join me in my challenge - what can you make for free?

Scrapstore goodies

I've had an amazing day! The dogs and I went out for a walk, I had time to go to the station with Dearly Beloved and I was in the supermarket by eight am! I love to beat the crowds. I did my week's shopping for just over £17. I got the bargain of the year; 12 pork steaks for £3 from the freezer section. I've defrosted two and will have stir fry for supper. My main reason for going is that I didn't have any baking ingredients and I wanted to try out the Kenwood chef. The dough hook kneeds the bread until it is so light, I also made a cake for Dearly Beloved but as I have the breaking strain of a Kit Kat.......I had a piece! Whilst the bread was rising, I went off to the Scrap store at the community centre. It was good to see everyone and wish them a happy summer break as they close for August.
I brought back an array of scrap fabric, some of which is waterproof, it might even be sail material. I also cut some other waterproof material into strips, to form a sort of outdoors bias binding.
I downloaded a template from here and then found an old plastic folder to make a durable template.
I then got out my forty year old sewing machine, bought for me by mum and she cannily bought it second hand for me........but I love it!
I then made some bunting. It's not for me; I'm not decided who it's for yet but someone will get it as a birthday or Christmas present.
It's 100% waterproof, 100% recycled and 100% FREE!!

Now I must wizz downstairs and clean up and do my best impersonation of a Stepford wife and get Dearly Beloved's supper ready for him when he gets home...........he only had a housewife for 12 weeks a year! The rest of the time, it's self service!