Strike

Good morning Dear Reader,

I'm not going to make any personal remarks about the industrial action I'm taking today, instead, here's an article by Kate Treacy from yesterday's Guardian newspaper. P.S, if you want to use my comments to be derogatory about teachers, just remember, you can do so because one of them taught you to read and write!

I'm going on strike to make you show teachers some respect, Mr Cameron!

If the government wants to attract the best graduates to teaching, it must prove to them that they are valued.

As a teacher, I'm always a bit cagey when someone mentions time off. I have been doing my best to avoid any conversations about tomorrow's strike for the fear of the familiar retort: "Because that's what teachers need isn't it? Another day off!"

Teachers are constantly vilified as an inefficient and ineffective bunch, more interested in coasting to a comfortable retirement than unleashing the potential of the young talent of this country. But I firmly believe that this campaign is not just about how well-off I will be in my autumn years. It's about fostering respect for our profession, it's about ensuring that teachers are valued.

I doubt anyone would argue with the assertion that successful societies need successful education systems, and these need good teachers. But bright and dynamic people require some incentive to enter the profession: a bit more respect would help.

There's an awful lot of teacher-bashing about: it seems every ill in society has its roots in our "failing" state schools; even the August riots have been blamed, at least in part, on us.

Respect for teachers and teaching has dwindled in the last 20 years: not just in the media but in the minds of our peers, parents, students, even ourselves. I delayed entering the profession for fear that I might have "settled" for it.

One way for the government to attract talent to teaching is through good pay and conditions. It sends a signal that this profession is important, that the people we have slogging their guts out in our schools are worth investing in.

The new pension proposals will have a serious impact on the financial future of teachers: we are expected to pay more out of our salaries now to get less out of the pension pot in the end.

Remember, teachers do not operate in a market place. Terms and conditions are set by the government. Good teachers can't negotiate a better pension deal elsewhere. We are stuck with what the government offers us. So that offer needs to be attractive.

Yes, Mr Cameron, industrial action will be disruptive, but then that's the point. It's time you all sat up and took notice of us. We really are that important.

• Kate Treacy teaches English at a state secondary in north London.

See you later,

Froogs xxx

Gratefully received!

 Hello Dear Reader,

Today's blog is a bit of a boast. I have incredibly generous friends and family. Dad dropped some wood in, that he knew someone had ready to go into a skip. Dad popped it on his roof rack and brought it to me, I found it tucked around the side of the house this evening. I'm so thankful of such a lovely gift and the efforts he went to.

My other lovely gift that I thought I'd show off was from Man Wonderful, so nice to have someone else think of us. I cherish such actions and they make me feel loved.

Living a simpler life has made me truly appreciate the goodness of such wonderful gift. I shall be warm for hours, I shall be able to chop this into kindling to start my fire. These gifts are gratefully received.

With much love and gratitude,

Until tomorrow,

Froogs xxxxx

Oh yeah!!!!!

 Hello Dear Reader!

Today is a real 'Ta dah!' kind of day. It's the end of the month, I have not a penny to my name as I've cleared out our accounts, bundled it into one place and thrown it all (like monkeys throwing shit!!!!) at Santander! I have made it! I have reduced my mortgage capital by 10% this year! Now it's time to save for next year's payments.

There's no heating on. The lights are off. We've eated a slow cooker from stewing lamb and root veg, which cooked in the slow cooker. The clothes have dried again on the indoor rack infront of the window. we have no budget for Christmas, so just a few homemade gifts for close family but OH YEAH....we've made it and we've a month to go yet and two pay cheques to bank in readiness for next year.

When I first did this, it seemed so hard, depressing and it really wasn't any fun. Now I dance around when I write another cheque to the building society. I love giving them my money. It's doing nothing in the savings account (although we do have a contingency fund) so we might as well reduce the huge interest payment we make each month. I plan to get rid of another 10% next year....and some! Does anyone have a brilliant mortage deal they can recommend? Does anyone have an offset mortgage?  

I don't think any of us can predict the financial future, or even be that prepared for it. All we can do is stuff money (if we're debt free) any where we can. In my case, whilst I've got a mortgage, I may as well keep buyng a few more bricks and try and get myself out of mortgage debt as soon as I can. But Oh Yeah! I actually achieved my financial goal in total today.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

Never to early!

Hello Dear Reader,

You all do often like the 'how to' blogs I write, so here's a how to make mince pies. These took me an hour to make, including cooking time, and I was eating my lunch whilst they were cooking. Cost - about £1.50 for 12, but the fruit was soaked in brandy when I made the mince meat, so these are quite delicious.

1. Weigh out 500g of plain flour and add to the food processor with the chopping blade in the bottom.
2. Open and cut into cubes, 250g of vegetable margarine. Place in machine and switch on, until it resembles bread crumbs in about 60 seconds.
3. Switch back on, this time dribbling in cold water from a jug.
4. It will become bigger and bigger lumps until it forms one lump, as seen above. Stop and turn out onto a floured board or clean work top.

Here's the finished pastry - so far in under five minutes. Switch the oven on, mine has gone onto 180 degrees, as I have oven chips, battered pollack in there too and that's the temperature they need!

Gently roll out, big pastry cutter for the bottom and smaller for the top.

Go get the mince meat out of the cupboard. I made this when some one gave me a basket of windfall. It keeps for years.

I cram as much in as I can, it's mainly apples, with some spices, some sugar, orange and lemon rind and a few flaked almonds.

Pop the tops on and bake for 25 minutes, mine went into the oven along with the fish and chips.

After cooking, leave the oven door open to warm the house up.

Finally, using a small plastic tea strainer, dust the little pies with a liberal sprinkling of icing sugar.

Leave to cool before eating! But, they are best is slightly still warm when you eat them. They can be eaten with cream (which I don't like) or custard, but I  like mine with a cup of tea.

Enjoyxxxx

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxx

Using free winter water

 Hello again Dear Reader,

The weather is fantastic today. It's chilly but dry and sunny. Again, I was able to get outside to do 'garden jobs'. As I said yesterday, I don't like the gym or what seems like pointless going no where exercise, but I do enjoy hard work. I must have had a good upper body work out, both today and yesterday as my triceps are still aching, so good work went on again in the bingo wing area! I should patent this work out. Today's is called 'scrubbing the step'.

First of all, get an old broom handle, that snapped half way and you couldn't repair and run it up and down the cracks between the paving slabs and get all the moss and grass out! This makes the triceps ache!

 Now your slabs are moss free, get some water from your butt! No jokes please! We've all got gallons of it sitting there, nothing to water in the garden. So now's the time to get the soap and scrubbing brush and get your patio, steps, deck or paths a good clean.

 The weeds before my very sophisticated broken broom handle weed remover tackled them.

 Get the water onto the step, or where ever needs it, give is a tiniest squirt of bleach and washing up liquid and now put your back into it, get those shoulders working and get scrubbing.

 Now rinse, when you do so, keep scrubbing, it'll keep cleaning it.

I've only done a small section today, but will continue to do a bit more each week, using the water from the butt and not the tap. We also use this water for rinsing the car when we wash it. It also got bucketed in (whilst I remembered) and a couple of buckets are by the loo to flush it. That's another work out I should patent.........carrying buckets!

Now my lovelies, here's my challenge to you.........get out and use up the water in your butts..........let me know how!

Work it baby!

 Hello Dear Reader,

I hate the gym and sport and keeping fit! Anything that involved lycra is not for me! I can't see the point in it. I've always thought people who enjoy it must have a lovely life with lots of time on their hands and need something to fill their time. I do exercise though. Today, I stacked away 1.27 metric tonnes of wood. Most of it, was too big, so I chopped it too. Lots of upper body exercise to keep the bingo wings from flapping. Dearly Beloved shared in this workout. Yesterday, the wood was dropped on the drive at the front of the house and he then barrowed it round to the back of the house, down a narrow path and then back up it again with the empty barrow until he'd moved all of it.

It's still relatively affordable with a tipper truck full for £100! That seems like a lot of money and it is. However, this is pay as you go heating, or pay for it first heating. I can now, for the first time in years, have my home as warm as I really like it and know I can afford it as there won't be a bill in the new year for gas. I can also dry all my washing and can keep ourselves a lot cleaner and tidier, which makes us feel a whole lot better. I'm still revelling in the luxury of heating of any kind. The last two winters have been extremely hard as we had next to no heating as we didn't dare run up a gas bill. Now, other than the hob on the cooker, we don't use any gas at all.

It has also dried my house out, and we seem to have completely eradicated any mould or damp as the fire dries the air too. The chimney is in the middle of the house and warms the stairwell, the bedrooms and the landing. It's far more efficient than I thought it would be. As for next winter, we'll be burning our own wood, from the trees we had felled, both this winter and last winter. It will also take us a while to chop up the metre wide logs and then split them even further. Carbon neutral? I'm not sure with the amount of puffing I did whilst stacking the wood. I did enjoy standing back, mug of tea in hand and admiring my handiwork.

Am I alone? Do any of you in blogosphere enjoy manual labour, chopping, stacking and sweaty toil? Do share?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xx

Our Daily Bread

Baked in the bread machine, so very low energy costs - strong white flour 64p a bag from Lidl

Hello Dear Reader,

On average, we eat a loaf of bread every two days. If we bought a loaf of bread from the baker's every day, we'd pay around £1, so the cost of bread is 50p a day or £182.50 a year. That's a lot of money for a few pieces of toast and a sandwich lunch each day. We buy 8 sachets of yeast for 60p - so 7.5p a sachet and bags of flour for 69p and make four loaves from each bag. My bread costs 19p a loaf. £34.67 a year! Homemade always works out cheaper and this simple costing shows how we can feed the two of us, two dogs and a cat for £30 a week.

How much money can you save by making it yourself?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Bloody lovely!

 Hello Dear Reader!

If you are from foreign climes, you may be thinking......what the heck is that? It's a black pudding or a blood sausage. Eaten, here in the UK as part of the full monty from breakfast. The likes of Heston Bloomin' heck have been using this with fancy food such as scallops, but with my mother hailing from Derbyshire......I grew up eating this as the main part of my meal. I still love it. They cost around £1.50 for the whole sausage, you peel off the cover (unless you've got the genuine cooked in guts version) and grill it or fry it. That's it! Serve it with what you like. Don't add any starches such as spuds as the blood is soaked up by starch, with spices and lumps of fat added and that's it!

 I served ours with a few lardons, salad, dressing and a dollop of hummus. The lighting has made it look very black and the outside is always a bit crispy as that's the way we like it! We've saved half of it for another day. So 75p worth of Black pudding, some salad and a few lardons have made a very special supper. Bloody lovely!

I'm sure a few of you will turn your nose up at the humble blood sausage but here's my theory. If you are going to eat an animal, eat it all, don't waste any! Not even the blood. As ever, over to you dear reader............what unusual food, that some people might find just too peasantish, do you really enjoy>

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

Eating the stockpile!

Hello Dear Reader,

I really enjoyed reading about your inconvenient food, your home cooking and the simple pleasures that so many of us enjoy from some stoveside pottering. It's at the stage of the year, where I'm driving to work in the dark and groping my way home in the dark too and I'm getting home late and tired. I've made two fish pies which are bubbling away, a shelf each, in the mini-oven. One will be for the freezer and one will feed us tonight and tomorrow night. I'm getting used to the same meal twice in a row and I really don't mind. Something else I don't mind is the occasional delve into my stock cupboard and pulling out something that makes the meal go further. Tonight, it's some Aldi beans and carrots. They are remarkably good for tinned and very cheaply priced. There's plenty more and I always stock up on tins when I get paid each month as I like to have a good stock pile to feed us for quite a few days.

I've always done this; it comes from the days when four of us lived off Dearly Beloved's wage of ten thousand a year. We never knew until years later that we could have applied for top up benefits, but by then I'd got a night shift job in a care home and we managed by being very careful. I used to stock up on plenty of tins, frozen food and cheap cuts to see us through to the next pay day. I still like to have spare food, even though we're better off.........some habits die hard.

What frugal habits do you hang on to? Whether you need to or not?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

Inconvenient foods

Hello Dear Reader,

I was thinking today about how much I like getting in from work and 'getting the dinner on'. I like standing in my kitchen and rubbing fat through flour, I like making pastry, standing in the window and washing cabbage leaves. I can't think of anything nicer. I even like the break when I've got the 'dinner in' to go and light the fire. 

Of course, I like to pull something out of the freezer and heat it up or cook something I've prepared earlier. I know this is not convenient, and I know I have to wait for my food to be prepared and cooked. I know this takes time but every slice, grate or chop is done with love for myself and DB as we deserve to be well nourished.

There is nothing on earth comparable to the deliciousness of home cooking! Nothing I buy lives up to my expectations and really, I can do better! I also love 'beating the system' and not giving in to marketting, not giving in to big business!

Even better if I can grow it and cook it, or pick it for free and cook it. Even better if I can store it away and bring out a spoonful of summer sunshine onto a slice of toast in the middle of winter.

I've come home tonight and I've cooked a full roast dinner. Spud, veggies, stuffing and gravy. The meat will go through the slicer and go a very very long way. So, tonight.................here's to inconvenient food! Food that comes with scales on, skin on it, dirt that needs washing out, or even bugs in it that need squashing between your fingers. Raise a cuppa to home cooked, inconvenient food!

Now, as ever, I'll hand this over to you dear reader. What inconvenience do you enjoy?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs

May the best house win.

 Hello Dear Reader,

I love the gentle yet pervading aroma of a woodfire through out the house and the smell of clean and drying laundry. The sun left us early today and by three o'clock it's become over cast and smoke is curling out of the houses in the valley below. If I don't get the washing smartly, then my knickers will smell like kippers!

I was watching some facile bunch of plastic no bodies showing people around their houses and the simple premise of the TV programme was that the house judged the best won. I looked at all the houses and thought: there's no where to stack any wood in that front room, where are they going to hang the washing and there's no where warm to leave bread to rise. I didn't think any of them were winners! Nil points from Froogs then!

My house is warming from the stove, the scent of drying sheets is filling the air, I have a stew bubbling away and all is good in the world. My house wouldn't win any style awards but it simply does the job. It keeps us warm and safe.

What do you love about your simple frugal home? or would you like to change?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Saturday bargains!

 Hello dear reader,

I cracked under the strain today and spent £10! As it's the 19th, I broke on the 19th day, and couldn't resist a charity shop rummage. I bought a wool skirt by Marks and Spencer's - Autograph, a leather hand bag and a scarf, which came to the massive sum of £8!!!

 My bargain of the day was my haul of vintage linens for 99p from eBay. I drove the 20 minutes to Plymouth to pick them up and then had a good dig in the hospice charity shop before I drove home again. I am short of pillow cases and napkins and will up-cycle the table clothes, all of which are too small for my table into  pillow cases. Most are old and linen and have those wonderful 'Made in England' labels and some say 'Empire made'. There's a whole load of lace too and I'll make some decorative pillow cases too, for the spare room; I always afford visitors a lot more luxury than I need. I have ten tea towels, many napkins, some lovely decorative tray clothes which I will turn into something else as and when I need something. Nothing you can buy now meets the quality of old heavy linens.

I've also made seven pots of marmalade this morning (thanks to the friend who saves her jam jars for me xxxx). Dearly Beloved slept late this morning and was thrilled to find his favourite breakfast spread waiting for him when he came down; I prefer jam so I make this just for him. I'm now off to give the house a really good clean in readiness for visitors this afternoon. What are you up to today and have you found any bargains or made something today?

Until tomorrow,

Lots of love,

Froogs

Viva Las Vegas

Hello dear reader,

Thanks for dropping by again. The nights seem to have drawn in so quickly this season and it's dark as I arrive home and by the time I've walked the dogs, it's well and truly night time. I've noticed something. Some houses are lit up like Las Vegas. They have the wide screen TV, all the lights on, the curtains wide open and no one in the room. I often blog about saving water but tonight I wanted to take time to think about light.

We make some of our own. All of our exterior lights are solar powered. We charge our phones and batteries with solar power and then use that stored energy. We put the batteries in a couple of battery powered lamps and have them glowing gently where we need to see to get by, but not necessarily read or do anything that requires bright light. We only have the light on in the room we are in. The room is heated by wood, gently lit by solar power and we only turn on the mains power if we need to read something. All of our bulbs are eco bulbs and I really like their warm glow and the fact you have to let them 'warm up' for a few seconds. I usually put my bedside light on, go clean my teeth and then come back and read.

All this may sound somewhat parsimonious but we're using a fraction of the energy we used to and every quarter, after a meter reading, we discover we're using less than before. You see, my house isn't lit up like Las Vegas and we cope just fine. We heat and light one room, live in in quite cosily, with lap tops, cosy blankets, warming cuppas and the stove glowing in the hearth. I don't even put the lights on as a move from room to room, I allow my eyes to adjust to the dim winter light and then dim lamp light and enjoy hunkering down in the evenings. I go to bed earlier at this time of year, I'm always in bed and asleep by nine at night and get up early to make the most of the low winter sun in the mornings. I like adapting to the seasons in ways I never used to when I heated and lit my house at the touch of a switch. I'm living lightly on a lot less and I like it.


I'm off to bed now and as always, I'm reading two books at once. I'm flicking through and settling occasionally on pages from...........

Also, I'm also engrossed in and totally loving this.....(Foster Mummy - I must pass this on to Man Wonderful....)

Do you save light? ~Do you hunker down and cosy up on these dark winter nights? Do share xx

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Luxury fine dining

Hello dear readers,

We had a 'roast dinner' tonight! Left over cooked veggies, sausages wrapped in bacon, carrots and sprouts. I love sprouts but I know many of you won't. It's also a bit early for sprouts and I must admit, they weren't the best I'd ever had. I shopped in Aldi this week as they have very good vegetables at very good prices and the bag of sprouts were 59p. We only eat a few at a time, so they'll last for ages. Some thick hot gravy and I think our meal for pennies is actually a meal fit for a king.

As I drove to work, I heard that families are giving up 'luxuries' to get by - well I'm not giving up my 'luxuries'. Luxury for me means I am well fed, luxury means I am warm, luxury means I am adequately clothed, luxury means I have a secure roof over my head and luxury means I have a job and I can pay my bills. We all have different views but I feel exceptionally rich  when my fire is lit, my plate is full and I truly want for nothing more. If you shift your perspective; you'll find you have a lot more luxury in life and suddenly, your standard of living is raised and you're living really well!

What are your 'luxuries', what do you have that your truly appreciate and know you're lucky to have!

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Hang in there!!!!!

 Hello Dear Reader,

I often sit and do my school work and listen to something on the I player and tonight, I listened to Radio 5 Live as it was about 'Foodbanks' which provide emergency food parcels for families in crisis. So often, I'll listen to something like this and I wonder why I'm crying. Here's the link to the radio programme.http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b0178ggy

My son is now twenty five and he and I lived as a family unit whilst he was a little boy. For a short time, I couldn't find any work and spent a short and miserable time on state benefits and I know first hand what it is like to live well below the poverty level. I may have dug my way out of that within six months but nonetheless, I know what it's like. For quite a while, I just about managed to pay my rent, put money in my electricity meter, buy a few second hand clothes and coal for our fire. I know first hand how hard it is to claw my way out of unemployment and into a job. For quite a while, I had three jobs to get by. I worked in an old people's home as a carer at the weekend, cleaned posh folk's houses by day and worked in a local pub behind the bar in the evening. I was lucky, my mum looked after my son overnight and at the weekend. I missed him terribly but I kept a roof over his head.

I know I am one of the lucky ones who made it out the other side. There are so many people who just have to hang on! Tonight, some people will only eat because Foodbank, churches and charities have fed them. Tonight, as the temperature drops, elderly people on fixed incomes will not be able to have any heating. As food prices soar, as fuel and energy prices continue to rise, families will be making the choice between food or heating.Mark and Helen's story - those who don't make it! and there's more and more people facing real hardship Foodbanks and soup kitchens

Many families, like mine will have had pay cuts (DB - 10%) and just have to get on with it. There are those of us who are just finding it tough but we'll get through it, to those of us - hang on.xxx

Love Froogsxxxxx

Pay it down!

Hello Dear Readers,

Thanks to the so so many of you who sent me lovely messages about the ways that you too are frugal! After my scintillating weekend of dismantling pallets, chopping firewood and not shopping! (Other than food) I came home to my mortgage statement today. Due to being a total tightwad, I've now reduced my monthly interest payments by £100 a month. You can imagine what I'm going to do with that 'spare' £100! You bet......it's going to go straight onto the capital repayments! I can only pay 10% of the balance a year and next month's payment will see me do that for this year. I'll then put away December's payment, into the savings pot, until the new year, when I can start to pay off another 10% of the balance.

It takes some doing! As I type, whilst there is a fire alight downstairs, there is no heating else where. My taps run cold and then I recycle the water for the loo. There are days when all of this is utterly dispiriting and I could just turn all the lights on, the central heating on and run round bare foot. Then I realise what has to be done, shake myself, pull myself together and just get on with it. Paying off a hoofing great mortgage is a pain in the proverbial but I signed the papers! No one made me. No one said..........go and buy a house in a nice district, with low crime and lovely open countryside, oh and by the way, that'll make it really expensive. Dreams are all very well but they don't come cheap.

I really enjoyed the comments yesterday and I smiled as most of the money saving things we do are part of the game I play. Winning that game means I can pay anywhere up to 1% of the balance of my house capital each month. Sometimes, it isn't that much and as little as 0.5% of the balance but every month it decreases. It's tough, no one said it would be  easy but I'm living proof that it can be done.

Now over to my fellow froogles...........what do you do that's tough, that's part of life's game and that you know will be worth it in the end.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx