To Can or Not To Can ... That is the £50 Question!!!

Well today I have just looked in my pathetic little blue recycling box and have realised just how many cans we use in our house!  Surely there must be a way to make some spare cash from all these tins?

I know some people save all their tins and cans and sell them to the scrap metal merchants in their area.  Scrap metal prices are quite decent and if you can make a few extra quid from them then that's great!  I just wish I could find somewhere up here that would be prepared to do this.  I would then be able to recycle all our tins and cans and probably my mums as well and make a few extra pounds to save up for a rainy day.

I will keep searching and will update the blog as soon as I find a merchant that is happy to pay out for scrap metal in the Highlands.

Later!!!

How do I do this?

Well in an attempt to reduce the amount of stuff that goes in our wheelie bins ... I am currently looking into ways to reduce this but to also make some cash out of it.  So I have emailed a bunch of scrap metal dealers in Inverness (our closest city) to see if there is any way that they would accept domestic scrap metal (like food and drink cans) and if they do, then how much would they pay for this.  I know it's a long shot but if people in England and Wales can make money from their scrap metal then so can I! That would certainly reduce the amount of waste going in my wheelie bins!  I know our local council provide these little pathetic blue boxes for cans and paper but to be honest they are pants!  I can fill one in a week with tins and if I recycle my mum's tins as well I would fill two in a week and these pathetic little things are collected fortnightly!!!!

I am also getting my mum to save all her jars for me so that I can start making some preserves.  I will start small with stuff like onion marmalade but will branch out into jams and stuff when I am a bit more confident that I can do it properly.  That will prevent jars going into the bin as well!!!!

We already compost but that was a complete disaster last year and have had to start from scratch again this year and it's not really working as well.  Last year, my compost bin (affectionately known as george ... I'm going to get another one and call it mildred!) was doing nicely.  Then we went on holiday.  My lovely next door neighbour was providing us with her kitchen peelings etc which was really helping the composting along nicely but when we went on holiday she chucked whole potatoes in!!! So we came home from holiday to find tatties growing in our compost bin!

The whole lot had to be chucked out.  To say I was gutted was an understatement as we had some proper good quality compost at the bottom.  But off it all went and this year hubby decided to site the compost bin elsewhere in the garden.  Big disaster.  It's in a shady area at the side of the house and the stuff just does not seem to be composting down as fast.  But I will wait and see how things go.  I will continue to supply the bin but we are just not producing enough to keep the bin filled up.

But I did have a total brain wave!!! We have 3 brown garden waste bins.  One is ours, one is next door's (her gardens front and back are paved and gravelled) and we found one when out on a walk.  So the third one now has drainage holes in it.  I filled it with shredded newspaper and hubby then piled all our grass cuttings on it and we have left it.  Hopefully it will mulch down and we will be able to add this to the compost bin to speed up the processes.  If it works then I will be well chuffed!!!! But I really need to get one of those aerators for compost bins.  Having a really bad back means that I just can't use the garden fork to move the stuff in the bin as it's all so far down!!!! But I think I will just leave that for hubby to do ... it can be his job.

On the home front ... the children are really getting into the spirit of money saving and being thrifty.  They always give their teachers a gift at Christmas and last year it cost a small fortune as they don't just have one teacher, even though they are still at primary school.  There are a number of teachers so this year it is going to be different! I will post about it separately as I am very proud of them for it. 

Anyhow ... it's off to do some laundry and dishes ... although the dishwasher will do the latter ... all I have to do is load it lol.  I will be back later on ... have a good day y'all x

Oops - Big apologies!!!

Well it has been around 8 weeks since I was last on to post any messages and I feel absolutely awful that it has been so long. But all that has been going on at home has really taken up our time and left me pretty much no time for much else. Just the odd checking of emails and thats been about it.

We did have some good news. Because hubby is ex-forces, SSAFA (Soldiers, Sailors and Air Force Association) agreed to help us get the things that we just could not afford to buy. So in the space of 2 weeks we had carpets fitted on our stairs, hallways and 3 bedrooms AND got a brand new cooker. The cooker we had was given to us and was really not big enough for our family but it was keeping us going. Now that we have a brand new one, the cooking is so much quicker and easier and better. And I felt so good when we got the carpets and the cooker, although the house is still recovering!!! Mess everywhere lol.

And then 5 weeks ago we got a kitten from our next door neighbour and she has been named Sapphire on account that she has blue eyes. However she is now about 12 weeks old and a complete and utter psycho!!! My hands are bitten and scratched all over!!! The kids are loving the kitten and she has certainly become a part of the family very quickly but she uses me like a scratching post lol.
My dad gave me a huge bag of shredded paper for my compost bin which is starting to look like a compost bin. It was about half full by the time all the paper went in!! But it has certainly started mulching down as we had a few days of rain and I left the lid off the bin for those days as the flies were starting to annoy the heck out of me lol. I do have a fair collection of tumble drier fluff to put in but am waiting till there is more veggie peelings to go in before the fluff goes in. We did put all the paper in but I made a large pot of exceptionally strong coffee which went in as well to wet it all down! Hubby said it was a waste of good coffee but it was the value cheapy stuff so when he found that out he sure changed his tune!!!

On the down side we got an electricity bill for over £1000 for 6 months!!! Have now spoken to the company and established that we have been on the wrong tarriff since we moved in and they have admitted it was their fault that none of our calls were actioned. So in the process of writing a stiff complaint letter and will see what happens with that!

There has been other stuff happening but not going to go into those just now lol. Am in the process of writing a complete list of all that I put in my compost bin to help others who are new to the process and are not quite sure of what can go in other than veggie peelings. I know a few folk who are a bit unsure of what else can go in their bins and their bins are not getting on the same as mine. I do have two but am only using the one at the moment. Am considering getting another one and getting it delivered to my mum's house so that I have 3 going. One to fill, one to mulch down and one to use! But it will take a while to fill one so will wait and see how it goes!

Right, am off to try and get this list into some kind of order. I think I will just have to add the link as it would be much easier lol.

See you all very soon, this time I intend to keep up with this, it's quite therapeutic lol.

What a day it has been today!! The sun has been shining and the weather was absolutely lovely. And I have ended up with a lovely sunburnt face! I suppose that could have been from sitting out in the sun in my mum's back garden whilst dad painted fences but also could have been from all the walking around I did as well!

Hubby went out and has almost finished his little raised bed and I checked on my various plants which are at points throughout the garden. No shows on anything that I planted over the weekend but it is very early days yet.

I did want to try planting garlic this weekend but have since found out that it needs planting in something like September and left for absolutely ages so will just have to wait till then and give it a try.

Even my poor babies ended up all sunkissed from playing out. I was very happy with the little one over the weekend as she really got into the planting with me. She is such a wee thing and a really fussy eater that we are hoping she will eat the fruit and veg that we grow and it will help her come on with her eating a bit. She has already been bragging to her pals that she has planted "sweet tomatoes" with mummy and she has been promising me that she will eat them when they grow. We found out sometime last year that she has a condition called Constitutional Short Stature. It has something to do with her being premature when she was born and the fact that her dad has it as well. It basically means that she is a lot smaller than the other children the same age as her, and she will be monitored for height and weight. Apparently if she has not caught up by the time she is 10 or 12, then the doctors will look at giving her some form of treatment but because they are happy with her current rate of development, they are just leaving her at the moment. And I am happy with that as I really don't want her pumped full of allsorts just to make her grow a little taller and heavier. She will grow when she grows, till then she is quite healthy and happy and that's the main thing for us.

Well, tomorrow I am full of big plans for the day!!! I have a mountain of laundry to do and a living room that looks like Afghanistan on a good day! So they are the first things that will be tackled in the morning. Hubby is taking the kids to school so I will be able to just get on with things. Then I have a letter to write in application for a part time job in town and get that emailed off with my CV and cross my fingers. Then it is off out into the garden and start clearing more weeds from a small patch.

And also I will be compiling a list of items that we compost, to try and clear it all up what we can and cannot put in the bin! The kids are getting really into composting so it will help me and help them.. I think I will post my list on here and it could help someone else who is new to composting. I know the thread on www.moneysavingexpert.com is really helpful. I think it's called "Homemade compost is so exciting!". It certainly has helped me immensely and is an invaluable source of information. As are many of the threads on the forums. Full of useful information and a great place to make friends.

So a good night to you all and I promise to post at least twice tomorrow! xx

Can't Sleep

Well it is 5am in the morning and I can't sleep so I thought that I would come on the laptop and add a little update and another photo to my online diary as I have been rather lax at posting and I am feeling rather guilty!

My youngest daughter planted some tomato seeds the other week and I was concerned that they would not grow as it is a bit late for planting from seed and I have had these particular seeds for over a year! But on checking this morning, there are a couple of seedlings poking their little heads out of the soil! She is over the moon about this. She is only 4 and is such a fussy eater that we are hoping that she will eat the veggies that she has grown herself. If it works just watch me get her to plant all the veggies next year!!

My oldest is now not chuffed as her flowers have not grown at all yet! But try and explain to her that the seeds were free and they may not grow! But she is going to help me in the morning and do some more planting. The kids are off school on Monday for the bank holiday so should get some decent planting done if the weather keeps up!

Have also listed on Freecycle for some fence posts and fence panels so that hubby can get the garden fenced in and hopefully create a bit of a wind break as our garden is rather windy. I would rather get off Freecycle and know that I'm recycling something that someone else doesn't want anymore than pay a fortune at a garden centre when I might not have to. I was also a bit cheeky and advertised for slabs so that hubby can do a patio area and hopefully slab our driveway at the front. Then I topped it all off by asking for pots and stones/bricks for the raised beds. Hubby has also got into the recycling mode as he always stops and checks any skips that he sees now. So far he hasn't seen anything that he could use but you never know what's going to happen.

And I have finally opened and ISA to start saving for my dream ... a house with land!!! I have only so far paid the £1 to open it but will be adding to it as I get some spare cash. I think dream number one is to be debt free but the big dream is definitely a house where hubby needs a sit on mower! It's been a dream of ours since our youngest was born. Somewhere where we can keep chickens and ducks and geese and maybe a couple of piggies and possibly be a self-sufficient as possible but that's a dream for another day!

Right am now starting to get tired! Typical, just when its almost time for me to get up, that's when I get tired! Well I will heed my poor aching fingers and go off to bed and will post more later on! Take care all xxx

OOPS!!!! Update number one!!

Well hello to you all. Big apologies to all of you for the gap in postings. I have slapped myself for it though!

So there has been quite a lot of news to report since my last posting all those many days ago!

Firstly hubby was coming home from work on Easter Monday (yes he had to work lol) and spied a skip at the side of a house full of stones. They were the kind that are seen in the old fashioned stone walls. So he goes up to the house and politely asked the owner what he was doing with the skip full of stones. Well, it turns out that the skip was to be collected the very next day and he was just getting rid of the stones. So hubby nicely asked if he could come back later that day and take some of the stones out of the skip. The owner was quite happy for him to do that so he came home, emptied the boot of the car and promptly went straight back to the house. About an hour later he came home with a car full of stones!!! But they are going to good use. He is building a raised bed and is using the stones to make the walls round it. But the only downside is that he needs more stones as he only got enough for one part of the wall!!!

Hubby is now a very happy bunny as his shed was delivered and he put it up straight away! It is only a small one (6x4) but it's enough for now. And he has been promised that when the money situation is better, he will be getting a bigger metal one! But this one will remain as a potting shed of sorts. The kids are also getting their own shed! My dad is getting a new one in the summer so the one he has at the moment will be transplanted into my garden as a kind of wendy house for the girls to play in and store all their garden toys in during the winter! Although this has made me wonder about this bigger shed hubby wants. I don't know if he will really need a bigger shed if the kids' one is to be used to store their stuff!

Compost bin number 2 also got delivered! So Derek the Dalek now has a girlfriend by the name of Davina! I just have to get the sticky faces so that they will be more fun for the garden! Derek is coming along nicely with his composting. I am going to go and buy some activator as hubby just will not pee in a bottle for me to use as activator for the composter! But am still working on him and I'm sure that I will get him to wee in a bottle one day - I'll just have to wait till one day when he has had a couple of beers!!

Okay that's enough updating for one post or it will end up being a book! Am off to add some photos now and will post another update later on today - I promise!!!

Day 1 - The start of the journey!!

Well Hello There to you, my new reader!

Let me start by introducing myself to you. My name is Di and I am a 35 year old housewife and mother of two, with a desire to be more environmentally friendly but at a fraction of the price. Let's face it, in today's current economic climate, who wants to spend loads of money to be more environmentally aware, then find that the same result could have been had at a fraction of the price or even for free!

I'll add to that, the fact that yes I am Scottish, but that does not generally mean tight-fisted! We Scots are a generous race, but very careful with it. I have developed my thrift over the years, and firmly believe that it was instilled in me by my mother and my maternal grandmother, and I also think that I get my hoarding from nan as well!

And so to the goals that we have! We have recently moved house into a lovely little council house not far from school and family members. We have spent a number of years away from home so this is a lovely start to the new year for us. We have a number of goals but the main one being that the garden, which runs from the front, right round the side of the house to the back, gets completely overhauled and the driveway replaced before the summer is out.

I also want to grow my own fruit and vegetables so we are also going to try and become as self-sufficient as possible. I have informed my family that when the weather improves, we will be taking hikes into the forest to see what edible goodies we can find. I have recipes and books showing what foods you can find that are edible, and some of them brewable!! As and when these treks happen and if they are fruitful, will be noted here.

I have tried to get my husband to let me get some chickens, but still no luck in that department yet! That maybe due to the fact that at the moment, the garden is open but then again, it may be because we are not that far from the city centre. I'll keep working on him and let you all know!!!

We are also on a mission to become debt-free and will also update this blog with that journey.

Don't worry I will be posting photographs and letting you all know where I have sourced my cheap (and hopefully free) supplies for my gardening project.

I think my real goal here is to show our journey as a kind of diary to the world to show that it can be done on a tight budget and that you don't have to spend thousands of pounds on materials when you can source them quite cheaply and sometimes free of charge!

Right am off to bed now as I'm going to get up really early in the morning and see what I can get done before the troops waken up and demand feeding! Night Night all, and will post more tomorrow!