Sorting Things Out, Keeping Things Simple

All  my washing products.

I was up in Alan's top floor en-suite bathroom this morning.  We had emptied the main bedroom last weekend, moving the double bed down to Alan's middle floor bedroom after selling his large king-sized bed on Facebook Marketplace, so it seemed sensible to also empty out the bathroom.

That room was only ever used for the occasional overnight guests.  We decided when we thought of downsizing, that it made no sense whatsoever to have a spare room for guests that might only use it once or twice a year.  If people do want to stay with us we can make use of both our bedrooms for the length of their stay, and not have to pay extra to own a little used room.

Anyway, sorting out the bathroom made me realise just how many toiletries were up there.  I spent half an hour decanting myriad half used items into one bottle of each type and then relocated them to Alan's bathroom cupboard.  It made me realise that my way of only having the toiletries that are in use on show in my bathroom, and having one backup in stock for a refill, is my much preferred way of doing it.  My products tend to last me a long time as I decant shower gels and shampoo into a dispenser bottle each.

I have whittled the products that I use down over the years, and now there are just a few that are in constant rotation.  It's partly for simplicity, partly as my sensitive skin doesn't react to them, and also because still having no sense of smell, I do like to be able to remember what my products actually smell of, and these products have stood the test of time.

A couple of things that I have been experimenting with though are my Olay facecream ...

... and my Arm & Hammer toothpaste.

Both my usuals have shot up in price over the last couple of years, and there have been fewer and fewer offers to take advantage of when stocking up.  So I felt it was time to try some replacements.  Happily both swaps worked out well and will save me quite a bit of money overall.  Now, I don;t mind spending money on something if the quality is good and I can see a value in it, but when a cheaper, but just as good alternative is available I am very open-minded about giving it a try.

Of course I still want to get every last little bit of product out of the cheaper swap, something that is much easier when it is not in a pump dispenser style bottle.

Have you made any swaps recently to save money or to find better products?

Sue xx

The Worst Day is Over ... and a Walkthrough

 

For Alan the worst day is now over.

He ended last week doing the job he was really not looking forward to, a day up in the loft, firstly rearranging the insulation that was already in place, and then adding another layer to it.  It was a day of crawling around, cutting insulation to fit all the gaps, making sure the walkway to the solar panel control board was clear, and then finally pushing the new rolls up through the now edged trimmed loft hatch, and rolling out all the new insulation.

To be able to do it all safely, he had to wear his waterproof, elasticated cuffed jacket over his t-shirt to stop all the fibres from bringing him out in a rash, and to stop him from breathing in all the fibres, a mask over his face.  So it was a hot, sweaty and very uncomfortable time.  

This week it's a bit of a sigh of relief as it's all about the decorating, white undercoat and gloss on all the woodwork and silk emulsion in either cream or white on the walls.  While the woodwork is all currently just raw or primed wood, the walls have already had two coats of paint, so this week will see them all getting their final coat.

As we get towards the finishing line, my man's stamina is being sorely tested, but he's loving seeing it all coming together so that is spurring him on.  Our main aim is to get all of the slightly dirty or mess making work done before the 10th November, as that is the date we have a cleaning company coming in to give the bungalow a thorough deep clean, ready for us moving in the week after.

Meanwhile back at home I am making sure he has two nourishing meals a day.  One delivered at midday to fuel the worker, that we have nicknamed 'Meals on Wheels' much to the amusement of our new neighbours, and one when he gets home after relaxing in a hot bath for half an hour.  

*

Also slowly but surely I am working my way through all of our possessions in a bid to get rid of a much as possible in the run up to moving day.  I didn't realise just how much stuff was in my little shed, where does it all come from, I don't really know ... but we have both decided that a lot of it has to go.

Here's the final walkthrough before everything is finished.

https://youtu.be/lhb4ByxaYb4?si=l9jpuFekO5AeUk1S

* This is a photo of when the shed first went up ... it looks a bit more weather-beaten these days.  😄

Sue xx

Weekend Watching - Some of My Current Favourite YouTube Channels

 

It's the time of year to cosy on up in the house with books, hot drinks and good things to watch on the television.  But at the moment I am finding less and less to watch on 'normal tv', and so I find myself instead sinking into some of my favourite YouTube channels, in a bid to wind down during these darker evenings.

So just as I used to on my old blog 'A Smaller and Simpler Life', I thought I would share some of my current favourite channels.  I used to do a sporadic series called Weekend Watching  which I thought I could incorporate here instead.  After checking out the channels that I used to share it's quite funny to see that I have recently gone back to a few of them more recently after quite a break.

The first one I'm sharing is Farmhouse on Boone.

https://youtu.be/6tsK1nKJOn4?si=7MIqatABFMrATQMB

She seems to have had another baby since I used to watch, and now lives in their beautiful 'new, old farmhouse'.  I do love watching people effortlessly cook large quantities of food for a big family, but it also makes me glad that I'm usually just cooking for one or two.  😄

Like so many other people, over 250,000 now in fact, I watch Rewilding Jude every week.

https://youtu.be/YYKPhns4BAU?si=SvspqOLzK1FwweF1

He's still doing amazingly well, and has come on in leaps and bounds with his building and cooking skills.  I'm glad he's phased back on his cottage redevelopment plans, the cost he was quoted for the work was exorbitant.  He has an army of fans and 'grannies' cheering him on from the side-lines every week.

One of my real favourites at the moment is Kezia over at The Whole Home,  it's just very simple family meals on a tight budget but done in a carefully considered and more environmentally friendly way.  She has some good morals with food, life and all, as do her family.  It's her monthly budget videos that I like the best, so I am sharing the first week of one of them here.  

https://youtu.be/RDx1YX_Aj-E?si=nzMwF4MJ5av1j8-E

And finally ...

A channel that I only discovered very recently and really binged watched, Bob Dickinson.  He reminds me, both in looks and cooking skills, of a young, first starting out Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, indeed I have seen them both together online a couple of events, so they do know each other.

https://youtu.be/l_xwDPSdzGg?si=VWsR1Pm2DMSPUnFP

Sit back and watch some lovely autumnal breakfast cooking and then carry on to some of his other videos.

One weird thing that I am  finding when I spend any time watching YouTube these days is that at the end of a video when YouTube is suggesting what I may want to watch next, my own videos are in the little box in the corner.  

No thank you, I filmed them, but thanks anyway. 😃

I hope that you liked at least a couple of these suggestions for viewing, a lot of you most likely watch these anyway.  If there's any channel that I haven't mentioned here that you think I might like please suggest it in the comments.

I hope you are having a good weekend.

Sue xx

Riverford Box ... and Facebook Marketplace Manners

 

This weeks Riverford vegetable box arrived on Wednesday.  

The electric van glides up silently outside the house, and unless there is a reason for me to be at the front door I usually miss it.  The drivers, when you actually see them, are very polite and usually just drop the boxes outside, covering them with a 'Box Brolly' ... a large white plastic  bag to you and me ... if the weather either is or appears to be, going to be wet.

This time I caught him in the act as he climbed back into his van, as I nipped out to put something in the recycling bins that are at my front door.  With a cheery wave and a thumbs up he was off to make his next delivery, seemingly there are quite a lot of us Riverford customers in our little town.

It's like a vegetable inspired Christmas present unpacking the goodies and seeing what the contents look like.  Of course I know exactly what should be there, but there is always the chance of a suitable swap having been made if not the right amount of something was harvested.  As has been usual for me up to now though, everything that I had chosen was present and correct, and very tasty looking.

The extras that I added to our delivery this time were, my choice of some Tenderstem broccoli, and Alan's choice was some venison burgers.  It's a long time since he's had venison so he was really looking forward to getting these.  To celebrate the acquisition we had burgers and homemade wedges for tea last night.  My burger being of the Linda McCartney kind.  💚

I am going to serve the other burgers in two different ways for him, one of them being turned into mini-meatballs to go with a pasta dish, and the other two in place of a venison steak in a nice cooked meal.

The whole delivery.

As I was just about to have my breakfast it made sense to use something from the box straight away, how could I resist! So I cooked some of the kale in olive oil and butter, and then added eggs and a sprinkle of cheese.  It was very good.

If you would like a Riverford delivery for yourself you can get to the website through my LINK.  If you also use code CHOPTOIT at the checkout I think that there is still an offer to get a free chopping board at the moment.

It's been a busy and very satisfying week on our Facebook Marketplace sales this week.  We've sold our king-sized oak bed frame, some Le Creuset and some other bits and pieces that we have had listed on there for a while.  It's nice to be getting some money into the coffers instead of it flying out.  The couple that enquired about and then came to collect the bed frame, were honestly the nicest and most polite people I have ever dealt with on FB Marketplace.  

It's little things like good old fashioned manners and politeness in every sort of interaction, that make me realise that the world is not all going to hell in a handcart ... as a lot of social media would have us believe. 

Sue xx

Moving Forwards ... and New Boots

 

When I called to the bungalow with Alan's lunch yesterday he had just finished grouting the bathroom tiles, and the pipes had all been boxed in by the joiner.

This was yesterday, but already by today the actual shower fittings have been attached to the wall and all the excess grout had been cleaned off.  He has now moved on to undercoating all the woodwork.  The joiner is hopefully on his final day, and is doing the skirting boards, door frame and loft hatch frame in the main room

Alan has worked so hard this year he is now on to using up a third pair of his older jeans as work jeans, his last two pairs ripped right through at the knees, and while it might be quite fashionable to have ripped jeans, working in them is very uncomfortable.  I did suggest selling them on Vinted as 'authentically made ripped jeans'  but we decided against it owing to them also being rigid with plaster dust. 😄

After seeing the state of his boots yesterday I suggested he bought himself a new pair while he was at the building supplies shop, so he did.

Now he has a pair of brown boots that make his feet look considerably smaller and are vaguely reminiscent of Bob the Builder.

Sue xx