Blowing the Cobwebs Away

 

With all the renovations still going on at the bungalow, it's been important to make an effort to do things at the weekend.  Alan really needs a break from being on his knees all week cutting, laying and sticking down the tiles and woohoo, he's got grouting coming soon.  So each Saturday we try and go somewhere.  With the weather dry and mostly sunny last weekend we decided to go to Fleetwood for a walk on the prom and a cup of coffee.

It's made a lovely change from the last couple of weeks, when the somewhere has been B&Q or Wickes for building supplies.  Although of course even those trips usually end up with a coffee and a bit of lunch, so it's not all bad.

Coffee in Fleetwood was accompanied by a bacon butty for the man in my life, it's been well earned.

After a sit down and half an hour of enjoying the gloriously fresh air while we drank, and in Alan's case ate, we took a walk along the full length of the promenade.  We were keeping pace with the Isle of Man to Heysham ferry which you can see out at sea in this photo.

https://youtube.com/shorts/mPgoWg4fZVE?si=gaI5Kpcn0r_ev673

Here's a little bit of the fresh air sound for you to enjoy, we stood there for quite a while enjoying the freshness.  Because I have been so slow at posting this, it's now almost the weekend again ... now where should we go this week? 😀

Sue xx

Rhubarb ... and Summer to Winter

I picked the last of the homegrown rhubarb at the start of the week, there was a lot more of it than I had thought.  It's no wonder the end of the garden seemed small, it was cowering under gigantic rhubarb leaves.  😄

Also in that photo is the last but one picking of the blueberries. I am bringing them in as and when they turn the right shade of blue, before the birds spot them.  They are all added to a little tub in the freezer after a quick wash.  There's not a lot but they will be a nice addition to some little cakes or suchlike.

Two big pans full of lovely rhubarb stewed down with sugar and a splash of water.

I got eleven takeaway sized tubs worth of rhubarb in total, which are now safely nestled in my freezer taking up lots of space.

With the much cooler nights drawing in, yesterday was the big changeover from my Summer duvet to the Winter one, this necessitates getting all the vacuum bags out from under the bed and airing both the one coming off and the one going on, on the washing line.  I was very lucky with the weather and it was a lovely sunny and blowy day.  

After swapping the duvets over I am now starting on the clothes swap around.  

Most of my Summer clothes get put away and my Autumn/Winter ones come out.  With only one small wardrobe to hang things in, this has been an annual twice a year thing, but as my collection of clothes goes down maybe not to far in the future they will all stay out all year round.  Although of course it's always nice to put the very summery lightweight and light coloured things away and see them again the following year.  

But as it's as good as going shopping twice a year, and always a good way to declutter a few more things each time I do it, maybe it will continue. 💖

Sue xx

Living on a Pound a Day in 2026

  

Home Economics - by Jane Ashley

My first book of September has been this book, it was a nice blast from the past and took me right back to the days when I used to do challenges and liked to watch and read of other people doing them too. 

 Jane was a fellow blogger who took part in Live Below the Line, the challenge where we all lived for five days on one pound a day and money was donated to charities.  But then she took it to whole new levels and tried all sorts of variations involving her family ... then this book emerged.

It's a good read, and happily this first version of her book has all the prices from the year she shopped.  She went on to write a second that didn't include prices.  

There are the menus that she planned out for the week of each various challenge.  There are quite a few as she did a omnivore week, a vegetarian week, a vegan week, a gluten-free week and a low-carb week, so lots to choose between.

It was a real blast from the past to see the prices as they were in 2018.

I bet you can guess what I just HAD to do

 Yep, I went through the entire week's worth of food adding it to a Tesco online shopping basket to see what our 2026 prices would be for the same, or as near as possible to the same products, would be.

At last weeks Tesco prices these items would now cost us £51.50

It's quite a jump when you consider that these are the absolute basic lines, and for people scrabbling around to make the best use of a very limited income, this rise would be huge.

https://youtu.be/UM1yadWsNY8?si=SCrBqK1zhTe6cdtF

Then in a complete fluke my week ended with a YouTube video from Mike Jeavons popping up, with him seeing if he could live for £1 a day in 2026.  I used to watch Mike daily when he did his Challenges, but I haven't seen anything off him in years.  

What a coincidence!

Am I tempted to give it a go ... you know that I am!! 😄

Sue xx

Shopping ... and Blogger Comment Problems

 

3rd September - Sainsbury's - £42.77

This shopping is looking very different from my usual photos as I broke all the shopping rules.  I went shopping hungry, I had forgotten to make a list and I just wandered around trying to remember what I actually needed ... cheese, bread and deodorant.  So there were far too many treats, and my main excuse is that I was hungry by the time I got to the supermarket after delivering Alan his lunch at the bungalow, hence all the little treats for me, but hey ... I will most definitely enjoy them over the course of the coming week.  

I also got Alan's chocolate bars for his lunchtime puddings for next week and some chocolate cream eclairs as a treat for last night.  My man is feeling very tired and in need of treats at the moment.  The chicken is for Ginger, he has a little fresh chicken with every meal now, he's worth it. 😸

  I did manage to stay inside my current £50 a week budget, but there's not a lot of actual meals there is there.  Thank goodness for the freezer and cupboard stocks which I need to work through anyway.

A lot of what I bought was on offer in one way or another, so it was a good shop really.  I also treated myself to the Radio Times as there is usually a lot of the dramas that suddenly appear on the television at this time of year and I wanted to see what was going to be available to either watch or record.

Another convincer to buy it was this card.  

So I immediately scanned the QR code when I got home to see if I could get the offer, the small print had said I couldn't as a former subscriber, but it all went though straight away.  So instead of paying the cover price which is currently £5.75 ... gulp!!  I will get ten issues for just £1 each and then I can cancel it if I want to.

 Scan it from here if you want to make use of it too.

I apologise for not being able to leave any comments on all the blogs that I read daily, and I understand if you too are unable to leave comments on my blog.  But Blogger in it's wisdom is playing up yet again.  I have reported the problem ... we'll see what happens.

Sue xx

The Charity Book Table, Lunch and Progress

 

I was asked by a blog reader about the charity book table that I buy from, and donate to, in our local Booths Supermarket   Well it was nice and quiet in there this morning when I called in to get Alan a bottle of milk so I took a quick photo.

It's not always this full, indeed at the start of the Bank Holiday weekend it was very depleted.  But usually when this is the case, a lovely townsperson will go through their own book collection and donate some books.

I am in the habit of tidying up the books as I look through them, as are a few other people.  I am being very particular these days and I have definitely donated more books than I have bought.  There is a poster on top of the boxes telling you which the current charity is, it usually changes each month and they are always local good causes.  The poster also suggests a donation of £1 per book.  Some people give more and some give less, so I suppose it balances itself out.  You just pop your cash in the yellow collecting box on the far right of the photo.

I called round to the bungalow as usual at lunchtime with Alan's dinner, I've been doing this every day while he has been so busy, as well as cooking his evening meals.

This was the state of play at the beginning of the Bank Holiday weekend, he then grouted this half of the living room.

This was the state of play at lunchtime today.  

So much has happened so quickly.  Alan had spent the morning doing the plumbing for the kitchen water heater which is in the corner cupboard to the right of the window, while the kitchen fitter got all the base units in place, then Alan switched to the floor tiling in his bedroom, he's changed his mind about having carpet in there.  It's all starting to come together very nicely.

Sue xx