Now I'm feeling guilty

After my first posting, where I went on about my families need to save money, what am I doing? Burning the midnight oil to write this! That's what!

Oh the shame of it! I've got a light on which, if I was posting during the day, wouldn't need to be on. How can I bear the shame? Okay, it's an energy saving bulb, but can that off set my wastage?
I think it can, because during daylight hours there are so many other ways I can be saving money!

Take today, I worked down the allotment for a few hours, brought home the last of the runner beans and froze them for use later on in the year.

Then I picked up a pair of trainers off Freecycle that will last me through the winter, which could well have set me back over £30 if I'd had to go out and buy them.

While all this was happening dinner was slowly bubbling away in the slow cooker, or crockpot as our American cousins call it, using the same amount of electricity as a light bulb to cook the whole meal. (Note to self, must try and find out if that is an energy saving light bulb or an old fashioned incandescent one!) So much cheaper than cooking in the oven or on the hob!

I got some more rows done on the top I'm crocheting myself for Christmas wear, a nice bright cheery red, well scarlet actually. The pattern is for a top and contrasting shrug, which I'm planning to do in black to tone down the scarlet a little.

Now the frugality behind this is really impressive.

The pattern was free off the Internet, the scarlet wool my friend gave me as she has had to give up knitting due to a whiplash injury, (thank you Linda!), the black wool for the shrug is left over from a skirt I am also crocheting for myself, so the only cost involved is that of my time, which I know I have said is in short supply at the moment, but as I am unable to work because of the combination of the COPD, under active thyroid and labyrinthitus, isn't worth that much to start with, and think about it, most ladies happily spend the best part of £50 or more on one Christmas outfit, mine is free, and probably unique in style/colour. I doubt if anyone else in the UK will be making the exact same top, with the exact same shrug, in those exact same colours, to wear with the exact same crochet skirt. What more can a girl ask for? lol

I also did a little more reading on making my own hard cheese, but am beginning to feel that maybe our little rented kitchen isn't going to be up to the task as we don't have a cool cupboard or larder for the cheese to mature in, but I will keep on reading the book manfully to the end, just in case I have misunderstood something. The book also covers making my own butter, yogurt and ice cream, all of which I can do in our kitchen, so it will still pay its way even if I land up not being able to make our own hard cheese. I will be disappointed though, if that is the case, I kinda had my heart set on it, seeing as hubby paid out a disgusting £3.56p for less than half a pound of the stuff today!

Oh and I read a tip somewhere about growing carrots.

Now bear with me, this may seem a little convoluted, but I am experimenting with using the same tip with parsnips too! Okay basically the tip said to cut off a bit more off the top of the carrot than you normally do, put it on a bit of kitchen towel and keep it wet until it starts to grow again, then put it back in the soil and the whole root will grow back again. Now the cost of carrot seed is not a bank breaker, nor is the cost of parsnip seed come to that, but, for every five seeds you sow, you may or may not get one plant. So far I have replanted four carrots and re started one parsnip which also seems to be taking, so at the moment I am five for five instead of one for five, I wonder why more people don't do this!

Oooo! Now I'm wondering if it can be done with beetroot, turnips and other similar root vegetables too! How sad am I? lol