We hosted Christmas this year, for a change. Surveying the wreckage, I thought I'd review where we did well, and what was less of a success:
The good:
-The Christmas cake I made – Delia's light Christmas cake – worked out quite well, and will go into packed lunches and serve us for teas for some time to come. I now have various leftover ingredients, such as crystallised ginger, which will need a home, although the angelica ended up, most appropriately, on the top of my sister's lovely Boxing Day trifle.
-The trifle – my sister and I took responsibility for this, but she actually made it. We went for a retro one, with frozen raspberries, tinned peaches and madeira cake on the base, and the aforementioned angelica, flaked almonds and multicoloured glace cherries as decoration.
-The goose – my husband cooked the goose, which we ordered from a nearby farm shop. It was not cheap, but, with its stuffiing of mashed potatoes, (Nigella, Feast) made a great Christmas lunch and yielded plenty of leftovers.
-Wrapping paper – I finally bought brown paper and wrapped many presents with that, prettied up slightly with gold ribbon.
-The Christmas tree – topped up with some new lights and one or two extra decorations (Homebase, 49 p each), the artificial Christmas tree had its seventh year of use.
-Kedgeree followed by warmed mince pies and brandy butter turned out to be a highly satisfactory Boxing Day lunch.
-The presents: with my family, we tried a new system of exchanging stocking type presents - including plenty of chocolate- and each specifying one or two larger items we would like. I, at least, liked this arrangement.
The bad:
-My Christmas pudding, which burnt slightly and stuck to the bottom of the pudding basin, as I stupidly let it boil dry at one point.
-The mince pies: the bought ones were so good, and I so lazy, that I never got around to making any myself. (I'll probably use the mincemeat in an apple crumble instead.)
-The various defects in our home which become apparent when we have a few guests: taps that are a bit stiff, guest towels that are frayed or tatty.
-The frying pan, already nearing the end of its life, which did not survive the festivities.
The ugly:
-My artificial Christmas tree – see above...
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
A Christmas present crock pot
At his request, I bought my husband a crock pot for Christmas. We're trying it out today, making chilli con carne, in a break from the Christmas leftovers. More to follow on how it works in due course....
Friday, 18 December 2009
Budgeting for the not-very-budget-oriented
I dislike spreadsheets, and it might be said of me that I am 'better with words than numbers'. The concept of a budget, as described by some experts, is therefore mildly horrifying to me. However, I am interested in making sure that my finances add up, and that I am able to pay for things that are important to me, and also to save for the future. My preferred approach is therefore as follows:
Every year or so, or whenever we have a significant change in our finances, we review and update an ongoing list of our fixed monthly direct debits, for mortgage, electricity and so forth, and make sure that this is up-to-date, looking through our bank statements to check that we have captured any changes, and giving some thought to any direct debits we might want to cancel or amend. The list of regular fixed payments includes a separate allowance for each of us, as well as payment to a 'fun', 'holiday', and 'car' jar.
The list of direct debits includes one to an 'annual bills' jar, which is calculated using a list of those bills which need to be paid less often than monthly, for instance car servicing, insurance and car tax. These are added up and the total is divided by twelve, to come up with an average monthly amount. (Money is transferred from the annual bills jar to the current account as these irregular bills need to be paid.)
We then check that the amount we have estimated for non-fixed expenses like travel and food is still appropriate, by looking through our credit card expenses for the last few months, and taking an approximate monthly average.
We check, and update as appropriate, the amount we have listed as income.
Once this has been done, we have an approximate idea of how much money we have spare each month, once essentials have been paid for.
This is where our system becomes rather chaotic; we have never found it practicable or helpful to allocate fixed amounts for different types of expenditure, but instead prefer to operate the 'pay yourself first' system. Under this, and taking account of the calculations above, we transfer out a certain amount of money to savings each month as soon as we have been paid. Sometimes we need to transfer some money back later for particular purposes, but as a general rule this works fairly well, and because the money is not sitting in the current account, it cannot be spent quite as easily. And as both savings and regular payments have been accounted for, the money spare can be used however we see fit, without us having to worry about whether we have over-spent on travel, or entertainment, or eating out, that month. (Over the last month or two, however, I have been trying to get a more precise idea of our spending, by tracking our expenditures on a spreadsheet.)
The paragraph above assumes that there is some money left over for saving once essentials have been taken into account; I will look at the question of reducing monthly outgoings in future posts, as well as the subject of self-employment and budgeting for taxes. I will also include some more expert opinions than mine on budgeting, and its value.
Every year or so, or whenever we have a significant change in our finances, we review and update an ongoing list of our fixed monthly direct debits, for mortgage, electricity and so forth, and make sure that this is up-to-date, looking through our bank statements to check that we have captured any changes, and giving some thought to any direct debits we might want to cancel or amend. The list of regular fixed payments includes a separate allowance for each of us, as well as payment to a 'fun', 'holiday', and 'car' jar.
The list of direct debits includes one to an 'annual bills' jar, which is calculated using a list of those bills which need to be paid less often than monthly, for instance car servicing, insurance and car tax. These are added up and the total is divided by twelve, to come up with an average monthly amount. (Money is transferred from the annual bills jar to the current account as these irregular bills need to be paid.)
We then check that the amount we have estimated for non-fixed expenses like travel and food is still appropriate, by looking through our credit card expenses for the last few months, and taking an approximate monthly average.
We check, and update as appropriate, the amount we have listed as income.
Once this has been done, we have an approximate idea of how much money we have spare each month, once essentials have been paid for.
This is where our system becomes rather chaotic; we have never found it practicable or helpful to allocate fixed amounts for different types of expenditure, but instead prefer to operate the 'pay yourself first' system. Under this, and taking account of the calculations above, we transfer out a certain amount of money to savings each month as soon as we have been paid. Sometimes we need to transfer some money back later for particular purposes, but as a general rule this works fairly well, and because the money is not sitting in the current account, it cannot be spent quite as easily. And as both savings and regular payments have been accounted for, the money spare can be used however we see fit, without us having to worry about whether we have over-spent on travel, or entertainment, or eating out, that month. (Over the last month or two, however, I have been trying to get a more precise idea of our spending, by tracking our expenditures on a spreadsheet.)
The paragraph above assumes that there is some money left over for saving once essentials have been taken into account; I will look at the question of reducing monthly outgoings in future posts, as well as the subject of self-employment and budgeting for taxes. I will also include some more expert opinions than mine on budgeting, and its value.
Monday, 14 December 2009
Cooking without waste 2: Basic recipes
This is the second guest post on frugal cooking from Jian.
Every culture and person in the world is going to have a different idea of what a basic recipe is, depending on their answers to the questions in my last post. What might be best, would be for me to talk about what we tend to use, and how we've answered the above questions.
1)Penny and I chop and change our preferred recipes a lot; this comes of reading the paper and recipe books a bit too much, I guess. Still, our basic recipes tend to stay fairly stable, mainly because they're reliable, comforting, and easily made from long-lasting ingredients.
2)I'm quite an improviser myself; I prefer to learn basic principles through practice and then never follow the recipe, and don't plan ahead much. Penny follows the recipes closely, adapting and changing based on experience and common sense, and prefers to plan ahead.
3)We cook for two. It's a very easy number.
4)We have a hob, grill, and oven. We have a kettle, toaster, food processor, blender, rice cooker, and microwave. We have a fridge-freezer. We shop at various supermarkets (Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose) and at the local farm shop, which I think came up in a previous post.
The basic recipes we most often use are:
1)Tomato sauce for pasta, which Penny's mentioned before. Basically needs onions and tinned tomatoes, which both keep well. Useful as the base for a hundred and one meals, including bolognese, chili con carne, puttanesca, jambalaya, vodka-sauce pasta, minestrone, lasagna, ratatouille, and bouillabaisse. Like all basic recipes, practice often to make it as reliably as possible; it's difficult to screw up.
2)Noodle soup. I suppose you could use a packet but really I mean good stock, probably some miso, and dry noodles (of any kind; egg noodle, ramen/lo men/ramyun/etc,, soba, thin rice noodles, thick rice noodles, udon, or even spaghetti or linguini). Add any chopped vegetables (spring onions, peppers, mushrooms, bok choy, bean sprouts), sliced grilled or fried meat (teriyaki beef, grilled or foil-baked salmon, marinated or char sui pork), and anything else that fits with the sort of taste you're going for (seaweed, won ton, a raw egg or two, coconut milk, ground peanuts, chilli peppers, lemongrass, ginger, kimchi) to endlessly customise into a quick, simple, warming meal. For a different take in the summer, try it with soba, cold clear stock, sliced cucumber and pear, and ice: nengmyun. Sometimes, though, only packet ramen will do.
3)Chips. By which I mean oven-baked thick fingers of potato, made like roast potatoes (which, indeed, basically differ only in shape and are more appropriate for some dishes, like roasts). Basically, take some floury potatoes (waxy ones will do, but work less well), peel, and cut into the shapes you want (more or less even and about 2” across for roast potatoes, or long and more like 1” thick for chips). Meanwhile, heat the oven to about 200 and put in a suitable oven dish with some oil in the bottom. Parboil for 5-10 minutes, drain, and then put back in the pan with the lid and shake about so it goes all fluffy on the surface. Add oil (and salt and pepper and even occasionally a dash of chili oil, but that's just me) in the pan and shake to coat evenly. Put in the pre-heated oven pan and cook for about 40 minutes, turning over once or twice, until nicely and unevenly browned and crispy. Serve with suitable main (sausages, with or without some good greens such as green beans or steamed green or black cabbage, or with braised red cabbage; steak, of course; home-made battered fish, occasionally), or as the main focus (chips with two boiled eggs and a nice salad or well-seasoned vegetable like beetroot, red cabbage, or mushy peas work very well).
4)Stew. Now, this takes a while, so it's not really one for the weekday evenings unless you have a crock-pot (which we don't) and can cook it all day beforehand. But diced floured meat (beef or lamb, usually), potatoes, carrots, onions, tinned tomatoes, stock, herbs, maybe some barley, maybe parsnips – hard to go wrong. I quite like making it with a herby scone topping (like a cobbler, but savoury), or with additional spices and flavours (they have to be fairly sturdy to make it through the overwhelming lovely meaty-vegetably goodness) like oranges, chorizo, or chili pepper. Still, a bit wintry and rib-sticking, you wouldn't want it every day.
5)Prepared food. Sometimes, you want to bake fresh bread and cook all day from scratch with beautiful organic local fresh ingredients. Sometimes, you just want beans on toast in five minutes. And there's nothing wrong with that.
Every culture and person in the world is going to have a different idea of what a basic recipe is, depending on their answers to the questions in my last post. What might be best, would be for me to talk about what we tend to use, and how we've answered the above questions.
1)Penny and I chop and change our preferred recipes a lot; this comes of reading the paper and recipe books a bit too much, I guess. Still, our basic recipes tend to stay fairly stable, mainly because they're reliable, comforting, and easily made from long-lasting ingredients.
2)I'm quite an improviser myself; I prefer to learn basic principles through practice and then never follow the recipe, and don't plan ahead much. Penny follows the recipes closely, adapting and changing based on experience and common sense, and prefers to plan ahead.
3)We cook for two. It's a very easy number.
4)We have a hob, grill, and oven. We have a kettle, toaster, food processor, blender, rice cooker, and microwave. We have a fridge-freezer. We shop at various supermarkets (Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose) and at the local farm shop, which I think came up in a previous post.
The basic recipes we most often use are:
1)Tomato sauce for pasta, which Penny's mentioned before. Basically needs onions and tinned tomatoes, which both keep well. Useful as the base for a hundred and one meals, including bolognese, chili con carne, puttanesca, jambalaya, vodka-sauce pasta, minestrone, lasagna, ratatouille, and bouillabaisse. Like all basic recipes, practice often to make it as reliably as possible; it's difficult to screw up.
2)Noodle soup. I suppose you could use a packet but really I mean good stock, probably some miso, and dry noodles (of any kind; egg noodle, ramen/lo men/ramyun/etc,, soba, thin rice noodles, thick rice noodles, udon, or even spaghetti or linguini). Add any chopped vegetables (spring onions, peppers, mushrooms, bok choy, bean sprouts), sliced grilled or fried meat (teriyaki beef, grilled or foil-baked salmon, marinated or char sui pork), and anything else that fits with the sort of taste you're going for (seaweed, won ton, a raw egg or two, coconut milk, ground peanuts, chilli peppers, lemongrass, ginger, kimchi) to endlessly customise into a quick, simple, warming meal. For a different take in the summer, try it with soba, cold clear stock, sliced cucumber and pear, and ice: nengmyun. Sometimes, though, only packet ramen will do.
3)Chips. By which I mean oven-baked thick fingers of potato, made like roast potatoes (which, indeed, basically differ only in shape and are more appropriate for some dishes, like roasts). Basically, take some floury potatoes (waxy ones will do, but work less well), peel, and cut into the shapes you want (more or less even and about 2” across for roast potatoes, or long and more like 1” thick for chips). Meanwhile, heat the oven to about 200 and put in a suitable oven dish with some oil in the bottom. Parboil for 5-10 minutes, drain, and then put back in the pan with the lid and shake about so it goes all fluffy on the surface. Add oil (and salt and pepper and even occasionally a dash of chili oil, but that's just me) in the pan and shake to coat evenly. Put in the pre-heated oven pan and cook for about 40 minutes, turning over once or twice, until nicely and unevenly browned and crispy. Serve with suitable main (sausages, with or without some good greens such as green beans or steamed green or black cabbage, or with braised red cabbage; steak, of course; home-made battered fish, occasionally), or as the main focus (chips with two boiled eggs and a nice salad or well-seasoned vegetable like beetroot, red cabbage, or mushy peas work very well).
4)Stew. Now, this takes a while, so it's not really one for the weekday evenings unless you have a crock-pot (which we don't) and can cook it all day beforehand. But diced floured meat (beef or lamb, usually), potatoes, carrots, onions, tinned tomatoes, stock, herbs, maybe some barley, maybe parsnips – hard to go wrong. I quite like making it with a herby scone topping (like a cobbler, but savoury), or with additional spices and flavours (they have to be fairly sturdy to make it through the overwhelming lovely meaty-vegetably goodness) like oranges, chorizo, or chili pepper. Still, a bit wintry and rib-sticking, you wouldn't want it every day.
5)Prepared food. Sometimes, you want to bake fresh bread and cook all day from scratch with beautiful organic local fresh ingredients. Sometimes, you just want beans on toast in five minutes. And there's nothing wrong with that.
Monday, 7 December 2009
Making things: Christmas puddings
This weekend, I made two Christmas puddings. I'd never made Christmas puddings before, but as we are having Christmas here this year, I thought it was time to attempt it. I used the Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe which was in the Guardian, a few weeks' ago. The ingredients weren't particularly fancy or expensive; lots of dried fruit, suet, breadcrumbs and marmalade were the main components.
Although not time-consuming to make, the puddings needed to be simmered for six hours; they have since been topped up with brandy, and will be cooked for another two or three hours on Christmas Day.
It is a good, satisfying feeling to have the puddings ready, though of course it remains to be seen how they will taste.
Although not time-consuming to make, the puddings needed to be simmered for six hours; they have since been topped up with brandy, and will be cooked for another two or three hours on Christmas Day.
It is a good, satisfying feeling to have the puddings ready, though of course it remains to be seen how they will taste.
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Cooking without waste 1: The questions
This is a guest post; the first in a series on frugal cooking, from Jian.
Since Penny's somehow formed the opinion that I'm a fairly frugal cook, and good at using up leftovers and ingredients, she's asked me to write something about buying food economically and cooking without waste. Very topical these days. Few cookbooks seem to go out without at least a small section on how to stock your larder with most bang for your buck, and avoiding throwing away food.
I would say we throw very little food away; mostly, the waste we generate from food shopping is packaging, which is a bit of a pain. I think that in order to cook economically, one needs to ask and answer some basic questions about priorities. The main questions one needs to answer seem to be:
1)What do you most often cook, what do you most like to eat, and what do you most like to cook? The three categories do not necessarily overlap much, and it's therefore best to try and make them so as much as you can. Once you know what you will cook, you can be prepared with the right sort of ingredients, and avoid waste. It's a pain to buy a nice ingredient (like bok choy, or halloumi, or venison) that you like the look of, and is in season or on special offer, but to have to throw it away because you didn't have a plan for it.
2)How do you plan your cooking? Are you the sort of person that likes to plan a whole week's menu in advance, with cascading recipes (e.g. spaghetti bolognese to chili con carne and meatloaf, using a tomato-based mince recipe as the base), or do you prefer to improvise? This is, I suspect, as much a matter of personality as anything else, though of course you may be a very well-organised person who's rather chaotic about their cooking, or vice versa. Also, do you follow recipes closely, or do you prefer to make it up more as you go along?
3)Who do you cook for? Cooking for yourself can be wasteful, sadly, since proper cooking for one can be quite uneconomical in ingredients. Cooking for several people will raise the issue of differing preferences, and if some of them are children or eat at different times, things get progressively harder, more expensive, and more wasteful. Penny and I are in the happy position of only cooking for each other, which helps tremendously, but that won't be of much use to you.
4)What cooking resources do you have? Just a hob, or a grill as well, or an oven too? Do you have a kettle or a toaster? How about storage – a fridge, a larder, a freezer, even a chest freezer? How about less common equipment such as a crock pot, deep-fat frier, blender, kitchen mixer, microwave, sandwich-maker, or low-fat grill? What utensils do you have? Finally, what ingredients are available to you at your local shops: what's at your supermarket, do you go to farmer's markets, delicatessens, or ethnic food shops?
That all said, it's clearly going to be very difficult to give any useful advice that's generally applicable to everyone who'd like to cook more economically. I will, however, give it my best shot in future posts.
Since Penny's somehow formed the opinion that I'm a fairly frugal cook, and good at using up leftovers and ingredients, she's asked me to write something about buying food economically and cooking without waste. Very topical these days. Few cookbooks seem to go out without at least a small section on how to stock your larder with most bang for your buck, and avoiding throwing away food.
I would say we throw very little food away; mostly, the waste we generate from food shopping is packaging, which is a bit of a pain. I think that in order to cook economically, one needs to ask and answer some basic questions about priorities. The main questions one needs to answer seem to be:
1)What do you most often cook, what do you most like to eat, and what do you most like to cook? The three categories do not necessarily overlap much, and it's therefore best to try and make them so as much as you can. Once you know what you will cook, you can be prepared with the right sort of ingredients, and avoid waste. It's a pain to buy a nice ingredient (like bok choy, or halloumi, or venison) that you like the look of, and is in season or on special offer, but to have to throw it away because you didn't have a plan for it.
2)How do you plan your cooking? Are you the sort of person that likes to plan a whole week's menu in advance, with cascading recipes (e.g. spaghetti bolognese to chili con carne and meatloaf, using a tomato-based mince recipe as the base), or do you prefer to improvise? This is, I suspect, as much a matter of personality as anything else, though of course you may be a very well-organised person who's rather chaotic about their cooking, or vice versa. Also, do you follow recipes closely, or do you prefer to make it up more as you go along?
3)Who do you cook for? Cooking for yourself can be wasteful, sadly, since proper cooking for one can be quite uneconomical in ingredients. Cooking for several people will raise the issue of differing preferences, and if some of them are children or eat at different times, things get progressively harder, more expensive, and more wasteful. Penny and I are in the happy position of only cooking for each other, which helps tremendously, but that won't be of much use to you.
4)What cooking resources do you have? Just a hob, or a grill as well, or an oven too? Do you have a kettle or a toaster? How about storage – a fridge, a larder, a freezer, even a chest freezer? How about less common equipment such as a crock pot, deep-fat frier, blender, kitchen mixer, microwave, sandwich-maker, or low-fat grill? What utensils do you have? Finally, what ingredients are available to you at your local shops: what's at your supermarket, do you go to farmer's markets, delicatessens, or ethnic food shops?
That all said, it's clearly going to be very difficult to give any useful advice that's generally applicable to everyone who'd like to cook more economically. I will, however, give it my best shot in future posts.
Sunday, 29 November 2009
Christmas present thoughts
I suppose it is because I have been in discussions with my family about Christmas plans, and have just ordered a goose for Christmas dinner, that my mind turned to present-buying. I am keen not to accumulate too many "things", ior to clutter other people up with them unnecessarily, but there are certain gift ideas that I do like. (These are things that I've enjoyed being given, and will occasionally ask for; I'm noting these rather than gifts I have given to others..)
-Consumables - luxurious food items are nice, including pickles, luxurious, though preferably small, chocolate items, mustards, homemade jam, honeycomb honey, Chinese tea. Homemade jams, truffles and so on are lovely to receive. These are the sort of things which I would not usually buy as part of my everyday shopping, but which it is good to have in stock.
-Toiletries - I know it is a cliched gift, but I really like to be given nice-smelling and beautifully packaged soaps, bath oils and lotions. I think that anything for the face or hair is best avoided, unless specifically asked for, as I think many people have their own preferences about such commonly-used items.
-Tights and socks - I sometimes ask for colourful, luxurious or patterned tights, or extra-soft socks. Sounds odd, but they are items which wear out quickly, so a supply of appealing replacements is always good to have.
-Padded coat hangers - although the plastic ones are serviceable - I have completely purged my wardrobe of the hateful wire ones- padded hangers are much better for jackets and dresses, and give a sense of order to the wardrobe.
-Small kitchen items - again, this may be strange, but I have enjoyed being given tea towels, pastel coloured washing up cloths, unusual washing-up brushes, colourful spatulas, and storage jars.
-Books - I am less keen to receive the latest paperbacks, as I am likely to borrow those I am interested in from the library, but it is always nice to receive: unusual books in a subject of interest, particularly if rather obscure, other books by an author I am keen on, and do not already own.
-A single large gift may be preferable to lots of smaller things; this year, my family are discussing buying one collective present for each member of the family, which they have chosen, or at least offered suggestions for, to simplify matters.
-Consumables - luxurious food items are nice, including pickles, luxurious, though preferably small, chocolate items, mustards, homemade jam, honeycomb honey, Chinese tea. Homemade jams, truffles and so on are lovely to receive. These are the sort of things which I would not usually buy as part of my everyday shopping, but which it is good to have in stock.
-Toiletries - I know it is a cliched gift, but I really like to be given nice-smelling and beautifully packaged soaps, bath oils and lotions. I think that anything for the face or hair is best avoided, unless specifically asked for, as I think many people have their own preferences about such commonly-used items.
-Tights and socks - I sometimes ask for colourful, luxurious or patterned tights, or extra-soft socks. Sounds odd, but they are items which wear out quickly, so a supply of appealing replacements is always good to have.
-Padded coat hangers - although the plastic ones are serviceable - I have completely purged my wardrobe of the hateful wire ones- padded hangers are much better for jackets and dresses, and give a sense of order to the wardrobe.
-Small kitchen items - again, this may be strange, but I have enjoyed being given tea towels, pastel coloured washing up cloths, unusual washing-up brushes, colourful spatulas, and storage jars.
-Books - I am less keen to receive the latest paperbacks, as I am likely to borrow those I am interested in from the library, but it is always nice to receive: unusual books in a subject of interest, particularly if rather obscure, other books by an author I am keen on, and do not already own.
-A single large gift may be preferable to lots of smaller things; this year, my family are discussing buying one collective present for each member of the family, which they have chosen, or at least offered suggestions for, to simplify matters.
Monday, 23 November 2009
Spending my allowance - and a new coat
A couple of weeks' ago, I collected my new coat. I had this made for me by a tailoring service. This sounds very extravagant, and it was certainly expensive. It is early days, but my initial view is that this was a worthwhile investment. (The style is a fairly classic, hopefully understated military one; sharp shoulders, double-breasted, and the coat reaches to mid-calf level. The colour, which is not understated, is a very bright blue.) And because it was made for me it fits me really well, including properly long enough sleeves, which does make quite a difference.
Being solidly wool, it also feels very heavy, rather like being wrapped in a blanket, which is very comforting. (I mentioned this to a friend, who said, and knows from her work, that weighted blankets are often used in psychiatric treatment. I can see this would help.)
All the traditional style books I have read suggest that it is worthwhile having a really good quality coat, and Mme Dariaux, whose book I have reviewed here, recommends a very good quality and brightly coloured coat. My last coat was deep red, with a fake fur collar, and I wore it happily and more or less constantly for about seven years; it is still wearable, but showing its age rather, and had to be mended last year because of a very worn sleeve.
Having spent so much of my allowance on a coat, I will be looking after it properly, with a view to wearing it for many years to come. This means hanging it up on a good hanger as soon as I take it off, and brushing it carefully. At the moment, I am going so far as to put it back in the breathable garment carrier that the dressmakers gave me, after each wearing, but we will see how long that habit lasts!
I will also not be buying any other new clothes for a while, so will have to make the most of the clothes I bought last year and early this year, or sometime before then. I acquired a good stock of shirts last year, and having read India Knight's tip about the use of spray starch in 'The Thrift Book' am hoping to bring some life back into them.
In terms of colour coding, I have a lot of black and purple in my wardrobe at the moment, so various options for reasonably coordinating outfits. (Mme Dariaux's tip, which I have read elsewhere, is to match winter outfits with your winter coat. I can't quite manage that at the moment, but am hoping that the colours I have coordinate reasonably well.)
In the short time that I have owned my coat, two strangers in shops have admired it enthusiastically, so I am encouraged in my belief that I have done the right thing.
Being solidly wool, it also feels very heavy, rather like being wrapped in a blanket, which is very comforting. (I mentioned this to a friend, who said, and knows from her work, that weighted blankets are often used in psychiatric treatment. I can see this would help.)
All the traditional style books I have read suggest that it is worthwhile having a really good quality coat, and Mme Dariaux, whose book I have reviewed here, recommends a very good quality and brightly coloured coat. My last coat was deep red, with a fake fur collar, and I wore it happily and more or less constantly for about seven years; it is still wearable, but showing its age rather, and had to be mended last year because of a very worn sleeve.
Having spent so much of my allowance on a coat, I will be looking after it properly, with a view to wearing it for many years to come. This means hanging it up on a good hanger as soon as I take it off, and brushing it carefully. At the moment, I am going so far as to put it back in the breathable garment carrier that the dressmakers gave me, after each wearing, but we will see how long that habit lasts!
I will also not be buying any other new clothes for a while, so will have to make the most of the clothes I bought last year and early this year, or sometime before then. I acquired a good stock of shirts last year, and having read India Knight's tip about the use of spray starch in 'The Thrift Book' am hoping to bring some life back into them.
In terms of colour coding, I have a lot of black and purple in my wardrobe at the moment, so various options for reasonably coordinating outfits. (Mme Dariaux's tip, which I have read elsewhere, is to match winter outfits with your winter coat. I can't quite manage that at the moment, but am hoping that the colours I have coordinate reasonably well.)
In the short time that I have owned my coat, two strangers in shops have admired it enthusiastically, so I am encouraged in my belief that I have done the right thing.
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
The case for personal allowances in a joint financial set-up
I will be writing more about budgeting in due course, including some expert input, but in the meantime wanted to write about personal allowances, as I seem to have had conversations about them with several people recently.
I think that if you are part of a couple, it is a very good idea for each person to have an allowance for their own spending, outside shared household spending. (This is assuming that your finances are generally joint, of course.)
My reasons for this are:
-It allows people to spend money on what matters to them without feeling that they need to justify their purchases to their other half. (I buy more clothes than my husband does; he buys more books than I do, but his habits don't bother me, and hopefully mine don't alarm him, because we each know that this spending is within agreed limits.)
-It encourages spending on things that each of us wants to buy. Illogically, but possibly not entirely surprisingly, before I had an allowance, several years' ago, I used to feel that buying an item of clothing for about £30 was pretty much always acceptable, but I would generally have hesitated in spending more, even for something really worth having.
I wouldn't have considered not buying anything for months, and then buying something costly, even though this might have added up to the same thing in terms of expenditure. Now, though, if I want to spend money on a really expensive item, or save up and buy several things all at once, that is up to me. Also, there is no need for the item to be useful, if it is what I've decided I want.
-It is a way of separating out personal spending from everything else that needs to be paid for, and makes it easier to keep track of your money.
How to track your allowances:
-Until the recent bank charges issue I wrote about with Halifax, we had separate bank accounts into which our allowances were paid, from our joint account. Now, though, we have closed those accounts and set up 'jars' within our offset account into which our allowances go automatically. I think the important thing is to be able to see and keep track of the money somewhere separate from the household accounts.
How much should it be?
-I can't really answer this; it depends on how much you earn, what you have decided it needs to cover, how much income you have, and how much you want to spend. For clothes allowances, I have heard the figure of 10% of net income suggested as an appropriate figure.
I think that if you are part of a couple, it is a very good idea for each person to have an allowance for their own spending, outside shared household spending. (This is assuming that your finances are generally joint, of course.)
My reasons for this are:
-It allows people to spend money on what matters to them without feeling that they need to justify their purchases to their other half. (I buy more clothes than my husband does; he buys more books than I do, but his habits don't bother me, and hopefully mine don't alarm him, because we each know that this spending is within agreed limits.)
-It encourages spending on things that each of us wants to buy. Illogically, but possibly not entirely surprisingly, before I had an allowance, several years' ago, I used to feel that buying an item of clothing for about £30 was pretty much always acceptable, but I would generally have hesitated in spending more, even for something really worth having.
I wouldn't have considered not buying anything for months, and then buying something costly, even though this might have added up to the same thing in terms of expenditure. Now, though, if I want to spend money on a really expensive item, or save up and buy several things all at once, that is up to me. Also, there is no need for the item to be useful, if it is what I've decided I want.
-It is a way of separating out personal spending from everything else that needs to be paid for, and makes it easier to keep track of your money.
How to track your allowances:
-Until the recent bank charges issue I wrote about with Halifax, we had separate bank accounts into which our allowances were paid, from our joint account. Now, though, we have closed those accounts and set up 'jars' within our offset account into which our allowances go automatically. I think the important thing is to be able to see and keep track of the money somewhere separate from the household accounts.
How much should it be?
-I can't really answer this; it depends on how much you earn, what you have decided it needs to cover, how much income you have, and how much you want to spend. For clothes allowances, I have heard the figure of 10% of net income suggested as an appropriate figure.
Monday, 16 November 2009
A Christmas craft-making event
Last week, we went to a Christmas craft-making evening at a nearby bookshop. The purpose was to make Christmas decorations for their shop window, and to learn how to make them for ourselves. Some of us made snowflakes from pages of remaindered and damaged books, wreaths from polystyrene and yarn, and others made robins from scraps of fabric. An appealing thing about making these items was that they were all quite simple. At the beginning of the evening, many of us in the group were rather self-conscious about our craft-making abilities - definitely me included - but we all relaxed as the evening wore on, and mince pies and wine were consumed, and ended by feeling quite pleased with our efforts.
Thursday, 12 November 2009
'The Thrift Book' by India Knight
India Knight, who wrote an earlier book 'The Shops', about her love of shopping, writes here of how she recently came close to bankruptcy, from a lack of attention to her money, rather than low earnings, and thereafter changed her spending habits. She is also keen to encourage preserving resources from an environmental point of view, and her writing is influenced by that.
This book is largely about living well without spending huge amounts, and includes sections on food, clothes, beauty products and so on. It also includes a chapter on personal finance where she explains important financial terms and concepts in a very basic way.
I have a different sort of life from the author in many ways; I do not live in London, and have never had her self-confessed phobia about financial issues. However, there were quite a few ideas I liked, and some useful tips.
On clothes, she recommends buying a small number of quality items of clothing, including possibly vintage clothes, and looking after them well. (She reminded me of the existence of spray starch, and I have now bought some to use on my shirts; it definitely makes them feel newer.) The Lakeland home dry cleaning kit she mentions is something I will definitely be trying out.
On making things, she pointed out many inspiring websites and blogs.
On beauty products, she includes a section on how to look expensive, and useful information on home hair dyeing and the differences, or lack thereof, between some cheap and expensive make-up brands.
She also writes about growing food; this is something I am keen to start doing, but am rather nervous about, and her approach, and the websites mentioned, made me feel this was definitely something worth attempting.
On eating out, she encourages people to go for a set lunch at a really special restaurant, rather than either spending a fortune on dinner at a fancy place, or a fair amount somewhere less inspiring.
In summary, I did enjoy this book. I thought that her perspective, as someone who has come close to bankruptcy, was an interesting one, although many of the tips would only really apply to those who had been used to a high-spending, city lifestyle, involving a lot of shopping and eating out. It would be quite useful for anyone not very interested in, or familiar with, personal finance, as a starting point. Although it is very up-to-date, I actually much preferred 'Orchids on Your Budget', which I found more inspiring.
This book is largely about living well without spending huge amounts, and includes sections on food, clothes, beauty products and so on. It also includes a chapter on personal finance where she explains important financial terms and concepts in a very basic way.
I have a different sort of life from the author in many ways; I do not live in London, and have never had her self-confessed phobia about financial issues. However, there were quite a few ideas I liked, and some useful tips.
On clothes, she recommends buying a small number of quality items of clothing, including possibly vintage clothes, and looking after them well. (She reminded me of the existence of spray starch, and I have now bought some to use on my shirts; it definitely makes them feel newer.) The Lakeland home dry cleaning kit she mentions is something I will definitely be trying out.
On making things, she pointed out many inspiring websites and blogs.
On beauty products, she includes a section on how to look expensive, and useful information on home hair dyeing and the differences, or lack thereof, between some cheap and expensive make-up brands.
She also writes about growing food; this is something I am keen to start doing, but am rather nervous about, and her approach, and the websites mentioned, made me feel this was definitely something worth attempting.
On eating out, she encourages people to go for a set lunch at a really special restaurant, rather than either spending a fortune on dinner at a fancy place, or a fair amount somewhere less inspiring.
In summary, I did enjoy this book. I thought that her perspective, as someone who has come close to bankruptcy, was an interesting one, although many of the tips would only really apply to those who had been used to a high-spending, city lifestyle, involving a lot of shopping and eating out. It would be quite useful for anyone not very interested in, or familiar with, personal finance, as a starting point. Although it is very up-to-date, I actually much preferred 'Orchids on Your Budget', which I found more inspiring.
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
A weekend away
Last weekend, I met a friend for the weekend. We met halfway between our respective homes, which are very many miles apart. We had both decided that we did not want to spend too much money, while having as good a time as possible, and did the following, to this end:
-My friend found a hotel with good reviews and a reasonable two night with one night's dinner deal, and booked us in for that. (It was a very nice hotel, and the food, especially breakfast, was excellent.)
-She also suggested a book-swapping arrangement; we each bought some extra books with us, so got to read some different things from usual, without needing to buy them.
-I had initially planned to take the train, but discovering that even by booking ahead the cost would be double that of my petrol, I reluctantly decided to drive. (I realise this is not ideal from an environmental point of view, though my car is at least small and pretty fuel-efficent.)
-Driving would mean of course that I wouldn't be able to drive or listen to my ipod, so I rented the audio book of ' The Small Bachelor' a P.G Wodehouse novel, from the library. This was excellently well read and entertained me for very nearly all my journey there and back, and my husband is now listening to it on his commute. £1.50 well-spent.
-For once, I planned ahead and took sandwiches and some extra apples for the journey so that I would not need to stop for food.
-While at the hotel, we took full advantage of the very good English breakfast, which it suited us to eat late, meaning we did not need lunch.
-Instead, we had afternoon tea back at the hotel which took us through to late evening and a plate of cheese and bottle of wine. (I realise that from a nutritional point of view, this sounds pretty poor, but one can't have everything, and this was part of the fun.)
-We were staying a little way out of town, but walked in rather than driving, so as to save the bother and expense of parking, as well as getting some exercise and seeing the sights.
-My friend found a hotel with good reviews and a reasonable two night with one night's dinner deal, and booked us in for that. (It was a very nice hotel, and the food, especially breakfast, was excellent.)
-She also suggested a book-swapping arrangement; we each bought some extra books with us, so got to read some different things from usual, without needing to buy them.
-I had initially planned to take the train, but discovering that even by booking ahead the cost would be double that of my petrol, I reluctantly decided to drive. (I realise this is not ideal from an environmental point of view, though my car is at least small and pretty fuel-efficent.)
-Driving would mean of course that I wouldn't be able to drive or listen to my ipod, so I rented the audio book of ' The Small Bachelor' a P.G Wodehouse novel, from the library. This was excellently well read and entertained me for very nearly all my journey there and back, and my husband is now listening to it on his commute. £1.50 well-spent.
-For once, I planned ahead and took sandwiches and some extra apples for the journey so that I would not need to stop for food.
-While at the hotel, we took full advantage of the very good English breakfast, which it suited us to eat late, meaning we did not need lunch.
-Instead, we had afternoon tea back at the hotel which took us through to late evening and a plate of cheese and bottle of wine. (I realise that from a nutritional point of view, this sounds pretty poor, but one can't have everything, and this was part of the fun.)
-We were staying a little way out of town, but walked in rather than driving, so as to save the bother and expense of parking, as well as getting some exercise and seeing the sights.
Monday, 9 November 2009
Wasting money on a taxi
Last week, on fireworks night, we arranged to go to the fireworks display in our village with my sister and brother-in-law. As I was due to be in London that day, and had a fairly late meeting, we arranged that I would catch up with the others later, if I missed the train home which would get me back in time to see the fireworks. My meeting did, as expected, end late, but instead of accepting this, and settling for catching a later train, I asked a taxi driver how long it would take him, and how much it would cost, to get me to the station from which my train left. (I usually take the tube.) His answer suggested that we could make it, so I decided to make the attempt. In fact, the traffic was so bad that I ended up missing the train I was aiming for, and catching exactly the same train I would have caught if I had taken the tube as usual. And the cost was several pounds more than the driver's estimate.
I thought later about what I could learn from this, and decided that my mistake had been my unrealistic expectations of the time and cost involved in getting to where I needed to be. I should, had I been sensible, have accepted that I could not make it home in time, and carried on on that basis, but I had attempted to solve my problem with money, and had ended up just wasting it.
I thought later about what I could learn from this, and decided that my mistake had been my unrealistic expectations of the time and cost involved in getting to where I needed to be. I should, had I been sensible, have accepted that I could not make it home in time, and carried on on that basis, but I had attempted to solve my problem with money, and had ended up just wasting it.
Friday, 6 November 2009
The Millionaire Mind by Thomas Stanley, and home-buying
This was the final element of Thomas Stanley's book that interested me, particularly because most people imagine that the wealthy live in huge mansions with swimming pools, and hundreds of bedrooms, and that is evidently not the case.
-Most of the wealthy people Dr Stanley surveyed for his book had lived in the same home for many years.
-Over half of them lived in houses with fewer than four bedrooms.
-They tended to live in 'nice neighbourhoods', where the houses were not newly built. (He describes them as old houses, but this is by American, not UK, standards!)
-This was partly because these areas tended to have good state schools, but also because better historical price information would be available for areas with older houses.
-These people would not take on large mortgages in order to buy a house, in the hope of benefiting from future price rises, because of the risks involved.
-They would not take advantage of a high-earning year or two to sign up for a huge mortgage.
-They would not generally build their own houses, unless they had knowledge in this area – lawyers were particularly averse to doing so! - because of the time, risk and expense involved.
-They would take their time to research an area, and never buy a house in a hurry, particularly not in an unfamiliar geographical area even if they had to relocate for work.
So, in summary, they generally buy old, reasonable-sized houses in nice areas, near good schools, and intend to stay there long-term rather than trying to make a profit and move on. And barely a swimming pool in sight....
-Most of the wealthy people Dr Stanley surveyed for his book had lived in the same home for many years.
-Over half of them lived in houses with fewer than four bedrooms.
-They tended to live in 'nice neighbourhoods', where the houses were not newly built. (He describes them as old houses, but this is by American, not UK, standards!)
-This was partly because these areas tended to have good state schools, but also because better historical price information would be available for areas with older houses.
-These people would not take on large mortgages in order to buy a house, in the hope of benefiting from future price rises, because of the risks involved.
-They would not take advantage of a high-earning year or two to sign up for a huge mortgage.
-They would not generally build their own houses, unless they had knowledge in this area – lawyers were particularly averse to doing so! - because of the time, risk and expense involved.
-They would take their time to research an area, and never buy a house in a hurry, particularly not in an unfamiliar geographical area even if they had to relocate for work.
So, in summary, they generally buy old, reasonable-sized houses in nice areas, near good schools, and intend to stay there long-term rather than trying to make a profit and move on. And barely a swimming pool in sight....
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Cold cream and vanishing cream
Looking for inexpensive toiletries, I recently discovered the very reasonably priced Boots range of 'original recipe' cold cream, vanishing cream, and so on, which apart from the price, partly appealed for the old-fashioned names. (They don't seem to have an equivalent range for men; I am not sure what this could consist of, except possibly for shaving soap and maybe hair oil, which sounds very unappealing, and always seems to be used by unscrupulous and vain characters in 1920s and 1930s literature.)
The retro Boots range smells good; although the cold cream is rather solid, it is beautifully packaged, in black-lidded glass jars and green and cream boxes with lovely swirly writing.
The retro Boots range smells good; although the cold cream is rather solid, it is beautifully packaged, in black-lidded glass jars and green and cream boxes with lovely swirly writing.
Monday, 2 November 2009
The World's Greatest Money Maker: Evan Davis meets Warren Buffett
I watched the programme where Evan Davies met Warren Buffett, which was on BBC 2 last week, with some interest. I only knew a few things about Mr Buffett, apart from the fact that he is currently the richest man in the world, is known to be eccentric and to favour a simple way of life.
Although the programme neatly set out the Warren Buffett approach to investing, the things that struck me were the following:
-His investment strategy seems to be amazingly simple, and to involve a great deal of common sense. My lay-person's summary of it is that he believes in buying a small number of stocks which he has researched thoroughly, and where he understands what the company does, and holding those stocks for a very long time. He cited 'The Intelligent Investor' by Benjamin Graham as a key book. (There were some aspects of his strategy, involving insurance companies, which seemed more complicated, however.)
-In some cases, he buys whole businesses, in which case he appears to adopt a hands-off management style, and to be full of praise for his managers; those Evan Davies spoke to seemed genuinely delighted by Mr Buffett's public expressions of his approval.
-He clearly knows who he is and is supremely confident – he came across as someone who is extremely good at what he does, and enjoys it, and doesn't need to pretend to be anyone else. He seemed modest about his peculiar talent, however, taking the view that some people are good at making money, and others are good at singing or other things.
-He is evidently a creature of habit – one of his colleagues said that he was someone who worked out what suited him and then stuck to it; that seems to apply to both working practices and to his eating habits. (He prefers to go to a particular steak house in Omaha, where he always orders the same meal.) It seemed that he had tried to simplify decision-making as much as possible, in many areas of his life.
-He knows what is important to him and what makes him happy – he said that he lived in the same modest house he has lived in for the past fifty years because he likes it and it suits him, and he could not see that he would be happier anywhere grander. 'If I thought it would make me happier, I would move'. Also, he was prepared to spend only a small amount of time with Evan Davies, because he had his order of priorities, and more important things to do in the limited time alive he had calculated he was likely to have left.
-He does not seem to need to show off – his office is in a very un-showy location, and he has a small staff, and an ordinary car. About charity donations, he said that he did not feel the need to leave his name on a foundation, saying that the ability to name buildings was a valuable asset for charities. They need not waste this on him, as he would leave his money to charity anyway.
-His children seemed to live normal lives, and to have no expectation of inheriting money from him, and to be more than happy with that. They were amused by the reaction others had to finding out who their father was.
In summary, I thought that Warren Buffett was an interesting person; Evan Davies summed it up well by saying that was sometimes exceptionally ordinary, and sometimes deeply unconventional. While I have no ambition to be the richest person in the world, or anywhere close, there were some aspects of his philosophy and approach to life from which I felt something could be learnt. I will not, however, be adopting his coca cola and steak diet, nor moving to Nebraska!
Although the programme neatly set out the Warren Buffett approach to investing, the things that struck me were the following:
-His investment strategy seems to be amazingly simple, and to involve a great deal of common sense. My lay-person's summary of it is that he believes in buying a small number of stocks which he has researched thoroughly, and where he understands what the company does, and holding those stocks for a very long time. He cited 'The Intelligent Investor' by Benjamin Graham as a key book. (There were some aspects of his strategy, involving insurance companies, which seemed more complicated, however.)
-In some cases, he buys whole businesses, in which case he appears to adopt a hands-off management style, and to be full of praise for his managers; those Evan Davies spoke to seemed genuinely delighted by Mr Buffett's public expressions of his approval.
-He clearly knows who he is and is supremely confident – he came across as someone who is extremely good at what he does, and enjoys it, and doesn't need to pretend to be anyone else. He seemed modest about his peculiar talent, however, taking the view that some people are good at making money, and others are good at singing or other things.
-He is evidently a creature of habit – one of his colleagues said that he was someone who worked out what suited him and then stuck to it; that seems to apply to both working practices and to his eating habits. (He prefers to go to a particular steak house in Omaha, where he always orders the same meal.) It seemed that he had tried to simplify decision-making as much as possible, in many areas of his life.
-He knows what is important to him and what makes him happy – he said that he lived in the same modest house he has lived in for the past fifty years because he likes it and it suits him, and he could not see that he would be happier anywhere grander. 'If I thought it would make me happier, I would move'. Also, he was prepared to spend only a small amount of time with Evan Davies, because he had his order of priorities, and more important things to do in the limited time alive he had calculated he was likely to have left.
-He does not seem to need to show off – his office is in a very un-showy location, and he has a small staff, and an ordinary car. About charity donations, he said that he did not feel the need to leave his name on a foundation, saying that the ability to name buildings was a valuable asset for charities. They need not waste this on him, as he would leave his money to charity anyway.
-His children seemed to live normal lives, and to have no expectation of inheriting money from him, and to be more than happy with that. They were amused by the reaction others had to finding out who their father was.
In summary, I thought that Warren Buffett was an interesting person; Evan Davies summed it up well by saying that was sometimes exceptionally ordinary, and sometimes deeply unconventional. While I have no ambition to be the richest person in the world, or anywhere close, there were some aspects of his philosophy and approach to life from which I felt something could be learnt. I will not, however, be adopting his coca cola and steak diet, nor moving to Nebraska!
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Frugal habits
Elizabeth Gaskell, in Cranford - about which excellent book more, another time - observes that most people have odd habits of frugality, for instance in their use of candles, or writing paper, and that there are certain areas where they will go to great lengths to save money, though they may not always be as frugal elsewhere.
Reading this reminded me of my first boss, who told me once that thirty or so years' earlier he had resolved never to buy a biro, and never again did so. He had a nice fountain pen, used for signing letters and for personal correspondence, but for everything else he made a habit of using free pens, picked up whenever they were on offer, and using those. I usually seem to be using a free pen acquired at some conference or other, and perhaps I have also absorbed the notion that pens are something which one should not have to buy.
For another, my mother-in-law, who is extremely careful and orderly in all things, was the first person I had ever met to make rubber bands out of old rubber gloves. I always seem to have a plentiful supply of rubber bands lying around, but do occasionally follow her example, although mine always have jagged edges and look a lot messier and more uneven than hers.
I suppose this is further evidence of how much we are all creatures of habit; I'm not aware that I have any particular frugal ways myself, except perhaps for an occasional fondness for second-class stamps, but perhaps I wouldn't know it; I'd be interested to hear of any other habits that others have observed in themselves or other people.
Reading this reminded me of my first boss, who told me once that thirty or so years' earlier he had resolved never to buy a biro, and never again did so. He had a nice fountain pen, used for signing letters and for personal correspondence, but for everything else he made a habit of using free pens, picked up whenever they were on offer, and using those. I usually seem to be using a free pen acquired at some conference or other, and perhaps I have also absorbed the notion that pens are something which one should not have to buy.
For another, my mother-in-law, who is extremely careful and orderly in all things, was the first person I had ever met to make rubber bands out of old rubber gloves. I always seem to have a plentiful supply of rubber bands lying around, but do occasionally follow her example, although mine always have jagged edges and look a lot messier and more uneven than hers.
I suppose this is further evidence of how much we are all creatures of habit; I'm not aware that I have any particular frugal ways myself, except perhaps for an occasional fondness for second-class stamps, but perhaps I wouldn't know it; I'd be interested to hear of any other habits that others have observed in themselves or other people.
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Possible re-discovery of a family heirloom
Yesterday, my grandmother and mother were visiting, and as we were having tea - coffee and walnut cake made by me; fruit tea loaf made by granny - my grandmother suddenly asked whether the standard lamp in my sitting room might have come from her childhood home. We traced back how it had come into my possession; my parents had given it to us when we bought our first house, and it was, inexplicably, then painted bright blue. ( It was the nineties....I later painted it off-white, which it now is.) My mother had inherited the lamp from her aunt, who had inherited it in turn from her mother, my great-grandmother. So, indeed, it was the same lamp my grandmother remembered from her mother's living room, from the early 1930s.
It was pleasing to think how much use that lamp has given to several generations of the family. Given its age, I thought it would be nice to see how it would look back to its original wood finish, and I have started to look into removing, or having removed, the various layers of paint, so we can see how it looks underneath.
It was pleasing to think how much use that lamp has given to several generations of the family. Given its age, I thought it would be nice to see how it would look back to its original wood finish, and I have started to look into removing, or having removed, the various layers of paint, so we can see how it looks underneath.
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Earning extra income: the rent a room scheme
I was speaking to a friend the other day who mentioned that he was thinking of letting a room in his home to a lodger. I mentioned that I vaguely remembered that there was a scheme allowing this to be done tax-free. I have checked on this since, and in fact the 'rent a room' scheme allows you to rent a room tax free for up to £4250 per year. This is possible whether the home is one you rent or own, although if you rent then it is likely that you will need permission from your landlord before sub-letting.
There are more details on this scheme at the direct.gov website, at the link below.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/TaxOnPropertyAndRentalIncome/DG_4017804
There are more details on this scheme at the direct.gov website, at the link below.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/TaxOnPropertyAndRentalIncome/DG_4017804
Monday, 26 October 2009
Making things: ice-cream
A couple of years' ago my sister gave us a lovely present, of a low-tech ice-cream maker, and so every so often, we make our own ice-cream. (We bought some cream today so we can make some to have with apple crumble, when my parents come for supper later in the week.) The machine we have is about the size of a small mixing-bowl, and needs to be put in the freezer for a while before being used. Once it has been chilled, it only takes about half an hour for the ice-cream maker to turn your cream, sugar, and other ingredients into ice-cream; if you taste the mixture before putting it into the machine, it may taste horribly sweet, but it will taste quite different once frozen.
In terms of flavours, we have added chocolate chips or gratings – creating something along the lines of the straciatella ice-cream we liked so much in Italy, and, another time, peanut butter to remind us of amazing ice-cream eaten at an ice-cream farm in Scotland; another successful flavour was brown bread. (I hope I do not sound too greedy when mentioning the major food associations we have with all our holidays?) By the way, as well as the peanut butter the Scottish ice-cream farm made some other wonderful flavours which we have not yet tried to replicate, including turkish delight and rhubarb crumble..
It is fun using the machine, though it does make quite a bit of noise, and the ice-cream produced is definitely cheaper than the fancy brands we like eating as a treat. (It probably does not work out cheaper than margarine-style ice-cream, but is a rather different experience from that.)
In terms of flavours, we have added chocolate chips or gratings – creating something along the lines of the straciatella ice-cream we liked so much in Italy, and, another time, peanut butter to remind us of amazing ice-cream eaten at an ice-cream farm in Scotland; another successful flavour was brown bread. (I hope I do not sound too greedy when mentioning the major food associations we have with all our holidays?) By the way, as well as the peanut butter the Scottish ice-cream farm made some other wonderful flavours which we have not yet tried to replicate, including turkish delight and rhubarb crumble..
It is fun using the machine, though it does make quite a bit of noise, and the ice-cream produced is definitely cheaper than the fancy brands we like eating as a treat. (It probably does not work out cheaper than margarine-style ice-cream, but is a rather different experience from that.)
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