Monday 1 November 2010

Onwards and Upwards

I'd like to thank you all for your kind and supportive comments following yesterday's post. It helps so much to know that here in blog land there are so many kind and helpful people.
xxx


I do keep trying to lead a simpler life but am not really very successful, however with the news of my impending redundancy I will need to take stock of things and will have no choice but to prioritise and tighten my belt. Perhaps this is really just the spur I need to make a simpler less wasteful lifestyle a reality - (see I knew I'd find a positive somewhere!!) Now,  though I do manage to stick to my ideals of cooking from scratch and eating as much organic produce as possible, this is at a financial cost. There is no denying that organic food is a lot more expensive, and though I like to think I cook economically using up every bit of the food that I buy, in reality I could certainly do better.
As an example of what I mean, I will often freeze leftovers intending to incorporate them into another meal, this makes me feel so virtuous that I then promptly forget about them. They are rarely labelled and rarely used. They just languish in the freezer till it gets very full of all these unidentifiable "bits" which then have to be thrown away as I don't know what they are and I need the space.



I also get an organic vegetable bag delivered each week, now when I first ordered this there were four adults in the household coming home for evening meals often with the girls dragging their boyfriends along too. Now there are often just two of us, but I still buy the same size bag and then feel guilty because I don't use everything before it goes off.



I know the answer - I need to:



** get organised **
** menu plan **
** make a shopping list **
and 
** stick to it **
 
And it's not just food. I do source most of my clothes from either charity shops or in sales, but there is no organisation to what I buy, consequently I have a stack full of jeans, some that fit, some that don't and a pile of black t-shirts. I also have some very nice tops - but few that fit, along with a bunch of lovely skirts, but I struggle to find things to go with them. I think this is another area where it's time to stop wasting money and become more organised.

 


Now is the time to make this a reality and perhaps by posting my progress on my blog from time to time I will be motivated to move closer to the simpler less stressful life that I strive for.












7 comments:

  1. Sounds like a very sensible plan to me. Keep posting your progress and tips on here - I'm really interested to see how you get on. I do keep trying to menu plan but I'm not the best at it and I'm always giving gone off meat to the cat and having to make enormous pans of soup with withered veg.

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  2. Hi VH, see my blog from the weekend, I have mainly charity shop clothes, most of which I didn't like, didn't fit and I didn't wear. I had a good sort out. I put all my summery clothes in a drawer and now I have clothes that fit, I like and are suitable. I'll sell the rest on ebay or give to charity. It took two hours to sort it all out but it's worth it!

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  3. Hi. I dont do menu planning, I cant think of anything more boring than planning your meals in advance. I don't want to know what I am having to eat next Thursday, I want a surprise and will make up my mind on the day. I dont follow recipes, just make something up from whatever I have in my cupboards and freezer.

    I think it would be a good idea for you to cancel your veg bag, and get what you need from a shop, or better still a market. Buying food you throw away is terrible.

    BTW I used to go to Weardale regularly with a tanker lorry, delivering to a water treatment works. I went on the A689, Wolsingham, Stanhope, Ireshopeburn, and turned off towards a reservoir. Beautiful part of the country.

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  4. Great post! Food is our downfall. I love to plan out the meals for the week but Jon is so impulsive and decides he wants something completely different and it throws everything out.
    xxx

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  5. Sounds like you have a plan. I do the menu planning thing, it seems to work for us as we don't throw so much out because it doesn't get used. I always try to check the fridge before I write the shopping list as well, that way all the things in there shouldn't go to waste. Good luck! :) x

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  6. Hi..first commiserations about the job..but you never know whats around the corner..could be a better job on the horizon..as for meal planning..it works and so does doing a shopping list and sticking to it...have you thought of growing your own veg..its a godsend to us at the mo(hubby redundant)..we have 2 veggie nights in the wk to stretch the pennies and meat a bit further...frugal queen's blog has loads of ideas on there...
    take care
    sara

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