Back to school… After 11 years!

Yes it’s true. I left school 11 years ago and set off for Art School. A year later I dropped out as I wasn’t happy. I guess I took longer to ‘find myself’ than some of my peers.

Since then, I’ve probably found myself several times over: trained in Graphic Design at a vocational college, landed a job as a junior designer, quit job as a junior designer due to lack of progression in a small company, worked in retail, been promoted to manager, stepped down, and now I’m working as a sales person.

Anyone who has worked in retail will appreciate that it’s not the most rewarding job. In fact, at times, it’s downright insulting! I’m an intelligent girl, but I’m flighty. So guess what? I’m at a careers crossroad again.

I’ve flirted (a lot) with the idea of beauty school or teaching. I’m pretty set on the latter, so tomorrow, I’m going to school. I have a friend who works in the local high school and has kindly agreed to allow me to shadow her and sit in on her classes. Eeeekkk!!!

I haven’t stepped foot in a school since the start of the millennium (class of 2000 y’all!). So I’m pretty nervous, but also bubbling with excitement. Before you say it though, I am well aware of the shortage of teaching jobs at the moment, but think I may have a plan (top secret, y’know).

My budgeting efforts will have to (at least) double as I head into 4 years of full time education. Bring on the beans on toast!

View from under my umbrella (… ella… ella…ella…)

Rainbow over the old town

Nearly sunset, though the rain

The Balmoral Hotel as evening falls

Views like this are priceless. I was lucky enough to snap these pictures of beautiful Edinburgh on my way home from work. I really do love this city!

Living in a material world

Like most people in the UK, I’ve been reflecting on the riots that broke out in London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Salford, and the many other acts of violence and vandalism in many other British cities and towns over the last week. I’m still feeling a sense of disbelief; how can this possibly have happened in the UK?

I wasn’t directly effected, living in Scotland, where, for once, we are considered to be the civilised ones! I have spent a lot of time in London though (a long-distance relationship in my late teens had me there every other weekend) and every time I visit, my heart swells a little bit with excitement and, perhaps pride is the word, or love for the city. What I mean to say, is that I feel connected. My parents grew up in South East England, and made their marital home in Ealing, where my oldest sister was born.

I wasn’t just a tourist type when I visited either. My visits to London in my younger years included time spent in Brixton, Streatham, Clapham (one of my sisters lived there for a while), Peckham, Elephant & Castle, Croydon… Most of these places have been struck by violence from a so-called lost generation.

The happenings over the past few days have really got me thinking. There is a complete a lack of community in Britain today. Young people feel isolated, whilst some older generations feel threatened. There doesn’t seem to be a solution.

Today’s youth have grown up in a society that is obsessed with consumerism. A teenager without a laptop, mobile phone or games console is practically unheard of. So is it so surprising that so many people seized the opportunity to get something for nothing? Articles in several newspapers and on blogs have all pointed out that, in some ways, the greedy youths looting all over England parallel the MPs claiming excessive sums of money to kit out their homes. Great example? Why should the already wealthy MPs be have these sums of money covered by the government, whilst others struggle to pay rent or buy food?

I do not, by any means, condone the theft, violence and damage caused by the rioters, but perhaps if the whole nation was less materialistic, then there would be less envy. Fewer people waiting to get their fair share. This country needs a shake up. We need to pull together and work on our society. We need to stop worshiping ‘things’ and start respecting each other. Young people are the future of Britain and they need to be nurtured before they can thrive. The culture needs to change.

These are my thoughts and opinions. I’m not really a political person but the recent goings-on have hit a nerve. I’m on a quest to save money in a society that seems to revolve around material possessions. It’s difficult so stop wanting things that just about everyone around you already has. The temptation to spend or acquire consumer goods needs to be removed; Britain needs to change.

I need to curb my spending to avoid the downward spiral of debt. In order to do this, I must address my needs versus my wants, and be disciplined enough to resist. It’s not easy, and it’s not always successful, but it’s all I can do for now.

The most expensive camping trip…

Man make fire

Yesterday, I returned from a camping trip for my lovely friend Janine’s 30th birthday. Janine her husband, sister and closest friends all ventured north for bonfire & barbecue fun on the beach.

I’ve mentioned before that I think this is a fantastic way to spend a birthday, saving money rather than splurging on a party in a hired venue. J’s in-laws have a static caravan up north so a quite few folk slept indoors, whilst the remainder (including me & my husband) pitched our tent for the night.

We picnicked in the sunshine on the way up, just near Bruar and then continued up to Forres, a town just before Findhorn, to buy our barbecue goodies. We all put £10 in the kitty for the food, which turned out to be far too much so we got £5 back (score!).

The evening was spent collecting wood and building the bonfire at Findhorn sand dunes. The boys had a great time making fire and keeping it lit. In fact they got so carried away that they brought back a whole felled tree, which didn’t exactly fit in the bonfire, given that nobody had brought an axe!

It was a lovely night and a great way to celebrate J’s birthday.

Sunset over Findhorn Sands

The expensive part came on Saturday. My husband & I only planned to stay the one night so we headed back around about lunchtime. We weren’t even on the road for half an hour before we heard a rattle, and then just seconds later, the clank of the exhaust. Oh dear.

I have AA membership through my bank (that’s Automobile Association rather that Alcoholics Anonymous to those not in the UK – this story isn’t going to take that strange a tangent!) but I didn’t have the number on me. I tried to look it up on my mobile but there was no reception. Eek!

Luckily, a passing contractor pulled over to see if we were okay. He looked under the car & secured the exhaust to the tow bar loop with cable ties, which he explained would melt once the exhaust got warm, but he offered to show us the way to Frank’s Garage, who would be able to sort us out in the meantime.

Frank’s was all you would expect of a garage based in rural North East Scotland. A man of very few words directed us onto the ramp and secured it with thick copper wire instead. He didn’t charge us anything and said it should hold for the 3 hour journey home.

We’ll have to take the car to the local garage on Monday. Fingers crossed they’ll just be able to reattach the exhaust and that there’s nothing wrong with the exhaust itself- could be pricy!

So my money saving tip today is… Don’t own a car unless you really have to! We’ve already spent over £700 this year on maintaining our car (new brakes & tyres), not to mention £385 on insurance and more ££s on road tax. It’s really expensive, and strictly speaking, we don’t NEED it. But it has dramatically improved our quality of life, and allowed us to go camping for our holidays in July. Sigh. I fear it may have to go if the bills keep coming in at this rate.

My next post will be more up-beat, as I will be typing with my freshly manicured digits. Watch this space.

You’d better not read this post!

Today I joined Twitter. I’m still to decide how I feel about it. After spending hours setting up an account and fluttering through the giant birdcage that is Twitter, I feel like I have achieved very little. I have wished Daniel Radcliffe a happy birthday in hopes of getting it to ‘trend’, gathered 3 followers and lost 1 already.

Not a very fruitful afternoon. And it’s sunny outside! Here in Scotland, sunny days are hard to come by, so I really should be making the most of it. At least I managed to get the washing hung out in the garden.

My money saving tip today was to talk my darling hubby out of going out to dinner. I’m sure we can find something good to make at home at just a fraction of the cost. I did my supermarket shop online today as well, so at least I’m practicing what I preach! It’s being delivered on Monday night. Also, we’re going fishing this evening (off the harbour), so if we catch anything, that’s free food!

Nobody has visited my blog today, I’m guessing it’s because it’s the weekend. So I thought I’d try a bit of reverse psychology and tell people NOT to read this post. Sorry if you thought it would be more interesting. A post like this is very much a result of a very sleepy me! Happy Saturday!

In other news… I had the best night last night, chilling with my bestest lady friends. Gossip and food fest are just the best Friday night activities…. This morning I tried Chocolate Sugar Puffs, they kinda just taste like Sugar Puffs but they turn the milk brown…. The chilli plant has been repotted and is settling into it’s new home nicely!… The big batch of soup from the allotment is nearly finished, fortunately father-in-law has kindly donated another turnip from his allotment to go into the next batch!

A frugal Friday with friends

Morning! So I’ve got that Friday feeling, which only happens to me once a month as I work alternate weekends (and on my other weekend off I’m off the Friday as well – yay!). I’m pretty excited today as I’m going to a friends house after work for dinner and movies and gossip! There will be five of my oldest friends, we’ve known each other since before high school so there’s always plenty to catch up on.

My husbands always moaning that he doesn’t have enough money to meet up and hang out with friends. He seems to think that he MUST meet his friends in the pub and that he MUST order several beers. I disagree. Some of my favourite days/nights socialising in the last year have been at home or at friends houses.

My friends and I have revived ‘the sleepover’, and could happily spend the night chattering away, watching movies, and, of course, eating junk food! I should state now that we are all in our late 20s (very late, 30 is looming!), so we probably should have grown out of sleepovers by now, but we would all argue that it’s one of the cheapest and most relaxed way of socialising around.

We’ve done pot luck dinners (everybody makes a course so there’s plenty for everyone and nobody has to shell out on the cost), ladies that lunch (we all got our glad rags on and made lunch and afternoon tea – it was awesome!), barbecues, even breakfasts! It’s all been at someone’s house, on the cheap!

Don’t get me wrong, I love a night out too! But there’s nothing worse than going on a night out when your skint, worrying about spending money you know you shouldn’t be spending, especially when others are egging you on – ‘Go on, have another drink!’. Frugal times are best spent with frugal friends at home!

In other news, I have started reading the Harry Potter books again from the start (the end of the movies has left a huge gap in my life, until the box set is out of course!). Also, and this is the best thing, I think I might get paid today. Here’s hoping! Will check my balance on the way to work. It’s been a tough month money-wise, so this pay-check is most welcome!

Ways to save money: work all hours!

I have spent £1 today. Mainly down to working a 12 hour shift, taking food to work and only taking 2 out of the 3 breaks that were due to me (2 coffees @ 50p each = £1!).

During my coffee break I chatted to an intern during about supermarket shopping and how easy it is to spend more than you planned. She told me she usually shops in the convenience stores ie. the ones that hike the prices up just because they’re in a busy area. She does this because she doesn’t have a car. Isn’t that ridiculous?! She has to get 2 buses to the nearest supermarket so instead she just accepts that she has to pay more for her groceries than everyone else- crazy talk.

Before we had a car, my husband and I would catch the bus to the supermarket and rush around trying to get everything we needed before the bus home. Most of the time we’d end up missing it as we’d get distracted by products on offer or freshly baked cookies… Or anything really. Supermarkets are clever. They make you spend money that you don’t want to spend. They make you buy products that you really know you shouldn’t (hands up who’s bought Ben & Jerrys ice-cream because it was on offer or it was conveniently placed? Heck, I have 3 packs of Sugar Puffs at home just because they were in offer, buy 1 get 2 free?!? Go figure.).

Have you thought about buying your weekly shop online? The idea seems quite indulgent. Choosing all your shopping online and then someone else selects it for you, packs it and delivers it to your door. Yes, there is a delivery charge, usually about £3. Chances are, if you get a bus to the supermarket and back you’ll already have spend close to that anyway. The intern I was speaking to told me it was £5.60 for her & her boyfriend to take a trip to Asda. Not so indulgent now, huh?

There’s another reason why online supermarket shopping could save you money though, even with the delivery charge. If you shop in the supermarket, you might go with a list and a budget in mind. Inevitably, you’ll leave with extra stuff and having spent more than intended (you might even forget to pick up stuff you wanted but going home with things you didn’t need – how annoying!). If you get to the check-out and the nice lady say £38.70 but you only planned to spend £30, you don’t put things back. That would be awkward, especially with the people in the queue sighing, huffing and giving you the evil eye. Instead you just accept that you have overspent. We’ve all been there.

Online you can pick up what you want, but also put back as much as you like! It’s never embarrassing because you can faff about as much as you like at the check out. Nobody’s watching! Everything is easy to find and its not a problem if you change your mind. You can be as frugal as you want and nobody’s looking over your shoulder as you count those pennies back into your purse. Try it, you might just surprise yourself as to how sensible you can be!

Using your loaf part 2

Banana loaf is done! I had a couple of bananas that were on there way out, perfect excuse for some baking methinks! I have used cherries in this recipe too and managed to snap up a small punnet for just £1 at my local Asda! See my previous post here for details of the banana loaf I’m attempting to recreate.

I struggled to find the recipes that I’d used the last time I made the gluten free banana and cherry loaf, so I adapted one I found at this link.

I made the following alterations to the ingredients:

250g gluten free plain flour (I used Doves Farm plain white flour blend)
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon glycerine
pinch salt
115g butter (can be subbed for sunflower oil for the dairy free lot – about 80ml or 1/3 cup should do)
115g dark brown soft sugar
2 eggs, beaten
500g mashed over-ripe bananas
10-12 fresh cherries – optional
50-100g chopped nuts or a couple of handfuls whole nuts (I used a mix of hazelnuts, almonds and pecans, chopped in food processor) – also optional
2 tablespoons natural yogurt (dairy free variety is okay)

I blended all the wet ingredients (butter, banana, glycerine & eggs) and gradually added the sugar. I then sieved the flour, bicarbonate of soda and xanthan gum into a large bowl and gradually added the wet mixture, folding it in. The mixture was a little stiff & doughy so I added the yogurt to loosen it off. At this stage it should be thick but it should move if you tilt the bowl, a bit like cement! I then added the nuts to add a bit of texture. I used the blade attachment on my food processor (pictured) to chop the nuts, about 4-5 pulses was enough, be careful not to chop them too much or they’ll start to form a paste. I then added the cherries, tearing each one into several pieces and disposing of the stone.

Spoon the mixture into a loaf tin, either lined with greaseproof paper or greased well with butter. Pop the tin in a preheated oven at 150 degrees for a fan oven or a little higher for a conventional oven and bake for about an hour and 15 mins or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

This was not my most successful loaf but I think that’s because I had the temperature up too high (I used the temp recommended on the recipe I referenced but I think for gluten free it should be a bit lower. I also have a fan oven so think that may have played a part!) The top of my loaf is a little crispy (burnt) but the middle is gooey and just dense enough.

I made a light glaze with 1 and 1/2 tablespoons yoghurt and about 50-75g icing sugar (so its still a bit runny) and brushed it on the top. Alternatively you can make a cream cheese and icing sugar mix. Start with a small amount of cream cheese (add a slice of banana if you want to add some extra flavour) and add the icing sugar, the consistency should be thick like a paste. Sprinkle some icing sugar on the top to finish.

I’ll remake this again soon so may update it again if I can improve on anything.

Using your loaf!

A couple on months back, we had a banana cake-off at work: me and a colleague, Lesley, agreed to make banana cakes for our colleagues, who would then judge the winner.

At the time I was really keen on making cupcakes, so I decided to make banana flavoured variety (with real banana though, not artificial flavourings!). I stumbled upon a recipe on the internet and produced 2 dozen tiny cakes. They were not my best. I usually ad-lib a bit on recipes as I’ll usually see more than 1 recipe for the same thing & somehow combine them. But sadly, on this occasion, I stuck to the recipe and the results were not the best. I iced them with a banana & cream cheese icing (which I ended up making far to much of!). However, I lost the cake-off to Lesley – she made a wonderful banana & date loaf, which everybody enjoyed, except for my good friend Freyja, who is Coeliac so couldn’t have any of them due to their gluten content. I left work a little bit disappointed, as I knew I could do better.

At home, I still had excess banana icing, and I still had some super-ripe bananas, so I decided to have another go to try & redeem myself! I felt a little guilty that Freyja had not been able to enjoy any of the cakes due to their gluten content, so I resolved to make a gluten free banana loaf.

I came across a few recipes online and combined a couple of them, although they weren’t gluten free. If you’ve ever tried gluten free baking before, you’ll know that it can be tricky. The flour is of a different consistency and is usually more powdery once baked. There are many varieties of gluten free flour, I used Doves Farm plain white flour blend.

To combat the powdery texture I used glycerin with the bananas and substituted some of the caster sugar for golden syrup. I also used xanthan gum (also from Doves Farm) as an alternative binding ingredient, as gluten generated by wheat flour is the element that holds everything together. As another little ad-lib, I added cherries (mainly because I had a punnet in front of me and they were delicious!).

I popped it in the oven and, once cool, used up the leftover icing. The downside to making a loaf is that you don’t get to try it before you unleash it on the world (or my colleagues). Thankfully, it all worked out and everyone enjoyed it.in fact, some people preferred it to Lesley’s. It is my gluten free greatest success to date. And I don’t remember the recipe!

So today, I am hoping to recreate the amazing banana & cherry loaf. I have the super-ripe bananas & am picking up some cherries at the shops – Tesco have some on special buy for £1! I feel like the gluten free variety of this loaf really worked and added a lightness, not usually found in a loaf.

I plan to document my every ingredient, sieve and blend. Hopefully I will then be able to share with you a recipe for a gluten free banana (& cherry) loaf that works.

I’m just about to heat up a portion of our homemade soup that’s stashed in the freezer. Yum!

For other ways to alter recipes, see Living Shalom’s blog post here:

Simple Adaptations.