10 Ways To Spend Less Money On Food

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The supermarkets want your money! That is why they are there. To encourage you to spend as much money as possible, they cleverly deploy a multitude of methods and techniques to make you WANT WANT WANT and SPEND SPEND SPEND.  This is often referred to as ‘supermarket Psychology’.

 

Supermarket psychology is at play from the moment you walk into the store until you leave; from the everyday items, such as bread, milk and cheese, that are strategically placed as far away from each other as they can be, to the special offer chocolates that are sitting right by the checkout, just begging to be bought.

 

Don’t get caught out by their tricks. There are many ways that you can avoid falling victim to supermarket psychology. It’s easy to spend less money on food once you know how. You could even reduce your food bill by 50%. Here’s 10 ways to spend less money on food.

 

  1. Plan Your Meals Be organised and devise a weekly/monthly meal planner. This will help you to write an effective shopping list. When you write your shopping list, only include the food items that you need for the meals you have planned. You may find it helpful to include a few snacks on your meal planner.

  2. Write A Shopping List  A carefully written shopping list will ensure that you only buy the items that you really need. As you walk around the supermarket don’t be tempted by any ‘two for one offers’ or ‘manager specials’ if the items are not on your list. You must stick to the shopping list!

  3. Vouchers By collecting food vouchers and ‘money off’ coupons you can sometimes significantly reduce your food bill. You can find food vouchers and ‘money off’ coupons online, in supermarket publications and even on certain food packaging.

  4. Never Shop When You Are Hungry If you go food shopping on an empty stomach everything will look tasty. You will buy more food than you need to, probably the wrong sorts of food, and you will spend more money.

  5. Shop Late You can save upto 75% off certain foods by shopping after certain times. Any food which is damaged or nearing its sell-by-date gets reduced in price in order for it to sell. The times do vary between supermarkets, so I would ask in your local supermarket for their specific times.

  6. Buy Own Brands Food does not taste better simply because it costs more! Try swapping your usual brand for the supermarkets own brand. Supermarket own brands are cheaper. My son believes he eats a very well known brand of tomato ketchup. But he doesn’t. Ever since the bottle ran out last year I’ve been secretly filling it up with a much cheaper supermarkets own brand.

  7. Look High And Low Eye level products on supermarket shelves are the most profitable ones. Food producers pay supermarkets to stock their products at eye level.

  8. Buy In Bulk You can spend a lot less on food when you buy in bulk. Certain food items, such as dried pasta, rice, toilet rolls, tea bags, coffee, etc., are often sold in large quantities in supermarkets at very attractive prices. You can also buy bulk items online and have them delivered.

  9. Cook Extra Portions It is well worth cooking double the quantity of certain main meals and freezing half of them. The extra ingredients you’ll need won’t cost you double, but your meals will go twice as far.

  10. Grow Your Own If you have some outdoor space, even just a small amount, you can grow your own fruit and vegetables. The cost of seeds are so cheap that even if you need to buy some soil, manure or compost, containers or gardening tools (not absolutely necessary), the overall financial cost of growing your own produce is very small. For just a little bit of effort, the rewards are amazing. Food tastes so much better when you’ve grown it yourself.

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My Psoriasis

Posted in Home and Family, Psoriasis, Thoughts, Debate and Discussion by

When I talk to others about my experience of psoriasis, I often refer to the condition as, ’my psoriasis’: ’My psoriasis are really itchy today’, ’my psoriasis have flared-up again’, or ’I hate my psoriasis’. I talk about them as if they have always belonged to me, always been a part of me, like one of my hands or a foot. I talk about them as if I own them, but I don’t – they own me!

Well, I don’t want them to own me anymore. So from now on, I will not call them ’my psoriasis’. I am going to separate myself from them and refer to them as ’the psoriasis’ or simply, ‘psoriasis’.

Only a short while ago, I believed that I had learnt how to live with psoriasis. Over the years I have adopted a more positive frame of mind, improved my diet and lifestyle, and overall just become a happier, more content person. The psoriasis have gradually become less aggressive, less distressing, less there!

I have written here about how drinking tea dramatically improved the psoriasis, so much so that I even believed that I was cured!

I do still suffer from the occasional flare-up though. Whenever the psoriasis attack like this, I go into combat mode. I fight back by smothering them in moisturiser, avoiding alcohol and eating all the right foods.

I realised today that this is a reactive as opposed to pro-active approach to coping with psoriasis.

I am currently going through a psoriasis flare-up. I cannot figure out why they have flared-up this time. Usually I know what has triggered a flare-up – stress, tiredness, anxiety or too much alcohol. But this time the psoriasis have attacked for no apparent reason.

This has made me think about my battle with psoriasis. As there has been no obvious trigger for this flare-up and I am actually feeling happy and positive about everything in my life, I have decided to focus on a long-term plan to combat psoriasis. Instead of a knee-jerk reaction, which probably intensifies any feelings of distress, anxiety or depression that are experienced with a flare-up, I am going to read about current research, explore recommended coping methods, and devise a personalised plan of action.

I am specifically interested in natural, holistic approaches to coping with psoriasis. I am keen to explore the benefits of nutrition, emotional well-being and complimentary therapies in coping with psoriasis.

I am hoping to beat psoriasis once and for all. I believe that emotionally, mentally and physically, I am in the best place possible to cure myself of psoriasis.

I will be psoriasis free!

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Do’s and Don’ts for House Cleaners

Posted in Home and Family by

 

Do’s and Don’ts for House Cleaners

Being a house cleaner can be a very rewarding job in many ways. It is a service which, when performed well, is appreciated and valued each and every time. As a job, that of house cleaner is one which (when done well!) brings immediate joy and happiness to the customer. A really good house cleaner is a rare and treasured find. For this reason, a happy, satisfied customer will remain a loyal customer for many years. A happy customer will recommend a really good cleaner to all their friends.

However, an unhappy customer will tell all their friends what a terrible cleaner you are!

If you want to be a really good cleaner and have lots of happy customers, read my list of do’s and don’ts for house cleaners.

Most people don’t like cleaning. Many people are too busy to clean. Some are just too lazy. For various reasons there are millions of houses all over Britain, even on streets near you, that are feeling dusty and neglected, in desperate need of a clean. Every house should be cleaned from top to bottom at least once a week.

An experienced, self-employed cleaner can easily earn in excess of £15.00p/hr. Expenses are minimal: cleaning products, even very good ones are reasonably priced, and remember, a little goes a long way – and elbow grease costs nothing; travelling costs won’t cripple you if your customers live nearby; and advertising costs needn’t worry you – simply print some professional but homely looking A5 flyers and post them through your neighbours letter boxes.

As a self-employed cleaner, you can pick your own hours of work. If you don’t like Monday mornings, then don’t work Monday mornings. If you don’t like to start work before midday, then don’t.

You can also pick your own customers. Just as there are good cleaners and there are bad cleaners, there are good customers and there are bad customers. Try to avoid the bad customers. In my experience, the good customers are those who do a normal job and work hard for their money; they own an average sized three bedroom house with a small garden, usually have a couple of kids and holiday once or twice a year. This type of customer is happy to pay for a job well done.

Cleaning someone’s house is a big responsibility. You are entrusted with their home, their possessions, and whether they realise it or not, quite often their lives!

If you are considering house cleaning as a job, are relatively new to the profession, or if you are an experienced but somewhat clumsy cleaner, here is a useful list of do’s and don’ts for house cleaning. Some are based on mistakes that I myself made during my first few months of being a self-employed house cleaner. The rest are mistakes that I am sure other house cleaners have made. Mistakes that I hope you won’t be making.

  • Don’t become a professional house cleaner if you don’t enjoy cleaning! Cleaning is a good way to earn a living, but just like any other job, you will not find the work satisfying if you do not actually enjoy doing it.
  • Do practice cleaning your own house. If you do not have professional house cleaning experience, please practise on your own house first. It is important to establish and practice a good cleaning routine. When you are happy with your cleaning routine, ask a friend or neighbour if you can do a practise clean on their house. You might not like their feedback, but insist that they are brutally honest in their evaluation of your cleaning.
  • Do give yourself enough time to complete a house clean. It can be difficult to estimate how long it will take to complete a house clean. A cluttered house will take longer to clean than an uncluttered house. A house with children tends to require more cleaning time than a house without children. An average sized 2 bedroom house will take approximately 2.5 hours to clean, if cleaned on a weekly basis.
  • Do wear clean socks when cleaning. A matching pair is preferable to odd ones. And, whilst we’re on the subject of socks, as you are often expected to remove your footwear, it is best that your big toe is not poking out through a hole in your sock.
  • Don’t spray a smelly cat blanket with an air freshener. The cat really won’t like it. Cats prefer their own smell! Cat owners prefer not to have to replace a cat blanket because a thoughtless cleaner has sprayed air freshener all over it.
  • Do keep all cleaning products away from pets. I once caught a cat licking the nozzle of my window cleaner. The cat became quite poorly afterwards. It was sick on the living room carpet. The carpet was beige. The stain is still there. The cat is not!
  • Do be careful not to get a blind cord stuck in a radiator. It can be a pain to tease it out again. It took me 20 very frustrating minutes of valuable time to free it.
  • Do polish mirrors with the greatest of care. Some are barely hanging on by a thread. You do not need 7 years bad luck!
  • Don’t leave cobwebs where they fall. When dusting ceilings and other high places please ensure that cobwebs, fluff and dust-balls are not left on pillows, worktops and chairs, etc. This will not impress your customer.
  • Don’t wear nail varnish. I once etched a vivid red scratch into the side of a new and expensive bath. Experience has taught me that a nail varnish scratch is impossible to clean off.
  • Don’t panic too much if a skirting board falls off as you’re cleaning it. It was probably just balancing there. Another simple DIY project that’s been neglected by that particular customer for quite some time.
  • Don’t tell a customer that their home is the most cluttered, messiest or dirtiest house that you’ve ever cleaned.
  • Do close the freezer door properly after cleaning it. A freezer full of melted food can be expensive to replace!
  • Do be careful when cleaning a porcelain toilet bowl with a steel handled toilet brush. An over-enthusiastic cleaner could quite easily cause the steel handle to clash against the bowl, thus causing extremely noticeable and unsightly silver scratches. It is impossible to remove these scratches.
  • Do not use a dubious or faulty looking electrical socket. It could give you a nasty shock.
  • Do check that, after cleaning a gas cooker you have not accidentally turned a ring dial and left the gas on. The customer, on returning home could press the ignite button. This could cause a massive explosion. You would not want that on your conscience!
  • Do be aware that a powerful hoover (particularly of the ‘Henry’ kind) can suck up almost anything. My Henry hoover once gobbled up an entire child’s Lego set which was hiding under a bed. I did eventually free all the Lego pieces from the dirt, dust and debris inside of Henry, but it certainly was not an experience I would wish to go through again!
  • Don’t just dust around the ornaments. This is lazy and unprofessional. It is also unforgivable. You must pick them up, dust them, dust where they were sitting and put them back.
  • Do be very careful when handling customers ornaments. That fragile looking figurine is as fragile as it looks!
  • Do remember to close any windows that you open whilst cleaning.
  • Do keep your customers house keys in a safe. For obvious reasons, you must never, ever lose the keys to a customers house!
  • Do maintain a clean and tidy image at all times. Would you want a dirty looking cleaner cleaning your home?
  • Don’t ever gossip about your customers. Not even with friends. And especially not to other customers.
  • Do be flexible. As a self-employed cleaner, your flexibility is one of your unique selling points. Going out of your way to be as flexible and accommodating as you can, is something which the bigger cleaning companies often cannot do.
  • Do complement your customer. Where it’s on their new item of furniture, choice of wallpaper or a daring new haircut. The occasional compliment will be appreciated.
  • Do be absolutely clear from the first meeting with a new customer what you will and won’t clean. As a general rule I don’t clean the inside of ovens, microwaves, fridges or freezers. My customers know this and are fine about it. I do however, clean the inside of windows, whereas some other cleaners won’t.
  • Do stick to a pre-arranged cleaning time. If a customer expects you every Wednesday afternoon, do not arrive for the clean in the morning. This is especially important if you usually let yourself in with a key. Finding your married neighbour in bed with another neighbour is a deeply embarrassing situation for all concerned.
  • Do dust before you hoover.
  • Don’t use tatty, threadbare cloths to clean with. There is a vast array of different types of cleaning cloths available to buy, for various surfaces and areas that require cleaning. They are not expensive. Good quality cleaning cloths will easily last for up to 6 months.
  • And finally, do get yourself insured. Public Liability Insurance is not expensive. But accidents can be.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my list of do’s and don’ts for house cleaners.  Maybe you are already an experienced house cleaner and think them an obvious bunch of tips, or perhaps you are an experienced but terrible cleaner who thought them wonderfully insightful tips.  If you are just starting out as a cleaner, I am sure that you have found some of my do’s and don’ts useful.

If you can think of any more do’s and don’ts for house cleaners, please tell me of them in the comments box below. I know that other cleaners will find them helpful.

How to Beat Psoriasis

Posted in Home and Family, Psoriasis by

Psoriasis. Even the word sounds nasty, ugly, aggressive.

According to the National Psoriasis Foundation, ‘Psoriasis is a noncontagious, chronic, inflammatory, painful, disfiguring and disabling disease for which there is no cure’.

Psoriasis is a chronic skin disorder that is characterised by periodic flare-ups of well-defined, and often itchy, red patches covered by a silvery, flaky skin. It occurs when the immune system sends out faulty signals that speed up the growth cycle of skin cells. This skin replacement process usually takes 21-28 days, but for psoriasis sufferers this happens in just a few days.

Psoriasis can occur on any area of the body and is associated with other serious health conditions including diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer.

It is hardly surprising that people with psoriasis experience higher rates of depression and anxiety, and are twice as likely to have suicidal thoughts when compared to the general population and people with other chronic diseases.

I have suffered from psoriasis since the age of 6, and have at times felt very alone and depressed as a result. Sometime ago I wrote in-depth about my experience of psoriasis on this blog. You can read it here. I wrote about how I believed that drinking tea had cured my psoriasis. Although I still believe that to be true, I do also think that other factors helped.

We all know that a psoriasis flare-up can be triggered by a number of factors including stress, anxiety, a skin injury, hormonal changes, certain infections, medications, diet, allergies, and even the weather.

At the time of accrediting tea with curing my psoriasis I had also begun to lead a healthier lifestyle. I drank less alcohol, less caffeine, drank more water, more tea, ate less red meat, ate more fruit, vegetables, berries and nuts, slept more and generally worried less. I was able to make these changes to my diet and lifestyle quite easily, they just sort of gradually happened as I grew older (30 ish).

I do still experience the odd psoriasis flare-up, but the condition of my skin has vastly improved over the last couple of years. My outlook on life has also improved, as has my overall mood. I constantly battled with psoriasis during my childhood, throughout my teenage years and during most of my twenties. It was a battle that I thought I would never win.

But I did. I beat psoriasis! I beat psoriasis by taking control. Positive thinking, a healthy lifestyle and little changes in my diet have all had a big impact on my skin.

For years I let psoriasis control me. Now I am in control of my psoriasis.

I do understand how difficult it can be to think positively about yourself, your life and your future when you are covered in itchy, flakey psoriasis, but by making small changes to your diet and lifestyle you can begin to beat psoriasis.

Remember, beating psoriasis isn’t about curing psoriasis, it’s about taking control.

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Bottle Tops Happy Face

Posted in Arts and Crafts, Home and Family by

There was a small pile of bottle tops sitting on a window sill of a house I was cleaning earlier. They reminded me of when I was a child, and my sisters and I used to play with the ones that my mum and dad collected. My dad liked a drink, so we had bucket loads to play with!

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I just couldn’t resist making a happy face. I hope it made my customer smile.

We have a small collection of bottle tops which we’ve been collecting. It’s not a very impressive collection yet though! I’ll have to think of something creative to do with them. By the time I’ve collected enough bottle tops to make anything with, I’ll have too many ideas and not enough tops!

A Spoon-Fed Child Is NOT A Clever Child!

Posted in Elective Home Education, Our Learning Journey, Thoughts, Debate and Discussion by

Title page to Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning...

Home educating the little one is really making me think. I’ve been thinking about education and schooling a lot lately. To many parents, education and schooling mean the same thing. Those parents send their children to school in the hope that they will become educated. As their children progress through the educational system, they are spoon-fed selected snippets of information. They are then tested. Those children that are clever will remember lots of this information. The not so clever ones will have forgotten lots of this information.

A spoon-fed child is NOT a clever child! A spoon-fed child is not even an educated child. My child will not be spoon-fed. He will learn how to look for, use, evaluate, assess, process and store various forms of information for himself. This skill will serve him far better in life than simply being able to remember information which somebody else has judged to be worthy of a place in his brain.

It is still only our first month of home educating, but already we are seeing positive changes in our son’s attitude towards learning. An encouraging sign is that quite often William will tell us what we will be learning the next day.  His enthusiasm for learning about , discovering and exploring the world around us is almost as keen as it was before he started school.

Thankfully, the process of ”unschooling’ has not taken as long as I had originally feared it might.

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A History Of The British Canal System

Posted in Elective Home Education, Home and Family, Our Learning Journey by

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As part of our topic on canals, the little one and I have made an educational video about the history of the British canal system. You can watch it here

I drew a Roman and a businessman, and stuck them onto wooden spoons. I also drew a rather splendid modern canal boat, and stuck that onto a wooden spoon.
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Little one helped me make an old working canal boat which the boatmen lived on with their families.
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We had fun making the video, but I feel a bit embarrassed when I listen to my narrator’s voice. It just sounds so hideous to me!

Little one’s favourite bit was the cotton wool snow.

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Home Educating: A Learning Journey

Posted in Elective Home Education, Home and Family, Our Learning Journey, Thoughts, Debate and Discussion by

My 5 year old son did not go back to school after the christmas break. His father and I decided that it was not in his best interests to send him back there. Our son, William is being educated at home.

Education means different things to different people. Politicians, employers, teachers and parents will differ in their views of what a good education is. In my opinion, a good education for a 5 year old boy is a well-rounded one, taught by a teacher who will give that child a positive introduction to formal learning. For a young child, learning should be fun, exciting and inspiring.

William started school as a bright, bubbly, talkative, inquisitive, well-mannered, kind and thoughtful, happy child. He enjoyed his first year, the reception class. But his enthusiasm for school and learning gradually diminished during the beginning of his second year.

When the class were put into reading groups to match their abilities, William quickly realised that he was not as clever at reading as his best friend. Although william is a very articulate, well-spoken natural communicator, who loves listening to and sharing stories, he hasn’t wanted to learn to read yet. I haven’t pushed him to read or been overly worried about his not wanting to learn. He is only 5! It is not that he doesn’t like books. I read to him every day, and he loves it.

His teacher spoke to me at the end of the school day once, and explained that William had struggled to read as part of the group that day. He struggled because he had forgotten many of the simple, two letter words. His teacher went on to say that William had required her whole attention, one-to-one teaching, for 15 minutes, and that this was not good. Not good! When did it become not good for a teacher to spend quality teaching time with one child at a time? My son was sent home with an extra book to read that day. TWO boring Biff, Chip and Kipper books to read that night!!

William did not attend a bad school, his teachers were not bad teachers, William was not a bad pupil. But, the current education system is a bad system.

William, a bright and inquisitive child who once had a desire to learn,  found himself placed in a group at the bottom of the class, simply because he hadn’t mastered how to read and write. Had the class been divided into groups based on eagerness to learn, behaviour, communication and speaking ability, mental calculations and creativity, I have no doubt that William would have been placed in a higher ranking group, one more matched to his overall capabilities. I am not saying the my son is academically special or brighter than the average child. I am just unhappy with the way that young children are assessed in schools.

It has been well researched, and is widely acknowledged amongst education experts that children’s brains, particularly those of  boys, are not ready to learn to read or write untill they are 7 or 8 years old. So doesn’t it make sense to stream or group children according to other abilities. Or not at all?

This process of grouping children according to reading ability lowered my son’s self-esteem and confidence to such a point that he unduly worried about not being good enough. He gradually became anxious about school, and really did not want to be there.

And, mainly for this reason, I really did not want to continue sending him there. So, William is learning at home. The three of us are just at the beginning of  our learning journey. We have all embraced this wonderful opportunity to explore and navigate our way through education. The path that we have chosen to take, is one that does learning through doing, through observing, and through talking about our observations. During our learning journey we might not always follow the map entirely accurately, we may even discover new and unexpected tracks from time to time, or find ourselves completely lost on occasion. But, we will enjoy our journey.

Now, every day is an odd sock day!

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New Pet: Giant French Lop Eared Rabbit

Posted in Home and Family by

We have finally got a family pet.
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We had discussed getting a pet for a while, but weren’t sure what to have. We just couldn’t all agree on what animal would be the ideal family pet for us. Then, 2 days ago the other half and I aimlessly wondered into ‘Pets At Home’ to have a look at the fish. I don’t like fish, think they’re rather dull and unaffectionate, sad looking little creatures but Adam has a soft spot for them. After a quick look at the fish, we walked over towards the soft and furry pet section.
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Adam’s face suddenly lit up, his arms went all floppy, he eagerly knelt down and said, ‘Aww, we’ve just gotta have him’. Here he is.

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His name’s Billy. We have adopted him. Billy is 18 months old, and seems to have been a much loved family pet. He’s a little timid, but that’s to be expected at first. For such a big rabbit he is very gentle. He’s almost litter trained. He knows his name. We weren’t told what particular breed he is, but we think he’s a Giant French Lop eared rabbit. He weighs almost 7 kilos, and measures over 2.5 feet long when he stretches. Here are some more pictures. He seems to love the camera!

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Billy having a rest.

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Having a scratch!

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I think he’s keeping an eye on me here. Guarding his patch. He’s got his own room, but it could do with being redecorated.

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Billy likes the books. He’s a very well read rabbit. Or maybe he just fancies a good nibble at them!

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The little one’s box of toys seemed to interest him for a while. He hasn’t mastered the guitar yet though. No doubt, I’ll share some more photos with you soon. Billy the giant house rabbit says bye.

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