Germany Again !

The little town of Gladbeck hosted us for our final night and I couldn't wait to get there because we knew the Airbnb had a washing machine, a great shower and a free breakfast ! It all lived up to my expectations and an added bonus was finding Ritter Sport chocolate reduced at the local Lidl to 69 euro cents which is much less than you can get it for in this country. We took a chance and bought 10 bars hoping that they wouldn't melt on the way home, it was 32C at eight o clock in the evening !

Denmark Again

This time we went looking for something to spend our spare change on and discovered that all the price labels in the Danish supermarket were digital, so the prices are easy to change and it shows you what the discount would be if you have a discount card! We just bought some lingonberry jam and then spent shop 5dk on the toilet, since the jam cost 20do it gives you some idea how expensive the toilet was!Travelling in Scandinavia has given me a  as appreciation for the great motorway service station !

Sweden 2

we had a bit more time in Sweden this time and stopped at an old site with 4 farms from the 17th century, they were trying to restore the fields to how they. Would have been then, which was tiny. !

We also had a lovely time in the beech woods, just like home but steeper!We admired all the goodies for FIKA, which is a snack in Swedish and this seemed to be the most popular part of the day as far as the Swedish fami?he's around us were concerned, I even got a   with a recipe for sugar cookies which I'll have to try at home.The day finished with a crossing over The Bridge into Denmark and I define it impressive this time round!

Norway 7

So our last day in Norway and we have driven all the way from Bergen in the West to Halde n in the south. We have been through lots of tunnels and lots of tolls but I won,'t know how much it all cost until I get the bill through the post, as it is all automatic number plate recognition now.

I do know that IWent to the most expensive toi!st so far this trip in Eidfjord, it cost 10NK, which is about £1! Yikes, but it did use up the last of the loose change.

Norway 6.

So we made it on to the Flam railway !It was a bit touch and go as getting there took longer than planned thanks to lots of traffic and narrow roads, but we managed with a few moments to spare!

It was well worth it, especially the waterfall at the end, there is some silly music and woman in red who appears beside the waterfall, which I thought was a bit funny. I think she was supposed to be a spirit trying to lure you into the mountains, but the loud taped music did not add anything to the splendour of nature, fortunately on the way back she wasn't there !
MasterShoestring enjoyed it and taking some pictures on the way back, he made us stop the car so he could take a picture of the colours on the fjord at quarter to midnight when it was still light !

Norway 5

Finally saw some sheep today as one blocked the road,I had been wondering where the wool for all those Norwegian sweaters came from!We also saw 2 beautiful waterfalls and spent nomoney!

However, tomorrow we want to go on the famous Flam railway, when I went to look at train times I discovered that almost all the trains are fully booked for the rest of the week,eek!This was one thing MasterShoestring really wanted to do and he's missed out on just about everything else!The final train tomorrow had spaces so I quickly booked 3 tickets and got a discount for booking on!ine, so that was great. Since the evenings are light until late going up at after 6pm won't worry us and the cost is !arge, so I was glad of the unexpected discount!

Norway 4

So it rained and rained yesterday,  we went for a quick walk in between showers and then after supper when it was only drizzling set off to find a stave church. On the way out the landlady for the Airbnb invited us to see the proofs for her new book about the Lyse Cistercian Abbey in the area. It was all very interesting and so we went to see both in the 'white night'
. Poor MasterShoestring is eating again but not much, only some pancakes and some soup. Still we are hoping he'll feel like a trip on a fjord tomorrow as the weather is supposed to brighten up. On a good note, the only spending was on more drinks for MasterShoestring.

Norway3

So off to Bergen yesterday for a good look round,MasterShoestring is on the mend but wasn't well enough to come. We spent about 2.5 hours seeing all the sights but our favourite part was the Bryggen, the old warehouses and alleyways that the merchants of the Handsetic league used, it's UNESCO world heritage site and didn't cost us a penny to look round. The other thing we really liked were the free taps where you could fill your water bottle.So itwas a frugal day as we on!y paid for parking and also found a free beach down by the fjord, complete with diving board that MasterShkestring is keen todtry as soon as hes better and the weather cheers up, as unlike in the UK it has been raining overnight and more is forecast for today !

NOrway 2

So off looking for supplies yesterday to make MasterShoestinga bit  more comfortable and discovered that you are only allowed to shop in a certain number of square metres in Norway on Sundays! The staff at the supermarket had roped off the given square meterage and placed within it essentials you might need, skin wipes yes, disinfectant ones no ! We spent 307 krona, around £30 on salad stuff,kitchen towel and a melon ! Phew, but we saved by staying at the apartment all day, as MasterShoestring still not up to much.

Norway

Norway is beautiful,but now MasterShoestring is sick so I don't think we will l be doing much for a few days,poor boy!

Sweden
Very beautiful and not quite as expensive a Denmark, I'm glad we waited to buy diesel! If you are thinking of visiting the  famous bridgethen think carefully about the £50 cost each way, we thought it was goodbut not sure if was £50good!

Denmark
So far we know that Denmark is very exlensive! We had to cross the Faro bridges to get to our Airbnb tonight and it cost over 30 pounds .I don't think we will be doing any other spending here!Fortunately diesel is cheap in Germany and the full tank should keep us going to Sweden!
By

Gladbeck

We are in a small town in the North of Germany staying in  great AirBnB place. The lady who owns the place has even included breakfast in the night's rental, so that is definitely moneysaving. Also,I had a few potatoes,strawberries and cucumbers which I did not want to leave at home, so they have formed the basis of the evening meal.We have to eat up the potatoes over tonight and tomorrow as you are not allowed to bring them into Norway ! The other misbehaving thing about this great AirBnB is the free wifi, so lots of points from MasterShoestring for that one. We also have free parking on the street, right outside the door and it,'s walking distance to town.

Germany is cheaper than Denmark for diesel so we shall be filling up just before the border, but not on the autobahn as we noticed prices are higher there. Also the cost of spending a penny in Belgium has risen to 0.70E and I thought 0.50E last year was expensive. You do get a voucher for the same amount to spend in the shop,so we are saving them to get something on the way back !

Ten Free Things to do on the Ferry

When travelling to Europe the last few times we have used the DFDS service to Dunkirk as it is much cheaper that other ferries and only takes 2 hours. It also comes in at an industrial container port which means getting out and on your way is very quick. However, 2 hours on a ferry can leave you with little change from £50-£100 if you are not careful, so here are 10 ideas to fill the time without breaking the bank !

1) Have a nap

2) Eat a picnic

3) Have a drink from a flask

4) Walk around the boat

5) Watch the departure and get a great view of the White Cliffs of Dover

6) Find a seat and make sure someone from your party is always there to watch over it

7) Window shop

8) Watch the free television

9) Take the children to play in the free play area

10) Watch the boats and sea life

Have a great day, we're off to Nordrhein Westphalia in Germany !

Yellow Stickered Bargains !

Down to the supermarket yesterday to pick up some strawberries for MasterShoestring's birthday breakfast and all the packages had been reduced to 9p ! I picked up 10 packets and have frozen them away for the future. We also ate some on pancakes for the birthday breakfast, yum !

But they also had 2 packets of mixed vegetables for 15p and a gigantic bag of parsnips for 13p, so late last night I was busy making roasted vegetables also for the freezer.

We picked up 4 packets of 9 crumpets for 13p each, a packet of giant wholemeal pita bread for 9p and a loaf of Hovis bread for 17p. I also got 6 scones for 12p.

Quite a haul and the freezer is now well stocked for when we return from holiday. This year I'm going to try something new and try and post to the blog whilst we are away. I'm not sure it will work so if you don't hear from me until August don't worry but if I can I'll post about our frugal adventures in Scandinavia !

Peas Please !

Yesterday we went out and picked all the peas that are ready. The hot weather has been drying some of them in their pods ! Then we pulled up all the vines and will plant some more lettuce there.

We wanted to get them all picked before we went away on holiday and managed to get 3.5 pounds, which is the largest amount we have ever had. Some of them will be eaten tonight at MasterShoestring's birthday dinner of steak and chips and the rest will be blanched and frozen for later. If I use 1/2 lb for tonight that will give me 6 lots of 1/2lb bags of organic peas for the freezer. Quite a saving and it is nearly impossible to buy organic peas, so we're well pleased that all that watering and good weather has given us a bumper crop.

We don't worry about watering as we have a private well on the property that runs out as soon as the water table drops, so we don't have to worry about instructions not to use hosepipes ! The only problem now is how to keep the remainder of the garden watered whilst we are away !

Holiday Meal Planning

This holiday photo is from a few years ago and we are looking forward to taking some new ones soon ! However, we are going to Scandinavia and having looked up food prices I've decided to once again take most of our food with us. This has meant making a detailed meal plan and shopping list, meal planning and shopping carefully has been a bit of a theme this week !

MasterShoestring, who is now the tallest in the family, is coming with us so I've had to make sure that we have plenty of snacks along as well ! Over the past few years I've often made things like bread on holiday, but I decided that that is too much work this year as we won't be staying in one place for more than a few days. Deciding to use ready to bake rolls and bread did put the cost of the meal plan up a bit but including a few treats it works out at just over £25 a week for 3 of us, so I think that is pretty good !

Here's the plan:-

Breakfast - pancakes, eggs or weetabix with decaffeinated tea of coffee. I'm taking dried skimmed milk along so we don't have to try and cool liquid milk as we travel.

Lunch- cheese, crackers, tomatoes, buns, ham, salad, fresh fruit, crisps

Supper - pizza, quiche, hot dogs, rice, meatballs, gnocchi. pasta with tomato sauce

Snacks - individual apple pies, chocolate, biscuits and crisps

Now to pack it all in some sort of order so nothing gets squashed or broken (I've never travelled with eggs before) !

Frugal Friday

This has been quite an expensive week, what with a service for the car before we go on holiday and the purchasing of some specialist English teaching books the spending has gone into the hundreds ! However, all the spending has come from the savings account which is funded by all the frugal living, so it is alright to spend what you have saved for !

This week I found £10 in a country hedge, no-one else about and nowhere to take it to to see if someone had dropped it so I used it to buy 24 cans of sugar free, caffeine free Coca Cola so MrShoestring could have a little treat on his healthy eating plan.

I bought quite a few packets of yellow-stickered bread and MrShoestring and I ate mostly potato based dishes whilst MasterShoestring was in the USA, so grocery spending was very low.

We picked red currants, blackcurrants, garlic, potatoes, cucumber, garlic and blueberries from the garden and I made some more redcurrant jelly for later in the year.

O ordered travel money online and got a good exchange rate and did not have to pay commission, I haven't done this before but it was very straightforward and saved quite a bit in commission.

I hope you had a great frugal week too !

Careful Menu Planning

We have a very young student from Africa coming to visit for English tuition for 3 weeks in August. he has lots of allergy problems and so together with our allergy restrictions I have had to make a plan about what we're going to eat. I thought that it might give some of you a few ideas so I've included it below. Since he is very young, very far from home and going to be trying to communicate in a foreign language I have tried to include as many of his favourite foods as I can, the plan isn't as healthy as we might eat. However, it's not that expensive and has a decent amount of fruits and vegetables in it and will be all made from scratch !

Breakfasts - cereal, bacon, pancakes, waffles, muffins, fresh fruit, yoghurt, mushrooms, boat, apple and orange juice, hot chocolate

Lunches- Roast chicken, sandwiches, carrot sticks and houmous, pita bread and felafel, soup and bread

Dinners- Baked beans on toast, chicken curry and rice, pizza and salad, vegetable curry and chapattis, lentil bolognaise and pasta, burgers,bun and chips, hotdogs and all the fixings.

I've got all this written down in detail and have made a shopping plan so I'll always have what he can eat in the house.

Busy in the Garden still !

We are very proud of the first cucumber of the year ! Along with the first courgette, 48 bulbs of garlic, another pound of red currants and 2 more pounds of blackcurrants that means that the fridge is stuffed with fruit and vegetables.

I'm still trying to decide what to do with the currants. I think I'll make some more redcurrant jelly with the red ones but there aren't enough of the black ones to make cordial. I've still got more than half of a blackcurrant cheesecake in the freezer and we still have bags of frozen ones from last year. Not to mention several jars of blackcurrant jam. I'm thinking about maybe freezing them just now and waiting for some more to make cordial. Or even better idea might be to deforest those old ones and use both lots to make cordial !

Ah, inspiration strikes, I'm off to make cordial !

July Challenges

July is a holiday month and also report writing month so I've decided not to have any real challenges apart from making up a menu plan and taking enough food away with us to make sure we stick to the grocery budget and helping MrShoestring lose the rest of the weight he has put on. So far the guidelines from the "4 Pillars" book are working and he is losing weight, which is great. He also does not feel deprived and is eating plenty, so fingers crossed this is a permanent change ! It's not expensive either as the health eating plan is based around vegetables and we have plenty of those !

So far this month I have only spent £55 on groceries and that includes all sorts of pre-packed stuff for our holiday which I would not normally buy. This should give us some wriggle room when we travel to Scandanavia at the end of the month, just as well as the price of a lettuce is around £2.50 !

How about you, are you doing any challenges for July ? The Frugalwoods are hosting an Ultra-frugal month challenge if you want to pop over and see what that is all about !

Drying Garlic etc.

With the dry weather continuing and our well water beginning to get low we decided over the weekend to pull up crops which looked ready, so that we got something out of them before the sun just dried everything out.

As you can see, I think we have enough garlic to keep us going most of the year. We also dug up some volunteer potatoes, enough for two meals, picked a courgette, picked a whole bowl of summer berries and pulled out the lettuce which had bolted. We have other lettuce but it is small and won't survive without watering.

The cucumbers are on the verge of producing in the polytunnel and the apples and plums still have fruit which is growing, so fingers crossed that either we get rain or the well water does not give out. I think that if the sunny weather continues the peas will be ready to pick by next weekend !

Yellow Stickered Bargains

Last night we went off down to the local supermarket to see if there were any reduced items and sure enough there were !

I got 14 packets of bakery rolls for 17p each, cheaper than I can make them for and 2 packets of Hovis wholemeal bread for 26p, also cheaper than I can make it. I usually make my own bread but this has been placed safely into the freezer for taking away on holiday with us, to save work and save money !

Well worth the trip, I think they must have made more than they needed, thinking that lots of people would want buns for barbecues ! 

Things to do Instead of Watching the Football

Now I expect that certain parts of the country, such as the M25 motorway, are going to be very quiet this afternoon as most of the nation stops to watch the World Cup Quarter Final between England and Sweden.

However, if you don't like football, this afternoon would be an excellent chance to do any of the following :-

1) Go for a walk

2) Trawl round the charity shops

3) Get a haircut

4) Look for reduced food in the supermarkets

5) Pick fruit

6) Freeze fruit

7) Make jam

8) Bake a cake

9) Prepare an afternoon tea

10) Sit in the garden !

You can almost guarantee you will not be disturbed !

Frugal Friday

Still really hot around here which means that we have been doing less, but still a few frugal things have been going on.

Firstly, I have picked most of the blackcurrants and used them to make blackcurrant cordial. We also picked redcurrants and used them to make redcurrant jelly for Christmas time. I know it seems too soon to mention the 'C' word but planning ahead saves money !

We picked gooseberries, raspberries and the last of the strawberries and made stewed fruit. I also used some of the blackcurrants to top a cheesecake I made using home made curd cheese. The curd cheese was made from milk which had turned in the fridge as the warm air got in as we opened and closed the door to get at the jug of cold water I've put in there. Having a jug of cold water at the ready means that people don't drink as many canned drinks in this hot weather and water is better for our budget as well as our health.

Apart from that, we have shopped ahead a bit to get a few tins and things for our holiday in a few weeks time, as this allowed us to use a £4 off a £30 spend at Tesco voucher. MasterShoestring as been in the USA all week so MrShoestring and I have been eating leftovers and salad all week, so the food budget has hardly been touched. However, we have spent some money on petrol and a boiler service, so the account is now quite thin even though we are only 1 week into July. I'm going to have to do some careful planning to make things last.

How has your week been on the frugal front ?

Doing a Counselling Course

So today is the last day of the first year of my 2 year counselling diploma at Level 4. I already spent last year doing Level 2 & 3. By the end of next year I will be fully qualified and able to practise independently, whereas now I can only work in an agency. However, there are actually no rules governing counselling training so in theory I could hang up my shingle now !

I thought it would be worthwhile reflecting on whether doing this training is worthwhile and what I would like to have been told last year but wasn't !

I would like to have been told how difficult it was to get a placement, how expensive therapy and supervision are and what placements to go after so that you can complete 100 hours of face to face counselling in an agency in order to qualify. Although I did plenty of research and asked people already on the course I was not told any of this. As a result I've had to earn quite a bit of extra money that I hadn't budgeted for. Fortunately I am able to do this and can mostly choose when I work. However, I have also done a great deal of unpaid voluntary work in order to try and be offered some counselling work to build up my hours and that I think is a bit exploitative.

I don't know how it works in other countries but in this one, all counsellors even qualified ones, must also pay for at least 90 minutes supervision a month. Over the past three months I've had to pay for a lot more than this as I attempted to build up my face to face hours.

The upshot of all this is that I do have just over 50 hours counselling work from this year and am hopeful that now I have more experience it will be easier to find opportunities which can be fitted around working more often. My best placement has been in a school and my worst, well I don't like to say ! But I have also discovered that I do quite like being in charge rather than being told what to do, so I can see private practice beckoning when I finish next year rather than working for somebody else !

One thing is for sure, I have a better handle on the budget needed for training than I did last year !!

Clotted Cream

I was very lucky yesterday and just as I was going home from volunteering another chap who works there asked someone to take home 250g of clotted cream before it went off, of course I volunteered ! There are so many things you can do with clotted cream besides putting it on scones, so when I got home I thought of these 10 here and then ate some !

1) Make a banana split

2) Make butter

3) Make ice cream

4) Make fudge

5) Make caramel sauce

6) Make millionaire shortbread

7) Eat with strawberries

8) Eat with other fresh fruit

9) Have on pancakes

10) Have on waffles !

Somehow I think those 250g are going to disappear very quickly and what a lovely, unexpected, free treat!

Getting Fit and Healthy

MrShoestring still has 11lbs to lose to reach target weight after putting on quite a bit at the start of the year. I got this book out of the library to help him and we liked it so much that I've ordered a copy to keep.

The book is all about what this GP noticed in his surgery when he started giving lifestyle advice rather than handing out prescriptions, he reckons 75% of the problems he sees are caused by lifestyle rather than actual illness. A great deal of what he says seems to make sense, so for the next few weeks MrShoestring will be cutting out sugar, eating more vegetables, relaxing and moving more ! With a bit of luck those last few pounds will come off and then we can start encouraging others to try a bit more healthful living !

Making Cream Cheese

With the weather having been so warm even milk kept in the fridge is going off faster. Rather than throwing the sour milk away, you can use it to make cream cheese.

Put the sour milk in a bowl and cover the bowl. leave the covered bowl in a warm , shady place for a few hours until you see that the curds and whey have separated. Pour the mixture through a muslin cloth or a pillow case, catch the whey in a bowl underneath. You can use the whey to make various things, including scones. You have now caught the curd cheese in the cloth, this can be scraped off and used as you would normally. I made cheesecake with mine, but you can also flavour it with salt, pepper and herbs and spread it on bread or crackers.

A delicious treat from something you might otherwise have thrown away !

Making Blackcurrant Cordial

The blackcurrants are ripe and we already have plenty of jam and lots in the freezer from last year. I didn't want to waste them and needed to use them for something fast, as the hot weather means that they are spoiling very quickly.

So out came the steam juicer and a couple of pints of blackcurrant cordial were made very easily.

First extract the juice from all the blackcurrants by simply steaming them in your juicer. Once all the juice has been extracted then measure off 1 pint of blackcurrant juice and dissolve 1 pound of sugar into it over a low heat. As soon as the sugar is dissolved your cordial is ready to be bottled. Pour into sterilised bottles right to the top and screw on the top. As the cordial cools a vacuum seal will be created. Then enjoy now or save for the winter !