I've been lucky lately. As Old Man and my mother ate building a log house (a small bungalow), they are on constant hunt for bargains. I'm my fathers child, and I know I have inherited a lot from him. Because my lil sister bought their old house (her childhood home) and had to move in with her family, Old Man and mother are in a bit of a rush.
It's like dominos: Sister's partner's sister (I just love to say that) needed a cheap place to stay while she's intern at the local hospital. She can't live with her parents, because they scaled down since all kids moved out. No they don't have an extra room anymore. As an intern she will not be paid, so she really cannot afford to rent from free market. So here's the catch: my sister and her family have been living in my grandma's apartment since beginning of the pandemic - grandma is living in assisted living/nursing home just across railroad and two blocks. She's mostly blind, has bad hearing problems and alzheimers, so she couldn't cope living at home - not even with intensive help, so my sister who needed a place here in our hometown moved in. They have been paying utilities and a small condo payment (it includes all maintenance etc). If they've been paid rent, grandma's nursing home payments would have sky-rocketed. So it's been really good for them all.
So, that nurse intern is moving in to grandma's apartment, so my sister and her family moved to her/our childhod home, and my parents... Well, they have not moved out yet, but mother said there's a place for a tent next to their new bungalow😁
But I digress. So, Old Man and mother really need to get their bungalow ready. Old Man being Old Man don't want help - building a log house is his dream so he IS building it. ok, let him build his dream, after all he's been through it's reasonable. And he wants to build it his way - that is not spending too much. Much of it is achieved just by using everything sparingly, not wasting anything. Now they are doing inside the bungalow, and everything is expensive. My mother is not one to follow the latest trends, she knows what she likes and keeps it that way. In 50 years I've learnt to know what she likes...
One day I was taking recycling stuff to recycling point, when I noticed small carboard boxes on the ground just next to recycled glass container. Someone had decided to dump half a dozen packs of wall tiles! Tiles were unused, intact if a bit dusty. Of course I had to take them with me - oh come on, I just can't leave something like that. I wasn't sure if my mother would like them or love them, but she loved them! Now they have six square meters of nice 80's tiles my mother likes. And my father - he's happy he didn't have to pay anything 😆
At the moment I don't buy anything to my own home - I have mostly all we need. But if I happen to find unused buckets by the recycling point, of course I will take them with me... It is amazing what people throw away!
So it's food I'm buying. Last few weeks I've bought about 10 bags of toast for 0,10€ each. Today I found yellow stickered eggs 1€ per carton of ten eggs - I bought only six, because I wanted to leave some to others, too. I found mince reduced, I bought, ehem, 12 packs of 1kg... I do have three freezers.
A packet of spare ribs reduced - not cheap, but affordable. We are having midsummer in two weeks, and hb likes grilled ribs.
Yes, it's soon a midsummer, and finally this week we have summer. It's been really cold, we had actual snow no more than a week ago! So no fun. I couldn't plant anything on veggie plot, but luckily I managed to set up the greenhouse (polytunnel) few weeks ago so I could sow something in to containers and small pots. Last weekend I planted rest of potatoes, and sowed a row or two of beets... and harvested radishes by thinning them. it took all small seedlings and rinsed them clean, I got two handfuls of tiny plants to use in sandwiches or salads.
I have peas, beans, courgettes and pumpkins growing in pots. I also have some tomatoe plants and okra plants and some mini chard and spenach seedlings. And pickling cucumbers.
Last weekend we had (hopefully) last frost night until August so now I could plant all those seedling in my plot... If I had time.
But I'm so proud of me, finding those tiles 😎
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