Thrifty But Glam

So this year we have finally started saving for our new house.  I am excited about the prospect of a garden, and dream of my own vegetable patch and possibly even a few chickens, but I'm not so excited about the whole saving saga.  We need at least 17k to have a chance at buying a wee house, hopefully we should free up 7k from selling our flat, but I know that I cannot depend on this figure as the market is so unpredictable at the moment.  For those of you that don't know, I am an interior and home selling addict!  Sarah Beeny and Ann Maurice are my idols and Phil Spencer is my selling compass ;) I understand the realism of our task and am trying to save every single penny possible - after joining Money Saving Expert last year, all the tips and advice are being put to use.  We now use a thermos to store boiling water from the kettle and use this throughout the day for tea, cooking etc.  I'm battling my squeamish side and showering at the gym to save my own hot water -

Okay you've got me!  I'm hoarding posts again ;) I had gotten good at updating once a week, but have been very naughty last week and neglected to update!  For a rare few days we had some January sunshine and I managed to persuade the littlest pup to come out for a walk to Baiter. Cookie is a lot more outgoing then her big sister, she only has to hear the word walk and she is off to fetch her lead.  Boo on the other hand will hide under the sofa until she is quite sure there is no risk she will be made to attend the doggy frolics. My poor little Cookie is not as elegant and sleek as Boo, add to this a black gingham harness and everyone is convinced she is a little boy :( We had lots of fun on our walk, and Cookie even had a go at chasing the birds - well until she realized they could fly ;) The playful Cookie posing in her gingham harness Views down towards Poole Quay Very rare to see Baiter this empty on a sunny day - although it was only a few degre

Well after last weeks bread maker review I had lots of lovely people telling me they were off to purchase a bread maker!  Sadly I think that Argos may be depleting the last of their stock as lots of lovelies have told me how much they have struggled trying to source one. (none in my nearest 10 stores!) Some cheeky chappy is also selling the same model on Amazon for £100!  And people seem to be paying that price, just goes to show how fantastic the bread maker really is. So now I have lots of new converts, it seems only fair to share with you one of the easiest, quickest and tastiest bread recipes that we use - for those that have the Cookworks bread maker manual, this recipe is included, however as usual I have tweaked it to make it appeal even more to us.  If you don't have a cookworks bread maker, you can still use this recipe providing you have an ultra-fast setting on your machine. Ingredients for a 2lb loaf 300ml water (2 parts cold to 1 part boiling) 75g soft/cream c

About three and a half years ago I considered buying a bread maker.  The debate on bought vs homemade had been raging for years, and I was slightly hesitant.  After saving up my treat money for a few weeks, I decided to take the plunge with an entry level maker. My weapon of choice was the Cookworks stainless steel bread maker, a steal at only £35!  To be honest, I wasn't expecting much, so when my first attempt turned out perfect I was smitten!  There are only two of us at home, which meant that two loaves would last us a week!  Having freshly made bread on tap was heaven.  Sadly Chris was diagnosed as a coeliac in 2010 - our much loved bread maker was shelved and although we successfully made gluten free bread in the maker, it just couldn't live up to the scrumminess of the original recipe. We found an amazing recipe for gluten free pizza dough and knocked this up by hand at least once a week.  One day our online shop substituted our usual easy bake yeast for dried action

Happy New Years to you all! Apologies for being AWOL over the last 11 days - Christmas happened and despite the businesses being technically closed, I still managed to find lots of work that needed doing ;) So on my last post I shared some of my Christmas bakes, so now I thought I would share some of the finished hamper pictures.  These went down an absolute storm and I think it was mainly due to the gorgeous packaging.  To me personally, the thing that takes a home baked presents from being seen as left overs to a thoughtful gift is the packaging.  This year I thought long and hard about how to present, and I am really happy with the results - have I mentioned how much I love my Silhouette Cameo? ;)  On my last post I explained how I transformed the retro glass sweet jar - this is the finished article (complete with home made gift tag) and I think it is pretty easy to see why I adore it so much!  This was for Chris's Grandparents food hamper - they love Shortbread and were