Monday – Nigella’s Brandy Bacony Roast Chicken with polenta(from last week) and asparagus. Tuesday – Tacos for Cinco de Mayo Wednesday – Spanish tortilla with tomato&red onion salad Thursday – Friday – Spaghetti carbonara For more menu ideas visit OrgJunkie.
Being Lean is all about seeing extra benefits in items. Today I am thinking about old, ripped or laddered tights. There are so many uses for old tights, here are a few that have come to mind. 1. Cut into loops to use as hair ties. No snags from any metal parts. Utilize the tops [...]
Since I started The Lean Times, I have been trying to push myself to always use my time in a constructive manner. I am always looking for ways to be more productive; I listen to podcasts or audiobooks when I am taking public transportation as it is usually too crowded to read. I find myself [...]
After being unemployed for much longer than what could be called an extended holiday (eight months) I finally got a full time job. Yippee! I was employed again and could work to pay off the debts that I had incurred while being at “rest”. What I didn’t expect was the fear. The fear, I felt from [...]
This morning after going to exercise class, I got home and had hit two supermarkets and was rushing to meet the third for a delivery. Ironically the first shop I went to was the one delivering. Ok, you probably think I am mad but there is a method to my madness. The first shop I [...]
Yes it is – a bad habit! That is unless you need something or have planned a purchase. Are you the victim of a shopping habit? The signs are: you can’t walk past a shop without popping in to see if there are any new goodies even if it is Poundland when you get bored [...]
Is it our civic DUTY to go out and spend to save our shops and help the economy? Since the big crash of October ’08, we have all been trying our very best to watch our spending and to be frugal. This is a great thing in many ways. We are finding other hobbies, most [...]
Am I the only person that gets excited when September rolls around? Perhaps it is the idea of going back to school, buying new stationery and of course new clothes. I feel the end of summer brings a chance of reinvention, like the chubby kid that comes back after the summer looking stunning as the [...]
There is good fooling and bad fooling. In this podcast I cover both types. Which do you want to be? The Links: The good fooling Ha ha, the tricks on you! Painless Savings Paying yourself first ING Direct The Links: The bad fooling Check your mobile phone contract Billmonitor Check you utility bills USwitch
Shopping on a Sunday afternoon, I know it is not the best time for fresh food but I still expect to see food. I ended up needing to go to two different large chain supermarkets to get the following: a chicken, baking potatoes, chestnut mushrooms and a green vegetable. There just was not a lot [...]
Things have been a bit tough for me over here at Lean Times HQ. I have been hit with some quite large bills that come with some rather unpleasant badgering, if you are a regular reader you might remember that I was made redundant from my best paying freelance gig due to my employer losing his biggest client. [...]
If you are a regular here, you will know that the past four years have been to put it mildly – challenging. I have been made redundant not once but three times since 2010, although two of those jobs were freelance gigs but I still was doing them on a long term basis. Well I [...]