No recycling box is safe

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:29:25 GMT

I never thought that the frugal life would come to this. As I write, I am ashamed to say that I’ve just been ‘liberating’ wine bottles from one of my next-door neighbours’ recycling boxes out in the road. I smuggled them into a plastic bag and ran into the house as quickly as I could before anyone could see what their ‘eccentric’ neighbour was up to.

No, I haven’t taken leave of my senses – well, no more than usual. I’m on a mission to de-clutter the house and DJ’s home brew apricot wine has been sitting around in demijohns cluttering up the spare room for ages. He’s got three drinkable demijohns – a fourth has gone all vinegary as air got to it – and he needs about 18 wine bottles to empty them so we can drink it all. I had meant to ask the neighbours. But nobody was about this morning at 9am and I panicked as the glass recycling van came up the road and knew I had to act. In my defence, I have left notes for my neighbours in case it was theirs. Possibly overkill but it’s best to be on the safe side. However, saying that, it’s probably the council I’ve been pilfering from really as the recycling box ultimately belongs to them. There you go – a slightly ridiculous moral dilemma as myself and the council have similar recycling aims! Although I think ours will be more fun. Last year’s apricot wine is a particularly good vintage if I say so myself.

Part of the exercise is also to finish off the house decoration project we started all of four years ago. A lot of it’s been done, but there’s little jobs that haven’t been finished and have started to bug me. The lounge is done but there’s a small gaping hole in the wall behind the telly where the ventilation grill fell off, hidden tastefully by a piece of wood and a tin of paint! House doctor eat your heart out! There’s water marks on the wall of the spare room where the roof leaked but has since been fixed. Our shower has also been leaking occasionally through into the kitchen and we need to fix the leak and now probably get a new kitchen ceiling. And apart from some tiling that needs doing, the other jobs are mainly dressing - finding nice pictures for the walls etc. The problem is that all of this takes time and money, although I’m hoping the shower/kitchen ceiling job can be done on the home insurance.

Luckily we’re very fortunate that DJ is handy and actually enjoys doing DIY – or at least used to before he wallpapered the entire house and laid all the laminate flooring downstairs two years ago and quickly grew tired of it all!

And the de-cluttering is going well. So far I’ve managed to fill about five recycling bags with old papers etc., although if you look in the two spare rooms it’s as though I’ve achieved nothing! And I was pleased with a new mirror I managed to find for the spare room in a charity shop yesterday for £3.95. I’ve also tracked down an old green duvet cover for the spare room which I’m going to wash and dress up with some cheap fluffy cushions from Primark or a charity shop.

Do you have any thrifty DIY or decorating tips? What are good cheap ways of making your home look its glamorous best?

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A Billericay brew

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:01:45 GMT

Oh dear…the lurgie is really taking hold today. I am truly in its thrall. My nose has taken on a personality of its own and my foolish decision to dress entirely in black today has only made my face look even whiter and my nose resemble more closely that of an iconic reindeer who shall remain nameless.

And…OK - after all my good intentions yesterday with the herbal cold remedies, I admit to sneaking a couple of ibuprofen when I was starting to feel a bit worse…but it did only cost me about 50p so it’s not so bad! I’m not convinced that any of these remedies - natural, synthetic or otherwise are actually doing anything particularly helpful, although the herbal ones were quite tasty and comforting. Especially the cinnamon and brandy…mmm!

But there is another…ahem…‘natural’…remedy that I feel dutybound to spend some time looking into - er…our home brew beer! DJ took it upon himself to teach me how to become a master brewer - he had lots of experience while an impoverished student - and so we started brewing some lager just over a month ago using a kit from Wilkinsons in Brentwood (there are lots of kits available on the internet). In the past DJ has managed to make super cheap home brew for 13p a pint (mmm…with this paint stripper you are really spoiling us…) but we decided to go up market and make lager closer to 30p a pint! The lager kit cost about £10 but obviously to start out from scratch you’d need to get a fermenting bin, tubes, bottles or keg (if you prefer to pour pints from the keg instead of bottling it individually) and that could cost around £30 or more brand new.

The first stage was quite fun really. We got a big fermenting bin - basically a big bucket - and sterilised it, the lid and a big plastic spoon used to stir the mixture around using sterilising powder which smells exactly like our old school swimming pool in the summer. Ick. It stinks but it’s important to ensure there won’t be any bugs spoiling your beer. Then you boil up lots of water - we did it in pots on the stove - according to the instructions in the kit, and mix it with the malt extract in the mixture, plus sugar. Then you top it up with cold water. When the mixture drops to the right temperature (don't forget to sterilise the thermometer) you sprinkle the yeast that also comes with the kit on top of the mixture and you leave the whole bin with the lid on somewhere safe for the yeast to do its work. Every day you have to stir it a little and then in about a week to 10 days if it’s ok (according to the reading on the hydrometer) it’s ready to be bottled. This is a good website in the US with info on how to brew beer...

The first bit was the fun bit really. It was when it came to the bottling that my enthusiasm began to wane. “We need to sterilise the old bottles I used last time around,” DJ said lightly, actually meaning me not we! “We’ll do it in the bath as it’s easier”. What he’d failed to mention was that these bottles had been sat festering in a cupboard for the best part of four months, with last time's beer left in the bottom, and were full of mould which had to be washed away by yours truly. What a hoot that was!

But I have to admit that it was all worth it when we tested the first few bottles of Billericay Brewery’s amber nectar last night. The lager had a surprisingly delicious depth of flavour (hic), although you have to be careful when you pour not to disturb the sediment. But in the name of research and to be on the safe side, I’d best try a couple more bottles tonight just to make sure…!

The Frugal Life: Home brew

No recycling box is safe

A Billericay brew