A Day in the Life Of

I have decided to also do a typical whilst the boys are in school and I am at work. The evenings are dictated to more by which after school activities the boys do, be it at school or individual clubs; Tom does football on a Wednesday and David does Karate on a Thursday.

6.30am - Alarm goes off

6.45am - Myself and Dave get up, we have a cup of tea, I sort his pack up and put an extra load of laundry in if needed. I also make the bread dough into whatever bread I want for the day and put to prove whilst the oven is heating, if we need cakes then these are also made at the same time.

7.15am - Daves wakes the boys, they get up and have their cereal etc, then get any last minute things sorted for school.

8.00am - Dave goes to work and the boys go to catch the school bus, I put bread and cakes into oven to bake; prepare the dinner to put in the slow cooker if using. I then peg out first load of laundry. Obviously I am checking the bread and cakes as well. The computer is switched on so it is ready for checking online banking. ( I try to do this daily)

9.00am - The second load is usually finished by now so this also gets pegged out, (On wet wintry days I use an airer to hang the laundry on) I then empty the dishwasher as this has been running overnight on economy 7 electricity. I will then put away the laundry from the day before, and quick clean the bathroom. I straighten the all the beds. Hoover the upstairs and gather laundry which will go in overnight. This is the time I would also spend half hour doing a bit of sorting out.

10.30am - Coffee break, I check emails etc again,

11.30am - I have my own lunch

11.45am - I get ready to leave for work

1.30pm - return form work, cup of tea and check emails etc, I would then spend some time reading maybe or do some extra sorting and hoover downstairs,
once we start using it I also set the coal fire so it is ready to just put a match to just before the boys come home.

3.30pm - the boys come home and raid the fridge ( both claiming starvation!!); I have usually made a plate of sandwiches and left in there, they both have school canteen dinners.

4.00pm - they are off outside with their friends.

4.30pm - Dave comes home, we have a cup of tea and catch up on the day.

5.30pm - David usually comes in does any homework and spends approx an hour on the PC on MSN, Facebook and the online games he likes. I will prepare dinner if not done earlier in day.

6.30pm - I prepare the remainder of dinner, the boys set the table etc.

7.00pm - we eat dinner, the boys clear the table, I load the dishwasher so it can be put on timer to run overnight. I also load the bread machine and set the timer. I set the washer as well on its timer. Myself and Dave will either read or watch tv.

7.30pm - The boys both go back outside with their friends, they usually come in approx 8.30pm. Tom then does any homework and has approx 1 hour to catch up with his other friends on MSN, Facebook etc (certainly cheaper than him phoning all of them).David either watches tv with us or a dvd in his room or goes on Playstation or Wii.

9.00pm - David goes to bed,

10.00pm Tom goes to bed

10.30 - 11.00pm Myself and Dave go to bed.

Once the really wintry nights come in the boys obviously don't go back outside after dinner and will probably be on the Playstation or Wii, or we play family games.

Also although I think it is good for them to get a good blow/burn some energy off when first home from school homework takes priority over the extra leisure time after dinner.

Grocery shopping would be fitted in one morning once the boys had gone to school and before I needed to be at work.

Weekly Weigh In 35

Well the boys are back at school now. Has this had an impact on the amount of landfill waste?

You bet the landfill bag weighed in this morning at 153g.

That is a good reduction on the amounts we had been putting into landfill during the holidays, and more in keeping with the amounts I'm fairly happy with..

National Zero Waste Week

Over at MZW Mrs Green has declared next week National Zero Waste Week.

So pop over and have a look at some interesting articles to inspire you to join in and have your own Zero Waste Week.

Myself I am going to not buy any biscuits/choc bars/sweets unless the packaging is totally recyclable.

So I will have to get my baking head on, and also look very carefully at my purchases.

Crisps are also gradually being replaced by pop corn done on the stove with either a little salt or a little sugar sprinkled over as soon as it comes out of the pan.
It does mean there is one plastic bag per week that the corn came in but that is preferable to 20 odd crisp packets plus outer bags.

Weekly Weigh In 34

I'm a day late with this but the landfill bag was still weighed on Monday morning.

The bag this week weighs in at 197g.

So considering Dave has been off work as well as the boys on holiday this is really good.

Over the last few weeks by doing the No Spend Challenge I have used some things out of the freezer, and from the tins cupboard.

I do though like to have a store cupboard/pantry so it will be refilled this next week; but I have taken note of things which were not regular items we eat and will not be getting those again unless needed for a specific recipe.

No Spend Food Challenge

I had another look at the cupboards and the freezers over the weekend, and decided that as Dave is off work this week and we might go for days out that we could do this for another week; I have cancelled the veg box for this week so I can get everything used up, I do have some frozen veggies if needed, and may have to buy some salad.

Monday - fried new potatoes with hm meatballs

Tuesday - Beef Casserole served with noodles

Wednesday - Fish Fingers and hm chips

Thursday - Macaroni Cheese but using penne pasta

Friday - BBQ - still have sauasages in the freezer, will make some buns

Saturday - hm pizza

Sunday - Roast Pork, (found a joint hiding under the bananas in the chest freezer)

I will more than likely do a grocery shop on Friday or Saturday to replenish stocks, as there definitely isn't enough to keep us going another week after this.

Weekly Weigh In 33

Todays landfill bag weighed in at 327g (oh no!!).

It did have chicken bones in though which will account for some of the excess. So all in all this isn't too bad.

There haven't been as many crisp packets this week as I have been popping corn a plenty, add in a little salt and there is a big bowl full for sharing which costs pennies.

Dave is on holiday this week so we will see if that generates any extra waste as he likes to graze during the day whilst at home, and then just have his evening meal.

We have only got approx 6 cotton buds left with the plastic sticks then we will be using the paper sticks which are then compostable. This is only a small thing but "every little helps" as the advert says.

A Day in the Life Of

Over on MZW Mrs Green has done a "Day in the Life Of" and she asked her readers to do the same.

Here goes:

This is a typical day whilst the boys are on school holidays.

6.45am - alarm goes off

7.00am - Myself and Dave get up, we have a cup of tea, I make his pack up and put an extra load of laundry in if needed. I also make the bread dough into whatever bread I want for the day and put to prove whilst the oven is heating, if we need cakes then these are also made at the same time.

8.00am - Dave goes to work, I put bread and cakes into oven to bake; prepare the dinner to put in the slow cooker if using. I then peg out first load of laundry. Obviously I am checking the bread and cakes as well. The computer is switched on so it is ready for checking online banking. ( I try to do this daily)

9.00am - The second load is usually finished by now so this also gets pegged out. I then empty the dishwasher as this has been running overnight on economy 7 electricity.

9.30am - David gets up, I chat to him and check emails, blogs, facebook etc.

10.00am - David has breakfast usually cereal, ice cold milk and fresh orange, he watches some tv.
Tom usually surfaces around this time, he gets himself a cup of tea and some cereal, has to be hot milk.
I will then put away the laundry from the day before, and quick clean the bathroom.The boys make their beds and ensure their rooms are tidy.

11.00am - Coffee break, I check emails etc again, boys are either already playing outside or are on Playstation or Wii, this depends alot on the weather.

11.30am - Hoover the upstairs and gather laundry which will go in overnight. This is the time I would also spend half hour doing a bit of sorting out.

12.30pm - get boys their lunch (usually been complaining hungry before now)

1.00pm - I have my own lunch and check emails etc again, the boys will have gone back outside with their friends,(only usually see them now when they want a drink or a snack). I would spend some time reading maybe or do some extra sorting and hoover downstairs.

4.30pm - Dave comes home, we have a cup of tea and catch up on the day.

5.30pm - David usually comes in and spends and hour on the PC on MSN, Facebook and the online games he likes.

6.00pm - I will prepare dinner if not done earlier in day.

6.30pm - I prepare the remainder of dinner, the boys set the table etc.

7.00pm - we eat dinner, the boys clear the table, I load the dishwasher so it can be put on timer to run overnight. I also load the bread machine and set the timer. I set the washer as well on its timer. Myself and Dave will either read or watch tv, we also sometimes sit outside with a cup of tea. The boys both go back outside with their friends, they usually come in approx 8.30pm.
Tom then has approx 1 hour to catch up with his other friends on MSN, Facebook etc (certainly cheaper than him phoning all of them).
David either watches tv with us or a dvd in his room or goes on Playstation or Wii.

9.30pm - David goes to bed, Tom either comes and watches tv with us or goes to his room

10.00pm Tom goes to bed

11.00pm Myself and Dave go to bed.


NB: If the weather isn't nice enough in the evening for the boys to be outside playing then often we have family games of cards etc.

Also we only have the one family PC which is situated in the dining room so I can monitor activity at all times.