Dig For Victory 2015

Hello citizens of the world ,

World war 2 seems like a world ago now but I find old and even ancient wisdom is often still respected and used today so my favourite slice of wisdom from a past age is definitely the WW2 propaganda Dig For Victory...

Dig for Victory was the war effort catchphrase used when Britain's food sources began to run low, most of the food Britain consumed back then was from other countries and was brought over in cargo ships. When war broke out the Nazis soon began bombing those ships and the UK had no food coming in. To counteract the food shortages of the war the government began the Dig For Victory campaign encouraging ordinary every day people to help win the war by feeding the country from their own back gardens. People everywhere started to grow their own food and the people of the second world war were some of the healthiest eaters in history.

Now in 2015 people are yet again suffering food shortages, but for a very different reason.

The recent recession is causing many (if not most) of us to cut back and food is being hit pretty hard. People can no longer buy all the food they might want.


Growing your own food is not only cheap, but fun and healthy too. There are so many ways to grow your own, and the smallest garden spaces and window sills can be used to do it.

An inspiring short documentary on growing your own food...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IbODJiEM5A

Being a family of middleclass wannabe hippies we decided to be as self sufficient as we can. We have a decent gardenful of veg and three well loved chickens named Missy, Ace, and Sally. A polytunnel was my mothers present to herself last spring. We aren't exactly urban homesteading but we do like to grow what we can. Solar panels heat our water and a wood burning cooker sits centre stage in our kitchen. I don't necessarily recommend going all out like we are trying to do but one or a few of these things are definitely worth the small effort.

 

 





 

 

Gardens can be so lovely and I'd love to share this wonderful experience with other people. Gardens are fun, good for stress, good for learning, growing food and selling produce at a local market or in a honesty box for a little cash.

Dig For Victory is still so relevant here in 2015 and it probably will be for a long time into the future, I think though, that we are digging for a very different kind of victory.

ellie

DinnerTime

Hi,

Tonight we are having a very ordinary dinner...

Chilli with sweet corn (tinned Tesco value) red kidney beans (tinned Tesco value) chickenless Quorn pieces, green beans, red pepper, mushrooms, onions, courgette, aubergine, squash (Granny gave it to us) black eyed beans and asparagus. We used spices and stuck it all in a pan together and voila...

 

 

 

Yum, Yum!

 

The meal costs very little and the moral of the story is that basic veg can taste amazing with a few spices and not much else.



 

Art And Walls 5 Ways.

Hello,

So people love having pictures and art they like hanging up around their rooms, but of course if you have little money or little space this becomes difficult. Here is what I did.

First I recommend getting some nails or picture hooks, drawing pins and stick on hooks will do at a pinch.

Second you need at least some picture frames which you can make or buy second hand to fit any pictures you have or make into.

Third I recommend getting either a pin board or a note holder, I will show you mine below. I even got a small white board to doodle on.

Next you need the art, you can print off pictures or create art of your own, you can also cut out magazines and leaflets to get pictures or small snippets of things for a collage. photos of people are always good, here are 5 ways to put art on your walls.

1) Pin board: My pin board is an ordinary one I got cheaply from a supermarket. I painted the boarder blue.

2) Note holder: I made my note holder from a square of cut out cardboard, a long piece of wool which I wrapped around the cardboard and taped it in place, lastly I rolled magazines and glue gunned them to the cardboard border which decorated and strengthened it. I put one cardboard heart in it so far.

 

 

3) Pictures: I painted a TARDIS and made two collages with one sewn witches hat for my wall, I used second hand picture frames or ones that were given to me. I used water colours and pen and ink for the TARDIS painting and photos and glue  on a plain paper background. the witches hat was made from three different materials and sewed them simply together. It is simple to make these things. I also made a collage type picture which made from some cut out manga style pictures I had and part of a cardboard box.

 

 

I made this by taping a pretty patterned plastic bag to some cardboard and taping the pictures on with glitter tape. I hole punched the top so I could fix the ribbon on so I could hang it up.

 

 

 

 

4) Picture washing line: I used old art deco pictures that I cut out of an old calendar, I got some simple string from a craft shop, although you can use anything, wool, wire, ribbon. I used hair clips to hold the pictures up, but you can use washing line pegs, easily decorated with paint, glue and glitter, stickers or glued on buttons. It is so easy and pretty, I made it in half an hour.

 







 

 

5) Paint and doodling: Lastly I recommend (If you haven't used it already) your own artwork, I have a small white board that I bought from a craft shop, I doodle on this and it is good for reminders as well. I also went a bit mad decorating my room, the walls are all painted with colour and spirals, although I recommend something a little less... well less. I think painting your room is a great way of making it a little brighter.

 

 

 

So that is 5 different ways to put art in your room, I hope you enjoyed it. As usual everything I showed you is something I actually use. hope this helped.

 

Thanks,

Ellie

 



Cardboard Boxes

Hi,

often organising your room, especially if you don't have much space can be a problem. For me, sharing a room with my two sisters, it is a nightmare. But I have found a lot of ways to make it work. I will go into more details another time, for now I will tell you one of the best ways of saving space and storing things. Cardboard Boxes.

The first thing you can do is a cardboard box shelf, all you need are a few boxes of various shapes and sizes and some tape parcel or duct tape:

I used two boxes on top of each other, I cut off the flaps and taped the top and bottom box together.

I used a shoe box on each side of the main shelf structure to put extra books in.

 I put some of my Jars on the shelves as well as some books and a money box and alarm clock on top of the book shelves as ornaments.

 

Next I made draw dividers: 

I taped together three boxes which I cut the tops off of so that they were short enough to fit.

 

The draw dividers just help make things a little more organised and you can make them out of cardboard packaging from anything, I used a kitchen labels packet, a sugar box and a box we got in the post for some of my dividers.

 

Although these dividers are pretty cheap and cheerful, they all make a huge difference and without them my room would be a very different place.

 

Thanks,

Ellie

The Best Things Are Made From Jars And Nail Varnish.

Hello,

I started making these a little while ago when a friend recommended it. You can use mugs or pencil pots to keep pencils in, or these work.

You can use this for:

• Pencils
• Pens
• Stationary
• Make up
• Utensils
• Art supplies
• Hair Bands
• Etc.

What You Need:

• Jars
• Nail Varnish/ Glass paint.

What To Do:

Take a plain Jar And decorate it with nail Varnish,

Do patterns or plain colours. You can even use stickers or coloured tape. Here are the ones I made, they are all currently being used around my room.
Thanks,
Ellie

Hello

Hello,

We are Sue and Ellie Mother and daughter who are good at craft and cooking but mostly saving money. We hope our home made frugal site helps you.

here we go...