Time and Motion....
Am hoping a reader will be able to tell me the average wage-per-hour paid for full-time work, and also (perhaps more important) for part-time employment as I've always believed it can cost more to work (certainly part-time) than the savings that can be made if we stay at home and make all the things we would buy due to shortage of time.
Look at those carrot batons "no time to chop carrots" we heard a lady say. I've checked the price of loose carrots = 75p kg. Buy the carrots already sliced into batons and we would have to pay £1.39kg - more than double the cost. But buying carrots loose isn't always the best buy, go for those grade 2 carrots (slightly mis-shaped and these are only 60p a kg.
Taking 1lb (500g) of carrots from the bag in my fridge, I topped and tailed these, then cut into batons and it took less than 4 minutes to do this, saving me 40p - and that's 10p a minute. If we went out to work we would expect to work most of the time - earning how much? - so would cutting carrots in our own kitchen (saving £6 an hour) be worth doing? At first thought maybe not, but how much of our out-work earnings stays in our purse. We would have travel expenses, pay more for our food 'because we don't have the time to make/prepare it ourselves' plus any child-care costs.
Preparation at home usually means no further delving into our purses, so by the end of the day/week/month/year, a bit of working out should prove we can save a lot more money that we might otherwise have eared if working for an employer.
This is - of course - assuming that we are prepared to work hard, for no pay, from home. Any free time could go towards growing our own produce on windowsills, in the garden, in an allotment. Maybe how life used to be lived, sadly not so much these days.
All too often I hear about harassed mums trying to make ends meet, money being paid for crèches, nurseries, pre-school etc (and what happens to the children during school holidays when mums still have to work? ). Too tired to cook after work, so a diet of ready-meals etc. There is a lot to be said for those good old 'Just William' and Enid Blyton days when the only tweeting was the birdsong in the trees, and thank goodness I can still remember them.
Perhaps being nostalgic doesn't help much in this modern world. We are all free to choose the way of life we believe suits us best and as the saying goes 'what you've never had you never miss'. But we could give children a chance to find out how life used to be, if not for mum, at least for grandma.
Having read Margie's list of 'foodie songs' am amazed there are so many. The only other one I thought of - and not mentioned - was 'If I knew you were coming I'd have baked a cake.' Thanks also to Hazel, Eileen, and Gill for their input.
It is quite a fun game to do when in bed and sleep won't come. Better than counting sheep.
Slept quite well last night due to expecting an early visit from a builder (repairing our garage roof) but he hasn't arrived yet, hopefully this afternoon, it has to be done before it rains (this due on Friday) otherwise another long wait.
This week is the last of the 'Eat Better for Less' so they only made three progs anyway, would have liked to have seen more on this theme. There is to be a 'Celebrity Great British Bake Off' that I'm looking forward to watching, Dame Edna being one of the contestants. Let us hope I can keep from nodding off.
Didn't expect to blog today, but as I'd got myself interested in the money-per-minute that can be saved using our own efforts (in this instance chopping carrots), thought it was worth a mention. Would be interested to hear from readers about other useful money-saving ideas that might swing thoughts round to not going OUT to work, but staying at home and ending up far more relaxed and hopefully with more money staying in that purse. It can be done. So let's hear it from you. TTFN.
Look at those carrot batons "no time to chop carrots" we heard a lady say. I've checked the price of loose carrots = 75p kg. Buy the carrots already sliced into batons and we would have to pay £1.39kg - more than double the cost. But buying carrots loose isn't always the best buy, go for those grade 2 carrots (slightly mis-shaped and these are only 60p a kg.
Taking 1lb (500g) of carrots from the bag in my fridge, I topped and tailed these, then cut into batons and it took less than 4 minutes to do this, saving me 40p - and that's 10p a minute. If we went out to work we would expect to work most of the time - earning how much? - so would cutting carrots in our own kitchen (saving £6 an hour) be worth doing? At first thought maybe not, but how much of our out-work earnings stays in our purse. We would have travel expenses, pay more for our food 'because we don't have the time to make/prepare it ourselves' plus any child-care costs.
Preparation at home usually means no further delving into our purses, so by the end of the day/week/month/year, a bit of working out should prove we can save a lot more money that we might otherwise have eared if working for an employer.
This is - of course - assuming that we are prepared to work hard, for no pay, from home. Any free time could go towards growing our own produce on windowsills, in the garden, in an allotment. Maybe how life used to be lived, sadly not so much these days.
All too often I hear about harassed mums trying to make ends meet, money being paid for crèches, nurseries, pre-school etc (and what happens to the children during school holidays when mums still have to work? ). Too tired to cook after work, so a diet of ready-meals etc. There is a lot to be said for those good old 'Just William' and Enid Blyton days when the only tweeting was the birdsong in the trees, and thank goodness I can still remember them.
Perhaps being nostalgic doesn't help much in this modern world. We are all free to choose the way of life we believe suits us best and as the saying goes 'what you've never had you never miss'. But we could give children a chance to find out how life used to be, if not for mum, at least for grandma.
Having read Margie's list of 'foodie songs' am amazed there are so many. The only other one I thought of - and not mentioned - was 'If I knew you were coming I'd have baked a cake.' Thanks also to Hazel, Eileen, and Gill for their input.
It is quite a fun game to do when in bed and sleep won't come. Better than counting sheep.
Slept quite well last night due to expecting an early visit from a builder (repairing our garage roof) but he hasn't arrived yet, hopefully this afternoon, it has to be done before it rains (this due on Friday) otherwise another long wait.
This week is the last of the 'Eat Better for Less' so they only made three progs anyway, would have liked to have seen more on this theme. There is to be a 'Celebrity Great British Bake Off' that I'm looking forward to watching, Dame Edna being one of the contestants. Let us hope I can keep from nodding off.
Didn't expect to blog today, but as I'd got myself interested in the money-per-minute that can be saved using our own efforts (in this instance chopping carrots), thought it was worth a mention. Would be interested to hear from readers about other useful money-saving ideas that might swing thoughts round to not going OUT to work, but staying at home and ending up far more relaxed and hopefully with more money staying in that purse. It can be done. So let's hear it from you. TTFN.
posted by Shirley at 12:18 pm
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