Well, Project Austerity is going really well. Obviously Sam was a bit of a set back, but other than that we’re living within budget. Add to that all the things we haven’t bought (I resisted the temptation to buy a chandelier to replace our, er, chandelier) then we’re quids in!
We’ve also rethought our decision not to keep chickens. When the builders have finished we’re going to get three or four chickens. They will not be pets – oh no. Our cute little chicky-wickys will be workhorses – a bit of a cross species metaphor, but you know what I mean. I think the builders have enough to contend with without having chickens wandering around too, so we’ll get them when they’ve finished. We’re going to keep them in the rear yard and they’ll be free range, but we’ll put them away in the barn at night.
I did discover the Eglu. A wonderful polycarbonate ‘iglu’ for chickens. And they come in pink. Ian, however, put his foot down. He pointed out that it would take us 8 years to recoup the cost given our current egg consumption and that this ‘investment’ didn’t meet the criteria of Project Austerity. Sigh. Ian informs me, however, that our planned chickens will live quite happily without a pink plastic iglu – how little he knows….