FRUGAL LIVING CHALLENGE 2010, part 1. (Living on £4,000 a year)

flippin36 · 5 January 2010 at 12:08PM

Kiwisaver wrote: »

I use mine at least once a week, but vowed to try to use it more this year and bookmarked this site, which I am hoping to explore through the coming year.

A year of slow cooking, started as a challenge to use the slow cooker every day for a whole year - seems she did amazingly well and a lot of recipes I like the look of.

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Thats just what i needed thank you. I only bought it a Christmas (argos sale) and haven't a clue. The recipe book that came with it was a bit poor so I have book marked this website and will try and get some inspirtation. I'm hoping the SC will soon pay for itself with cheap running cost and using up food in soups etc.

flippin36 · 5 January 2010 at 12:11PM

Paulgonnabedebtfree wrote: »

Not quite sure what I'm playing at here. I bought a newspaper earlier and just after leaving the shop thought "What the hell have I just done?" I had already decided that papers were banned ths year unless they gave access to a special offer that I wanted anyway and would be worth more than the cost of the paper - but I just forgot.
Not to worry. 40p down the drain isnb't a disaster. Maybe I should recycle it and use it as loo roll to punish myself .
I'm also thinking that maybe a £4k target is a bit high for me as a single person living in a modest, well insulated property. Perhaps it won't be enough of a challenge. I'll just be dead tight and see how it goes this year I think.

http://www.make-stuff.com/recycling/newspaper.html

Read this and justify your 40p. We never have enough newspaper in our house (because we don't buy them, and the free ones are a bit hit and miss, not a single one for months:( ).

edaniels1983 · 5 January 2010 at 12:27PM

i LOVE my rubber broom. i have had one for years as being a hairdresser they are perfect for brushing up hairs and perfect for carpets x

even flylady has jumped on the rubber broom bandwaggon with the rubber sweeper and the rubberscrubber!!

i have save loads in using a rubber broom for everything. its my mop, broom, window squeedgie etc

Frugaldom · 5 January 2010 at 12:30PM

Snow, snow, snow, on top of all the ice, ice, ice! I wish we didn't need to go out in it! The farmer/landlord has been out with a snowplough on the tractor but seems to only have cleared from the yard to the next field gate to allow them in with feeding for the cattle. Our road has been treacherous since before Christmas, but our electricity is on a key meter and the £30 put in on New Year's Day won't last much longer! If only I'd got DS to top it up whilst he was out at work, duh! :rolleyes: Got enough to last until tomorrow but scared the weather gets worse, so NEED to go into town to top up. I'll make the most of the visit and top up on everything that I can whilst there. This will be my first trip out since 15th December! :rotfl:Spendaholic shopaholic I am not! :rotfl:

Plans for today:

Make the macaroons that should have been made yesterday to use up all the egg whites
Blanche & freeze all the carrots I peeled yesterday
Take down the tree
Rearrange the livingroom back to normal
Go into town and top up on everything I can think of so I don't need to go back out for weeks :rotfl:

It's a start, I'll edit in any others rather than post more

Chika - one of my plans is to get down to pre-having kids weight this year, which means me losing a lot of weight. I did a trial run between October and Christmas just using portion control and dropped a size within a month. I've regained half a stone over the greedyfest period but am starting back this week a half stone lighter than I started in October. My being overweight is purely down to me eating too much for the amount of physical activity that I do, so I'll be reducing my portion sizes until the weight is all gone. Then I'll be on a maintenance diet because I:m too lazy to exert myself too much.:rotfl:

xnatalie81x · 5 January 2010 at 12:36PM

ifonlyitwaseasier wrote: »

morning folks, tis soooo cold but i am not putting the heating on yet, have things to do to keep me warm
have to make indian style beef kebabs for dinner (no recipe just made up to how i fancy), beetroot soup, a couple of loaves of bread, some banana muffins and then if i have any energy i'll be back here to catch up

Chika - i do WW so if you want any recipes let me know, have LOADS saved and the low point soups are great in this weather

take care all and wrap up

ioiwe

i would love ww recipes!! I need to lose 5 stone CHEAPLY and soups are great! Going to try the 0 pt veggie one thanks to poster

I have picked off my 2 final peppers today

- the plant was on my windowsill and they are lovely and yellow so getting eating with some extra low fat soft cheese with homemade bread (i used my ar*os slicer so nice thin slices) followed by a yoghurt!

Food shop due to be delivered between 9-11pm and that new diet show is on 4 at 8 so when i get home from work at 7.15 will be dinner and tv till food gets here!

Have managed to keep heating off as warm overnight with duvets (and now the youngest 2 share bed they r snuggly!!! - plus dressing gowns). Now i am boiling after mega amounts of housework! and up and down the stairs like a yo yo emptying potty as 2yr old potty training (his choice not mine - pls dont ask me how lol my kids just hit 2yrs and dont want nappies anymore - well he is 2yr 1 mth so later than sis) - we have had 3 wees and a poo poo so lots of extra calories being burnt and keeping us toastie as i make him come and flush and say bye bye to it lol SAD SAD

Am off to do more housework and working 3.30-6.30. New childminder is lovely (having them mon and wed's) and none of my kids wanted to come home yesterday - no issues leaving them either and as mum not having them at home anymore - house was just as messy as it was when i left lol (at least it wasn't worse!!!) and she isn't using all my electric lol - childminder actual cost after tax credits is mega mega reasonable!

flippin36 · 5 January 2010 at 1:26PM

I had to abandon the car this morning as I was skidding quite badly, going down hill my brakes were barely working :eek:. Thankfully a side road was empty so I let the car come to a slow stop and just walked the rest of the way. But at least I'm not using petrol for the rest of the day, so by default today (and possibly tomorrow) will be my no car/walking day. The snow is deep now and there doesn't seem to be any traffic around, haven't seen a bus for ages so OH will have to walk home tonight

, though on the bright side thats £2 saved

. I have done a few frugal living things so far today

I have cleaned the entire bathroom in morrisons value washing up liquid

Done my ironing, have turned down the heat on the iron a notch and has done just as good a job as on full

Turned the toaster down a notch too

Put on another jumper and am still warm without putting the heating on

cw18 · 5 January 2010 at 1:34PM

Just nipped home in my lunch to try and arrange an engineer for my heating.

Was still giving messages that they were dealing with priority calls first and foremost (which I'm fine about), but I held on for an agent anyway.

First thing I said was "I know I'm not a priority, but the heating's on the blink, I know what's wrong with it, and I'm happy to be put on a list to be called if an engineer is in the area on a priority call". Agent asked what I thought was wrong with the system, so I explained the fault and what I think the problem is...... and he's booked me a call for Thursday morning

Just hoping they can get here by 12, as a morning slot is officially until 1pm but I'm due in work then !!! I'm quietly convinced he only booked the call 'cos I was so up front about being prepared to be on 'stand-by' for an engineer

Several people haven't made it into work, and one of our bakers arrived on a snow plough!! (Think the driver took pity on him as he was walking a good long walk to get in - almost 7 miles :eek: ) Deliveries normally start from 7am, but first didn't arrive until 10am..... so shelves are starting to fill a bit now

Anyhow, best start heading back - else I'll be late. I've had a brew and something to eat, so all set now for the last 3 hours of my shift

Frugaldom · 5 January 2010 at 1:35PM

I'm in awe of anyone who can live without any sort of heating on in the house when it's mid-winter. Doesn't it make you miserable when condensation's everywhere, when your clothes and belongings get damp and when it's almost impossible to dry washing? Don't your landlords stipulate that you need to adequately heat and ventilate the house, or aren't you scared that the long term damage from cold/damp will amount to much more than the few pounds you save by keeping a cold house? Or are these houses that can actually maintain a warmer climate indoors than outdoors anyway? If I had no heaters switched on here my water pipe would freeze and there would be ice inside the windows and doors. Some nights you can see your breath indoors but that's with the storage heaters switched on. I think I must be doing something wrong.

I have heater on as high as it will go in here (livingroom) and the thermometer is reading 12 degrees! It's minus 4 outside and the recent snowfall is freezing solid.

shaz_mum_of__2 · 5 January 2010 at 1:37PM

I can confirm that chappati flour makes escellent bread ,like a light wholemeal Mr T sell it in sacks too. The asian shop sell it for £4 i think its 10kg but not sure good for pastry too and most cakes with added baking powder not too good for pizza i have found it never gets cripy enough

Forget who asked about bulk buying meat , we live in a village and quite a few farmers sell lambs/pigs but ask at a butcher for bulk buy discounts they usually helpful

Busy day today and bad weather but got a hospital appointment so must venture out, thank god for the 4x4

lunchtime i think
see you later

FrankieM · 5 January 2010 at 1:39PM

I have finally spoken to the butcher and luckily I can pick up my half a pig on Saturday and while I'm there he'll let me know when I can pick up the lamp and fore quarter of beef.
The pig automatically comes with half a head and a front and hind trotter but I asked if I could have the other half a head and he's going to let me have some more trotters...not sure how many!!

I also popped into Aldi and picked up 6 lots of peppers and 3 large swedes. The peppers should do 18 meals and the swedes 6. I'll get them frozen within the next couple of days.

DH was talking about getting a large monthly Tesco shop, until I pointed out the lack of storage space. I'm hoping it will encourage him to sort out the garage.

Had a small amount of snow this morning but not the inches everyone else is getting. Mind you it's probably just as well cause my heating is on as it is!

FRUGAL LIVING CHALLENGE 2010, part 1. (Living on £4,000 a year)

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