Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

redglass_2

Happy birthday, Janey and Nyk. :bdaycake: Is that marzipan or mozzarella on the virtual cake?
To continue with the saga of Mouldy Mansion: I collected up some of my 'harvest' this morning. Two years ago I got tons of spuds and beans. This year: practically nothing. I left the spuds in because i was caught up in a decorating project. I only lost a few to insects but there were so few in total, it was hardly worth digging them up in the end, and the tomatoes have rotted on the vine and it's now starting to rain AGAIN. The only thing that's really thriving is the fennel (herb, not vegetable!). It's huge and rampant and set to take over the world. I keep telling myself the weather will be much better next summer. Or maybe I should just get that boat like Nyk suggests.

Has anyone on the thread read the 'Tightwad Gazette'? The ideas in it are extremely extremely extreme, but on the other hand the writer and her husband managed to buy a New England farmhouse on a very ordinary income, so it obviously worked wonders for them! I'm not sure it's suitable for anyone who works away from home as many of the things she suggests are very time-consuming: real gnat's bottom stuff. I just wondered what other MSE-ers thought of it.

bails

Hi Minirolo, I think it's wonderful that someone has been out there reading the thread all this time! Thanks for posting and feel free to pop in any time, even if you're not doing the challenge. (I absolutely love the quote in your sig BTW, think I may have to stick it by my bed as it's so appropriate for me at the mo).

Nyk, being on here is obviously the best place to be :rotfl:
Janey, that's wonderful news about your CCCS lady being so lovely, bet that's a real weight off. What a great image of you and Tom skipping down the street (It pulled me up short actually as OH and I really aren't getting on at the mo so thankyou for the precious reminder )
Sophiesmum, your lady sounds fab :T I hope I'm like her too. Great newsa bout your brother coming home tomorrow x
Penny2myname, the WW2 birthday sounds wonderful, hope your son enjoyed it!
I haven't heard of the Tightwad Gazette Redglass, is it online or a paper? How extreme are we talking? :eek:

tryingtodobetter

redglass wrote: »

Has anyone on the thread read the 'Tightwad Gazette'? The ideas in it are extremely extremely extreme, but on the other hand the writer and her husband managed to buy a New England farmhouse on a very ordinary income, so it obviously worked wonders for them! I'm not sure it's suitable for anyone who works away from home as many of the things she suggests are very time-consuming: real gnat's bottom stuff. I just wondered what other MSE-ers thought of it.

This is the first book I read on being frugal, I read the 'Complete Tightwad Gazette' which has her 3 books combined. I got a lot of ideas from the book e.g. the price book and the children's clothes inventory. I really enjoyed the book and it spurred me on to really look at the money that we were spending on needless cr*p and focus on our long term goals and dreams.

Hope everyone has had a good day, i'm off to have a nice hot bath

Brighton_belle

bails wrote: »

As for all this talk of being middle-aged or old.... PAAAAH, I say! Having met BB and knowing Janey from your posts, I'd say there's NO WAY either of you fall into those categories! 'Young' is definitely a state of mind and you two are basically teenagers .

Thanks bails:smileyhea . And for your kind words re me & OH.
Loved the marzipan topping Janey:rotfl: . Glad the worry of the CCCS meet is over with such positive results.
Sophiesmum. Will be thinking of you all tomorrow when your brother comes home.
Yes minirolo - your quote is spot on, thanks for that. Courage is sometimes very quiet and unspectacular and not climbing everest in a tutu tossing pancakes.
Love the sound of your 92 year old sophiesmum - hope I'm like that too. ooh, nice thought - I'm not even half way there yet:rotfl: .
Frugal planning for tomorrow is trying to get all jobs in town done for the week so only spend one lots of fares (1.30 each way). Also going to return a t-shirt to M&S unworn. It's only £5 but I think I'm not going to wear it and £5 is £5. My income each month varies depending on how many hrs I work and I've been off sick this last week so that will cut my pay by a quarter. I find out my aug pay on Tues so will, know if I have enough to cover Sept's planned budget.

Frugaldom

Yeah! Tightwad Gazette! I've only ever heard about it, never actually read it, but it sounds like my kind of reading.

MiniRolo, welcome to our frugal forum, glad to have you reading and many thanks for the birthday wishes... do you really have a plane like that?

TTDB I have no solutions to the veggie results caused by the really c**p weather, it's so disheartening seeing things go from bad to worse, which brings me to the conclusion that food growing needs to be part of the day to day working routine rather than something to be fitted in around normal 'working' life.

Janey, hope your birthday cake was a success and I'm glad all went well with the CCCS lady; sounds more like you could teach her a few things about budgeting :rotfl:

Off to watch the Lockerbie Conspiracy programme now whilst stuffing my face with chocolates and drinking wine.... see you all tomorrow

sophiesmum_2

redglass wrote: »

Has anyone on the thread read the 'Tightwad Gazette'? The ideas in it are extremely extremely extreme, but on the other hand the writer and her husband managed to buy a New England farmhouse on a very ordinary income, so it obviously worked wonders for them! I'm not sure it's suitable for anyone who works away from home as many of the things she suggests are very time-consuming: real gnat's bottom stuff. I just wondered what other MSE-ers thought of it.

I also have the complete tightwad gazette book, there are some great ideas in there, some things are a little extreme and some very americanised but you can adapt things to suit yourself and use the basic ideas from the book. When I decided to cull my large book collection it was one of the books that I could not part with. I find it is one of those books that you can dip in and out of and still keep finding something you never noticed before. I also used the price book idea from there and also "cost" meals etc and portions as Amy does. I have used some of the recipes too, like the muffin ones.

minirolo2004

nykmedia wrote: »

MiniRolo, welcome to our frugal forum, glad to have you reading and many thanks for the birthday wishes... do you really have a plane like that?

:rotfl:Almost! I am in the RAF - I get to talk to these guys on the radio all the time - still pretty fun!

To those who commented on the quote in my sig - everyone has really bad days..or is scared of doing something..I draw a lot of strength from such a simple saying

Hope everyone is having a good evening & thank you all for the lovely welcome

System

sorry to disappoint you but i didn't get to the bootsale! a road was closed :mad:

shall i tell you what i got yesterday at a table sale instead?

some homegrown veg
a set of cookie cutters
a pie-edge crimper roller thingie
3 tops
2 vintage ladybird boots (i collect them)
2 other books
2 dvds
a set of fingerpuppets
sailor earings
sunglasses
and a really ugly necklace (so ugly its gone back to being cool)

Janey51

redglass I Googled "Tightwad Gazette" and it made interesting reading.
I think I will check out the library and see if the book is available as I have to go into the City today on my way to the dentist.
So I make best use of the diesel, I will combine the journey with a garage visit to get 2 new tyres :eek: and call in at Mr M to see if there are any bargains.
And of course, being out of the house means I will be using other people's toilet paper . There are also several friends I can call on who will ply me with food and coffee :j :j

My birthday cake went down very well with all the visitors but I ate too much and feel a bit sick this morning
Will I never learn?

Have a good day everyone.

shaz_mum_of__2

Janey51 wrote: »

Just been speaking to my nephew who is the grateful recipient of unlabelled contents of my freezer...DH never labelled anything.

Last week I gave him a huge block of Mozzarella which I would never have eaten in a million years.

So yesterday, he made pizza bases, made toppings....took Mozzarella out and hacked off a chunk of....






Marzipan :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Oh Janey your nephew must be so brave considering some of the things you have in your freezer:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Pleased you have got your finances sorted out it must be a weight off

Belated birthday wishes to all those with birthdays over the weekend its my eldests 17th !!! going away to join the army party next saturday and have 24 coming to tea !!!

Doing a KFC inspired buffet

poppin chicken
chicken strips
mini corn on cob
jacket potatoes
onion rings
coleslaw
salad bowl
barbecue beans

and assorted dips and sauces followed by lime and choc milk jelly and variuos ice creams with wafers and sauces


That ought to please the teenagers and my local freezer centre has good deals on the chicken stuff

Also picked up my side of beef it was £80 for 35lb and local free range i am really happy with it

Lots of stalls popping up round the village selling apples and plums 5lb for A £ seems to be the going rate so made plum chutney ,apple and blackberry (free)crumbles and bottled plums in brandy syrup(never done before i hope it works right)

Can i make apple puree with sugar and put in jars without having to process in some way ?? running out of freezer space but got loads of jars

Shaz