Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

DdraigGoch

You obviously are a potato's best friend, Nyk!

Agenda for today: [kick me to get it done or I'll be on here all day - again]

Prep dinner for tonight and veg for the week
Continue with the hunt for the kitchen floor!
3 loads of washing
3 loads of drying [aargh, the leccy bill!! but it's pouring down here]
Make up at least one "kit" - Bread baking kit [tins/flour/yeast etc all in one area/box], cake making, etc - suggestions welcome.
Have another go at the figures and stop procrastinating

bails

Thanks guys, we have no idea where we're going yet!
Can any spinach growers help please? My plants seem to be growing taller than I expected, how tall are yours/are they bolting? Which leaves can I afford to pick without stopping further growth?
I have so much to do in the garden and can't do anything at all today :mad: I'm worried it's all going to go belly up over the next couple of weeks (we're also going to Brighton almost as soon aswe get back from Cornwall) but will just have to hope and sort things out then. Any tips on what I can plant in August/Sept?

My plan today has now had to be changed to lying on the sofa under a blanket watching Wimbledon and trying not to be sad that this is the last day with the kittens curled at my feet It's going to be very sad when I hand them over tomorrow but we are keeping one, after MUCH persuasion

Good luck getting all your jobs done everyone, anyone fancy popping down and doing my hauge list too?

mumzyof2

Ooooo its thundering here!

Brighton_belle

sopiesmum - that's an impressive change in lifestyle with 'stuff' spending.
Bails, sorry it's an under the blanket day. I'm feeling pretty listless myself but not quite blanket time.
Have made a bid on ebay for a half price (including postge) silicone mini muffin pan, and bid through pigsback for the first time too. Hate to think of the money I've lost not doing this in the past, but the important thing is to do it from now on.
It's my turn to clean the kitchen and as the lodgers have done their jobs and left the rest of the house spik and span, I'd better pull my weight and get it done.
What are your kits for Ddraiggoch?
EDIT: ooh, just been given an easiyo through freecycle, so no outlay and & now yogurts are going to be costing much less. Can't wait to try it out tomorrow, or as soon as Ive bought some UHT & yog starter.

whitewing

It's all your fault, you lot!

I've been hard at work- work all day. Then I come home, read your posts, and had to go out into the kitchen to make a marmalade cake, just so I could boast on the thread!

(It's nearly ready; smells wonderful)

Frugaldom

Hi guys!

Brighton Belle, well done with the yoghurt maker! I love freecycle, as well, even although ours is a fairly small group. :T

I tried my best to work my way through the 'to do' list today but didn't complete.
I got 2 loads of washing done but ended up using the tumble dryer.
I did a stock take on the freezer - it's heaving with veggies & soup stock, no meat left
Made a pizza for tea to use up chopped onions & peppers
Baked one tray of sponge cakes, iced & sprinkled them
Sorted out the cherry tomato & pepper plants on the window sill.
I didn't get the chillis potted, it was absolutely torrential here, like flash flood rains, so I never ventured outside the door!

I did a count of what I had left over from the frugarty food and it amounts to almost £39! This will adequately provide what's needed for DGD's party, no problem at all as it's made up of flour, sugar, chocolate, icing sugar, cake decorations, glace cherries, dried fruit, pasta, cheese and trifle ingredients etc :j The kiddies will just be having sandwiches, pasta, crisps, juice, trifle and assorted home baking. Might need to make more top hats, I just need more mallows and smarties.

Thursday this week is HS's birthday, which is all prepared (big surprise! Hope he doesn't read these forums!) and then we have my gran's 90th birthday party to attend in August. She is adamant that she doesn't want or need anything and is quite happy as long as she has some fresh veg and potatoes to have with her dinner. Last year when she said this, I dug up some carrots, onions and potatoes and sent them 1st Class to her door! :rotfl:They were growing in the veggie patch when we moved in here and I cannot BELIEVE that it's been a full year since we moved into this house. :eek: That means the 1st July deadline has been and gone with no renewal of our lease!

Tomorrow, my plans include

• Speaking to the estate agent about house situation
• Setting up a new database for work
• Repotting the chilli peppers
• Baking the biscuits I didn't bake today as I'd forgotten to defrost margarine (baked today's sponges using Tesco spread 'not suitable for baking')
• Designing birthday card for HS

Happy frugaling and I hope everyone had a good weekend I should have a couple of cashback payments in my bank tomorrow. Here's hoping!

whitewing

I had a horrible week last week; felt quite down at times, so am determined to have a good week this week. Whatever happens.

This morning, I have made a tuna, sweetcorn,pepper and tomato pasta. Enough for two days. Looks great. And as usual, i overestimated the pasta, and had enough cooked pasta left over to make another dish. MIL made some kind of mushroom stew for last night. There was a small amount left over, so that has gone in with the pasta, along with some watercress that looked really manky (but looks wonderful finely chopped!). I'm very pleased with this.

Also put some special offer summer fruits in a bowl with raspberry jelly, and that looks very refreshing. May not set properly though as i misread my measuring jug.

Had some summer fruits left over and a tin of cherries so -Marru, stop reading! - am going to make H2B a crumble. Nyk, or anyone, do you think I can get away with using not-suitable-for-baking-flora for the crumble mix?

Marmalade cakes tastes lovely.

Oh fabulous, sun's out now (although the skies are still a bit grumpy in the distance). Right must get on for a bit, back later.

Frugaldom

Morning all!

Whitewing, I have been using 'not suitable for baking' Mr T saver spread for baking and nobody has noticed any difference, although I'm not exactly a culinary wizard! I didn't know you couldn't use it until I read about it on MSE and then decided to check out all the writing on the tub. I even used it for the hob nobs! At less than half the ptice of BOGOF Stork, it's staying in use as long as I'm staying alive eating the produce! :rotfl: I hope this week improves for you, if there's anything that would help, feel free to PM me. I'm partying the same day as your wedding, and I know how soon that date feels. You must be getting to the ultra-anxious stages by now and it's easy to understand why things can get a bit manic. So long as you are 100% confident that you are doing the right thing, everything else will work itself out in the end.

Bails! Just noticed you are keeping one of those cute little fluffball kittens! You need to let us all see which one and what it's name is!

Ddraig, I'll set up the LFPF - League of Frugal Potato Friends - and will promise to attempt to grow my own so long as I am fit and well and have a pot to plant in! :rotfl:

Mumzie, hope you have recovered from your partying How is Charlie hamster doing?

whowants2brich

Hi all,

I guess it serves me right, for disappearing to France for a few days... I come back wondering why my daily updates have ceased - doh! I found the new thread and am pleased to be here reporting for duty.

10 pages in 5 days, I think I'm going to cut my losses and accept I won't be able to catch up...

A few weeks ago, I planted some potatoes, which now have some shoots coming through. I just hope that all this rain won't cause too many issues... We have a new neighbour who has moved in with their many many plants - their kitchen looks like a makeshift greenhouse! My OH thinks we have competition, so I have to rise to the challenge!!!

Have a lovely Monday, everyone, I'll see if I can pop back later... In the meantime, I have to squeal at the OH for not eating the ready meals I made her while I was away, and for buying food which she couldn't eat (due to ingredients she'd react to, IBS)...

Happy Mondays!

Frugaldom

Welcome back WWRBR

I just checked totals and have the first of my cashback payments showing up - £41.51 now added to the total and that's me now got enough, after deducting the frugarties, to set aside the £78 for the annual subscription to the NT (surprise for HS). However, I managed to get 18 months for the price of 12! :j

As they say on the site, "Sorry, not this time!" I didn't win anything on the premium bonds this month so I'm still not rich, but I don't really care, as I have most of the things I want out of life and am grateful for that.