Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

Marru

EagerLearner wrote: »

Marru - I am also self employed and should think that office furniture is fine, if you can justify it being just for work and have not spent alot on furniture for your home office already? Depends on the nature of your work as well I guess, I am a lurker so just came up for air and to chat about it... but not brave enough to join the challenge

Ummm - the shelves are for my 8000 books that I am desperately trying to sell My main income comes from accounting for two more years.

By the way thank you for the info of the cashback sites. I am cheating and not doing clicks at the moment but have done well with signing to bookies via them for Matched Betting. My new challenge is to every year fill my ISA and DD's CTF with "free money" as in free bingo, cashback and MB (brand new signature!)

EagerLearner

Sorry I have just read Wellers thread re her husband passing away God it;s so sad, I can't believe it happened and the poor thing has to cope on her own with the kids, still tears in my eyes and it makes me realise how anyone could go just like that and you have never had a chance to say how you feel or appreciate them properly.

No worries re the cashback sites, the more free cash the better and your goal is a great one - keep clicking/signing up for as many thngs as you are able - as long as you don't get into gambling!

In terms of selling books, can you say you bought the unit for your accountancy business instead? x

Frugaldom

Good morning frugalers, has anyone noticed that today is
DAY 200 of this challenge and a FULL MOON? :beer: Congratulations to all who have survived this far, welcome to those who have joined us for the latter parts and don't be scared to join in for any lurkers that think it may be too late - it isn't! In preparation for any surpises that may occur today, I did say that I'd remind you all when the full moon was high in the sky and that's TONIGHT! Let's wish for a little financial gain, good luck, good luck and good luck again.

Marru - I would invest in the book shelves for work purposes as they will, no doubt, still be there when the books are sold, at which point you might have been tempted to start dabbling as a book dealer (whilst also filling up the shelves with accountancy related files.) Just don't use them for the ironing or ornaments.

EagerLearner - welcome to the thread and thanks for sneaking across the border from neighbouring Lurkdom, albeit with the sad news of someone's loss. Please feel free to post anytime and join in unofficially as a frugal lurker. It could be preparation for next year.

SlowlyFading - congratulations again, hope you had a great day. :T Photographs for parents are compulsory! Your family must be really proud of you. Now - please remind this frugal grand what you are going to do next, as my old brain seems coddled.

Brighton Belle - perhaps you could just work out a way to make the very most of the telephone service you already have? Again, I've forgotten if you mentioned which it was. In my book, most of these things work out fairly level when calculated over a period of time so long as you are aware of how to make the most of what's available to you.

Yesterday, I failed to get all 5-a-day into the meal plan. The tomato & veggie pasta was 2.5, the hm soup was 1 and the fruit loaf was counted as a half, so we were a full portion short. To be honest, it was a case of not being able to force pudding, which should have been fruit & custard, so I'm going to have to look at better ways of doing this. It makes me wonder how people manage to consume so much every single day. I am extremely overweight as it is, purely because I sit on my *** almost all day, everyday at the computer and homebaking does not help. I NEED a more active daytime schedule but 99% of my work is on the computer. Hmm... thinking, thinking, thinking... cutting out all the hm cakes and biscuits would be a good start! :rotfl: Got last night's sponges all iced and sprinkled.

My mini challenge within a challenge shall start on Monday, if anyone else wants to join me and share their secrets of how to get 5-a-day into the meals every day. In my household I have one who won't eat mushrooms, green vegetables or onions, and one who won't eat sweetcorn or fruit and won't drink fresh fruit juice! :mad: Meal planning here is a nightmare! One likes spag bol, one doesn't, one likes sweet & sour, one doesn't, one likes chilli con carne, one doesn't... and so the saga goes. I eat whatever I can think of that suits everyone, plus any extras that can't be frozen, plus samples as I cook or bake, plus scrape out the bowls :rotfl:

bails

Oh no you've rumbled me...I am in fact a bailiff!;)
BB, I can totally relate to your frustration with changing suppliers, I HATE it too! We had to go the BT line installment route in the end as well but will save money in the longer term.
Thanks for reminding me about clicking Marru and EagerLearner, only really doing PB at mo but every little helps! EL, even if you're not actively doing the challenge you're more than welcome to join in the chat as much as you like - who knows, you might even feel up to trying it with us next year
Congratulations on your graduation Slowlyfading, it is a great feeling! Remind me what your plans are now?
Whitewing, I hope you have a good and sensible day's shopping today, I've forgotten what it was for now (my short term memory is so bad today that I was myself twcie in the shower this morning and was about to start a third time when I realised No wonder I never get much done :rotfl:)
Right, there's rumours I may now be eligible for a free bus pass after all so off to check it out :j Have a lovely day all x

bails

Morning Nyk! :hello: 5 a day, let me see...

brekky: piece of fruit sliced up on cereal or small amount of dried fruit eg currants
glass of juice
snacks of fruit inbetween meals (with small amount of protein eg nuts or cheese helps you feel fuller for longer, no room for cakes ) or smoothie
lunch: soup or salad, or salad in sarnies
dinner: beans or pulses and vegetables
That easily covers you for the day Remember, and forgive me if this has been mentioned already (got a feeling this has been a topic while I've been away), only one glass of juice counts, same with a portion of dried fruit and lentils, pulses. Getting some raw food inside you is always good, munching on a carrot, tomato etc if you like them.
Hope that helps a bit! I'll be up for the mini challenge as I was starting it myself anyway - I know what to do, just not always doing it :rolleyes: As for the menu planning, sounds like you need to bulk cook each of the things they like eating and then defrost a different meal for each of them each night :rotfl:

Frugaldom

bails wrote: »

Morning Nyk! :hello: 5 a day, let me see...

brekky: piece of fruit sliced up on cereal or small amount of dried fruit eg currants one member of household doesn't eat fruit or dried fruit and doesn't drink fruit juice glass of juice
snacks of fruit inbetween meals (with small amount of protein eg nuts or cheese helps you feel fuller for longer, no room for cakes ) or smoothie

lunch: soup or salad, or salad in sarnies - yep, we do that one but it normally only accounts for 2 portions maximum

dinner: beans or pulses and vegetables beans can only count for 1 and the only beans they'll eat are baked in tomato sauce, so not the best thing to serve with veggies - see my previous post

That easily covers you for the day Remember, and forgive me if this has been mentioned already (got a feeling this has been a topic while I've been away), only one glass of juice counts, same with a portion of dried fruit and lentils, pulses. Getting some raw food inside you is always good, munching on a carrot, tomato etc if you like them.

Hope that helps a bit! I'll be up for the mini challenge as I was starting it myself anyway - I know what to do, just not always doing it :rolleyes: As for the menu planning, sounds like you need to bulk cook each of the things they like eating and then defrost a different meal for each of them each night :rotfl:

:eek: I already have - it consists of the tomato and veggie sauce I spoke of a few posts back - it's the only part that everyone will eat and even at that, if DS can SEE onions or mushrooms he picks them out... I'll fathom this all out over the weekend. I've been fighting the need to prepare different meals for us all but it looks like I'm doomed. I may need to go shopping again soon just to compensate. :rotfl: I did try witholding cakes, biscuits and fizzy drinks, but they just went to shop and bought their own and then DS got a mini-fridge for his room! :rotfl: Cuts down on the need for me to buy sugar based products, though!

(I'm basing my 5-a-day on the 5 x 80g = 400g per person theory and am going to take a serious look at how to resolve this even if it does mean going shopping again.)

weezl74

Hi Nykmedia,

Me again, stalking you! One possible idea, 20g dried fruit is a portion of your 5 a day (because drying condenses the ratio of nutrients to water). It's quite easy to fit 1 portion of sultanas into 2 slices of homemade malt loaf, or cinnamon and raisin bread for toasting....

Might that work for any of your family?

Recipes to follow if you'd like them!:D

Love Weezl x

bails

Hmm, but the other two of you are fine with the fruit thing. If they don't eat fruit then they can stock up by eating extra veg. Do you not use lentils to bulk out your mince, soups, sauces etc, they count. Don't know the 5 x 80g thing, what is it? And, I'm in danger of getting a slap, but surely they're old enough to be responsible for getting their own 5 a day? As in you can help them but not do it for them. * runs away quickly to hide*

slowlyfading

nykmedia wrote: »

SlowlyFading - congratulations again, hope you had a great day. :T Photographs for parents are compulsory! Your family must be really proud of you. Now - please remind this frugal grand what you are going to do next, as my old brain seems coddled.

bails wrote: »

Congratulations on your graduation Slowlyfading, it is a great feeling! Remind me what your plans are now?

Thanks you two! I am not quite sure what to do next, so I'm just looking for work to save and go travelling round the world next year, hopefully! That's the plan at the moment anyway, but it may change xx

DdraigGoch

Hello again everyone :wave:

On tyhe 5 a day front, I'm a bit sneaky - I make up my own muesli and put in LOADS of fruit. I then bung it in the processor and grind it up very fine. Served with cold milk it's delicious. One note of warning, if you grind it for too long and the fruit content is as high as I make it [roughly 1.5Kilos of oats to 1.2K of fruit currently!] then you can end up with sticky lumps - they do taste wonderful though.... nomnomnom. Another thing is to make tomato sauce with any and all vegetables to hand, then process it so that no-one can SEE anything. My family love fruit and veg, but for those that don't this could be one way ....

best of luck

retiring back to bed accompanied by a vile throat and a horrid sticky cough -euch [outright bid for sympathy here!]

DG