Live on £4000 for a year - part 4 (Oct - Dec 2008)

sophiesmum_2

Forgot to add - today so far I have been given, two bottles red wine, two bottles white wine, bottle baileys, bottle caramel baileys, bottle jack daniels, more ferrero rocher (must be on offer somewhere nearby) tin of shortbreads,huge box thorntons chocs and a tin of choc biscuits:j No need to be buying any goodies for xmas here:rolleyes: .

JAMIEDODGER

blimey SM you did well! x

Frugaldom

Good afternoon from a cold, blustery, wet southwest corner of northern frugaland.

I can now confirm that we have several 'night visitors', although I haven't worked out what tries to jump on the bird table yet, as it managed to knock it over! I suspect it's Mr Fox, standing on the wall and leaning over to get at the food. Anyhow, I left out another bowl of scraps at groundlevel and it had been licked clean by this morning. Trouble is, we don't know if it was Mr Fox or a hedgehog! :eek: I thought they went into hibernation, but next door neighbour assures us that when she went to find out what her dog was barking at last night, it was a hedgehog! However, hedgehogs can't jump on walls and knock over bird tables, so I now need to find out if it is a fox or a large cat, despite nobody about here owning any cats. I would love it to be a Scottish Wild Cat, as there are some on a nearby estate, but am guessing it's a fox!

My Christmas list is growing and I am no longer getting coal! I changed my mind and decided I'd be more environmentally friendly and ask for a rechargeable shaver, save buying any more disposables!:rotfl: Elsewhere, I have managed to get agreements for a shelf unit for the greenhouse (assuming it doesn't get blown away this winter!), a proper log store for the back door, a small garden tool store and the renovation of 3 hen runs. DS will be helping with that as soon as the weather permits. Then, owing to the abundance of local wildlife, I'd quite like night vision binoculars and a webcam that can be used to record whatever steals the food off the birdtable. Then I'd need mini-cameras for all the nest boxes that a friend made and then... I haven't mentioned the latter 3 items to anyone, though, in case they think I'm bonkers! :rotfl:

On the subject of stockpiling, we normally get loads of toiletries in gifts, so all I really need to buy are the basics. For those who have been with us since the start of this challenge, you'll know I use the Himalayan rock salt. I bought some last Christmas and I am guessing that I still have enough left to last 2009. The stuff is brilliant, as far as I'm concerned, and well worth the initial outlay. Back soon, going to try finding the old post about it

findingmyfeet

Hello ,
Spent The AFTERNOON COOKING/BAKING STUFF FOR XMAS. cakes- one fruit, one banana, ham boiling and pan of veg soup almost ready too. Mince pies and jam tarts to do next. hubby got another bottle of wine as a xmas gift and twenty quid of a happy customer . Some people are nice out there.
Date with the hoover and washer later too, nothing exciting tonight so might fiddle woth the figures again and hopefullu soon know where i am.

have a nice afternoon

taka

Thanks for all the plumbing tips everyone! Sadly I think I've tried them all except removing the u-bend - and thats only cause there isn't enough room to remove it without making a hole on my downstairs neighbours ceiling or moving my bath... To be honest I think its downstream of the u-bend. I was hoping to put it off until I could afford to rip the whole lot out (hopefully early 2009) and get rid of some of the "eccenticities" of the plumbing here but its just getting silly now...

Nyk... I spotted Mr Fox's urban cousin today this morning! (at 3am while trying not to fall out of a taxi after the Xmas night out... Ohhh I feel ill!! _pale_ It was looking most put out being disturbed... :rolleyes:

On better news - it appears my brother has got me a breadmaker for Xmas! :T :j Yipee - my previous attempts at breadmaking yielded inedible mess or concrete bricks so I hope I get it to work ok! Must add breadmaking ingrediants to my xmas food shop... :drool:

Right I think I'm going to give up the pretence of "working" for today - I only got into work in time for lunch and have done nothing particularly constructive! I think I'm the last one still here (but at least I made it in unlike some :rolleyes: :rotfl:)... I'm off till the 5th Jan now :j

redglass_2

cw18 wrote: »

I assume she means something like this?



Mr T, 68p for a 1kg bag

Thanks, CW18 and other helpful frugalists. (Thinks: must learn to insert images. And use spreadsheets. And....)

I was in work today. Some bits of the day were pleasant but one particular incident left me feeling humiliated and unappreciated. It's soooo soothing to log on here after stuff like that...thanks to you all. :T

Good luck with your plumbing, Taka...!

Marru

Hello all,

Last day in college today :T. I still have one assignment due on Monday but I can spend Monday doing it and then email it over. I need to find out what DD's dad wants to do with her over the xmas so that I can plan our own things. I need to go and take load of books to Cornwall so that needs to be fitted in somewhere. Also I have 5 new assignments and 2 referrals to work on over xmas holiday :eek:.

On more serious note, I am getting really worried about my income situation for next year. My last accounting job has twindled first to one hour per month now to nothing. And to top it all I got a council tax bill for period April 08 to August 08 for almost £400.- payment subject to court proceedings. :eek::eek:

So any suggestions of earning money gratefully welcomed. Perhaps I need to start advertising small animal boarding, need to go and investigate how much I could charge.

Anyway, off now to get at least 20p from the scrachcards before fetching the Monkey home.

I have chicken in SC with tinned tomatoes, courgettes and mushrooms. Only need to boil some rice and supper is ready, mmmm - can't wait...

Have a relaxing evening everyone!

Marru

EDIT: OOOOH, I got free fiver to one of the bingo sites that I used to play on and I prebooked some tickets last night, went to check my account and I had won £107.50!!! WOOOHOOO!

Brighton_belle

Thanks to everone for the info on soda crystal and general cleaning stuff - an area I need to get to grips with next so brillaint. I tried the rock deoderant once but it didn't work on me in hot weather. but sounds like plenty of you have found it good.
Redglass - that sounds lousy Sorry to hear what happened:mad: . That happened to me last year with a client and was horrible.
I was the only one in work today and we have now closed up til 5th Jan:j . A rep from a major bank popped in with some Mr Kipling mincepies as a 'thank you' (maybe they've given up on sterling and are switching to Kipling currency? How many mincepies to the battenburg do you reckon?:rotfl: )
The mince pies are now home with OH and me:D .
I've been busy writting a story to accompany Honorary neice's xmas pressie (2nd hand Narnia books from charity shop - I've made up a story about their original owners, about 2000 words so far and adds to the pressie a bit for nowt.)
OH half busy sawing and screwing 5ft x 5ft bookshelves:j :j . He doesn't get quite how happy this is making me:D . I lurve storage.

sophiesmum_2

Good evening frunchkins:D
I have just been given a 12lb turkey, one of my old ladies had it delivered from her ex employers. Nice gesture but whatever does a little old lady on her own want with a 12lb turkey . It was delivered frozen this morning and she put it in fridge so it has now started to defrost and will need cooking tomorrow.
Tomorrow I will be doing 101 recipes to use turkey and freezing it for future use,I haven't seen the bottom of my freezer since start of last year - it just never seems to get empty ,I will make some small casseroles and turkey and leek pies for my oldie while I am at it - much more useful.

Today has been a day of receiving lots of surprises which was really appreciated as I am feeling wiped out after starting with the lurgy.

Off to asda in a minute to pick up stuff needed for events on Monday with oldies- just in case I feel even worse at weekend and don't manage to get out. I am taking two volunteers to help:rolleyes: - they better behave.Last time I took these two ladies they were singing "Ive got a lovely bunch of coconuts" in the veg aisle,:rotfl: :rotfl: and almost demolished the newspaper stand with an electric scooter:eek: :eek: . Do I know what I am letting myself in for????

Mind i won't be able to lose them - the local police have been giving the oldies tags with little bells on to attach to their handbags - supposed to alert them if pickpockets try to dip into their bags - all I can hear round the place is jingling bells, it's like having lots of kitties - I can hear them coming a mile away:rotfl:

Well done on the bingo win Marru - nice surprise:T

Ctch up with you all later.

Frugaldom

Well done with your win, Marru! Would that cover a chunk of your outstanding council tax bill? Maybe if you called them and asked to pay one lump sum and then easy payment terms between now and April?

Sophiesmum, nice 'catch' with the turkey, choccies, wine etc and good luck on the shopping expedition

I received email saying my Approved Food is on its way via overnight delivery after a small refund for items that were out of stock. Hopefully, the out of stock items aren't the most important ones, as the email doesn't say. :rolleyes:

Taka, I fully understand your love for wildlife and am sure that avoiding falling out of the taxi at 3am was purely for the purposes of not scaring Mr Fox. :rotfl: