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

sophiesmum_2

Yep, they are all the same thing. We like ours hot with butter. nice also with a little grated cheese added when you add the flour;)

andromache_2

Hiya! Glad to hear that everyone has had OK Christmases We've been having some nice family time, though my grandma was suddenly taken ill so it's been punctuated with hospital visits to the other side of London She does seem to be on the mend though, but it's a slow process - she's almost 88 after all!

Unlike many of you I was drawn to the sales and spent rather a lot in the 'clothes, shoes, etc' category, but I do think they were good purchases and they included some Levi's which I needed and which will last for ages. And some pretty dresses. With flowers. Plus a few gifts, and stocking up on some stationery (and make-up)... however, the total figure is a bit scary, so I'm going to, ah, forget to update my signature for a while until I'm used to it I also got a lovely new suitcase but that's coming out of my Christmas money, though most of my Christmas money is going into savings.

In other news, we went to the panto today, which was actually quite good fun I hope you have all been enjoying the continuning festivities. xxx

sophiesmum_2

Good morning frunchkins:D

Off to the grden centre today with my mum to pick up some seeds etc ready for 2009 veggie growing. Already have lots of seeds but short of a few things.
Have been given several of the MR M's green shopping bags which I think will be suitable for growing potatoes in - similar material to some of the potato bags I have seen in seed catalogues, just need to put some drainage holes in them.
Also planning more hanging basket growing this year. Going to do herbs and salad leaves in them too as well as the cherry toms etc. Have given up on ever getting my allotment as guy just won't get around to clearing his stuff off so just going to concentrate on squeezing as much as possible into my greenhouse and little corner.Will mostly be in pots and baskets and any other utilised containers.;)
We still have crumbles and pies in freezer from HG fruits, and xmas day we had our own runner beans:D still some of those in freezer and some pasta sauces from our tomatoes, as well as jams and chutneys in cupboard. Want to be even more self reliant for veggies this year.

Skint_Lynne

Good morning everyone,

I've just woken up, had a great sleep, no snoring or big spaghetti legs all over the place from a drunken DH, his mum can deal with him this morning (he will not be pleased when he gets an old dodgy breakfast pushed under his nose):p .

I'm going to go to the local woolies today to see if there is anything left, although I don't hold out much hope, you never know!!! There's a superdrug across the road, so I'll have a look in there as well, though I reckon that their sale was false, there was nothing in it!!!

I got a really nice christmas book in next yesterday, full of recipies and craft ideas for £2, so I'm well pleased with that.

I don't know whether to have a go at growing things again, I've done tomatoes and potatoes in the past, but I don't have a lot of time. I've got courgette seeds, so I might use these and get a pack of tomato seeds as well and see how I get on.

Going to have a cup of coffee now and waken up a bit. xx

bails

Morning all! First time I've been able to log on since I've been here - we should be home by now but OH has been ill so stayed an extra day, and now I'm ill! :rolleyes: Anyway, hope you all had a lovely Christmas, I'm off to try and catch up with as many posts as possible. I'm SO excited about the start of the new year, just not sure if I'll be ready in time!

cw18

The only sales I've hit (other than crafting materials!) are a bed shop - which I don't really count as they always have special deals - and Boots.

Popped in to Boots to have a quick look, but couldn't see anything worth getting. Decided while I was there that I'd treat myself to a few bits from the Botanics skin care range with some of the money my parents gave me for Christmas -- and having been through the till I went back for more!!

They're on offer, but not marked as such on the shelves...... anything from £1 off to £5 off, or Buy One Get One Half Price, or Three For The Price Of Two.

And I managed to use the extra points voucher the machine spat out at me, which I only thought to check for as Sophiesmum (I think?) mentioned somewhere about having got one.......

They didn't have as much as I wanted of some of the bits, so I've got most of the rest on-line (when I discovered I hadn't actually shopped in Boots since 2nd September 2006, as that's when my Advantage Card was last updated!!!) and also got 4 Half Price gift sets from the range as presents for next year - reduced from £7.83 to £3.915 each, and in the case of the one I couldn't get enough of for pressies the full price would have been cheaper than buying the individual items on offer :eek: (So I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for that while I'm out too )

Need to nip out and try a couple more branches today though, as they were sold out on-line of one of the £5 off items I wanted more of, but if I can track some down I can pay with my point (I assume - I've never used my Advantage points to buy anything ) as I have £20 on there after I hit the store yesterday.

Ashamed to say I forgot to try using the £14.52 that was on it while I was out -- and couldn't find any way of using them on-line !?!?!?!?!

As I've now spent all my Christmas money (crafts and Boots), prempted my Birthday money (next month) and spent a bit over that, I wasn't sure how to fit these into my budget -- as even on Sale would totally blow my toiletries budget :eek:

But I've decided (after a lot of soul searching) that they're something I could do without (I have done for the last 2 years!), so I'm going to use them as my incentive for stopping smoking. So unless I cut down each month by enough to pay for what I use that month (until I stop completely), I'll have to work what I use into my budget, but if I save enough on cigs (which aren't in my budget as I know I have to pack them in) then I'm going to ignore the cost.

redglass_2

Does anyone have up-to-date information on ICICI? I withdrew most of my savings but it seems to have survived this crushing blow :rolleyes: and some people on the site are still putting money in there. AFAIK Martin hasn't posted any fresh info since last October.

Marru

Good morning!

Thank you all for the posts and ideas about the potato scones. I am drooling here now. My favorite so far is cheesy scones with houmus . Defo on my menu plan for a supper very soon with some nice salad.

Bails so sorry to hear you are not well - was looking forward to show my efforts re the book room and feed you some of the goodies I have stashed away.

I haven't spent a penny since xmas eve and hopefully can keep it up except I have that £2.50 voucher for Amaz0n so might go and treat myself with a new book by my favorite author.

Oh, I got a free bingo ticket on the site that I normally play for points , played it yesterday before going out and when I got back I had won £15.80 :j I am only 78p away from cashing out so fingers crossed for more freebie wins.

I can't remember what else I was going to say so just wishing a relaxing/productive Sunday to everybody! (I go for the first option :rolleyes:)

Marru

sophiesmum_2

cw you can't use points to buy online, when you use them instore it has to over the full cost of the item you are buying. Also you don't get points on items you buy with points so always worth checking out whether it is a better deal using cash to get extra points on offers or using points to get free goodies.After buying all the xmas pressies for work, doing some online shopping for mum when the extra £10 offer was on,topping up DS phone for him, and buying my sale stuff I now have £42+ in points for using through the year:D

Bails lovely to see you posting , hope your hampers went down well:D , sorry you are feeling poorly- hope you feel back to your usual self soon.

Marru - cheesy potato cakes with houmus sounds tasty:D enjoy your relaxing day.

Catch you all later off to garden centre now:p

Cat_Addict

Hello everyone - so sorry to hear you're poorly Bails. It really is like that in December and Christmas isn't it? Viruses abound. My youngest DD blew major chunks on Christmas Eve at 11pm and I was convinced we had norovirus in the house and that Christmas would be cancelled but it was fine. We are just all full of colds and constant nose blowing abounds!

We bought too much food as usual even though I tried to limit it this year. I will be better next year I'm sure. But I haven't spent any money for days and days and my Egg Money statement is produced today and I'm only at £319 spending on it for this month compared with £642 last month so that is great - means my January budget will be healthy!

Love reading everyones bargains and plans for 2009. I need some good resolutions but can't think of anything specific other than to be very storecupboard based and frugal and OS and to keep coming on here for inspiration. And I guess to only buy stuff I need not stuff I want on a whim - the money is better in my bank account than spent on stuff.