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

thriftylass

Good afternoon fellow frugalists.

Had a bit of catch up reading to do on the previous posts, since I was out last night and the night before (Enchanted Forrest- was quite good just too many people). Luckily wasn't hangover after the wedding yesterday and only spent 30 pounds in total :T. So today I braved the nasty weather and walked to p!!ndstretcher to get some new bigger food boxes for the freezer. On my way home I went into S!!merfield to look for whoopsies (thought it would be good to start doing that too) and found some reduced salad stuff which I had for lunch and a massive portion of lamb reduced from 7 to 3quid. So I added that to my cooking list for today. Made stovies, cottage pie and two large portions of lamb stew (basic version to be made into pie or proper stew). So freezer is slowly filling up and hopefully I make at least 3 NSDs til payday Friday.:D

lyndasharp

I've had a bit of a spending day here but thanks to Mr A reducing the petrol prices I've not spent as much as I expected - it's down to 94.9p a litre, cost me under £15 to fill the tank (it wasn't quite empty). My £3.50 of grocery shopping has taken me 64p over my planned grocery budget for the month - should have bought cheaper cereal, but I don't really like Mr A's value own brand.

I'm going out to lunch tomorrow, plus it'll cost £5 to get into a museum exhibition, so a bit of an expensive trip planned. Looking forward to it though! Went to Avebury today, a bit windy and cold but at least it didn't rain too much. My National Trust membership through Quidco has been well worth the money!

cw18

Bah Humbug! Nowhere round us has dropped below 97.9p/litre. I did see Mr T were doing their 'spend £50 save 5p a litre' again - but I bet that finishes before my pay day (I could stock up with tins/packets for the month and probably just about scrape in at that level -- even more likely if I [strike]con[/strike] persuade DD to let me do her shopping too, though I'm sure she'd jump at the offer of not having to carry it on buses having dragged two little girls round the store with her :rolleyes2

mumzyof2

Evening everyone
Had a fab day today. Went to my mates little boys 2nd birthday and it was really good and I laughed soooo much. Mostly they laughed at me as when they are talking I dont get what there on about till 5-10mins later - they call me Time delay
Came home in the pouring rain, bathed me and DS and put kids in bed and now waiting on sophiemum coming and then im off to the cinema.. Im starving and waiting on my Chinnese that my friend is bringing before we go out. I have HSM1 soundtrack on my cd player, playing in background. I love it.
I want to watch HSM3 today but my friend wont and wants to watch scar 5 or something like that.. told him he can watch that and il watch HSM3 and meet him foyer lol.

Frugaldom

Hi fruguys and gals, I've managed to clear a bit more space thanks to some keen freecyclers, 2 in one day isn't bad plus one more to arrive, hopefully at the beginning of the week. None of my free listings on the auctions are selling, though!

I can now confirm that the £2.99 chickens on offer from 'autumn meadows' are every bit as tasty as any other chicken. We had the first one roasted with garlic & herbs, along with a [STRIKE]huge tray[/STRIKE] medley of roast winter veggies - potatoes, leeks, carrots, onions and parsnips. There's enough chicken left over for a curry before the soup gets made, so the £2.99 was an absolute snip. Glad I bought a couple for the freezer even although I'll probably need another freezer for the move! :rotfl:

Solved the problem of having no cooker at the new house and not knowing whether I should or shouldn't buy a chefomatic; friend called to say she'd got me a brand new mini oven/grill that was going to be thrown out because charities and jumbles aren't allowed to sell electrical goods! (Small donation earmarked for said charity). However, halfway through resulting conversation her neighbours came bursting in yelling that a bus had just crashed into one of the houses in their road and had burst into flames! Awaiting updates now! :eek:

Penny2myName

Decided since I am child free, would entertain myself with a bottle of lambrusco (only wine I actually like) so called to Autumn Meadows, got some marg reduced half price cause the tub was squashed dated till late Dec 08, 4 weight watcher yougarts for 21p they need eating today(will do till tomorrow though) and some pilgrims cheese reduced to £1.05 from £4.23 cause the 'best before date' is today. Will do me till monday. Plus an organic bloomers loaf at 27p. So £4.11 to get me tipsy through the weekend, and feed myself till Monday. Had planned on some munchies to go with my wine, but still dont mind sacrificing munchies for food to feed myself actual meals.

shaz_mum_of__2

Cheryl the 5p off a litre voucher i got yesterday is valid until 14 or 15th december


Shaz

cw18

Thanks Shaz May manage at least one fill up with that extra discount (and point)

Frugaldom

Skint_Lynne wrote: »

Nyk, I know you will probably have done this already, but check out P l a
y.com as well because they are usually cheaper than H M V. I've found them to be really good.

SL x

Hi SL, sorry this is late, I meant to respond earlier and forgot. I ran comparisons on several sites for the titles I needed, but none could beat the '70% off boxsets' and provide me with 'The Good Life' dvd - there's a 13 episode version available only through #MV. Will mark in the spends to gift budget as soon as everything arrives. Plus there's the 7% cashback via tcb and a further 1% cashback by using EM card. (Pity my intro 5% with Am€x has expired!)

Has anyone checked out their local W00lies recently? Share prices have been deteriorating over the years but it's looking particularly bad in this economic climate and I've already read somewhere about store closures. This would be a very sad loss to the high street but everyone needs a bargain, especially at this time of year! I'm tempted to make the trip into town very soon to capitalise on my voucher shopping. (And see if it's worth a longterm punt on what are fast en route to becoming penny shares!)

Brighton_belle

Day2 in the energy saving light bulb house: The one in the bathroom/loo is ghastly - depressing dim light, don't think it'll be staying. Replaced the hall 60w saver I put in yesterday with a 40w saver and it works really well - feels warm an uplifting . The 60w was actually too bright and harsh.Got one for our sittingroom reading light, shaped like an original bulb; a bit depressing on it's own but works fine with a 2nd lamp on,so we might try and get a 100w replacement and see what that is like on its own. Over all very pleased. And received 4 free ones today:j (totally unexpected) curtesy of someone with British Gas.
Walked to asda (on the seafront by marina) for the exercise. Can't do a big shop til 1st November. I spent 32p:j to try out their own brand deoderant (the crystals don't work on me), and OH broke the bank to try out their own brand coffee at 44p a jar.
Hope the comfort food has worked taka:D . It is so frustrating when nobody seems to do their job properly.