Live on £4000 for a Year, 2009 Challenge, part 1

sophiesmum_2

(((hugs))) to janey,cw,cat,shaz and anyone else struggling with memories at the moment:smileyhea .
At Andrew's funeral we had a beautiful song called "precious child" by an american singer Karen Taylor Good? very simple but haunting words, mum chose it as it is about the loss of a child. Every time I think of it I get choked up, thankfully it isn't played over here much anywhere so not likely to come across it much by accident.
Music is very emotional.

looby-loo_2

eccentric? I'm working on it.

angelatgraceland

Janey-I feel like this when I listen to various pieces of music-Ave Maia is one of them. It brings it all back and Im there all over again. This is normal and we all need to indulge ourselves now and then. Its better out than in though they say so dont start feeling bad about feeling sad. Just dont indulge in it too often. Its all part of the grieving process. They say time heals-well-it does somewhat but I always think thats we learn to live with it as opposed to it going away. Everyone copes differently though. Bigs hugs!

looby-loo wrote: »

Nyk - eccentric? I'm working on it too. I have a very dear friend (XXXX) whom I suspect most people would think of as eccentric. One day it started to rain whilst I was digging the front garden. I wanted to get finished but I didn't want a load of wet clothes so I put on wellies, bathing costume and shower cap and continued digging. My son returned home and said 'You get more like (XXXX) every day' Yhaaaa!!! I was so happy!!

Now that-has given me the giggles!

dND wrote: »

Deborah
Ps another stationery fiend here - my real weakness is fountain pens and different coloured inks. I try to get the pen colour to match the ink colour too:rolleyes:

That was my teenage fetish!

dND

Not a no spend day here - I ventured out to the sales :eek: Actually I did very well this year. In the shop I didn't expect to find anything, I found two woven waste paper bins. I've been looking for ones that I liked at a price I was prepared to pay for the whole year. I'm not keen on the fabric lining so that will either go or be changed but they were 4€ each marked to half price:j

Then to the next supermarket where I was also store cupboard buying. They had nothing that I wanted in the sale so that was great. Instead I stocked up on their offers - where they give you cash on your loyalty card. I spent a little over €120 :eek: :eek: so had to use my card and not the cash I'd taken. I'd done a rough tot up in my head before going but once I was there I decided to up the quantities I was buying.

Most of the overspend went on paraffin it started before Christmas at around 25€ for 20l so I was pleased to find some for €21 but today's offer was 17€45, too good to miss and I'd rather have a bit to much paraffin than too little especially if the power goes off and the CH doesn't work. I'm also the proud possessor of 90 hotdogs (lots of sausage and home-grown bean casseroles planned), 3 bottles of ketchup and 3 litres of olive oil.

I know someone was worried about keeping olive oil. I've had no problems keeping olive oil for a couple of years. I keep it somewhere cool and out of the light too. It may go cloudy if it's cold as someone said it's a low temperature fat and what it is doing is setting, (I too am having problems remembering all the posts and posters, nothing to do with my age of course :rotfl:). If that happens it just needs a bit of time to warm up.

I've also realised that I'm recording categories differently on my overall spreadsheet to my challenge one - thank goodness for Excel . So challenge spend is 116€98/7900€

Deborah
Ps another stationery fiend here - my real weakness is fountain pens and different coloured inks. I try to get the pen colour to match the ink colour too:rolleyes:

cw18

dND wrote: »

I know someone was worried about keeping olive oil. I've had no problems keeping olive oil for a couple of years. I keep it somewhere cool and out of the light too.

I've got some that I've had for longer than that -- and no problems with mine either

JennyBee_2

cw18 wrote: »

I've got some that I've had for longer than that -- and no problems with mine either

I bought some decent stuff back from Italy after I'd spent 3 months out there (summer 2005!) and I've still got some left. Admittedly it's in a can so kept dark and cold

fizzel81

its me and the olive oil, have 6 750ml bottles that i got from asda yesterday

sophiesmum_2

angelatgraceland wrote: »

Do tell me more about the chickpea sprouts please? How did you do those? Was it just ordinary dried chickpeas?

hi angel , this is my first attempt at sprouting seeds, as part of our aim to eat more veggies and healthier stuff. I got the 4 tier sprouter.....


Basically you just put whatever seeds/pulses you want to sprout (not kidney beans) into each tray, then each day pour water through top tray, it filters through all trays to bottom collection tray soaking seeds on way. After a couple of days they start sprouting, when they are big enough you can start eating them. Planted these Friday night and eaten first lot today, and they were yummy too:j
Just used normal bagged chickpeas,green lentils and mung beans - the chick peas take a little longer but should be ready by time we have eaten others.


Definately going to keep doing these , so easy and cheap:D

charliedavis

Nichelette - try joining freecycle to get a freezer - I got a large one today that way :-)
nykmedia - give me a shout if you want a hand with anything related to websites or web marketing!
Janey51 - Lots and lots of hugs, enjoy the wine if it makes you feel better

NSD except for the Sun today. Feeling really pleased I have an extra freezer to do batch cooking.

sophiesmum_2

Forgot to say pips mum is going to be induced Tomorrow unless the little one makes an appearance today;)

First frugalmite of 2009 on the thread:p