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

HH62

I got 9 servings out of my bulked out chilli con carne (500g mince) so I'm quite pleased with that.

Think I'll also be heading to Costco fairly soon to stock up on some of that lovely bacon and chicken breasts.
Must stay away from the huge tray of Danish pastries though

Miss_R_4

please can i join this thread.......

fizzel81

Miss_R wrote: »

please can i join this thread.......

Everyone is welcome xx

angelatgraceland

fallen_angel_shelley wrote: »

Bails- have you tired drinking cranbury juice? also if you go to the chemist, they do a cranbury treatment which is very good, so im told. hope that helps and that the 'c' is what i think it is.

The guy has just been to read my elec meter, he all most took the front door of he knocked so hard frightend the bl00dy life out of me, anyway couldn't let him in to read because the cupboard where it is, is full of junk and the meter is right at the back, i dreading the bill:eek: we had a new heating system put in last summer, HA told me it was cheaper (economy10) and it isn't, only cheap if you use at the right time, 1-5am, 1-4pm and 8-10pm, i do try hard and only use the WM, cooker and heat water at these times but some times its hard.

Shelley x

Try using a plugin timer-that will put your appliances on at the correct time.
I used to have E7 and it did pay when I was vigiland but the downside is that the day rate is higher so if you dont use it properly it can cost more.
Re sprouting I asked DH about the old steamer and he says the steamer baskets he rescued are still in the shed so there is my sprouter!!! Glad to have salvaged something from it as I paid £20 for it-mislaid the receipt -it leaked and I got rid of it-then found receipt a year later. Typical!
Only bought some smoke alarm batteries today and went to McDonalds with a friend lunchtime for a natter. Oh I didnt enjoy the food at all!
Now my micro has packed up so going to ask on Freecycle before I go spending money.
Oh-I went in the library-first time for a long time and asked about the book called Affluenza as the author was on tv the other night. Only a couple of copies in the area and a waiting list for it! Guess I will have to look on Amazon. Edit: After reading the reviews I'm not going to bother ordering it!

bails

Of course you can Miss R, welcome!

Thanks so much for all the help peeps, several things to try now (just to clarify the previous antibiotics were for a severe leg infection, this started 8 days ago). Thanks again :T

Sorry SM, mentioned the sprouts in passing last year... thanks for bringing them up again though, reminded me to start them off again.

Great news with fruit bushes Nyk :T

Thanks for the link to the knitting thread, will hope to get some answers (happy to be guinea pig BB )
CW, does that post relate to all food or just bacon/chicken? Anyone see tin toms cheaper than 35p - Aldi/Lidl etc? Thanks

Uh oh, may need to relearn to knit...there are so many cool things to felt! I already have felt slippers and purse (notebook on way)...is this a new fetish? :rotfl:I've been wanting to cover my laptop as it's all scratched...this would be perfect! Jumper I've bought is a def no go but will try to use in another project. Will keep a lookout for other things to felt.

In_Search_Of_Me

phew...caught up again...sure things will sette over time...
Just popped in to update - not a nsd as had to get petrol so also did a mr t shop and cat food/litter so sorted for the next couple of weeks with them at least. Am subtotalling their spends so I can see how much they cost a year - not that I'd get rid of them, just interested!!
Re the tips for "c" my mum gets it alot (but swears its not due to vigorous
s e x!!) and says if she reduces caffeine she gets its less...just a thought...
Am slightly over budget (due to library fines!) but will catch up with myself....
hugs for those that need them...off to make beady things!

Penny2myName

candygirl wrote: »

Morning all:hello:
My DD's just been to see the midwife at the docs and she reckons the baby's small:( fundus is measuring 27cm and she said it should be 38, but i've looked online and it said it's roughly 1cm for every week preg, and she's 29 weeks They said she has to go back in 3 weeks, and if it's still small have a scan.I'm v worried:(
She is quite tall and slim though so.....
Anyway just had my tiscali payment out today, so will go and adjust my total, having said that i'm going out with Mum today so will prob spend more:eek: :eek:

I wouldn't worry too much over a small baby, cant say what mine were in cm as no idea , but born they where 4lb 7, 3lb 12 and 3lb 12, and all of them where fit and healthy even if last two were c-sectioned early cause they don't grow in me. Mine are still small (14- 4' 6", not sure how big other are) but intelligent with big mouths...:rotfl:

jtb2412

Been to Mr T's (and Mr S :rolleyes: - it's on the way back so no extra petrol ) .... pretty much stuck to my list (a few extra bits but only because they were on offer and I use them so will save myself money in the long run).

Spent 26.47 in Mr Ts and £4.42 in Mr S. DD2 is a fussy eater :rolleyes: and I wanted to get her some chicken breast which is half price in S at the moment. I'd usually buy chicken from butcher but not quite ready to do my monthly order yet. I recently started using local butcher for all my meat and although it's a tad more expensive, we've really noticed the difference in the taste and we can get the cheaper cuts of meat there too. He also gives me 10% off :T as I usually order a month at a time so spend quite a bit with him.

Sainsbury's basics curry sauce is down to 19p per jar (was 44p last time I looked :eek: ) so I bought a few jars of that too. It's actually quite good, add a few extra bits to it and it makes a nice curry).

Been at work all day (making up my hours :rolleyes: ) so the heating has been off at home. Had to be very good with it lately after getting a huge bill last month - really making an effort to make sure it's off during the day when no one is here and if it is on, being at a low temperature and adding layers rather than turning thermostat up. Might look at the I-Measure thingy if I get time in the next couple of weeks.

Had left over bacon, cheese and onion quiche for lunch with a satsuma and some Xmas cake (still eating it :rolleyes: :rotfl: ). Dinner tonight was green thai curry with 2 chicken breasts between 3 of us (would have used 3 before but 2 was plenty enough). DS had a beef curry portion that I found in the freezer (thai too hot for him :eek: :rotfl: ) and fussy DD2 had boiled eggs and soldiers. No dessert tonight (got to watch the waistline !)

Made the cakes after school for pack ups, did a load of washing (on airer) and had a bit of a sort out in the chest freezer. It's about 1/2 full now so i'll run it right down, give it a defrost (needs doing badly !) and it'll be ready for stocking up again at the end of the month when I do my big meat order.

Bad news about the interest rates for savers - they really need to do something sharpish otherwise people are just going to pull their money out and stash it all under their matresses - then where will the banking system be :eek: !

Nyk - you'll not regret the fruit canes, we had sooooooo many raspberries from our 8 canes this year that I'm still using them now ! I dread to think how many we'll get next year as this was our first year :j - not that i'm complaining of course !

Quick thanks to the person (sorry, i'm another one whose useless with names ) who mentioned the Victorian Farm programme on BBC2 tonight - pre-programmed in ready to watch

Right off to make sandwiches and then settle down in front of TV - not sure if i'll be able to sit still though, I seem to be constantly thinking of things I could be doing instead of sitting down relaxing :rolleyes: - hubby gets cross with me sometimes because I never sit still !

Have a good evening everyone (sorry for the long post, just realised i've rambled on as usual ). xx

Frugaldom

Welcome Miss R! If you decide to make yourself familiar with the previous posts, so that you know what has been happening over the past year, please allow several weeks of your spare time. I'll go and add your name to challenger list at post 2 and post 1 has several handy links that you may find helpful.

looby-loo wrote: »

You could make cuttings ... Plant the blackcurrant bushes and cut off the whips two buds above the ground...

Thanks for that! Free food-bearing plants, bushes and trees are always welcome here and the cuttings sound similar to how I did the willows last year. I'll see how the plants look when I get them into the ground, hopefully tomorrow, and will keep it in mind for future years and in case I get the opportunity to prune anyone else's blackcurrant bushes.

Apple sponge cooked fine in the new oven, it just took the full alloted time. I didn't get any biscuits done as I decided to do roast potatoes and croquettes to go with the turkey & veg. There's enough apple sponge left for DS to take soup and pudding for lunch tomorrow, so he's perfectly happy at that. I snapped at HS when I discovered [strike]he[/strike] I had paid £1.09 for the bag of sugar!! :mad: I did wonder why I got no change from £3 for that and 2L of milk! This is one of the reasons I need to make the effort to go to a big town every so often to stock up. A village store/post office 5 miles away is NOT for frugal shopping! I didn't even need the sugar, there's enough to last the weekend in a storage jar! :mad:

jtb2412 wrote: »

Nyk - you'll not regret the fruit canes, we had sooooooo many raspberries from our 8 canes this year that I'm still using them now ! I dread to think how many we'll get next year as this was our first year :j - not that i'm complaining of course !
Quick thanks to the person (sorry, i'm another one whose useless with names ) who mentioned the Victorian Farm programme on BBC2 tonight - pre-programmed in ready to watch

't was me who mentioned programme, I'm going to watch it for hints and tips. And :eek: at the amount of raspberries from 8 canes! I ordered 20 and it looks like they have sent some freebie extras! :rotfl: I'll know better tomorrow when I unpack everything properly, but it was a real bargain buy even without the free extras.

In_Search_Of_Me

oo forgot to say can the person who said about gingerbread please post recipe - need to make on for craft club on sat and the recipe I had wasnt "wow" enough for me so would love another tried and tested....
Also for person living on nowt for gb do look at weezl's threads - she really did manage 50p a day for her and acetate monkey (aka mr weezl) and there are some yummy frugal recipes there - can recc the chicken liver pate...nommy as weezl would say!!