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

fizzel81

wow sophiesmum thats a storecuboard (and mine looks rubbish in comparison) i must sort mine out as i have rather a large cupboard but it has other stuff in there once i clear the untility room out fully and move non food into there i will have lot of cupboard space to fill, id like to start thinking about uht milk but not sure what ds will make of it (other 2 have soya) more so its then just fruit and veg thats the main weekly worry

must motivate myself to list on ebay tomorow, im hopeing its not so slow on there now with xmas out the way

redglass_2

Hmmm, didn't do so well today. I came in £20 under budget for week one and intended to hold on to the surplus for when the awkward weeks come along....but then I saw 2 books in our High St and couldn't resist them. They are big detailed reference books and I'll be using them and finding interest in them for years, and they were also a real bargain, but still, that's the £20 mopped up.

OTOH I have done some first-rate decluttering. Very satisfying. :j

Nyk, I have used 2 of the Loyd Grossman sachets, 1 tomato/chili and one korma. Each one was used to flavour some lamb mince and both gave good results. I put in only one sachet for the whole dish so instead of making a sauce they just added flavour and it worked very well.

Xnatalie, thanks for clarifying re degree!
LingoJingo, thanks also!

Sarah147

HH62 wrote: »

Sarah147 - not the Shopaholic series but I read 'Can You Keep A Secret?' on holiday about 5 years ago and was literally rolling and crying laughing at it. In fact my OH even read it and found it fab too.
Have you read that one? If so are the Shopaholic ones as funny?

Ooh yeah I love book, very funny. The Shopaholic series (4 of them) are all fantastic and a great read for frunchkins. Although this forum has definately had an effect on me as years ago I would just read them and chuckle, but now I read them, see how much money she spends and think "how wasteful" :rotfl:

That series is definately my favourite Sophie Kinsella books but I can also really recommend 'The Undomestic Goddess" http://www.amazon.co.uk/Undomestic-Goddess-Sophie-Kinsella/dp/0552772747/ref=pd_sim_b_6

and 'Remember Me' http://www.amazon.co.uk/Remember-Me-Sophie-Kinsella/dp/0552772763/ref=pd_cp_b_1?pf_rd_p=212521391&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0552772747&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0M4H8CSMFKRKJQXW9VAP

savingfortravel wrote: »

I don’t often treat myself but I do treat her and her children (especially at birthdays) but wouldn’t dream of asking for the same amount spent on me or OH (despite him being redundant) as she works up to her benefits level so doesn’t have much money. From what I read we are frugal with our own needs not others. But I actually think that people like that admire us secretly and she has changed a lot of her ways to MS ways. We are investing in our future by our actions now.

Totally agree, for some reason I always feel guilty about treating myself, like I don't deserve it or I am being greedy, despite me working very hard for my pennies. Though I am quite happy to spend money on others.

sophiesmum- your store cupboard is fantastic, I would love to have the space to do that. Ah... the bliss of not having to trail around buying food for a while must be wonderful!

sophiesmum_2

nykmedia wrote: »

Sophiesmum, if you ordered any L0yd Gr0ssman Tikka Massala sauce, I'm doing that with turkey tomorrow, so will let you know what it's like. I know you said you didn't like curry but wasn't sure if you ate any of the milder varieties.
Impressive stash you have there! Did you get around to totalling your entire 2008 grocery spend? I must check back and see how current prices are comparing to this time last year. I know firelighters have gone up from 59p or 2 for £1 to 75p for the same pack. (I know I could do without them but it's a convenient luxury I allow myself )

nyk - have ordered lots of all the Grossman sauces, OH likes all the curry types but haven't used these before, I will try the tomato one and the other chinese sauce packets. Also ordered some of the yoghurt bars, ryvita bars and snack a jacks, individual cakes for OH and DD carry outs, and some marzipan eggs towards easter(will have to hide from OH).

Most of what is in cupboard is stockpile from last years challenge - amazed at how far it has gone. Current prices would cost me almost double to replace everything in there - sweetcorn was 17p a tin(now 32p), tomatoes 17p (now 33p) salmon 98p (now £2.98), sugar 53p(now 89p) and same for nearly everything. Breadflour has stayed almost constant, as has sp jelly, sp strawberry dessert mix, pearl barley and a few other things but apart from those most prices have rocketed.
I have been given lots of tins biscuits, chocolate, shortbreads,cookies, and have tins and boxes of chocs, xmas cakes, amaretti biscuits, after 8,fusion popcorn, liquers, huge jar choc brazils, so most of those now in cupboard and will get eaten some time over year.

Give or take £20 our total grocery spend for 2008 was just under £900 - (but large proportion of this still in store for use:D )going to try and get that lower this year. I find stockpiling and batch cooking def the way to go, making most of bulk buys and mealplanning around what I have in store. There are always at least 50 various individual meals in freezers for us to grab, along with variety of veggies. It saves so much time on work days having stuff to hand, and I have saved lots of time which would have been spent on shopping before. We can also have things home grown but out of season like our apple and rhubarb crumbles, blackberry jams, chutneys etc.

looby-loo_2

I stuck to my New Year plan last night. Came in from work at 6.10 and cleaned the whole house before I sat down at 11.15 to eat!

fallen_angel_shelley

SM- that is one h£ll of a storecupboard, I bet you could live of that for weeks.
AG- I was only asking about guys out of curiosity, honestly :rolleyes:
G1973 & BB- thanks for the web site addys.
SFT- well done on getting all that school work done.:T

I had a look at the AF site yesterday and saw quite afew bits that I would like to get, especialy the choc cakes 30 for £1, my ex said that he will have a look as well then we can share the delivery. :T

Think I will take my self of to the land of nod after this drink, got loads I need to get done tomorrow, back at uni on monday.

sorry if I missed anyone out, keep up the good work guys and for those who are feeling abit demorilized, just keep swmimming, just keep swmimming, DS sings that to me when he sees me struggling (stressing out) with uni work, its from the disney film, finding Nemo.

Shelley x

sophiesmum_2

fizzel81 wrote: »

wow sophiesmum thats a storecuboard (and mine looks rubbish in comparison) i must sort mine out as i have rather a large cupboard but it has other stuff in there once i clear the untility room out fully and move non food into there i will have lot of cupboard space to fill, id like to start thinking about uht milk but not sure what ds will make of it (other 2 have soya) more so its then just fruit and veg thats the main weekly worry

must motivate myself to list on ebay tomorow, im hopeing its not so slow on there now with xmas out the way

Fizzel, just buy a couple of bits each time you go shopping when you see stuff on offer that you use and you can soon build up a store.I use mine like a supermarket, the stuff in the kitchen cupboards is the stuff being used daily then when I run out I go and have a shop from my big cupboard:D and move it to kitchen.

Re the UHT milk, I use this we have it in drinks, I make yoghurt with it and DD has it on cereals. It is an acquired taste in tea, unnoticeable in coffee, tastes fine cold on cereals and is great for yoghurt making. I use dried milk for porridge, rice puddings etc.
I would suggest trying DS with it chilled on cereals first or something like that he probably won't notice much difference.:D

sparklymessygirl

sophiesmum wrote: »

Current prices would cost me almost double to replace everything in there - sweetcorn was 17p a tin(now 32p), tomatoes 17p (now 33p) salmon 98p (now £2.98), sugar 53p(now 89p) and same for nearly everything.

Can I ask how you keep track of the prices? I was wondering whether you wrote the cost on the tin when you placed it in the stockpile so you could then compare it to current prices? Or do you just remember?

Thanks
Sparkly

PS (had a good stockpiling day myself today as made rare visit to Mr M and got enough Branston Baked Beans for a whole year! Also Lloyd Grossman sauces, Fruit and Fibre, Ryvita Pumpkin/Sesame, Ribena)

sophiesmum_2

I'm a really sad frunchkin and have a spreadsheet with costs of everything when I buy them for stockpile - then when I want to find current cost I check on mysupermarket.com for current price.
If i am on a stockpiling mission i have a book with what I paid last time and what is current price at moment so I then know if something is good deal;)

sophiesmum_2

looby-loo wrote: »

I stuck to my New Year plan last night. Came in from work at 6.10 and cleaned the whole house before I sat down at 11.15 to eat! Vaccuumed, washed kitchen floor, washer 3 loads including pet beds, changed 4 beds, cleaned bathrooms and en-suites, made up 5 beds, cleaned kitchen, dusted and polished lounge, made a fire and lit it, hung up washing, put ironing away, cleaned fridge and turned off the utility room fridge. .

I do one room a night after work(i start at 8 finish at 4pm) - never needs much as we are quite tidy, I load dishwasher before bed, OH empties it in morning, OH does a wash each day,(he works nights) I iron a few things each night, Then on Saturday I whizz round with stardrops and microfibre cloths, OH whizzes round with hoover/mop and that is it for week:D Which frees up lots of time for baking, batch cooking and leisure activities:j
Good for you for reclaiming your weekend:T :T :T