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

lingojingo

Just written 22 reviews for Qype!!! Can't think of any more today, will leave it till tomorrow and see if Ii can complete the 50.
Thanks for the info (think it was Whitewing? Skintlynne?)

Nyk - sorry about your greenhouse, must be a blow (no pun intended).
It;'s been very windy here too, worried about the roof, some slates a bit loose but none come off (waiting a builder to look at them, but he can't come when the weather is bad).

mumzyof2

Hi alll

Just a update:

Spent £7 in botany bay play centre today and £3 on some food and £11.20 in shop on way home.

yesterday had a nsd

so total spends is £21.20 today!

skintwellie

Hi everyone,
Couldn't do my Approved Foods order cos site has huge backlog due to MSE!:eek:
Managed to get a code for Asda for £5.00, went through Quidco (another £5.00), made £7.50 in BOGOFS, etc and total bill was £60.00 which should keep us going for a few(!) weeks.:j

Very impressed with your veggie garden shaz, hoping to get some free scaffolding planks which I will stain to make four raised beds. Hoping to go to Lidl's next week as have been told that they sell good seeds very cheaply.

When Asda order comes tomorrow I am planning to prepare meals for the week so that if I don't feel up to cooking after my treatments the others can just heat them up. Just off to read 'Frugal cooking' and 'The Paupers Cookbook' for inspiration.

Have a great (frugal) evening everyone. xxx

Frugaldom

Well, we've just got back in from retrieving the greenhouse, which was strewn across the garden, on the garage roof and across the wall into the road. The poles have snapped and buckled, so not much chance of saving it. The hutches were next to get it, being lifted clean off the run, so they're now dismantled and stacked against back of the house along with anything else of enough weight to withstand the winds. The back porch is filled with what was the contents of the greenhouse and there are piles of hail lying in all the corners of the steps where that last downpour sounded like it was coming through the roof. In between the violent gusts, there's a perfect, eerie silence and the sky is so clear that we can see millions and millions of stars, plus the temperature feels exceedingly mild. Mother nature is, indeed, strange. Frugal living whilst rural living in such an exposed spot means I'm going to have to reassess my homegrown food plans and weigh up what's most realistic for the location to make it economically viable. There's no point in spending on anything structural if it is incapable of withstanding 80 or 90mph winds now and again. :rotfl:

I've made a huge pot of bolognese sauce in the slow cooker today, bulked out with oats, so dinner for three and the rest will go into the freezer. Camping equipment is at the ready, it always comes in handy during power cuts for re-heating stuff or cooking over either the fire or BBQ (depending on weather). The flasks are topped up with boiling water, the candle holders all filled, extra logs in drying and an extra scuttle of coal by the door. I think I'm prepared if the storm gets any worse. I may just have a huge mug of hot chocolate and then baton down the hatches for the night in front of TV. :cool:

Nice work with your garden, Shaz! The raised beds look great! I bet you start a neighbourhood trend soon. :beer:

whitewing

lingojingo wrote: »

Just written 22 reviews for Qype!!! Can't think of any more today, will leave it till tomorrow and see if Ii can complete the 50.
Thanks for the info (think it was Whitewing? Skintlynne?)

lingojingo,

You'll need to doublecheck the rules. I think 50 reviews are only if they are all first reviews. 100 if they have already been reviewed by someone else. And any combination in between.

lingojingo

whitewing wrote: »

You'll need to doublecheck the rules. I think 50 reviews are only if they are all first reviews. 100 if they have already been reviewed by someone else. And any combination in between.

Yes, that's correct. I've done 18 1st reviews though, so well on the way

Marru

xnatalie81x wrote: »

wahoooooooo the other council just rang me to cover 4-6 thats an extra 30 earnt today

Gongrats for more work!!! :beer:

redglass, hope you get your mystery cheque sorted soon

Well done everybody decluttering, batch cooking, stockpiling :T

About my book chaos. I acquired them during October and November 2007 and then life took a turn to different direction and didn't have time (or shelves) to sort them out. Showing you this pile wasn't brave, had I taken picture of my book room before Bails bravely tackled it (there were not a fluff of a carpet in sight and I couldn't get in, never mind into my wardrobe ) So thanks to Bails I was able to continue her good work in that room and now I actually have enough room there to do yoga. Thank you so much SM, BB, michelle and skint chick for your urges to come and help. There was a programme in TV some time ago where this woman went to help declutter people's homes and introduced them to clever storage solutions. SMBB Ltd could be doing that.

I still love U2 and have their CD in the car keeping me entertained (as in the car I can sing as loud as I want...:o). I saw them live in 97 give or take one or two years.

Well done Fizzel, wornoutmumoftwo and cw for your debt busting!! :j

NYK: excellent budgeting. I have been very good with food this month so far but starting to run out of essentials like: tuna, tinned tomato and baked beans. I will try to invent meals to get the stuff I have to go as far as possible until heading to shops to stock up.

Whitewing, lovely to have you back posting

Silkbeast - Welcome!

grandma247, thank you so much for the file, have dowloaded it and will have a snoop around tomorrow for a soup recipe that I can find ingredients from my cupboards.

It was a beautiful sunny day here this morning but now it is raining hailstones and it is very windy. Nyk - so sorry to hear about the greenhouse and other bits that went flying

Shaz, impressive gardening! :T

Our freecycle is a Yahoo group and the group has a photo gallery so if you log on into the group in Yahoo you should be able to log onto the gallery as well and as member download pics in there.

There is bad news about the car. The key needs replacing and it can take from 5 to 10 working days to get a new one from the dealer. So after pondering about the situation I decided to rent a car and in true MSE style went first into price comparison site and then through cash back site. While I was browsing through the CB sites I found almost £140 that I had there ready to be transferred into my bank account. So that paid for the car rental and hopefully half of the key. I need to go and pick up the rental car early Monday morning and the trip will take an hour, might take longer with DD. By car it would take me under 15 mins. And then it is wondered why people don't use public transport.

I was hoping for a NSD weekend but had to pay for the rental car today and tomorrow need to take walk to the shop to get more cheese (I always underestimate how much cheese we can get through) and some cash to pay for the busses on Monday.

Hoping that everyone has had a good evening despite the stormy weather. Stay safe and catch up tomorrow.

Marru

fallen_angel_shelley

NYK- sorry to hear about the greenhouse, big hugs.
Shaz- the garden looks great, when I saw it, it reminded me of that program, the good life:rotfl:, they turned their front garden in to a veg patch.

Not got a much done here today as I wanted to get done, shopping at MrT's, washed bedding, loads of printing out of uni stuff and cooked diner. I really wanted to start on my philosophy essay, it's driving me up the wall because I don't know where to start with it and I have other work that I need to be getting on with.

It was very windy here earlier on and raining, but it seems to have died down now, just hope it doesn't return.

Shelley x

bails

Brighton_belle wrote: »

tidy [strike]nuclear wasteland [/strike]dining room

:rotfl:This had me laughing but so isn't true BB!

It's nice to have you back Whitewing and will be lovely to see Janey too when she's ready xx

Welcome to Silkbeast, I admire your determination to read the whole thread :T you'll fit in just perfectly here
Sorry to hear about the greenhouse etc Nyk :eek: hope you can still manage lots of frugal gardening. Love the front garden Shaz, great stuff! Skintwellie, it was Lidl seeds I used this year and they 'worked' with very little input from me
Great to hear you so excited jtb, you are indeed a true frugalite!
Darn it, the 2-minute brain drain has happened - sorry to all I've missed out, again! I've just totted up our spends for the year so far and seems we're doing okay. When I feel up to it I'm going to compare with this time last year... Cooking a meal for my mum's birthday tomorrow so got some happy chicken...how much?! :eek: I attempted to buy her lamb(her favourite) but I couldn't stomach it. It's weird how my perception of meat has changed, it's like a switch has flicked and there's no going back. We shall see
Another trip to the Dogs Home today to show OH the lovely collie pups :heartpuls I am truly in love with one, a black and black/white speckled girl who's very nervous and therefore barks a lot...and who has no reserve...:whistle: I know I can't really have her but made sure OH realised that we will definitely be getting a dog whilst we still live in this house (he thinks it's too small for a collie but I promise we don't live in a shed :rotfl:we have a garden and live right on the edge of the countryside, perfect for lots of walks/runs). After pointing out I've been very restrained *glosses over cat collection :rotfl:* since I lost my dog 8 years ago, and that I wasn't able to wait another 5-7 years for another one, he said we'll seriously think about it when we get back from India :jWOOP WOOP! He's such a softie :rotfl:and that's one of the many reasons I love him :smileyhea
Bad news today was that after weeks of practising letter writing with my tutee (he was specifically told by his teacher to do the letter in the exam and his mum was told there would be 2 letters/3 stories to choose from), THERE WAS NO LETTER!!! :eek::mad: Poor boy didn't panic amazingly (which he normally does loads of) but feel so cross on his behalf. Words will definitely be had...*dons scary teacher face*

Right, enough blathering - off I go to watch Ratatouille (thanks Marru ) once OH finishes playing the sax.
ps SFT, your friends with an orphanage haven't gone unnoticed...do they take volunteers?;)

Pips_Mum

Hello all,
Frugalmite Aidan is doing well, although judging by the amount he as already cost me he is not that frugal, will have to have stearn words with him!!!
Nyk sorry about the greenhouse too.
X X