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

whitewing

Skint chick,

Have a (cuddle) from the whitewing household. Sounds like you need it xxx

Brighton_belle

Mmm, the definition of patience: a 'new' kitchen to play with and being ordered 2 days bed rest by your consultant:rolleyes: . So no work for me for the rest of the week, which means less pay but c'est la vie. But it also mean 2 NSD, so silver linings.
Good thing about the kitchen is I now have a special corner for using my remoska and slow cooker, so they are out of the way of every body else. I said on the remoska board when I first got it last August that I really needed to redesign my kitchen now so it would turn out a very expensive purchase indeed(low hanging wall cupboards meant removing the hot lid was difficult and clumsy). Didn't think it really would actually trigger a redesigned kitchen within 6 months!!

Ridiculously excited at the thought of 2 days to go and the first month of the challenge under our belts.
Nyk - great idea re milk cut-off cartons: think I will screw a couple inside our sink cuboard door for extra storage:T .
Janey - I wish you well with your return to work. Going back p/t to start with is a very good idea and I hope you have colleagues you enjoy working with to ease you in.
Like the sound of the box strategy whitewing - loook foreward to hearing how it works. I always enjoy hearing how you and DH review how your plans are going and revise them as necessary. I need to search out a few more frugal meals and try them out. It's so important to us to have food we enjoy eating. It may be time to try making our own sausages as I have a hand held sausage maker - nothing of the style of SM's!
SM - do your sausages work out cheaper, or 'just' better quality?

Going to home feb grocery shopping list now as that can be done lying down at least.

EDIT:Skintchick - do you have any union or professional body back up or support - this sounds like the last think you need and potentially bullying.I think you are right to be catious. Listen to your dr and the people who kow you. You are doing the right thing. Glad you had the mosaics to turn too. And as you rightly say, you've got us too. Big hugs

jtb2412

Hi everyone, came on to catch up while i've got a free hour before school run.

I did write out a long post a few mins ago but AOL went off and I lost it :rolleyes: . So, very quickly (from memory):

skint_chick - sorry to hear about your day. I hope you get the results you want and it's good you've got the backing of O.Health. Don't be forced into anything and do what is right for you. The mosaic looks great BTW ! I wasn't blessed with the creative gene, my daughter has it (skipped a generation). She never ceases to amaze me at her finished work (GCSE's).

bails - good luck for the viewing - exciting !

natalie - sounds like you've got most things sorted. You're doing really well, you should be very proud of yourself ! A bit of hard work now and you will reap the rewards in the future - trust me !

Janey - sorry to hear about the books. Have just started on Amazon myself and would be gutted if it happened to me. Hope all goes well with your return to work

Must also say a HUGE THANKS to the_cat - have rung AOL and negotiated my bill down another £5 per month - that's another £60 off the £4K budget - you're a star !!!! :A :T :beer:

whitewing - love the idea about the daily food boxes. I might have to pinch it :beer:

Sorry if i've missed anyone out, I've now only got 1/2 hour because I had to write this again lol :rotfl:

Not much to report here (I must be the most boring MSE'er on this thread ).

Love reading all your posts though - keeps me going

Have a good day xxx

sophiesmum_2

BB - depends what meat you use for sausage making - if you get whoopsied meat joints or mince can work out really cheaply. The lamb ones in my pics were made with reduced halal lamb and I think cost about 20p for 1.5 kgs. Using the whoopsied meat saves a huge amount, but I only buy the good quality stuff even with reduced meat.
If you are using full cost meat works out more expensive than value sausages (which I don't buy anyway) but cheaper than the speciality sausages depending on what else you add. Our fvourites at moment are pork with blue cheese, pork and apple, beef with chilli, beef with horseradish, and spicy lamb. I make and freeze them then just get a few out when needed - HM sausages are like HM bread - more satisfying and more filling so you don't need as much, nd they don't shrink as much as shop bought when cooked. I use HM wholemeal breadcrumbs and herbs/spices to mix so know exactly what is in my sausages - no nasties.

grandma - will let you know about the beetroot

whitewing - love the idea of your boxes - sort of like menu planning in a really visual way

bails - look forward to hearing about the house viewing.

skintchick - BB - hugs to both of you

janey- Good luck with going back to work

will catch up properly later- just on lunch hour - only having some fruit as off to pizza hut tonight with some friends and DD for my friend's birthday. Have made her very happy though as I have a 50% off voucher in my e mail box which she can use tonight so should save her quite a few squids.:D

angelatgraceland

Just enjoyed a totally free swim thanks to the kelloggs voucher. I had kept these for dd but shes gone off of swimming. Now I feel all nice and loosened up! Last time I went was a year ago(free again)in the pool of a hotel in Dublin so oh dear-its a long time! I do hope I didnt overdo it today with my 20 lengths! Im getting a little frightened about the state of banking and got some money ou-not to spend though-I just dont want to trust them too much.
DH left me a list with a few items on-milk-no we actually have enough-when its all gone I will get more. Bread and airfreshener. Well I will make some bread and check the freezer. The Air freshener can also wait until we need it-we still have one. I may dig out some old perfumes instead to hide in the loo-thats usually the way we use up anything we arent terribly fond of.
Today is a NSD and thats it! I may take a look at my bike as its been stuck in conservatory for 3 years. I either need to use it or sell it. Maybe I will give it a go and make a conclusion.
Amazon-good idea-I too could list a few books on there to get rid of. Even if its only one or two its a little space and a few quid. I phoned up to renew library books so that saved me the hassle of parking and queing-tho I could have done it on trip to the pool. Hoping big kids will get a job-both have interview this week and their contribution would help a lot in the future. DH trying to get a figure from work on what they will pay him if he retires at 60 but they mess about and say it costs them £200 to calculate it-yet they have written to him and told him he can go if he wants. How on earth can he make the decision without the figures though? I would have thought they would calculate the money before reminding him he is eligible to leave. Hopeless. So I dont know if we have (decent)income or not for the rest of the year so to speak. We will be ok but-Im part time and fulltime is a nogo for me for many reasons. 2 big kids are unemployed-youngest still at school. DH waiting to leave. I do hate the thought of us all being home together all of the time! Its a bit too much.

garrydh

Wow, I'm a lurker here and not officially on the challenge but I just wanted to say a big thank you to the_cat for the post about AOL. I tried to move onto a cheaper package a few weeks ago but the person told me I had to move onto another 12-18 month contract. Tried again just now and I've got £14 a month off my bill with no change to my contract!

I originally went through customer services which costs but they gave me an 0800 number to call to make the account changes: 0800 200 6045. They did try to sell me line rental and calls as well but I didn't want that (planning to move in 6 months and will make all these changes then) and they weren't pushy about it.

SiannieLaz

Just a quickkie,
Janey - good luck going back to work, am 100% sure you'll jump straight back into the swing of things!
Car insurance out of the bank today, so not NSD. will be NSD tomorrow and Sunday, friends b'day Sat nite but as I'm driving, at least it'll be a cheap one for me! Been spending every spare minute applying for jobs, going to have to chat to OH who really doesn't want me to get a 2nd job, but with wages dropping like they are, I don't have a lot of choice, not if I want to hit my goals this year. Anyhoo, all chins up, hugs to all and forward-ho! xxxxx

bails

Ooh, well done the_cat, two people helped already :T Thanks for popping in Garry, feel free to delurk any time!
Sorry to hear you can't play with your new kitchen yet BB - maybe you can lie there and think of all the new frugal recipes you'll try out when you can. Or you could get OH to wheel you into the kitchen so you can stroke it Hope you feel better soon hun xx
Not at all jtb, everyone is important and interesting here
Great uplifting message SianneLaz!
Skint_chick, I'd definitely stick with your doctor and O.H.'s advice and not go back there's nothing wrong with what you're doing at all. The ssoner you can walk away from the stress the better x
Angel, hope your eldest two are successful with their interviews and you're not all at home together - I can imagine that would be a bot of a shock! V frustrating not to have the pension figures too :mad:
HM sausage chat is making me wonder if I can make veggie ones of some description... Think it'll be something to bear in mind for 2010.
Right, better go off to the house viewing - when I get back I must tell you about the Dogs Home visit...:o:eek::rotfl:

FrankieM

Afternoon all,
Today didn't turn out to be the no spend day I was hoping for and I've not managed to crack on with the work I need to do..

I decided to buy the few things I needed and get fuel so I wouldn't be spending so much next month. Its obviously still the same amount of money but psycologically, I'm hoping it will help me.

I'm really struggling to get myself motivated. I'm finding I spend to much time thinking and planning and not enough actually getting on with things. Its like I think I can change my life with dreams alone and no action. I don't know how to change it either. I've tried lists and plans and routines. They all look good on paper but they never seem to make into reality....everyone else seems to achieve so much...

sophiesmum_2

Bails I haven't actually made veggie ones yet but as we now have a little free corner in the freezer after taking out this weeks meals I may make that my culinary project for the weekend. Will let you know how it works:D Can't see why quorn or soya mince wouldn't work with shredded veggies and spices to give a bit more flavour.;)