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

sophiesmum_2

Good evening frunchkins:D
General frugal aims for today;

• storecupboard lunch
• tea with oldies
• reduce, reuse,recycle one item-
• do something nice for me -
• do something nice for someone else
• fitter not fatter - swim and jacuzzi later,

Todays frugal meals;

• fruit smoothie
• boiled egg, seeded bread
• Savoury minced beef and veggies, roast potatoes, green beans, trifle

Fruit and veg portions;
2 fruit, 0 pulses,4 veggies,:D

Expenditure or additional income

No spend days today and yesterday & found £1 in locker at gym for 2nd time yesterday:)

Remaining target cash for first 6 months food spends - £253.44 left from budget of £400 for first six months.

Blairweech

Right, I have tranformed the above into a meal plan to the end of Feb. Don't worry about the dates too much, as it can change at a moments notice

candygirl

Blairweech I am well impressed with your organisational skills:T :T :T I make a rough weekly meal plan, and never ever stick to it:o

Marru

Hello everyone!

Firstly so sorry Triftylass for your loss. Hope to see you back here when you are ready. I can't imagine what you are going through at the moment.

.....

Kittykins - How old is your DD? From the next term after children have had their 3rd birthday you are allowed to have 12.5h per week free pre school for them. I take DD to nursery in the morning and nursery takes her to pre school so I save those hours every week.

Bails - Hope you have got safely to B'ham. Been thinking of you on your journey.

Blairweech - can I come and have my meals with you this month?

Mumzy - result! Well done!

Angela - And he is still alive!!!????

jtb - exciting news about the trip!

I got out of the house 7.10 this morning to clear the car and take DD to nursery, managed to get to work by 10, left office 4.30 pm and went straight to pick up DD and got home 5.40 pm. Boy am I exhausted but at the same time a little bit proud of myself of how I managed to drive in the conditions there were this morning. It does help that I have experienced this many times before in my previous home land.

Did allow myself some chocolate for having to walk some of the way to work due to lack of long term car parking closer to the office so not a NSD.

Supper was curry from jar with rice and couple of sausages left over from yesterday. Nom nom and very frugal (sauce on offer, sausages whoopsied). And plenty left for my lunch tomorrow. Need to get some pasta from freezer in the morning for lunch for DD as she doesn't like curry.

Will have a chill out evening so wishing you all a good weekend and stay warm and safe where ever you are!

Marru

Kittikins

Hi Marru - I already get the gov't 12.5 hours, DD's going to be 4 in March, and that means she's nearer going to big girl school, lol.

Had some lovely cheesy veg rice for dinner, good comfort food But really craving chocolate and/or fizzy pop now......grr

mumzyof2

Blairweech wrote: »

Right, I have tranformed the above into a meal plan to the end of Feb. Don't worry about the dates too much, as it can change at a moments notice

Please can you post the chicken cheese caserole recipe please?

Marru

mumzyof2 wrote: »

Please can you post the chicken cheese caserole recipe please?

Ooh - yes please and one for the lentil dahl as well please!!!

sammey90

Hi All

I am really trying to get my life in order, but it seems i keep hitting brick walls.

I tried to look at my cap one account online this evening, only to find it locked, so I rang the number. After nearly 10 mins of blather, including reading out my balance, telling me how much i was over-limit, and demanding immediate payment, I finally got through to someone with such a strong accent, all of her words ran together and I had no idea what she was saying!!!!

I turns out the account is locked because it's over it's limit. The account won't get under limit cos they keep adding a bl**dy £12 charge, so the payments i make seem to make tiny 50p size dents each month. They won't stop that charge cos it's automatic (b*ll*cks).

I then asked if anyone could put my account back on, and after saying THREE times that my account was over limit, she eventually "put me on hold" while she transferred me to customer services,who, surprise surprise, were having technical difficulties!! (more b*ll*cks)

How do I keep an eye on my account if they lock it for being over-limit? It's not as if i can spend through it.

GRRRRRRRR. Sorry for the long rant, this one's been brewing for while!!

candygirl

Marru wrote: »

Ooh - yes please and one for the lentil dahl as well please!!!

I think there's a lentil dahl recipe in the OS board recipe index:D

Frugaldom

Sammey90 - if you know how much your account is over its limit, is there any way you could pay in enough to bring it back within that limit and avoid any more surcharges for what they usually term as 'unauthorized borrowing'? I'll never understand why financial institutions allow people to spend more than agreed and then punish them for a mistake that could easily have been prevented. I'm sure it's an issue many people have faced (I'm no exception) but it gets you into a never-ending spiral of payments followed by charges until you escape it completely. Is there some way you could juggle the budget to make a lump sum payment and escape the situation?

Frugal day for me, all I spent was time in the garden. I started pruning back the unruly willow and have now planted 50 cuttings to start a new 'fedge' plus I have started weaving a willow windbreak around a tiny patio area in front of the shed. There's plenty more to be cut back and I have already filled my first sack with free, homegrown bio-fuel, albeit only as kindling sticks. :j If I can get it all under control and growing properly, I should be able to produce enough to last us throughout the year with enough left over to trade with the basket weavers. I may even have a go at basket weaving myself one day. How frugal would that be? Growing the willow to weave your own gift baskets?

Today has been a very productive day all round, as I have now located more polystyrene via Freecycle and should have enough to insulate the entire shed for free. :T

Hoping the rain stays away as I'm really enjoying working with the willow. However, I have someone coming to see me tomorrow to talk about the LETS scheme, so am equally looking forward to hearing more about that.