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

grandma247

Sammy it is Here and if they do not respond you can report them the info is all on that page.

sammey90

Thank you!!

I have already sent the first (probably the first of many) letter to Capital One to start the ball rolling on reclaiming charges - I got so cross with them in the week, I thought "Sod you, you're not having any more of my money". Forgot to put this in with the rant.

Luckily, I'm the sort of person that gets stressed, then fed-up, then frustrated and upset, then angry! If it gets to the point where I'm angry, I will then start fighting things. HMMM... should get angry more often....

grandma247

You need to get some advice, My instinct would be to stop them having access to your bank account by cancelling the DD but I am not sure if this would be the right thing to do. I know from past experience that these things have a habit of escalating quickly so action is needed.
Try not to worry too much and get some sleep. Things will get sorted out eventually.

sophiesmum_2

Thanks for the tortilla lesson marru - looks like fun - how easy is it to get hold of the flour - presume it is corn ?

Off to google me thinks;)

Skint_Lynne

sammey90 wrote: »

Thank you!!

I have already sent the first (probably the first of many) letter to Capital One to start the ball rolling on reclaiming charges - I got so cross with them in the week, I thought "Sod you, you're not having any more of my money". Forgot to put this in with the rant.

Luckily, I'm the sort of person that gets stressed, then fed-up, then frustrated and upset, then angry! If it gets to the point where I'm angry, I will then start fighting things. HMMM... should get angry more often....

Hi Sammey,

I'm glad that you have taken our advice about reclaiming your charges. You will feel much better when you get your cheque from capital 1. Remeber and follow the instructions through to the end and do not give up ever. If you need advice, just ask on this thread and one of us will help you. Hang on in there, things will get better. xx

sophiesmum_2

Good morning frunchkins:D
Have a great day everyone , will catch up later, busy day at work ahead.
Much warmer here today, we have primroses flowering and first daffs strting to open:eek: - they don't ususally open till about Easter, so not sure what is happening there - hope the frosts don't get them.

General frugal aims for today;

• storecupboard lunch and tea
• reduce, reuse,recycle one item-one carrier bag foil for guide dogs, 2 bags stuff to charity shop from oldies
• do something nice for me -
• do something nice for someone else- telephone friend I haven't seen for ages and catch up
• fitter not fatter - chair based exercise class with oldies, no swimming tonight friend not well

Todays frugal meals;

• hard boiled egg and an apple - grab and go brekkie this morning
• Baked red pepper stuffed with wholegrain couscous, peppers,spring onions,cucumber etc
• Huge bacon and stilton salad ( watercress, lettuce, spring onions, peppers,celery,black olives,cucumber,tomatoes)

Fruit and veg portions;
1 fruit, 0 pulses,10 veggies,:D

Expenditure or additional income

Aiming for a no spend day -

Remaining target cash for first 6 months food spends - £249.94 left from budget of £400 for first six months.

MrDT

Not been a particularly frugal couple of days I'm afraid. I've been repainting the kitchen, so the whole cooking at home thing has gone by the wayside - chinese takeaway on Tuesday, chippie takeaway last night! I've got the microwave set up in the living room now so tonight we're going to be having a baked (nuked) potato with tortilla chips and frozen leftover chilli, that's better lol! Walls need another couple of coats, so not sure when the kitchen will be back in proper use! With a bit of luck everything will be back in order by Sunday... I'm not thinking only of my budget, also my waist!! :rotfl:

On top of the takeaways I've spent a little bit of money on paint and a vegetable rack/trolley thing. These purchases come out of my 'shopping' (food, toiletries, cleaning, household, etc) budget. The budget was already pretty tight, so I've upped it a little now, reduced my 'nights out' and 'gadget' budgets to balance the books. Still haven't bought myself a wii, it's kinda sad but I'm happier not having a new toy if it means I have a better kitchen lol!

Oh, I've also bought a birthday present for a family member this week, and have valentines day coming up on Saturday. So definitely a spendier month than January!

I'm still doing well though (I think), I have 3651.87 remaining from my initial 4k (8.7% spent) and today is day 43 of 365 (11.8% of the way through). So long as the amount spent percentage stays lower than the challenge days completed percentage everything's ok. I'm aware that most spends (holiday/christmas) come later in the year though so that's not completely accurate

Hope you're all well

Edit: I could really do with some advice by the way - I have some fresh chicken breasts that I've frozen. How would I cook these in the slowcooker? I have some jars of heinz chicken sauce stuff (29p in home bargains, I think it's about £1.50 in tesco!) that I'd like to top them with ideally. Should I defrost the chicken first? Smother in sauce and pop in the slow cooker all day? Or cook first then top with sauce? Should I add water? I'd like to serve with pasta, can I pop th pasta in the SC or should it be done seperately? How would I rinse the pasta if done in the SC? Sorry only ever used it for casseroles in the past! Help would be much appreciated

grandma247

If you can cook them all day I would put them frozen in sl and top with sauce. I use the autocook setting. I don't know about pasta but I know lots of people do put it in sl. I like mine just so, so I would not put it in.

the_cat

I have used frozen chicken in slow cooker before and its fine. Chuck chicken and sauce in early in the day and then later in the day (err guessing an hour or so before you want to eat max) add the pasta. It should be fine

jtb2412

Hi everyone :hello:

I'm still here (just !) lol

Have had tummy bugs here this week so playing catch up a bit. Although OH was here yesterday (car in for MOT) which meant I could go to work so I don't have any hours to make up from time off. He's off tomorrow too (car back in for repairs as it failed MOT :rolleyes: ) so I can work all the hours i'm supposed to. I had 14 to make up after Xmas due to the flu and don't want to have to do that again :eek: .

Nothing exciting happening here (which is probably a good thing !) - not spent much (phew!) although I'm going to have to go and get some food for next week for kids. I forgot it was half-term this month so I think i'm going to have to go over my GC budget (makes mental note to factor in school hols in GC budget in future :rolleyes: ).

Amazon plodding along nicely and had a fair few surveys to do so expecting a nice little bunch of vouchers through shortly. All going towards my money neutral for birthdays this year (25 family member to buy for :eek: ).

Lettuce seeds have poked their heads up in greenhouse and my flower seeds that are in the propagator have also started to sprout. Gets quite warm in the g/house when the sun is on it so a few more days like this and I might start off a few other things. :T

Mr T clubcard vouchers came through the other day so I've converted them into Be**a Ital** vouchers for our meal out for OH's 40th in just over a week's time. Have got him a wicked pressie but can't say because I know he reads this thread (hello dearest !!! ).

Hope everyone else is well, haven't had time to catch up yet so sending thoughts to those that need them and :T to all who are doing well.

Off to try and do some housework :undecided . Have a good day xx