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

cha97michelle

pips mum i think you need to include your child benefit and ctc if you get them. I am another finding it hard to do the challenge with kids. Both of mine are in disposable nappies, and DS2 is on formula but thankfully only 2 bottles a day so i haven't been using that many tins. (tins have gone up by about £2 since i bought it for DS1 less than 2 years ago :eek:) They do drink a lot less of it as they start to eat, and also i mostly get away with 4-5 nappies a day each for them. I'm lucky that my two really enjoy the soups i make with a bit of bread to dip as they have huge appetites. DS1 eats as much as i do for lunch, and DS2 eats about half of that. DS1 seems to follow me round wanting to eat snacks all day, and DS2 is following the same path. Hopefully when we grow some stuff it will make it cheaper.

I did a full pantry audit over the weekend, and i need to get it entered on my computer spreadsheet so i can meal plan longer term, my problem seems to be though that we keep spotting good deals that i feel i should get. I'm sure it will all average out, and i will have less time and inclination for shopping when i head back to work next month.

Tonights frugalness - i have been chopping up some onions from a huge sack we got at costco so i can stick them in the freezer. Double purpose of having quick meal components ready to use when i can't be bothered and prolonging their life. I am going to tackle some mending i have that needs doing (and has done for a long while, but i always feel it is beyond my skills) and i will watch heroes with DH. Then bed i think, today has been a tough one with the boys.

Michelle, x

sophiesmum_2

nykmedia wrote: »

Wow! Big piccie, SM :rotfl: You've skewiffied the thread with your bumper crop of salad stuffs.

Oops sorry Nyk , have resized it now:p

Brighton_belle

thanks SF, nyk & SM for your encouragement re growing stuff - You've pointed me in a direction I feel I could cope with and enjoy - salad leaf growing on my window sills. I only have 2 windowsills but I think I can use them, so will sort out this week what suitable containers I have for growing:j . As for the tomatoes - I have grown them ok outside before, though not for several years, and slugs don't seem to affect them here . I've got a little (unheated) proprgator somewhere so need to source seeds now. Only want to grow cherry toms.
I like the brilliant hanging basket idea - thanks for the pics SM: think you have encouraged a few others to try that way. I think I'll be ok with a grow bag (as I was given one last years that I didn't use) and I don't have any baskets, but do have a concrete back garden (covered in pebbles) and victorian crumbling walls that couldn't hold a post, nail or screw for love nor money.
Will report back in due course with progress:D

purplevamp

:hello: hello peeps!

CW - I've just got some milk out of the freezer, and it seems fine. My Mum used to freeze milk all the time and it never did me any harm (:p :rotfl: ).

Nyk - I keep forgetting to ask, but has your Aldi opened yet? Mine STILL hasn't and there's no sign of it doing so, the boards came down weeks ago and that was that . That's a great tip re: the lettuce, I think I'll try that!

Pips Mum - No, it's not cheating, especially with a new little one, I think the main thing is to be flexible with your budget otherwise you may go :mad: and give up.

chika - :j hello and welcome


Today was back to work and school and I hated getting out of bed . Took my book back to library (undomestic goddess), went to 99p store and spent £8.61 on muffins and 3 stocking fillers for DD, then went to Co-Op for eggs and got 2 x 10 small oranges for 50p a bag. They're meant to "run out" today but look like they have loads of life in them still.

Ooh, forgot to say that a couple of weeks ago I took my EMF monitor into work and we found a ghost :eek: . Well, we're not sure but our building was bombed in the war and 3 children and 1 clerk were killed. It'll be 65 years to the day on 26 March, so we may investigate again!!

Skint_Lynne

Hi everyone,

I done my first appointment today and I think it went well. I'm out again tomorrow and the I've to meet a rep from another company for some tips.

I had to drive to Dumfries but it was fine, quite a nice drive and it is nice to be out and about again.

The good thing is if you visit someone at lunchtime, you take sandwiches along which means a free lunch.:T :T

I didn't spend much today either, £3 this was on things for my mum, but wasn't asking her for that. I won't make a habit of it though cause if this was everyday, £21 per week would be wasted on nothing. I would rather buy some shopping with that.

My chicken stock seemed to be successful. I skimmed off the fat tonight to find a nice rich jelly underneath. This filled 4 of the plastic food tubs you get, like the ones from the chinese takeaway. I don't know how much of it I would need to use each time I am making soup. It would depend on how much I am making I suppose.

The italian chicken went down well tonight with the family, and I kept a full tub of the sauce that was left over. This can be recycled into a pasta sauce for another time. Waste not want not.

I love the picture of the toms sophiesmum, I've tried veg a couple of times, but I'm not sure if I will have enough time this year cause of the 2 jobs. I've never tried the baskets though and it looks as if you had a great success with it. The cucumbers look good too, I've done these before and I done not too badly with them. Courgettes are good as well and I've done okay with them in the past.

Good wishes and hugs to all. Speak later. xx

whitewing

bails - haven't read all the posts so don't know if anyone answered.

We used to look after a little dog occasionally that had its own seatbelt thing. Basically a restraining belt that attached to a normal seatbelt. It was quite cool. May be a bit more portable, especially if you use more than 1 car.

savingfortravel

Hi Everyone!
Raided Mr T earlier, picked up 2xTwinings 180 teabags at £2 each, 3 packs of Pork Sausages for 68p each, piece of steak for 64p, Flora Buttery £1 each and some F.Trade chocolate

Thanks for your message Bails.
We found out that the bypasss road is almost certainly being built in five years time. Final decision will take place in 2012.
There are not any comparable properties that have such a good price..but I don't plan to sell our bungalow for a silly price so you are quite right about holding on lightly. Maybe my financial brain is stronger than my romantic brain. So we will put bungalow on market tomorrow but will only accept a reasonable offer. Getting jobs done around the place to make it more attractive without spending a fortune.
As for what will I do when I give up teaching...just not sure..love to write children's books, my SIL to be is an artist so maybe I could get her involved?
Can't think that far ahead at the moment..would love to work then travel abit.
Looking forward to seeing the puppy pics x
SFT

LollopyBear

Welcome Chika :hello: Good to see another teacher here, there seem to be quite a few of us now. I'm in my NQT year (secondary English) and loving it. Sorry to hear about your funding problems, especially that they didn't give you any notice before changing things. I must say the image of washing loo roll really made me giggle.

I had a text from 02 to say that I would lose my extra minutes and bonuses for next month if I didn't top up £15 so there goes my plans for a month without phone credit.

DH did fabulously today. We've been having problems renewing our house insurance with the [EMAIL="c0-0per@ative"]c0-0per@ative[/EMAIL]. First of all they added some extras in that we didn't want. DH phoned up to get them to remove it and they had to send out new paperwork, which took over a week to arrive. We get it this weekend and realise that they've got LOADS of details wrong on the form, completely contradicting what we took out last year. For example, the new policy says that there is only one person living here, that we have burglar alarms and security systems etc. DH phoned them back up today to get them to change it and they said that the cost would go up quite a lot if we changed it to the correct status. DH said if that was the case then we would simply go elsewhere and not bother with them anymore. They agreed to change it without upping the price. They really are giving us the run-around. Good on DH though! :T

I'm sadly very excited about adding up all the month's totals on Friday. I'm just itching to do it and start with March. I think I have an Excel addiction. I keep having NSDs, then being annoyed that I can't update my spreadsheet :rotfl: . I don't think that's quite the frugal way!

slowlyfading

LollopyBear wrote: »

I'm sadly very excited about adding up all the month's totals on Friday. I'm just itching to do it and start with March. I think I have an Excel addiction. I keep having NSDs, then being annoyed that I can't update my spreadsheet :rotfl: . I don't think that's quite the frugal way!

Lol I'm the same! :rotfl: Didn't realise you were a teacher

Sarah147

alreet all (geordie greeting )

Been busy here, made big batches of food yesterday to freeze for lunches and teas for the week, including a big pan of vegetable, aduki and mung bean soup. It is delicious, I have surprised myself there :rotfl: and today I got a card through the post from Starbucks which gives you a free coffee everyday until April 21st. Seems too good to be true but its all there in the terms and conditions, only thing is, you can only use it after 2pm but what an offer. I don't really like coffee but I am sure I will by the end of April :rotfl:

Didn't spend a thing today and it was pay day. This is a huge achievement (succeeded as I did not bring any money in ha ha, any change in my purse and it goes into the tills of the local newsagents so have realised it is easier to just not bring it in in the first place, then I can't spend it!). Usually on pay day by now I have spent loads on pointless tat I don't need, just because it's pay day but instead, I have sensibly transfered cash over to my ISA. How responsible of me!

Tomorrow I get a free lunch at work and am seeing a free screening of "the young victoria" in the Odeon after work. Must remember to pack lots of healthy snacks from home to see me through, and remember my voucher for the Body Shop (link here http://www.divinechocolate.com/bodys...ne_voucher.pdf) to get my free bar of chocolate to munch on during the film. Yummy!