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

fizzel81

evening all

Happy new year here is to the 1st day of a frugal 2009

today has been a nsd, kids back from there dads then we have just been doing not alot

not so frugal dinner today but in defence the next 3 days will be, roast chicken, roasties and veg, ive gotten into the habbit of now spending that little more on a free range bird and we just have more veg, tomorow will be chicken and veg pasta bake, and saturday a risotto ive also got the slowcooker on for stock which i am going to turn into some sort of mixed soup, if i can stay out the shops untill next wednesday i will be a very happy person

at some point this week i need to start a present list and buy bits if i see suitable things i may sneak to woolies tomorrow as its last day for sidcup but if i find nothing then so be it as there wasnt much a few days ago

here is to a fantastic year

In_Search_Of_Me

oo me goodness...my names on the list! Will go back and read from the start but firstly a wee bit about me for those who dont know me - I do have a tendency to do subscribed threads so miss some but find that alone time consuming!
Am 39 (40 in August) and live in my wee (but loved) flat with my 4 cats (dotty, poppy, manu and Alfie plus the hamster Bob (after our very own bob...hangs on for dear life and makes me laugh!!) and Micha the yellow belly slider turtle! I work full time in an emotionally demanding job, love crafting, seeing good friends and my allotment which was a bit neglected last year...oo yes have also resealed my sealed pot which is a rather good looking piggy...so there ya go! Thats me...getting there but last year was a bit too slowly so am hoping this year I'll make up some lost ground. Look forward to getting to know you (some I know from Weezles and others around and about!)...special hugs for slowly fading...awful when animals go to heaven cos they love us uncondtionally dont they eh...time does heal but meanwhile you'll have some happy memories...

Annie021063

For those who tend to run out of milk and dashing to the shops result in an unplanned £20 spend, you could either keep some in the freezer to tied you over between supermarket visits, or keep some dried milk for such times. Some brands seem to bebetter than others but l*dl's is good in tea I find, where as the one I have bought from a*da this week is too weak.

Thanks for posting this, I had already said today was NSD and have just realised I am out of milk until milkie calls -- but thanks to you I remember I have dried milk in the cooking cupboard for when we make bread so I can use that for my TEA!!!

dND

Well 2009 has started well with a NSD - a lot easier to do here as places still shut on Sundays, holidays, Monday mornings, Saturday afternoons, 2 hours for lunch ...and I live in the middle of nowhere too:rotfl:

Last night I thought I was going to have a crisis on my hands, my wood burning range had started to leak smoke from the bottom of the flue pipe. By the time I'd gone to bed, I could hardly see across the kitchen:eek: so I left it on fast burn to burn out overnight. Thankfully the temperature has almost been in double figures during the day here and I think only dropped to 6 or 7 overnight.

By 10 am the cooker was cold enough for me to start dismantling it for cleaning, something I was rather apprehensive about. In the end it was much easier than I thought it would be and all my training lugging heavy weights over the last year meant I was able to lift out the cast iron cooking plates that are a single piece - need a muscle man emoticon here

That done I looked at the chimney :eek::eek::eek: it was totally blocked with cinders. I'd had it swept last year and then it hadn't been used until November. Once I'd started shovelling the gunk out I realised what had happened. I'm using not-ideal, but free wood which leads to more tar but I'd not been getting an efficient burn due to there being a hornets nest partially blocking the chimney. No problem from the hornets at them moment thankfully they were well and truly toasted. So after around 3 hours I had a fully cleaned out cooker, the chimney as clean as I can get it at the moment, I'm hopping that I will now get a hotter burn which will dry out the tar deposits and enable me to chip them off the sides of the chimney, something I think I need to do every 6 weeks or so.

So today I've become a frugal chimney sweep and cooker engineer as well :j I think it's done a lot of good, the fire caught in less than half an hour and reheating the unit has taken only 6 hours rather than the day it took the first time I lit it. All in all I think the 7€50 I spent on chimney brushes last year have already paid for themselves.

I hope everyone has had a good start to the year as well :beer:

Skint_Lynne

Hiya,

DH and me went for a drive round this afternoon and then went to mum and dad's. DH started talking about dinner and said that he'd noticed that I'd brought 2 week old roast beef out of the freezer (i'd put a label on with the date I'd cooked it on) and he announced that he wasn't eating it, it was old.:mad: He then said he wanted a kebab when we got out of my parents and expected me to pay for it (I didn't, I wasn't spoiling my NSD, so had left money at home). So, he decided that it was better to eat a kebab than my nice roast beef.:mad: I had prepped all the veg too, so I boiled the potatoes and am keeping them to make more potato scones and blanched the carrots I peeled and these are now in the freezer. One good thing about the kebab, he gave me a tenner and it came to £5.50, I kept the change for my trouble:cool: .

I had some of my soup and roast beef and horseradish sandwiches for dinner, it was really nice. DH tried the soup and said it was good, (better than a dodgy old kebab):D He has fallen asleep now, so am getting some peace. xx

Cat_Addict

Lynne, that makes me so mad. I think it's awful when you take the time to prepare a good meal with thought and pre-planning and they refuse to eat it. I take it very much to heart tbh - so I feel for you! I was devastated when this happened to me it really got me down. Bloomin kebab - the cheek!

dND

I tried the triangle but I get an error message, I think it's something to do with my very old version of outlook so I'm glad everyone else was on the ball

Frugaldom

Cat_Addict wrote: »

Lynne, that makes me so mad. I think it's awful when you take the time to prepare a good meal with thought and pre-planning and they refuse to eat it. I take it very much to heart tbh - so I feel for you! I was devastated when this happened to me it really got me down. Bloomin kebab - the cheek!

I tend to agree with you there, it never ceases to amaze me how offhand and hurtfull some people can be without even realising it. It's one of the things I'm trying to get through DS' head at the moment, he's very much at the stage of open mouth, speak and then engage brain, if he even bothers to engage brain afterwards. He's thinking of a military career, he may be better suited to it than I first thought. (Sorry Lynne, I just know so many people with OH's who work away for whatever reason and they usually cause more hassle being home than away. I'm sure it is lovely having them arrive home safely but I'm told that it's best to be in smallish doses to avoid war on the homefront.) :rotfl:

cw18

nykmedia wrote: »

It's one of the things I'm trying to get through DS' head at the moment, he's very much at the stage of open mouth, speak and then engage brain, if he even bothers to engage brain afterwards. He's thinking of a military career, he may be better suited to it than I first thought.

You could have been describing my elder DS there Nyk :rotfl:

He's been in the Army almost 2 years now -- and while he still opens before engaging sometimes, he certainly knows NOT to do it at work and does it much less at home than he ever used to :rolleyes2

Penny2myName

There is another way the FRUGAL way:j:j:j:j:j:j shown my our almighty slightly eccentric leader NYKMEDIA:T:T:T:T:T