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

JustKeepSwimming_2

Hi All:hello:

Ive finally done my budget for 2009, & hoping this year's challenge will be more successful than last years! I've decided that I need to cut down on food/days out with my children mostly, but looking at my spreadsheet for last year I could do with cutting back on everything!

I'm excluding mortgage/taxes/utilities/insurance & all car expenses except petrol. Hopefully the £7000 will be enough to keep me going.... hats off to those of you who can stick to less.

Good luck everyone - I'm quite excited by this challenge & hope by checking this thread regularly, that I'll be kept on track! Although it does grow at an alarming rate.... :rotfl:

Vixstar

Well an accidental NSD for me as I thought all shops were closed today I need to pop out tomorrow and buy a drill bit so I can attach my shower to the wall and finally finish my bathroom. Luckily my credit vouchers will cover that, although I think Imay have to put some real money towards a new loo seat as mine's not in the best of states. So no NSD tomorrow.

A quick freezing question - does anyone know if I can freeze whoopsied bags of stir fry veg containing beansprouts, cabbage etc? Is it possible to freeze most veg?

JAMIEDODGER

ive managed a NSD for the 1st day of the new challenge:D Will be hoping tomorrow is another one! Dont really need anything so shouldnt need to spend!

have quite a few things to do tomorrow and getting ready for the kids going back to school on monday, will be doing haircuts on sunday night:)

sophiesmum_2

Vixstar wrote: »

Well an accidental NSD for me as I thought all shops were closed today I need to pop out tomorrow and buy a drill bit so I can attach my shower to the wall and finally finish my bathroom. Luckily my credit vouchers will cover that, although I think Imay have to put some real money towards a new loo seat as mine's not in the best of states. So no NSD tomorrow.

A quick freezing question - does anyone know if I can freeze whoopsied bags of stir fry veg containing beansprouts, cabbage etc? Is it possible to freeze most veg?

The bags of reduced stir fry veg are the only ones I would only buy if I am only going to use them immediately as they go sour very quickly because of the beansprouts. They are also the only type of veggies I never freeze.

savingfortravel

Thanks for the great Easter Present ideas Sophiesmum. OH said he will make some little fruit cakes to ice and we will try growing daffodils too. Would never have thought of these ideas myself.
SFT

Frugaldom

Penny2myName wrote: »

... slightly eccentric leader NYKMEDIA:T:T:T:T:T

Thank you, thank you, thank you, I am so pleased that you used the word 'eccentric', rather than 'mad', although I am still, technically, 'in training' for full blown eccentricity. 2009 sees a little step closer to graduating, as I'm taking it one step further on the frugal front. I'm going to have a little veggie plot just for growing supplementary pet foods! It means I can make good use of a shadier spot in the garden to grow some leafy greens that we don't eat much, but others might. By others, I mean the guinea pig and my new feathered friends when I get them.:rotfl: The (human) friend who got some of my poultry/gamebird equipment when I relocated a few years ago has offered me an incubator, so I may just hatch some eggs and rear the chicks from here. Now that's what I call exciting! :j

Vixstar

Thanks Sophiesmum, thought they may be problematic.

savingfortravel

nykmedia-Could you give me some advice as to what vegetables we could grow that will give us crop throughout the year.. thought I read somewhere that you had made plans to do so... SFT

sophiesmum_2

More like eggciting:rotfl: :rotfl:

I'm already on the case thinking up potential sources of food for my chicks. Will use a layers feed for standard everyday diet but intend to supplement with kitchen scraps, cooked peelings when I am doing oldies meals, breadcrumbs/crusts etc. Plus letting them free range on slugs around the grounds when we are about to keep an eye on them.Best use for slugs so far - put in noisy end of a chick and recycle into an egg from the quiet end
Looking forward to having chick manure for my veggies too:D and the manure/bedding will also speed up the composting in bin too.

Nyk I think you are the only person worse than me that I "know" for looking for every angle possible on the frugal front:T

Frugaldom

Hi SFT, I am hoping to grow stuff all year round and sat last week making up a diary of what can be planted when from all the seeds I have.

I have already planted salad leaves/lettuce and garlic outside in tubs, which are covered with clear polythene bags, as per my homepage linked to signature

This month, I'm going to start off by planting herbs (basil, coriander & chives), a few tomato seeds and a few pepper seeds indoors in pots for the window sill and I'm also going to try planting a couple of potatoes into tubs inside the plastic greenhouse. I'm no gardening expert, that's for sure, so much of what I have learned over the past year has been from here, most importantly, how to create space to grow things cheaply in the first place. (I wish I'd known all this years ago but never thought to learn about it at the time! ) Before bringing the challenge on here, I had only grown herbs and peppers, plus whatever was in any of the gardens attached to wherever I was living at the time. Last year was great, as I managed to have loads of veggies and fruit, but this year will be a completely fresh start for me, as the new house had nothing in the garden except a pampas grass when we got here. We planted 2 x apple trees, a cherry tree, a plum tree and a pear tree on Boxing day, these were all gifted to me. I now want to plant some rhubarb and berry bushes around the front garden, which is quite shady. This is also where I'm planning to have the leafy greens.

I'm documenting my self-sufficientish garden project in my blog site, hence the reason I was asking for others to link to their homepages as well, so we can share as much info as possible. (And be nosy to see what others are doing. :rotfl: ) If anyone can point me in the direction of some cheap raspeberry canes or rhubarb crowns etc, I'd really appreciate it.