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

LollopyBear

Snow_White wrote: »

Happy New Year belatedly! I'm so excited to be doing this challenge. :j have had 2 NSDs so far but am almst out of food - my stockpiling was all cleaning poducts and tea .

Lollopybear - how did your 1st batch of soup go? I made curried carrot soup this week - just got a couple of onions and 6 carrots, chopped them, fried them, simmered for 20 mins in 500ml veg stock, blended, mixed with 100ml milk then added a dessert spoonful of curry powder. Serve with swirl of plain yoghurt or craime fraiche, and a bit of parsely and Bob's your uncle. Cheap, easy and very tasty.

Have a lovely evening everyone. SW xx

Well done on your 2 NSDs SW!

My soup went fairly well. It tasted really nice but even though I blended it there were still some smaller pieces of parsnip and potato in it. Mr Bear said it reminded him a bit of frogspawn but he still cleared the bowl! We're going to look into getting a proper blender rather than just whisking it in the food processor.

Your recipe sound great: good and creamy. I will have to try that one out. Thanks!

sophiesmum_2

lollopy, stick blenders are great for blending soup and take up much less room in your kitchen. I would go for a decent stick blender any day. The braun ones are great. Just blend in the pan, wizzes a panful up in a few minutes, then just rinse under tap. I even mash my carrot and swede with mine;)

LollopyBear

Thanks SM! You know, I think we may have a stick blender lurking somewhere. I haven't seen it for quite a while but I remember getting one. I didn't think that they would be that effective at getting to the little bits? I'll have a hunt and an experiment - thanks for saving me some pennies!

sophiesmum_2

LollopyBear wrote: »

Thanks SM! You know, I think we may have a stick blender lurking somewhere. I haven't seen it for quite a while but I remember getting one. I didn't think that they would be that effective at getting to the little bits? I'll have a hunt and an experiment - thanks for saving me some pennies!

There is a knack to doing it sort of stir and blend at the same time with the stick, gets every tiny bit.

Skint_Lynne

Evening all,

Well, I have survived another day with the toilet roll monster (or kebab man as he is otherwise known):D .

Dinner tonight was a ready made pizza he got at the supermarket, he looked that proud of himself that I didn't have the heart to tell him it was dodgy, but I'll look into making HM ones, (that he might not eat:p ).

I went to a small local boots today, was there last week as well as they had a fantastic selection of sale stuff left, so I have made a big dent in present buying for the year. I'm keeping that seperate from the 4K as I intend on all my presents being money neutral this year. These are all recorded on a spreadsheet and I have left a column for offsetting spends.

I'll need to get into getting supermarket coupons etc to get some money back.

I am learning though, I got my phone top up in Boots today, and went to the till for 3 seperate transactions, if you spent £25, you got 200 free points. I got 600 points, spent 81.75 (saved the same on the goods), and now have £26.58 in points.A nd I have ended up with 4 £5 vouchers for no7 or ruby and millie stuff. I didn't look at them properly when I was out, so that might be some free stuff for me if I am careful.

In theory, I have ended up quite well off, from today's shopping trip, I have saved the £81.75, by buying sale goods, have earned 916 points, which is £9.16 and got £20 of free vouchers as long as I spend just under the £5 in 4 transactions. (I got 2 vouchers one of the times for some reason). So, my £81.75 has actually turned into a spend of £52.59 if you count the 'earnings'.

DH is now going on about getting a new suite which he will pay for...........but, wants me to buy a carpet. Now, this would mean a new living room carpet, stair carpet and hall carpet. Then this means painting everywhere as well. I think it is a role reversal in this house, he wants new stuff and I don't think we need it. I am hoping that he will forget about it, sometimes he does. I do not want to spoil my challenge before it has started, please let him forget about it . xx

JennyBee_2

Ha! Even though I'm not a chicken sexer I have managed to sort his car insurance for £145 for the year, with £55 cashback on TCB. Bargain. Am now feeling quite smug!

tryingtodobetter

JennyBee wrote: »

Ha! Even though I'm not a chicken sexer I have managed to sort his car insurance for £145 for the year, with £55 cashback on TCB. Bargain. Am now feeling quite smug!

Excellent price on car insurance :j , who is that with?

I see your baby is due on the 18th that is my DS1's birthday or you could have it on the 10th which is my birthday or the 13th which is DS2's birthday

cw18

nykmedia wrote: »

I have never met a vegetarian dog :rotfl: Sorry if this was supposed to be serious - do you mean there are real, live dogs out there that refuse to eat meat or meat products? :eek:

I don't know of any that refuse meat, but a dog could survive on a vegetarian diet -- whereas a cat has to have meat protein or gets very ill. Guess this makes a dog a better pet in a vegetarian household

JennyBee_2

tryingtodobetter wrote: »

Excellent price on car insurance :j , who is that with?

I see your baby is due on the 18th that is my DS1's birthday or you could have it on the 10th which is my birthday or the 13th which is DS2's birthday

It's with Swinton...went through moneysupermarket and then went direct via TCB for the extra cashback. It worked out £45 a year cheaper if he added me on as a named driver. That'll teach him to have 5 points on his license!!

Looks like January is a little busy with Birthdays!!

cw18

tryingtodobetter wrote: »

I see your baby is due on the 18th that is my DS1's birthday or you could have it on the 10th which is my birthday or the 13th which is DS2's birthday

Sorry -- I've already bagsied sharing this frugal-teeny's birthday (23rd).