Live on £4000 for a Year, 2009 Challenge, part 2

cha97michelle

Hi everyone.

Everyone seems to be in a fairly good mood. I am feeling good because my weekend of activities (meal out and dancing on ice show) cost me £25 less than i had budgetted, and today i had the remainder of my plant order arrive, and i now have on my living room window sill 4 x different types of blueberry bush, 1 x cranberry, 4 courgette plants and 4 cabbages. The bedroom window sill has more baby lettuces than i think we will eat.

I've just done a random act of kindness and taken some strawberry runners round to my nextdoor neighbours. They are an elderly couple in their 70s, they did us a swap at the weekend of some cabbages for some courgette plants. It's probably far more beneficial to us to share.

I still have 12 strawberry runners, so i need to put them into pots i think tonight. They will all have to stay on my window sills for now i think as it is predicted to rain now for the rest of the week.

I have been doing lots of house chores today so a NSD while the kids are at nursery. I've made a banana loaf and done lots of washing. It never ends. I still need to make myself a birthday cake as it is my 30th tomorrow and i want to take a cake with me to my parents house. I think they are going to give me some cash so it can go towards our tarting up the garden budget. Mum was looking at the work we had been doing yesterday, and was impressed by what we had got up to.

I was thinking of cutting the grass but i can't find the extension lead that DH uses, so i think i will have to do that as some other point. I'll tackle my ironing instead in front of something i've recorded on the telly. Hope you are all having a beautiful day.

Michelle, x

SmlSave

Glad to see everyone is chirpy, I'm sure nice weather helps!

Glad you had a wonderful wedding SFT, I bet the spa hotel was just a perfect surprise.

You've really transformed your garden space sophiesmum - it looks completely different! I really have to get my hanging baskets up...

Congratulations to Mrs Grey and hello to baby grey:)

If you find you have made too much banana loaf Michelle just let me know.....:D i think it was really nice of you to share your strawberry plants and you've reminded me to bring in some plants for a friend that i keep forgetting to do.

We had a really productive day in the garden - the decking is finished! but the fence is not, I've painted most of it but it needs a second coat - poo.

Also I need some advice, calls for help "HELP HELP" I have a pigs heart, liver and kidneys in my freezer (free from Mum) I've never cooked these before and OH has never eaten them (I have but a very time ago) could you suggest some receipes? Pleeeease?????

bails

Andromache, glad you had a lovely anniversary, and what a thoughtful pressie from OH, aah! We'll be 3 and a half years on Friday (OH's friends said the other day they thought it was much longer, hope that's a good thing :rotfl:) but we'll be apart I just wrote to a friend that each day I wake up even more in love :smileyhea
Hope you find something nice at the garden centre BB, a fruit tree sounds a great idea. Nyk, your avatar is hysterical, which one is that? I love it!

Yae to the ranom act of kindness, I love these!

Ooh, got to go, back later...

Frugaldom

Quick update - Mrs Grey now has 3 chicks and it looks like there may be another hatching soon.

SmlSave, could you mince and cook your ingredients with oatmeal or bread crumbs, onion & seasoning to do some sort of meat ball dish, or perhaps you could make pork pate?

SFT, it's great to get back to how things used to be. I grew up on a farm and have almost always worked with animals. We always had livestock/pets around the place, so it's a very welcome return. I love it! (Hopefully, so will you once you get into your new place and we've all talked you into having a few chickens! )

Bails, the avatar update is of frugal chick, the little Silkie that hatched on 4th March. It still hasn't got a name as we still don't know if it's a he or a she, but it looks like a puffball at the moment. Here's a better piccie for you

SmlSave

could you mince and cook your ingredients with oatmeal or bread crumbs, onion & seasoning to do some sort of meat ball dish, or perhaps you could make pork pate?

Wails...."I don't have a mincer or food processer!"..... But the OS board have given me a few ideas for the kidneys and liver....still stuck on the heart thou...

Perhaps we can have a vote for little Silkie's name? I vote for Puff.

sophiesmum_2

Just stick the heart in the oven and roast it, when it is cooled slice it and use for sandwiches or add to a gravy for eating hot. It tastes quite tender.

MrDT

Evening ladies! Having been a good little Scrooge for the first quarter I've gone and got all extravagant in April There are three birthdays this month, one of them quite a spendey one. Can't go into detail what I've bought as the walls have ears

I'm happy that even with the purchases so far this month I've still spent under 1k so far in 2009, that won't last long though!

We've moved into the new place and it's fantastic, so much better than the previous place. We can't get freeview though, so looking to get a sky box with a £20 freesat card. Either that or maybe a cheap sky package if it makes sense as we will also need phone and internet, maybe we can get a good combined deal. I'm currently accessing the forums by mobile phone, the lack of internet is hurting my 'extra earnings' - I'm sure quidco, matched betting, scratchards etc mean I'd actually be better off even if I was paying for an internet connection!

Replies will be few and far between between now and getting the internet sorted. Hope you're all doing well

Skint_Lynne

Hi everyone,

I have started cutting down foodwise now, I got a fright when I stepped on the scales this morning. I've not spent anything today, so that's a good thing:D

I was in Dumfries again today, the lady there is really nice, tomorrow it is Perth and Stirling.

SFT I am not sure when I will start looking again, perhaps I will casually look just now, I did apply for something last week, but got a knockback letter back from them. I have been working there for 2 months, but I don't really know when a decent timescale would be? I thought if I let the 6 months go past, by the time I get something, probably the year would be up anyway. When do you all think is a decent enough time to pass until you try and move on within an industry? If I do see an interesting sounding job, I will apply anyway. I do like the job but the money is rubbish compared to all the running around and travelling you do. I set off for work at 6.30am on Friday morning and got home just after 8pm that night. If I was getting good money I wouldn't complain, but put it this way, I was earning nearly double the amount I am getting now 6 years ago.:rolleyes:

Sorry for rambling on, hope you are all well. Speak later. xx

savingfortravel

Nyk-Fluffy chick looks like my hubby! Its uncanny!
SFT

Skint Lynne-You sound exhausted. Start looking now..life's too precious and short..x

skint_chick

SFT -glad you had a lovely wedding day and great news about the house move! You don't do things by halves I sold some cds online musicmagpie.com - they pay more for cheesy 80s best ofs and appalling dance compilations from 1996 so it would seem - all OH's in case you were wondering:D £3 for the best of dance 1996 seemed a good deal to me!

Bails - glad to hear you're feeling better and things are going well

I've been very well behaved money wise although I've been eating too much choc recently. The fertility clinic told me that they'll do tests but won't give me any treatment until my BMI is under 30. So I have to lose half my body weight:eek: even though I don't have anything else wrong with me - blood pressure, cholesterol etc are perfect. So I have to work even harder at my diet and exercise - and I've managed to wreck my knee- I have loose cartilage and at the moment it hurts to sit down and stand up although walking is ok:mad::mad: