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

Blairweech

Hi folks :wave:

Had a great time at Bath and West - bored OH to death with all my discussion of llamas/alpacas, but feel much more inspired for going. As redglass has already mentioned, we met up and had a good old natter - It was lovely meeting you, hope you enjoyed the rest of the show. The organic catalogue company sounds good, I will check them out now I have the lottie!

Speaking of the lottie, went up there this avo and it is a really nice size. Big enough to get a fair crop, but not so big as to not be manageble (this was a concern, as I am doing it on my own). It needs a little bit of clearing, but nothing too strenuous. Quite stony ground, but one of the other allomenteers has used the stones to create a border around his patch, so will probably do that as it looked quite effective (and is probably good at keeping slugs off too). Will start doing that tomorrow morning/avo, and apparently I can get loads of manure from the donkey sanctuary up the road, so will dig a load of that in once it is cleared.
Thankyou to all who have given me suggestions on what I can plant - my Dad suggested potatoes, for making whiskey :rolleyes:

Also have a hair appointment booked tomorrow, so will do a bit of shopping in Tavy tomorrow - not too much though as I have a Sun voucher for £5 off from 1st-7th June, plus free Asda delivery, so was going to try them out.

Other plans for the weekend, apart from grilling myself dangerously in the sun :rolleyes: - might go to the beach on Sunday, or Tavistock steam fair is on so could go to that.

P.S. I have just bought the Pop Larkin Chronicles (Darling Buds of May) and thought I would recommend it all you frugalers. Great book, so uplifting

whitewing

I am so looking forward to today. Have already done the washing up and cleaned the kitchen. Washing will be ready to put on the line soon. DH is on an early shift so will be back for this afternoon before the Britain's Got Talent Final.

And I am going to sit in the garden all day with my knitting and a book and I can't wait.

Skint_Lynne

Morning all,

I've got the washing out already, hung some out around half past 8, took borther home, picked up sisters, they are in the shop today, then came back and got DH's work clothes in the machine, I'll hang them out next. Then I've got a duvet set to go in, if I don't get that out today, it'll be ready for tomorrow as we are meant to be going out for the afternoon.

I love hanging the washing outside, it's the best, and free too!

Will check in later. xx

lilac_lady

Good morning to all on this sunny day. I went grocery shopping to Mr A's at 9am this morning. It was mobbed. The checkout lady said that it had been overwhelmed last night by people looking for alcohol and barbeque food. Eventually there was very little barbeque food left so she reckoned they had all come back early this morning to make sure they got what they wanted before the food ran out again.

Didn't spot any bargains but I want to read in my garden this afternoon so braved the mob and did my shopping.

It's good to have a garden in this weather but spare a thought for the people who live in flats without any outdoor access.

I used to be one of them so maybe that's why I love my garden so much.

lingojingo

Just popping on quickly between shopping and an afternoon in the garden. Only had to get a few bits in the village, spent £5.47 on fruit, veg, and milk - lots of sell by today stuff reduced in co-op.

Walked back through our little village park that has had a revamp in the past year and there were lots of old ladies enjoying sitting in the sun.

Charity shop has a 1/2 price sale today, but didn't have anything I needed.

cha97michelle

Hello everyone.

We're too making the most of the beautiful weather in the garden today. We've watered the plants on the veg patch and used some potash feed for the ones that are flowering.

It's been a long morning so far. DS1 had me up for an hour in the night. DH woke me up when he got back from work at 3:30am, and then DS2 wanted to be up about 6ish. So we were all up and doing stuff by 8am. I've got a rotary washing line that is full of clothes. Ideally i want to go back to work on Monday with no washing to do and see if i stay on top of it. Always so much easier with nice weather.

I have also dyed my hair. It was a black dye, and to be honest i can't really see much difference apart from no white hair showing. I seem to have skipped the grey bit and gone straight for white bits. It seemed a lot more faff than it is worth to be honest, but i suppose cheaper than doing it at a hairdressers.

We are just sorting out some pasta salad for lunch, and then i am going back to marking books in the garden. It is taking me a long time, but at least if we are outside the kids can play without messing the house up more inside, and i feel like we have had some quality time together. Only 5 more of that set to go. :rolleyes:

Other tasks on the agenda this weekend:

• put up a blackout blind in the boys room to see if we can persuade them to sleep for any longer - blackout lining is not that effective
• help elderly next-door neighbours clean their gutters.
• more housework
• school prep for me so that i don't have to slave on Sunday night
• small food shop for bread/milk/bit of fruit and veg

That's all for now folks. Have a lovely time whatever you are doing.

Michelle x

HH62

Hello everyone, I hope if it's sunny where you are, you're able to enjoy it.

Just wanted to pop in with a quick update.

I'm starting again 'properly' on Monday (1st June) but I've had a very good week this week, since I started to post here again last weekend. I felt more accountable to myself.
I spent a bit more than I would have hoped on my food budget. I ended up shopping at Waitrose because that's the only supermarket in the town I was in on my food shopping day this week.
Next week will either be back to Mr T OR M & S. I've got loads of vouchers for M & S and reckon I'll get about 3 weeks worth of food shoppping out of them.
But overall a very good week. It's really good to have this thread to help us to stay on track.

Frugaldom

Hi guys and gals, I meant to post this morning but seem to have forgotten, somewhere along the line and it's been quite a busy day. Making the most of the sunny weather, washing was out, dried and back in by 9am, rest of the day spent cleaning out hen houses, sweeping, raking, shopping, gardening, baking etc, etc, etc... SM similarly engaged and making good headway with her new garden.

Off for a cuppa whilst the rhubarb crumbles bake and hope to catch up with you all soon. Friends are shearing sheep all weekend, so spare a thought for those that can't get indoors as well as those in flats who can't get to be outdoors.

Vixstar

I have actually managed to come in under budget by 94p this month - I may be getting a hang of this working to a budget lark! Going to put my all singing all dancing June to Dec budget spreadsheet together this weekend. And then I'm going o seriously attempt my version of the challenge for the next 7 months

Frugaldom

:T Well done Vixstar!

Beautiful morning here, hens & ducks went out at 6.30 and had great fun chasing a sparrow that was trying to fly off with a feather for its nest. :rotfl:

Already have a bean stew in the slow cooker, SM put me in the mood after making a delicious one on Friday. Got 3 crumbles made last night and then boiled a huge pot of potatoes so I can make up portions for the freezer to keep cooking time to a minimum during the good weather when I prefer to be outside.

Hope everyone is enjoying this glorious weather.