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

savingfortravel

Loopy-Great to hear that Daisy's so healthy. Keeping everything crossed for DH's job situation SFT. X

Blairweech

Hello all :wave:

Have been reading steadily, just not had chance to catch up properly.

Brighton Belle - Thankyou so much for your kind words about my budget, I was thinking of increasing it....trouble is, I feel as though you lot have got such good value for your money spent so far - I have not even got a storecupboard on the go, let alone animals, a thriving garden etc. I have spent quite a lot of money on bank charges and interest, and I am including postage for Ebay/Amazon. I will see how this month goes and increase it if necessary.

Well, I am making a dent in my overdraft...kinda. It looks like I'm doing really well, then my rent will go out at the beginning of next month and it will have worked its way back up again. As I am on double time tomorrow, Sunday and Monday, it *should* be cleared pretty soon, then I can start saving properly...I hope.

Have blown my grocery budget already this month, have £8 left :rolleyes: It was the dinner out that did it. Will just have to be *very* disciplined when I go to Mr M on Saturday and ONLY get what is on my list. Also planning on going to Plymouth on Saturday to get bits and pieces for the 'garden' and some stuff to start making wine Also have a cheque to go in the bank, so that should help the OD problem. I am actually desperate to get it cleared now, hence alllllll the overtime at work!

Thankyou to everyone for your comments on my new b/f...he has just finished accounting at university, so in theory we should both be frugally minded!

sophiesmum_2

SFT - I use my chives chopped as an extra salad ingredient, in omelettes and quiches, added to cottage cheese, added to sour cream, added to mayo with a bit of garlic for garlic mayo. I basically use them in any dish where I want an onion type flavouring or a bit of green colour. I just keep chopping them all summer.

Re boots points - each point is worth 1p so 212 points £2.12 on something bought in boots. If you are going to save the points for pressies try and maximise how many you get by spending the least, always check the instore machine for any vouchers/freebies etc too, and look out for offers where you get more back in points than what you are spending.
Not well up on the rubie and millie stuff but if you have a 500 point voucher anything tht costs less than £5 will see you making a "profit" on your points.Go online and sign up for all the health club etc which open up more offers and usually when you get a mailing from boots there is also double points vouchers with them. If you have a payg mobile you can also top up in boots and earn points - I top up for my DS regularly - often with 200points on a £20 spend voucher too and mostly get 280 a time courtesy of him.I am up to £70 in points already this year and have hardly spent anything just gone for all the offers and done some online shops for my mum etc.

Also don't forget to use your points up when the 3 for 2 xmas gifts are on sale to get even more for your money.

angela110660

Blairweech wrote: »

Hello all :wave:

Have been reading steadily, just not had chance to catch up properly.....
....Have blown my grocery budget already this month, have £8 left :rolleyes: It was the dinner out that did it. Will just have to be *very* disciplined when I go to Mr M on Saturday and ONLY get what is on my list. Also planning on going to Plymouth on Saturday to get bits and pieces for the 'garden' and some stuff to start making wine

We make wine and have been bowled over with how useful Freecycle has been for this - and charity shops. Managed to obtain 12 demi johns for free through Freecycle plus other bits of equipment - would almost have bought them at £4.50 per dj otherwise. Good luck with it though.

Frugaldom

Good morning to one and all and Happy 1st Easter to the baby frugalmites among us

It's dull, it's cloudy, it's showery, it's breezy, but the chickens are out and about as normal and Mrs Grey has the babies out to play. With any luck, we'll get a few dry hours to get more planting done in the garden.

I've a pot of chicken & rice soup made, 2 lots to the freezer and one lot left out for lunchtime but I really MUST make an effort to use up what's in my freezer soon, or else it isn't going to be defrosted before there's garden produce starting to fill it up again. A never ending supply of assorted frozen 'stuff' really does seem to be a side-effect of frugalisation! :rotfl:

Have a great day, everyone, I'm away to check for more fresh eggs in the hen house - we've had 3 in 2 days and I'm expecting there to be another 2 today. Hens lay an hour later each day, so it should be around 11ish. :T :j

sophiesmum_2

Just got back from garden centre OH has bought me 500 litres of compost , 3 bags of topsoil, 3 grow bags, a bird feeder and 2 cucumber plants:D Who said romance was dead? Much more practical than a chocolate egg;) Must take OH to garden centre more often:p
They are delivering it free this afternoon so saved a lot of heavy lugging in and out of car, and saved car from the weight too.

Won't be doing much in the garden today had a blackout through high temp the other night and ended up on bathroom floor with a banged head and damaged shoulder/collarbone. A lot better today but right arm is out of action for a while and very painful. I had lots planned for this weekend but will just have to see how it goes - hence taking OH to garden centre - he had to drive:rolleyes:

Just trying to decide whether I will be able to plant out my onion plants one armed or whether to leave them in house a while longer

Enjoy your Easter weekend everyone.

Skint_Lynne

Take it easy sophiesmum and try and rest up for a wee while. I am in the shop today, so I'm going to get the paperwork etc up to scratch. Still very quiet, I'll just try and battle on for as long as I can. I'm carrying on with my £20 for shopping experiment, I have 10p left for today, but I'll probably go for some top ups tonight, milk etc. I have saved money doing this, as I brough slices of bread out of the freezer as I needed it, so still have one whole loaf in there. I'll crack on and get some batch cooking done this weekend and I'll maybe get another car boot sale done on Sunday, this really helps with the pennies.;)

Frugaldom

Sophiesmum, I'm really sorry to hear about your injured arm - from a blackout? Like SL says, take it easy and get some rest. I think you should skip Malta in favour of blowing the savings on a little place much closer to Frugaldom, then I could keep an eye on you and fill your hen house with chicks. LOL Take care!

sophiesmum_2

nykmedia wrote: »

Sophiesmum, I'm really sorry to hear about your injured arm - from a blackout? Like SL says, take it easy and get some rest. I think you should skip Malta in favour of blowing the savings on a little place much closer to Frugaldom, then I could keep an eye on you and fill your hen house with chicks. LOL Take care!

Nyk - the way the euro is performing somewhere near frugaldom is looking more and more likely.

Forgot to tell you my oldies have petitioned the HA to see if [STRIKE]they we [/STRIKE]I can have a couple of chooks here;)

thriftylass

I'm beginning to like the declutter your house and flog it approach. After selling my guitar last week I listed a few books and DVDs etc on Am@z0n yesterday and already sold two :j. I think I'll have a rake through the house this weekend (my alternative easter egg hunt ) to try and find more stuff I could get rid off.