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

enjoyfinancialchallenges

Hi, another day in the garden, this time potting on some tomato plants given to me a few days ago. My next door neighbour then came round with a small tray of lettuce seedlings for me this afternoon, they will go in tomorrow. I hadnt realised just how lucky I was until I read sft comment about the sharing/exchanging/etc of garden produce between gardeners, I had thought everyone did it!!! I usually give a box of home made biscuits as thank you gift and pot up any seedlings in excess of my needs if nobody else wants them and sell them when bigger at a car boot sale. I just hope the longed for rain comes soon, my soil is so very dry. Talking of which...redglass..in answer to your questions, 1 Sowing seeds would definately be easier in the dry, how about marking out where you want to sow with a slight depression, watering it and leaving it until you have time to sow your seeds then cover with a little dry compost or soil. It wont really matter if its raining or not but might be very mucky to do so in a downpour. 2...I wouldnt put grass/ nettles over the soil as mulch whilst green, much better to compost the grass first. However just get rid of the nettles as they are not suitable for composting at all as they can sprout again even if the roots have been removed. Its very easy to make compost and its such lovely stuff and such an achievement when you consider all the weeds/kitchen waste you put into it. Oooh ! I get very excited when I find out the contents of my compost bin is ready to use!!! (Sad really) Also when you consider the heat produced by compost materials composting it would probably be a bad idea to use green grass on your plants anyway as the plants/seeds would get burnt but it would be OK on potatoes as the heat produced would be useful to help them grow and any excess heat would be lost by the time the shoots came through. I hope thats of some use to you. Others may have other ideas which would be interesting to read. There is another reason why but I'm just too tired for now as its a bit long winded and scientific so will explain more next time I post if anyone wants to know.

Once more its after midnight. Goodnight all.

easypeasy1956

I can't use my real name as I had to promise secrecy but you know that programme where the secret millionaire gives some money to a person for a good cause? Well it just happened to my DH in real life. A knock at the door, three questions, then he gave him the equivelent of a whole years salary - just like that! All in return for something my DH did for the man about 30 years ago and after the man made good. Totally out of the blue - we are in shock!

enjoyfinancialchallenges

Wow! ep1956 what a wonderful surprise...just shows how good things come back to you...your DH must have done something wonderful..enjoy your new fortune.

chika

Easypeasy that must have been amazing for you! I hope you both treat yourself to something fabulous - are you going to be on TV?

Frugaldom

Good morning to all

I have been so rubbish at keeping up recently that I can only apologise and try my best to remember everything that everyone has said. First of all, I have emailed Janey to inform her that we're setting up a 'bring back Janey' campaign. :rotfl: I was hoping she'd have been back to visit Frugaldom but she had so many things going on in her life that time was too stretched, so I'm awaiting news of how everything is going.

Lynda, I think the cat sounds like it would settle in fine after a few weeks. Once it realises that there's no pressures and no competition at feeding times, she should quite happily learn to [STRIKE]come looking for[/STRIKE] demand your attention, especially when she learns to associate fridge doors, cupboard doors, can openers or foil tearing with food.

Chika, nice to hear from you with an update, I hope the new relationship flourishes without too much pain! :eek: Self-waxing, OUCH! I won't even let my DD near me and she's a beauty therapist. I was a BIC lass until I requested rechargeable battery-operated ladyshaver thingey for Christmas to save on binning blades in plastic. OK, if truth be told, it was to cut out the costs of buying blades in plastic and to avoid the personal expense of upgrading. :rotfl: Word of warning if you go this route, though: don't shave a leg with foot on the edge of the loo with lid up, ladyshave go thud, blub, whirr, bzzz, splutter, dead when it falls down pan! :rotfl: RIP my original shaver!

Redglass, I use the grass clippings to put on the potato bed as it seems to work fine for earthing them up. some goes to the hens, who scratch it to death and if there's any left at all, it goes in the compost. I usually water my soil or compost before and after sowing or planting but like OP (forgot who, sorry ) says, prepare the little trenches asap and just sow whenever you get the chance. As long as it isn't torrential rain that washes the seeds straight back out again

SFT, you should take photos every month - I'm doing that so I can compile homemade calanders and bore everyone to death with them next Christmas. [STRIKE]Most[/STRIKE] All are of the garden and surrounding flora & fauna. :rotfl:

EasyPeasy, :T that is such a fantastic thing for someone to do, I can't even imagine how you must be feeling. But I hope you'll prioritise the spending in a frugalistic manner before launching into fullblown celebratory mode. Please come back and let us know what you decided to do with it.

Bails, if you stick some willow cutting into the ground at the end of the year (or very beginning) then they have the capacity to grow about 3' within their first year. You can start weaving all sorts of design structures or cutting the whips for basket weaving. If you leave then for a second year, they can double and by end of year 3 you are looking at 10' tall trees that are suitable for cutting as solid fuel. I'm hoping to keep the bulk of mine around the 3' mark for kindling sticks & weaving but would love to make a pergola, so will hope some of them can be grown on. I'm using the original hedge specimens that were here purely for harvesting more cuttings. If I had land, I'd start a small plantation for growing my own bio-fuel as it's carbon neutral. My cuttings here are beginning to bud, will get photographs as soon as those buds are visible from a distance.

SF - I can just imagine your ear-to-ear grin and am very happy for you. Long may it continue and make the very most of it - enjoy what you can, when you can without breaking the bank. :cool:

I've heard chicks chirping in the eggs in the incubator, so I'm hoping to see some hatched by tomorrow. These are the 'pedigree' ones that could make me back more than the total amount I have paid out on eggs so far IF they hatch successfully but they'll also provide a proper friend for frugalchick AKA Mr SFT :rotfl:I promise I'll change the name if he turns out to be a she.

Hoping the rain will stay away as I have washing out and I want to get a bit more fencing done. Have a good day, everyone.

cha97michelle

wow easypeasy - good luck on your DH's part. Just shows being nice pays off. Enjoy it. Much needed security in this climate.

chika i'm another one who recommends an epilator. I got mine somewhere around 2000, i splashed out and got one with the ice pack that goes in the freezer, but honestly, i find that more faff than anything else and never use it so a cheap one would work as well. I have epilated my legs on and off since i was a young teenager, and i am now 30. I have dark coarse hair, and like thriftylass i've noticed definite patches where the hair doesn't grow anymore. I'm a real slob though and sometimes go ages between using it (say 3 months ish) and quickly shave if i need to. I find it is quickest and easiest after a bath as the tweezer bits grip better.


I am supposed to be doing school work today, so i had best make some progress soon as DH dropped the boys off at nursery for me so i could get on. I've got as far as finding some stuff that was stored in the garage (no mean feat as there were loads of boxes of stuff that have been there a year) and spending some of my birthday cash on some teaching books as i can't really think of anything else i want or need, and i want to try and focus a bit on becoming better at my profession as i know school are wanting to cut costs and i don't really want to be it.

Thought i would just pop in here first though as only you guys would understand 2 things that have excited me today.
1) the garden - everything is looking good, and the first garlic sprouted through the soil today :j. I did a bit of watering with water from the dehumidifier, and i can't wait to see what happens next.
2) a late birthday present arrived for me today. A food dehydrator. :beer:I have been lusting after one for ages, and i think it will be fab with the amount of strawberries/blueberries and cranberries i am hoping to produce. I am officially off the scale on happiness here.

I'd best slope off back to it. I need to really get my head into it, and i also need to pop to the shops, charity shop and bank today. I also promised i would visit my aunty with the boys today. She rang last week and i shamefully realised i haven't seen her since January. Not even like she lives that far away, and in the village i work in and the boys are at nursery in. So i am there all the time. C'est la vie.

Have a lovely day everyone.

Michelle x

lilac_lady

Just catching up (again). Lots of positive posts to try to keep us all on the straight and narrow.

I see that there's a lot of spending going on in the garden areas but I do that too. Isn't if strange how we can turn down temptations in other areas (usually)but anything for our garden becomes a "necessity"?

I love looking at other peoples front gardens when I take my grandchildren out for a walk but hope that the homeowners don't think I'm being nosey regarding their houses.

I was showing my DGS some daffodils (he knew what they were) and he said, "but some of them are narcissus, Granny and there's some "butter and jam" (yellow/red) tulips." He's 4. At least it proves that someone is listening to me!

Keep on frugalling - indoors or out.

chika

Hi everyone - thanks for all the suggestions and comments. I'm going to invest in an epilator and some painkillers next week.

How is the school work going Michelle? Today is my planning day but I can't get my head round it at the moment. Why do the government websites have so much irrelevant waffle on them?! There is a book that might help but I'm loath to spend £30 on it so I'm currently trying to locate it in a library. Would it be a bad thing if I went and bought it and then took it back tomorrow? Moral dilemma of the day!

cha97michelle

chika wrote: »

How is the school work going Michelle? Today is my planning day but I can't get my head round it at the moment. Why do the government websites have so much irrelevant waffle on them?! There is a book that might help but I'm loath to spend £30 on it so I'm currently trying to locate it in a library. Would it be a bad thing if I went and bought it and then took it back tomorrow? Moral dilemma of the day!

Not too well i'm afraid. I've decided to procrastinate and clean/declutter the computer desk instead, although everything is laid out on the dining table. Now a lot of stuff gone including the stubbs from 3 dead cheque books, 3 pen drives found, receipt for my old phone bought in 2002 when i got a new one for christmas, 2 boots parenting magazines, 2 old diaries from last year, plus ......too much to go into. I harbour so much junk. It must have been important once. :rolleyes:

As for books, i just ordered getting the !!!!!!s into science, and 100 ideas for teaching science. I'm determined to move from category 4 (again for the 4th time in 3 years) to a 3 or 2 as quick as possible.

What book do you want? I remember i paid about £25 once for a managing workload one from amazon, then a work colleague told me he could have got me it cheaper through ordering from his union. Can work get it for you if it would benefit others in the school? We have a staff library of books on teaching kept in our staffroom.£30 is a bit ouch.

Just quickly eating some lunch but then i best hit the books. I only have today and friday, and i want to go and buy some new shoes for work then, or at least some pop socks as my current ones gave me bad blisters. It's hard fitting everything in when i have the kids at home so i need to make the most of their nursery days really. I only have to plan for 2 days next week as one of my work days is a training day, and i only work 3 days. I need to be strict with myself.

See you all tonight.
Michelle

Janey51

No, haven't been abducted by aliens, emigrated or even moved....I am still here but hanging on by the skin of my teeth at times :rolleyes2

Life has been hard. Financially, I am OK which is a miracle but other things are traumatic to say the least.
To those who don't know me..:hello:
I am the mad person who lurches from disaster to disaster. A veritable magnet for the wackier happenings in life.
To those who do know me...sorry for neglecting this thread.

My Mum is mad. I mean..really stark staring bonkers. But at least she now has a (tentative) diagnosis from a Psychiatrist but even he says she is off the scale and he is not sure how to manage her. Luckily, the Home she is in is wonderful and are fighting for her or she will end up in an EMI unit. What justice is there when a person who has been a sweet gentle person for her whole life is now in such a state that people (including me) are frightened to be in the same room as her?
And , on top of that, is in such terrible pain from a crumbling hip. At the top of the waiting list for a replacement but I cannot see how she will be managed in a general ward.

My sister (who emigrated to the Eastern Bloc 2 years ago) is returning to the UK with no money, no home and no job.

My niece has totally gone off the rails and is about to have her kids removed if she isn't careful.

I had an op on my foot in March. Became badly infected and I am still off work with no sick pay. Not that I want to go back as my employer made my life a misery when I went back 7 months after my husband's death.

My house is still half burnt down after the house fire in Nov 2007 as the insurance company are in dispute with the landlord.

I have gone the whole (freezing) winter with no heating as the plumber keeps not turning up.

Apart from that...life is wonderful :rotfl:

Welcome to Janey's World.

Oh...how could I forget The Royal Bank of Scotland continue to pursue me for debts that were paid in full in Jan 2006 and I am trying to get the energy to report them to the Financial Ombudsman.