Live on £4,000 for a year - 2009, Part 3

ram_murdock

happy birthday nyk!

shaz_mum_of__2

Happy birthday Nyk and Janey

Lots of coops on ebay .........fight yer for 'em

Frugaldom

Frugal future chicken keepers - Double check coop sizes as some give overall dimensions and some give run dimensions excluding nest boxes. The ones we bought look ok for keeping perhaps 3 hens in but I wouldn't keep any more than that in them if they have to stay in there permanently. Trying desperately to get ours set in place with the slab bases but the wind and rain is beating us! Everything is built and we've shuffled stuff about and moved chickens in case the winds get up to gale force, but the daft hens and ducks don't seem to care. They are still wading about in the muddiest and wettest places they can find in the garden. Going to rename Frugaldom as Quagmire Cottage soon. :rotfl:

After much thought, I have decided that Russian Vine is the way to go for my front archway. I know it's thought of as horrible stuff by many, as it grows at such a tremendous rate, but the very nature of that plant-beast means it MIGHT be able to withstand the wind and grow quicker than the chickens can strip it bare. Besides, now that I know the fruit bushes & shrubs won't grow along the exposed front fence, vine might provide better shelter next year. It will also provide extra nesting sites for the wild birds. Going to use some of my birthday money to get a few odds and ends for the winter garden.

Lynda, did you manage to take a look at the chicken coops? It's exciting thinking another two from our challenge may become proud chicken owners one day soon. I'll need to add a handy link to the post with 100 things to do with eggs! :j

andromache_2

Happy birthday nyk and Janey! And happy birthday BB for yesterday, as well as some *hugs*. (It's mine tomorrow - 21 :eek: I'm having a quiet dinner with family tonight then OH is coming down tomorrow so I'll be spending the day in London with him which I'm really looking forward to.)

OK, so after saying I would for ages I've finally gotten round to adding up my spends! My spreadsheet says I have £2.01 left from my £2500 :rotfl: which I doubt will last me till term starts in October; I need to buy a £5.00 travelcard and get my hair cut tomorrow so that's it gone already! However, it was originally only supposed to last until I was supposed to be leaving for India at the start of August so I've not done too badly although it kind of feels like I've been cheating, since I've spent a fair bit of money this month on going to OH's house (which I originally classified as being outside the challenge) in return for which I haven't had to pay for food etc while there so it's been a bit inaccurate. I'm going to include these travel spends in my budget for next year to give a fuller picture. I guess the aim for September will just be to minimise the overspend prior to starting again with the new term!

Confession time : The biggest culprit in taking me so close to the challenge limit has been impulse spending on clothes and shoes in the past few months which has basically stemmed I think from me being a bit stressed from various things, some personal, but mostly working too hard: a definite case of comfort/distraction spending. And also being lazy and not keeping my spending diary properly if I'm honest, which led to me being a bit reckless and not counting the pennies as vociferously as usual! I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I've managed to spend £590.35 in this category this year which is immense :eek: (against a planned spend of £350 since I always knew I'd need a generous budget). Over half of that has been this summer so I was actually doing OK the rest of the year. To be fair I don't think I've bought anything full price - everything has been in the sales or on eBay - so I did actually get a *lot* for my money and so I will be able to cut my budget for this next year by quite a lot as I *don't* need any more clothes/underwear/shoes/jewellery! God I'm such a stereotypical girl :rotfl: feel free to tell me off

Hope everyone's enjoying the bank holiday! xxx

jtb2412

Evening everyone

Back from a really lovely weekend (Golden Wedding Anniversary). Dad's op went really well. We still have to wait a few weeks for the results but it's looking fairly positive. Just hope the results come back ok.

Will catch up in a bit but Happy Birthday to NYK, Janey and BB ! Hope you all had lovely days .

I've got 3 chickens (whoopsied) to find room for in the freezer. We popped to Mr T this morning for some spices. Read on here somewhere (might have been this thread, I can't remember ! ) that the World Foods section has spices that are considerably cheaper than the usual Schw**z and own label spices. So, off we toddled and sure enough, huge bags of varying spices for less than a jar !! :eek: :eek: I think I've got enough to last me a year and I didn't even spend £15 :j. Also did cinnamon sticks for 65p per bag (about 10 in a bag) and lots of other things much cheaper than the usual brands. I can recommend a look but would say that it's probably only the bigger stores that stock them (they don't at my local one). That's where we picked up the 3 large chickens for £1.47 each so I now have to cook one and find space for the other two in the freezer. :rolleyes:

Going to have a nice day in the garden tomorrow (weather permitting) and clear away some of the tomatoes, aubergines and dwarf beans. Then pop to the allotment tomorrow night and dig up the rest of the spuds now I've got the paper sacks to store them.

DS is back at school on Thurs and DDs go back on Monday (I'm back to work too _pale_ - have really enjoyed my time off). Still not decided if I'm giving up yet :rolleyes::rotfl: - will see what happens in the near future I think .

Right, must go and unload the car now I've had a coffee - back in a bit to catch up on all your frugal news :beer:

Frugaldom

Hi Andromache, I still think you are doing OK considering 1) Your age, 2) You're a student and 3) Romance is in the air. :rotfl: Happy Birthday to you tomorrow, just in case you don't get online.

We don't have the bank holiday up here but the weather has been dire all day - it's still absolutely lashing down and there's the best part of a 1 tonne bull trying to shelter behind a 1 metre high chicken coop outside my back door! :rotfl: Poor Piglet (his nickname), he can't seem to work out that whilst his face may be sheltered, the other 90% of him is getting completely soaked.

Just making some curry for dinner from leftover mince and some chopped veggies. I don't normally add celery but at 29p per pack, we'll be eating it with most things for a while.

sophiesmum_2

Happy Birthday janey !!!

Good evening frunchkins:D
Just catching up on this afternoon's posts, switched off the laptop earlier to make myself get stuck in with assembling a huge chest of drawers, which I really couldn't get motivated to do.OH is hopeless with the destructions on most flat packs so I would have ended up doing it sooner or later. It is finally finished:D so I am back here for my reward
Earlier i moved the tiered salad planter into the chickies garden, they were a bit suspicious at first but are now happily munching away at their "all you can peck" salad bar, so far only sooty has realised that you can get the best salady bits from the middle tier by hopping on top of the little shelter I put in for them to play in.:rotfl:

Blairweech

Hello again!

Thanks for the comments on the triple time , I did 6 hours so not too bad. It was quite busy actually, usually on a bank holiday we are all being thrown out about 3.00! I could have done another 2 hours if I wanted but I feel it would be unfair of me and would rather give the hours to the guys with families etc.

Re: the haircut. I have a short, choppy bob so get it cut every 7 weeks, and most of the cut is in the finishing, so 'fraid I can't just get it washed and cut. My hair is super super thick, so if I leave it too long it gets soooo heavy. I know it is expensive but I do not mind; my hairdresser is lovely and cuts it to perfection every time - and after years of dreadful haircuts that is worth every penny! But thankyou to all for your advice and suggestions - I am envious of you all being able to get £20 haircuts/having the hairdresser come to your house!

Popped into Plymouth yesterday and did a bit of shopping for my holiday in Jan. Spent £35 and bought 3 things :rolleyes:, 2 of which were in the sale. May end up taking something back though, I'm so picky!

That is about all my news. I am considering doing my challenge a different way next year - totalling up all my income and expenses, then subtracting one from the other every month to get my total. Something like that anyways. Yes I know, I have not even got this year over with yet! Been watching Economy Gastronomy on iplayer and it is quite good. Learning a few new things but mostly I just love Allegra Will be joining the September Grocery Challenge in a minute, with a budget of £80. I feel ready for it now.

BB - So sorry I missed your birthday, belated birthday wishes. Sounds like you had a lovely day - hope it relieved some stress

JTB - That is a very good price for cinnamon sticks, I love tying up little bundles of cinnamon sticks and putting them on the Christmas tree when its time. Thanks for the heads up!

Don't forget the extra 2p tax on fuel tonight!

Edit: Just had the leftover curry for tea, but added a bit of yoghurt to it...and now it's scrummy :j I think it tastes better for being a couple of days old as well.

cw18

Filled my fuel tank this afternoon Had enough to last me another 7-10 days (or longer if I'm careful), but decided that - as I was near a Mr T filling station which means points as well - I'd do it today (and end the month over budget on that line!). Seemed everyone else had the same idea, as there were at least 2 cars queuing for each pair of pumps, and this is a station with 4 rows of double sided pumps (meaning 8 queues) :rolleyes2

skint_chick

Happy birthday Nyk and Janey!

Have been doing well on the grocery front - went to A*da today as I was off for the bank holiday and only spent £19 on groceries; lentils, chicken breasts, wholewheat wraps, lots of fruit n veg, jacket pots, Mini milks for diet "treats":o and lots more. I've got a meal plan organised and lots of lunches still in the freezer:D

Haven't had any time to update blog or do anything creative - work has been taking up sooo much time as colleague isn't pulling their weight - this IS going to get sorted this week as it's getting me down and I love my job:mad: So I've got 2 weeks until I start my courses so I'm going to get cracking on my 101 this weekend:D and I put some of OH's old football shirts on ebay, and some more presents I found that my evil ex gave me - expensive handbags and a game console that remind me of his crazy behaviour:mad:

I'd like to make some jewellery for myself - if anyone has any recommendations of websites I can buy supplies from or that would give me some ideas then please suggest them to me.