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

grandma247

Sorry folks the name is Ildi and I found some here Also I do not know where they got the 3-4 trusses a plant as we got much more than that. Better fed maybe?

Wow take a look at these

BigMummaF

For those looking for prezzies, here are some of the threads I frequent from time to time. They have various suggestions & different levels of technique, so do have a good nosey

Crafting for Christmas covers a multitude of craft ideas & some of the splinter threads include:-
Flannel Cakes--a la B00t$ efforts
Snowman Soup--particularly useful for end-of-term gifts, as a little goes a long way
Finished Baskets--a plethora of ideas for hampers& here is an index for same
Home Management Books--& this one too --are excellent for any household, but could easily be adapted for specific hobbies like gardening, wine enthusiasts, cinema goers, etc
Gift in a Jar --for those of us still wishing for a canner & lots of empty jars
Sweetie Treats--need I say more :drool: plus recipes for Fudge & Others.
More Food ideas, & Biscuits.
Technically Wedding Gifts & Easter--but again could be adapted & a gift is a gift right
Air Freshener & Again --well? Someone may like it!
Some ideas geared specifically towards Mum
And these are more towards ideas of financing the whole kit-n-kabboodle! Here & here although a lot of it peeps do already, but thought I'd include them as reminders.

HTH.x

lingojingo

Still feeling rotten

Tomatoes look great, will definately try the yellow ones next year. Cherry tomatoes still ripening here, can't remember offhand what they're called, will find it and let you know (they were really easy, grew 3 plants in a sack, no supports needed, got 5 or 6 ripe per day all summer and now about 10 a day (but now need finishing off on window sill). Still loads left on the plants, just hoping they ripen before we get a frost.

cheerfulness4

Grandma247 - those Red Robin tomatoes look very much like my Vilma ones that I've tried this year. Really compact, strange looking leaves and absolutely loaded.
The flavour isn't as good as the others but well worth growing just for all the pasta sauces I've been making for the freezer. Imagine if you had them lined up on the windowsill - you'd get tons! Anyone in a flat or with a tiny garden could give those a go.

Nykmedia- is it because your in Scotland and it colder that they take a while to ripen? I've had problems in the past as I'm up north but I started some of mine in January this year and brought them on just in the windows. Made a big difference as the ones sown in Mar/April didn't catch up as I was told they would.
All have ripened (the Roma plum very slowly) but the earlier ones were way ahead of the game.
The cherry ones (Gardenperle particularly) were the earliest and most prolific.

Love my breadmaker. We make spicy fruit buns and add icing to them to make finger buns.
We splashed out in the Amazons sale £2 odd and got the double french bread tin. Is really brilliant - well worth it and make cracking crunchy bagettes.

cw18

Could be re-jigging several parts of my budget AGAIN soon !!!

DD has asked to job-share with a colleague who's return from maternity leave in the next couple of weeks, but doesn't want to come back full-time. Means DD will only be working 2 days a week, so less mileage picking up GDs (though will probably also have to drop them off, which means DD has been told a slightly higher daily contribution to costs for those 2 days!) and a further reduction to my grocery budget (3 less snack meals per girl each week during term-time).


And our A1di is shut until Thursday while they open up the extension. According to the planning application this extension will mean they take on one extra FT and two extra PT members of staff - though I've seen no in-store job adverts for these. I'm also aware they have three members of staff who will be looking to start maternity leave shortly, so will all be off at the same time (give or take a couple of months). So I've just applied on-line for a store assistant role there though I'm not holding my breath after some of the questions it asked !!! Said they'll contact the applicant in 14 days if they want to take the application to a further stage, and if you don't hear anything in that time you've been unlucky this time around......

So a waiting game for me for the next 2 weeks

sophiesmum_2

Fingers crossed then cheryl, hope you hear something

Skint_Lynne

Evening all,

I've been busy all day, it's been holiday monday here, so cleaned the house (it badly needed it), and then went out for an hour with the sisters and got some bits and bobs.

The cake was a great success, but I could not find my camera to take a photo. It was eventually located this morning in my dressing table drawer:rolleyes:.

I've no idea how it got there. I'll take a photo of the next one, the other one's birthday is in 2 weeks and she has demanded one as it tasted so good, much better than the ones you buy was the verdict. I must admit though, the writing on it was a bit dodgy, I must practice a bit more there.:D

I'm away for a couple of days with work from tomorrow, but hopefully they'll have wireless in the hotel.

Will check in tomorrow. xx

savingfortravel

Good to hear from you lingo. Hope you feel better soon.

Good luck with the job Cheryl.

Went to the gym after a bizarre day at school. Enjoyed some delicious spicy parsnip soup and half a slice of homemade bread when I got home.

Hope everyone has had a good day.

SFT

pennib

taka wrote: »

((((Hugs)))) SF... I'm glad your BF is ok. Boo about the car repair costs though! Sorry you're feeling a bit low... I'm sure its just cause you're there and everything is still new. Hopefully it'll change when you get let loose in a School and are doing something more than the theory.

Bails... Enjoy the Elephants - that sounds fab!

I challenged myself to make some jewellery this weekend - its for a friend's leaving pressie - I hope she likes it. :eek: Its not as good as I'd have liked but I didn't realise how rusty I am! I haven't done any for well over a year, closer to 2...



...Think I need to practice my photography too... the lighting sucks... Oh well I enjoyed it but I think I need to sort out my stuff! I couldn't find half of my tools! :rotfl: I love my new toy... a circle cutter! Insert silver sheet, line up with appropriate sixed hole, insert cylinder and whack it hard with a heavy hammer = 1 perfect circle! :j Yep... I know I need a life... :rotfl:

Thats a really nice necklace and I,m sure the recipient will be delighted. I've never done jewellery making, apart from daisy chains :rotfl:is it cost effective, although I guess the best part is getting a one off.

savingfortravel

Nyk-Thanks for the advice about France. We're doing our best to find the money we need. We will certainly enjoy every moment.

BigMumma-Thank you so much for all those present ideas. Will certainly use some of the HM sweet recipes.

SFT