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

Skint_Lynne

Good afternoon,

I'm back from Newcastle, but have 2 more trips 'dan saff' this week, morecambe tomorrow and Gateshead on Thursday.

Shaz, I am going to slimming world tonight for the first time in years. I'm going as moral support really for one of the sisters, but I could do with shifting a stone or two.:rotfl:

What sorts of recipies have you been using and do you find it easy to follow?

It's a good job that I like cooking as I will probably be left to make everything. Do they have tablet on the Syns list?:p

I hope that you enjoy the pea pod wine Nyk, T is good at all that sort of thing, I have never tried making wine, all that effort and then DH would just drink it in 5 mins flat, I don't think I'll bother.:rotfl:

My mum loves pea pods, when I grew peas, they didn't make it to the freezer, she ate the lot!

Well, better have some lunch and then get on with my work.

Speak later frugallers. xx

skint_chick

Hi everyone, I've been away for a few days -at 2 weddings and my parents for the weekend and I missed you all

I've hardly spent anything the last couple of weeks, at the 2 weddings I spent £17 on drinks for the 2 of us, but my dad was "taxi" and we've no plans to be out socially until the end of the month so I was happy with that. Also now OH has got his car fixed he isn't using mine so the petrol estimate of £50 should fall for the rest of the year - hopefully to around £25 a month. I'm getting surgery at the end of August so I'll be at home for a few weeks so that will save some money:D

Went to work this morning and had to come home sick with the flu - luckily not the swine version - so I'm resting this afternoon and downloading my pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Congrats to whitewing on your fab news, bails on the voluntary work and aeb on posting again - nice to see you back

Brighton_belle

No worries bails – I certainly worked out where you were. Such exciting news. hope to see you on 1st Aug As for the link to where you will be working: total wow. Almost booked my plane ticket to visit you there and then.

Like the tandem idea Nyk. Wonder if we could do a frugal version between our 2 bikes with a hack saw and a bit of solder from freecycle?:rotfl:
What I liked about the workshop is it made me feel I understood the mechanics a little better so would be less helpless at maintaining it. Also now know how to look after it to keep it at peak performance. Not that I wouldn’t still be happy to be rescued and have someone else repair a puncture.:D

Glad the visit was such a success Lynne. LOL at the turkey ID. If it was a rarer type of chicken, bet I’d have done the same.
Shaz – I would echo the don’t feel guilty argument. You can probably offer her far more if you keep your own space and therefore sanity.
Hope you got the editing done today andromache
Loupy – great to hear your DH is still getting work and you are managing – daisy obviously isn’t going without grub, that’s for sure.
Shaz – well done on the freeby new shelves.
cw - hope you are recovering ok and back holding out.

Below is a long promised picture of my ‘free storage’ in our new bedroom: the two shelf towers either end were items left out someone’s house, free to passers by. Managed to drag both home myself. Shelves moveable. The excellent folding on the right is all OH’s handiwork – he’s a natural. The left half is a great shoe store. The slatted shelf in the middle bottom from a skip great for drying OH’s working boots.
The middle shelf section I’ve had for 25+ yrs and has had many incarnations. And the drawers I found on the street a few weeks ago late one night and fit perfectly (don’t need runners as the shelf above keeps them sufficiently in place. The seemingly empty middle bit is for our laundry bags.Who needs to shell out for new fitted wardrobes? (All the rest of our clothes hang on two parallel rail we've put up in an alcove to the right)



The following picture is for sft (and of course for the rest of you really)Hope you are feeling a lot better now. I couldn’t get you a shot of a baby seagull. But had a fab day out yesterday at a garden where there are free range wallabies!!! With babies!!! This one just lolopped into our path 4 ft away and we stood very still for 5 mins to watch. The baby is not more than 18" high. Soooo cute.

ram_murdock

Hey everyone- bank holiday in northern ireland yesterday and today so i have been taking it easy and caught up on the forum!!

AEB - Good to hear from you again and glad things are ok with you and the babies.

NYK - unlucky with the lamppost....that wold be something i would do!

Shaz - well done on the weight loss!

loopy - glad to hear your DH is getting some work

My news is that following my interview on wednesday - i have been offered the job! New job is about an hour and a half drive away but i am so lucky to have been offered it - competition for graduate jobs is so high this year. Start on the 1s August...its all very exciting!!

With it being the bank holiday weekend i have spent spent spent so much!! Hoping not to spend too much the rest of the week.

Talk later

Frugaldom

Shaz - 50 fatballs a week??? :eek: I don't think our local pet shop goes through that many. :rotfl:Nice work getting the buckets, are they big enough for veggie planters?

Skint_Chick - well done with the curbed spending whilst attending the weddings

Ram - well done with the interview/getting the job! Hope it's something you'll enjoy doing.

BB - I'll bet you're glad you just have seagulls now, but the wallabies are really cute.

Hope the trips 'dan saff' go well, SL, it's a heap of travelling you need to do.

Have managed to squeeze an hour of garden work in between showers today, so guess what's being incorporated into tonight's dinner? (Apart from more peas).


:j I unearthed my first potatoes and then just HAD to pick the big cauliflower, otherwise I'd have been most upset if anything else had got at it first. Got enough potatoes for a couple of meals and I'm saving all the empty peapods for wine and soup making (I just put them in the freezer). I think I've sussed out a way of doing both! If I wash the peapods before simmering them to soften them for winemaking, I can use the water to cook the ham that makes the stock that gets used to make the lentil soup! :T This is the first time I have ever tried growing cauliflowers and these were germinated from seeds. I am 'chuffed to bits' that they have grown. And the potatoes you see were grown from pieces chopped off the Ald! cheap ones that had sprouted in their bag, so a very frugal meal tonight. It's sliced ham, but I cooked it overnight in the slow cooker so I'd have more stock for soup.

bails

Congratulations on the job Ram, fantastic news! :T That wallaby is so cute! Shelves looking great BB, excellent use of the space. Will def see it that weekend, we'll be down from Fri - Tues so will def need rescuing at some point Was just really sorry still not to have a mobile to let you know about last week :rolleyes: Nice haul Nyk, especially the cauli :T Looking forward to seeing your pantry Shaz, sounds good. We'll bring our own food for the FrugalMeet 2010, although we may not have had chance to grow anything depending on when it is.

Book that ticket BB, you know it makes sense....:D

More jobs ticked off list today - vaccinations, passport photos for visas, benefits sorting and camera equipment enquiries - and off to a meeting for my Masters later, although when I'll have time to do that now I have no idea! Aah, the kitten (now a cat but youngest one) and the dog are being v cute :smileyhea I will miss them.

Nyk , I've ridden there several times, I may even have driven past your door! Excellent, we'll be able to combine some mountain biking with the FrugalMeet. :T

shaz_mum_of__2

Wow well done nyk thats quite a haul ..............a question though my recipe for peapod wine uses the cooking water to make it does yours actually use the pods ?

Re the fat balls : thee birds eat better than anyone and wo betide i don't fetch a new tub before the old ones ran out...................probably be ok in the garden but they are clear so would need lining first ...i use one for beermaking too they are a bit bigger than the little brewbuckets you can buy and just hold 3kg of pasta

well done ram on the job ................


BB the baby wallaby is so cute

Bails off to take a pic now
edit: here it is it looks fuller in real life..lol



Shaz

taka

If we're having a FrugalMeet in 2010 can I come too? I promise to bring my own food :rotfl: I love that part of the world... lots of childhood holidays near there!

Ram - Congratulations! Well done... thats some commute though! :T :j

BB - Awwwwh cute wallaby! Have you ever seen a quokka? They are tiny little wallabies (the adults are cat sized!) and their young are tiny wee hoppy sweet things! Sooooooo cute! I went to Rottnest Island and they were everywhere...

Nice shelves too!

Shaz - :T Nice pantry, very neat! :T

Bails - all your travel plans are sounding good - I love the place you'll be volunteering.

Nyk - I feel hungry now lol! Peas are officially on the menu tonight I think...

:hello: everyone else... sorry if I've forgotten something/someone. I think my brain is mush... I managed to fall asleep for 6.5hrs in a chair last night! I only woke at 6am then went to bed properly so I'm barely awake today. Early night for me tonight I think! My boss just laughed at me as I arrived to work zombie stylie... :rotfl:

cw18

ram_murdock wrote: »

My news is that following my interview on wednesday - i have been offered the job! New job is about an hour and a half drive away but i am so lucky to have been offered it - competition for graduate jobs is so high this year. Start on the 1s August...its all very exciting!!

:jCongratulations :T

I did a driving commute of 90 mins (42 miles) each way from Sept '98 until April 2000 - and then (after DH took voluntary redundancy and became a 'house husband', meaning I could leave before any child-care was available) I changed to the trains, which meant a 15 min drive followed by 40-60 mins on a train (depending on which one I managed to catch). Did that until we moved in September 2001 - and then dropped to "just" 45 mins (10.5 miles) each way on a bus......

It's surprising how quickly you get used to the journey Driving meant having a good selection of 'play it loud' music in the car (and plenty of it, ready for the couple of times my journey time more than doubled due to major problems on the motorways). Trains and buses meant books and/or puzzles (and even cross-stitch for the empty early mornng trains!!). But I soon discovered I could safely nod off on the bus - and wake up in time for my stop on every journey :rolleyes2

Brighton_belle

bails wrote: »

Excellent, we'll be able to combine some mountain biking with the FrugalMeet. :T

:eek: Does that apply to all of us...:D


Taka - "rottnest" island has a certain romantic ring about it... not:rotfl:. The quakkers do however: are they ever kept as domestic pets?

Ram - great news about the job - well done