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

Frugaldom

SFT thanks for posting and sharing your exciting holiday news - 2 toucans must have been really exciting! I hope you managed to get piccies!!! (Sorry, I'm a bird fanatic, seeing live toucans in the wild is much more exciting than the floating restaurant experience :rotfl:) We saw more Jays on out walk last night, that's as close to toucans in the wild that I'll ever see. Glad you're having a great time and have Internet access and well done with the frugal food budget! :T:j Maybe you'll save enough to start your next holiday fund.

Shaz, I don't even know where abouts you are, but I'm about 200 miles from SM. I don't know why things are as slow to grow here as we've had plenty of sunshine. Perhaps it's just that we don't get any sort of decent sun until late May. I can't believe that tomorrow is August already! :eek: Anyway, have a great holiday if I don't 'see' you before you leave.

I'm off into town to top up on milk, bread and meat. Less than a week until the new Sainsbury store opens and then I won't have to depend on Aldo so much. Yeah! :j (Assuming I can afford to shop in Sainsbury, it has an expensive ring to the name for some weird reason, reminds me of M&S style food shopping.)

Skint_Lynne

nykmedia wrote: »

SL - just a thought, dinnae gie me a heider fur it - who was it you called a b*tch and could you possibly have been overheard? Or did you actually introduce said sourfaced, sneering job applicant to the concept of a 'Glesga kiss?' I sensed just a smidgen of hostility at the interview. (Just trying to cheer you up, please don't take it personally, ah'll gie ye ma Barr Bru.)

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:That was a private thought Nyk and not said out loud. I did tell the agency guy that she drew me a stinker though, but I called her a b*tch in my head. I should just have gave a glesga kiss though, I didn't get the job anyway.:rotfl::rotfl:

I did call the agency back though as I would like some more detailed feedback. I'm thinking of going to a day long workshop where they give mock interviews and then tell you where improvements can be made. It costs a bit of money, but when you weigh it up with getting a good job, it would be money well spent.

Will check in later. xx

shaz_mum_of__2

Nyk

I live in a vilage not far from s(unthorpe in North Lincs Glasgow is about 270 miles from here

It's hard to believe it makes such a big difference but it does even gardening books advise "northern " gardens to wait 2 weeks longer before planting than "southern" ones I think we are in the middle really

Packing and shopping and MIL sorted just baking and gardening to do now

Shaz

sophiesmum_2

shaz - you must be at the sunny end :rotfl::rotfl:apart from a couple of days it has been naff here so far. Frugaldom gets more sun (and wind and sheep!) we just seem to get the rain:rolleyes:

sophiesmum_2

Nyk - we have a sainsbos but i rarely go there at all. You will probably appreciate aldi once you have tried it. Basics range is similar price to everywhere else but I don't rate it much otherwise.

shaz_mum_of__2

I am guessing that basics range will be a godsend nyk compared to what you have available locally and theres always the whoopsies

http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/groceries/index.jsp

jtb2412

NYK, I find S's basics range really good compared to other stores basic, and I've seen my food bill go down since I swapped to Mr S from Mr T :eek: - I always thought they were a bit expensive too so have been pleasantly surprised

I was a bit naughty the other day and bought some of the basics 'angel delight' for kids dessert during the hols but at 2p each it's almost free ! :j Great with some fresh raspberries and a bit of grated choc on top .

Having a cooking day today, meatloaf in the SC for tonight and have just emptied the rest of the rubble bags housing my 2nd early potatoes. Not sure how many lbs there are but I've got a huge saucepan of them boiling ready to mash and freeze and I think I've probably got another 2 or 3 saucepans to go before they're all done :eek::T. I've got gherkins in salt water (will pickle them tomorrow) and about 20 patty pan squash to make into soup. It's a lovely day here and I'd much rather be pottering in the garden but needs must !

Food spending is very low at the moment which is as I'd hoped now the allotment is producing lots of goodies .

I've got a rather expensive time ahead of me for school uniforms in Aug. DDs school is changing to an academy and they've got to have new uniform. Luckily they're paying for DD1 (who is in her last year) but I have DD2 to buy plus DS needs new stuff for Sept. I think I'm looking at about £300 in total so not cheap :mad: and we're unfortunate as there is only one place we can buy the set uniform from - got us over a barrell really. :rolleyes: However, I should be grateful they're buying DD1s.

Sorry to hear about the job SL, as others have said, something far better might be round the corner ...... and it's their loss, they obviously picked the wrong candidate :D.

SFT, lovely to read about your trip and really lovely of you to keep us updated. Enjoy !

Back to the kitchen ! TTFN xx

Frugaldom

Shaz/SM - I have never, ever been inside a Sainsbury store as we just didn't have many in Scotland. I'm guessing there will be several opening in the empty Somerfield stores but jusding by your completely different reactions, I'll need to go see for myself next week. :rotfl:Whoopsies = Good, normal prices being OTT = Bad, let's hope we can strike a happy medium. Drove past it today whilst going to Ald! and all the signage is up with billboards announcing the impending opening - exact same day as the annual show :rotfl:, so thay haven't done their research very well. :rolleyes:

Today I have returned Mr White to the neighbours not once, but twice! :rotfl: Stoopid little cockerel keeps waddling and shuffling his way back along the drive and fluttering back into our garden. I'm amazed he hasn't been flattened by a tractor yet, as it's busy here with them bringing in the silage.

The sun has decided to hid behind a big grey blanket of clouds blown in by the high winds we now have. I suspect that tonight's C25K workout is going to be a shooshy, splooshy affair in waterproofs. Reminds me of my little jockey friends trying to do the right weights for racing next day! :rotfl:

Edited in - JTB - 2p FOR DESSERT MIX???? :eek::eek::eek::j:j We don't have any big brand supermarkets here at the moment, so no basics of any description available. Now I can't wait to see inside the new store!

jtb2412

NYK, there's the 4p curry sauce mix too :j ! Plenty good enough and can add bits and bobs to it, not to mention that you can't buy the jars for jams/chutneys/pickles for 4p ! lol :rotfl:

I was thinking the other day if we lived on home-made bread with home-made jam for breakfast (approx 25p per loaf x 3 loaves a week, jam was free as allotment neighbour let me pick his blackcurrants), curry sauce and chips for lunch and dinner (with our home grown potatoes) and the 2p dessert mix, I could do a week's shopping for £1.45 ! :eek::D:rotfl::rotfl:

I don't think the rest of the family will go for that though :rolleyes::D :rotfl:

taka

SFT - glad you got to see a toucan or 2 and are enjoying your trip!

Nyk - I like shopping in Mr S . - I find it far less stressful than MrT where prices just seem to vary hugely week to week for the same stuff and by the time you've tested/used up a batch of discount branded whatever they've stopped selling it and now have something else so you have to start all over again. :mad: Mr S is similarly priced to MrT and I love the basics ranges (except the apples which always go bad really quickly ). I too have bought the basics 2p "ange1 deIight", oh and the 4p curry sauce while trying to make a spend up to 50p to use a luncheon voucher! I hope you like it!