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

sophiesmum_2

For anyone who wants to start making small changes to reduce their impact on the environment there are some great ideas contained in the fact sheets here

http://www.lowimpact.org/factsheets.htm

Whatever small changes you make will be beneficial to the environment and yourself, lots of the stuff in the factsheets are being done already by people on this thread:D


Much as I love the thought of free food from the hedgerows etc - this book is just a step too far for me lol

the eat-a-bug cookbook
David George Gordon

"Waiter, there's a fly in my soup!" Don't send it back...after all, entomophagy (that's bug-eating, for those of you in the cheap seats) has long been practiced around the world. Naturalist David George Gordon, author of the popular Compleat Cockroach and entomological epicure extraordinaire, has researched his subject well, and presents the results with relish...or at least a light cream sauce. You'll find such one-of-a-kind recipes as Really Hoppin' John (grasshoppers add a little extra kick), Pest-O (common garden weevils in a creamy basil sauce) and Fried Green Tomato Hornworm (need we say more?) Each page is swarming with anecdotes, insights, and culinary tips, including the right wine to serve with scorpions, how to order edible insects by mail, why termites are good for you, and more.

jtb2412

Morning all xx

Have updated totals and signature and hadn't spent as much as I thought ! Had phone bill in so that bumped it up a bit :rolleyes:.

Am 'flyladying' this week as I need to catch up with deep cleaning house after spending what seems like an eternity down the allotment and neglecting things here at home. We're at the 'picking' stage so I can afford to let it go a bit and will spend time weeding as and when I get time. The weeds aren't too bad atm as we've got lots growing and there's not much room for the weeds . However, those flyladys get you working really hard and I was completely cream crackered last night :rotfl:.

Blairweech - sounds like you have a right one at work. What a perlonker ! Surely he should get at least a warning for it??? Can a group of you not get together and go and speak to managers and explain that you're all fed up of his/her antics

Agreeing about the carbon neutral thingy and public transport. Even where there is PT the prices are stupid ! Costs me an arm and a leg if I want to go anywhere on the bus with the kids. However, I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when I took kids to Worthing shopping - I bought a mega rider (£7.20 !!! :eek:) and they went for 10p. It was the cheapest way to do it - usually a return trip to Worthing for all 4 of us would be around the £15 mark which is extortionate ! Sorry ranted a bit myself there

Hope everyone else is well xx

Frugaldom

Blairweech wrote: »

Soapbox: I did the carboon footprint thing, mine was 10.02 tonnes. Until the Government start investing properly in public tranport, I HAVE to have a car - we have NO public transport where I am (because I have chosen to live in the country), so if I want to continue to go to work and help keep the wheels of the economy turning, the car is staying. Have looked into car sharing to no avail....

So, basically between the carbon tax and the increase in council tax for people with a nice view etc, I am never going to be able to afford to actually buy a house :mad: :mad: :mad:

Snap! Except I choose to work from home at the expense of earning less than minimum wage and gave up any right I may have had to benefits by saving every extra penny I ever have. I live to such a strict (self-imposed) budget but no amount of budgetting will bring a mortgage within my reach. :rolleyes: I'm lucky in that housesharing allows me to share a car, but DS still needs a car of his own for work, so that's 6500 miles a year right away just for him and at 20, he has a total and utter disregard for anything remotely concerning carbon footprints or environmental issues. :mad:

cw18

nykmedia wrote: »

......and at 20, he has a total and utter disregard for anything remotely concerning carbon footprints or environmental issues. :mad:

I have one of those at home on leave this month..... doesn't see why (on popping his head/arm out of the front door) he has to worry about putting a plastic milk container into the bin on the right (recycling) rather than the bin on the left (general waste) :rolleyes2

fortunately my younger son is very good about such things, so I don't have to spend all year nagging him/sorting the contents of the kitchen bin !!!!

Frugaldom

Sorry, update post now

Good morning everyone, it is wet and miserable here and doesn't look like there'll be any change. Already been soaked once, no doubt will get soaked again and no heating means nothing is drying, so the fire may well need to be lit.

SM, yuck, yuck, yuck! If I pop round to yours one day in the future and Mr SM is sat at table eating wholemeal bread with 'extra bits' baked through it then I'll run a mile! :rotfl:

JTB, send me some flylady energy, event the word 'housework' saps my strength instantly.

Grandma, all that travelling :eek: They'll need to plant a forest to counteract their carbon. :rotfl:

Let's be realistic, does anyone take the whole carbon footprint thing seriously? Has anyone got rid of their car, cancelled all future travel plans, stopped buying anything with packaging and only use secondhand stuff with as little need for electricity/gas/oil/coal as possible? And how, on earth, can NOT having a bank account affect your carbon footprint? And as for water shortages - not quite in keeping with rising sea levels and melting polar ice caps, is it? (Just thought I'd crank things up a bit - online debate is almost free, you can't get more frugal than that, surely?)

That carbon footprint site allows you to calculate on a month to month basis - I think I ust found me another new challenge. If I calculate it every month and then click the 'offset now' button, it tells you how much it costs to wipe your slate clean. By factoring that into the budget (or finding some place to plant my own trees!!) then I'll be well prepared for any new tax the Government may decide to impose. If they choose not to, then I'll have an extra savings pot!

thriftylass

So far so good, sticking to my week's plan.
Try not to spent money - well needed fresh veg/fruit and coat hangers but got two big carrier bags full (loads of whoopsies) for 90p !! as I still had some vouchers from a survey (saved at least £15 altoghether :T). Plus it was a carbon neutral journey a I walked and brought my own bags
Couldn't tidy up my wardrobe yesterday as planned since BF was working on PC in bedroom but I tidied up some of the guest bedroom and got the books together for the charity sale at work

Had a look at the flylady thread. I love it, it's so organised and structured. But I think at the moment I wouldn't have the time for it after work .

grandma247

nykmedia wrote: »

Sorry, update post now

Grandma, all that travelling :eek: They'll need to plant a forest to counteract their carbon. :rotfl::D

I suppose if you spread it out over a few years it would even out as it is twenty years since my friend was over here with her first husband. She would have preferred to see less and spend more time at home with us but her oh wanted to see everything. In aus their cars run on gas mainly, so cheap and friendlier to the enviroment I think.

I don't think about the carbon footprint thing much but do try to keep down the waste because of the landfill/recycling thing.

Frugaldom

Dear Santa, I want a log burner amd my own, personal woodland within walking distance of the house. But then I'd need a paddock for the hens freeranging and a second paddock for growing fruit & veg allotment style, then a third paddock for the polytunnel and duck pond. I'd need to have a small stream running through, preferably seperating the woodland from the steading to act as a firebreak, if this runs alongside the paddocks then it would make it easier for watering and for the ducks. Then I'd need a really good composting system, a small wind turbine and some solar panels. Indoors, I'd need a walk in pantry for storing all the preserved fruit & veg that have been bottled by my next door neighbour whilst I was busy prepping veg and making pasta from locally grown and milled wheat flour. Soup from homegrown veg always on the go but I can't decide if I'd ever fit the vegetarian bit in, even to my imaginery lifestyle. It would mean I'd need to rear the chickens for both eggs and meat, sticking mainly to white meat. But with all that, I'd need several large sheds and so the list continues to grow... I can see how simple it would be to just pack up and buy/rent a new-build self-contained flat within walking distance of the bus stop & work, but also within easy reach of a giant supermarket or, at the very least, be within the catchment area for grocery deliveries, especially in this weather. LOL There's no end to this virtual want list, is there?

sophiesmum_2

Dear Nyk
Sorry can't accommodate your xmas list this year, recession is taking it's toll on gift allocations. You may be able to have a walk in [STRIKE]cloakroom,store,brooder room [/STRIKE]pantry while you have been so good this year but that is as far as it goes.
Santa

SFT_2

Ola!
We have travelled east and are now staying in Rincon de la Vieja, close to the Nicaraguan boarder. We are planning to cross over to Nicaragua tomorrow and stay on Omotepe island on Lake Nicaragua.
Day 10 (yesterday) was mostly a travelling day, We did see a pair of Scarlet Macaws! We stopped at a supermarket to stock up on goodies for lunches-got a pineapple dirt cheap-pineapple here tastes beautiful, so fresh! Also drinking cans of the local lager (Imperial)-as it costs $3.5 a bottle at the hotel (plus 23% tax). In the afternoon we lounged around in the hotel pool. Saw 2 Blue crowned Motmots fly over us..just stunning birds.
Day 11-Today we are walking to a nearby waterfall. Then having lunch and going to some hot springs-a frugal day which should cost $5 each.
Good News-Still using internet for free and our CA Grocery Challenge savings are at $182 (we are taking the allowance per day and putting amount saved in an envelope)
Bad News-We've heard from home that the roofer has found wet rot on the main roof beam of our house. Our bill has risen from £2800 to £5000 and if he finds dry rot our bill could rise to £10, 000. We do not have these kind of savings. Mr SFT's parents could lend it to us. Which would mean a 0% loan and would take about 32 months to pay back.

Take care all. Speak soon.

SFT