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

Frugaldom

Good morning

Looks like it's going to be a dry day here - no rain, no sleat, but still chilly and damp, so not quite dry enough for a washing to go out, unfortunately. On the plus side, the kitchen heater has stayed on and made a huge difference to the temperature of the house, meaning that laundry should dry much quicker on the pulley and airers. Just need to hope that the storage heaters don't consume the entire balance of my 2009 budget!

Off into town now to trade for someone's homemade mincemeat and to drag HS around a couple of shops in the hope that he'll find some Chrissie shopping in time for posting it all off to his family. He hasn't bought a single thing, yet, apparently! :eek: I'm thinking he's suddenly going to have to learn the NYK frugal way PDQ!

FrankieM

I have not got into 'line drying' my washing. I just find for 6 people its too tricky keeping on top of it so easier in the dryer. Of course I'm willing to accept I may just be a lazy 'moo'.
We are also currently looking at replacing our halogen lights bulbs with LEDS. We have 2 light fittings that take 6 bulbs each so that would work out at more of a saving than the dryer..at the moment at least. Of course the financial layout is large, about £140 but I'm hoping to recoup that from the electricity savings.

On the 'wine making' front, a friend has offered me his stuff cause he no longer does it. He's visiting in Jan/Feb time so I'll be up and running after that!

nyk when you've taught him, please post your strategy/tactics/lessons etc so I can have a go on mine!

lyndasharp

H2B is OK at present shopping, but not so good at cards... he even used a card from my own birthday card stash for my birthday! The other weekend I also had to buy my own Christmas card, as he couldn't find his debit card. Luckily it was in the pocket of his other coat.

Had a scary bill for H2B's car today - £650 for new suspension! Could have done without that, but at least it comes from his budget rather than mine...

BigMummaF

Oh dear ..bit of a foot-in-mouth moment for me yesterday then..at least it saved a dinner portion & I didn't eat it so it must be calorie-free I fully accept all the comments about portion sizes & things, but it's the attitude of some folk that really annoys me [present company excluded ]..still, this isn't the place.

FrankieM wrote: »

....replacing our halogen lights bulbs with LEDS. We have 2 light fittings that take 6 bulbs each so that would work out at more of a saving than the dryer..at the moment at least. Of course the financial layout is large, about £140 but I'm hoping to recoup that from the electricity savings....

We found some in a$da for our kitchen fitting @ £4 each; can't make any further comment as we've not changed them over yet. Perhaps I'll get them onto that today, & keep the ones that come out as spares for now. Sounds like a plan!

I like milk pudding macaroni & also the savoury cheese version but got to wondering if I could get the same effect using value penne--or any shape pasta come to that. Anyone else tried it? Doing a baked semolina for today whie t'oven's on for value pork chop roast yumyumyum :drool:

grandma247

Bmf don't feel so bad, eating habits often get passed on from generation to generation so it is ingrained and very hard to break. I know what you mean about attitudes but that is true of everything these days. People are very quick to judge. I think its a way of making themselves feel better.

I will have to check out the leds in mr a as we have five small halogen in the bathroom. We made a mistake buying a small set fittings from bnq as they did not sell the bulbs and it took us ages to track down bulbs that did not cost an arm and a leg. Never assume that just because a place sells the fittings they also sell the consumables. We have the larger ones in the loft but only 2 so they might be easier to replace with leds.

mama67

BigMummaF wrote: »

Oh dear ..bit of a foot-in-mouth moment for me yesterday then..at least it saved a dinner portion & I didn't eat it so it must be calorie-free I fully accept all the comments about portion sizes & things, but it's the attitude of some folk that really annoys me [present company excluded ]..still, this isn't the place.

We found some in a$da for our kitchen fitting @ £4 each; can't make any further comment as we've not changed them over yet. Perhaps I'll get them onto that today, & keep the ones that come out as spares for now. Sounds like a plan!

I like milk pudding macaroni & also the savoury cheese version but got to wondering if I could get the same effect using value penne--or any shape pasta come to that. Anyone else tried it? Doing a baked semolina for today whie t'oven's on for value pork chop roast yumyumyum :drool:

BMF, I only use value penne to make macaroni cheese, we weren't keen when made with actual macaroni.

I use the recipe from Economy Gastronomy but replace the artichoke hearts with bacon and mushrooms

hth

Savvy_sewing

Budget bit messed up with extra driving. Did get Some money from Twin1 towards the care of DGD which has gone straight on to the Logs that are coming tomorrow. A month earlier then I had wanted to be!. Fire is on from about 6am everyday now, instead of mid afternoon!.
Also will have to put petrol in the car as the red light came on on the way home. 350 miles since last tuesday. Budget is only for half of that!. Eeek.
Going to have trouble keeping to the budget if I am having DGD until at least February now!.
I am too tired tonight to rejig things. Hopefully tomorrow morning I will have more energy!.

BigMummaF

I suddenly thought that--with all my pontificating over people's assumptions & things--I'd posted a rather insensitive menu for today's dinner BUT!
An 800g bag of MrT's frozen value pork chops SIZE=1]£2:79 & adequate for a mid-week meal[/SIZE fed five--us four & Pup--alongside various veg, 12 tiddly homemade yorkies, approx 2kilo of roasties & gravy. Two-@-a-woofie had milky macaroni [thanks for confirmation Mama ] & the designated dieters had lf yog for pud.
Three months ago I would have thought it wasn't enough, but the smaller plates I bought last month have helped with that

Skint_Lynne

I am still here:hello:.

My laptop is off to heaven, so I have a shiny new one that I bought this afternoon in tesc0. I had my christmas vouchers and put some money to it, and bought it with cash.

I would have never been able to do that before I came on here, so thanks again to everyone who shares their ideas, and again thanks to Nyk for putting in all the hard work to run the thread.

Nearly finished the christmas shopping, only a few things to get now, but unfortunately I have a really bad cold so I am not feeling very energetic at all.

Never mind, onwards and upwards. xx

Savvy_sewing

HOpe your feeling a bit better today, Skint Lynne.
Nothing to add today. Plans have all gone to pot- again- no trip to Ikea this morning now. Was looking foreward to a wonder around there, as only been once! But it was BF that needed it not me, and now he doesnt apparantly. Hope to see him later today still though.