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

Skint_Lynne

Good luck with the flat Lynda,

That would be a weight off your mind to get rid of it, that's a lot of cash a month to be going out if you don't need to spend it.

I'm just waiting for the sister's birthday cake to come out of the oven. I'll go and collect the 2 of them from the shop shortly and then will put jam on and ice it when I come back in tonight, and all being well, I can take a photo of it.

This one is a teddy bear, it seems to be okay so far, (I have peeked in the oven), another 10 mins should do it.

Will check back later. xx

bails

nykmedia wrote: »

Has anyone wondered what they do if they did win a million? After the initial shock, would we suddenly become wild, uncontrollable spendaholics or would we still be going through cashback, doing the daily scratchcards and searching for codes, vouchers and whoopsies? I seriously think [EMAIL="I@d"]I@d[/EMAIL] still expect the cashback and only buy bargains, just that the bargans would be bigger - like a £500,000 house for £450,000 :rotfl:

:rotfl::rotfl: In all honesty, I'd give the scratchcards a miss, but as I haven't to my knowledge won a million yet thanks for the reminder to do them!

Hello everyone! I love coming back on here and reading about everyone's preparations and little ways we're saving money today for the things we really want. It actually makes me a little jealous as I have lots of plans to progress when we're back, but all in good time eh?

Off to catch up some more - hope the back gets better soon Nyk, what did you do? And I'm really interested in the paper bricks SFT as if we get the cottage (yes, I'm still on about that ) I have TONS of paperwork I want to convert into frugal fuel

Frugaldom

Hellooooooo.... have had a lovely couple of hours chatting to frugal LETS friend over a cuppa or two, have secured a little admin work and have taken possession of a bucketload of potatoes and a bag of oranges in exchange for some soup and a LETS credit. This non-cash trading is excellent! We just need a few more members actively trading in order to move it up a gear.

Quiche now all cooked, I have 4 cooling on the rack for now and the huge one has already had two slices cut from it for late lunch/early tea. And I still have enough pastry left to make another pie or flan! I've set aside the half pineapple I had and it's all chopped and ready for dehydrating - decided it was much more frugal to leave the nachine on the timer through the night when E7 electricity rates kick in. Hoping the dried fruit turns out alright as I've never tried anything like this before getting the new neighbour (Borrowed dehydrator from SM )
Dicks laid another egg today, so the stash is beginning to grow again, despite having used another 2 dozen in today's bake-athon, not forgetting last night's pineapple upside down cake and a syrup sponge for HS. I also baked 15 small sponges but forgot about them when they were in the oven - too much chatting! HS looked at them and asked if they were chocolate flavoured - NOOOOOOO!!! :rotfl: I guess there'll be a trifle getting made soon, or else they'll be kept for having with custard over the top. Oh, I am so not good at calorie control and dieting. :rolleyes: Speaking of which, I believe more congratulations are in order for Bails - well done with the weight loss! :T If that's what hiking to basecamp on Mt Everest can do for you then maybe I need to try that!

Still haven't swept through my accounts to start filtering cash into my ISA, MUST try harder! Going to bring in washing now before it starts getting damp.

slowlyfading

Not had a great day today. Achieved another NSD and that's about it.

andromache_2

*hugs* sf, you'll get there

thriftylass

Hello, haven't been posting in while.
Hugs to those who need them (slowlyfading) and congratulations to the people (sorry forgot the names just now) who achived debtfreeness or made a lot of progress.
Good luck with the flat lynda.

My spending is looking really good so far this month, but have to pay towards a secure entrance to our tennement soon after a break in in another flat. But I'm glad we got that organised now as it will make the tennement a lot more safe. Today I made loads more work lunches and made a salmon sandwich spread with a tin I had lurking in the cupboard (too bony to use for anything else). Hopefully will be able to harvest some more chillies soon as my plants got a second wind after almost dying after a mite infestation.

Will have a couple of days off this week and will probably go over to "PIL" in Glasgow. "MIL" is really poorly just now and it's really not looking good. But one can only keep up the hope.

savingfortravel

Hi Everyone!
Thanks for the advice about the paper bricks. Didn't make any difference in the kitchen. So we have them at the edge of the hearth now (will move them if we have to open the multi fuel burner door). Don't really have an airing cupboard. . We'll just have to careful and see how it goes. Spent £183 on coal for 500 kilos-hoping that with bricks and wood we should have enough for the year.
Lunch was delicious at school today..HM fish pie. yummy. Had 4 biscuits at school (we are lucky that we have free biscuits and hot drinks-in my last school you had to pay a contribution) but shouldn't have. Did walk over a mile to the gym (and saved £1.50 bus fare which I will add to last week's for something nice). Saw 5 cans on the pavement but resisted picking them up..too close to school..I'm also concious to always wait for the green man at the crossings (got to set an example).
Enjoyed the gym, which is not always the case in the evening. Had sauna and steam room afterwards. Jacuzzi is out of use at the mo. They were giving away free copies of Top Sante mag at reception which was great too-just finished my mag.
A spare, old N*rth Face rucksack has just sold on Eb*yto some mad Italian for £27.:T Will put that towards France kitty. Have 135 Euros plus £111 now so we're on about £35 per day (for food/entertainment) which should be fine. Phew!
Sorry for boring you about the day. Just like making tiny frugal steps.

Well done everyone.
SF-Hope you're ok.

SFT

grandma247

Hugs to you sf. I hope you are feeling better.

Sft it is not boring, I like hearing about peoples ups and downs.

On the subject of Salmon I forgot to say last week I made some salmon patties that were very tasty. A large tin of salmon that needed using from the stores (mashed well with a fork to crush the bones) , a tin of chickpeas whizzed in the liquidiser with a little liquid just to keep them moving and a couple of garlic cloves ,pepper and a little dried mashed potato to make them moldable all mixed together in a bowl then shaped and rolled in breadcrumbs. fried in a little oil till heated through and golden. Ds2 who is not really fond of fish asked what they were. When I told him salmon he said "well they're really nice". So that is one more to add to the list. Only trouble is the price of salmon has gone up since I last bought it. I will have to look out for offers.
I hope everyone else is ok. I am reading in between doing other stuff. made 2 loaves of bread today and was going to make something sweet but did not have any fresh eggs only frozen so wilmake something tomorrow.
Nyk the lets things sounds great but not sure I would want to swap food around here. I would have to know the people well I think. If you saw the place you would understand.

bails

Hugs SF, why not such a good day? How's the course going?

I agree with Grandma SFT, it's not boring to hear about your day, it's one of the reasons this thread is so special and so much more than a moneysaving place. Can I ask why it would be a bad example to pick up the cans?

Well, we had to have a big sit down the other day and look at money as while Mum and Dad have been here all our money was together and it got pretty confusing! Not surprisingly we've spent a lot in the last month with two trips to the Himalayas by plane (no other way to get there in the time frame), the much higher cost of things in the mountains (they have to be flown in and then transported by porters who carry an insane amount!) and a more lavish lifestyle with my parents than we'd normally have, all still very relative though :rotfl: So our plan is to try and save as much money as possible over the next 8 weeks before OH's parents arrive! Yesterday we found a meal combination in a restaurant that should feed both of us for our main meal for R60 (about 50p) :T

More to say but I have a raging headache at the mo that's been going on for the last day or so so need to try and shift that first. Have a great day everyone!

moo2moo

Have you tried sticking the paper bricks in the oven once you've done cooking whilst its cooling down? I bung mine in there and have never had one go up in smoke yet although I do leave the door shut until next morning. I can get nine at a time dried that way. I've also tried drying them in the greenhouse but that seemed to take forever.