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

cw18

My slow cooker is also on today - contains water, chopped onion, diced carrot, half a pack of country soup mix and 1.13kg of 'lamb bones' I picked up in Mr M last night (cost of £1.12 @99p/kg). It's my first attempt at making scotch broth soup, and it's smelling wonderful

thriftylass

Hello,

Unfortunately I got some sad news. My BFs mum passed away this week after battling with cancer. We try to stay positive, she's in a better place now and doesn't have to suffer anymore.

So obviously I've not been on here much to read all your posts but I'll do some catching up next week. No idea where I am with my budget either as we've been to Glasgow a lot so I guess it's shot but that doesn't matter.

Anyway, see you soon

sophiesmum_2

((hugs ))) thriftylass, thinking of you and bf xx

mama67

Thoughts with you Thrftylass

taka

Thriftylass - my thoughts are with you, your BF and his family. ((((Hugs))))

cw18

((hugs)) for Thriftylass, BF, and family

Frugaldom

Reiterating what others have said, Thriftylass - sorry to hear the sad news. Thinking of you, bf and his family, don't worry about falling behind with the thread, it's just one big family here and there's always someone about to bring you back up to speed when you feel like it. Take care.

Brighton_belle

thrifty - that is sad news. I'm glad there is a smidgeon of comfort in her not having to suffer any more.

taka - the phd debacle sounds immensly frustrating. I hope yourpersistance pays off. Now, re your 101: what reason have you got for not spensing the weekend jewelery making?:D
blair - as others have said - you are still very much part of this forum & we are all at differnt stages. And great news re uni interview:j
sf - sounds like you are enjoying being in the classroom:T. I think being under strain/tired and being in love all explain the tears when bf leaves...
lilo - well done on the casseroles & food budget
lynda - good luck with temp house mate - I am sure you know that under the rent a room scheme you can earn up to £4,252p.a. tax free by renting out a spare room.

I've been busy...shopping:oI hate clothes/shoe shopping but get driven too it when I start getting too shabby and very occasionally I have a great day getting everything I need and it is quick & easy and I had one of them yesterday, Needed some new foot wear, partly becasue heels are a problem since I developed arthritis so a number of boots/shoes etc I have are not wearable any more. But got some shoes and boots half price in a sale and are flat but un grannyish:D
Some cheap work trousers in prim^rk for £5 each, off setting 2 more expensive skirts bought on ebay at half the price they were last season when new. I budget separately for clothes and it isn't out of my 4k. I aim each year to buy a few things but better quality/ more expensive so they fit well and look good and i then wear them a lot.
I then bought several gorgeous fleeces from prim^rk to make curtains from: wonderful colours. About the size of a single bed for £5 and super king size for £10. I think I may go back for more. I have also be looking into gettinga door curtain rail. Not cheap but a one off expence that will help insulate the house.

I bought some cerise ribbon from haberdashers to wrap my xmas pressies - I use newspaper for wrapping paper and off set with a colourful ribbon looks really good and much cheaper and environmentally friendly.
Also found some olive shoe polish to keep work shoes in tip top nick so they last longer and won't need replacing through scruffiness.

Need to make a cake tonight and plan weekend's meals. Need to plan something for slow cooker tomorrow as I am out all day.

taka

Brighton_belle wrote: »

.

taka - the phd debacle sounds immensly frustrating. I hope yourpersistance pays off. Now, re your 101: what reason have you got for not spensing the weekend jewelery making?:D

Me too... :rolleyes: Will try again next week when PhD co-ordiator (sp?) bod is hopefully back from his hols. Its half term here this week so loads of the people with kids are AWOL.

As to this weekend... its a blitz the flat weekend. I hosted Xmas for my family last year and it really helped me to get my flat in some semblence of order superficially at least. It still wasn't great though... Nothing much has changed 10 months on and I want it to be a whole load better for this Xmas. My parents are supposed to be hosting Xmas this year but their house is still really cluttered so I'm not sure it will happen there. I want to be able to offer to have Xmas at mine if necessary and it to be far better than last year. Hmmm must add get dining chairs to my to do list! :rotfl: Last year my parents were supposed to pick up my brother's chairs to bring here but everyone forgot so Xmas dinner became buffet style with plates on laps as I only had 2 trays. Not ideal. :rotfl: The decluttering should help to rediscover the random jewellery making tools that are currently lost in the chaos of cupboard / box hell too...

Well done on your fab shopping trip!

Vixstar

BB think I may borrow the wrapping presents in newspaper idea, I really love all the beautiful Xmas papers but they are quite a lot of money for soemthing that goes in the bin. Think I'll suggest it to the rest of my family.

Taka well done on offering to host Xmas again, I'm sure everyone thouroughly enjoyed last year but I know the desire to keep on improving.

Doing well on free bingo tonight, got at least £14 to withdraw and put towards my summer holiday offset fund. Now got less than £100 to find and this year's summer holiday will have been fully offset. The bulk of that'll probably come from Dooyoo...or maybe my luck will hold with the bingo!