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

cheerfulness4

BMF - no clever advice to give on the cauli cheese etc but wanted to say that I couldn't help thinking of you yesterday when I was looking through The Book People brochure that arrived.
They have a recipe book in there called Pupcakes which had recipes for little cupcakes that you make for your furry friend that are full of healthy cannine goodness.

I always think that 'pup' sounds so much like one of the family that I could almost imagine him sitting up the table with his own knife and fork. :rotfl:

Mooloo - I have to admit that I too felt hurt when I read that poster's comments about phones and 2nd cars. I wrote a post explaining part of the reasons why we needed ours but thought again and deleted it.
As others have said, our lives aren't straightforward and we sometimes make choices others don't understand, only we do.

I'm sure the comments were meant to help not hurt but it has made me think more carefully about how I phrase my own posts on here now as I realise it could be easy to make someone feel bad without even realising it.

BTW I do feel for you coping in your circumstances. I just have one son with similar problems and its a very different ball game dealing with it at 19 than it was at 9! Keep your chin up.

Grandma247 - I'd never have thought about bananas on toast it I hadn't read it mentioned on these boards first. Its delicious, isn't it?

Mum coming soon so washing out, SC on with ham hock in and quick spray with the polish so she thinks I've been working hard.

Savvy_sewing

Appreciate the comments. Thanks all. I realise that I dont have to explain myself, but I suppose I was upset and felt at the time that if my reasons were posted then it would negate the critisism. Am just going to take DS to college, as his bus pass has not arrived.

I use the water from the cauliflour, I use cornflour in a little cold water, then I also use Dried Milk powder as suggested above. I use milk powder and water where ever I need milk, as living in the village I have to drive 8 miles to the nearest shop to get milk.
Hope that helps. Got to fly xxx

BigMummaF

Oooh you lot are good! I'll give the sauce a go your way Nyk, thank you, as I've got some milk powder in the cupboard somewhere that I keep for :rolleyes: pizza bases...I think :huh: Thanks to you too Mooloo, I was writing this epic while you posted..sorry!
I'm off to the Book People site to find that one you've mentioned cheerful. That's one thing I miss from my days as a pre-school supervisor, as they used to come in around every six weeks or so & I got a lot of unusual little bits from them to put by for crimbo
Pets are comical; I've not had anything larger than a fairground goldfish before! I guess I watched too much Animal Magic with Johnny Morris as a kiddie, cuz I 'hear' what they are thinking just by looking at the expressions on their faces Perhaps we shouldn't have done it, but we tell Pup 'nanny bites' when we want him to take a treat 'nicely'...me muvva is a full 4'8" in her heels & takes an absolute age to eat, & now Pup gently takes the offerings between his very two front teeth & gently pulls I could watch their antics for ever & do envy those of you who have such riches on your doorstep. One of the best things we have ever seen was a flock of geese flying in formation against a smokey moon whilst up in Great Yarmouth one autumn, while many school runs were voyages of discovery & finding spiders diamonds & fairy rings in folks front gardens. It's things like these that no amount of money could ever buy...

mama67

HH62 wrote: »

Hello
Had a NSD yesterday and today will be the same which is great. :j

I have, however, just realised I forgot to pay one of my credit cards this month and it's due on Tuesday. It's too late to do an online payment :mad: and I'm working all day Monday so on Tuesday I'll have to go into the branch to make a payment. If I pay by cash at the branch it gets paid into my cc account immediately so avoiding late payment fees. The only I don't do it by DD because I pay off more than the minimum depending on how much I've got spare. My other cards are on 0% so I only pay the minimum on those and its done by DD.

Just looking at my diary for the week ahead it shouldn't be a spendy week really, as long as I can resist the temptations in W Town on Tuesday. I may as well do my grocery shopping at the Mr S there too. I don't need much but must make a meal plan and a shopping list and stick to it. I think my spending limit will be £20 as I've only got £49 left for the rest of the month.

would it be easier to set up the dd for the minimum and then do an extra online payment if funds allow; that way you wont forget to pay.

hth

mama67

Nyk, in answer to your bread machine dilema, when you get the paddle off, rub both the spindle and inside paddle with some oil that should msake it freer.

hth

FrankieM

Afternoon everyone,
Freezing cold here. Heating on at the moment but I think DH will uild a fire in a bit.
I've got through my cleaning for today and working my way through the washing. I've been a bit lax doing the house lately but really need to get on top of it, of course I'd also like to feel like I'm not cleaning for hours everyday.
Will also try and get some de-cluttering done as I go. It's never ending!
Took DS shopping for clothes on Saturday. Its really difficult to find stuff he likes thats in my tight budget. Managed to get him a hoodie thing from QS for £6. We are going to look in ASDA this weekend for jeans, here's hoping we find some and maybe another jumper. He's also going to need a coat!
Had to buy him some shin pads and long socks for school and also a couple of presents for a party he's going to on Saturday.
My money for last week is now pretty much gone, I've got just over £15 left. Hopefully that'll be enough for chips etc for tonight with some friends.
Going to redo my meal plan for this week. Will catch up with you all later.

horsechestnut

Bigmummaf.
Go through Quidco for the Book People and get some cash back.

Frugaldom

Mini challenge of the day coming along nicely (to create tonight's dinner from garden foraged foodstuffs). I've managed to pick enough to start off a full pot of veggie soup, but I MIGHT split it up, blitz one half of the veggies with some cream (10p tins) for the soup and use the other half for a veggie curry tonight. That just leaves something nice for dessert or pudding... having a think about this now, maybe along the lines of a carrot cake, perhaps? Piccie as proof



Edited in - I did pick a whole bowl of misshapen carrots but they were too grotesque to photograph and I didn't want in trouble for posting veg-p0rn, hence reason you lot got the edited highlights. :rotfl:

Skint_Lynne

Carrot cake is one of my faves, that's an impressive spread of veggies nyk! Was reading your frugaldom blog and will need to get the tablet recipie to you. T has also asked for it, maybe I should keep it secret and sell the stuff, everyone that tries it loves it!:rotfl:

Frugaldom

Hi SL, I do actually have a tablet recipe, as I used to make it years ago. In fact, the family used to sell it! LOL For me, personally, the condensed milk got to be so expensive and the price of sugar escalated so much that it was no longer within frugal budget to make such yummy delights. I do still make toffee occasionally and I made puff candy a couple of weeks ago, but I honestly cannot remember the last time I made tablet. Maybe I'll have a go at making a slightly more frugal equivalent? It could be possible, as I saw somewhere that I could condense powdered milk, which I always have in stock. That could be my next mini-challenge.

Carrot cake is on hold at the moment as I have a cinnamon & raisin loaf on the go. Will pop back outside to do a little more garden foraging and see what I can come up with other than carrots for a carrot cake. Someone mentioned beetroot cake, perhaps there'll be a few more beets in the square foot garden.

PS - SL still makes fab tablet, I'd LETS trade for it any day!