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

Frugaldom

Skint_chick, I'm very impressed by your budget, especially your grocery budget, as I'm really struggling with mine this year. How many are you feeding and do you have access to bargain buys etc? I have only £27.44 left to last until the end of the year for 3 of us and I've run out of fresh fruit, cheese, lard, beans... :rotfl:Looks like I'll need to go back into town again tomorrow! :rolleyes:

SFT - well done getting the reservations made. I STILL haven't sent off my passport application, it's been lying here for almost 2 months now and I keep putting it off to avoid the urge to book a holiday.

Brighton_belle

Morning all from an extremely windy southcoast.

Lovely pics SM and pictures do speak a 1000 words in this case. Wonder if you are regretting mentioning the horse now:rotfl:. Just to be different, as a non horsey person (I mean horse neutral, not anti...) it barely registered with me;).

Mooloo - couldn't see the pic but very impressed by the skill to even attempt a jacket.
Linda - glad you OH has accepted the offer - get it done and dusted. Hope they can hang ontil mar 1st for you.

SFT - agree tht sounds very romantic, reading to each other. Trip with nephew sounds very exciting - and how lovely to have a younger member of the family to share that with.
Frankie that is great news re uni interview:T

Mooloo and Blair - we had sausage and mash last night too - must be something in the air.

Last night went with OH for his first ever talk & slides on behalf of the national countryside org he works for, for a local village community group. Went really well (standing up in front of strangers isn't his natural forte) and they gave him a nice bottle of wine and were very welcoming to both of us.
Today sweet potato 7 split pea soup is cooking.
I'd like to get some pics up on our bare walls today. Got lots of space in our hall/stairs etc which were dec earlier this year but have never put anything up. Loads of pics but little money to frame. But we have a few in the attic.

Lodger is away for the weekend so a chance to not put the heating on for a few days. He certainly had nil green credentials, we keep rescuing tins and cardboard from the bin and put it in recyling. Stlll he's a nice lad and is suiting us fine.

TTDB - hope son is a little better today. Look forward to hearing more about woods when it is signed and sealed. Friends of us own woodland in Devon and they are frequently down there managing it and camping there and currently doing some facinating historical research on the are and coming up with lots of exciting info.

sophiesmum_2

[QUOTE

SM - I didn't realise you had a horse until 2007, I'm sure I wouldn't have forgotten you telling me about that... why are you so anti-horse now? I would LOVE to have another one! What on earth were you doing with it that it cost so much to keep? :eek: Was it a racehorse or competing? See? Now I'm curious and wanna know more RIGHT NOW but can't come ask 'cos your car's gone from front door, guess you've gone into town. Hmph! :rotfl: I'll be so disappointed if you say it was a typo and you meant HOUSE because I'm now living in hope of your coming pony trekking just as soon as my silly legs get better.

Sorry folks, I'v totally lost the plot on remembering what everyone was saying, as I'm horse daft! But I'm glad Lynda's OH accepted the offer on his flat and I did take a quick look at the lovely cream jacket. (I'd be terrified to wear something that colour. Pale shades + NYK = disaster waiting to happen :rotfl:)[/QUOTE]

Nyk - nothing against horses except they eat money :rotfl::rotfl:, my horse was a welsh section D, and looked like black beauty with two white socks on hind legs, I am not an experienced rider, walk,hack, and trotting type of rider only :rolleyes: Sold him as I had a hysterectomy and wasn't able to ride , muck out or anything for a long period and it was costing a fortune in stabling and livery fees,he wasn't getting the exercise he needed, plus we were already paying out for stabling for DD's other horse at the time so it was expensive.No cheap fields to rent in towns:rolleyes: I was gutted when he went and would never have another mainly for that reason but it wasn't fair to have him out of work for such a long time and DD was doing her gcse's then so didn;t have time for him either. So that was end of my horsey adventures.If you ever get another though I am happy to volunteer grooming services, wouldn't like to inflict my weight on another horse though:rotfl:

skint_chick

Nyk- there's just the two of us and a tiny hamster (she costs about £20 a year in food and bedding, mostly because I treat her to little bags of seeds and special hamster chew bars) The food budget has been quite easy to manage as on average I do 3 or 4 convenience store mystery shops a month so that's £20 of free food - I use this to buy soft drinks, crisps and treats for OH. Apart from that I do a lot of bulk cooking with Whoopsied meat making soups, stews and pasta dishes so I have lunches to take to work. OH seems to only eat toast in work so 4 slices of bread feeds him each day:eek:Now I've given up caffeine our food bill is at least £6 less a week:eek:

I've got plans for the space under my stairs - at the moment it's crammed full of diy stuff, OH's golf clubs (haven't been used in almost 2yrs I'm trying to convinced him to trade them in) sports equipment, my vinyl collection, and loads of old games consoles. I've found a heavy duty shelving system in Ikea - with clear plastic tubs to store everything neatly - and to shelve the space and have a proper coat rail is going to cost under £70. First of all I'm going to clear everything out and paint the bare plaster white with leftover paint. I have a spare bit of carpet leftover from my spare rooms so I'm going to cut this to fit so I can store shoes too - our hall is too narrow for shoe storage. Very excited at the thought of finally organising more of my home:D

Having a frugal weekend going to visit a friend and her new baby, and catching up on my reading and evening class study

FrankieM

I've just got back from town. It was packed. Managed to get DS some jeans for £14, but had a library fine of £1.44. All paid off now.
So, this afternoon I'm going to tidy a bit, bake a bit, wash a bit and read a bit. If I feel brave I'll garden a bit too but its windy and cold out there so I'm pretty sure that won't happen!
DS is at a party tonight and I've got some pizza bases out for the rest of us. May do some chips too...

I'm quite enjoying not using spending money as a pastime...

sophiesmum_2

Good afternoon frunchkins
Not much happening here, made a granary loaf earlier,peeled a mountain of carrots and put another 6.5 litres of soup in slowcooker. Once this is cooked I will process it in the pressure canner tonight. Just about to do some baking, went in to town earlier and got waylaid by a savarin tin and a muffin tray in the hardware shop so budget is now £15 down:o . I really should keep out of shops that sell cookware:rolleyes: Good job I don't live anywhere near a lakeland shop.
OH is now looking forward to a cake later, although as he still hasn't made it into the loft to do the pipe lagging I'm not sure he should have any

Hope you are all having a good day, I'm having fun enjoying the small stuff:D

lyndasharp

Grr, still no news on the flat sale. We accepted the offer, she's not sure if she wants to wait that long (it's only 3 1/2 months, most sales take that long anyway) so is thinking about it, and apparently she is considering a different flat too and is having another look at that later. We're going ahead with getting a letting agent to look at it for us as well, so we have other options if she decides not to go ahead.

H2B has just said he's got a £30 electric bill for the flat - I can't believe he has left it on a standing charge tariff, so has been paying this for nearly a year without actually using electric! AAARGHHH! He now has instructions to change on Monday, as the electric offices are shut for the weekend.

P.S. Very wet and windy here, part of our neighbours new conservatory roof ended up in our back garden...

savingfortravel

savingfortravel wrote: »

Hi Everyone!

• Write History reports-Actually chose Geography but done.
• Finish other little school work bits.-Left to do.
• Tidy up - 10 piece pick up again.-Started will continue
• Go to gym this afternoon.-Yes-Watched squirrel in a tree and blue tits as I rowed. Nyk-I haven't seen fieldfare for years. Never seen a redwing, you lucky thing. I expect your squirrels are those gorgeous tuffy eared red ones too.:mad:
• Ironing-Thank you Mr SFT :kisses3:
• Book our trip to South Africa/Swaziland for next year. I don't know if you remember but we are taking my Nephew. I think it was the Zulu battlefields and wild animals that swung it!-Yes we have booked it now. Paid deposit.
• Check ebay.-
• Our Art Deco mirror is up to £51 and it finishes at 8pm. :jOur plate rack has no bids on it.
• Check finances.-Not yet
• Check food budget/meal planning.-Not yet
• Read my new book.-Not yet
• Read some of Moby !!!!!! with Mr SFT-Not yet
• Check MS website-My name is SFT and I'm a MS addict.

Have a good evening all.

SFT

Some things may need to wait until tomorrow. Having veggie shepherd's pie for tea and apple crisp for dessert. A night of reality tv is beckoning.

sophiesmum_2

Good evening frunchkins
Have almost dealt with the carrot mountain , made a carrot ,walnut and sultana cake, and a few gingerbread men. Now have 13 litres of carrot and lentil soup and heaps of sliced carrots ready to can later tonight.



Had run out of eggs for the gingerbread men but found an eggless recipe online, it ws an american recipe though and they always make huge amounts :rolleyes: think a few will need to be rehomed next door in the morning, far too many for me and OH :p

Enjoy the rest of the evening everyone

Skint_Lynne

No tablet yet SM? I've not got a lot to report, not much going on at all. Quite a lazy day today, DH back at work tomorrow, so I've got the opportunity to start my cleaning once he is gone.

I'd better go and sit with him, I'll miss him when he's gone, so I'll spend some time when I've got the chance.

Will check in later. xx