FRUGAL LIVING CHALLENGE 2010, part 1. (Living on £4,000 a year)

ceridwen

Now finished reading my way thru last posts.

Re the idea of cooking on open fires - I dont have that. What I do have is a haybox cooker - which has been sitting there "looking at me" ever since I got it. Has anyone used one - and what were your experiences with them? (I keep planning on getting a casserole heated up and putting it in there at breakfast - ready for thinking "dinner is served" come the evening - and also wondering if theres anything else I can cook in one (eg baked potatoes maybe???)

Further on the baked potato front - can I cook baked potatoes in my slowcooker?

JustKeepSwimming_2

sophiesmum wrote: »

Have a peek on here for ideas

http://www.allotment.org.uk/garden-diary/29/growing-vegetables-in-pots-containers/

You don't need special pots and stuff just any type of pot or container big enough to hold enough compost /soil for what you want to grow.

Thanks for the link Sophiesmum - I took over a badly overgrown allotment last year (then promptly hurt my back so haven't been able to do very much to it yet :rolleyes:). It's half covered with strawberries, about a quarter raspberries & the rest - I have no clue . I'm hoping to get some of the local school kids to help me dig it over (I'll pay them, so not very MSE, but I'm writing it off as an investment ).

Where my aunt lives in Canada all the other allotment holders get together & completely clear each plot that is being handed over so each new tenant gets a clean plot. What a fab idea - I think it would help he less green-fingered like me to not feel so duanted by all the work. I expect mine has turned into a jungle by now :rotfl:

mommyof4

Hi everyone. How do I get cw18's spreadsheet? it sounds fantastic?
First spend of the New Year for me yesterday... but only £5 (on diesel). I wouldn't normally put in such a piddling amount but was furious that the price had risen by 2p per litre locally so am eeking it out until I go further afield to fill up.;)

Today need to get some cheapish bread.... begrudge it because as we speak my new panasonic breadmaker is winging it's way to me from Amazon! yay! :TNever had one before but after reading all the great posts about how good they are, decided to blow my Christmas money on one!

ok.. off to put stuff in the slow cooker for soup later on..:j

bye for now.

purple_angel_3

Hello everyone :wave:

1st NSD yesterday, spent the day building kitchen wall cupboards which we bought just after Christmas.The three cupboards are going to give us loads of needed space.

No plans to spend today I have an essay to finish.

purple_angel

jtb2412

Morning all, up early today as we're off to the Panto later this morning (free tickets so not costing me anything - I'll take some of the quality steet too and a couple of drinks, I'm aiming for a NSD !)

JustKeepSwimming re: allotment, can I suggest you maybe get a book from library to get you started? Also speak to the 'locals' down on the plots, they're a wealth of info. We're just starting our 2nd plot (1st one was shared but now we have our own, which we're not losing now :j). Advice I can give is take it easy, don't rush otherwise you'll do yourself in ! Make it fun to keep the interest going and do one little bit at a time. Once you've dug a bit, get something in there to grow, even if it's only a bit of salad. The raspberries will have spread profusely so you might want to take up some of the 'runners', same with the strawberries. How long have the strawbs been left in? Really they should be moved every 3 years.

If you want to have a 'chat' about allotments, feel free to PM me with any questions (I won't clog up the thread as I can talk for ages on them lol) :beer:.

I'd love to be able to cook on an open fire here at home (we do it with the Guides when we take them away camping) - nothing tastes as good, when you don't burn it :rolleyes: :rotfl:.

I had an unexpected windfall this morning, £18.50 has been validated on my Q**dco for a price comparison site which I'd forgotten I'd clicked through for my gas/elec change so that's a total of £294 saved on annual figure for dual fuel, £62 cashback for duel fuel changeover and £18.50 for price comparison = £374.50 if it all goes according to plan :T.

Right need to go and get kids up otherwise Cinderalla won't be going to the ball ! See you all later xx

purple_angel_3

I had also filled in cw18 spreadsheet with DD's that have gone out, the spreadsheet is fab.

purple-angel.

trex170104

Morning all
First NSD of the month [and year] yesterday for me, good start, fingers crossed for another one today. Went out for some walks in the park by our house and fed the swans our old bread [I know I probably should have used it to make breadcrumbs but DS1 loves feeding the swans and it's a free activity!]

Made a lush [or so I'm told becos I'm a veggie] sausage casserole in the slow cooker yesterday which used up lots of bits and pieces in the fridge and made enough for today too, so hopefully I won't have to use the cooker/hob today either.

Looking at my figures I've reaslied the biggest area where we need to try and cut down is gas and elec. Our annual bills seem really high compared to some of you on here [Gas £840, Elec £516]. We've not long moved into the house so we had completely forgotten to put energy saving bulbs in all the rooms which is now done, and I've been trying to use my slow cooker as much as possible, but any other ideas on how to reduce these would be very much appreciated, I'm sure there are lots of little things I could do to make a difference.

Glad to see so many of us on here have allotments, that'll be useful when we all start with the planting season. We only got ours at the end of last year and it's all a bit frosty now but my mum and dad bought OH a fab book to get us going for xmas so I'm really hoping this will save us loads on veggies this year. I'm going to keep a look out for those cheap fruit trees from Aldi too - they're not on the web at the mo but that would be brill.

Signed up to Emma's Diary last night to get some pregnancy freebies and they gave me 40 points in vouchers, 30 of which I used to get the usual bags full of baby related samples etc as I remember these were fab the first time round, but I had 10 points left which I used for a voucher to get £18.20's worth of vege seeds for £1.99 so that will be a good start.:T

BigMummaF

BigMummaF wrote: »

....I have a little spend today for a set of newspapers....

Didn't in the end as the Offspring's father got them on his way over to see his babies

Skint_Lynne wrote: »

It turned out very well ....find out if you can cook and freeze these as it was a long drawn out process to make it.
It would have been worse if I did not have the slow....will need to get all the 'bad' things in before I'm back on the diet.
I'm all proud of myself.:j

Any chance of a method for your slow cooked meat pudding please? Three of us like it & this sounds an ideal way of cooking it.
Unfortunately the two of us who are trying to 'down-size' SIZE=1]the other one doesn't like s&k pud[/SIZE have a weigh-in on Weds & to be fair the dieticians have said they're not expecting miracles so a great advantage to attending an NHS version slimming club! Another is not having to pay fees, but for us it is a 20 mile journey thru horrendous 'rush-hour' traffic both ways for less than an hour's visit. I have looked at what the family has eaten this Christmas & compared to others it is definitely a lot less--good for the waist-line AND the pocket :T Must.Be.Strong.As. Temptation! Thy name is liquorice in allsorts of shapes

aeb wrote: »

....I have no budget just aims. I have rough budgets in my head ....
Aims:
Spend as little as possible on day to day living e.g food, fuel, clothes, phone, etc
Grow as much as I can....Scratch cooking - healthy meals whilst introducing variety to the children’s diets
....Main thing for me is to go with the flow, take each day as it comes and accept whatever life offers me with good grace and a smile:D

Just wanted to say you've summed up my personal ambitions so Thank You for that! A little in awe as my three 'children' are all grown, but I've come to organised Thrift a tad later in Life..aahhhh....what I could have been doing now if only I'd found you all earlier...

Doom_and_Gloom

Last year I came to a total of £1,784.34 for just me. However I would like to try this with my fiance and me for this year. Doom_and_Gloom -£4,000

Keep * - £2,160 (will go back up to £3,120 if I get the DLA etc I should get after appeal :rolleyes:)
Bike insurence - £600 (going on last year but hopefully will go down as we are not intending on letting this bike be stolen :mad::rolleyes:).
Bike road tax - £16 (I'm guessing there will be an increase from the £15 it is now)
Petrol - £288
Pet costs - £120 (hoping it won't be more but as all 3 rats we have left are coming to 2 years old we may need the vets more )
Mobiles - £360
Yule - £120
Birthdays - £120
Dentist - £125
Optical - £85

Total = £3,994 so will round up to 4k (if keep goes up due to getting DLA etc will be £4,954 will round right up to 5k). Will say if it goes up but will go for £4,000 for now! Very sure this includes everything but if not I will update.

*This includes food, gas, electricity etc.

We don't need any more clothes or shoes, hense no budget for them. We have enough to last us a year or two more with no problems at least. They can always be repaired if need be.
I get my hair cut by a family friend for free and am hoping to persuade fiance to do the same as we can't justify £60 odd a go just because he gets charged for female haircuts as his hair is as long as mine (ie very).

For us to save the amount in my signiture my partner may have to do a bit of overtime but that's not usually a problem unless I am worse than usual. However that is not included in this budget obviously :rotfl:.

grandma247

ceridwen wrote: »

Further on the baked potato front - can I cook baked potatoes in my slowcooker?

I have tried them with the dish in but the taste was disappointing,however I have heated frozen sausage rolls and pies by taking out the bowl and lining the cooker with foil so moisture does not run into the works and they were fine. I cracked the lid open a little to let steam escape or they would have been soggy. I see no reason why it would not work for potatoes.