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

Frugaldom

EDaniels, glad everything went well for the funeral, hope you manage to get everything else sorted out. Thinking of you.

Simple laundry gloop recipe is linked from post one in the HANDY LINKS section. It's quite therapeutic stirring the warm mix. My costs for cooking counter balance heating as the heaters are on thermostats set low. The kitchen one very rarely comes on when I'm in there cooking or baking.

Completed this afternoon's task by making 15 Litres of laundry gloop for equivalent of 63p! :eek: I had enough soap in store, so didn't need to spend 13p on 3 bars of basics from supermarket (ridiculously cheap!) and used about half a bag of soda crystals (approx 50p) so, my 2010 laundry liquid/gloop has cost me just over 3p per litre! :j I've split it into 2 x 7.5 litre tubs and have added a few drops of blue dye to one of them for doing whites. (I was told that's what the blue grains are in traditional soap powder.) Extremely pleased with today's frugal results and I've even managed to rejig the freezer contents (again) to fit in 3 of the carrot & sultana loaves baked earlier. Means the freezer is still filled to the brim but also means more cost effective running it, I think.

Fishcake_Random

Hey folks,
Popping in again as I have had a very productive afternoon. I sorted out a load of paperwork and cut up all the envelopes for scratch paper. A few will be used in crafts as the patterns inside envelopes can be amazingly beautifull, might be usefull for scrapbookers or cardmakers.
Also made a load of toys for the hamsters (we have 3) using loo roll tubes. Just fold the ends in and pop a peanut inside, they will gnaw for hours to get in and munch it. I hate throwing away something with a use.
OH and I popped to Mr.T's as OH has the sniffles and I wanted to nab him some soft tissues for his sore nose and some throat sweets for him to. He spotted the avatar game on 360 for £24 so nabbed one to play, went through the till at £37.87 so went to CS desk and got £27.74 back. He later confessed he saw the two different prices on the game as it was duel sited and was hoping it would go through dearer. Clever chap lol.
Also nabbed 8 croissants for 35p, 3x garlic and herb flat breads for 50p and 4 pork pies for 25p each, and they are the big big ones!!! Just researching if I can freeze them or if not how long they will resonably last beyond the best before date. Anyone here frozen pork pies? any tips on thawing them if you have???
x x x x

cw18

Fishcake_Random wrote: »

Anyone here frozen pork pies? any tips on thawing them if you have???

I froze a pack of the small (individual 'picnic sized') ones about a month before Christmas, which came out around New Year. I just left them on the side to defrost, then popped them in the fridge. Would have put them in the fridge to defrost, but things take days in there (no idea why, as the thermometer I keep in there says it's only just within the 'acceptable' temperature range )

grandma247

I freeze pork pies all the time. I just leave them in the fridge to thaw overnight then if having with a meal I put them in a warm oven or my little mini oven for a while. how long depends on how big it is. I would say up to an hour if very big.

rictus123

Well done a very frugal thing and had a no spend day And its payday tomorrow which will mean ( i know my life isnt a buisness but maybe i should run it like it is) income will be £180 higher than expenses and its not a full pay month(first 8 days of this year were end of my 2 weeks xmas holiday ) Roll on 5 oclock tomorrow though I think im going to work all day Saturday for a bit of extra income 2 weeks tomorrow,especially if i work next Saturday aswel!

NualaBuala

Hi frugalites!

Hope you are all ok and have had a good day. I'm going to take some of the hugs on offer - I've had a really tough one but will be ok I expect..

Annie, thanks for sharing your invention and gardening wisdom with us. I feel I'm learning so much.

Kiwisaver wrote: »

G'Day Frugalfriends

Nuala Buala lots of people emigrate here to take up 'lifestyle' properties because land is relatively cheap. There's a saying which I can't remember that says most only last two summers and one winter. The first summer is lovely, them winter comes along and reality sets in, hence they move on before the next winter comes along.

For many it is a dream lifestyle, but the reality is very hard work. I know a few people who do it semi-rurally and commute and it does seem to work best if one half of a partnership can earn a living away from home, but the other HAS to be fully committed to looking after the land / animals etc as a full-time job. Also many people here play at living the Tom and Barbara lifestyle, keep a veggie patch and lease their paddocks to real farmers, so they don't have to do any of the hard or mucky stuff. :rotfl:

Here's a great website for would-be farmers and lifestylers: http://www.lifestyleblock.co.nz/vforum/index.php

Thanks for the link Kiwi! :beer: I can see why people fall in love with an idea and then have to leave it when reality is so much harder. There are so many programmes on now about doing that sort of thing that encourage the dream - if anyone is watching Channel 4 there's one called My Dream Farm at 8pm which sounds like this sort of thing.

nykmedia wrote: »

Hi Fru-guys and gals

Seriously, I am nowhere near being a farmer. I grew up living on a farm, but not as a farmer's daughter. I currently live on a farm, but not as a farmer ir a farmer's wife, just as a frugalite. I've always had livestock of some description or another, so never embraced the whole 'see the world' concept. My one vow, when growing up, was that I'd never marry a farmer - mainly because the majority of those I know wouldn't give an inch of grazing space to anything equine. :rotfl: I fully respect their way of life but can see both sides of the coin clearly. I think anyone who is prepared to give up their otherwise 'normal' street-based life to pursue farming must either be A) Crazy or Multi-millionaires with the appropriate staff, until their money runs out, that is.

I've always fancied 'the good life', but I am nowhere near being self-sufficient - we still need to do non-frugaldom work to supplement this lifestyle, but doing that from home helps. My theory is that if you are 100% aware of what it costs to meet your basic needs whilst living the lifestyle you want, then that's the bottom line.

Well at least you knew what you were getting into! I'm fascinated and want to know as much as I can about what it's really like. I suspect it's not right for me and growing veggies in a garden is a more realistic proposition. But there is something so idyliic about what you're doing. I love your blog and it does lead me to fantasise about wellies and feeding hens. :rotfl: That's partly as I have such wonderful childhood memories of staying with my Nana who kept hens and sometimes other livestock. I remember bottle feeding lambs .... but there's no way I could do that now and then send them to the slaughterhouse. Am a wuss. One sniff of corn feed or calf nuts takes me right back to those happy days ...

I picked up some seeds in Aldi today - was good and restrained myself to just the herbs as I already have some veg seeds. Also got some organic veg in the food co-op. Have the makings of loads of dinners and soups now, just need to get organised and do the cooking. Having the 2nd half of my freezer surprise tonight (which turned out to be veggie chilli).

I've a question for container gardeners: what type of compost do you use and do you put stones in the bottom of the pot for drainage? Wonder if I could collect some from a shingle beach - want to keep this venture as frugal as possible!

lynzpower

Hope you are all ok and have had a good day. I'm going to take some of the hugs on offer - I've had a really tough one but will be ok I expect.

:grouphug: Hope you are Ok sweets? xx

ceridwen

Just noted down the laundry gloop recipe - thanks.

How much do I use please?

Miss_Bubbles

Evening all! Hope you are all well,
Havent been around for a while,been busy getting back to normal after all the snow!
Had a great weekend tho,in a past post a mentioned my fridge/freezer had quit on me...well over christmas i lost: washing machine,fridge/freezer and dish washer (dont use it all the time but after a dinner party its nice not to wash everything by hand!) i had a real panic on,even second hands arent cheap,thought i would be kissing good-bye to a huge chunk of my savings but...in rode daddy on a white horse and saved the day!! He managed to get EVERYTHING working again. Really dont know what i'd do without him.
Then my central heating went,no hot water and well,no heat. But my friend came over for dinner (has his own plumming company) and fixed the problem...the charge: 'a few pints next time we hit the town'-cant get better than that really!
Also,to top off a great few days my redundancy payment came through yesterday!
So apart from DD's i've had a no spend week,saved money and been given a little extra.
Things seem to be looking up...touch wood *pats head*

slowlyfading

Evening everyone

Today has been a long day! It's my last day on Placement A tomorrow - I can't quite believe it, it's gone SO fast! :eek: I've bought my subject mentor some things and put them in a "relaxation bag" I've got her some strong tea bags, some different flavoured cookies, a big mug, a face mask, some hand cream - I hope she likes it! She's a big fan of tea and biscuits, so I'm hoping so I'll be sad to leave the department, but I also feel that I'm ready for the next challenge.

I've written most of my cover letter and done all but one section of the application now - will finish that tomorrow and get it sent off ASAP.

Today has been another NSD for me - it takes my total to 12 for January so far. I'm going out for a meal with my mentor tomorrow, so tomorrow will be spend day, but I'm hoping that Saturday and Sunday should both be NSDS, but the BF will be here so that could possibly change!

Nuala - you okay sweetie?
fishcake - that's so funny about the call from your bank! :rotfl: