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

mama67

candygirl wrote: »

Happy Bday Nat xx:bdaycake:
Woke up and felt v dizzy and sick and almost fainted, so staying in today, which means a NSD:j:j
Got my £40 cheque from travel in for flight delay, which along with my 2 cold weather payments, almost cancels my clothes spends out this month:oI am not usually a mental clothes buyer, but have gone down 5 sizes since last year so desp need stuff:o
Am experimenting making baby food later for DGD, so if anyone has any veggie ideas for a 10 month old let me know.I am trying to save DD money but she insists on buying the uber expensive Hipp jars of food for Boo:eek::eek:
Have fabbily frugal days all:A

Candygirl, by 10 months old my 2 were eating just mashed versions of our food unless it was spicy, they loved pieces of yorkshire pudding to eat in their hands, basically anything that can be left as finger food would I have thought been good.

We took DS1 to Malta when he was 10m and I bought some jars for him as we were half board, he refused to eat them and lived the whole week on things I could buy that could be made up using hot water from the travel kettle, alot of instant mash with fish and bananas and yogurt, bread and butter; he also had things from our plates when we ate our meals either in the hotel or in restaurants.

jtb2412

Afternoon all

Happy Birthday Natalie - hope you have a wonderful day ! :beer:

NYK, can only echo what others have said and can appreciate how much hard work must go into this thread, thank you for all you've done so far, you've changed so many people's lives for the better :A

Well ................ I'm now (as of 1pm) officially a SAHM :T. I finished a day early . We've been out for a leaving lunch which was lovely and I do feel a bit sad (leaving colleagues) but excited as a new chapter begins. They bought me some lovely gifts (gardening theme) which was a really wonderful thing. I wasn't expecting anything, but to receive such thoughtful presents bought a 'lil tear to my eye .

I don't think it will hit me until next week (once I've had a full week at home) - I hope I'm not too 'emotional' over the next few days :eek:. I'll have to keep myself busy .

NualaBuala

Happy Birthday Natalie! More birthday cake for you with love from me, :bdaycake: it's homemade of course and I even made the candles myself from old bits of leftover candle. Just as well you're a swimmer so you can burn off all the cakes! I think your plans are so inspiring; it's obvious you are really focussed and I've no doubt you will make your dreams come true.

Candygirl, mind yourself - hope you're ok.

BigMummaF wrote: »

I guess with something like this, it just needs someone to open the first couple of posts onto the next thread for continuity, altho the 'handy links' bit can only be edited by the person who posts it :think: Perhaps we could do something to make links stand out from the other posts--maybe put a :exclamati or :search: or something to show it's information?

Great ideas there, it'd be nice if somehow we could all take the load off Nyk.

Today was payday - hurrah! I looked at my figures and realised I am living on less than I would get on the dole so it's nice to know I could survive in a worst case scenario. In fact I'd be better off as I'd get free prescriptions, dental treatment etc.

Today will be cheap, still feeling fluey although paracetamol (the cheapest non-branded ones of course) have helped a bit. Not much in the mood for eating but finished the end of some melon that was languishing in the fridge and it hit the spot. I feel worried as I really need to get college work done but feel like a steamroller has flattened me and my poor wee achey brain.

Hope you're all ok and having a good day.

glendam

Nyk I think you have done a wonderful job encouraging me and a couple of hundred others plus lurkers that we can take control of our money again and live on less. I love your posts and even though I will never have your life style love hearing about your feathered friends and your frugal life.

I have looked at food waste which has made me more concious of food bought in the first place. I have been using imeasure and have reduced our bills.

I don't think you need to read every post you are just as entitled to skim read as everyone else. Just stick around do your thing and keep encouraging me.

Glenda

knithappens

candygirl wrote: »

Thanks hun, I will try these things and look on the site.I gave her bits of banana yest and DD wasn't happy, but she managed it well with her 6 teeth:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

maybe go on bbc iplayer and show her the program about the salt in baby food, had anabel camel on there who could not justify her own products after they found they were made with too much salt etc will have to ook which programe it was and get back to you.

My LO has been have brocolli heads, banana, steamed carrot since 5 months under my supervision, now at just over 6 months, she loves holding her own food. she loves humous on rice cakes and philedelphia, also she loves natural yogurt with any stewed fruit. so glad i do this now as watching hat programme if a child has one petite filous/fromage frais per day in a year from that 1 a day they would consume more than 2kg of sugar a year, and babies eat those like crack. I gave one a day as a treat, but no more.

knithappens

watching breakfast news this morning and there was one family who put out 1 bag of rubbish a year, they recycle just about everything, they must be very old style as she said they bake all there own biscuits etc now as the packets from biscuits cannot be recycled so go to landfill.

I thik we will head this way with the biscuits etc s I dont buy pre packed cakes anymore they are all baked, and once the packets of biscuits are gone the cupboards these will be replaced with homemade too.

slowlyfading

Afternoon everyone.

Finished lectures a bit early today, but got mountains of work to do so not got too much of a rest this evening. Got a gym induction on campus at 6:50pm too so I'll be out for a while then.

Today is my 17th NSD for January - which means I have made my target :j I'm going to keep it at 17 for Feb too, though I'm not going to stress too much if I don't make it as there are less days to achieve it in.

Nyk - I know exactly where you are coming from - this thread is nothing like it was when I first joined the challenge and the speed of everything makes it so hard to keep up with everyone. I only post once a day if that, not multiple posts, so that it makes it easier, but its not the same as it used to be. I hope you choose to stay on though; you are the person who inspires me most as I want to have your type of lifestyle when I'm older! I love hearing your stories about your everyday life, it fascinates me.
Natalie - happy birthday!

ChinaTea

glendam wrote: »

Nyk I think you have done a wonderful job encouraging me and a couple of hundred others plus lurkers that we can take control of our money again and live on less. I love your posts and even though I will never have your life style love hearing about your feathered friends and your frugal life.

I have looked at food waste which has made me more concious of food bought in the first place. I have been using imeasure and have reduced our bills.

I don't think you need to read every post you are just as entitled to skim read as everyone else. Just stick around do your thing and keep encouraging me.

Glenda

Totally agree with this glendam. I only lurked on the challenge last year but it really changed my life around. I do try to be as frugal as possible and can't believe some of the usually expensive things I thought were absolutely essential before. Probably the reason I got into so much debt. Now nothing is bought unless a) it's within budget or b) it's a genuine need not want. I've had 14 NSD days this month so far, have spent a quarter of what I used to spend on food but my freezer and cupboards are full. I live in a semi-rural location and plans for this year are

1. turn the garden over to growing food, just leaving the front bit to lawn
2. plant fruit trees when aldi have them on offer to create a small orchard
3. get some chickens but have to get the council to agree
4. No new clothes, make do and mend what I already have
5. to spend on things for the house only if I can't get from freegle or some other free source

I wouldn't have thought any of this would be possible without this thread and NYK's inspiration :A. Oh, I always look at post 1 and use the links.

For those who have birthdays today:bdaycake:
Off to catch up with the posts now will be back later

rictus123

Hey hows it going everyone? Not long now just 9 days until payday(yes thats NINE see you all tomorrow )

candygirl

Thanks MAMA67 and KNITHAPPENS for the weaning tips, it's 23 years since I last did this so was a bit rusty.Have made Boo a potato n lentil mash , potato, carrot n cheese mash, and natural yogurt with stewed apple in .She can have these here, cos DD can't be bothered cooking:mad::mad::mad:I also make my own hummus and have rice cakes so will try that too:)
In spite of feeling a bit c rap today I have made spicy lentil, carrot n tomato soup, all the above baby food, and a cheese and potato bake today:D:D Have also filled 2 charity bags with mahoosive clothes that aren't good enough for ebay, and sorted my recycling out:D