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

catznine

:hello: hello!

I've had a busy day today, finally opened one of the big af tins of apricot pulp all 5kg of it. Managed to get 6 jars of jam/conserve and 5 boxes of pie filling for the freezer! Very pleased as that is about £17 worth of goodies for around about £3. I still have another tin to work my way through!:j

Another AF order is on its way, I am only ordering every 2 months now as I have nowhere to put it all! this time I have hopefully got the celeriac strips (going to have a go at dehydrating some) the large tin of kidney beans so I can bulk cook some chilli san carne (also using up some of the af soya mince) and a large tin of beetroot slices (As it is not in vinegar I wonder if I could batch bake some of the lovely choc beetroot cake with this? or is it salted?)

Pooch had a vets visit today (£40 more on the bill - thank goodness for pet ins) and now has a trendy shiny trainer style bootie to protect her paw, she won't keep it on though! Also special cream (made from minerals from the dead sea) to help with the healing, which i am sure she will lick off if we don't watch her.

Off to Tai Chi tomorrow morning (only £1.50 a time) then we are starting the big declutter of house and garden!

welcome to phoebe and ruby!

Catz x

grandma247

Fishcake_Random wrote: »

Today is an odd day, I swear my baby is eating my brains as its been glorious all day and I said to OH shame I didn't put any washing on and he said you did, and he's right there is a load sitting at home in the machine. Boooooo!

Thats is very common. I emptied a whole packet of tea into a teapot a couple of times and with my last child I drove to the local shops and then had walked almost home before I realised I had left the car in the car park I am sure a few here would have similar stories.

Frugaldom

Good morning

Welcome on board, Ruby, just tag along and contribute whenever and however you can. Please have a good read through post 1 and it's links.

GlandaM, Spending diary is one of the links on post 1, it's been there a long while so we're well ahead on that game.

Lyndasharp, I just spotted your post after asking if anyone had seen you posting. I was thinking your wedding was this weekend.

Fishcake - this isn't a criticism, just a query - £3 for fizzy drinks sounds a huge amount of money, so I checked Mr T website. Would it be more beneficial to buy foodstuffs for batch cooked meals? £3 is enough to buy all of the following:

mince
2.5kg potatoes
tin of tomatoes
carrots (loose)
onions (loose)

If you bulked all of this out with whatever you have at home (eg. pulses, oats, extra veg, soya), I'm sure it could stretch to at least 4 meals for you and OH. Just a thought from a non-fizzy drinks buying frugalite.

Breadmaking calls, hope everyone has a good day.

phoebe03cat

Today is an odd day, I swear my baby is eating my brains as its been glorious all day and I said to OH shame I didn't put any washing on and he said you did, and he's right there is a load sitting at home in the machine. Boooooo!
x x x x
x x x x[/QUOTE]
LOL don't feel bad about it. I was a teacher before I had to take my early retirement and we TWICE had children in buggies left in the carpark! Mums had driven off with the the range rovers full of their own kids and friends going home to tea:eek:

Blairweech

Hello my lovelies!

Yesterday was a busy day, went visiting my auntie and did a few errands in town. Got a free pasty - must have been the ones that had been cooked but not sold, the girls were standing outside with them on trays And I bought 9 hydrangeas for £4 - asked how much, the guy said 5 for £3, then as he was wrapping them said 'you can have the whole lot for £4' so I did. Gave one bunch to Auntie and one bunch to Mum...although hers have wilted already :mad:

Went into Wilkos for the 'free' conditioner, but just wasnt brave enough to try it! As it turned out, yesterday was not such a low spend day after all as I had to give Mum £65 for the van fuel which I forgot about.

Today I have severel bits to photograph to put on Ebay and general tidying up and sorting out. Should be a NSD - I am working on a new spreadhseet, which involves drop down, colour changing menus

BigMummaF

grandma247 wrote: »

Thats is very common. I emptied a whole packet of tea into a teapot a couple of times and with my last child I drove to the local shops and then had walked almost home before I realised I had left the car in the car park I am sure a few here would have similar stories.

Have not a clue what caused me to add sugar to my cuppa yesterday--haven't used the stuff in my beverages for YEARS --& my lot are all grown now

Budgeting is ticking over & I couldn't help thinking of cw t'other day; I hit "her" supermarket at just the right time & got loads of whoopsied meat at half price or less :T The lamb & pig's liver have made two portions of casserole each for Pup while the stewing steak & lamb's kidney made a three portioned pie, a portion for the freezer & a 2 portioned steak pie, all for £4:15 in meat :j
My neighbour called round earlier to say they are hoping to replace the conservatory with an extension that will come right up to the boundary & would we object. No, sez I, but could I nick your rainwater if you do :rotfl:Being a mid-terrace we don't have our own down pipe from the guttering & it's a flat roof on the shed, so bearing in mind the water company are going to charge extra for the summer rate, I thought I may as well ask

cw18

Well done on the meat Whoopsies BigMummaF :T

And I love that you thought to ask about the rainwater :rotfl:




Update from me..... for those of you who've been waiting for an update late on Sunday, there's nothing to wait for. I managed to hit one of my 'open mouth before engaging brain' moments, and it appears that what came out must have been worse than I thought - as despite trying to apologise on Tuesday evening I've heard nothing at all since.

My kitchen is feeling the benefit of my frustration - though I'm totally ashamed to admit it's had the best part of 2 days spent on it, and I've only just finished the kitchen end (still have the dining end to start!). Pulled out my washer and dryer to clean under/behind today, and was horrified at the state of the floor. I then decided that while I was cleaning the outside of the appliances I should really clean the filter on the washer - and it's been waaaayyyyy to long since I last did it :eek: I feel the need for a hot empty wash cycle prior to checking the filter again

JayneC

Aw Cheryl, sorry to hear things didn't go so well - sending hugs X

Congrats Whitewing

Decided to take a day's flexi today so been pottering about indoors and out. It was fairly sunny earlier so finally did a bit of sorting inmy garden (well yard really). I've now measured it all up and am going to reorganise so I can hopefully grow more food and make some room for log storage as I'm hoping to get a woodburner later in the year. THink it should work ok. I've cleared one corner that I'm going to move my chicken shed to (not that' I've got chicks yet but hoping to get those later in the year too - just a couple), need to put some paving down and move my other paved areas about. Part is concreted so am hoping to hire a 'something' to break it up then I can have paving with things growing between instead. So gonna be busy this weekend!! have been trying to get in garden for weeks but every weekend the weather has been so awful I've not been able, now it's gonna be a mad rush to get it sorted in time to get seeds in.

Anyhoo should really get on with it!! May be back later x

cw18

It was nice here this morning - but is definitely cooler and threatening rain now...... typical in that it changed just as the wood for my raised beds arrived

lyndasharp

Frugaldom wrote: »

Lyndasharp, I just spotted your post after asking if anyone had seen you posting. I was thinking your wedding was this weekend.

Now that is a scary thought - glad it's not this weekend! I've still got a bit of organising to do, but it should all be done in time. 1 1/2 hours left of work, then I'm on leave for 3 weeks

We did a food shop last night, and I had to get H2B to pay, as my brain went totally blank when it came to doing the credit card pin! Too many wedding things to think about - at least that's my excuse