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

lynzpower

Can I ask the silly question relating to CPN's - what are they? I'm guessing parking tickets of some sort from what I've read but £500? My last car didn't cost me that! Please pay ASAP if you can afford it, as something like this that's accumulating subsequent charges could cripple you financially if you suddenly lost your income. I don't even clear that amount in a month.

Yup It stands for CIVIL PARKING NOTICE.

Mine are for:
1) going down a one way street the wrong way - stupid error I admit this, this is in court at the mo, as the notice to owner went to wrong address. I think I should get away with this costing 60 eventually but need to work on that tomorrow.

2) Back wheels of the van being on the line of a chequered box junction for more than 15 seconds. Have appealed this but they are having non of it. Now gone up during appeal to 120.

3) Parkign contravention - 3 bays out of 4 had a sign on saying "residents only" the other one didnt so I took photos all around, parked, then came back to a ticket. This is a c*** up on my behalf trying to juggle too manyballs in the air and i think im out of time to appeal.

Right now tonight I have something else focusing my time but I have got all the papers and will take to work tomorrow and on lunch hour just pay up. Thanks NUala your comments were total common sense.

I can sense tomorrow will be expensive but I will of course try to barter them down for fully paying up, you never know till you try. _pale_

Otherwise not much going on. Feeling a bit better in mood today, I just wish it would shift now and I can get back to normal living.

Todays salvage has been a lovely terracotta potthat was heading into a skip at a clear-out at work. That will be nice for my chilli plants I think.

Hope everyone is well, HUGE CONGRATS to you fishcake and family! Have to say the pic of your OH is a diamond- he just looks so so so happy! Im clucky as heavens now though - more so than usual

Well done you and welcome to little fish-finger!

eco

Sorry to be a pain, but I'm sure I read it on here which washing powder do I use in the dishwasher, sure it's bio but don't want to risk it, thanks.

Glad everything went swimmingly for Fishcake.:)

Frugaldom

phoebe03cat wrote: »

...Another nsd today; inspired by frugaldoms dumplings will be trying a first shot at chicken soup tomorrow so will put some in it I think.

Please don't put clootie dumpling in your soup, it's a Scottish sweet dish, resembling fruit pudding. I think you may be confusing it with suet dumplings like you'd have in stew or mince. We eat it hot with custard or cream or else sliced cold, like fruit cake, or sliced and fried as part of a full cooked breakfast. Never would it be put in soup. Please tell me you read this post in time.

Blairweech

Lynz - That is ridiculous - it's not like you hurt anyone or anything. What a bunch of bureaucratic barstewards! If I were you I would pay the fines in 1p pieces.
BigMummaF - Supermarkets should still give you vouchers, have not heard/read anything to the contrary. It's always worth asking.

Not much happened today. Went to sign on at the house of plenty, and as its easter next time I haven't got to go again for 4 weeks :j I hate it in there, its so depressing! Also looked at my stereo to see if I could fix it, but the laser has gone, so its off to silicone heaven tomorrow.
Counted up my coppers and I have £3 :cool:. Will put that in the bank next time I'm in town. Went to M&S to get my free 'grow your own' DVD as offered in the Sunday Times, but they were out of stock

phoebe03cat

Frugaldom wrote: »

Please don't put clootie dumpling in your soup, it's a Scottish sweet dish, resembling fruit pudding. I think you may be confusing it with suet dumplings like you'd have in stew or mince. We eat it hot with custard or cream or else sliced cold, like fruit cake, or sliced and fried as part of a full cooked breakfast. Never would it be put in soup. Please tell me you read this post in time.

:cool: Hi Frugaldom no worries, I did realise....although re-reading my post I can see why you thought otherwise. Its just that all that reading of your clooty got me thinking about ..well...dumplings; will by trying some herbed suet ones in my soup! DH is salivating over the thought of your clooty in his lunchbox and fried for breakfast.
Hope I can do it now; cos i get the feeling it's one of those things that look easier than it is to do well.
Anyways DH went off muttering about said soup/veg and dumplings with 'some home made bread would be nice':eek: He's getting into the swing of this too well!!

Frugaldom

Good morning,

Thanks for the explanation about parking violations, I guess we never really think about them on our single track, I avoid busy towns like the plague and if it involved a city, I'd never even consider driving. Had enough of that when salesrepping many years ago; even then, parking was a complete nightmare.

Frugal activities over the past 24 hours - made my washing up liquid, baked bread, baked breakfast cereal biscuits, sold more eggs, did some more LETS trading and planted more seeds. Fruigaldom had better be fruitful after all this. Got confused with my days, this is only Tuesday, so no frugalers' meet up until tomorrow - doh! Told you all the days are the same when you go by daylight hours and work from home. :rotfl:

I've now added to my spreadsheet to include a page for home produce to chart how much we can achieve from our garden. I suspect eggs will top the chart, as we're already getting about a dozen a day now.

Managed to get some hatching eggs listed on eBay and incubator kit listed on eBid (completely fee free), so that's a start. But it's just not anywhere close to listing 3 items a day. I'm no good at the listing caper. I end up getting :mad: when my computer freezes up or crashes.

Hopefully, I'll get more gardening done later today, if the rain stays away, but I need to make the trip into town to deliver work related stuff and pick up more flour, milk, fruit & veg. Looking at Ald!'s super 6, I sense some lemon drizzle cake and some dried pineapple coming along soon. (Must ask SM if I can borrow her dehydrator again.)

Blairweech

Frugaldom - Would be interested to hear of your forays into breakfast bars. I like these when I am late (frequently), but they are uber expensive (and no doubt laden with salt and sugar). And if it makes you feel better, I just spent 5 hours helping my Mum list 2 items on Ebay.

Just updating my spreadsheet...I don't know whether to include the stuff I am buying to sell on. I suppose I should really, as I plan on including the income I pull off Ebay.

Plans for today - Mum wants to sell some of her stuff on Ebay, so going to sort that out. Got a few job leads to follow up as well.

Hope you all have a good day.

lynzpower

Ok feeling a little better, managed to barter down the 2 wheels in the checked box down to 120 instead of 180.

I guess on a day like today you have to be grateful for such minature mercies

rozeepozee

I'm interested in the breakfast bar idea too. I make my own healthy muesli from a base of jumbo oats and spelt flakes, then add (to taste) pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, coconut, linseed and sunflower seeds. It's the only thing I can eat at the moment without doing an insulin injection as it's really low GI/GL and it would be great to be able to take some around with me to snack on without the need for a bowl, spoon and milk. I'm wondering if I could just mix it with some honey to bind it and then bake it like I would a flapjack, then cut it into breakfast bar slices?

BUT, the honey would make it high GI due to the sugar.... Wonder what else I could use to bind it that wouldn't send my sugar levels soaring?

EDIT: just googled - these look quite promising http://www.practicalhacks.com/2008/08/04/homemade-energy-bars-cheap-delicious-and-surprisingly-easy/

NualaBuala

Hello frugaleers :wave:

Hope you're all doing well!

Glad you got a bit of a discount Lynz. Sometimes I'm glad I don't drive! How's your wrist doing?

Erme, hope you're ok - haven't seen you here in a wee while.

I've been terribly unproductive here. My antidepressant has been increased and I've felt horrible ever since. On the plus side, I haven't spent anything cos I haven't been out. Another good thing is that I am now on a different prescription scheme so don't have to pay for my antidepressant. Hurray! I know people in Ireland and the UK give out about our health services but I think we're so lucky compared with America. What we have isn't perfect, but I feel really lucky to have it.

I'm contemplating getting a sewing machine from Lidl. I don't know how to use one but it would be a great skill to have. On the other hand, I'm not sure I can justify €70 as it's not a need.

One of the garlic cloves I planted has produced a tiny sprout so I'm delighted with that! I'm looking forward to sowing some flower and veg seeds when the weather is warmer.

Can't believe we're nearly a quarter way through our challenge! I'm really pleased with how I've done so far. But I'm going re-evaluate my goals for April since we'll have a brand new thread.

Have a good day folks. Hugs to anyone who'd like one.