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

NualaBuala

lynzpower wrote: »

Nuala if you cant come up with anything better, then my recommendation is to use it to flour surfaces in eg bread/pastry/ pizza making and save any amount of your "good" flour for baking with.

Thanks Lynz :T that's a great idea. So glad I asked as I was on the verge of chucking it for bin day on Monday. And you've sparked an idea - I guess I could use it to sprinkle on top of my unbaked loaves; usually I use the good flour for that.

NualaBuala

lynzpower wrote: »

NUALA thanks for asking about my hand, honestly, its not good at all. I wish it would get better but its been almost a year now and as I reinjured it last week, its unlikely to turn-around quickly. Met my physio today, she is leaving next week - so Ill see someone else next time, have to say I was really confused she saidthe pain isnt indicating further damage happening, so dont worry about that, but dont DO ANYTHING that causes any pain ( ie pretty much everything) V *Confused* She has given me some exercises but my hand is really swollen and bruised and she said it looked normal? V weird.

I'd be confused too! Hopefully the new physio will be more help. I sprained my ankle a while back and it was so painful. But at least when I wasn't walking it was ok. You don't really have that option with a hand. Really hope you get some helpful advice *crosses fingers and gives gentle hug that won't hurt your hand*

Exciting about your Masters ... keep us posted.

Am off to watch Gardener's World now - am turning into a gardening geek - well a wannabe gardening geek! :rotfl:

lynzpower

Oooh thanks for the reminder Nuala!

Petlamb

Hello folks

Bit of a compulsive lurker on this thread but thought I'd say hello. Difficult to put a figure on our spending for groceries, (or anything else) but need (ideal world) - zero spends till mid April now, when student loans arrive. Even then my frugal hat must remain firmly on as we need as much cash for our move in June as possible!

angela110660

lynzpower wrote: »

I always grab a load out of carrier bag recycling.

OH said he was actually going to buy some doggy-poo bags as we were running low on carriers. :eek::eek:

Sometimes I wonder if he knows what frugal means. :rotfl::eek:

Needless to say Sainsburys gave out the goods as usual, plenty of re-use befreo recycling :A:A

When I went to the local Co Op today, the bag they gave me for the shopping had the same texture as the compost bags I put in my little brown container in the kitchen so think it must be a compostable one so will use in there.

Skint_Lynne

Evening all,

Well, I have not spent any money today, I didn't leave the house until around 7.30 tonight, I went to collect my brother for his night out at the pub.:beer:
I had to wait in again for a phone engineer, the 3rd time in the space of a week, so hopefully now, all the teething problems have been ironed out.

Cheryl, I'm glad you had a nice night out, I look forward to hearing about next weeks. It's nice to get out and about, and it's great to meet up with folk you haven't seen in ages.

Will check in later. xx

rozeepozee

For anyone interested in the mobile tariffs and broadband from o2, there seem to be some offers via quidco that would make it an even cheaper deal. According to the email I've received they have to be taken up in next 24 hours!

http://www.quidco.com/o2?edm104

This one in particular looks really cheap if you have your own phone and don't mind being tied in for 12 onths

£200 cashback for ALL 12 month SIM Only £25+ tariffs (including iPhone) From £8.33 after Quidco cashback for 1200 mins / unlimited texts!

EDIT: though the alert was dated 25th March and sent to me on 27th...

loopychriss

pagangirl wrote: »

Thanks for all the anaemia advice - gratefully received :beer:

Might be stating the obvious here, and apologies if anyone else has suggested this.... but have you tried iron tablets? When I was anaemic a couple of years ago I got iron tablets from the doc. (Also had a hysterectomy which took away the cause of the anaemia but that's a bit drastic!)

lynzpower

loopychriss wrote: »

Might be stating the obvious here, and apologies if anyone else has suggested this.... but have you tried iron tablets? When I was anaemic a couple of years ago I got iron tablets from the doc. (Also had a hysterectomy which took away the cause of the anaemia but that's a bit drastic!)

And also you need enough vit C for absorption too. When I was anaemic that was found to be the root of the prob ( teenage girl, trying to be vegetarian, without eating any vegetables- go figure!)

lynzpower

Just updated my sig.

Just a quick one to say that so far we have spent less than 100pcm on food for the house, although I suspect my "work lunches" is higher again than it should be. I have been eating a lot less though as the weather has changed and most days eat maybe some cereal bars or HM flapjack.

Oh has access to microwave & toaster, so he takes from home most of the time, unless as a team they are going out for an occasion eg lunch for someone's leaving do.

That means on the food for the household we have an underspend of 375.27. All OHs "contribution" has gone direcly into savings accounts which has meant our isas are fully topped for this tax year :beer:

I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on that ( and pat myself firmly on the back ) and that the meals that we are eating are hardly beans on toast everyday or gruel Next week I have planned out a full week ( till thursday) of meals for the house - we will only need milk to see us through Id imagine.

April target is to carry on doing what Im doing, but make more salads as the HG leaves come up and take them to work, maybe along with a cold pastry/ pasty such as spinach & cheese or chicken & mushroom. usually things we have in the house.

Must try harder with work lunches in the next quarter would like to see a lot less waste.


Hope everyone has a great weekend.

We have loads of bits & pieces to do ( ebay still hangs over us) money shuffling, paper filing BORING!

I have a few more thingfs to plant and Ill probably stick the bubble wrap up in the lean to as i believe its going to get cold in the next few days. Might need to puit the heaters on ( didnt i speak too soon lol)

We are off out for a walk today to take the dog out and go to find this abandoned castle I read about that is about 20 mins away from here.

Another frugal find - some junk mail came through our letterbox for tenants gone some 4 years ago we opened it to see if there were any MOCs in It had a pizza express 10er voucher in :j Brilliant.

Off upstairs to plant up my climbing beans - hope everyone has a wonderful moneysaving day.

Love to all

x