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

loopychriss

Had my first spend of the year this morning, after 4 NSDs. Went with my daughter to Bluewater Shopping Centre, just to keep her company and look after the baby while she tried stuff on. I don't like the place much, find it far too expensive for my tastes. Got a brilliant bargain in M&S though: a golfers' kit for £1 instead of £9.50. Got it for my hubby's birthday in March: he's got 2 sets of golf clubs acquired through various means, but has never played golf in his life! I keep reminding him of these 2 sets and he did say that if he didn't use them by the end of 2009 they could go... but no, he won't part with them! So I got him this set as yet another reminder, and I might print out a 'promise' to buy him a golf lesson. If nothing comes of it, I've only spent £1!

I paid for this out of money leftover from 2009, so not sure if today counts as a NSD or not?

Got a beef stew for dinner, currently cooking in the slow cooker. Although it is cooking so slowly that I don't think it will be ready before 11pm, so might be for tomorrow! Beef was in freezer anyway, and all the veg are left over from Christmas.

I've not spent anything of my grocery money yet: hubby went to get fuel for the car at Morrisons, and bought some cabbage, brussels and broccoli as we were running short on green veg. He never looks at the price of things though and I see he paid £1 for a pack of brussels, 50p for the cabbage and 69p for broccoli (I think). He paid for those so I'm not counting it as coming out of my budget. Think we're prepared for the snow if it comes...

Going to go to bed now for my afternoon nap. Got a headache, sore throat and backache so I'm going to have a little sleep before I start on today's decluttering.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

nykmedia wrote: »

I'm in awe of anyone who can live without any sort of heating on in the house when it's mid-winter. Doesn't it make you miserable when condensation's everywhere, when your clothes and belongings get damp and when it's almost impossible to dry washing? Don't your landlords stipulate that you need to adequately heat and ventilate the house, or aren't you scared that the long term damage from cold/damp will amount to much more than the few pounds you save by keeping a cold house? Or are these houses that can actually maintain a warmer climate indoors than outdoors anyway? If I had no heaters switched on here my water pipe would freeze and there would be ice inside the windows and doors. Some nights you can see your breath indoors but that's with the storage heaters switched on. I think I must be doing something wrong. I have heater on as high as it will go in here (livingroom) and the thermometer is reading 12 degrees! It's minus 4 outside and the recent snowfall is freezing solid.

It sounds like my property is far better insulated than yours. It's a mid floor flat so is protected up andf down. Also it's double glazed and has had overcladding fitted to the exterior walls some years ago (this was because the old rendering was failing in places). I think it also helps that my airing cupboard is in the middle of the flat. It does give off a little heat from the hot water tank. Also, I leave the computer on constantly in my office (bedroom no. 2) which does keep that room a little warmer. My front door opens up onto an inside area. I only occasionally use the heating. Even I have stuck the gas fire in the living room on a couple of evenings recently. This winter and last winter are the only times I've used heating in the last few years. It probably helps too that I'm in the south. Usually a bit milder down here. No condensation problems or anything else like that either.

rozeepozee

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

I can confirm that chappati flour makes escellent bread ,like a light wholemeal Mr T sell it in sacks too. The asian shop sell it for £4 i think its 10kg but not sure good for pastry too and most cakes with added baking powder not too good for pizza i have found it never gets cripy enough

I am so excited by this - we've been using a breadmaker every other day for about 5 years now so a new MS tip is great - thanks

mumtoomany wrote: »

Rozeepozee, with regard to your cellars. If you put loft insulation in the spaces between the joists(ie under the ground floor floorboards). Then, using string and drawing pins, work from one joist to it's neighbour, i) put in pin, tie string to it. ii) take string across to next joist, put in pin wrap string round. iii) put pin in first joist about 8-10 inches farther along, wrap string round. vi) back to second joist repeat step iii). Does this make sense? I hope so. It has made a great difference to how warm our house is.

P.S. Rozee I think your maths may be a little wrong in your sig. Spent £30 but taken £300 off the total. Or is this a new wayof being frugal that I've not caught on to yet?

Mumtoomany.

Ha! Will look again at my siggy! I think I'll just update it weekly. I'll look at your cellar insulation suggestion but I've a feeling it won't be practical. The square footage of the floor space is huge (we have five very large cellars... there's enough space for another family to live down there - it's just they'd have to be very short )

I am becoming an inventory freak and it's a REVELATION what is in my cupboards

Here's an example - my dried foods cupboard

Store Cupboard 2 Top Shelf: Pasta White Pasta Wholemeal Pitta bread, wholemeal x 6,Oat biscuits Mung beansItalian riceUnsulphured apricots Ice cream cornets
Store Cupboard 2 Bottom Shelf: Red lentils Yellow split peas Green split peas Quinoa Spaghetti, wholemealBlack eye beans Lentils, green Lentils, brown Lentils, puy Popping corn Couscous Chick peas Lasagne, egg verde

(Sorry about the formatting, I will learn how to use that snipping tool soon). There are varying quantities (2kg to 500g)and Best Before dates ranging from Oct 2005 (Black eyed beans) to the present, most about 2 years old when i was on a total wholefood health kick following the birth of my son.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I should consume these - the Best Before dates don't worry me (although I did throw out some 2 year old Fish Sauce in my sauce cupboard!). As you can see Appoved Foods is right up my street!

Thanks in advance!

Also seriously thinking about a slow cooker - are there any Best Buys?

jennalondon

This might come in useful if you're looking for weekly inspiration: http:
//lisas-thrifty-tips.ivillage.co.uk/

XSpender

Decided to brave the snow and walk to the nearest newsagents to buy stamps and post my card. Treated myself to a packet of ready salted crisps. 49p:eek: I nearly fell over!. They were nice though:rolleyes: £2.83 spent today.

I have done a meal plan for lunches and dinners until the 28th when I am planning a £100 Mr S shop to use my £10 voucher and get free delivery. Will stock up on dog food and basic storecupboard essentials and frozen veg mainly I think.

It is DH 40th in early Feb and I am just giving him money for clothes as we have hardly bought any in the last 12 months. This is budgeted for in my gifts budget. I will have to get him a couple of small suprises as he is such a baby boy when it comes to presents. If I wasn't 6 months preggers at his birthday I might have organised a party but it is a bit too much for me to sort out at this time. Sorry, a bit off topic, just thinking aloud about the costs that we have next month.

XS x

rictus123

Is £10500 for everything you spend? Or is that not including rent,mortage,digs, bills etc?

Im going for £6,000 for everything, digs,diesel,nights out,tools for work etc
not including debt repayments though or it would be £2k more

landregistrylass

YIPPEE.................... whoopsies on cherries, strawberries, blackberries, pears, potatoes, carrots, pineapple, houmous, yummy trifle, tarte aux fruits, runner beans AND 2 terracotta pots of hyacinths (3 bulbs in each!) All 10p each. Then 2 chicken breasts for 37p, pack sausages for 16p (x2). I only bought 1 thing at full price........ olive oil. Anyone know a good source of this more cheaply than Mr T?

ifonlyitwaseasier

xnatalie81x wrote: »

i would love ww recipes!! I need to lose 5 stone CHEAPLY and soups are great! Going to try the 0 pt veggie one thanks to poster

pm me your email address xnatalie81x and i'll send you a zipped file with them don't think i can post here as copyright etc etc

well update, have made the soup, got my kebab mix marinading and made the bread, i forgot we were out of eggs so hubby is getting some on his way home and i'll make muffins later/tomorrow

cake21

Nessa56 wrote: »

Slow cookers are brilliant much cheaper than the hob, takes as much as a light bulb and the food comes out gorgeous, you can do joints (cheaper cuts are lovely cos they have a long time to cook and just fall off the bone.

Chicken is amazing as well done in a slow cooker, curries etc could go on forever. I think there is a slow cooker thread on here somewhere with loads of recipes.

Agree with all the above, plus:
- you don't have to worry about burning things as you do on the hob, just go off and leave it, lovely dinner waiting for you
- slow cooking perfect for fish as the food doesn't move (unless you can't resist stirring ) so the fish doesn't fall apart
- really easy to batch cook (I've got 35 meals in the freezer, perhaps I should stop :rotfl:)

MSE SC links I love:
In my slow cooker today...
Buying a slow cooker (which? & why?)
Slow Cooker - The Recipe Collection

Thank you whoever it was put the link about using old newspapers :T

landregistrylass wrote: »

YIPPEE.................... whoopsies on cherries, strawberries, blackberries, pears, potatoes, carrots, pineapple, houmous, yummy trifle, tarte aux fruits, runner beans AND 2 terracotta pots of hyacinths (3 bulbs in each!) All 10p each.

Fantastic haul!! :beer:

FrankieM

rozeepozee there was a recipe for black-eyed pea soup on that slowcooker blog that was linked to a couple of pages back