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

FrankieM

Morning all,
We have snow here too, though only a few centimetres. The children have been sent to school but I'll wait and see if they get sent home.

So, its a stay in day today. I've quite a bit of tidying to do and other bits and pieces, though I'm struggling a bit to get myself motivated.

sft The peppers will be frozen and used as and when and the swede will be cut in half cooked and frozen to eventually make carrot and swede mash. No amazing culinary delights, just bog standard eating here!

I have leftover beef and veg mix from my pie last night so I'm going to make a cottage pie type thing with it with some mash from the freezer. The rest of the mash is hopefully going to make crab cakes with a tin of crab meat I found in the cupboard. I'll probably freeze those to use another week.

I watched a film called The Age of Stupid yesterday...I'm not one for the whole 'green agenda' normally but felt really challenged by the film's message. It's really made me think about our consumption as a family.

Hope you all have a safe, warm and enjoyable day.

ceridwen

Well - seems like an apt heading for being a "bearer of bad tidings" - but the thought occurred to me this morning - "of course....my fuel bill is going to be higher for this winter than normal (in view of the extreme cold weather this year)....OH:eek: Wonder how much extra thats going to cost me? Better set a bit extra aside on what I'd bargained on for fuel bills"

I read someone on another thread commenting about gas usage being £5 a month in summer and £30 (I think?) in winter months - ie £25 extra and thought "Ah - now I've got a ballpark figure to compare here". But - in view of the Government giving £25 per WEEK cold weather allowance for those eligible - I'm wondering how much extra we should be allowing per week during this cold snap?

I'm guessing at an extra £10 per week during it perhaps for myself (ie at work all day). Obviously it would be more if I wasnt.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

rozeepozee wrote: »

Homemade and lizzyshep - in my area, MIND, the mental health charity, offers long term therapy (up to a year) free but there are usually long waiting lists. I have weekly therapy (I am a qualified therapist and believe I need to maintain my own personal development and deal with any issues I have via a number of means, one of which is personal therapy) but I attend a group. This cuts down costs, it's £25/session (the local going rate is £35 to £40/session) (as well as groups therapy being especially effective in my view). My group is term time only too, which again cuts down on costs, so it's worth "shopping around" even for something like a counselling service.

Managed a NSD today and yesterday was cash positive, £80 child benefit came in - makes a nice change!

We're still living on the contents of the freezer. Tonight's meal was home made Aberdeen Angus burgers (which have been in the freezer for I dread to think how long but tasted fine), hash browns and baked beans!

Glad to hear that you don't do this work without getting your own therapy. I've known people who have done this work without ongoing therapy and think that's a bad idea.

Skint_Lynne

Morning,

Back to work for me today, I've got an appointment at noon, so will leave in plenty of time. I am going to see a patient, but I am going to go in sensible clothing, ie heavy trousers and my hiking boots, I think that the patient will understand, but I will apologise and explain why I have turned up in casual clothing.

I am looking at the weather/news down south, it looks really bad, but my street has looked like that for around 3 weeks now, I hope it all goes away soon.

I got some shopping and petrol yesterday, so only 2 days to go before my money is replenished, I have £40 left in the purse, I bought a lot of shopping and put £25 petol in, hopefully, will not spend much more of the money in the purse over the next 2 days.

I got my leccy bill yesterday, they want to increase my DD from £49.00 to £63.00, so will need to look around to see if I can get a better deal methinks!

Keep warm and safe everyone. xx

Kiwisaver_2

Just thougt I would share, that I have updated my version of Cheryl's spreadsheet to include a couple of extra tabs - one for my Meal Plan / Shopping List and another for the Freezer Inventory. No excuses now, I can update the freezer inventory after I have planned my meals and done the shopping.

I always put a 'Budget' price against items on my shopping list, so I know roughly what I am going to spend before I go. If I get to the shop and find a few bargains I hadn't anticipated, I'll might add something extra; usually a staple or a wee treat to make up the difference. It all ties in nicely with Cheryl's spreadsheet - I now have my main shopping list showing the week's budget less any mid-week spends I have already recorded in the Grocery worksheet, so I can see exactly what I have left to play with for my main weekly shop. I can then juggle things around if I've bulk bought extras, so that I don't go over too much from one week to the next.

I was doing this to a fashion anyway, but it's cool to have it all in one place.

I feel in control now and like a little :A

wornoutmumoftwo

I have updated my spends using the spending diary.
I've built a new pc to save money but had to buy a few bits for it which cost me around £100 but that should be it for it now.

Got a busy week, doing an OU course and big essay due on monday, and on top of that my little darlings aren't well today.

Going to try and live out of the freezer for a few days and ban myself from Mr T's.

We have icy roads here but not knee deep in snow, think we have some more on the way too. I phoned up the warm deal people and it looks as if we're eligible for help with a central heating system once my son's dla is renewed (One storage heater very little heat).

Paulgonnabedebtfree

Starting to wonder where the next penny is coming from with this weather. The postman has been bring the odd cheque for work already carried out but that should soon dry up. I do have a well stocked larder and freezer so I don't need to shop for quite a while.
It's 6th January today. I'm wondering about trying a no shopping month (until 6/2). I have quite a bit of porridge, some pasta, frozen bread, frozen veg, and a few kilos of sugar. I also have a little fresh veg and fruit (for two days) and enough potatos to last quite a few weeks. Lots of flavoured tea and a quantity of coffee. If I exclude milk, eggs, nuts and fresh fruit (need some protein as I don't eat meat or fish), I reckon I can do a no shopping month. I'm going to give it a try but reserve the right to make purchases if I become aware of special offers. It seems funny that one of the most precious tools in my armoury is an old freezer from freecycle that cost me absolutely nothing.
I also have lots of rice.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

Right. I need some tips on potatos. Although the most recent batch will be fine for ages, there are some left from the previous batch that are getting older. They look like little aliens sprouting all manner of shoots and I have started peeling some thicker due to a little green on some edges. I want to minimize waste. What's the situation about boiling these and freezing them. Do spuds freeze OK? Is it better to mash them first?

I suppose mashing would be a space saver anyway.

FrankieM

I have frozen both mashed and roasted potatoes and people on here have frozen baked. You could also make your own 'frozen oven chips' if you like that kind of thing.

Skint_Lynne

Yes Paul,

It is fine to freeze mash, it looks a bit watery when you bring it out, but it is okay when mixed and re-heated.

HTH.