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

knithappens

well roasting a 2kg pork shoulder joint today, going to see how many meals i can get out of it this week, i know one will be a stir fry, and there is always pork fried rice at the very end to use up all the left overs, was thinking today roast pork with broccolii and potatoe and sweet potatoe mash, stir fry tomorrow, casserole on saturday, wil see how far i can get with this joint.

rozeepozee

Cheryl, so glad it's not just me with the WAY out of date thing.

grandma247 wrote: »

The banks are in it for them to make money,

Which is why they don't like you paying anything off early. They want the interest payments.

Just worked out that I might be losing £3k a year by leaving my savings in my offset mortgage account (which is a tracker and is a reallylow interest rate) than if I was a bit more organized and broke it up into a few high interest accounts. Guess what my task for the week is?

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

I use a yoghurt sauce topping for moussaka 1 large tub of smartprice natural yoghurt with 2 eggs beaten into it cover the mince mixture with and top with grated cheese the cook as normal iit has a solid texture rather than a saucy one but lush and good for Slim world too!!(using l/f cheese)

I love this idea. Am gonna give it a go.

In gym, son in creche and Heaven V girls have just announced complementary mini facial, so I'm off for some pampering! :j

knithappens

arrgghh kids are off school until monday, love my kiddos, but how much more aruguin can i put up with, think i might stick my MP3 player in my lug holes and ingnor.

Blairweech

Morning

Can't get into work again They sounded really annoyed about it on the phone because 'all the main roads are clear', but I live in the bottom of a valley on rural country lanes with hardly any cars anyway. It would take me about 3 hours to walk to work, up a great big steep hill and I really don't fancy walking home for 3 hours after I finish at eight. I can't even move my car from where it is at the moment anyway.

So this month is going to be verrrrry frugal, as I will be short almost £200. Fortunately I did 2 12 hour days on Mon/Tue, and last week I got a bumper wage packet cause of the 2 bank holidays

Plans for today:
- List 5 items on Ebay
- More decluttering
- Ironing (not done yesterday :rolleyes:)

Did not make muesli bites yesterday as not needed for work lunches until next week now. Did have a NSD and expecting another one today PLUS I cancelled my TV licence and filled in the form for a refund
Toast/cereal for breakfast, lunch is siup and dinner is fish pie

boredofbeingathome

LilacPixie wrote: »

What is it with men and finance?? My husband is the exact same! Speaking of chauvanistic attitudes we are switching energy suppliers. My OH is named on the bill. OH has no comprahension that different companys offer different prices and depending on consumption there may be a better deal availible. Old company called on Tuesday to try make us stay, OH says to them 'my wife deals with all this you need to speak to her' so the woman speaks to me, I politely tell her that xx company is over £100 cheaper,she says that an estimate and very few people know their true energy consumption so comparison engins usless ( condesending or what!!!) I was still polite nd told her i had used the last 12 months bill generated with actual readings and did that mean her companies reading were incorrect or flawed?? she thanked me for my time and said they were sorry to lose a customer and to contact them if we want them as a supplier in future. Same company called this morning asking to speak to Mr Pixie. i said he was at work and could i take a message guy said it regarding change of energy suppliers, we would like to retain his custom. I replied that he had spoke to a woman on tuesday and told her to deal with me she had and couldn't beat new dealso we were moving. He says he needs to hear that from 'man of the house'. :mad::mad::mad:

Another example. I am selling up. I bought this place asd a single person, now i'm married with 2 kids and its time to buy bigger and a true family home. I called a local estate agent enquiring about selling costs. They said costs variable depending on home value and value of property I will be buying so I arranged for them to come out. OH was here for the appointment. The EA started to talk directly to him OH said no point telling me I have nothing to sell talk to the owner IE me. The EA did but i didn't like his attitude kept asking if i understood fees are a percentage of selling price and 1% of 70k is £700 and generally treated me like I was a dumb little girl (I am an Accountant). He also asked my OH directly if he has any questions but not me. A week later the written quotation came through addressed to Mr Pixie. It wasn't just Mr Pixie it was Mr C Pixie and not Mrs L Pixie so definatly not a typo. They called about a month later to enquire if we would be using their services and were told no because if they cannot even address a quotation for services correctly I have absolutly no faith in their ability to handle the sale of MY property.

Good for you LP:mad:at estate agents. No wonder some of them lose business.

Mr.B's name was on the utilities for gas and electric, i went on the website and changed it to joint so now they have to speak to me:D He never dealt with it anyway:rolleyes: Now i can ring up and get overpayments sorted, and refunded ( although i am glad i left the extra in the account this year) and swap on line, if necessary for better rates. Our fixed is up in May so will be looking for comparisons a month before.

ChinaTea

Morning all

I thought we'd had some bad weather the last couple of weeks but today is far by the worst. Heavy snow since first thing and with the east wind it's drifting straight onto the road. I can't see the bottom of the garden from the kitchen window with the snow that's not only falling but blowing about as well. Never mind another nsd and although energy levels very low today will catch up on some projects and might even get myself organised for OU starting again beg of Feb, every cloud and all that.

Dinner today will be farm sausages from freezer and roast pots, stuffing balls from christmas with whatever veg I can find. The cats are so far refusing to venture outside although no2 did earlier and dashed back in again. Think I might have to put them a litter tray down although none of them like using it. As they are used to being in and out all day they are up to all sorts of mischief and with 3 plus a temporary addition to the gang dashing about things are lively to say the least.

Changed phone/bb provider yesterday, have been with the same 1 for 9yrs they wouldn't reduce their price (£47) so got a much better package for £34. Had a productive week with this and the contents ins saved total of 237.26:T

landregistrylass

Morning all. Having to work from home again today due to the snow. Made time yesterday though to make a few bits for the freezer - eg mash with onions, cheese and bacon. the bacon was from 1 of those "bacon bits" packs. I always sort through those on the shelf to see which has least fat etc, and separate them into 4 portions, for risotto, omelettes, soups etc. Works a treat. Mash was from my 10p potato haul on Monday evening at Mt T. Then made a pear and blackberry concoction, and some crumble mix. felling VERY smug.

landregistrylass

As I am new to all this, forgive my question...........When its says I have been thanked for a post, how do I see who has thanked? When you thank someone, can you leave a comment, or do you just do that through a post?

flippin36

landregistrylass wrote: »

As I am new to all this, forgive my question...........When its says I have been thanked for a post, how do I see who has thanked? When you thank someone, can you leave a comment, or do you just do that through a post?

Hi landregistrylass and welcome, just click on "show me" besides the thanks (in blue). No you can't leave a comment, you have to do a post if want to comment. Hope that helps

knithappens

well decided to batch cook all our goodies while the pork is in the oven to save electricity as the cooker uses so much, so ar i have done, cornflakel flapjaks, chocolate and vanilla fairy buns, rock cakes next , then i may try twinks hob nobs, will be freezing these, will help bulk out the freezers so the run more efficiently (will have to freeze quick so kids dont demolish them all)