Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 2

tumptyteapot

youngmummy wrote: »

OH has decided he will make the coop :rotfl:hes quiet good with DIY so it shouldnt fall apart very quick. tbh it proberly wont save us much money but i also want my LO to learn about where his food comes from so it will also be a great learning experiance for him hopefully.

Chickens are lovely to keep, I miss mine :-)

rising_from_the_ashes

tumptyteapot wrote: »

does having chickens save money? assuming you want them for eggs only - a coop is about £100, I can't remember how much layers pellets are and they need grit. I'd love some hens but I suspect that on a small scale they actually cost more than they produce.

That's one of the reasons I've still not got round to "sorting out" the issues with keeping them in the backgarden (think there may be bylaws banning it).

TBH I don't eat that many eggs (dog & cats love 'em though so they'd get most of them:eek:) - I just really like chickens!

I've never managed to have enough left to buy a coop - or it always ends up being needed for "proper things" (like the one-off house insurance payment this month to save money over the year, or the £150 I need to find next month to leave SP):(.

Another tick for the house move.

Decided I'm going to start a pro/con list for moving/staying put and add everything on - hope that will help with a decision!

Erme - well done, you're doing brilliantly with the no cigs!:T You've done the so called hard bit (for all the nicotine etc to get out your body) - you can do it!!!!


Edited to add: I'd love one of those Eco arks of an Omlet but they're just sooooo expensive - keeping an eye out for a 2nd hand one but no joy as yet.

Unfortunately, I'm carp at DIY so would prob have to buy one.

paidinchickens

:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j


HAVING BABIES!!!!!!!!!


:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:

HalfaSixpence_2

tumptyteapot wrote: »

does having chickens save money? assuming you want them for eggs only - a coop is about £100, I can't remember how much layers pellets are and they need grit. I'd love some hens but I suspect that on a small scale they actually cost more than they produce.

We've had 4 since just before Christmas. They've been hardly laying at a for a ouple of weeks but before that we could only just keep up - about 2-3 a day. A sack of mash is about 7.50 here. I use some straw and our paper shreddings for bedding. If you buy organic free range eggs you might be in profit, I think, but it would be a bit close. Say a dozen a week and a sack of mash every 2 months so just on food that's about 90p a dozen.

youngmummy

spent £15 today have updated my budget spends x

SandraScarlett

Just been posted on Martin's main page, get £20 reduction at Ocado (new customers only).

xx

frugaliciousness

I didn't spend anything yesterday either so still have that £14 in my purse. Need so basics today though so it will go but will try to make it stretch (if that's possible in the local Co-op!)

Thanks for the bread making recipes. My neighbour has said that you can get Aldi cheapo bread for 47p so I will check that out on Monday.

Feeling down but not out. I feel on edge but trying to not let it bother me because I just think it's a combination of a lot of little niggly worries bringing me down.

Egg and chipped potatoes last night, my children had slowcooked rice pud with some frozen berries in as snack from school. I'm a bit concerned about their diet this week. I'm conscious that they aren't eating fruit and cheese as snacks (because there is non) like usual, although there is a big packet of raisins. Their meals are not great - baked beans, fish fingers, yesterday but did have sweetcorn and tomatos too.

Their diet isn't poor I guess it's just not as good as I want it to be, only for a few more days now eh? It's difficult to go from having stocked cupboards and abundance of fresh fruit to realise that all of a sudden you're down by £50 a month just because of the price increases across all living expenses - money just doesn't stretch like it did and now we are pound poor at the end of the month.

I am definitely looking at weezl's meals today to try to get the grocery budget to stretch.

Have a good day everyone

cw18

frugaliciousness wrote: »

My neighbour has said that you can get Aldi cheapo bread for 47p so I will check that out on Monday.

and I have to confess that it's one my of my favourite loaves - it's nothing like the value 'rubber' bread from the big supermarkets

alec_eiffel

SandraScarlett wrote: »

Just been posted on Martin's main page, get £20 reduction at Ocado (new customers only).

xx

If you sign up for the Ocado newsletter they send a weekly email with different offers on between 10% and 20%, and they still send them once the service has been used. I get a 20% off a £75 spend offer once a month. It's great for when we need to stock up, lots of dried foods are not bad prices (for a supermarket) so including the discount they're a pretty nice price.

HalfaSixpence_2

For some reason I can't find the ocado £20 offer - could someone post a link? Thanks