2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

hopeless_spendthrift

Hello again all! :hello:
Have found another couple of Asda Free Home Delivery Vouchers for those interested and they last well into 2008! Could mean a saving of up to £10 for those of us who use this service. :dance:

OOps! Almost clicked submit b4 typing in the voucher numbers! Here they are:

M4-TT-FD-49

M4-JD-V3-4K

Thrifty

Burlesque_Babe

hopeless_spendthrift wrote: »

:rotfl: Stardrops -Do u wash the dog in them also?

now there's a thought.................:rotfl:

hopeless_spendthrift

Thank you for your kind post Sweetpea - as ever :happyhear

Also wanted to share this recipe with you all - a long-time favourite of mine.
Delicious served with rice - white, plain boiled basmati or brown long grain, especially
CURRIED CHICK PEAS
6oz (175g) chick peas soaked
2tsp (10ml) oil
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1tsp cumin (jeera) seeds
8oz potatoes, cut into pieces
1tsp (5ml) ground cumin
1 tsp (5ml) ground coriander (dhania)
1 tsp tumeric (haldi)
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1oz (25g) raisins
1oz (25g) blanched almonds
salt and pepper

1. Drain the chick peas. Cover with fresh water, bring to the boil ans boil fast for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 40 minutes. Drain and reserve the stock.
2. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onion, garlic and cumin seeds for 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, chick peas and spices and cook for 3-4 minutes.
3. Pour over 3/4 pint (450ml) reserved stock. Cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes. Add the raisins, cook for a further 3-4 minutes, stir in the almonds, check the seasoning and serve hot.

I use 2 tins of chickpeas, but guess dried should be way cheaper. Fuel bills have to be offset against this too tho, so am not sure which is more economical. Guess it depends on how much it costs to cook the chick peas for 50mins against the price of a coupla tins... I buy 5 cans for a £1 so reckon thats pretty good vfm + time saving ...not sure which are healthier tho?

Once again, don't think I have ever used almonds in this recipe - so they're not really necessary. Do add raisins or sultanas if I have them, otherwise still tastes great without these too! Tastes even better the next day also!
Off now to (try and...) cook Sweetpea's Sweet Potato and Tomato soup! Yum! :beer:

debrag

Going by what I've taken out of my bank account & dds I've spent £90.65 I have to add to that the £20 I have left over from last year in cash + £100 to mum + £150 bc coming out 21st so I've actually spent £352.65 (took away £7 nn cash I have). I do my main shop when I get paid (21st) so will have to do that as food is running out quick. My budget next month is £140 + £30 if needed so will balance out :T

I WILL NOT buy on ebay, I WILL NOT buy on ebay ... Does payments count in the month you paid or the month they payment went out?

Food planning: (aim for a months food)

£10-15 for chicken
£10 for veg
£10 for noddles, pasta, sauces etc
£5 for drinks
£5 for bread
£5 for other

Am I missing anything?

whitewing

debrag, I am counting my payments when they appear on online banking (ie trying not to use cash at all)

It's a pain when I write a chq though as I want to take it out of my available balance and I can't!!! Grrr!

Have just written a chq to pay DS's boys brigade subs in one go. This means that I won't be getting a tenner out each week to make sure we have is subs. So will save money, in theory.

Will post again later, chocolate cake is calling me!

BTW my vegetable soup was luvverly last night in the slow cooker. We had the left overs tonight which OH boosted by putting in some spaghetti. It looked very classy. Can't wait to try the mushroom soup.

You're all wonderful people.

debrag

poop means my payments I made in Dec will count for Jan as they came out in Jan oh well

Frugaldom

Speedy update:

Penny2myname - great idea with the draft excliders, what did you make yours from and how did you stuff them?

Yoshimi2306 - welcome to the wacky wonders of frugal land, I'll get you a challenger number and I'm sure you'll be tempted to stay with us for the full year :T

Sweetpea03 - You have Dairymilk?? :eek: Like me you hjave no thermostat, so we deserve chocolate I have some too, from a Chrissie pressie.

Hopeless_spendthrift - Your creamy mushroom soup and the curried chickpeas sound delicious! Wonder if I could substitute chick peas with split peas?

Catzine - looks like we'll be the guinea pigs this time round with the soapnuts. Remember to use white vinegar for your towels and not malt and there's always soda crystals when all else fails. Can't wait to get my soapnuts now!

Mollymop, hope you enjoyed your meal out with parents

Affordmylife - doesn't it just hit you like a brick when you start watching how fast and how often money just 'disappears' from accounts? I was shocked in the beginning but have got used to it now, I hope! It's still rotten seeing it all go but it is such a thrill (sad and weird, I know!) when you are faced with a big bill and can just pay it from savings. It is well worth the frugal life to get this far

Debrag - I count my payments as they come out the bank, so January has included a December credit card payment. This year, I'm writing everything out as I spend it and not waiting for it to come out the bank. That way I know it is gone but also know that it's in the bank waiting to cover the bill. LOVE your forward planning for groceries but don't forget the milk

Everyone else - I'm still trawling through the posts to make sure I haven't missed anything and am also trying to save all your great recipes.

Tonight I spent £4.00 It was actually £3.71 in Co-op for 4 litres milk and 2 reduced loaves but I fed the 29p change to 'Phil the Pig' to satisfy my financial OCD problem of having silly amounts of change in my purse :rotfl:

I dug the garden to start preparing for veggie planting, I made a huge cottage pie, half used for dinner, half now in the freezer and the little pram arrived from Additions today - that was £2 really well spent! :T

Mollymop5

hopeless_spendthrift wrote: »

:rotfl: Lol Mollymop - sorry if i confused you - seem to have lost all sense of time and space! That, and the fact that I was simply replying to folks who had posted greetings in the morning - didn't realise it was so late in the day! Hope u have a fine meal - Bon appetite x x x

:rotfl: and heres me thinking you were somewhere tropical :rotfl:

liuhut

I've had an interesting day, I won a Reiki session last year and went today, it was sooo nice. Took DD1 horse riding which is not cheap but figured that the saving I've made else where I could use some of it on the kids.
Spends for the day
£20 horse riding,
took the kids to wacky - £12 on enterence and drinks.
OH wanted beers at home so another £12
£10 at the supermarket on top up bits for the week.

thats....£54!!! in one day well I really blew the budget today...on the positive sided normally we would have stayed and ate at Wacky Warehouse & that wold have cost about £30 so an kind of saving there.
I've also been doing Matched Betting and for the first week I've made £130 which I'm really chuffed with...If I keep that up I can quit work!!

Frugaldom

Liuhut, I can't fault you on taking the kids horseriding as that's exactly how I got started doing all my frugal challenge way back in umm.... 1998!!! A full DECADE ago! :eek::eek:

I kind of had a compulsive spending disorder and kept buying, err... horses! :rotfl: :rotfl: One was a thoroughbred from a really well known bloodline and I decided it would be fun to try racing it on the flat. So I set about doing my very first ever proper challenge - to own a racehorse!:rotfl: :rotfl:

The above looks totally unrealistic when I read it back but to put it into perspective, the little horse cost me £450 and it was the most ridiculous thing on this planet to attempt but the more people laughed, the more determined I became to get that little horse on a racetrack.