2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

Lexxi

affordmylife wrote: »

Oh and I think they stopped the blue smarties for the same reason!!!!

Could have been the blue ones, I think it's why there are now brown ones, if there are brown ones, or it might have been brown which colour doesn't occur naturally....
Not sure why I'm thinking so hard on this, I don't even like em!!!

fizzel81

evening all

well ive used my soapnuts sample not once but twice (bedding and then a jeans wash) cheated tonight and used tumble dryer so its all dry before i go tomorrow and......

well i need to keep today a nsd so tomorrow morning i will be online ordering a bigger bag of the soapnuts, they seem great, must admit id like to get some oil just to make my washing smell of something but yep seem good to me.

hope you all have a good next few days, dont leave me too much to catch up on lol.

night

Fiona

dND

hopeless_spendthrift wrote: »

Oooh the soapnuts review! Please please forgive my sieve-like brain!
I was not impressed when I first took the washing outta the machine bc of the smell - or lack of it. Think I have been conditioned to think comfort/lenor-type smell = clean clothes! I did put a few drops of white musk room fragrance oil (all i had lol) into the
drawer as suggested, but obviously that wasn't enough. I would worry about putting too much essential oil in though - wouldn't it stain the clothes, being oil?
Dd2 had spilled some choccy on her nightdress which has come out completely and now that the clothes are dry, they do feel incredibly soft and now have a kind of pleasant, fresh odour about them.
You said they don't work on heavy stains dND thanks so much for your review so perhaps I will stick to using them for 'quick wash' clothes only - feel I don't want to abandon them completely as I so like the idea of washing the clothes naturally and they're kind to sensitive skin. Will experiment with adding bicarbonate of soda to a white, stained wash also - ds has football practice on monday eves - had never heard or thought of adding this in the washing machine b4!
I only got sent 6 soapnuts - perhaps if we used more....what do u think and how many did u use plz dND?

Sorry to take so long to get back to you - this thread just grows

I was using 4 nuts at a time and using them for 2 - 3 washes.

From memory the recipe to make the solution instead of using the nuts directly was take 12 - 14 and bring to the boil in a pint of water and simmer 10 mins or so. Strain into jar, repeat with the same nuts and add that liquid to the jar as well. That should give you about a litre of soap solution. Then use a small amount of liquid for each wash. My reckoning would be 100 ml. Thats calculated using 4 nuts per wash for three washes for each set of 4, would give you 10.5 washes for 14 nuts. I think I'm going nuts! It's easier to use less liquid for lighter soiled washes than keep taking out and adding back nuts.

The thread also said that after being used for the washing you can still extract enough soap solution from them as above to use as shampoo or body wash.

I hope that helps.

wornoutmumoftwo

I Llive in Scotland too but I'm not Scots. Married to one though.

Me too! Been up here 5 years now, and one of my boys is English and takes after me, the other is Scottish and takes after my husband! :T

Frugaldom

Who keeps mentioning chocolate & sweets? :rotfl: Best thing for cold nights is a mug of hot chocolate topped with a handful of marshmallows! Mmmmm... delicious! Even better, make it with skimmed milk (or use the low cal instant ones) and there's no fat in marshmallows anyway, so pig out then do a few extra exercises to burn off the extra carbs - should keep you warm on a really cold night

Just remembered about the shampoo - buy the saver brands at about 30p for a [STRIKE]gallon[/STRIKE] litre and seal a sprig of rosemary (or whatever you prefer) inside the bottles while they are in your cupboard. I do the same with cheap bubble bath - lavender's nice too - and it makes it just as fragrant as the expensive aromatherapy ones. You can leave these stored for 6 months no problem. If all else fails, use ordinary soap for your hair and loads of people rinse in diluted white vinegar for extra shine.

Janey51

Hi wornoutmumoftwo!!
My sons are grown and married now. One lives in Glasgow and one in England.
My DH is generous to a fault and can't keep money...spends it on me..lol
But me...I'm really tight.

bails

Well, I was on the middle of catching up with all the posts (how many?!:D) but I just had to interrupt myself to say -
Nykmedia, tell me more about this house!!! Neither of us may not be able to afford it but I'm definitely up for a bit of house '!!!!!!' If you tell me it's in Scotland too then I may just have to rob a bank :rotfl:
Right, back to the thread...:o

Lexxi

Or eat Dark Choc as you need less of it to get the same fix as you would with other choc! Or buttons as they're small packs.

Forgot to mention that I cancelled my insurance for my phone, finally, but they won't let me take off the video calling but I'm still saving about £60 :T

Frugaldom

mumzyof2 wrote: »

I will be meal planning this week for next week i think..i cant wait..i live a very exciting life lol

I am absolutely useless at these because I keep forgetting the time and then leaving it too late to cook what was planned that I end up doing something quick :rotfl: If your plan ends up anything like mine it will go something like this:

Roast chicken with potatoes, veggies, gravy etc
Chicken chow mein or curry or sweet & sour or casserole or pie or fajitas
(Homemade tortillas take about 60 seconds each to make and freeze fine - I'll be bulk 'baking' them this weekend, as it's one of the few things everyone in this house eats with salad)
Chicken soup followed by smaller one of the above & then pudding
Spaghetti Bolognese
Chile Con Carne or Lasagne or cottage pie (something with mince)
Pasta with sauce - depends on what there's most of - tomato & herbs, cheese & ham etc
Pork steaks with stewed apples, potatoes & veg

We eat a lot of homemade soup in this house
We eat a lot of milk based puddings in this house (they don't even know it's powdered milk)
We eat a lot of breakfast cereals, whichever are BOGOF or half price
We eat a lot of porrage - one concession, it needs to be Quaker / Scott's oats.
We eat a lot of yoghurts - 5 for £1, can be poured over chopped fruit

The microwave does most things for speedy desserts - apple sponge or syrup sponge is a household favourite and the milk puddings all get cooked this way as well.

I am no domestic goddess, that's for sure. If it can be diced and stewed, steamed, slow cooked or stir fried then that's the very thing for me. Never waste steam, get those veggies and spuds going over the soup stock! :rotfl:

Angelofthenorth_4

Hi everyone. I've been following the challenge avidly and have finally plucked up the courage to post. I would love to join in if I may, with a budget of £4000. I've kept a track of my spending so far this month - I was too skint not to! You've all been such an inspiration and I've picked up loads of tips. I just love reading this thread!