2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

Frugaldom

I GOT MY SOAP NUTS!! They just arrived and I'm acting like the kid who won the entire contents of a sweet shop! Sad but true :j

Can't wait to get another washing on to try these out but, sadly, need to wait until 11pm for the cheap rate electricity before I do a wash - I'm not so excited that I'd do that during daylight hours!

Bails - I think your gas bill sounds a bargain! Considering all the price increases etc, that's good if it's all your cooking, heating and hot water. I guess, however, it would depend on how much electricity you used on top of that. and any other fuel, if you have a coal fire, log burner etc. Do a heat & light chart, that's what I do :T

Scottish meet for frugalites? Hmm... could be fun after the challenge ends and I think by Scottish it means location wise. One third of my household is English, so does that mean we can attend the south east of England meeting too? Class it as a long haul holiday? :rotfl:

Keren, my pal makes sloe vodka and sloe gin, I prefer the voddie. I have also made 'cheap plonk' from recipes supplied by a friend in the Orkney Isles. All you need is a cheap plastic bucket, rhubarb, sugar and water:rotfl: A word of warning - this stuff gets a bit of a fizz when bottled and is VERY potent. Umm... I'm assuming that it's legal to make this stuff? :eek:

LOTTERY TICKETS?? I stopped them a long time ago and started buying Premium Bonds (I know, I know.... not that MSE, but at least I can cash them in and get my money back.) Anyway, I've only won 3 x £50 in the past 2 years and would cash them in, but decided to leave them where they are until youngest reaches 21, cash them in and use them as his birthday present. I told my kids that for each of their 21st birthdays they would get £1 for every week of their lives and it was up to them if they invested it, saved it or blew it on something silly. In the meantime, it's lying in Premium Bonds and, with 2 more years to go, I might just win something worthwhile. FINGERS CROSSED!

Burlesque_Babe

mini-huny It's really easy!!! Cheap bottle of vodka, chop up plums and put in a bottle together. Leave for a month and add1/2 pound sugar. Give a good swirl and leave for 2 more months.

Cherry brandy - cheap bottle of brandy, chop up cherries - do the same as the vodka!! The cherries were fantastic on their own after the brandy was finished. I popped some into other drinks or ate them with chocolate - yum!

Mars bar vodka (have't done this for ages!) Chop 6 mars bars and put into empty glass bottle (chop them in long thin strips so they go in easy). Add vodka to the neck of the bottle and put lid on. Put is dishwasher and run cycle - it melts the chocolate, or, put in sink of hot water and keep turning the bottle until it has all melted. Put in fridge or freezer - done!

There's other stuff you can do like fruit gums or gummy bears etc. Bounty or Milky Way would also work I guess.

mini_huny_money

Thanx Keren, the mars bar one sounds brilliant for a girlie night im having once my kitchen and bathroom is finished and will do the plum one in time for Easter!!!

Frugaldom

Ooh, thanks for the voddie recipes Keren!! Yum! Never, ever thought of putting sweets or chocolate in it before!

NYK WACKY HINTS & TIPS (I keep forgetting to add these) Save the little tabasco sauce (or similar) bottles as they make great tincture, perfume or rosewater bottles and/or miniatures for gift baskets

Burlesque_Babe

and if you have the little food colour type bottles you can decant some in and give it as a gift , they are the perfect miniature bottle size.

elantan

yep sorry nyk shouldve been a wee bit more careful what i write i meant a scottish location one i mean if it was just a scottish one i wouldnt be allowed to go and i fancy going ...liking the idea of a long haul holiday aswell ...this year it's a £15 sun fun for us... only thing is i am missing one of the stamps dont know what to do about that bit

InTheRed

Hello everyone!
I am a dedicated lurker on this site, read everyday in the office!
I cannot take part this year - as getting Wed in May and will definately be spending more than £4k.
This thread is very inspiring and is helping me realise how very small changes can make a big difference over a period of time. My personal downfall is restaurants, through doing my budget throughout last year, I can pinpoint when my weak moment is for dining out and I am in that area now! Must stay strong.....
Have been meal planning, last night made chicken curry with left over chicken, not quite enough so bulked up with red kidney beans and bulgar wheat!!!! Family still ate it!
NYK what size family are you doing this challenge for?
Could I be cheeky and ask for your recipe for tortilla's, my family also love them.

InTheRed x

bails

Thanks so much for all the helpful advice about my gas bill - it just came as a bit of a shock this morning when I had £120 outstanding to my old supplier (but I realised afterwards that our DDs had only started coming out in Nov; we moved here in July). We're about to change again as soon as the light goes green as we're with BG at the mo - it was a good idea honestly, were cheapest by far at time and we got £60 cashback, kerching!
Nyk, I had a vague idea about the rules but thanks for pointing them out again; I slip up on a few of them. I'm assuming it's okay for me to say the Weight Loss thread is here , why else would the web link be available? (please do tell me if I've got this wrong, it would be a DISASTER if I got barred :eek::D). You do need to sign up to the Times online thing (can I say that? Goodness, I don't know what's ok now!!) to get the free pedometer. Mr T is selling then for a quid at the mo but to be honest, having had experience with cheap pedometers, it might not be so great (or the Times one for that matter but I don't know about either of these specifically).

I'm going to have a couple of spend days which I'm gutted about, as it's my mum's 60th so need to finish her present and go out for lunch tomorrow. We're now having a party at home though in the evening so it shouldn't be a massive spend, fingers crossed. OH, just remembered I'm having my legs waxed today so big spend there (this may seem frivolous but if you had my genes - Dad is a gorilla - you'd see it was an essential spend )

My gas bill is still scaring me a little thinking about it, as we were in India for a month (v cheap flights from MSE, of course, and we spent less there than we do here note to self: must live abroad more :rotfl:) and as someone said, it was the summer/autumn. I will be checking those meter readings...
HS, glad I've helped you do some decluttering; it's a minor miracle any happened in my house (I'm a terrible hoarder) so I'm feeling even more chuffed now, for my by proxy decluttering One of the cats is now sound asleep in one of the cardboard boxes I emptied so I've also created a free cat bed; bonus!
Back to bed for me as feeling ropey, hope to catch up later, have a great day all.

mini_huny_money

by the way.....the Mr T's I got all the reduced stuff from was the big new one at Silverburn, anyone who lives near should check it out just after 9pm each night

this is the 3rd time Ive had a whole load of chicken and ready meals at rock bottom prices,......theyre not too good at changing over the prices so when you get to the checkout, you're charged the full price !!!!

keep the look of horror off your face, say nothing, quietly go to the customer services and you'll get refunded with double the difference. This happened the last twice but unfortunately not last night

When the new Morrisons opened at the FORT there were fantastic bargains to be had too, thats kinda slowed down now

I reckon its when a new store opens, the store is still adapting to the amount they need to buy in so have to reduce a lot of stock.....worth thinking about when a new store opens in your area.

mini_huny_money

bails, thanx for the links and as far as Im aware what you've posted is ok, going by reading other threads