2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

Janey51

Funbrum good for you. My new job is with the Council and I know the post I am taking is not paid at the level it should be in comparison with jobs of similar responsibility.

bails

azjh77 wrote: »

It was out Winford way - Red House Farm (won't mean anything to those not from the south west !) There were people buying crates of them...possibly to eat? ...I'm just glad i've given 6 of them a chance take a better life...and got 2 more eggs yesterday!

Oh goodness, now I'm in a real dilemma! If I think they're being bought to be eaten, then my instinct is to go and buy the lot!! Obviously I can't do this/it wouldn't be fair to them but can I buy a couple? How much space to chickens need? And is any space better than a roasting tin? :eek:

bails

Janey51 wrote: »

chickens oh how I wish there was a place nearby where I could rescue battery hens from. I did email a rescue place but there is nowhere within reasonable travelling distance.

Right Janey, I'll hire a truck and drive all (but two) up to lovely Scotland, you have the chicken feed ready

catshark88

Have you seen the current pankake mix ad where you stick the pack under the tap, fill with water and shake?

Not just is it SO anti MSE but how are kids going to learn to cook with lessons like that? Can't help future obesity probs either...

Hope all those chickens find good homes, I have 4 dark brahmas and could almost build a greenhouse out of their weekly egg supply (well maybe it would be a darkroom!).

Frugaldom

Hi Bails, unfortunately there are occasions when any space is not better than a roasting tin (not meaning to sound horrible, but I've worked in animal welfare). You need to be prepared for the chickens, space, housing, feeding, care, treatment etc - most of these factory-farmed birds are kept in light and temperature controlled housing and if the farmer is clearing them out then it's for a reason - usually moulting at end of their peak laying season. They might never have been outside before and who knows what a keen frost, rain or snow could do to them, especially if they are a bit bald. Tread with care - get the hen house and a secure pen ready first and have a chat with the neighbours if they are within earshot. I have to laugh when people say hens don't make any noise because this is simply NOT true. I can assure you that you will hear the clucks of a laying hen, it just doesn't reach the levels of a crowing cockeral

PS: I would love to keep hens again, and would be the first to dash off and buy some if I had suitable accommodation ready for them, so the above isn't because I have anything against hens. In fact, I also had 3 cockerals - Henry lived in the hen house, Barney lived in the barn and Floppy Feet just flopped about wherever the hang he wanted (even into the kitchen if the door was left open!!) because he was so cute :rotfl:

Frugaldom

I've found a picture of one of the recycled bottle greenhouses - it says it took 550 x 2l plastic bottles

http://www.sci-scotland.org.uk/greenhouse.html

bails

I absolutely love the sound of the bike shed made out of plastic bottles, how ace is that! I'd love to see a picture too please.
A pretty good day here - the office is well on the way to being finished, lining paper is half up and it's going to be purple! My dad is horrified (Magnolia Man we call him ) but I think it'll look great.
Phone bill came today and we've only spent £5 on calls, will aim to reduce this and add Calling Circle for discounted calls. £20 of PB vouchers arrived today :T so only £40 more til I can get OH's pressie. Also got my free Valentine's card, it's not quite what I expected but is still pretty cool and OH will like it because it's from me But the best news of today is that we got £95.06 from Quidco :j£55 is for the dishwasher but the rest is going into the savings pots.
BTW Nyk, we are debt-free (except for student loans which I think are quite different) and are saving - personally (I think) I am saving to renovate this house, not sure what we'll spend the joint savings on yet... chickens? :rotfl:
I love pancakes so will be having loads tonight, yum! Hope everyone's still enjoying the frugal challenge and if you feel like it's all a bit much, just think how amazing you'll feel at the end of the year with all that we'll have achieved. I wonder how much we can collectively save by 31st December...Maybe we could have a sweepstake? (not that I'm encouraging gambling, just a bit of fun).
EDIT: ooh, pic up while I was still typing! That's brill! Totally agree with what you're saying about the chickens Nyk, and sadly not sure our neighbours would be too understanding. One for the country cottage most probably...

Frugaldom

I have just noticed that several of you have nominated this thread for post of the month! Thank you to everyone! I think it's brilliant that so many of you are taking part in this but to find out that you have also thought the subject worthy of any sort of nomination is just WOW! Frugal living really has got plenty going for it :beer: Cheers guys and please keep frugaling

Bails - Well done on the Quidco and Pigsback! I received a £10 voucher for Marks & Sparks today in exchange for some of my Euroffice points, plus I have my first £10 House of Fraser discount voucher courtesy of Amex, but I'll never use that because I am nowhere near a House of Fraser store! I've also just checked my oily hand account and it is showing a balance of only 5p!! Hopefully it means there's a cheque in the post for £185 :j You just know which smiley will appear on here if that arrives! :rotfl:

Have now received confirmation from ipoints that my Hungry Hippos game and annual subscription to Home Living magazine are being despatched - something else to look out for in the post. I love freebies!

Does anyone collect green points from http://www.biggreenswitch.co.uk/ I don't know what they are for yet, but it's letting you collect them for something. I guess time will tell.

PS: I made 6 huge pancakes out of one egg's worth of mix, DS is away for a few days, so we HAD to eat 3 each so as not to waste any. I'll need to pedal an extra few calories worth to work off all the excess sugar energy now. YUM!

PPS: Last night's potato scones turned out lovely and I have enough potato dough frozen to make another 8 lots as and when needed. This will certainly be the most entertaining and adventurous 25kg bag of spuds I have bought in years! :rotfl:

System

hello frugglites!

I am so jealous of people with chickens (especially when they are kept in a wendy house!)

I have been very unfruggle today, went out for lunch for a workmates birthday
but i got to go to the cinema for free yesterday (bf got those preview tickets) i was very impressed with his frugalness as he also brought a big bucket of popcorn from a pound shop BUT then at the end he left half of it behind!!!!! well, he tried to, until I adopted it (muching it right now!) i was going to keep the empty bucket anyway so the popcorn is a bonus

i tackled ol' 'charlie babbage' the cabbage on sun, made tons of stuff for the freezer, about 7 boxfuls! i did some sweet n sour (had some for tea with mash on top, was really good), some boiled to be made into soup, and a little bit frozen raw for adding to stir fry etc.

NYK - i have been reading through old posts, just realised you must hate me with your number OCD!

I am sorry, sadly my own form of OCD requires me to list money spent to the penny! :rotfl:

Frugaldom

Jumble-Bee wrote: »

my own form of OCD requires me to list money spent to the penny! :rotfl:

That's ok, I list mine to the penny and then look at the overall amounts that I can save - it means I always manage to squeeze an extra few pence out of the budget money and into the bank. I just hate waiting for payments to show up when rounding them up :rotfl: I've seen me paying a cheque into the bank and if it says £something.99 then I'd feel compelled to add a penny to the pay-in. It's not so bad when it's your own but it was so annoying when paying in for work! My coin savings are the same - as soon as they reach a round number that equates to a bank bag, in they go! The only thing I don't think about is my sealed pot; when weighing 'Phil the Pig' he's always to the nearest 5g because the scales don't do any less than that.