2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

flowerofthewest

nykmedia wrote: »

"the best laid schemes o' mince an men, gang aft agley!"

It may be the late hour - but I do think that if you've had mince long enough for it to have scheme, it's time you cleared out your fridge! :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Just had vision of mince "gone bad" and terrorising the rest of the fridge contents. :rotfl:

Fi

bizwiz

£4,000 for a year is more than enough where I am from

Janey51

Nyk DH would love to live in a cave so I'm sure a nuclear bunker would be perfick for him. He did tell me he spent a lot of his youth crawling into holes and sleeping there. Perhaps he's a genetically modified mole.

Aril your posts are hilarious. I love the description of the Venus Flytrap purse. I think mine is of the same genus. Well, I actually have 3. One is for my few pennies. One is for my Mum's shopping. One is for our housekeeping.
The housekeeping one seems to have a life of its' own....its moving about and rustling. Wait....I know what it is...its the moths trying to escape.

Flowerof the west ramble away. Wow, a rich frugalite who has salmon in the freezer.

Jumble-Bee I have started using soapnuts but I have to agree with frizzel that the free sample (75p p&P) seemed to be better than the ones I bought off Ebay (£5.99/500g) but the Ebay ones are not dry, they have a funny smell. But I haven't noticed any smell on the clothes. They are good for a quick wash but not so good with really dirty clothes (OH's shed clothes)

Janey51

I have an early start as I'm off to visit a friend who has moved 80 miles away.
I will not think about the diesel. I will not think about the diesel.
Hopefully, as she lives near a big city, I may be able to offset the fuel costs by stocking up on some essentials. There are some good butchers that sell quality mince and a huge indoor market where I can get fruit. There are also stalls where traders sell stuff that is close to its' "use by" date which is good.

whitewing

**Selfish post alert**(I am reading and loving all your posts though)

Hmmmm. Busy day here, busy week. Friend's husband's post mortem today so will be on the phone later. Other friend (I have two very close, long term friends) starts chemo tomorrow for 26 weeks or so. Not so long ago I would have found this all virtually uncopewithable but I am much more resilient nowadays. And astonishingly don't feel the need to go and splurge. Well, I would like to make a chemo hamper for the one friend but will content myself with getting just a few items off the list and then passing the rest of the list to her husband!

Will be going to the funeral which will involve a big diesel spend, so am going to try to reclaim some of that from the grocery budget. Every little helps.

Smiley MIL is very sweet. We were 'talking' about OH and I trying for a baby, and she offered to look after it for us while we were working. With DS' granny, she had a way of telling me stuff that made my blood boil. With MIL, I felt comfortable enough to say that I wanted to look after it myself maybe as DS went into nursery when he was three months' old and I worked fulltime. It was right for us at the time but I'm more than a decade older now and whatever we do I want to feel that I have a choice.

OH is feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything that is going on, but is being very supportive, just not very frisky today, lol! We are trying to incorporate MIL into our existing budget as she is still paying for grandparents' nursing homes in their country. I think OH and MIL are going to do some meal plans later in the week, so that they can do a cheap Lidl shop on Saturday. Fortunately a lot of the Lidl contents will be familiar to MIL. She did a lot of cooking from scratch so I think she is going to help us out by cooking some traditional foods for the next few weeks.

We are still a little too reliant on child benefit coming thro in the middle of the month for my liking. We are having to go without stuff until that's in (nothing dramatic or life threatening of course). And then we have another barren few days until the next lot of income arrives. There is also a hold up with tax credits for us. Will be backdated anyway and it's a hold up rather than a !!!! up, but it would be useful.

I must console myself that although we're technically over budget (and I don't really see a way of clawing it back), we have also managed to include a lot more unanticipated events that we could have imagined. I think we've been very lucky this year, and we have lots to appreciate. I don't think we've wasted any money; even unscheduled purchases have come from the heart so they were the right thing to do. For all the money that I haven't spent, I feel that I am having more enriching conversations with my family and friends. Rather than going out for say coffee, we are meeting up at home, and consequently we are touching more on subjects that we wouldn't discuss in public, and we are more relaxed in each other's company. I never tell (female) friends that I love them, but I have felt able to this year.

Burlesque_Babe

I'd love to see that bunker - do you have a link to it?? My OH would say - ooh, that's the holiday home we've been looking for!!

Cold here and determined not to put the heating on so I've got a mug of instant horlicks which hopefully will keep me going until I go and get my doggy. His 'Dad' always has the fire on so I can be selfish and 'steal' a few minutes of warmth when I go to collect him! The meringue in the Eton Mess had dissolved by the time we ate it last night so if I do it again, I know not to make it until it is needed.

OH is at football practise tonight so it's a super frugal day with defrosted batch cooked keema tonight.

tryingtodobetter

Everyone seems to be doing so well you all deserve a big pat on the back. It's a shame that I can't say the same for things here, I had my tonsils out on Friday so I have been able to do very little but DH has managed to spend £90 in 3 days even though I made sure that we had a house full of food :mad: He can't even really work out what he has spent it on, this is why I take care of all the money usually. Looks like I will have a lot to do playing catch up when I feel better.

mama67

Jumble-Bee wrote: »

:rotfl:thanks...but sadly i was meaning cheaper than my usual 'half the amount of value powder, and no softner ever' ....or is that just not possible?!?

.....i have an old laundry scrubber as a decoration in my living room...maybe i could bring that out of retirement and cut down on electricity....

If clothes only need refreshing (not dirty but need a wash) just put them thru in water, apparently the oxygen in the water is what does the job anyway rather than all the soap etc.

I do this with alot of my t shirts and stuff like that.

Obviously underwear needs soap as would anything really dirty.

bails

bizwiz wrote: »

£4,000 for a year is more than enough where I am from

Hi Bizwiz, where are you from? Is it in the UK, because if not then it's not really relevant? We'd love to know how you can live on less than 4K though, we need all the help we can get!:D

Nyk, thanks for the hug, he did come back with the museli (or course) but no potato! I came home and rummaged in the freezer for something I could eat and the muesli has been paid for by him He has promised to try harder with planning ahead and has said how much he appreciates what I'm doing for us, so I'll let him live for another day Good ol' Rabbie Burns. The cat has been taken to the vet, no chip and we couldn't find anyone on our street that owned him so probably a stray, bless.
Janey, I was ROFLing at you living with a genetically-modified mole! :rotfl:This thread never fails to amuse me, thankyou! Hope you get lots of bargains to help justify the diesel, although seeing friends is priceless.
Whitewing, not a selfish post, just sharing with us which is great! I think it's ace you now feel able to tell your friends you love them; sometimes we keep things to ourselves that would really make someone's day.
Tryingtodobetter, sorry to hear about your errant husband and your tonsils - maybe you could've had your hubby taken out instead? Could ou take any of the things back that he's bought?
It's freezing here too but no heating on, the yak wool coat is doing its job perfectly, just my hands that are FREEZING! Oh, that reminds me, I have now started reading our meters daily - what have I become?:rotfl:OH thinks it's a good idea, but then he wouldn't tell me otherwise this morning now would he?!;)
Have a fab day all and I hope you save some money x

Frugaldom

_party_ Parteeeeeeeeee.......... Did you realise that you have all just made it to...

DAY 50

of this incredible challenge - that must deserve a pat on the back at the very least! WELL DONE TO EVERYONE WHO IS STILL HERE.

:T :T :T

For those who have asked, THIS will take you to the nuclear bunker and, mad as it may seem, it really would make a fantastic 'Grand Designs' style project. I can just imagine what would have happened if I had that kind of 'pocket money' available for impulse buys!! But I would still take my Billy Can with me. :rotfl: