2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

DdraigGoch

Aaargh, don't use Araldite, Janey! NOT good stuff, seriously.

I'll try and find out a food safe one for you - have you considered asking for one on Freecycle? Looking at your local recycling plant? Using a heatproof plate? The latter is what I did for about 4 years when I dropped the lid only [*rolls eyes*] 8 years after I got my original one, until the entire thing died.

Good luck with the toy purchases - tell him to go and look at the recycling centre too for tools, a] cheaper b] better made usually c] recycling d] he can get more tools per £ there than almost anywhere! Also, I bought a mini rotavator from eBay and it's been a boon and a blessing to us - and nowhere near the original cost.

If you pm me the make and model of your slow cooker I'll keep my eye out for a replacement lid for you, if you wouldn't mind me doing that.

Well done everyone for keeping on with this challenge, as I said earlier, I'm WAAAAAAAAAAAAY over my budget, even the higher budget I had to start with, but we're a lot better than we would be, thanks to everyone on here. Who knows, I might even claw myself back towards the black thanks to you lot

bails

Well, I haven't quite made my 24 hours without electricity - withdrawal symptoms, darn challenge - but it looks like I've got here just in the nick of time!:eek: What is it about the end of Feb and people feeling the need to leave?? I understand that you are having a difficult time, I really do (why do you think I'm on here so much ), but please stay and enjoy the crack. It doesn't matter if we don't meet the challenge, but I guarantee that something that is written here this year will help your life in some way. If you don't have the headspace to count spends then just take a break - I'm sure it'll be okay with Nyk to start again at the beginning of another month, and we can tell you how much of the total is left. Or just keep posting for support and inspiration. So please stay!

I have blown about £10 so far today (haven't counted up the change yet) and you know what - I'm not sorry! I thought about what I was spending and decided that I wanted to get these things and that I would simply play catch-up to 'earn' them. I shouted drinks for me and a friend I haven't seen for a couple of years, which was lovely; I got my cats some luxury cat food as the kitten was neutered today :eek: and the tabby accidentally got locked in the shed by OH for a day and a half :eek::eek::eek: Zacc had to have some too so he wasn't left out of course Their evident joy at getting real chicken pieces was worth every penny. I also treated OH to some of his fave minty shower gel and got myself some cookies :T To redeem myself, here's the good news: we got a voucher for the neutering thanks to advice on here so saved ourselves about £20-£25; not using electricity for 20 hours will have saved us a few pennies and gave us a v romantic candelit evening and quality time together; I may never need to shower at home again as, if I time it right, I can use the ones at my new gym and use their soap/shampoo and conditioner :j

Hmm, okay, you may have noticed that I've just 'fessed up to joining a gym....:eek: In my defence, Your Honour , I already belonged to a gym that I hardly ever got to, illness-wise, so I've swopped my membership to one just down the road and right next door to my school; perfect! It is more expensive but I've already got the catch-up part sorted for that and I've used it 4 times already! This is so important to my recovery and I am completely happy with shelling out for it now; in the future, once this has helped me get well, I can go back to my mountain biking/outdoors lifestyle which is free! :j The gym also gets me out of the house a lot more (I can go there and just use the sauna, steam etc) so I save on bills here; also has WiFi so expect to hear from me from the luxury of the coffee shop (free lime sodas ) sometimes

Sorry for wittering on - see what happens when I leave for just a few hours?! - one last thing; I got my test results back from the specialist today and the fab news is that all the hard work I am doing is paying off and I am getting much better! WOO HOO! This does mean another massive spend on meds but so, so worth it for quality of life! OH YES, life is goooooooooood! xx

ps did I mention I get my own personal trainer...;):rotfl:

MarkyMarkD

Grace in Irish is Grasta (with an accent which MSE won't show) I think. Aren't you Welsh though RedDragon? Or is your OH Irish? My family is Irish by origin but my wife is Welsh.

I love the name Grace anyway!

There's definitely something about men and gadgets (he says as a man). We have a bread machine covered in dust (and taking up valuable space) on our kitchen worktop, and a yogurt maker which has never been used taking up space in the kitchen cupboard - doh!

Earlier in this thread someone was referring to making their own bread. I'm honestly not convinced by the economics - can anyone share some knowledge on this? By the time you've bought lots of ingredients and paid for electricity, bought bread starts to look like better value IMHO.

I've had 3 hours of meetings at work today and I'm about to start the fourth - yawn! Can't wait to get away.

bails

Oh MarkyMark, I'm sure Nyk (and others) will be along in a minute to show you the error of your ways re the breadmaking - the figures are very inspiring (she says, still not having got the breadmaker out ).

Frugaldom

Excellent Post Bails! :T I can't fault any of it, not even the personal trainer part... really??? :eek:

Marky, I work from home and bake bread by hand when needed. You do not need "lots of ingredients", it's basically flour & water with yeast, which many people get free, and a little bit of lard and salt according to taste. If you check back a couple of pages you'll find a break down of what it costs when using non brandname flour. If I remember correctly, £2 makes about 50 small rolls or 6 loaves. It's quite a saving for those who would normally spend over £1 for a loaf. We're talking about proper crusty loaves, rolls, pizza bases and baguettes etc and we also need to include the fact that many people don't live near supermarkets that sell cheap bread. The cheapest loaf available in my area is 65p and it tastes like cardboard when it's toasted.

PS: I do buy bread when I can't be bothered making it or if it's price reduced.

Burlesque_Babe

I love the name Grace. If I'd ever had the chance to have children, Grace would have been in my top 3.

fallen_angel_shelley

NYK- thanks for the kind words.
Bails- i will be keeping an eye on you all and saying hello, it's just the last 18 months has been a bit rough for me to say the least, maybe i will go for the challege next year.

MarkyMarkD

Nyk - thanks for the numbers on bread. I am working on the basis that £2 for 6 small loaves = 66p per large loaf = more than it costs to buy one in Sainsbury's or Tesco or whatever (i.e. 59p for sliced wholemeal). I'm sure the home-made would be better but it also seems like some effort! I know that I was exaggerating with "lots of ingredients"; it's far more the effort of measuring out things.

I managed to persuade my wife around to reusable nappies as an MSE effort but she is rather disinclined to measure out bread ingredients last thing at night for a bit of overnight bread machine baking on Economy 7.

Penny2myName

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

Nyk - thanks for the numbers on bread. I am working on the basis that £2 for 6 small loaves = 66p per large loaf = more than it costs to buy one in Sainsbury's or Tesco or whatever (i.e. 59p for sliced wholemeal). I'm sure the home-made would be better but it also seems like some effort! I know that I was exaggerating with "lots of ingredients"; it's far more the effort of measuring out things.

I managed to persuade my wife around to reusable nappies as an MSE effort but she is rather disinclined to measure out bread ingredients last thing at night for a bit of overnight bread machine baking on Economy 7.

Not sure about the cost of energy, but mine works out at 18p per 1lb loaf/6-8 rolls ingredients wise, and I cant find it this cheap in my local Mr A, unless reduced to 9p like last night from 75p and that was for a small loaf. I use the breadmaker just for the mixing, then bake in the oven between 20-30 minutes.

Frugaldom

Marky - I can see where you're coming from, but some of us do not live near supermarkets and flour costs much less than bread. If I DID live near a major supermarket, then I'd be able to slash my costs by purchasing cheap flour and could cut costs more by baking the loaves after 11pm. I'll try this first chance I get, which will probably be next week. For Mothers Day, I have decided on a nice day trip to a location that has a Tesco. I'll make full use of the day and do my main monthly shop whilst there, then we'll see just how much I can save by using one of the 'big 4' supermarkets.

Send my best wishes to your wife. It's been a few years since I've had to worry about nappies, but I remember I really struggled using terries because of wet weather, no central heating and no tumble dryer. I didn't actually have a washing machine to begin with, now I think about it! Anyway, I gave up in the end and used the disposables as they worked out cheaper.