2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

FrankieM

Hi everyone...
We are having a break from our gardening at the moment, so I thought I'd see what you were all up to!
Does anyone go foraging? For wood or even food? I love the idea of free stuff, but I don't know where to start as far as looking for it is concerned...and I think I'm going to have to find some free stuff soon, cause my budget isn't going to last the year!

Mollymop5

Afternoon everyone, my budget is once again going ok this month.Having my direct debits set up for all my outgoings is helping me enormously.The grocery challenge also means i know where I am and the money thats left is called my "other" money.this is what I use for everything else.
I'm off to my dd Easter Extravaganza at school in a moment.It was postponed from Thurday because of the power cut.
I know there's going to be tombolla stalls, rafles cake stalls ect so I spoke to my daughter this morning and we sorted out our spending money.We each have a purse and once the moneys gone it's gone.We have £10 in total as I like to support the school on these fundraising events but don't like to be too much out of pocket lol.By deciding on £10 it makes a nice number ( are you looking NYK) to add to my spending diary! If theres any left over then i will put it in my sealed pot.Not very likely though lol
Hope you all have a lovely day and hope you're alot warmer than I am.It's Freezing here!

Molly x

slowlyfading

Thanks for all the lovely replies, I really am touched. I am going to stay around, because I love reading what you all do in terms of cutting back and what you make in your kitchens etc, and I hope that I pick up some good skills.
I'm about to have a moan though... :mad: I bought a laptop in December 2006, its a HP Pavilion Entertainment one, and its already starting to break. It keeps crashing, shutting down for no reason, the screen keeps going all dodgy, and I've already had it looked at once. So I've decided to see if I can get a fairly cheap desktop computer now. I've got lots of work that I need to have safe etc, and can't keep losing work as it crashes when I'm writing an essay etc. I'm just fed up, because it wasn't a cheap laptop to begin with, and I'd saved for ages to get it, and now its already starting to go wrong. I only have it on for an hour, and it gets really over heated and I have to turn it off, and I'm really fed up to be honest.
SO, that'll take a big hit out of my finances, but never mind.
Thanks again guys, its nice to know people take notice of my ramblings
sf :heartpuls

Janey51

To Nyk and others who enjoy reading my posts.....
I am really touched that you all think I should publish Maybe it could be a future debt busting project :T
I will have to give this some thought.

mumzyof2

does anyone see my posts?

taka

Wooooohooooo I've finally caught up :rotfl: :T :T Well done and ((((Hugs)))) for all that need them!

I had all last week off work so thought I could still have my MSE fix on my home PC... Nope :eek: ... it hasn't been a particularily happy PC for a couple of months but was still soldiering on (with help from my Dad!) It finally died a death (now won't stay on for longer than about 15mins if I'm lucky :mad:) so I finally had to get a new one so I'm now £260 lighter :mad: . The only positive was I managed to talk myself out of buying a laptop which would have cost £100 more for a worse spec just so I could veg in front of the TV while on here from home. (Especially as I can see the same TV by turning my head to the side and sitting about a 4 inches further back from my compy desk in my boxroom :rotfl: )

Good luck and ((((hugs)))) sf... compy probs are horrible. Have you tried the techie forum bit for any advice?

Please nobody go... I love this thread soooo much - its so inspiring and has had a huge effect on my spending too! I do have to say I've added a breadmaker to my wishlist though and its all cause of this thread too :mad:

DdraigGoch

Mumzyof2, yes, your posts are read and enjoyed! I often wonder if I've contributed anything of use ... and then think, "well, if I only hang around and put the odd "well done" in now and again, at least I'm making up the numbers and you never know, I might be useful at some point" - so don't feel left out in the cold ....... we all feel like that at times, particularly when things aren't going too well.

hugs to everyone who feels they need some, and to those of you that don't ... have some for spare for when you do!

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:
:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:
:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

Jay1_2

FrankieM wrote: »

Does anyone go foraging? For wood or even food? I love the idea of free stuff, but I don't know where to start as far as looking for it is concerned...and I think I'm going to have to find some free stuff soon, cause my budget isn't going to last the year!

I'm going to visit my parents soon and will have a nice empty car on the way back so am thinking of foraging while I'm there - in their cupboards! :rotfl: Is that fair? (They're retired) I'm taking them some books (that were donated to the Library but not in good enough condition to go on the shelf) and ME!:D

Now I'm going to get a blanket. I survived yesterday with no heating so I can do the same today, but I need blanky. Tempted in fact to just put my pjs on and drag the whole bed in here coz I'm tired but will try to resist ;-) zzz

mah_jong

Jumble-Bee wrote: »

oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear

i am being sent to the north of scotland for an 'outdoors adventure' type trip with my work tomorrow

and i am not outdoorsy in the slightest

and it will be coooooooooooooooooooooold!

I do get free food though! but i did have to buy some jogging bottoms yesterday

im cooooooooooold thinking about it

I don't know how far North you will be going but I live in the North west of Scotland and its cold! Remember your thermal undies! It was snowing yesterday whilst the sky was partially blue and the sun shining!!

Today...not actually as cold BUT feels colder because of the wind! Cutting!

Have fun!!:rotfl::rotfl:...... and you wont be spending much!

redglass_2

Does anyone go foraging? For wood or even food? I love the idea of free stuff, but I don't know where to start as far as looking

Yes, I do, FrankieM, mostly for wood. Some of my friends think this is sad, but I've had quite a lot of free fuel so far. RIght now I have my eye on a nice little pallet at work and there's also a promising skip along the road. If you ask to take stuff from a skip people are usually fine about it, and even if the answer's no you haven't lost anything. I pick up branches and cones that have blown down and put them in the back of my car - I try to keep space free, just in case. Some DIY stores give away pallets. Anywhere a shop is being refitted, or a house redecorated, you are likely to find something. I also used to forage for food, mostly mushrooms (I was very careful!) and hedge fruit but I don't do so much of this nowadays. The classic book for food foragers is Richard Mabey's 'Food for Free' - it's a lovely book but it's pretty old now, so there might be more recent books with better pictures.