Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

Frugaldom

Horrible news about the disaster in Burma, it is so difficult to even imagine those kinds of numbers and everyone completely helpless at the hands of mother nature. Yes, I agree, we are so lucky to be in a country that doesn't see the absolute extremes of freak weather, amongst other things. I just hope their 'powers that be' do, indeed, let the aid through to those who need it most!

Meanwhile, here on the homefront, isn't it great what a bit of free sunshine can do to lift the spirits! :j

Janey, have a great holiday and everyone else have a great day at work, at home, in the farden, wherever you may be. Sunshiney days are always so much easier to cope with than miserable, damp, dark ones.

I have DGD this afternoon again, so had to try my best to pile a full day's work into this morning! Thankfully, HS hung out the washing I had forgotten I'd switched on last night. Now, we have decided to go a quick trip to spring meadows to stock up on juice, tea party produce and pick up some cooking chocolate to make the giant jaffa cake for DS birthday tomorrow. I'll make the jelly before we leave so that it's set for tonight and then can get the whole thing into the fridge overnight to make sure nothing goes wrong (famous last words!) Guaranteed, if I left it until tomorrow, visitors, unscheduled babysitting or some other event would occur that prevented me taking the time to construct the mega-jaffa cake. :rotfl:

Payments are starting to come through for my charity auctions and a few eBid items I've sold, so they got packaged and sent. Will update signature on that later.

Mumzy - I KNOW these forums are meant to be supportive and encourage frugality etc but I can't help worry that you are attempting this particular challenge and setting yourself an impossible task. I am hoping that you are perhaps forgetting what you have posted where and then reposting but, reading your posts, you are spending £4.56 per day on cigs, which is meant to be coming out of your challenge budget. However, if you work out how much the cigs cost, it makes it impossible for you to live within the amount you have to spend, so perhaps it would be easier to leave the cigarettes out of your budget completely. Your cigs, alone, are costing you over £100 per month, so it might be easier to adjust your challenge amount here without including the cigs. Instead of £5000 + family allowance over a year, make it £3333 plus family allowance per year, which means your amount starting from May 1st would be £2222 for groceries, bills, travel, entertainment and gifts. This is equivalent to £63.75 per week plus family allowance. Are your absolutely 100% POSITIVE that you want to be under such pressure? I just feel that for your own happiness, it would be easier to set yourself achievable targets rather than setting yourself up for failure.
Can I suggest you do a new SOA so that you know how much you MUST pay out each week to cover rent, council tax, water and debt repayments, then whatever is left would be your challenge amount for everything else. Just trying to help, I don't mean to come across as a born again quitter and apologise if that's how it reads. I just worry about my frugalite family and want everyone to succeed.

Wornoutmumoftwo - try the forum search box for the recipe. I know it appears several times on the OS thread and in the recipes thread but I don't have a link to it, sorry.

Marru

Hello all,

I meant to post a proper reply when I have summed up my totals but if I wait for that you will never get this post. Before I go on if you are in a rush, skip this post or if you were going to have a cuppa I would suggest you make it now as I might be here for awhile .

I have been reading again all the posts from 29th of April and I have been wishing I could thank you all again so THANK YOU!! Truly enjoyable reading and a perfect "happy remedy".

mumzyof2 wrote: »

does anyone know how i subscribe to thats life, chat and take a break magazine? ive tried the websites with no joy. I want to save money as i buy them all each week. and would save me money

Do you have any friends that are intereste in the same magazines? If so each of you can then subscribe for one magazine and keep swapping. When all of you have read them see if you can sell the mags in one of the online auctions or just donate them into your local care home.

Andromache - so sorry to hear about the key but very exciting about the chocolate!!!

Nyk - good luck with the shares!

New dog: I had this lovely rescue dog that I took when she was 7 and she lived with me until 16 when (two years ago) her legs gave up and I had to let her go. As she is quite rare breed it will take some time before there is suitable adult dog available for rescue. I am just opening to the possibility.

Thank you all for the great ideas for giant jaffa cake. Will try it when my brother and his family comes to visit.

I have yet again been trying to get a BM from freecycle without success. Have also been now and again checing eBay but now I have decided that enough is enough. Nyk - would you be ever so kind and to post your recipe for the "half & half mix between budget strong bread flour and ordinary wholemeal flour" bread and also the instructions - pleeeeeeze!

Shaz - well done on your studies and don't worry about your age - I am older than you are when I start my course. Can I be curious about how did you get help financing your studies? I need to stay self employed to keep my tax credits and I am just about to call the tax credit office to find out if me studying as well will have adverse effect on my tax credits.

If I had 100k suddenly on my bank account a lot of it would go to pay off my debt and the rest would allow me worry free couple of years to concentrate to my studies. What is left after that would be saved to be a deposit for that small holding I hope I will get one day. Thanks to your posts I spent couple of hours in the middle of the night looking for small holdings. It looks like if I have any chance of getting one it means to buy a derelict barn with land in the middle of Wales and then train as a builder to convert the barn without needing to use outside labour (or get a very cheap mobile home planted in there). (There are some lovely fictional novels that touch the subjects of camper vans and barges. Camper van: Precious time by Erica James Narrow boat: Rose rewived (sp?), Life skills and Going Dutch by Katie Fforde)

I wish I had that small holding as then Bails could come and work for me and run the cattery.
Never hear of the plastic nails on cats :eek: I don't think you want to hear what I think of it - I might get kicked out from the forum for very inappropriate language :mad: .

Prudent: I don't know about frugality of the flea treatment but that is what I would do. I will let you know if I come across with something else.

You have all convinced me - I need to go charity shopping. I normally only buy books and videos but it looks like I am missing loads.

Whitewing - I hope you can sort your work stuff ok - sending hughs to you. And glad you had a lovely bank holiday Monday!(

CA - well done for gettin new job so quickly :T

Nyk - ooh I take my hat off to you for your car booty and networking success and really jealous of your opportunity for meeting the baby donkey - my idea of heaven.

sophiesmum wrote: »

Marru, see even your little monkey can be sweet sometimes:D

Thanks - yes she can. She has just become to be such a miss controversy and she doesn't listen anything I have to say like - don't hurt the dog, don't bang piggies cages, stop kicking... I think if I start treating her like I would a labrador puppy we might get somewhere .

lingojingo wrote: »

Oh how I wish I could update my bottom!:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
I'd have a nicely rounded but slim one:rotfl:

I couldn't agree more!!! Thanks for the giggle - I was thinking what you were thinking.

bails wrote: »

There's an inquest as it appears she was poisoned :eek:

Don't know what to say!!! That is terrible!!! I hope you are ok.

Was going to take car in today to be assessed but BG man turned up to make a safety check on gas appliances. I had mixed the dates and thought he would come on Thursday. Am staring my mirrors all the time to make sure that nothing has fallen off from the car while I am driving. Holding together so far. Didn't get DD for her nap yesterday and by the time she went to bed and I was yet again too tired to catch up with all my bits and pieces I needed to do.

Bails - sorry to hear about new casulty. Sophiesmum has this daily thread about what little dfw thing have everybody done that particular day. I can't post today as it would be just copying my list from yesterday as most of it didn't get done.

dawnylou wrote: »

Thanks for the welcome!
I would love to join, but I think I would be an outright failure!! lol

We struggle to live off what we earn as it is. I imagine it would be quite stressful.

Quite the opposite - if you struggle now then being in the challenge will change it to be fun. And even if you don't make it you have saved LOADS!!!

Slowlyfading - I hope you are having better day today - take care!!

nykmedia wrote: »

They have a little shop on site and it has a 'rummage shelf' of old magazines for 20p each, so I have 'invested' £3 in copies of Country Smallholding and The Smallholder. I can put these through as a business expense (stock) as they can be sold via my eBid store once I've read them all. :cool:

Oh please let me know when you list them - I am first to bid

MrDT - very impressed with your free karting :T

I won £20.- in bingo this weekend and I sill have £23.- to play with :cool:

(Scribbling: I will be half as organised as Sophiesmum, I will be half as organised as Sophiesmum, I will be half as orga...)

Nyk - please we want a picture of your giant jaffacake - pretty please :rolleyes:

That was it I think I've got all covered. Apologies if I missed something. Now I can just sneak my updates into my signature in quiet when I get around of calculating them.

Have a great day - I don't want to complain but it is tad too hot for me:p .

Marru

Marru

wornoutmumoftwo wrote: »

Does anyone have the recipe for twinks hobnobs handy, in a cooking mood and they sound good.

:beer:

Here:

8oz sr flour
8oz sugar
8oz porridge oats
8oz margarine
1tbsp golden syrup
1tbsp hot water
1/2 tsp bic soda
mix flour, oats and sugar, melt marg, syrup and water in a pan stir in bic soda and add to dry mix, mix well, make smallish balls and put on greased tray and flatten slightly with a fork, 180oc for 15 mins, cool on the tray, you just want them golden in oven not brown

Nicked from OS board

mumzyof2

I understand where you are coming from so i have decided to leave this thread even though i was stopping tomorrow due to having £1 till monday unless quidco money came in but wasnt going to smoke.

sophiesmum_2

hi Mumzy,
Hope you didn't take Nyk's post the wrong way, Nyk is just like a big mother hen looking out for all her little chicks.By taking the cigs out of your budget you will be more likely to be able to come in under budget and will not feel like you have failed, you do okay on the other stuff - look how you managed on the grocery challenge before you went away for your hols:T . Other posters have things that they don't count or count as luxuries so you don't need to feel guilty about anything.
Please don't leave the thread we need lots of posts from all different people in all sorts of different situations that is what keeps the thread alive.:D

Keep posting,

sophiesmum_2

:eek: :eek: :eek:

Flippin heck marru that post must have taken ages to write:D

I have sent you a pm

redglass_2

sophiesmum wrote: »

Please don't leave the thread we need lots of posts from all different people in all sorts of different situations that is what keeps the thread alive.:D

That's right, Mumzy, as Sophiesmum says, we need everybody and that definitely includes the smokers! Nyk was just a bit worried about you leaving yourself short, that's all. Please don't go.

mumzyof2

I have just over £400 a month to spend..I have got rid of my virgin tv,house phone and internet..and now pay £25 a month for internet (they messed up and wouldnt let me send a modem back so have 2 contracts..should of only been £15), im on a dmp of £48 a month.. gas and elec is £50 a month and my mobile is £35. I have cut down on sooo much that i dont really want to leave..I will be honest that post did come across a bit harsh but having time to think about it i know you ALL are just looking out for me I dread to think where i would be without you all

Frugaldom

mumzyof2 wrote: »

I understand where you are coming from so i have decided to leave this thread even though i was stopping tomorrow due to having £1 till monday unless quidco money came in but wasnt going to smoke.

Hi Mumzy, I didn't mean you to give up the thread, it really does worry me that you try so hard to come in under budget here when you could make it a little bit easier by not counting in the cigs and , like Sophiesmum said, treeating them as a luxury item, along with your magazine subscriptions etc. Just concentrate on your basic cost of living. I'm really bad at explaining myself (ask anyone I know ), so didn't mean you to take it the wrong way. I struggled all last year with the cigs in my budget and that's why I couldn't include them this year, I had to quit.

Back on the spendathon, my May grocery budget is fast running out after this aftern''n's trip to spring meadows. I only meant to get a few party items, cocktail sausages, sausage rolls, icing sugar for cakes and cream for a trifle, BUT there were loads of bargains that I couldn't just walk past. It means that I'll not need to make bread for a while and I did the stockpile of the apple & blackcurrant juice. It had only gone up from 19p to 20p, so I got 5 for £1. Curry flavour noodles were back down to 8p/pack so I bought a whole tray (20 packs) and there were 8 reduced loaves, so I took the lot! :rotfl: And a couple packs of rolls and baguettes. I'm amazed I didn't go over budget but, happily, the basket load cost me only £26.46 including the party foods and a set of 6 stainless steel; BBQ skewers. :T

My bread recipe - Hmm.......

1lb flour - approximately half & half savers strong bread flour and savers wholemeal flour
1 tsp salt
1 oz of lard
1/2 sachet of yeast
Mix all of the above then add enough warm water to make it all into dough, turn out onto floured surface and knead for about umm........ 5-10 mins (ish)whilst chatting and not paying attention to the time

Stick into greased tin with a handful of wholemeal flour sprinkled over the top, cover with a damp teatowel and leave to rise until doubled in size.

Bake in the middle of pre-heated oven at about 220 degrees (mine's a fan oven) for 20 mins, turn off oven but leave the bread in there for about another 5 or 10 minutes. I usually cook trays of biscuits while oven is heating up or cooling down, so there were 3 trays of hobnobs made during that too. :rotfl: (2 trays while oven heating up, 1 tray underneath bread while oven cooling down.

I don't know what difference it makes but I was always told to have a tray or bowl of water simmering on the bottom of the oven to keep up the humidity. This might be an old wives' tale but I always have my bowl of water and it doesn't affect my biscuits

Giant jaffa cake - I have the jelly setting in a large spaghetti bowl so it's about the right size & shape for the middle of the flan case. I got Scotblock cooking chocolate but had to get milk as no plain - pity. hasn't it gone up some price??!! I'd to pay 95p for it and reckon I'll need half of it to cover the jelly. That'll make my giant jaffa cake cost 75p :eek: :rotfl:

Now off to make up some Frugal French Bread Pizzas for late tea before popping into the garden before the sun disappears. I really do look like a lobster, though.

Prudent

Marru that was a lovely post. I caught up on everyone too by reading it

Pack to work today. The children came in pink, brown or red depending on how much sun cream had been applied!

I had to order a new modem from ebay as I was constntly being thrown offline when old one overheated. I have been on for ages now with no problems. Bliss

For anyone interested in a small holding it is worth joining one of the many clubs around the country. You don't have to have land already and it would be really good preparation. I leanrt skills 20 years ago that I could still use today.