Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

mumzyof2

my kids only have milk on cereals, they wont drink milk or anything like that so rest of the time the milk i use is for baking, and also for my cups of teas

redglass_2

*Slow-Roast Chicken Report*
I put it on a very low heat for 3 hours as suggested by Mumzy and Shaz and when we got back from our walk the meat was so tender it was falling off the bone. Yum. There was too much of everything, though, so it's leftovers for the foreseeable future...

bails

You could keep two separate ones Mumzy, one normal one for the kids and a watered down one for yourself/baking.
Had a really lovely day here so far, I potted up my pepper plants and a squash plant then we went for a long walk which was gorgeous in the sunshine, really hot today! We had a yummy lunch of HM bread and houmous, cheese, salad, chutney etc. I'm off to see a car this afternoon - would really rather not part with the money but have no choice. It won't be coming out of this budget though thankfully, as I wouln't be getting one in normal cicumstances so I'm taking it out of my Illness Fund.
Enjoy the rest of the day everyone, thanks for those links Nyk will have a look later when OH goes to pick up his new mountain bike!

Frugaldom

I hope everyone is enjoying this absolute heatwave and taking time out to do whatever you please on such a sunny, Sunday. :cool:

I woke fairly early for a Sunday and just had to get up and go straight out into the garden. Was just having cuppa when the doorbell rang and there, on the doorstep, was THE LANDLORD!! :eek: Talk about shocked! First thing that sprang to mind was oh nooooo.... he wants us out on 1st July. I poured him a cuppa and he joined me in the garden for seat and a chat and he's said we can stay on and yes, it is safe enough for me to plant everything straight into the garden as he won't be needing the house back anytime soon! :j :j :j

So, I have spent the entire day out in the garden cleaning the yard, potting out peppers with mini-greenhouses over each one (empty juice bottles with bases cut off), I've moved the tomatoes, I wheeled the finches outside (in their cage, the birds don't actually have wheels :rotfl: ), took the guinea pig outside, gutted the hallway and whitewashed the walls, lit the BBQ and carried out a cooking experiment! :cool: I cooked the sausages and chicken for lunch, boiled the camp kettle for coffee, now repeatedly boiling it for hot water for dishes and have just cooked a pan of pasta on the BBQ as well! No point wasting cooking heat, is there?

Potatoes banked up again, found a large bin in the shed and planted a couple of potatoes in that too, and just popped in to cool down before going and planting out the onions. What a difference a sunny day makes. Nice cool drink would go down well! (A frugal drink, of course.) :beer:

Catch you all later, have a great day

mumzyof2

All your days are so intresting to read.. I think mine are pretty "boring" compared to everyone else's.
This is what ive done today anyways
I woke up at 8.30am fed all 4 kids, went to the corner shop, come back, done nothing but sit in garden and on here.. been to shop again and thats about it. Oh ive washed up and hung some washing out and had a shower. I have to cook tea in a bit and then shower all 4 kids ready for nursery/school tomorrow. My sister is home at around 6-7pm and her fella is taking me home so should get home for around 8-8.30pm. Im knackered i tell ya!!
I would love to plant my own veg but my garden is so small and its all concreated.. if anyone knows a website that tells me what to do and if u can put them in pots rather than in ground..let me know. I have seen some black buckets in Mr M for 99p for 6 (i think) and compost should not be much either as well as the seeds.
Regarding the milk... i will try this we only go through about 4pints every 4 days if its just for cereal and brews. more if we make milk based desserts etc.
NYK i am so happy for you that you get to stay on at your house i bet your so happy and like a weight has been lifeted off your shoulders.
REDGLASS thankgod it turned out ok!

MrDT

Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend, weather has been gorgeous here Yesterday I cycled 27 miles in the sun, and today i've been to the beach in the sun Very cheap weekend! Swimming in the sea and crashing over dunes in my mates 4x4, good times, and I even got a bit of a tan

I can hear thunder rolling overhead now though lol...

bails

Happy days everyone, lovely to hear it!
That's great news about the house Nyk, really pleased for you :T Good idea about the mini greenhouses for the peppers! We've decided to keep the greenhouse OH got for his project and he's going to cut it in half and make me a lean-to greenhouse against the shed :jSo that means my peppers will have a home and I can have a go at planting some other things too
Mumzy, you can definitely plant some things up in pots, they'll be just fine - this is my first year of growing anything so I'll leave it to the more qualified gardeners to give you some ideas of what to plant (Lidl have seeds for 29p a packet). Good luck with it! Your days aren't boring, it's great to hear how everyone is.
Mr DT, great weekend, sounds right up my street! You can keep the thunder though
I forgot to mention 2 fab things about my day, and now there's 3 things! We stopped at my favourite pub on the way back from the walk and ordered pints of lime and soda - so refreshing and free there too! :T I also found my perfect plot of land - it's got 2 sets of stables on it at the mo and has a beautiful view, but I'm sure it's not for sale :rolleyes: It would be an absolute fortune anyway but nice to dream And the icing on the cake - I didn't buy the car :j It looked good initially but when you looked more closely you could tell it had had a crash, which the owners weren't being entirely honest about, so it was massively overpriced. So I'm still car free
Hope the weather's still gorgeous tomorrow, I want to do some more gardening!

Prudent

Great news NYK :j - enjoy the gardening

redglass_2

Fantastic news about the house, Nyk. What a relief (and it's obviously spurred you to even greater heights of frugal activity).

Mumzy, I don't have much space in the garden either. What there is is mostly covered over, or gets no sun, or is occupied by the toilet and sink (gift from a neighbour) that I'm going to have installed just as soon as I can find someone to do the work (for a frugal fee). There's also the pile of pallets which I'm constantly cutting up and storing in the woodshed. (Yes, the view from the house is bl**dy awful and probably has my neighbours pursing their lips but i hope all this hoarding will pay off next winter.) I squeeze in the odd bit of food production where I can (basil plant on bathroom sill, strawberries on bedroom sill, beans against one of the walls - I mean the outside walls!). Just small things but they lift my spirits. I'd never be able to reach the frugal heights of many people on this thread but it's still worth it.

wornoutmumoftwo

I have come to the conclusion that I have the STONIEST garden ever....I have spent all day picking out stones, but in money saving fashion my husband made me a sort of sievy thing which helped.

Mini greenhouse is looking good, managed to pot all my tomatoes and cucumbers so getting there,

Sadly though my last surviving carrot has disappeared from the soil, so has my pumpkin, it's either the kids or the birds, not sire which....