Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

Marru

Hi,

After wasting petrol (and forgetting to take the vouchers with me TWICE) I ended up spending almost eighty pounds on clothes BUT THEY DO MAKE ME LOOK AND FEEL AMAZING!!! For my defence I can say that I haven't bought new clothes for over three years so I think it was about time. I did save some as went to Bails to have my tea . Filled up the tank, made an emergency shop as I didn't have time for a proper one and as the day had gone on the spending side splashed out and bought a bottle of wine (half price).

Tomorrow I need to drag DD with me to Mr T and as she is with me I need to have a shopping list otherwise my mind goes blank and I end up leaving with only half of the stuff and doing weekly emergencies again. So tomorrow morning I am hoping to tempt her with Dumbo so that I can sit down and plan properly. Tonight is definitely going to be my night off and as soon as DD settles in bed I shall open my wine - supper is going to be boiled potatoes and baked beans so that should balance my wine nicely.

Just want to say that well done you JackieO and I am sure the day for the G&T will come very soon for you. :T

Off to get DD to bed and then to put my feet up.

Marru

Janey51

Good evening frugal friends.
I have been a busy bee in the garden and am now a little tired person doing a good impression of a deflated balloon collapsed on the settee
DH is going into hospital next Wednesday and will be out of action for a few months so the house is a hive of industry as we try to get ahead with all the summer jobs.
I will be away with him at the hospital all next week and we are both getting a bit twitchy.
Frugalism is still king however :T
I have stocked up the cupboards and am well ahead with gardening and housework. Have also been working a lot of extra hours so I can get a good wage this month as I will be turning work down for a few weeks so I can be here for DH.
Luckily, I have another Quidco payment due to be credited which will help the finances. DH is in receipt of a pension so cannot get sick pay so we will have to be extra specially careful.
Can't believe how much oil has gone up :eek: We will need some soon and its 61p a litre. A few weeks ago it was 50p. We have been gathering a good store of free logs which we were offered by a friend which will save a packet. Now I have to decide whether its worth investing in a bigger log burner as we are going to struggle to afford to use the oil central heating as back up if next winter is very cold.:eek: The Rayburn is used to its maximum but, unfortunately, its separate from the central heating which runs off a boiler.

I will be back......

mumzyof2

Good evening all, I have about 6 strawberry plants that have come through and about 18 tomato plants coming through woohoo!
I have been to boundry mills today and also owsitwistle mills and i only spent 69p and that was only because my DS3 and DD2 wanted a drink.
I been to morrisons to do my weekly shop as i usually do it on a monday but it bank holiday next week and i have spent £8 but i will update it all later

Frugaldom

Hello, late night here again but that's what happens when I skip out on work in favour of the garden! Overcast morning became sunny day afterall.

Mumzy, well done getting the strawberry & tomato plants, I hope they grow well and produce loads of fruit.

Janey, oil prices are getting really high! It's something I tend to keep an eye on, as per a previous post, and I'm still favouring the woodburner and a homegrown willow plantation if and when I ever get my own place with space to do as I please. Ddraig, perhaps the willow is something you could think about, as it has so many other uses and is fairly quick growing. I'll let you know how quick just as soon as I have planted my 'fedge' (fence/hedge) from the cuttings I have.

Marru, you go ahead and feel good about treating yourself. We all need clothes and what you spent was probably done so wisely, knowing your frugal ways. I'll probably end up doing the exact same thing very soon as
DD GOT ENGAGED TONIGHT! :beer: Can't say much more than that, as I haven't seen her yet; they are coming here tomorrow.

On a more frugal note, I studied all the vouchers that came from Mr T and realised that I hadn't updated my online account for the Clubcard to send out in-store vouchers. I get 2 lots, one from credit card, one from ordinary clubcard, and the extra points will be extremely helpful nearer Christmas. (Plus they have paid for friend & I to go to Ireland this summer. :j ) So... I went on the website and worked out an order for next week that should last me for months and will get it delivered to mum's, as she's within a Tesco delivery zone. I used a code that got me £7 off, booked cheapest delivery after 7pm, used all the extra points vouchers and found more extra points offers in the party section. :T Not sure how much it will come to as there were quite a few BOGOF and multi-deals, which don't show up until the delivery is made and invoiced, but the whole order amounts to £163 including delivery and before the discounts get taken off, and an amazing 700 points IF all the offers are in stock! This includes all the baking ingredients for DD's birthday plus ballons, party poppers, banners and table confetti etc, plus party plates for DGD's birthday in August and a couple of items for friend's 50th in July. I've also topped up all the long-lasting baking stuff, like food colouring, sprinkles, cooking chocolate. I really cannot believe how much stuff is on my list! The 5p curry sauce was even cheaper than last time at 4p per tin! We love the stuff, so I've ordered 20! :rotfl: I kept getting pop-up boxes stating that they have limits on some products - value toilet tissue 12's is limited to 5 packs. I just hope it all fits in HS's car, which I'm borrowing for the trip. Sophiesmum will be so pleased that I've made a start on the stockpile despite saying I had no space for storage. I'll HAVE to make space now! This, along with all the homegrown garden produce should, hopefully, reduce my 'normal' shopping to around £10 per week for the rest of the year and I still leave enough left over for the Christmas dinner.

Looking at it this way, I might just come within my £1000 annual grocery target, which would be amazing! :j :j :j

redglass_2

Nyk, congratulations on DD's engagement! I'm so pleased for you.

Janey, hope all goes well with DH's hospital visit and that he's soon back home. A word of warning re the log burner. When I had mine put in, I got hit for an expensive new chimney lining - planning regs had changed since anything was last fitted into that fireplace. This might not apply to you or you might be aware of it already, but it gave me a helluva shock, so I just thought I'd mention it. The cheapest lining was about £600 :eek::eek::eek: :eek: and nobody mentioned it until I was well into the process...

andromache_2

:wave:

Marru, clothes are SO worth it when they make you feel that good, the problem is when you buy them for the sake of it and they don't give you that feeling. So I say it's money well spent!

Aaw, Nyk, that's great for your DD. Sounds like preparations for the party are well underway I got 'unofficially' engaged to my OH a few months ago (he insisted on getting me a ring and everything even though he couldn't really afford it ) but I haven't told my parents because I'm worried their reaction would be '... are you sure? You're too young' rather than being happy :rolleyes: It's not like we can live together for a few years yet anyway so there's no harm in waiting. Anyway, it's great that you're happy for her, keep us posted on all the preparations :T

Frugaldom

Hope everyone has something nice planned for this holiday weekend - is it holiday weekend everywhere?

Last night, we had terrible gale-force winds gusting everywhere and I worried all night about my nice new plastic greenhouse. First thing this morning I was up peering out the window, half expecting to see it shredded or flying down the road but thankfully, it is completely intact and hasn't budged. :jI guess the slabs and rocks around the edge held it down OK for now but I'm going to fill a load of empty milk cartons with water and sit them around the edge of the overlap just to make double sure it stays put if the winds get worse. Sun's out again and I think I'll go and plant the willow sticks to see if they actually do grow! Fingers crossed for good day tomorrow for animal park - I had to work this morning to catch up and allow me time off next week to go visiting.

Postman arrived and I now have another £15 worth of shopping vouchers that I had totally forgotten about - from Scottish Friendly, where I opened the savings bond. :T I'll get this added to my interest beater total and then patiently await the ones due from mutualpoints, where I signed up to the friendly society in the first place.

Thanks for the congratulations for DD. I still haven't seen her yet but have dipped into the savings fund so we had a couple of bottles of bubbly at the ready. :beer:
Oh nooooooooo..... you know what that means!!! :eek::eek:
I'm going to be someone's MOTHER-IN-LAW!!!!!!!!!! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

redglass_2

Re that American site for emergency supplies - if you look at the bit called 'preparing your pet for an emergency' ('Now listen, Tiddles, we're going through an emergency') they tell you to keep a stock of dog shampoo, even though they also offer a water keg because you may not have enough clean drinking water! Didn't see many photos of people in Burma shampooing their dogs and I don't suppose the dogs missed it particularly, they'd be more concerned with getting something to eat. Some folk have the strangest priorities....

Frugaldom

I promised you all I'd upload some piccies of the garden to reflect the past 2 weeks hard labour and I've included one of my mini-pond. Been back out there today and have now planted all my willow sticks, despite it being a bit late in the year for them, but had to dash back into the house to grab the camera again!! LOOK WHAT I SPOTTED!!! :j :j :j

I haven't got any plants in or around the mini-pond yet, but am planning on having some water cress and oxygenating pond weed of some description.

I'm going to take pictures throughout the year and post them onto the webpage as a diary. Got loads to go but just wanted to let you all see 'Fileas'.

mumzyof2

aww im loving the pics NYK.

I have about 10 strawberry plants that have come through in 2 different pots and about 20 tomato plants..im so proud! I water them every day too.

Not done much today, my friend been over and given me a bag full of clothes for DD2. My fella been to work and im now sat with 2 tired children, as they were up at crack of dawn. So bed early for them
I have spent £4.70 today on cigs
Thats my only spend but need to update sig from 2 days ago. I need bics so going to do some twinks hobnobs as i have no bics at all and cant live without them. Yesterday i made banana cakes with DS3. I also need cordial tomorrow.
Tomorrow im off to a carboot going to see if they have any cross stitching kits!!