Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

redglass_2

I think I know how people manage to spend £180 per week. I have the veg delivered and one site I use has organic geese selling for about £45 each ('feeds four to five people' says the website). OK, let's be stingy and say it feeds five. That's £9 each, before you've added so much as a spud. If you had one of these every night you'd be paying £315 per week for the goose bill alone...! Staggering, eh?
EDITED later: Ooops, I wronged them, it's not £45 but a mere £38.60! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:So only £270 a week to eat a goose every night....

whitewing

I laughed so much at Shaz's post. Because I was thinking, wow that IS a monster shop. And then when she put how do people spend that much a week I laughed again because once upon a time it wouldn't have shocked me.

Having real moments of panic over the past few days. Just about financial security. Now I have to panic about the future (I have 31 years before the state pension). I absolutely do not know how you guys who are trying to pay off debts too are able to stay so positive. (Debtwise, I've only got the mortgage). I think you are all magnificent.

sophiesmum_2

Done most of my errands now and about to whizz through the house with the stardrops and microfibre cloths, just putting it off a while whilst I catch up with mse:p

Spent £1.40 at the garden centre on two courgette plants to replace the cucumber plants that died, they are quite big already so have a good start:D

At costco I bought 5kg of back bacon, 1.4kg of dried prunes, 10kg of mince,20kg rice,36 litres of uht milk, and a black pudding for OH:D

Never made it to asda yet as got waylaid at my mums inspecting her veggie garden and looking for plants to nick:rotfl: Enjoyed sitting out in the garden with a cuppa having a chat. My mum has always been a self sufficientish sort of person so it must be in my genes:rotfl:

Have also put £100 into my sealed pot in lieu of electricity spends (our electric is part of my wages so this will be savings;) ) Will update the rest of my totals when I have finished my shop at asda later. Need bread flour,dried milk, some pulses, and a few other bits then I am done for rest of the year:j I am putting £100 into a separate pot for eggs, and any small bits that I have forgotten and will then be using stores until xmas.

mumzyof2

Sophiesmum I cant wait to see how much you have in that sealed pot of yours... also about a trip to costco..i would love too..could we set a day or month so i have chance to save?

tryingtodobetter

I won £41.80 on betfair. I don't know how as I had know idea what I was doing but I had to bet £10 to get my £30 Quidco payout. So I am £61.80 better off :beer: :j :j :j

sophiesmum_2

mumzyof2 wrote: »

Sophiesmum I cant wait to see how much you have in that sealed pot of yours... also about a trip to costco..i would love too..could we set a day or month so i have chance to save?

I was aiming for £500 when i started it but I KNOW it has already gone over that up to now:j I'm going to open it in December and will have a nice surprise:D

Let me know when you have some cash for costco and we will go, I go about once a week for work so it is no problem any time for me,


Tryingtodobetter :beer: well done on your win.

slowlyfading

tryingtodobetter wrote: »

I won £41.80 on betfair. I don't know how as I had know idea what I was doing but I had to bet £10 to get my £30 Quidco payout. So I am £61.80 better off :beer: :j :j :j

Wahey! That's great :j :j

mumzyof2

Thanks Sophiesmum

I have just had a random PM from someone called hitz asking if i knew about itrading? and also if he wasnt to PM people then to let him know. I not even mentioned anything about itrading on any forums so maybe he/she trying to sell me something.

what you going to spend the money on come december?

Edited: he just pmed me again asking i would be intrested in knowing what itrading is lol

Tomorrow im off to a baby carboot type thingy whit a mate cant wait as she has just found out she is expecting again.. but have to resist the temptation of buying another pram lol i have to anyways no money to buy one lol

System

hello frunchkins!

I am knackered, been out to 3 jumbles and a big outdoor festival thing with stalls today. I really don't know how i manage to fit it all into my flat week after week

I got many many 'ahem' useful things as usual, including 2 demi-johns for £2 for mr d(avie)t(esco)'s homebrew challenge, a huuuuuuuge box of about 100 dress patterns for 90p, a huuuuge box of knitting needles for 50p (both in case I ever get off my bum and start making stuff - i also have a lifetime supply of buttons and a suitcase of material hoarded away, so I am sorted if there is ever some sort of end-of-world catastrophe which means I a) need to make all my own cloths and b) still require party dresses) :rolleyes:
ooh and I got my mum a skirt which still had the £75 price tag on it :eek: A few weeks ago my mum got us skirts with tags on froma charity shop, one had a £60 tag and the other a £85 tag. There were more there with tags on,and they were all the same size so it looked like it was all from one person :eek:

who are these mad women that do this? it brings me out in a cold sweat thinking about them! oooh i had a cold sweat at work the other day too, we had a money expert in talking to the teenagers. I was horrified when he said he likes loyalty points, cos he gets a boots meal deal every day so he gets lots of points what sort of a money expert would sandwiches every day! I am doing money & teenagers training myself next week, I will let you know if I find out any tips us lot don't already know :rotfl:

Frugaldom

Late night catch up after a very frugal Saturday. Had work related stuff to do for a couple of hours then came home at lunchtime and went straight into the garden. Stopped to watch the Derby and my stupid nag was 4th, so no place money! I'll settle for being thankful of my small win yesterday.
Well done TTDB with your win! Much more impressive than mine AND you get £30 cashback. :T

Sophiesmum - This [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] was the first week of my storecupboard challenge, but I'm having to allocate £10 per week from now until Christmas for top-ups as I can't stockpile meat and fresh produce (only have a small freezer). There are 3 adults here for every meal, as DS works within walking distance of the house and 2 of us are home-based self-employed. It's meal planning that's my downfall, especially during good weather. Today, for instance, I ended up lighting the BBQ and throwing on some frozen sliced sausages and corn on the cobs, chopping a few tomatoes and picking handfulls of salad leaves to have on sandwiches (as I had no rolls). I am a really bad meal planner. Tomorrow will need to be spag bol, as I can't think of anything else to make, but that plan could go out the window if we end up packing sannies and heading for the hills or the beach if it's sunny. I love frugal picnics!

Redglass I cannot believe how much it costs for an 'organic' goose! :eek: And how can it only serve 4 or 5? :eek: :eek: They are HUGE birds! I could buy an incubator, buy half a dozen eggs, hatch them and rear them for that price! Plus they'd be organic because I'd be terrified to touch the things to dose them with any sort of chemicals! (Don't tell anyone, but I'm scared of geese and turkeys. ) :rotfl:

Jumble-Bee I think if I had access to as many jumbles and sales that I could be the same. I've now registered for the neighbouring county's Freecycle group as it's busier than ours! My Freecycle haul, to date, comprises a large wooden toolbox, loads of plant pots, my Epiphyllum Orchid Cactus with it's hanging basket and a clump of Lemon Balm that I have just replanted this afternoon as I wasn't happy with where I had put it.

Frugal gardening - I'm still not sure if my bramble bushes are blackberries or raspberries but they have been tied up with string and canes and have flowers coming on them. I'll need to Google for images to see what the difference is. I also found another tiny one in the 'wild corner', so I've rescued that and planted it in a tub. My salad leaves are coming along nicely, despite one lot having been consumed by snails! It seems like no time before they have replaced what we have eaten and I'm onto my 4th 'harvest' if I pick some for salad sandwiches tomorrow. I had to tie up the first of the tomato plants as they are getting quite tall and 'gangly' looking and I was scared they would snap. The peas are now beginning to curl around the sticks and make their way towards the netting and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the snails don't devour any more of them! I have collected countless snails and keep relocating them to the field but there's no end in site. There were dozens and dozens of them in the corner that got cleared today, so I've left a plastic bottle with the remains of the bottle of beer to let them party tonight again.

Mr D(avie)T(esco) booze challenge - I've found a large plastic 'brewing' container and my apple tree looks as though it's going to be laden this year. I'm quite well practiced in the rhubarb wine but I could be tempted to try some cider this year. Must check back your thread again.

Final note - I've got a fantastic new mini greenhouse that does perfectly for a full grown lettuce! Next time you are near a sweet counter or shop, as what they do with their empty lollipop tubs! These are brilliant! Make a few holes in the base and pop it over your plants - much better than half a lemonade bottle because they are big enough to sit a half brick on top during high winds! Must get a photo of my first one for my every increasing [STRIKE]homepage[/STRIKE] website. THAT has turned into a challenge on its own.
Catch you all again soon.