Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

slowlyfading

:hello: everyone. You all do so well in your everyday spending - there's only me and I seem to be spending left right and centre. I have a small dilema though - I only have about £60 to last me until the end of June for everything. :eek: Now, I know its Father's Day on sunday, and I've got him a card so far, and have to think of something I can get to post. I have pasta in the cupboard, as well as some tins, do you think this is possible? I'm on campus, so I don't have a car to pay for or anything, its mainly just living expenses from now until I leave uni at the end of June.

It probably is do-able, but it seems a bit daunting at the moment!

mumzyof2

Good Morning all I have spent 40p today so far.. I am off to a baby carboot type of thing this afternoon so might spend some more but really dont want to and have very little money but i guess its on every week so can always spend next week

My mum is arriving in at manchester at 6.50pm so should be with me at about 8.30pm

I will update later when i get back from baby carboot and also my friends.

PS: Good Morning sophiesmum

sophiesmum_2

Hi S/F

It is definately do able but may get a little boring. Father's day could you not get a voucher or lottery tickets that could be posted in the card.
Food wise think menu planning is going to be the way to go but you need to leave a little cash free for anything else that may crop up - socialising with your friends etc. It's only three weeks or so so just think about how many meals you will need and work from there. Some really cheap ideas over on oldstyle, and don't forget to build in using up everything you already have in too.
Good Luck

sophiesmum_2

mumzyof2 wrote: »

Good Morning all I have spent 40p today so far.. I am off to a baby carboot type of thing this afternoon so might spend some more but really dont want to and have very little money but i guess its on every week so can always spend next week

My mum is arriving in at manchester at 6.50pm so should be with me at about 8.30pm

I will update later when i get back from baby carboot and also my friends.

Hi Mumzy,
Hope you have managed to get all your housework done before your mum arrives:D

mumzyof2

sophiesmum wrote: »

Hi Mumzy,
Hope you have managed to get all your housework done before your mum arrives:D

Oh i have, she said last night make sure its clean for when i get there. She is just on her way to airport now (paphos) so dead excited now :T watch it tho she is proberly delayed as every flight from paphos to manchester today have been arriving late :rolleyes:

My DD2 is asleep under her bed after hiding because i said shower.. she doesnt like them

Loverly and warm here and DS3 just had some fruit in the garden whilst say hello to everone who walks past :rotfl: whilst sat in his carseat (i told him to get his stool, but he came out with h:rotfl: is bumper seat)

Goin my friends around 12.15

sophiesmum_2

Hi Frunchkins:D

Frugal plans for today include planting out my new courgette plants, also got lots of hanging baskets to plant up for the oldies. Will have a little potter with the veggie garden whilst the weather is so lovely. Still have some cleaning around the house to do but that won't take long, then lots of veg peeling ready for feeding the oldies at teatime- roast beef dinner with all the trimmings today followed by banana splits for afters:p got a few on holiday this week so only cooking for about 25 this afternoon.

DS owes me a favour so will try and [STRIKE]blackmail [/STRIKE] persuade him into washing and hoovering my car for free;) as it is full of bits of straw and shavings from the stables courtesy of DD.
Also need to make a loaf and a batch of yoghurt today sometime as getting low on both. One of neighbours gave me a huge bag of almost ripe bananas to use up yesterday so they went in the dehydrator to make dried banana chips - lovely, Will also be making a batch of soup with any leftover veggies today and any beef will be minced and turned into homemade beef and horseradish sausages:D that's if there is any to spare after feeding everyone:rolleyes:

Have a good day everyone, enjoy the sunshine:j

Frugaldom

Good afternoon to all

Hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday. It's a bit cloudy here, so thought it better to stay home. I've already been into the garden and staked out/tied up more of the bramble bushes and have just realised that the 'herbs' I thought were sprouting in one of my trays are actually sweet peas! I'd forgotten all about them until finding the seedds in a kitchen drawer, so chucked them into an empty mushroom tray with some compost from the bottom of the garden. I guess I may have some late blooming flowers - not edible, but colourful if they come to anything.

Slowlyfading - If your £60 doesn't include any bills that are due then I think it sounds very 'do-able'. Set aside half for food & drink and half for everything else then have fun doing a £10 shop each week for the next 3 weeks. I'm doing handmade cards this year and handmade gifts wherever I can and, like Sophiesmum says, you can always send something that fits inside the card.

This coming week is going to be spent meal planning around my stockpile and I'm going to try my very best to keep the spending to a minimum. I have a Father's Day card to make and post plus DD's party to prepare for, then I need to start planning the Ireland trip. HOWEVER, someone else I know just tried to book a day trip using Tesco vouchers and they were refused on the basis that the vouchers could only be used for actual ferry fares (not set excursions) AND you must take a car AND you must be staying at least one overnight! If this is the case, I'm scuppered and will be wanting my vouchers exchanged for something more worthwhile!

Looks like the sun has managed to break through and see off the clouds, so I'll probably end up back out in the garden. It's 1st day of week 2 in the £40/month grocery challenge and I spent less than £4 last week, so I may pop to Co-op for some chicken for another BBQ. Housework just doesn't seem very appealing when it's nice outside.

Marru

Hi all,

Very sunny day here as well. We had very frugal picnic (sp?) while walking the Dog just now. We sat in the grass and had pretend tea, orange juice, sausages and oranges. Yum.

It is going to be leftover lunch and then I will make a massive stir fry for supper of which some will go into the freezer and the rest will keep me fed for the start of the week. (I got Mr T value stir fry vegetable a huge bag for 91p :T, just need to add some mushrooms, stir fry sauce (2 pouches total 63p) and noodles)

After such a busy week I am not feeling well today. It is difficult to remember when days after days I feel normal that when I do too much I get a set back. I hope to get DD early to bed and get a chance to have a leisury bath. So only targets today are to finish my washing marathon (as perfect day to dry it outside) and get that stir fry cooked.

On a positive note my book selling business is starting to recover a bit as I sold 3 books last weekend and so far 3 this weekend. Fingers crossed that it will keep going and get better.

Going now to give DD more orange juice and sort out some washing before putting together our late lunch.

I hope you all are having a good frugal day.

Marru

slowlyfading

Thanks guys. I reckon I can do it if I'm careful. I'm going to have NSDs today, monday and tuesday, then I'm going to go into town on wednesday. There's a great market stall on wednesdays that sells fresh fruit and veg at really reasonable prices so I'll get some stuff from there. Got plenty of pasta in, and will buy some basics beans etc. from Sainsburys as well. If I plan right, it should last me!

looby-loo_2

nykmedia wrote: »

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.

nyk, you may be incresing the number of nails in your garden. Whilst the adults are about the eggs are surpressed and don't develop. Once the adults are gone the eggs grow into adults. Meanwhile, the adults you have removed to the field have a homing instinct and and can find their way home. I can't remember how far but it is several 100 yards.

So it could be you have adults returning and babies developing = twice as many as you started with.

You could try :- http://www.blogjam.com/2005/08/02/garden-snail-risotto/
(I'll get my coat)