Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

Janey51

Morning Frugallers.

I am a little concerned that a certain MrDT is encouraging our tee total frugallers to become rampant alcoholics :eek:
As we all know...drink + money in purse = chocolate,cakes,chocolate,biscuits and of course, chocolate
I speak from experience:rotfl: DH was always very interested to see what emerged from the shopping bags following an afternoon of wanton wine consumption.
As chief wine taster for DH's homemade specials...all healthily based on fruit and produce of the hedgerows...I can recommend laying in a stock of Paracetamol and Alka Seltzer if we are going down this route.
I can, of course, take the moral high ground on this as all our stock of home made beverages was vapourised in the house fire last year :eek:
And, since my weight loss surgery, 2 sips of anything with an alcoholic strength greater than semi-skimmed is guaranteed to have me giving a rousing rendition of any Abba song you care to mention :rotfl:

Of course, as a very generous and public spirited citizen, I feel it is my duty to make sure we have alcohol to offer any friend (or passing neighbour) a wee dram of something.
Purely in the interests of Scottish hospitality.

Frugal tasks for today...
1.Start cataloguing our huge stock of books so that we can get some listed on Ebay/Ebid. Having problems with Ebid as I can't remember my username and I can't see a way of retrieving it. I can get my password, but not the username.
2. Weed garden and sow more radishes.
3. Re-assess Christmas box.

Have a great sunny day

sophiesmum_2

Good morning Janey and everyone else,:D

All this talk of home brewing is making me want to do some even though we hardly drink and have enough alcohol here to throw a party for all the peeps on this thread. Last count 11 bottles of baileys, 9 bottles of jack daniels and over 15 bottles of wine plus all the usual spirits:eek:
OH once mentioned to one of oldies that we liked baileys and JD and every xmas, birthday, easter, whatever now we are inundated with the stuff. I put a bottle in the raffle almost every week:rotfl:but it keeps breeding.
Anyway I am starting to feel inadequate in the frugal self sufficiency stakes, so may have to have a go;)

nevadagirl

Morning everyone,

I'm enjoying the Archers on the radio and a nice cup of coffee, but have been ever so busy in the last couple of weeks and haven't really had time to let you know how I've been getting on with the challenge. So I've pulled out the laptop, and my spending diary and I'm multi-tasking.

I have two columns in my diary - one for the make £10 a day challenge, which I've decided to do alongside the £4k challenge (which I'm doing as a £2k challenge from June to November). My income on the side generators are AQA, QuidCo, Mystery Shopping, eBay and also I won £40 in a sweepstake at work at the start of the month, so that's in too. I've been doing free bingo so if I'd ever won anything, that would go in too :rolleyes:

I have all the usual stuff included in my outgoings, but because I allocate part of my mobile, landline and internet costs as business costs on my tax return, I'm only counting the part I pay for household use in this challenge.
I've also just set up a crafting business and am not counting any of that as income or outgoings as the associated setting up costs are so high at the moment. I have to note that if I wasn't doing this challenge, I wouldn't have the focus or the spare cash to set it up - it's [STRIKE]fan[/STRIKE]frugaltastic. I've done one craft fair so far, and have another lined up in a fortnight, which is part of the reason I'm so busy at the moment, making a few more things to sell. I also have an essay due in for my MSc next weekend, and I work full time. This is why I haven't been around here as much for a while :rotfl:

So for the first 14 days of my challenge, I've spent £277.50 :eek: and that's not even including any DDs. I'm pretty horrified, and the main culprit is food, although we are stocked up now for the rest of the month. I also spent nearly £100 on the cats' annual boosters, food, and litter, most of which is a one-off annual cost.

I've generated £192 in income so far, and listed 36 items of general house detritus on eBay on Thursday, so that side of things is going pretty well. It includes 4, count them, 4 pairs of shoes that are so so pretty and nice but I just can't walk in them. I can only do flat, or a wedge with a strap. Half inch kitten heels? Not a chance. If I can just about keep them on my feet without foot cramp, then I end up walking like a man in drag. So that's £250 worth of shoes that will probably net me about a fiver each, if I'm lucky. It breaks my heart.

Anyway, I digress (I think it's essay procrastination setting in). I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday. We are being fed later by the in-laws, who always have GREAT WINE and I'm off work tomorrow too yippee!

DdraigGoch

Wow, Nevadagirl, you are so organised and your tag is inspiring. Well done.

Janey, love the warnings - AlkaSeltzer/Andrews Liver Salts and paracetamol here I come. I used to like Andrews Liver Salts so much that I had a small glass of it each morning after I cleaned my teeth when I was a little girl [just re-read that last bit and I'd like to assure our listeners that I DO still clean my teeth even though I'm no longer a little girl *falls of chair laughing*]. How's DH taking the prospect of you yodelling ABBA again?

Nyk, I'm jealous. Our tomato plants are just about knee high to the proverbial Jiminy Cricket and two of them have 3 flowers each - not looking good over in Wales.

On the other hand, the weather is ffantastig! Bright sunshine, a breeze and DH and I are out there scything the grass, looking at the view and thanking our lucky stars that we're still here. All I need now is a Frugal Cider and life is complete! How long does it take, MrDT?

thanks and hugs to all
DG

MrDT

DdraigGoch wrote: »

How long does it take, MrDT?

About two weeks and Robert's your muvvas bruvva

DdraigGoch

Actually, he's my dog! [and thanks for the info! Happy scythng here I come]

Janey51

Hey DG ABBA renditions are the least of his problems when I've had a few sips of vino :eek: :rolleyes: :rotfl:

sophiesmum I love Baileys and I can still drink it :j We gets lots of bottles as presents as well.

Last year, DH made Elderberry, Rowan, Heather and Primrose wine. The Primrose was to die for and a great cure for the melancholy vapours :rotfl:
We are now collecting empty wine bottles, demi-johns and all the accoutrements the dedicated wine maker needs. Picking up a load from charity shops and friends who are manfully drinking the wine to provide the bottles.
DH will make wine from anything that stands stilllong enough to be thrown into a barrel and mixed with yeast

I've got baby tomatoes :T

Frugaldom

Good afternoon all,
I hate to say it, but it is warm and sunny here yet again. This is getting rather worrying, as we like to let everyone think that it's cold, wet and windy in Scotland all year round but 5 weeks of sunshine and, at times, blistering heat, is getting difficult to disguise - especially when it's the best tan I have ever had! Don't get me wrong, we have had about 3 showers of rain since 10th May, but it was only enough for my mop bucket, as I still haven't managed to claim a free water barrel from any of the local farmers. Haven't seen any, they are all out making hay while the sun shines! :rotfl:

This morning I got all the duvet covers washed and hung out, scoffed the next strawberry while passing, picked another handful of salad leaves, trimmed a bit of thyme, picked a couple of handfuls of coriander and checked out the veggies & greenhouse contents. The soapy water spray seems to have shifted the greenfly and, amazingly, nothing ate the cucumber plant. I've decided to call him 'Bert' - don't ask why, I haven't got a clue! Of the 18 tomatoe plants I have, all from Co-op tomatoes, 13 have clusters of yellow flowers already. The potatoes are just starting to flower and I thought they were going to be plain white flowers! Must take a piccies, as they are actually a pale lilac with bright yellow centres, quite pretty, really! And frugaler than frugal, the plant that I retrieved from amongst the weeds under the hedge has, indeed, decided that it is a wild strawberry plant. It has just produced a tell tale flower today!

Back in the frugal kitchen, I raked out the last of the carrots from the fridge, a couple of onions and the stock I had made from this week's chicken. It's now in the slow cooker simmering away with the coriander and sprig of thyme, just because I had some. I also retrieved 3 peppers from the back of the fridge - 2 green and 1 orange - so have chopped them up and stuck them in the freezer. Whilst sorting out all my empty tubs, I came across something that I'm going to use for the rhubarb wine! :beer: It's the one gallon bottle off my tabletop water dispenser. This was a freebie that came with a Viking stationery order last year - I wonder if I could use the dispenser for the wine once it's ready? :rotfl:

Off into the garden again to take some piccies for my frugal website. Sorry I can't show you the strawberries but they just don't last long enough to get a photo!

Edited in: Just read Janey's post! BABY TOMATOES? That is great news, but I am soooo jealous! :T Has your hubby tried Oak leaf wine? I've never made it but have tasted it and it's rather nice, too.

DdraigGoch

Janey, have you and DH ever considered going down to the local recycling plant and just plain asking for the bottles/jars you need? These people are really keen on recycling [you don't say! :whistle:] and usually let you have a few for free in my experience. Finding the lids/tops is anothe matter though....

Hope this helps someone
DG

edited to add: re the wine cooler - sounds, well, .... cool! Brilliant idea for a party, baaaad idea for on thedesk ...

Janey51

Nyk DH says he hasn't made Oak Leaf wine but has a recipe so we will give it a go.

DG I don't think our nearest re-cycling centre (30 miles away) actually has the facility to let you hand-pick bottles...unless I can furtively steal one while depositing my own stuff in the local recycling bins.
At least I'm not having to raid the paper&cardboard bins as I can re-locate;) papers from the boxes people leave out for colection by the council.