Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

looby-loo_2

sophiesmum wrote: »

Still on the self sufficiency drive I have just spent £4 on e bay ordering some kefir grains. I want to experiment with kefir probiotic drink and kefir cheese. I already make my own yoghurt but kefir grains last ages if you look after them well. It is also very good for you.Especially like the idea of the cheese:D

Need to go update my total again now:rolleyes:

I was looking at a website about these. Let us know how you get on.

I made butter today, it is soooo creamy
I pint double cream from Asda = £1, made 374g butter plus I have about 1/2 pint of butter milk left over which will go
a) into scones for tea tomorrow and
b) into the cats

funkyfunkymonkey

sophiesmum wrote: »

:eek: :eek: :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
I hope you meant a pheasant:rotfl: :rotfl:

That's what I was thinking, I've been sitting here giggling to myself, picturing a poor old bloke being dragged in for the pot.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

FFM

funkyfunkymonkey

DdraigGoch wrote: »

Bails [and anyone else it might apply to], there is such a thing as a Frugal Wedding. I know, 'cos I had one!

Basically, it being my second wedding and having more stuff than you would believe possible already. I asked for help rather than presents and ended up with people getting the hall ready for me, donating flowers, bringing huge numbers of cakes and biscuits, making the tea and coffee, making hundreds of sandwiches, making up hamburgers and cooking them for us, laying carpet, laying laminate flooring [both recycled, obviously!], painting, plumbing, electrics etc etc etc. And we all had a lovely time. My OH wore his normal clothes, the smart ones, and I wore a BNWT dress bought secondhand [she changed her mind about the dress ... before she wore it] from a wedding site - from £1440 down to £200 :T The vicar, as he's our chum, even married us for free!

It can be done - don't let the cost put you off, try looking at Ms Frugal's wedding thread.

Anyway, another NSD for me today - still doing the figures for the budget [it's GOT to work somehow!]

thanks for all your inspiration everyone:beer:

Bails, I think you're about to be rail roaded into the first MSE WEDDING. It won't cost you a penny. Think of the publicity and royalties, you'll be set for life. Fab!!!

FFM

looby-loo_2

the butter will go nicely with the peasant

Frugaldom

That's it! I am officially old! I started thinking about everything that hadn't yet been invented when I was a kid and the list is too long to remember! This generation find it difficult understanding that personal computers weren't in every household, let alone mobile phones and, dare I say it.... pocket calculators!! :eek: Frugalising, on the other hand, has been around since time began and nobody, anywhere, will convince me that it is modern and trendy, it is simply NORMAL. The only difference now is that mega-rich folks pay hundreds of pounds a week to go for a holiday to live like US! :rotfl:

Is anyone having a frugal holiday this year? I'd love to get my passport renewed and take advantage of things like cheap flights and cheap accommodation but all my friends are now wives, parents and grand parents, so it's impossible to have spontaneous girly trips. The single ones I know aren't well enough to travel long distances.

sophiesmum_2

I will keep you posted on the kefir front:D
I haven't tried the butter making yet but intend to as soon as I spot some reduced price cream, or we have some over from oldies tea time. Was hoping for some today as had opened a 4 pint double cream but the greedy things scoffed the lot:rolleyes:
What colour does the butter end up? Is it very pale or yellow?

funkyfunkymonkey

lingojingo wrote: »

Me too. We used to go off all day in the holidays, all the kids in the street, the 'big' ones looking out for the'little' ones. Sometimes we went miles on our bikes, and our parents had no idea where we were :eek:

and most of us didn't have a phone in the house, never mind mobiles!!!

I'd forgotten the trips I used to take on my push bike, from about the age of 12/13. I'd load up with food and drink and take myself off for a picnic. I would cycle for miles, I'd have a map of the county which covered Norwich where I lived right to the coast. I cycled to Cromer once to buy a crab for my dad - I did get the train home though.

I got a puncture once and phoned an uncle who came out to get me, fixed the bike and set me off again. But my parents had no idea where I was.

My parents let me take the train to the South of France when I was 16 to stay with a penpal we had never met - I can't believe this was all okay. I struggle to let my kids go to the corner shop.

FFM

sophiesmum_2

Hi nyk,
We are having two frugal holidays this year.
2 weeks in malta in May , 2 weeks in malta in september, totally funded by last years cash back site earnings,mine and OH accounts for greasy palm, top cashback and quidco, spends courtesy of £2 coin pot, and sealed pot for any other earnings.

Got good deals on net , cheap flights booked last year, cheap hotel deal, booked last year direct. Total for two adults for two holidays less than £540 (for both of us not each!!):D

We were asked by a friend if they could join us in sept, went online and priced flights and hotel now £600 for the one holiday for one person:eek:

Frugaldom

I had to scroll back a couple of pages to see what I had missed!
Bails and Lynda both participating in romance stakes! :beer: How could I have missed those posts!

Back in the old days, when I was a lass... violins please... we used to go onto the building site and ask the workmen for their empty bottles so we could take them to the shop and claim the cash to swap for sweets Then we saved enough to buy post office savings stamp (they were 10p each back then) and when you saved a full book, it was worth £1 :eek: I can still remember blowing the whole lot on sweets and easter eggs and hiding them in the 'den' beneath a fallen tree. :rotfl: Remember Anglo Bubbly's - 3 for 1p In fact, remember when Golden Wonder crisps were sixpence? (2.5p in 'new' money) :rotfl: And DS pays 10 shillings for a packet in the pub now!
Can things really keep increasing in value? Won't they need to do another one of those currency decrease thingies soon? Or will crisps really be £10 per pack by the year 2050?

looby-loo_2

looby-loo wrote: »

I was looking at a website about these. Let us know how you get on.

I made butter today, it is soooo creamy
I pint double cream from Asda = £1, made 374g butter plus I have about 1/2 pint of butter milk left over which will go
a) into scones for tea tomorrow and
b) into the cats

The butter is just a bit paler than bought butter. Todays was made with fresh cream dated 19th April - the last lot was one day past sell by date. I just wanted to try. There is a slight differece in taste but the old one is fine.