Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

looby-loo_2

Jayney - could you ask everyone to bring an item of food?

Sophiesmum - I'm going to investigate kefir a bit more, I've never heard of it before

I made my best loaf yet yesterday and as it cost just 20p I enjoyed it even more when spread with my home made butter and jam

We had yesterdays lamb casserole reheated for tea tonight which was made from a breast of lamb costing £2.46. Altogether eight servings can't be bad and cooked in the pressure cooked so even better. I also picked 1 1/2lbs of sprouting broccoli then rhubarb for pud.

DH did his bit today. He heard a chainsaw so went to investigate. He collected 52 x 5' logs for next winters fires! Best use I can think of for laylandii. The men were delighted to not have to take it away too! They even offered to cut the logs up for him but longer pieces store better for now.

Anyway, I've decided I'm going to be more positive about everything - I'm happy that the moles have aerated my lawn :j :j :j

whitewing

*drum roll, please*

OH has come back from his first day at his new job. He has already pointed out to his colleagues that they are wasting a fortune by buying lunch instead of taking a packed lunch.

I am so proud of his first truly frugal moment.

Frugaldom

Jumble, I get quite horrified when seeing what some people are putting in their baskets or trolleys and I especially wonder at the ones that just seem to walk around and have a rigid routine of the most expensive brand names! I look and start counting up their shopping and comparing it to my month's supply! :rotfl:

Did anyone read the article about the M&S food departments and how it isn't their policy to reduce items? Customers can pay their price or do without and anything that's left unsold gets binned and dye poured over it? :eek: My memory is bad, so apologies if the article is already posted on here somewhere, but I thought that was ridiculous and it served as yet another reason I would refuse to shop at M&S. Only problem is that I have some M&S vouchers still to use.

Interesting tale from the petrol station - apparently the threat of a fuel shortage has reached the locals! Petrol attendant (self-service hasn't reached here yet) informed DS that they've been mobbed with people filling up their cars, even though they don't drive anywhere, 'just in case'. :rotfl: Yes, it was the petrol attendant who said they didn't drive anywhere. They know who drives how far and how often by the number of times they visit the petrol station! :rotfl: I thought that was priceless, especially as DS was only putting a fiver's worth into his car and there was a queue waiting for 'just in case' fill-ups. OH! Now I remember what else had doubled in price! Vegetable oil! Won't be long before it's just as expensive as diesel at this rate! :eek: I was also stunned because I use lard for my bread and baking and it's gone up from 35p to 50p per block!

Checked out the 7% and it's right enough. Fixed rate on 12 months savings bond from ICICI has gone up to 7% however, that's only 5.6% after tax, so our 6.5% interest beater challenge is still ahead of the game. Does anyone ever get to the stage they want to be a bit more daring? I mean, woopy do! I give the bank £1000 and they play with it for a full year and then hand me back £56 profit (after tax) for the honour? My mind's numbercrunching overtime with the possibility of future challenges. :cool:

looby-loo_2

nykmedia wrote: »

Jumble, I get quite horrified when seeing what some people are putting in their baskets or trolleys and I especially wonder at the ones that just seem to walk around and have a rigid routine of the most expensive brand names! I look and start counting up their shopping and comparing it to my month's supply! :rotfl:

Only problem is that I have some M&S vouchers still to use.

Lard - for my bread and baking and it's gone up from 35p to 50p per block!

I used to trot round Mr T's every week but then I made a conscious decision not to use supermarkets at New Year 2007 and have more or less kept to it. I shop locally, waste nothing, support local shops, never fill my bin up and don't miss the supermarket stress at all.

I have a goldfish card and redeem the points for M&S vouchers but can never find anything to buy 'cos it's always cheaper elsewhere so now I give them to my mum and auntie for birthdays and Chirstmas because that's where they always go. Presents solved!

Lard - I thought it was about 12p :rotfl: Do you save the 'dripping' from a joint of meat? I often get 1/2 a cupful from pork of beef and use this for the Yorkshire puds and roast potatoes the following Sunday.

Frugaldom

looby-loo wrote: »

Lard - I thought it was about 12p :rotfl: Do you save the 'dripping' from a joint of meat? I often get 1/2 a cupful from pork of beef and use this for the Yorkshire puds and roast potatoes the following Sunday.

Whassat? If memory serves me right, it's usually trussed up in string, but I'm not rightly sure I can recall the last time I managed to bag one of these.:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

System

:eek: :eek::eek:at m&s - i take it as a personal insult when im in lidls and they dont have any free food laid out for me, if i went to m&s i would probably feel like they were punching me in the face! :rotfl:

looby-loo_2

Oh, sorry, are you vegetarian? I am when left to myself but not with the family here.

bails

Well done Whitewing on OH's frugal moment, they're so greeeaaat when they happen aren't they? My OH makes all our bread now and gets excited about the prospect of taking Moroccan style flatbreads to uni with him:A This frugal malarky is definitely contagious.;)

He made my day today by telling a friend that we are keeping the tabby after she's had her kittens :T He has been saying we couldn't but her cuteness has obviously worn him down. Then my friend said it would be nice for her to keep one of her kittens too :rotfl:Just been down to the bottom of the garden to feed the cat colony currently residing in one of the sheds (with food from the shelter) - they're going to be seriously happy chappies tonight!

I can't believe M&S - or anyone - would do that with perfectly good food, that's disgusting! WHY are things the way they are? :mad: Interesting point about having the 4k upfront for next year - I think I would bulk buy lots of things to avoid further price increases/make the most savings. What would you do?

JumbleBee, glad you're enjoying being ill, still jealous of all your jumblesales *mental note to self to try again at finding some round here*

I too go :eek: at other people's shopping - sometimes it's all I can do to restrain myself from tapping them on the shoulder and giving them a few frugal pointers, mysupermarket.com styley :rotfl:

Frugaldom

looby-loo wrote: »

Oh, sorry, are you vegetarian? I am when left to myself but not with the family here.

:rotfl: :rotfl: No! None of us here are vegetarian. It's just that, apart from mince/stew, we only eat beef if silverside or brisket goes on special, which isn't very often!

Bails, excellent news about the tabby cat! And with regards to having the 4k up front, I'd probably bulk buy the dry stuff and tins, attempt to make the balance earn me more than current interest rates and then I think my financial OCD and extreme frugalitis would kick in, resulting in my trying to replace every penny I spent so that I still had the 4k (plus interest) left at the end of the year! :rotfl:It's just me playing with ideas about how to do my financially self-sufficient 2009 challenge, the money neutral way but in reverse to what I first thought. Replace as I spend rather than must raise it to spend it, IFSWIM.

Jumble - I'll try to find the article I was reading about M&S

I was checking my accounts and my free bingo winnings have all gone through safely and are showing up on my CC statement. I guess I'll be back giving it another shot this Thursday, trusting in the law of averages once again.

looby-loo_2

nykmedia wrote: »

:rotfl: :rotfl: No! None of us here are vegetarian. It's just that, apart from mince/stew, we only eat beef if silverside or brisket goes on special, which isn't very often!

Being vegetarian is too much like hard work for me - slam in the lamb etc etc!

I don't buy one off joints. I buy a whole brisket for £18 and cut it into 6 joints from my local butcher. Each joint at £3 then serves 5 or 6 on Sunday, I slice and chop the end off for Cornish pasties on Monday then mince up the rest for Cottage pie on Wednesday. Oh, and I nick a bit off the other end for a couple of rounds of roast beef sandwiches. So lots of meals for £3 served with tons of veg which my family are luckily all willing to eat, oh, and I fill them up with Yorkshire pud too.

I drain off the stock and it forms about 1/4 - 1/2" of hard fat which I keep and use the next week.