Live on £4,000 for a year - 2009, Part 4

shaz_mum_of__2 · 1 October 2009 at 2:46PM

Cheryl my freezers a bit like that and woe betide any man ..................and i mean man that puts something in the wrong place

Even the kids ask "which shelf does this go on?" lol

Anyone seen if Ald1 have thise stuffed turkey joints in yet?

Shaz

Optimisticpair · 1 October 2009 at 4:30PM

It was all change in Aug due to having to work out the new last quarter of 09 trial run and 2010 target for two households (ours and MIL's).

Good news is the freezer is well stocked. I have yet to work out though if it really is worth the extra car costs of travelling a total of 48 miles to Aldi and Tesco.

sophiesmum_2 · 1 October 2009 at 4:54PM

:DI'm here Nyk, just being quiet.

Mr DT - nice to see you posting, hope life is going well with your ladyfriend, and the new house is working out okay.:D

Vixstar · 1 October 2009 at 5:04PM

I'm planning on doing a nothing but essentials challenge this month too but I don't think I have enough to last the whole month. What I'm aiming to do is empty cupboards and freezer and then do a big (well for me anyway) online shop hopefully once a month. Which in conjunction with trying to stick to meal plans should save me money. I think it's the meal planning I'll have problems with!

thriftylass · 1 October 2009 at 6:30PM

Was tempted again to get my long hair cut, this time by a friend but would've still been £20 I guess. So I had a look on y0utub3 and found this really easy video for a long layered cut. Took me only ten minutes and is the best cut I managed in years (although it always looked ok before). knowing that technique now definitely saves me from temptation to go to a hairdresser again (were it never really looks like I want anyway

)

Frugaldom · 1 October 2009 at 6:55PM

Thrifty, maybe you could post the link to the utube haircut - I got about 6 or 8 inches taken off mine for DD's wedding (cost £10 from mobile hairdresser / neighbour) but it would be handy to know for next time.

Glad to see there are a couple of you going to be eating from store cupboards, fridges & freezers. I'm trying not to spend in a bid to get the grocery budget back in check. l get a few extras from LETS trading and any other bartering I do and have just got a lovely big order for more home produce - soup, eggs, lemon curd etc. I now have 2 regular bartering 'jobs' and a third, pet sitting & dog walking, in the offing, all cash free transactions.

I espect there to be loads of baking and pasta making over the next month or two and hope to just need stuff like flour, sugar, dairy products and toilet rolls etc

I defrosted some mince and a carton of hm tomato & mixed veggie sauce, added this all together with a jar of pasta sauce and had spag bol. There's enough left over to make a lasagne for tomorrow, so I'll try out the pasta maker then.

Quite looking forward to playing with that.

shaz_mum_of__2 · 1 October 2009 at 7:15PM

Hmmm ran out of milk, bananas and chocolate already but have yummy fruitcake and coconut cake made and the liver and sausage went down great guns

Leftovers for lunch tomorrow and taken some smoked salmon trimmings out to go with cheesy pasta tomorrow might try and make a garlic flatbread/foccacia to go with it and use up some of the parsley in the garden

Hubby arrived home laden with potatoes, onions and oranges from the 30p at Mr M offers along with 12 tins branst0n beans(79p for 4) he is well trained bless him but unaware of my challenge but i guess i can forgive him(even if he was carrotless)

I did notice our little c00p has lots of veg for 50p this week too sprouts, baby carrots and parsnips i think

Right better go bath ds and read him a story

sophiesmum_2 · 1 October 2009 at 7:22PM

I'm still using up my storecupboard and just buying the extra bits,still lots of stuff left in the stores and freezers, and the preserves cupboard is full.Although I would like to make some more of the bread and butter pickles before xmas for hampers and some more marmalade. I have the lemons and oranges prepared in the freezer but not enough jars yet to make it.I'd like to do some with whisky/ginger in for hampers too.
I reckon I can get to xmas just buying milk, flour for baking, marg for baking,and a few bits of fresh stuff (still have a lot of bread flour left and some mixes which were bought really cheaply)
OH insists on buying himself sweeties and crisps which is fine as long as he doesn't expect me to buy them:rotfl: although he has now been persuaded to buy aldi's 24 bags in a box for 99p (think these are usually £1.49 or so but were reduced when we went) instead of 1 bag of posh crisps for £1.75:eek:
My stockpile is curently divided between the two houses which has led to a few extra minor spends as the thing I need is always in the other house, mostly baking ingredients like last weekends walnuts and ground ginger:rolleyes: despite having a 2kg pack of walnuts and a catering tub of ginger elsewhere.
Have to say though my food budget is helped by eating several meals a week with the oldies, as we live where I work and this is mostly done in my own time we all eat these meals so don't have to account for probably two meals a week for the family, plus another lunch for me and OH.I have spent £834 to date this year on groceries/cleaning/toiletries but I did start with the remains of last years stockpile from last years challenge and a healthy store of toiletries etc.
I've also adjusted the budget to take into account electricity/coal etc at the cottage, but this has been mostly offset with the savings I made by stopping my gym membership.I have also had to swallow up an extra contents insurance and a second tv licence, so my budget has been really stretched.Luckily I got cashback on the insurance which helped a bit and I don't pay electricity costs on the work flat.If I am careful I may just come in on track for 2009 despite these extras which weren't on the scene at the start of the challenge.
Other non essential household expenditure on the cottage has come from savings and doesn't impact the budget,(thank goodness!!!!!)

I think next years expenditure may be worked in two 6 monthly budgets as we are hoping to be living completely oop north before the end of the first six months

which will be a drastic change for us and a drop in household income of around £32,000 a year - but we will be much happier. Just need to sort out any big non essential spends now whilst there are stil savings and income to do it - hence the new bathroom suite and shower currently being installed and the posh fence round the chicken pen

thriftylass · 1 October 2009 at 7:37PM

Nyk here's the link, there are more similar ones too.

Blairweech · 1 October 2009 at 7:48PM

I'm sure I posted on this thread this morning...where the hell has that gone?!!

Have had a day off sick today as my cough has worsened over the week and will not get better in the fridge, so decided to take the time off as I am worn out by it!

Have spent the day doing Ebay listings and pottering about the house, nothing very exciting.

Hope you are all well x

Live on £4,000 for a year - 2009, Part 4

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