Tesco trip....Result!!

I needed to get my soup and dinners for next week made as I know i will be busy at work and if i am not organised I will find the challenge very hard indeed!!

So off i went to tesco and i got very excited at the site of the reduced fruit and veg section, it wasnt stuff that i could leave in the fridge all week, i needed to cook it all up when i got home but was cheap as chips!!

I bought

• Potatoes, cabbage and leek and onions for soup
• 20 sausages ( i wont use them all in a week), condensed tomato soup, kidney beans and 1kg of rice for a sausage and bean casserole with rice
• Potatoes, cauliflower, green beans, spinach and tomatoes to make a vegetable curry with the rice

To the soup i added a small amount of the cheap cooking bacon (about 15 pence worth) i still have in the fridge from last week, i have enough soup for over a week!
I used some butter i still have in the fridge and some spices from the cupboard in the vegetable curry, it made enough for about 6 portions!
I havent made the sausage casserole yet.

But here you go, i reckon i have enough dinners for nearly two weeks and all of my ingredients from tesco cost just £6.70, the rice and the sausages will last me a while too and i also have a bag of new potatoes and a brocolli unused. so a very sucessful shop!

I was going to put coconut milk in the curry but went to the aisle and it was £1.89 for one can so I decided to not put it in the curry which then gave me enough money to buy the stuff for the sausage casserole and the rice.

I have decided to live like this successfully you need to buy whats cheap and then make something nice with it, rather than deciding "i want to make this recipe" or "i want this for dinner" because then you are restricted to buying the ingredients regardless of their price.

my many jars of soup

my tasty veggie curry

night night xx

TFI Saturday!!!!

Hi everyone,
Got some great news... Naomi from south west news called yesterday and a magazine want to publish the story, which is fantastic!! They will also pay me £200 for the story which will take me up to about £615 roughly raised so far!
I have also confirmed booking of my first table of 12 at the talbooth in October, Mr Booty of Suffolk law was very kind and called to confirm the booking! So thanks to Mr B!
There has been lots of interest for the event, so
Hopefully will get lots of bums in seats and it will be a great night!!

Foodwise.. I went to Sally's BBQ last night and had a lovely time, I didn't have any alcohol either which was great. I got round taking meat which would blow my budget and took a new potato salad and a spiced rice dish made from what I had left from my tesco value rice and a few herbs etc in it, so kept to my budget, didn't drink and had a great time! Thanks Sal! Xx

Today I am going to make another soup for the week and probably a veggie curry I can make for the week and I also bought some reduced mozzarella cheese for 40p and have some corguettes from the garden so will make that bake again for the week, all cheap and nutritious!

Also I found out that you don't have to own an orange phone to get orange Wednesday's 2 fir 1 offer, you just have to register for a free sim card! So I have warned Steve, he is the "buy one" and I am the " free one" lol!
I have also been looking at a great website called "frugal Britain", my mum found it, it give loads of info and tips for living very cheaply so I am getting ideas from this, have a look it's really helpful!
Anyway I'm off to cook some food, speak later xx

End of my first month...

Wow what a week, been so busy, I havent had a moment to update my blog so sorry!!  The week was ok, pretty much the usual stuff, work and my soups etc.  I must say though when you are busy it gets very hard with the food as you need to be organised to keep to making the cheaper meals etc and i have been really busy and disorganised so its been quite tough! Got to get organised for next week otherwise I have to scrounge off my mum!

This weekend I have spent at Sible Hedingham recreation ground, facepainting, both days at the "2012 Legacy weekend" organised by Sible Hedingham Parish Council.

http://www.london2012.com/events/hedingham-2012-legacy-weekend.php

I must say I was surrounded by really lovely friendly people, what a lovely village community, it was a real pleasure taking part in the weekend there and what a lovely bunch of children!

We took our family children down there and they all took part in all the games and joined in with the other children too... it was so funny when they were all running round as little spidermen, lions, bunny rabbits and butterflies!!

I would like to say a huge thankyou to the Parish Council, the very generous Frenchman (you know who you are!) and the Sible Hedingham community for making me so welcome and supporting save the children!

I took £68.50 over the two days and gave £5 to the skate park in the recreation ground, so £63.50 for the Save the children fund.

Here's some pictures from the weekend!

Right.. So start of month 2 tomorrow!!! wish me luck!

Dont forget about the Talbooth event, 15th October 2011, all proceeds to Save the Children!! contact me for details! 07715554503 or cjt_84@yahoo.co.uk

night! xx

Monday, almost start of week 4, nearer the end of my first month!

Well I have taken the plunge... booked the venue and booked Kevin to perform! I have set the ball rolling with the poster invitation above! If this is of interest to anyone, please get in touch! or forward on the details to anyone you think might be! It should be a really fantastic night in aid of a very deserving cause! I am still looking for some more items for the auction so any contacts or ideas would be greatly received! xx

Just got home!!

Well I have to say face painting all day is hard work!! i'm exhausted but it was really good fun!!

I charged £2 a face and despite the heavy rain showers and storms, we took £62, I gave £10 to the carnival organisers for the gazebo and pitch for the day as they are all volunteers too.  So a big thankyou to Claire and the team at Stowmarket for making it possible... Also to my Mum Irene and Steve for donating the face paints and all my guinea pigs I had beforehand! So £52 to add to the offline total on the just giving page! :)

I forgot to say I made my own ricotta cheese, really easy, really cheap, only used about 60p of whole milk and makes a breakfast bowl full and you can stir a spoon into pasta and spinach (I got a big bag of frozen spinach for a pound in asda, its so much cheaper than the fresh stuff but still not bad!) I had that last night and for lunch today, both mornings I had porridge, lunch yesterday was a slice of skinny toast 2p with half a can of asda value beans 14p, with a little bit of ricotta on the top (as i wanted to try it!) and tonight I have had ragu and corguette with some pasta (yes i still have some left from last week!!) so really cheap food all weekend, no alcohol, no diet coke, filthy finger nails from all the paint and an aching back.... but £52 to add to the fund so I am happy!!... just shame its back to work tomorrow hey!

Speak tomorrow xx

As promised!!

 got to leave in 40 mins for the carnival face painting and still in PJ's!! So i'll write up blog tonight! wish me luck! speak later! xxx

I would like your opinions please??

I have provisionally booked the beautiful marquee that holds around approx 160 people (16 tables of 10 or 12 people) at the Talbooth fine dining, award winning restaurant in Dedham, Colchester for Saturday the 15th October.

It will be an exclusive event with a sparkling wine reception, followed by a fine dining three course meal, with coffee and chocolates to finish.

During the evening there will be entertainment from a band/singer, this is who I would like, Kevin Fitzsimmons, http://www.kevinfitzsimmons.com/ who does Rat pack, swing, jazz, dean martin, frank sinatra so a really varied range, and lucky for me he is free that night! Please take a look at this video of him on you tube, Sir Trevor McDonald introduces him http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUxr2pZC-E0&feature=player_embedded

Also in the evening a charity auction with items donated from local businesses with some really special "money can't buy" items!

If I am really lucky I might even be able to get an after dinner speaker but this is a work in progress!!

I am going to charge £50 per head, for a table of 8-12 people, this includes reception drink, dinner, coffee and chocolates and all the nights entertainment and all of the proceeds go to a really worthy cause, "Save the Children".

Before I go full steam ahead and finalise the arrangements this fantastic Saturday night VIP event, do you think its a good idea?? or have any ideas that I havent thought of?

Please leave me a comment or email me cjt_84@yahoo.co.uk or if you want to call its 07715554503.

Many thanks Chloe xx

Saturday..

So much to do today, finish off some work from the week, get ready for face painting at Stowmarket carnival tomorrow http://www.stowmarketcarnival.co.uk/category/carnival-2011
Come and have your face painted!! All the proceeds go to Save the Children!! Adults welcome too... who said it was only for kids hey?!

Porridge for breakfast, then i have to do my Saturday cook off to make food for next week as i have run out of soup and dinners etc! the money is going well though as I have quite a lot of food left, so i think my tenner is stretching over more than one week!!

I would like to give big thanks to my Mum Irene, she has bought me some more face painting stuff with some special colours for tomorrow and any other events I do and also Steve who bought me the starter kit.  Without them it would not be possible! xx

Almost the end of week 3...... "IT HAS ARRIVED".....

Lol... i can't lose this in a car park!! Hopefully it will raise some really good awareness in the area! Thanks to my work Ipswich Mercedes and smart who made this possible (GM Gary Pike and smart brand manager Claire Boswell who made it possible and to Vital signs for creating it) xx

p.s Dont worry about me driving past too quick and you might not being able catch all of the web addresses on it... it doesn't go very fast.. bless it! well at least i won't get caught speeding! lol!!

As far as my tenner a week... it is going well, im not saying its not really tough... but its going well! Friday I had pimped up porridge 5p, soup 17p, youghurt 7p, a few free plums from the garden and then Delia's tasty haddock kedgeree for dinner which was some frozen smoked haddock 75p, some onion 6p, butter 5p, rice 6p and a boiled egg 20p. Total £1.41.

Thursday..

More porridge and soup today...!

The lovely Sarah from Save the children has done a really great thing for me today... she has put me on the Save the Children blog on their website, have a look!!
http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/blogs/2011/07/colchester-back-to-basics-for-east-africa/
Thanks Sarah!! xx

Today i also received in the post a cheque for £20 from my very kind colleague Paul Smith (of Wayside Group), this will help 60 severely malnutritioned children, so many thanks Paul! x

I have picked a few face paint designs for Sunday, so if there is any budding face painters out there who want to come along to Stowmarket carnival and lend a hand to raise some money, even just have a walk about with a collection box and some stickers, please let me know! xxx

The last couple of days...

Tuesday...

I had my morning interview with Dave Monk on BBC Essex on Tuesday morning at half 9 in the morning...I was still really nervous but it was a really good interview, Dave asked all the right questions and him and the team were really friendly and made me feel really at ease! And guess what.. no technical hitches this time, lol! So thank you Dave and the team at BBC Essex for the interview and all your support!! Look forwards to speaking to you later in the campaign to see how its going! 

Here it is, if you missed it and fancy a listen ;)

If you have trouble with this I also posted it on you tube: (after about 4 hours it actually worked)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF68rRMhZVM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Breakfast was pimped up porridge again 5p, soup 17p, dinner I made a Spanish Tortilla (a fancy omlette) from Delia's cookbook, it had two small potatoes, one small onion, 4 eggs, half a green pepper and some chorizo with a little salad from the garden. I had to use half the oil and half the green pepper and half the amount of chorizo to keep it in budget but it was still tasty and quite filling. I had a quarter of it for about 60p. 

Work has been so busy I havent had time to think about feeling hungry.. just had diet coke cravings!!

After my interview I had a really kind donation from Carolyn Brooks with a really lovely message so thank you Carolyn, I was really touched! I also had some messages of support from other people who had heard my interview so I went to bed feeling really good about the progress made with the campaign and the very kind messages of support and luck from some lovely people! x

Wednesday... Woo Hoo officially over half way through the week!! Only two days until the weekend!

Porridge again this morning with plums, I know you must be thinking "isn't she getting bored of eating that?" well the answer would be yes without the tasty plums on the top and it leaves me with more to eat later as its only 5p! Lunch, more soup but its full of goodness, 17p. Got another quarter of my tortilla for dinner tonight. So no cooking although i may attempt to make my own ricotta cheese tonight! Will let you know...

Oh almost forgot the best bit!! I had a call from Claire today and she is letting me have a space this Sunday 17th July at the Stowmarket Carnival http://www.stowmarketcarnival.co.uk/ to do Children's face painting to raise money for Save the Children... I am very excited!! So thank you to Claire and the organisers for giving me the opportunity!

Steve very kindy bought a face painting kit for me, to make it possible to do the fundraisers I have planned so thank you very much to his kind donation!

I then called the team at Save the Children to supply me with some posters and stickers etc, they are such a great team of lovely people there, I had a great chat with them and they are sending the items out first class in-time for Sunday! So thanks to Sharon and Sarah and all the team at Save the Children xx

I better get practicing my face painting...my Auntie Liz and Uncle Bill are staying for a couple of days, so Mum, Dad, Liz and Bill will be back shortly.... they have no idea what i have in store for them!! they are my guinea pigs, or a tiger, or a butterfly.. whatever they want to be! Lol! will post the pics! 

Speak later xx

Monday..stress!!!!

Well I had a great start to the day.. Full on road rage...my road is very busy in the mornings so i went out into the road halfway to pull out in the hope that someone on the other side would let me out... well they didnt and the fella on my side of the road had to stop for all of two seconds until someone did but he went absolutely mad on his horn and shouted etc!! there was a short exchange and someone (thank god!) let me out! (i am not a morning person so this was not a good start at all!!)

Then get into work with a mountain of work to do, got it done though!

Then a very bad day turned good!!

There is a festival "The Colchester Oyster Free Festival" in upper castle park Colchester on the 3rd September and Don from Snake in the grass said I could have a free pitch to do face painting where i will donate all the proceeds to my campaign for Save the children.  They predict levels reaching 10,000 people, this would be great so if you fancy lending a hand and painting some children's faces for Save the Children, please let me know, the more the merrier!! (plus i think i will need more than one pair of hands!)

Then I have an email from BBC Essex, they want me to do a breakfast interview about the campaign tomorrow (Tuesday) at 09:40 am on the radio show! how exciting!! so listen out!

Food today was pimped up porridge 5p, soup 17p, youghurt 7p... so far so good, plenty left for dinner! ;)

Speak later xx

p.s someone has just sent me a joke... how do you know when an elephant has been in the refrigerator? .... foot prints in the cheesecake... all i am thinking about now is a big slab of cheesecake!! so thanks for that!!

This weekend....

Thought I would do a quick update from the weekend for you...

Saturday...

With no alcohol i seem to be getting up really early! even if i do want a lay in, I wake up hungry now, whereas I didnt used to so downstairs for a poached egg on toast 22p. (eggs have gone up to 20p.. I think my mum has caught onto a money maker as Buffy is still broody!)

Lunch.. I have discovered a new recipe, vegetarians especially may like, its corguette and tomatoes layered with a layer of mozarella baked in the oven, with a sprinkling of parmesan, and salad on the side from the garden.  I made it strech to 4 portions, the mozzarella was 50p (tesco value), tomatoes 45p, my corguettes were free from my neighbour but had they not have been free they would have cost 60p, parmesan was about 10p, so approx 41p per portion if I had to pay for the corguettes, as i didnt its 26p

Dinner was the Ragu with rice so 28p plus a portion of tesco value rice at (48p for 1kg) so was only 3p.

A value yoghurt at 7p.

Under budget again which is great!!

On Sunday..

I had another egg on toast 22p, lunch was another portion of the bake 26p with salad from the garden.

I went to see Jimmy's Farm for support so just waiting to hear back from them.  fingers crossed everyone!!

Then I thought, got to get organised for week 3 of the challenge, so I go off with my tenner..... well i went to Aldi, thought to myself, people always say its cheap in there..didnt get the trolley with a pound coin as I didnt have one and wanted the whole tenner to spend! well i came out with a lettuce for 39p and a celery for 39p... i actually found myself turning my nose up at everything that was nearer to a pound!! how mad is that.. before I didnt even look at the price tags!!

So I think to myself... right well "Mums go to Iceland" that must be cheap but apparently they dont do decimal places, the cheapest thing was a pound, or two pounds or three pounds etc!!

So off to Asda and got all my things in there, I have decided them and tesco are the best.... the funny thing is is I wasted loads of time and probably spent my savings I made in my Mum's petrol!! Lol nevermind at least i know not to bother with Audi and Iceland now!

Eventually after my supermarket crawl... I get back and make some soup for the week Potato, celery and Bacon.  In Asda they are doing 2.5kg potatoes for £1 what a bargain, the amount i used cost me 30p and my i used half my aldi celery at 20p, an onion at 15p, 100g of cooking bacon 17p, stock cubes (tesco value ones) 2p, 1/4 pint milk 13p, and 25g of butter 6p (i am buying asda best for baking 55p for 250g).  Total £1.03 , made 6 portions so 17p a portion.

I had one portion for dinner plus a sice of skinny bread 19p.

Today cost only 67p.

Then i had to do some work for work from about 3pm until about 11pm to get stuff done for today so was shattered when i went to bed.

Its official weekends go far too quick.... i'm all up for a 4 day week and a 3 day weekend!!

TFI Saturday!!!

Morning everyone!

thought i would introduce you to someone, it is Freda the frog, she is the "save the children mascot", keeping safe custody of all the offline donations until i send them over.

Here she is....

Inside are very kind donations from:

My fantastic Grandad George (spring chicken at 93) £10
Wonderful Eileen Smith (my mother number 2) £20
Lovely Anna and Ivan Norfolk (my surrogate grandparents) £40
Lovely Josie from our Priory street Church £10
Kind Ian Burroughs from Work £5
My supportive General Manager Gary Pike £20

Thank you so much to all of you, all of your donations will make a big difference to a child's life xx

Thank you to all of my online donations so far too..

The best parents i could wish for, mum and dad who have to listen to me talking about this 24/7 £10
Our best performing BM at work £1
My previous General Manager, very kind, Mike Lishman £10
My very beautiful friend, inside and out, Sally Frost £5
The lovely Liz (Beth Neame), my friend who I was lucky to meet on a trip to Africa that gave up that dress she wanted and donated £50
Kind Vikki Arthur £5
Steve (although i text and wrote the message myself lol, its what he really wanted to say!) £4
Liz's lovely mum Sara gave us her birthday money (bless her) £20
Kind Mervyn Carter £10
My childhood friend Simon Morris (who thinks i'm mad for doing this!) £10
My really kind Auntie Liz and Uncle Bill Platten £15

Thank you so much to everyone who has been very kind and donated to Save the Children, an extrememly worth cause! xx

I am at £245 so far, the campaign is for 6 months so please please donate, even if it is just a pound, every penny helps!! Dig Deep! Guys have one less pint at the pub, give up the desert or starter on a meal out, do something free this weekend, or go without the maccy D's breakfast and donate me the money you would have spent!! (i know i'm just being cheeky now ;) )  ha ha i always say you dont ask.. you dont get! please please please!

Please visit www.justgiving.com/chloe-thompson or text LDAH £(then enter amount i.e 1, 5 or 10, whatever you like!) to 70070

I'll even come and mow your lawn, wash your car or walk your dog in return for a donation!! Just message me and I'll do it!! (be sensible though, I live in colchester and I cant make it to scotland to mow your lawn Lol! ;)

Thanks everyone! I'm off, speak later xx

Friday... the official start to the weekend!

Well at least i thought so, but had such a stressful day at work, everything that could have gone wrong.. did!! but no glass of wine, no diet coke or comfort food to compensate!! I am being a good girl!

Cor forget strwberry jam on porridge, try stewed plums from my garden, they make a boring breakfast very yummy! so a 5p breakfast pimped up with some plums!

Lunch was soup again (after quite some time), I forgot i froze it to keep it fresh so went to get it a lunchtime and had to try to defrost it and then prize it out of the jar, eventually after about 10-15 minutes of faffing about i had my lunch! but its such good soup, i dont mind, that is a classic example of my excellent organisational skills! lol! 35p.

Dinner, my mum helped me out and made some ragu while i was at work with the rest of my mince, there are 6 portions at 38p per portion, bargain, and its a Jamie Oliver recipe (without the parmesan cheese as i cant afford it!) and she made it, so it tastes really good! I havent made any pasta to go with it because my chicken buffy (her breed is a buff opington.. hence the name Buffy, yes, i know, very original!) is still broody (i think its attempted sabotage!!)... look she cant even be bothered to smile for the camera (the one on the far left.!.) When she does lay she lays the best eggs, i suppose they do say "the best things are worth waiting for", who said that?? i want some pasta!

Anyway what saved the day was a very tasty fresh corgette ( i am fortunate i love corgettes!) straight from my neighbours Margaret and Don Dansey's vegetable patch, I roasted that, cut it open and put the ragu on top, very nice and very cheap. I am going to offer to walk their dog or something in return.

I also had one of those cheapy tesco yoghurts for 7p.

So another day well under budget!

went to bed early.. my stressy day wore me out! (I know very flakey!) But went to be with a big smile on my face because i have had some more donations and messages of support from more lovely people xx

Have I gone too far???!

I arrive at work, greeted by my lovely colleague John Emsden (bless him) got up early to hear me on the radio! I said about the technical hitch and we both had a laugh!

Well I think I may have gone too far, I just had the last portion of my stewed bargain bucket rhubarb (i fought the other tesco bargain hunters for the other day) for breakfast... i looked at it and there was fluff on it ... the beginings of mould... so i did something very uncharacteristic next....

I picked it off and ate the rest!!!

Waste not want not hey?

That was 15p, Soup for lunch 35p, i and going to nibble on some salad from the garden in the afternoon as i get a bit hungry (and sleepy!), then dinner tonight, whatever it may be but must cost less than about 90p!

Speak later xx (if im not sick from my almost mouldy rhubarb...)

Breakfast....

So its Thursday morning, i get up earlier as I know Nick Padolfi of Town 102FM is calling at 7:05am to do a breakfast interview with me, have a shower and sit there ready with the landline and the mobile next to eachother in anticipation of his call.... never done this before so I felt really nervous.. i thought what if I swear?? what if i stutter?? errrr!

So the home phone rings once, i pick it up and nothing on the other end, it does it again and i try to pick it up again... oh no!!! I can hear Nick on the Radio going "is she still asleep??", "come in Chloe Thompson",  "where are you Chloe Thompson".. the stupid homephone kept putting him to voicemail!!
Then he rang Mum who was waiting to hear me on the radio, who answered, very confused why the radio she is listening to is calling her... they said "chloe thompson" she said "who???"... oh try her mobile lol! bess her, she is lovely, was just a bit confused! it  was early afterall! I think she was so suprised it threw her a bit, she said she sounded grumpy so now thinks she has to call Nick and apologise Lol!

Eventually I get Nick on the mobile and have my breakfast interview with him, it went well i thought, not quite as scary as I expected! So thanks so much to Nick and Town 102... sorry for the slight technical hitch!!

The story is on their facebook page, or just visit www.justgiving.com/chloe-thompson

Thanks Everyone xx

Article on website now if you didnt see the paper xx

http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/local/colchester/9117406.Chloe_s_charity_drive_vow_to_live_on___10_a_week/

Sorry forgot to mention...

Through cutting out alcohol, cutting down my portions and eating more healthily, not having the money to buy unhealthy/convenience foods, getting more active, I have lost over half a stone so far so ditch weight watchers and slimmers world (I was a big yo yo dieter) forget the weekly fees, join me in the Back to Basics challenge and raise some money for charity (obviously seek medical advice first)!! go on I dare you...! xx

A bit of perspective....how your donation helps

£1.50: Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) tape to identify malnourished children

£13: clean water kits – soap, bucket and aquatabs for a family of 5 for one month

£15: mosquito nets for 10 children

£15: enough to treat one child with amoxicillin (antibiotic) – to treat life-threatening infections

£26: aquatabs to purify drinking and cooking water for 5 families of 6 for a month

£26: hygiene kits – basic materials for a family of 5 (soap, toilet paper, towels, bucket)

£32: help train a Community Health Worker – basic health care

£50: high calorie food – to help 150 children suffering from severe malnutrition

£65: cost of referring a severely malnourished child to a stabilisation centre (vehicle + fuel + food)

£70: train a health professional to diagnose and treat malaria

£80: Support a community Health Worker for a year to provide primary care to 100 households (including around 400 children aged under 18 of whom around 100 are aged under five

£80: feeds a family of 6 for one month (in Somalia)

£250: buys 100 blankets for children in a stabilisation centre (£2.50 each)

£1,000: equip a mobile unit to help 600 children (without food)

£3,250: stabilisation ward for 50 children suffering from severe malnutrition

£9,000: Outpatient Therapeutic Programme kit – to set up and equip one mobile team servicing 6 distribution sites/health centres, including food

£18,500: Health kit to support a population of 10,000 people for 3 months

So even if you can donate £2.50 it will buy a blanket to go over a child in a stabilisation centre. Even £1 gives high calorie food to 3 children suffering from severe malnutrition. So as you can see, no amount is too small (or too big lol ;) ) every penny goes to someone who needs it more that us.  So please donate www.justgiving.com/Chloe-Thompson

Go on http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/east-africa-appeal.htm

Thank you so much for your support!! xx

Week 2...getting better...

Well this morning (day 2 Wednesday) I wake to Town 102 news and I am on it!! my phone interview I did with them was tagged on the end of the news! i was so excited!!

I have forgotten all about my diet coke, face wash and skanky nails now.

Then I have a call from Nick Pandolfi at Town 102, he said he had had some calls from supporters and wants to do a breakfast interview with me and is calling me at ten past 7 tomorrow morning to do it!! i cant remember the last time I was quite this excited! He also said to tell my boss at "Mercedes Benz and smart of Ipswich" (there you go Gary.. another free plug!) that if he donated me £20 he would give Mercedes a free plug on the radio, Gary my boss agreed!

So the next thing that is planned, all part of my campaign...

I am fortunate enough to have a beautiful company car approx £32k C Class sport, see here
http://www.jardinemotors.co.uk/mercedes-benz/mercedes-benz-of-ipswich/

Well I am swapping it for a night orange smart car for a third of the price! http://www.jardinemotors.co.uk/smart/smart-of-ipswich/

Gary is trying to get it sign written for me (I told him he is going straight to heaven for this) which is fantastic but its subject to approval at the moment so watch this space!! :)

Here is Gary, the GM at Mercedes and smart of Ipswich who is very supportive of the Back to basics campaign to raise money for Save the Children...

And here is the Lovely Claire who is the smart Brand Manager at Ipswich sorting me out my night orange smart car and allowing me (hopefully) to deface it with some campaign ads!

Thank you both! x

Poached egg on skinny toast this morning 12p, soup again 35p and rhubarb 15p so far and lots of free work tea.

Very positive today and very excited about going on the radio tomorrow!! despite my nail disaster. speak later! x

Week 2!! what was a good look has gone very bad.....

Its month end, the most stressful part of my job, i am gagging for a diet coke, i have run out of my £5.99 facewash and using a bar of soap and my acrylic nails have grown out and two have either fallen or broken off, i dont even have acetone to soak them off or any money to buy it with, look at the state of these, not a good look....

 

But despite this i have stuck to my budget. Tuesday (day 1 of week 2), I had 5p porridge and the 35p homemade soup, the lasagne (yes there is still some left...) at 62p.  Worked 7:30am-11pm tired and grumpy!! went to bed!

End of my first week!! only another 25 to go..

Day 6..
Yesterday we went to Ipswich Music festival steve packed me a salad and filled up a used bottle with tap water for me to drink throughout the day.  The nearest car park was £7.50 for the day, nearly a weeks food, so i refused! we drove further out and parked for free and walked up to the park, was not far. Entry to Christchurch park was free. For a free event it was very good with i think 4 or 5 stages, rides, drinks bars, food bars etc.  I had a lovely day and didnt spend a penny, just ate my salad, drunk my water, watched the bands in the sun and had a wander round!

Steve had two beers and I could have quite happily sunk a few glasses of dry white and had a nibble on the hog roast that was there but sticking to the cause 100%!!

First week, stuck to budget and didnt become a recluse... so far so good! :)

They do say the best things in life are free..... i think this is definitely true.

And in the words of Bridget Jones "Children... they are the future"... so get donating for save the Children!!

Even £1 will make a difference!

In the evening Steve made some dinner (not extravagant, just out the cupboard, still sticking to the theme) and we all played frisby in the garden then i fell asleep in the bath... kids wear you out!!  Lol!

Day 7..

Back to work... booo...one poached egg on toast 12p, plus my 40p soup and 7p yoghurt, got a portion of my lasagne tonight from the weekend 62p with small portion of salad 10p £1.31 in all...

Need to get creative with some free entertainment/social ideas.. suggestions welcome!!? Also maybe some other ideas to boost the fund for Save the Children, maybe an added fundraiser? Just comment on my blog with any ideas suggestions you have please. You may have noticed on the news this morning about the drought and people fleeing to what were refugee camps and then a save the children rep speaking.. they need our help.

Things I have found hard so far... no alcohol, no diet coke, no meals out, having to think of every penny and everything i think about putting in my mouth (i like my food and drink.. you may have gathered). Also going into a bar on a friday night and drinking tap water with people dancing around you... have discovered i only seem to be able to dance comfortably under the influence but i did a little wiggle of my right leg.. better than nothing!

The best bits, support from people, even ones i dont know! discovering i can have fun and eat well on a tight budget, i just have to be creative and organised. media interest and above all I can see its starting to make a difference to the fund! so please keep following! You can add yourself as a follower to this blog and then i can see who is reading which is really encouraging me, so please do!

Speak later x

more news...

had a call from southwest news who deal with the ladiess mags such as womens weekly etc about real life stories so might be in a magazine next! very exciting!! x

Day 5 and 6....

 

It officially the weekend, so Saturday I had two scrambled eggs to start 20p.
Then home to mow the lawn as promised, i have to say it made me realise how unfit i am!!! nearly killed me off lol! They took pictures as evidence i think as i dont think the couldn't believe their eyes... Dad usually does it when i was off out somewhere...

Then i needed to get organised for dinner with Steve and Morgan coming over and lunch next week as i cant afford to go for convenience food! I made Potato, Celery and Bacon soup 5 portion for next week at 35p a portion, thats my lunches sorted!

Then what i thought was going to be a quick assembly job, a lasagne, took me ages!!

I rolled out two portions of my pasta i made earlier in the week into 16 sheets for 34p, made some ragu/bolognese with 250g tesco market value mince 53p, 100g cooking bacon 17p, onion 13p, tin value tomatoes 33p, tomato puree 5p, 50ml red wine i nicked off Dad and gave him 25p for and some dry basil. Made white sauce from milk 31p, butter 33p and flour 11p, dash double cream 25p all with a sprinkling of parmesan on the top 30p.  £3.10 for the lot and it ended up doing 5 portions at 62p a portion so i have some left for in the week. It tasted lovely, I must admit the meat filling was on the skinny side but thats what you get for a 62p homemade lasagne!

 I also made 2 ciabattas from some flour for a pound (about 10 slices) so i had a slice of that for 10p, they had a slice and i put the rest in the freezer for the week. We had some salad from the garden, so my dinner cost me 72p. While i was making all of this i forgot i hadnt had lunch and then i remembed the little bit of left over carbonara in the fridge from the other night and ate a small bowl of that, free today!

Watched a dvd and was in bed early, was so tired, think it was all the cooking and the lawn mowing!

Dinner is on Steve tomorrow night so i will save the money i spent on feeding them last night today!

Whole day just for my portions was 92p.

Day 6 Sunday..

A portion of porridge i traded for lawn mowing (the whole bag was £1.07 for a kg) so cost me 5p as i made it with water.

We are going to a free Music Festival today in Christchurch park in Ipswich, I will be taking a big bottle of tap water with me and Steve will take care of most of the picnic and dinner in return for yesterdays overspend lol! (two dinners at 72p each!)

I know i sound incredibly tight but its what i have to do if I am going to suceed!! Lol!

Still no alcohol.. i must say i feel so much better for it, it is a depressant afterall.

bye for now x