Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

Mollymop5

Morning all.I'm off om my frugal holiday and after a lovely sunny week i have showers and thunderstorms to look forward too.Hope the caravan isn't far from the entertainment block.
Happy Birthday to everyone celebrating this week.
I will try to stay in budget.What am I saying i only have a set amount so have to stay in budget lol.
See you when I get back.Berwick here we come

sophiesmum_2

Woo Hoo we're back online:j

Janey did the remoska arrive today???

BlueFleur

Being back online is a good thing, I've spent a lot today :eek: We did really well on spending less on food though. Our weekly shop was half what it was last week!

sophiesmum_2

BlueFleur wrote: »

Being back online is a good thing, I've spent a lot today :eek: We did really well on spending less on food though. Our weekly shop was half what it was last week!

Good result with the food shopping BlueFleur:T (won't ask about the other spends) Just remember you can't change everything at once - babysteps is the way to go;)

BlueFleur

I think one of our next babysteps will be sorting out our direct debits. They all seem to go out in the first week of the month Organisation seems to be key with the dfw lifestyle. I've set up a lot of spreadsheets etc to track where the money goes.

We did take a couple-like step forward today and set up a joint account. We're going to change all our household bills etc so that we're not worrying about who owes what. And the bf was picking up own brand bits in the shop today. I'll convert him yet

Frugaldom

We're back! Just spotted the email notices from forum posts!

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to those celebrating one and HAPPY HOLIDAYS to those who are going.

Sophiesmum, glad your brother will be back home soon and able to relax as best he can away from the hospital setting.
I've been keeping an eye on the blackberries but mine just aren't ripening! We desperately need some sun! The tomatoes are now beginning to go bad and fall off the vines before they have had any chance to ripen! Going to have to [ick them all green to avoid losing them completely.

It did stay dry today, although very humid and overcast, so useless for drying the washing! However, I'll risk another lot on tonight and see if I can get it hung out tomorrow - apologies if anyone here finds it offensive to hang out washing on a Sunday but needs must.

Today, we went into town and did a huge shopping in Mr T (for September+) that completely blew the budget. I ended up going daft and spending £70.80 after deduction of the vouchers! :eek: I couldn't believe it when the girl on the checkout told me! In fact, the guy next to me actually tried to console me! :rotfl: I did have a large trolley-load but, thankfully, Saturday must be a really bad day to go to there, IMO! There were no budget beans, no raisins or sultanas, no wholemeal bread and hardly any reduced items!! 79p bananas are now 98p, cheapest loaf was 45p and the only real bargains I got were fresh chickens, so I bought 4. The store did have the Gales lemon curd for 20p per jar, so I got a few of them, and the fajita (meal for 4) kits were on special at £1.22, so I got 4 of them as well. Another thing I noticed increasing was sugar prices. I buy the 3kg bags, which now work out at about 79p per kilo, but today, I also bought boxes of sugar cubes, as these were working out at 77p per kilo on the special offer. Rather than take 2 spoonfuls of sugar in my coffee, I'll cut it down to 3 lumps and that'll work out at a 25% saving over the rest of this year. And don't even get me started on the price of cheese! :eek: Sophiesmum, I don't know about you, but there's no way I could ever transport or store enough of a stockpile to last a year.

We went to Woolies and I managed to get quite a few items half price or less, to put away for Christmas, and only used £20 of my vouchers. I even got a few pence change, so this has been stuck in Phil the Pig. Roll on 1st December for the 'official' date of opening and counting, as per the rules on Mumzy's Sealed Pot Challenge.

Plus points after my spendathon (blame it on MSE forums being closed!)

1. The fridge & freezer are both full
2. The baking ingredients cupboard is full
3. The store cupboard is full (cleaning, laundry & toiletry products)
4. The kitchen cupboards are full
5. The stockpile has been topped up
6. The Christmas Gift List is shortening
7. It showed me I NEED to bake more bread, as buying it is extortionate
8. Got a few bits and pieces that needed replacing in the kitchen
9. Got a new bath mat as last one eventually disintegrated
10. Got 2 bottles of wine and some chocolate - just because I wanted it!

sophiesmum_2

Nyk - There is no way i could store more than 6 months worth of food either.
I did a quick check on prices last week of the stuff i had bought for my stockpile and most had gone up, some by quite a bit. Bacon pieces had gone up from 99p to £1.58:eek: rice,pasta,porridge etc had all gone up, in fact almost everything including dried peas (from 6p-47p) and pulses. I estimated my remaining stores would cost me around £30+ more if I went and bought them today so it has been moneysaving for me:D. I bought my sugar in costco 16 kg bags cost just over £8 so worked out just over 50p a KG:D , using my free fruit i can get around 7-8 jars of jam etc from 2kg sugar so it works out cheaper for me than buying smartprice jam and is yummy:D no one here takes sugar in drinks or on cereals so I only use it for jams and baking etc.

redglass_2

Today we actually got some sunshine for once. And guess what? When the sunshine lit up the dark corners I discovered MOULD growing on the kitchen door and on the doors of the dresser. :eek::eek::eek: I didn't notice it before because the doors are dark wood and the mould is like a fine dark powder and only shows when the light hits it at a certain angle. This is a very damp area (drained marshes, basically) and nobody can have a cellar here because it would fill up with water but mouldy doors in August, well I've seen it all now... perhaps I should just build myself an ark :rolleyes:

tryingtodobetter

Had a great day today maybe its because the sun has been shining! This morning I went 'shopping' in the loft I got DS1 winter clothes sorted from all the bits I have got from the charity shop or heavily reduced in the shops over the last few years. I have key pieces e.g jeans and jumpers/jackets and t-shirts in the loft to last him until he's 11 (he's only 7!!!) I have my sisters boys to stay for the weekend so we all went to the outdoor swimming pool in a village 4 miles away, it's great as Its only £1.50 for the kids and I don't have to go in

We spent the whole afternoon until 5pm at the pool and then went to my Gran's to pick blackberries so I can make some blackberry and apple jam. My dear Gran had bought me the apples and the sugar and saved me loads of jars

This evening has been spent chilling out chatting about our plans for New Zealand.

Hope everyone else has had a good day.

Janey51

Had to pop in as it's a special day :bdaycake: :rotfl: and I really think I have to class myself as drifting out of "middle age" and into the elderly category :mad:

Went out for a lovely meal courtesy of DSs 1&2 and DILs last night and ate a lot....for me

I am baking myself a birthday cake :j
And it is in the oven on its own using all that electric :eek:

I did think about putting it in the Rayburn but it's too hot and I am going to turn it off as soon as my visitors have gone. It's wonderful to have lashings of hot water when people are wanting showers and baths...not to mention all the washing up :rolleyes: but I need to think of the winter fuel bills. Oil is creeping back up again. I couldn't get a refill when it dropped as my oil tank was still over half full because of my frugality :T

I was going to cut the grass but it's raining....now, there's a surprise

To anyone who read the window cleaning saga...DS2 said "why didn't you empty the water out of the bowl and stand on the upturned bowl to get back in the window"

Men. Don't you just hate them sometimes :rotfl:

Happy birthday Nyk. Bet you won't be turning the oven on for one cake

And my Remoska didn't arrive so hopefully Monday.

I have updated my sig. Not bad. Not bad at all. I think I can do this. I hope I can do this.