Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

bails

MrsHayes wrote: »

Ps. I have got my first star! That has cheered me up ;-)

It's the little things that get us through I hope you find a solution that you're hapy with Mrs Hayes, sorry I don't know enough about the children side of things to help. With our help on here though, I'm sure we can get your spends down and before long it'll all seem much better
In the middle of transferring August spendsto a new spreadsheet so will give you a breakdonw when it's done. Will then have to slowly work my way back through the rest of the year :rolleyes: but that'll give me a really good overview for next year :j
Glad DS was okay TTDB! And fab news on the bingo win Nyk :T you've tempted me to wander over again...
Sorry about your hol Sophiesmum, some things are far more important though x

EDIT: My August spends are as follows:
groceries £98.58
household £11.20
maintenance £21.90
animals £21.45
bills £79.34
presents £8.41
mobile £10.00
TOTAL: £250.88

I have to confess that my spends are so complicated with what is/isn't included, some stuff being joint and others being separate etc etc that I think from now on I'm just going to keep a running total of all spends for the year in different categories. Then I'll have a really clear picture of all spends for next year, when everything will be included (is that right Nyk?) Phew, at least it's done though

Frugaldom

bails wrote: »

...I'll have a really clear picture of all spends for next year, when everything will be included (is that right Nyk?) Phew, at least it's done though

Bails, I think it would be easier all round if we simply aimed for a frugal, hence debt-free, lifestyle and yes, I'm hoping that next year's challenge will include everything. It means that we'll all have different targets to meet but it'll will make it much easier to record the spends. I just can't decide if it's 'old style' or 'debt-free wannabe'.

What does everyone else think?

Marru, hope you had a good day at college today

Sophiesmum, maybe you could plan a stay at home 'adventure holiday' for bro and make the most of your holidays that way?

bails

Yeah, it's difficult because some of us aren't in debt, although with mortgages most of us would be. I guess quite a lot of what we do is OS-inspired so maybe that's the way to go? Be interested in what other peeps think Having different totals is the best way I reckon, like the GC, as we all have very different households/outgoings etc so it's impossible to compare really. Having a personal budget to try and beat would still be a real challenge! What would you call it though?

I don't if this is of interest to anyone [frugal warning: please don't be swayed by this, just info if you were already going to get it]. Sky are currently offering their Sky+ box for £30 if you sign up for a Premium package eg Movies and Knowledge with freeview (£26/mth). There is no contract for this so you could reduce back down to a basic package (£17) after 1 month which is a 12-mth contract. I'm told the Sky+ box is a lot more expensive normally?

1274

I'm not too bothered where we put the thread, but like the idea of it being an "all in" challenge. My debt is my mortgage but I worry about it just as much as if it was a loan or CC. We have a different totals challenge on the MFIT thread, where everyone posted their target and then we update once every 3 months, and a nice person puts all the info in a spreadsheet on page 1 for us to see.

Have just done round 1 of frugalising my online shop. My order was standing at over £90 but I've deleted a lot of things (all my treats :sad:) and got it down to £65. There's still a week to go before delivery so I'll try to get it down some more before then. Only bad thing is that I lost the £9 off £90 voucher but I love the way in which you can control the budget online and also, if you do what I do and order a couple of weeks in advance, go in and reduce the total if money's looking tight

Janey51

Way to go Nyk :j :j A bingo win at last :j :j
Should buy a few nice thermals :rotfl:
By the way, I am loving the spendingdiary website now I have realised how to use it properly I am using it for my Mum's spends as well as I look after her finances and I'm paranoid that anyone thinks I am dipping into her money...not that she has any :rolleyes:

Mrs Hayes Aren't living hot water bottles the best :T My cats are great. Shame about the confusion over your tax credits. The trouble is, even when you phone a Govt depart direct you get different answers each time

The sun finally came out and this afternoon was absolutely beautiful. I planted winter bulbs and winter pansies. Cut the grass and then painted more outside windowsills.
Went to see Mum.
Came home to discover horrible cat had dug up my plants :mad:
Re-planted all the plants and found some netting to put over the top.
That should sort the little b****** out

In view of the dreadful weather forecast, I am going to go and see if I can get some apples from the apple trees (where else?) so I can fill my time making crumbles etc tomorrow.

bails

That's a good idea Janey, the weather is meant to be atrocious here too tomorrow so I was wondering what I could plan :T

Marru

Hellooo Everybody!!

I am sooo tired. Left the house quarter to eight and came back quarter past six. Today we were allowed near the birds to clean the aviaries (sp?). Also we received our first assignments so it is getting to feel more real. After college went to do my first walk with my first client. Dog behaved beautifully when put on lead, beatifully (in the balance lead thou) on the way to the car but then when left loose he disappeared into the brook and I had these images of drowned dog in my mind and I was terrified that a) I have to go back and tell the owners that I have lost the dog or b) tell that the dog has drowned. However he came back and we got on better. Some recall training will be needed methinks.

Yesterday I forgot to go and buy the supper and tonight I forgot to take my purse to be able to buy the supper. Luckily I had couple of pounds in my jacket pocket so was able to get some potatoes and tinned tomatoes. Boiled potatoes and made a sauce from the tinned tomatoes with some chick peas and tuna that I had in the house. Now we are both blissfully full (at least I think DD is blissfully full as I haven't heard her shouting:"I don't like this").

Mrs Hayes, tax credits can pay up to 80% of your child care costs depending on your income. I did look into the child care vouchers but I feel that they are only useful for someone with high enough salary to benefit from the tax saving.

Thermals: I used to use my thermals when walking my dogs when it was minus twenty (C) but after moving here haven't had really need for them. Perhaps will be needing them for dog walking underneath my water proofs in the winter if it is like this.

Nyk: Gongrats on your win - that is excellent!!! I am at the stables now hoping for the best.

Which one of you crumble makers are closest to me? Be warned I just might invite myself . I need to go to big Mr T this weekend so need to check if they have any crumbles on offer.

Now what ever was left of my little brain power is gone so can't remember anything else that has been going on today. So apologies to those that didn't get mentioned.

It is very quiet downstairs, I have a feeling that DD has fallen asleep. Need to go and check the situation. If she is sleeping it means that I can go and eat some more chocolate brownies - bliss.

Have a great evening everybody. I don't think I can last to the end of the free bingo tonight.

Marru

BlueFleur

Updated my spending today. I love this challenge as it really puts me off spending. I skipped going to the pub for lunch today and took a sandwich instead. Then I came home to find an astronomical bill from Virgin. Phoned up to complain and managed to get a refund and then reduce the monthly price for the remaining contract Rounded the day off with a store cupboard meal after convincing my bf not to get a pizza. Very proud of myself today!

When I add up my totals for this, I exclude my debt repayments, council tax, and rent as that would take me over the £4k. That was how I remembered it- am I wrong? Having this list on the DFW board was good for me as it showed me how little I could live off, compared to what I had been spending. I wouldn't mind if it moved, as long as I was still allowed to join in

mama67

nykmedia wrote: »

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!

Nyk I noticed this as well, Monday Jam sugar was 67p/kg yesterday it was 97p/kg and it hadn't been on offer. Preserving sugar was only 64p/kg.

Frugaldom

BlueFleur wrote: »

Updated my spending today. I love this challenge as it really puts me off spending. I skipped going to the pub for lunch today and took a sandwich instead. Then I came home to find an astronomical bill from Virgin. Phoned up to complain and managed to get a refund and then reduce the monthly price for the remaining contract Rounded the day off with a store cupboard meal after convincing my bf not to get a pizza. Very proud of myself today!

When I add up my totals for this, I exclude my debt repayments, council tax, and rent as that would take me over the £4k. That was how I remembered it- am I wrong? Having this list on the DFW board was good for me as it showed me how little I could live off, compared to what I had been spending. I wouldn't mind if it moved, as long as I was still allowed to join in

:beer: WELL DONE! You are correct - I use the challenge for everything except rent, council tax/water and debt payments, which have now become savings since the debts got paid off, so that's the way it works best for me too So long as I know that I have enough to live, I can avoid further debt and know how long things take to save for - like my house project.