Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

JAMIEDODGER

evening all.

am still keeping a firm eye on the finances, although i will say i am still spending quite a lot! have managed to pick up all the birthday cards for the rest of the year over the last two days and have bought 4 prezzies today!

work has been quite busy this last week and i have been hectic making and packing orders.

im still trying to find other ways to trim the budget but its hard work! the kids are always needing something!

anyway enough of my moaning. hoping to get an early night in.....

lyndasharp

Hi all, had a nice surprise in my email as I've got a £5 play.com voucher through a Quidco giveaway! I've just spent it on a new t-shirt! Plus in the post was my first £10 cheque for petrol cashback through barclaycard/leisuretime. Must admit when I sent my claim form off I didn't really think it'd work... but I'm glad I was wrong!

Woodyrocks

Not quite sure how I have managed it but I spent a grand total of £0 today! And no, I wasn't locked indoors I did bid on something on ebay (and lost) and did almost book a flight to Turkey for Woody & I in April but the price changed at the last minute :bug ger: :rotfl:

So, instead of life conspiring against me, it seemed life was conspiring for me today :j

Reading the updates from today, it seems the over-riding feeling is one of exhaustion and I hope tonight is a restful one for all.

Frugaldom

Hi guys, hope everyone is well. Marru, it sounds like you had a really good day! Everyone who is 33 and in the West Country, maybe you could start a local club? I did say just last week or so that there was something about the number 3!

I managed to get 2 loaves and 2 trays of fruit & oat biscuits baked today, so that solves the bread shortage problem for now. I'm quite impressed with it, considering I used up the remains of 3 different types of flour all mixed together - plain, strong bread flour and stoneground wholemeal - to avoid opening any new bags and they were all store's own brand discounted or saver varieties. The cookies were the same, a basic 'Twinks' style recipe with the remains of a bag of basic dried mixed fruit added to the saver oats. I made 2 trays of them whilst oven was heating up for the bread and have the rest of the dough in the fridge for later in the week. I'm still using the soft spread that supposedly isn't for baking but it seems fine for biscuits and sponge puddings

I've been checking all my accounts that get used online for stuff like eBid and eBay payments and between what's lying in them plus birthday money, free bingo winnings, cashback payments & free clicks money that's all due in this month, I have set myself a mini challenge to make £500 extra by the end of this month. I've even done a list of how I expect to get that. :rotfl: The balance at the moment is £220, which includes birthday money I haven't spent, but I have winnings & cashback transfers in progress this week, and will set myself a daily task to check the totals and do my best to earn the extra needed to hit the target. I'm not quite up to the £10 per day challenge yet, but perhaps one day I'll manage it. Is there anyone here taking part in it? I've also had a look at the competitions threads and added the eBid one. The answer is '1 buddy point', if anyone else is entering this month. I didn't know we could list the answers. That explains the Pigsback thread - must check that now.

Mollymop5

Evening everyone.DD now has her new shoes.woohoo one very happy little girl and an even happier mummy
The shop assistant in clarks took one look at her in the shoes and made her take them straight off as she could see how rediculously small they were on her feet.She has now gone up a size and has some very comfortable school shoes.
I'm going to write to Clarks head office and complain though as I feel they need to know and possibly need to retrain some staff.

Frugaldom

Mollymop5 wrote: »

Evening everyone.DD now has her new shoes.woohoo one very happy little girl and an even happier mummy
The shop assistant in clarks took one look at her in the shoes and made her take them straight off as she could see how rediculously small they were on her feet.She has now gone up a size and has some very comfortable school shoes.
I'm going to write to Clarks head office and complain though as I feel they need to know and possibly need to retrain some staff.

MollyMop I would certainly write and complain as Clarks is supposed to be one of the most reputable and responsible companies as far as shoe fitting is concerned. We used to make the trip to Clarks every year just to get proper foot measurements for DD and DS when they were little (then drop subtle hints to grandparents). If we get it wrong dor them at that age, it can result in longterm damage, so I think Clarks need to be informed of the mistake and I'd also request compensation for your having to go back to the shop after trusting their judgement. If you send the receipt, keep a photocopy pf it for your own records and get a certificate of posting or use recorded delivery.

I've finished my extra cash predictions and have come up with a total of £389, so that's an extra £111 I need to find/raise/earn/win before the 30th September to make my mini-challenge target.

Brighton_belle

Really pleased you have one happy little girl molly:j . Woody - big well dones on a NSD! First steps...

Today, my frugalising plans include making spreadsheet of books I have put on amazon with costs,fees,postage and potential profit columns. And then to put another 8 books on.
I need to bake our low fat carrot cake (standby sweetmeat for packed lunches.)
Just used the creditcard payment calculator for OH so I can show him how long it is going to take to pay his off + interest that will be paid on it. (currently 5yrs & £990:mad: ). Hopefully this will help him prioritse paying it off a little quicker.
He ate the pastified marriage proposal and said it was delicious:rotfl: .

Dithering whether to do a book keeping course. It is the favourite bit of my current job and if i could get a qual, maybe a could do a few as a side line. Not sure if this is realistic with general energy levels/time. Trouble is every Sept I get overwhelmed and over ambitious with all the new courses on offer at Ad Ed.

whitewing

Right, morning and good wishes to you all. After a rather expensive couple of months, I am going to try to get all my Xmas shopping for family/friends done by the end of this month.

Then hopefully, I can start saving for 'emergencies' again. (In reality I am too tight now to spend emergency savings).

*Handbag swinging* I'm off to the shops for a few more bits and pieces. (Got the electric blanket BTW, from Argos as had a £20 wedding voucher that we won't use for anything else).

MrsHayes

Hi everyone sorry I haven't been around stupid computer is playing up again and for some reason I am just so so tired at the moment all I want to do is sleep and eat. I also totally seem to be loosing all common sense/brain cells. Last night I spent 10 minutes trying to open a van that wasn't mine until a colleague came over and pointed out that my van was on the otherside of the road! I also forgot my pin in asda again and my mum and dads anniversary. Haven't been up to much apart from trying not to spend! I made flapjacks and muffins at the weekend but managed to burn the flapjacks and the muffins stuck to the tin so not very successful although we ate them none the less.
Hope everyone is well I will try to catch up better tomorrow when hopefully my head is less foggy! xxx

Frugaldom

Hi guys and gals, forums appeared to have been down every time I visited today so this is first I've managed to get on here. Probably just as well, as it's meant I haven't been tempted away from webwork. Umm... except it's now 5pm and time to make dinner! It's like never ending! Why do people always need to eat just as I get around to catching up with things here?
Chicken's cooking in slow cooker but I haven't a clue what's being served with it as I've gone and frozen all the mashed potatoes. :rotfl: Mr T curry, anyone? Must go boil some rice now and I've still the kitchen floor to wash because it's on my list! :rotfl: