Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

Mollymop5

Woodyrocks wrote: »

Vent alert! I have had to pay 2 lots of custom charges totalling £45 this week. I am screwing because I was actually doing really well. The food shop had come in under budget and I haven't bought one single thing online or in a shop (apart from food of course!). Thankfully because the childcare fee came up to less than weekly maximum spend (hope that makes sense) I am going to divert some of that money (£13) into the monthly pot.

p.s am I the only one that borrows money from myself? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: I borrowed £650 to pay off the credit card (all those bleeding shoes!) and I pay myself back weekly at a rate of £81.25. I have 6 more weeks to go. Am I a freak? :oThe worst thing about it is when I try and wriggle out of paying it back :rotfl: :rotfl:

lol.I also borrow from my different pots and pay back. wont put a smiley but wanted too.

Brighton_belle

I finally got it!!! Thanks for posting (yet again!) your list Nyk of what gets included in the challenge. Two months in & I finally understand. So I am going to rejig my accounts/record keeping again to fit the challenge. I have a feeling from a preliminary looksee that I'm not doing so bad at it either.
This morning I sold another book on amazon . Dashed down to post office to post in and have made a grand profit of £1.24. Walked home passed the charity shop just as they were shouting out - 'everything you can fit into a black bin liner all for £1'. What's a girl to do . So left with a bag full of clothes, books and bric a brac all for a total of £1. So some good offsetting there,(except the sale was supposed to be offseting my last charity forage on Wednesday).

Mollymop - I think you've handled your debt really well and I hope this next step works out for you. I think no harm asking OH if you put it in a way that won't cause him to be defensive - and only you know if this is possible. Of course he should help, but I appreciate the situation and keeping things positive between you is your priority. & I love your tales of the snails. Never though someone would make a snail sound a fab pet!

Blazing sunshine today - getting the washing done and outside.

Frugaldom

Hello to all again

MollyMop I read the other threads too, just out of interest, and agree that if you can get it in writing saying that the payment is a final settlement with nothing outstanding (showing zero balance) then it could be OK. Hold off as long as you can, keep churning through ideas to raise the cash 'just in case' and we'll all keep our fingers crossed that it'll be bye-bye debts very soon.

Marru, well done on the bingo win!

BrightonBelle, glad you got to grips with the budget list and good luck keeping your cost of living down over the next few months in preparation for next year's challenge. And WOW! That was some haul you netted from thre charity shop! I wish ours would do something like that while I was in town!

Woody - import charges? My DS got hit with one for £20+ when postman delivered a belt he had ordered. He hadn't even noticed it wasn't located within UK (it was US based seller) and had to pay up or do without. Trouble was, the import fee was more than he'd paid for the belt in the first place!

I have just sold a paperback for £1 via text message, can you believe? I'm looking into text sales just now and have set up my account to accept text payments. Still just the one bid for £5 for the item I listed on Thursday night, but I have managed to list some vouchers that I won't use, so they should fetch enough to bring me up to target. My total spend so far is £7.50 plus I have a bid in for something else that ends tonight. Now THIS could get addictive!

Brighton_belle

Just found one of the books in the £1 bundle I got from the charity shop going at cheapest 2nd hand price on amazon for £23 And it is very small and light to send.
I could have got more stuff at the shop Nyk -some women where just clearing rail loads straight into bags(which was what they wanted) but I had to balance not ending up with loads of rubbish, unuseable stuff that would just become a burden and be something else 'needing to be done' (that wasn't). I got 22 things for my £1 though so very chuffed.

Frugaldom

BrightonBelle WELL DONE! From a cash-neutral point of view, it doesn't sound too difficult to make your pound back! That's really made me want to get off my b*m and try harder.

Friend popped in for cuppa today and, as usual, converstaion got on to money and the cost of living. She, too, would like a cash neutral, self-sufficientish lifestyle and suggested we each grow different things next year and then swap - she can't grow potatoes in her garden and I can't grow carrots in mine, so it might be better if we each did what we knew worked best and then shared the combined produce in mini co-operative fashion. This sounds like a plan in the making, and she does make the best sloe vodka (I don't like gin, so she made mine from voddie) I have ever tasted.

PetitePeche

I've been lurking for the past few days and have tried (in vain!) to read up on all the posts.

I have worked out the remainder of the year would be £1191.21 and think I may struggle, but will try my best to do it.

I haven't included gas or electricity or child benefit because they near enough cancel each other out, and I haven't included any insurance but I will review this for the new year.

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful inspiration.

ppx

Marru

nykmedia wrote: »

Marru, well done on the bingo win!

Thanks Nyk, I WON AGAIN!!! I won a tenner in a cash back bingo meaning that now I have enough for withdrawal and can transfer £30 into my account! Roll on Thursday!!

Welcome PetitePeche

Frugaldom

Well Done Marru!

Welcome Petite Peche - use the remaining dew months as practice for next year and don't worry if it doesn't work out exactly as planned. You can't possibly average £76.50 per week over a year when you'r only attempting 3 months or so, but have fun whilst trying and let us all know how you are getting on (so we know when the frugalitis bug has kicked in properly LOL)

I've spent ages reading through the make £10 per day thread but can't find any extra inspiration. I've just checked the auctions and realised that the bargain item I'm bidding on doesn't end until tomorrow! I must learn some patience!

Made a pot of soup today from stock I got from Wednesday's chicken, so that took care of teatime, had it with hm bread and I have a jelly and fruit still to scoff. I really think it's gettng to hot chocolate and marshmallows time of year, except the marshmallows aren't included in the bbudget and I can never find any where I live. Hmm... hot chocolate still sounds good for suppertime tonight, thought.

Penny2myName

Welcome PetitePeche.
Be Afraid, be VERY afraid, for once you take up this challenge your shopping mentality becomes 'How Much!!!:eek:. and you will search the ends of the earth to find the same item lower.......

whitewing

Got 2 pigsback piggies and a pigsback pen thro the post today. I'm most pleased with the pen actually - I want some more. It's funky.

Also got my toiletries. Very pleased with them. Smell lovely.

Was talking to someone about DH's unexpected tax refund & she seems to think that it's to do with the U turn on the 10p tax? Nyk or Marru, pls can you clarify what I'm talking about as my pal thinks that we will get it too

Bad news is that my water rates have gone up to £28 a month. Was £21; however, we may use less now MIL has moved out, so it may work out in the end.