Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

Burlesque_Babe

right..............need to shift my lazy bum and find my gas and electric account numbers, find a cheaper provider and RUN from British Gas as quick as possible.........

whilst going through Quidco if at all possible....;)

Burlesque_Babe

can't find my utilities acc number - I went to online billing a while back but have never been able to get in because I don't get a bill with my account number on!!!!

Need to give them a ring.

However, just arranged house insurance to start from middle of August and have gone from £20 a month to £13 a month plus i'll get £68 cashback from Asda.

Car insurance next - also due in August! sadly that will go up as I've been on pay as you drive with norwich union for the last 12 months and they've withdrawn it. I was paying around £12 a month but that's going to go up to around £20. Ibuyeco is the cheapest so far at £199 for the year if I pay it in one go and £30 quidco. I have a 0% card I could put it on I suppose rather than with the APR added for monthly.

lyndasharp

I was quite pleased when I got petrol today, down to 111.9 from about 116.9 around here! Still spent £20 on that and £23 on food shopping, but Dad's staying for the weekend so thought I should stock up. We're swapping cars, so I felt I ought to give him a tank of petrol - but if he turns up with his car on empty, I'll be out there with the siphon tomorrow!

lingojingo

nykmedia wrote: »

I just checked the Government site and can confirm that the State Pension Forecast service it is now back up and running,.

Now it's down again until 22.00 on Sunday for more updating!


Bails, hope you've recovered now, it must have been an awful shock.

Burlesque_Babe

I've already got Government Gateway access for my tax return but apparently you have to have a separate password sent for the pension bit so I've got one on its way.

Frugaldom

Ooh, Keren BB, soundling like a complete and utter PRO frugaler! I am impressed! I'd certainly go for the discount by paying up front on a 0% card, have you got one that offers cashback or loyalty points? That added to cashback if you go via one of those sites could end up paying a fair percentage of it for you.

I just received my latest stationery order (for work) - I went via cashback, Euroffice were offering a free £10 voucher with all orders over £75, my business credit card pays loyalty points, Euroffice pays loyalty points and cashback has tracked at 8%, so it was quite a successful virtual shopping trip.

We've managed our 5-a-day today again.
Fresh orange (1)
Banana with cereal (1)
Potato & leek soup (2 leeks and extra carrots then blitzed) (1)
Roast chicken with potatoes, cabbage and carrots (2)
Apple sponge made with 4 apples from the tree in the garden (1)

I've now sorted out all the stuff from today's shopping trip and had enough meat in stock for 14 x 3 meals (less the one we just ate) so I shouldn't really need to buy anything else for a couple of weeks, unless there's war declared over the skimmed milk powder or I spy a really good bulk buy. :cool:

Considering I have so many pressies in for Christmas already, I feel I'm doing not too badly, although some may consider this lifestyle a bit weird and anti-social. Next Wednesday, however, is a big day here for everyone in the neighbourhood; it's the annual agricultural show! I think even the local bank closes half day for that, as the staff are on marquee duty at the showground! The sign says to join them there for tea and biscuits! :rotfl: We all love the show, especially when the Devil's Horsemen arrived! If anyone gets the chance to go see any of their shows, it's well worth the price of an entry to your nearest agricultural show. It's a fairly interactive show, DGD had a fantastic time last year yelling at the bad cowboys and 'high fiving' the good ones as they galloped past!

Burlesque_Babe

unfortunately no cashback involved, but I do think I'll stick it on 0% - which runs out in December so I'll pay it off by then.

Christmas presents, yes, must get my head on for those. I've git 2 already so it's a start.

Phoned up More Than to cancel my house insurance and he asked my new premium - I said £142 with £68 cashback so around £80 for the year..........silence........'erm, that is rather good' he gasped and didn't even try to keep me as a customer!

System

Nyk, i request a special dancing smiley...

just got wages from my part time job with (more) 'orrible teens....which means I have now saved my University Challenge target!!!! with a wee bit left over too

yipee! (if i can stick to my £133.33 a month target) with my UC top-up amount I will be able to stretch my volunteering pittance so that I can live off it till the end of may next year (when my uni course will finish) and that includes the cost of bus passes til then
:beer:

yay i feel so smugal (smug n frugal)

i have put the rest into my all new UCC (university challenge contingency - there will be costs of uni I havent budgeted for as I may have to stay anywhere in the country for placements :eek:) plus I can dig into this if go over my spending targets (stupid price increases...)

ps mr tesco _pale_ how could you....
'miss davina tesco' may well be lovely, but is she as gosh darn frugal as me n nyk?

whitewing

bails, no need to be sensible when it comes to spiral staircases. Definitely buy it. I love them and it's on my list of things to have in a 'perfect' house.

bails

Arrghhh, I am so unbelievably cross with OH!!! :mad::mad::mad: I'm sorry Janey, I'm sure this sounds so trivial I can't stand the way money works in our relationship, it does my absolute head in! Before I go insane with it, I'm going it alone financially and he can do whatever he needs to do. This way, all the effort I'm putting in will be appreciated, by me, and I can benefit from it. It's not even about the money per se, but the very negative dynamic it brings to our relationship. I hate it!

:oSorry, rant over