Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

Brighton_belle

nykmedia wrote: »

BurlBabe, if I was you, I'd grow a pepper plant in the bucket. These are really easy and chances are that you'll have a pepper in the house that you can use the seeds. And happy camping! Hope you get the chance to try out that tent!

Wrong BB nyk:D . Bulk cook of Curry Queen's curry sauce now bubbling away nicely. Will use up over flow of allotment veggies nicely I think.

shaz_mum_of__2

Nyk - you would be proud ,i have spent 3 hours designing a 3 page spreadsheet for our budget come september when i start college

page 1 cashflow forecast ie estimated costs have lumped lots of items together so insurance (life,home,car,RAC etc) so:

page 2 is more detailed ie whats in each category and the individual costs/estimates

Page 3 is designed to be an actual account of spends


I have never designed a spreadsheet befor so dead chuffed(although did need to ask DSage16 for bit of help)

My figures seem huge compared to you lot........................ but i will be happy if we stick to it because i have overestimated in some areas and have included some savings too and there are no negatives!!!

Might make some extra mortgage payments yet


Shaz

ps Mama67 found site through a search engine

www.greenmetropolis.com

really easy to use added about 20 books in 20 mins .......................time will tell anyone else use this site ??? wondered if a certain type of book is more popular than others i have access to paperbacks for 50p each so could make a bit of money if they actually sell!!!

Marru

mumzyof2 wrote: »

College is about 20mins bus ride there is an after school club and i think its £6 but on top of the nursery fee's of £28 for a day or £16.50 for half a day there is no way i can afford it if i cant qualify for the free childcare.

Mumzy, I am sure you will qualify for the child care. I already get tax credits to cover 80% of mine and asked my college if there is possibility to get them help with the remaining 20% and they said that it is very likely so just find out and I am sure it will work out the best for you.

About the council tax and being a student? I already get the 25% discount but I will be full time student in the autumn. Problem is that I need to keep my self employment on going as I won't survive without tax credits, won't get any other benefits for studying as I already have a degree. Soooo would I qualify as a student and not to have to pay concil tax at all?

Shaz - well done with the spreadsheet. I am a spreadsheet freak (ask Bails). I have some books in GM and immediately when I put them there I sold few but nothing has happened for a long time. I only put there my own books that I no longer want to keep and from my other book lots I only listed some books there if there was nobody else selling that particular book. If that same book sells as new in Amazon for 1p then people will buy it from there instead. I think a carbooty might be a bit better for cheap paperbags but can't be sure as I haven't been in one for ages.

Marru

Frugaldom

Oops, sorry BB and BB, I'm easily confused :rotfl: I should just have stuck with 'BB' and then nobody would have known.

Umm... I haven't done anything constructive since my last visit here - I haven't number crunched, I haven't baked cakes or cookies, I've sat on my lazy b*m reading MSE forums! I wonder if Martin has any freelance jobs? :rotfl:

bails

OMG, Marru, I think I may have found him!!!!! :j How do you like Australian accents?
Off to read posts...

Frugaldom

bails wrote: »

OMG, Marru, I think I may have found him!!!!! :j How do you like Australian accents?
Off to read posts...

How do you expect me to go and numbercrunch, bake and make dinner when I'm waiting to find out who 'him' is???????? :eek: Have you found Marru an Irish x Aussie vet who bakes fruit crumble????? Come on..... spill the beans. :rotfl:

I did do my number crunching and came up with the following:

NUMBER CRUNCHING TIME

The following figures were what I had been working with until Summer, when I became slightly Weezl-ified and Sophiesmum-ified and slashed the grocery budget by £200. After haggling with my Broadband company, I got that reduced but am bound by an 18 month contract. Then I got REALLY involved with my electricity consumption charts and joined i-measure and yet another challenge to reduce carbon emissions and the 'leccie' bills. Anyway, I won't waffle any longer, these WERE my most recent figures for the annual 4k budget, until this afternoon.

Groceries - £1200
Gifts - £400
Utilities - £1700
Electricity - £1400
Telephone - £240
Mobile - £60
Household - £200 (Insurance & TV licence)
Internet Access - £300
Everything Else - £345

Total spend to date £2550.10/£4000

After carefully analysing where every penny has been going and how the budget is performing, I have reshuffled the budget to come up with the following incredible, if I may say so myself, figures. Most of the changes have been as a direct result of having so much support from fellow frugalites and without you all, I probably would not even be considering leaving the 2009 budget at £4000 because of inflation, fuel costs etc, etc, etc. However, take a look and see for yourselves... I think I might have cracked it, thanks to extra help like grocery challenges, electricity savings, home growing veggies and hand making cards & gifts. Thank you for all your help past, present and future. :T I only hope Dithering Dad reads this post! We are eating a far healthier diet now than we have ever done. Figures in brackets are what I have already spent so far this year.

My Amazing New targets

Groceries - £1000 (£804.71 - includes approx £200 in stockpiling)
Gifts - £400 (£132.12)
Utilities - £1700 (£1237.94)
Household - £187.90 (£52.40)
Internet - £240 (£106.86)
Everything Else - £350 (£216.07)
Hmm... I seem to have some leftover - £122.10 :j :T


Edited in: What is everything else?

10 Jan 2008 £44.97 - 2 x oil-filled radiators
22 Jan 2008 £10.04 - Online auctions & parcel delivery
28 Jan 2008 £3.89 - Electric handblender
05 Feb 2008 £7.58 - Online auctions
02 Mar 2008 £18.50 - 2-ring cooker
24 Mar 2008 £20.00 - Travel
28 Apr 2008 £32.34 - Playing with penny shares and lost!
29 May 2008 £20.00 - Travel
06 Jun 2008 £35.00 - Clothes
16 Jun 2008 £9.00 - Charity shop
10 Jul 2008 £2.99 - Birthday card
20 Jul 2008 £0.98 - Measuring jug
21 Jul 2008 £10.78 - 1L flask, toaster, kettle, iron

TOTAL FOR EVERYTHING ELSE £216.07

Burlesque_Babe

wondered when I'd booked myself some camping!!

Sooooooo, do I buy a packet of seeds? Or use ones from a pepper I have? Do I just stick it in compost in the tub and water??

So many questions.......so little gardening knowledge........

System

nyk, can you tell me about oil filled radiators?

do they work out cheaper than CH cos they run off electricity (cheaper than gas) /retain heat better then radiators?

and is the oil in them everlasting or does it get used up?

bails

nykmedia wrote: »

How do you expect me to go and numbercrunch, bake and make dinner when I'm waiting to find out who 'him' is???????? :eek: Have you found Marru an Irish x Aussie vet who bakes fruit crumble????? Come on..... spill the beans. :rotfl:

Okay, okay, so I went to the - yes, you've guessed it! - vets this afternoon where the not so lovely vet Marru mentioned before works...only today he was on holiday so the locum was in :T He was LOVELY at least 6ft 7, maybe taller with blond hair, very friendly and easygoing and the absolutely best thing about him? He [strike]makes crumbles[/strike] (sorry that didn't come up in conversation so I don't know ) has frugal tendencies :T:T in that he gave me a free pack of Frontline, and then sneaked me another free pack as I was going out the door :j The guy officially rocks in my world, out and out perfect Marru OH potential! What do you think M, does he get the thumbs up?

Marru

bails wrote: »

Okay, okay, so I went to the - yes, you've guessed it! - vets this afternoon where the not so lovely vet Marru mentioned before works...only today he was on holiday so the locum was in :T He was LOVELY at least 6ft 7, maybe taller with blond hair, very friendly and easygoing and the absolutely best thing about him? He [strike]makes crumbles[/strike] (sorry that didn't come up in conversation so I don't know ) has frugal tendencies :T:T in that he gave me a free pack of Frontline, and then sneaked me another free pack as I was going out the door :j The guy officially rocks in my world, out and out perfect Marru OH potential! What do you think M, does he get the thumbs up?

What a perfect day it is. I have made lots of progress in sorting out my books thanks to initial kick from Bails, went to get that duvet from freecycle for The Dog and the lady who gave it was lovely. Then I completely blew my budget and my diet by popping into local chippy and co-op. I come here while eating the best fish and chips and drinking ice cold (Irish) cider and then Bails has found me a gourgeous vet. Can life get any better!!!!! :j

Which reminds me that I need a referral for hydrotherapy for The Dog from a vet and she is registered with that surgery, or I could go for a second opinion about my poorly piggy who is still not making lot of improvement or... perhaps both!!!