Live on £4000 for a year - part 4 (Oct - Dec 2008)

redglass_2

Lots happening on here! Congratulations, Nyk, on the house and car, and hope everyone else gets what they want (like a functioning bank account, Whitewing).

One of my weak points is getting presents in advance - some of you guys are brilliant at it and I'm so impressed, because I'm definitely not. Very happy today, though, as I can now tick two Xmas gifts off the list. One was FreeCycled, would have been pretty expensive and has clearly never been used (the outside of the box looks a bit tired but I can sort that). The other was jewellery from Ebay and if it is as nice as it looks in the photo, I've got a bargain. Believe it or not, this was my first ever buy from them! I was an Ebay virgin, but now I'm all rosy and glowing, post-Ebay.

Nyk, my kitchen is now 15 degrees unless I'm cooking something. It seemed unbearably cold at first but I am getting used to it. This winter is going to be one long experiment carried out on myself, to see how cold I can stand it. The weird thing is, you do adapt. I know older people should keep the house warm, but I don't know if 52 is old enough to get hypothermia...:rolleyes:

Ads: the ones that say, 'Because you're worth it.' Yes, Jane Fonda, I am worth it, it's the product that isn't. :cool:

Brighton_belle

Taka - I think you are totally right to look after yourself in the way you are with food and going out. Life if for living now, and you've been through a lot. When one is single, at which I had many years practice (39 when I met OH), it is important to make sure you go out and make a life for yourself when & however you can. I think you could see the savings you can make in other areas as being about funding the 'entertainment' & a life. That's kind of how I am approaching this challenge - I have too many dull limitations due to health issues so my priority with budgeting/frugalising is so I can afford fun in a way I can manage when i can.

thriftylass

Hey Taka, thanks for being so open. I'm sure you'll get where you want to be, seems like you got the determination (never mind slip ups, they happen now and then) and now you also got us for support. My budget (or rather the sum I used to spent a year more or less for me alone) was 6-7000 :eek:for the same items I listed earlier since I started working. So, as much as I set myself the target of 4500-4000 I'm also not too sure how well it'd work. So I'd suggest you initially better budget a bit more generously because that might help with getting the buzz from doing better and at the same time the chances are slimmer that you miss your target and feel guilty .

Re: room temperatures We usually have 18 to 20 C in the living room, well a couple of hours each day. The rest of the flat is 15 C (bathroom) or 13 C at the moment (kitchen, hall, bedroom). One sort of gets used to it, plus we can't help it since we don't have heating anywhere but the living room. But if I were older or had certain health complaints or small children I probably couldn't live like that. Hopefully we'll put central heating in at some point (def need it to be able to sell at some point and be able to compete with similar properties.

Frugaldom

redglass wrote: »

Lots happening on here! Congratulations, Nyk, on the house and car

Thanks for that, apart from the car - that was Marru's good bit of news, I don't own a car Congratulations Marru!

We've checked about the house with the new thermometer and the warmest room in the house is now 14C We aren't even waiting to find out the temperatures in the bedrooms, the heaters have been switched on and that's that. I am expecting to get up in the morning and find out it'll have cost £5 overnight but it beats freezing, especially when partially immobilised after a slight misshap involving a rug, a wooden floor, piles of books and trying to reach the phone to answer it! My sadistic DS found it amusing when he heard the clatter. I did think of a way of getting him back, however, as I 'owe him one' for him hiding in the understair cupboard and jumping out when I went to get stuff out the freezer! :mad: Of course, I have no idea WHERE he learned that trick! :whistle: :A :rotfl: Anyhow, he and a bunch of his pals convoyed (about 10 cars!) up to the Max Power event at Crail yesterday, (about a 400 mile round trip, I might add!!) and now that he's 'been there and done that' he doesn't want to take the number off the window of his car. I think I may add 'For Sale' and a £ sign next to it and see what he says when someone asks if his car's really on the market for less than £70 :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: I have such a wicked sense of humour and that appeals to me (although I won't do it, only tell him I have done it). The other really, really funny thing about it was thinking of all the kids in their little hot hatches roaring out of this place from about 4am yesterday morning, getting quarter mile down the road and then having to wait for the dairy herds to cross before they could reach the main road! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: This place is a comedy series waiting to happen. I hardly need a telly for entertainment! (Except Wednesdays, sorry Martin )

Janey51

Just a quick evening pop in as I am running roung like the proverbial blue a**** f** :eek:

Made a start on my 3 month experimental stockpile shopping list.

Used mysupermarket.com to price a list and Mr A was cheapest. But, as Mr M is not one of the featured supermarkets, I took the list there (had to be in town today) and checked prices. Some things in Mr M were cheaper than Mr A.

What makes it difficult to decide what is a bargain is when the shop prices are listed in different formats eg one will give price as £X.XX per 100g, another will say £X.XX per box/pkt/item and another will say £X.XX per Kg...then you get BOGOFs..how do I work that one out????

Einstein I am not In fact, I am a real dummy when it comes to Maths these days. I used to be quite good but since DH's death, my brain crashes regulary and will not re-boot

Tomorrow I have to go back to the Metropolis again and I think I will make a start on buying some of the deals I priced.
My first 3 months can then start on Nov 1.

As CCCS allows me to have £160per month housekeeping for me and 4 cats that gives me a total "allowed" budget of £480 :T
However, I know I spend a lot less than that and I am going to work on a budget of £280. I will have to keep some of that back for fresh food and I reckon £40 should be OK. So that means £240 available to stockpile for 3 months.
Because I eat so little, I do try to buy very good quality food but use "reduced" buys as much as I can. I cannot eat much of the "fillers" like pasta and rice. And I have to be careful about the amount of fresh fruit and veg I buy because it doen't always get used up.
There is only so much soup you can put in the freezer :rolleyes:

I will work on the rest of my figures for 2009 next week.

mumzyof2

Hello all
I had a £20 argos voucher so went into town this morning and got 2 engery saving lamps and a lava lamp for kids room and 2 sports bottle(to make it up to £20). I had a £5 morrisons voucher from myfriend so popped in there and used some of my veg tokens and it came to £11 so used my £5 voucher and 2 x £3 veg tokens so only had to pay 39p.
Painted my living room this afternoon and changed living room round. Yellow paint come today for my kids room so got that to do tomorrow. Also my nephew aged 6 and niece age 4 is coming tomorrow till thursday.. How im going to come with a 6,4,4 and 2 yr old il never know!!

Sophiesmum - I was wondering if next time you come visit..if we could sit down and do a budget for this challenge for next year? Hope your ok x

lingojingo

Congrats on the house Nyk and the car Marru.:D

It's getting really cold here now, but we're snuggled under quilts and haven't put the heating on yet - don't think we can last out much longer though.

Am in the middle of switching bank accounts, and when I was changing details for the fuel (E*n) they lowered my monthly payments by £17:j

Welcome Taka, and don't worry about sorting out your own priorities, we all have different needs.

bails

Tonight I found out that some energy companies offer discounts to people with disabilities. I know this doesn't apply to everyone on here but thought it might help those that it does affect. The link to the thread is here. I hope you can save and actually heat your homes this winter (unfortunately I think we may have tied ourselves with a company that don't offer this but will check tomorrow).

cw18

lyndasharp wrote: »

....... but thanks to Mr A reducing the petrol prices I've not spent as much as I expected - it's down to 94.9p a litre.........

:T Just had my daily email from petrolprices.com, and 5 of the 6 filling stations I keep my eye on are now down to 94.9 :j

So, do I fill up in the next day or two in case it goes back up...... or do I wait in case it comes down any further

mumzyof2

I noticed today the Mr M in chorley is 94.9p and i dont drive!