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

Marru

Hello,

Can't stop to chat as have DD on my lap waiting to watch her DVDs on my comp.

cw: I pay now £1.50 per meal for DD, that is 3 meals per day, 5 days per week. Then in the evening she gets snack of yoghurt and fruit. For me it is absolute life saver. And when I declare my child care costs to tax credits these meal costs are part of the cost and get subsidised. Also see if you can get the mower from freecycle first.

Off I go now to watch Ebb and Flo...

whitewing

CW - you're so nice. I think it would be great to offer to cook for DD too, and split the cost of ingredients on a per meal basis. The only thing I would say would be maybe to keep it on an informal, ongoing basis. What I mean by this is to just arrange at the start of each week which days they will be eating with you to allow some flexibility. Otherwise it could feel like a lack of freedom for DD. (I say this as we have a family tradition to eat together at Xmas and birthdays, which is nice, but causes ructions if we ever want to do anything else. Sometimes we all just need a change of routine).

cw18

Thanks for the feedback all

I didn't intend to hold her to it on a '5 days a week' basis, which is why I plan to agree on a 'cost per meal'. But I think I'd need to know on a Friday how many she expected to be here for the following week, as that allows me to meal plan. But I accept there will be times when one or the other of them is ill 'without notice', and as such she's not at work so won't want to make the trip up here just to eat.

She's still suffering slightly from her night out yesterday -- so probably best to leave it until tomorrow to start bouncing the idea off her. She's then got time to think about it, as it wouldn't start until January -- and I guess I don't need to finalise my budget until New Years Eve

cw18

Brighton_belle wrote: »

Nyk - I really like the fact this is called the 4k challenge: it has made me work hard to hone my budget so I can get under 4k for living costs. I may not have had that extra push if the title had been more vague. As long as peeps feel free to adapt their figures/targets to their own circs as necessary then I would vote to keep this as the '4k'.

:T

As someone who plans to run more of an 'all-in' for £8k-£9k, I also think it should stay as a '£4k challenge'. Everyone has been welcomed however they work their budget from the off (and whatever they set it as), so I don't see any need to change it........

bails

I too think this is a wonderful idea CW and benefits the family in lots of ways as has been mentioned. I definitely think you could suggest it to DD and then between you work out a plan that you're both happy with. A flat rate is a good idea and I wouldn't give her any excess there may be at this point either. If she's really keen to sort out her finances then this is a wonderful way to help her.

EDIT: as for changing the name of the thread, I'm not really sure what I think (helpful I know ). I feel a bit of a fraud when I'm not really keeping to 4k but then I'm not sure what else we could call it either The thing I find is that because all of our situations are so vastly different and we choose to include or exclude different things, it really is a very personal challenge (like the GC) and 'comparing' in that sense is impossible. At the end of the day, it's about a group of like-minded people wanting to have the best quality of life with their available funds/time/energy and a community spirit in trying to help each other achieve that. I guess as long as the ethos doesn't change, I don't mind what we call it It may be a bit misleading for newcomers though and we have had the odd 'snipe' at us over the year
Love Bails the Confused :rotfl:

MRSMCAWBER

:eek: :eek: Nyk
Watch me get banished before the challenge even starts .. I got confuddled and was thinking I was still on the "nonny mouse" site -sorry... so Anyone wanting seeds will have to let me know through that site as we can exchange what we like there ...shuffling off quietly now before anyone notices me

lingojingo

I agree with Bails, and if you really want to give her the excess back you could put it in a savings account for that holiday she wants to be able to take the girls on.

I'd have loved to be near enough for my Mum to have a meal ready when i got home, especially when the children were small, but i second the need for flexibility so she doesn't feel obliged to eat with you.

What a lovely Mum you are!

Just waiting for DS and his GF to arrive. They won't be with us at Christmas so we're having Christmas dinner, crackers etc. tomorrow.

lingojingo

I'm happy with the 4K, as I'm still going to try to keep all my essentials within that budget, then whatever else I have will make life even better!.

If we do decide to change it, what about something on the lines of the cost of living challenge?

grandma247

cw18 your ideas sound great. What about making one or two meals that your Dd can take home for her freezer on days when she just wants to get home?

mk_wotsit

I've been lurking all year and would like to join you in 2009.
I waste £100pw in Mr.T at the moment.
There is me and mr.wotsit, 1 teenage DD and another DD at uni who comes and goes. We have 2 cats, 1 dog, couple of chickens and an allotment!

I'm not including motoring costs or utility bills.

My challenge is £4160 (£80 pw - easy to get from the ATM)
This is for all food, petfood, chickenfeed, gardening bitsnbobs, clothing, hair and beauty.

We want to get some savings so that when the sprogs are independent, we can both downshift and work part time - that's the big Plan!