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

Penny2myName

My approved food delivery has just arrived. Now to find somewhere to store it all, as come January need to make sure EVERY kitchen cupboard is empty for work to start.

sophiesmum_2

cw18 wrote: »

don't even have a clue as to what that is

There is a bit about it here cw;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7784925.stm

jaxspencer

thanks for clearing that up CW. after looking at this thread the other night i went away and had a look at my outgoings. . . well over £4000 before food, petrol, christmas, birthdays. going to go away again and see what i would like my budget to be. you are all so inspiring.

sophiesmum_2

Just opened the post from this morning and had a nice surprise, £100 xmas pressie from my godmother/aunt:j . Very unexpected as she usually forgets birthdays and xmas but she says she has made a special effort to remember in time this year and recompense for all the times she has forgotten:D .
Now the big issue is do I put it in my sealed pot? add it to my £1000 challenge money? or have a blow out and spend it? actually there is nothing I really want/need at the moment so will probably be one of first two options

findingmyfeet

evening all,
well you are chatter boxes on here. Just taken me an hour or more to read the posts from the last couple of days. Dont want to miss anything though!!
Still trying to get my head around all this money saving lark and giving myself a headache, but it will be well worth it when i have looked at all the bills etc and know where i am.
Cupboards not too well stocked, enough for around two or three weeks at a push but neber bought more than needed so will be a 'stockpile virgin' for a while! Need to get the stocks up at the same time as getting the cost down??? Bargain hunting here i come.
Christmas is almost paid for just one or two bits and pieces to sort but not much moneywise, intend starting the new year buying cards, crackers etc in the sale ready for next year.
Not any good at this yet but i am realising that being frugal is about being ultra organised and well planned. Is this true or am i being daft ?
Off to look at some more household stuff, taking a long while to find things.
sorry to ramble but helps sort my head.

Frugaldom

Good evening frunchkin friends

Haven't had a chance to pop in here, so have only just managed to catch up with the 4 or 5 pages posted since last night - I can almost feel the excitement and anticipation rising as we approach the end of challenge 1 and prepare our next big adventure! Raychee, I have added your name to my list here, welcome on board Lil_lady, let me know if you'd like to join us, too.

I've spent all day wrapping, card-writing, booking collections, receiving deliveries (we've had 7 delivery vans in total today! :eek: ) and fitting a bit of work in between making the soup from last night's stock and finishing my gran's present and making up mum's basket. Everything is done! :j I have 5 more deliveries expected tomorrow (one work related). Hopefully, 'Approved Foods' will be one of them. Penny2myname, how was your order? Bails, looks like we just made it before they closed down online ordering for the holidays!

I haven't dared to ask the others how many deliveries/collections they are expecting tomorrow! ... OK, I have now - they have either 5 or 6 between them! :rotfl: It was like wacky races on the single track today, between delivery vans, hay wagons and tractors; sounds like tomorrow is going to be the exact same! I haven't even bothered to kindle the fire tonight, as I haven't [STRIKE]had[/STRIKE] taken the time to clean it out yet. :rotfl:

When updating my budgets, some of you may have noticed that the amounts in my signature don't exactly add up to my total generated for cash neutrality. This is because I paid for DD's engagement party from my cashback savings, bought my greenhouse & garden items from my £2 coins savings (I still have £56 left) and have used more cashback and all the vouchers for frivolous spending and some extra gifts, hence two of the extra deliveries tomorrow. I'm just about to tot up what I have left of the cashback up to the point it started going into my £1000 in 100 days 'pot' and I fully intend to blow the balance before the year is out. This is my way of saying s*d the recession, I work hard to stick to my budget and I have paid all my bills, so it's the final fun fling! :rotfl:

Don't worry, I won't be touching the quit smoking money, the Interest Beater money or the £1000 in £100 days, it's all aimed at next year.

sophiesmum_2

Nope you are right findingmyfeet frugality and being organised/ forward planning work best together. It does get easier as you go along though.;)

redglass_2

bails wrote: »

Bernard Madoff CW, recently accused of investment fraud to the tune of 50 billion dollars :eek:

Not so long ago I took all my savings out of ICICI and put them into an account run by Santander. They were supposed to be safer because of their 'conservative' Spanish banking practices (no sub-prime). :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Oh well, at least I haven't got shares with them....:rolleyes:

Re warm kitchen ceilings/cold kitchen floors, I've seriously wondered in the past if it was worth getting a high bed because it would be so much warmer. At present I'm paying to keep the cobwebs nice and cosy.

cw18

sophiesmum -- thanks for the link as for the money, I wouldn't put that amount into my sealed pot this early in the year!! it may not earn much interest, but still better in the bank in my opinion....


have had a text from DD with daily and weekly childcare costs (before staff discount and tax credit contribution which I can calculate), so I'm off to translate it into what she has to pay (on a monthly breakdown) until the start of September

cw18

Nyk - I have a delivery due tomorrow too -- in my case it's my new stair gates (all 4 of them).

Was comparing prices, and noticed on Quidc0 there were a couple of codes on for Argos (one of the places I was looking at), which gave me money off and free standard delivery due to the value of the order.

Decided it was worth paying the extra 15p or so (after I get the cashback) to have them delivered, rather than having to use the car to get to (possibly several branches of) Mr A to get enough -- and Mr A was the only place that worked out cheaper that I found in 2 days of looking around......

Elder DS may not be happy with me though, as it's due "between 7am and 6pm", and I'm out from 7:35 until just after 8am -- with younger DS leaving for college at 7:30. So if it arrives in that window, elder DS will be woken from his beauty sleep by a doorbell and a dog going mad (the dalmatian always "answers" the bell :rotfl: ). Given there's only a stairgate in the doorway between elder DS and the dog, I rather suspect the dog barking will be enough to wake up my son