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

Skint_Lynne

I am getting excited for the new year starting.

I'm going to dig out my bank statement tomorrow in the shop and list what my direct debits are per month.

I'm worried about the BT direct debit as it is really high, £120.00 per month for phone, broadband and BT vision. This is due to DH being abroad. I am going to look at the telephone board for some ideas on reducing the bill there as I am determined to do this. I can shave some money off somewhere else to accomodate the bill, ad he will be working in the UK from the end of April, so the bill will reduce then.

I had mentioned before that I will go for £4000 for living on with £500 for stockpiling and any more essential spends. In fact, I will just be watching every penny and will try and stay within the 4k for household and keep everything else as tight as I possibly can. I started my journal today, so will try and make an entry to it every day to make it interesting.

DH will be away on 10th January. Will I miss him? He just grunts at me whilst watching TV, eats my food, keeps my heating on full blast, goes out and leaves the light and TV on and uses my toilet roll like the andrex puppy:mad:

Of course I will miss him:rotfl: :rotfl: (but not his spendthrift ways!!!)

Brighton_belle

SF - really sorry about your dog ((hugs)).
Marru - you've done really well with 23 days alcohol free:T . As others have said, tomorrow is a fresh start. But you have been very very naughty enticing me with books:D . I shall PM you.
Chickens! I'm really excited now sm, you simply have to get permission. Really liked your chickenified kitchen... makes me want to get going with papier mache now.
Thanks for all the kind comments re my clocks - its really bouyed me up and I hope will help me focus on this side of my life this year.
I've slipped a bit with my accounting this month and must spend tomorrow getting straight and ready to start a new year:j . I have worked out that I spent £21.98 on xmas presents this year(10 people). That covered the cost of pressies I made and the rest I gave stuff I had been given or bought over several years and no longer/never wanted but were nice enough to pass on.
Can I beat this next year:rotfl: .
Finally started using my new cashback credit card to day. Intend to use for regular purchases like food and petrol and then transfer the money straight away to credit card from bank.

tryingtodobetter

SF - I'm really sorry to hear about your dog :grouphug:

the_cat

SF - so sorry about your dog. I know how hard it is to lose a pet:(

Marru - :T :T :T Over the last 24 days you have achieved a massive 95.8% success rate, so don't feel bad about a measly 4%. Enjoy the wine and get back on the wagon tomorrow:D

Nyk - I'm in awe of your figures. If I only manage to add up properly for 2009 it will be an improvement!

Will be making my final spend tomorrow (with vouchers, as I want them used up quickly ATM. With the stores that have gone bust, the gift vouchers have become worthless:mad: ) and returning a few bits to Matalan from their sale that DS1 didn't like. Also need to top up phone, but only second time this year so not too bad And if I do it tomorrow it won't count as a 2009 spend:o

Sarah147

whitewing wrote: »

She got some great books, which I hope will help her through next year. I spent £7 too on (more) Xmas presents to myself, including 'Chicken soup for the woman's soul'. I blubbed my heart out yesterday afternoon.

Ooh I got that out of our local library today, the librarian said it was wonderful as she stamped my ticket. I can't wait to read it, I need a pick me up

Frugaldom

the_cat wrote: »

Nyk - I'm in awe of your figures.

I am in awe of all the people in the i-measure moneysaving carbon club who spend less than £5 per week on electricity/gas. :eek: I spend that per day on heat & light at this time of year, and I just cannot get my head around it. :rotfl:

I've just counted up a year's supply of toiletries on the mysupermarket site (where I saw the Martin Lewis man encouraging down-shifting), followed by a year's supply of cleaning & laundry products followed by... you get the picture. So, I have split my £1,200 grocery budget into 4 categories:

• Food & drink - £1095 (£1 per day per person)
• Laundry & cleaning - £25
• Toiletries - £65
• Misc - £15
• Total - £1,200

I did try splitting it further into dairy, bakery, meat, fruit, veg etc, etc, etc but I couldn't make it all fit into the £1095, so gave up on that! :rolleyes: Anyway, I'm almost ready for 2009 now.

bails

Now BB, that is a seriously impressive lack of spending on pressies :T I could never do so well! I'm glad the compliments have helped confirm you're moving in the right direction for 2009, these things are so important to you x
Marru, isn't that the point of alcohol sometimes? Anyone who drinks has been there so don't be hard on yourself for being normal. Tomorrow is another day and you will get some quality time to yourself to get excited about the new year :j[Nice one Cat for putting it in 'Marru speak' too :T]
That course sounds great SM, what a perfect way to blow your budget If they don't say yes now we'll have to descend on them in protest
A thought for next year -atm I just top up my phone by phone but where is a good place to do it for extra points etc?
A thought for this year - as my 4k technically ends at midnight tonight and the new one doesn't start til Jan 1st, does that mean I can go on an all out money splurge tomorrow? I think in fact you'll find me sitting on a train perfecting my budget whilst eating a packup and charging up my phone courtesy of SW trains :rotfl:
Ooh, and I got my first free money of 2009 today (well, that's when it'll get spent) - a £5 from H0mebase plus further money off if I spend certain amounts. As we have more work to do on the house this year, I'll be using these if it's the cheapest for what we need :T Happy days!
Right, this is almost certainly the last chance I'll get to wish you all a happy new year so have a great time tomorrow whatever you're up to and I'll see you all on the new thread on 3rd (can't believe I'll miss the first 2 days of the challenge :eek::D) xxx

sophiesmum_2

Good morning frunchkins:D
New Years eve party with the oldies tonight, lots of trifles and mince pies to make later, having hot pot, carrot/swede and mushy peas - but batch cooked these last week and froze in trays to save time.We have booked a singer for the night,and have lots of alcohol left from xmas - so that's mine and oldies new year's eve sorted, DD out with friends and OH working again.

Sad that today is last day for this thread but excited about 2009 challenge officially starting:j
Just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed being a part of this challenge this year, thanks everyone for your friendship and support:A , it's been a blast. Thanks for all the times when I have been in fits of laughter, memories of Nyks giant jaffa cake spring to mind:rotfl: and some of janey's exploits :rotfl: - .Thanks also for the times when someone has needed support in sad times, and it has been there in bucketloads:A , I know you people helped me through some really dark days back in September when Andrew died. x x
My life has been richer this year from meeting you all online or in person. :T :T Thanks for putting up with me droning on about life with the oldies and posting pics of random mundane stuff - welcome to my world:D

Most of all thanks for posting and keeping this chllenge alive, building up a great online community and helping me only bust the budget by £4.36 this year:T :T :T , I have picked up lots of tips and ideas and there is so much I still want to try out next year.
Thanks for everything, love you all :kisses3: xxx
Wish you all a successful, healthy , frugaltastic and above all a "happy" new year.

skint_chick

Nyk - totally agree about the ex's. Both of mine went completely crazy after I broke up with them and I feel very relieved I escaped in one piece - definitely made me realise exactly what I wanted from life and a partner - and from my friends and family. And how much of a strong independent person I can be. The new Mr Skint has a lot to live up to - and I still have difficulty getting my head around meeting someone, moving in and getting married within 2years, and not knowing everything about him. But it makes for interesting learning and I like a challenge!

SF - sorry about your dog - hope you have a really nice memorial service

cw18

bails wrote: »

A thought for next year -atm I just top up my phone by phone but where is a good place to do it for extra points etc?

I always top up the PAYG ones at the cashpoint, but from what SM said the other day it sounds like B00ts is a good bet.

Not sure if Mr T give points on this as well? Would be good if they do, as B00ts is a special effort for me