Live on £4000 for a Year, 2009 Challenge, part 1

candygirl

Masomnia wrote: »

Haha yup! I love certificates as much as I love stationary, so you can't disappoint me, I'd be, well, heartbroken

It's cheaper than adopting a polar bear for £10 a month.I think it'd work:o

angelatgraceland

Oh dear-I love stationary too-next best to shoes! But-Ive been very good in recent years-I only look!
I got my fix over the years buying it for the kids but as the youngest is nearly 15 it doesnt really work anymore.
Well Ive sorted out my cupboards and am amazed at what Ive got lurking there but as they are tidier it means stuff will get used that was lost. Made shepherds pie tonight-well-the meat mix minus the mash.
I used a kilo(I think)of frozen lamb which I bought a while back for about 45p and half a bag of quorn(needed using up)and about a cup full of soya mince. Added 3 onions,2 stock cubes,one tin value tomato soup,one jar value chilli sauce-yes-a strange mixture but-it tasted right!!!
Anyhow it works out at about £1.80 and I tubbed it up into 9 decent servings so just 20p each. Add the mash and veggies and approx 50p per meal. Had chicken for tea but enough left over for sarnies for dd tomorrow and boiled up the carcass to pick off bits for our moggy. The stock left will hopefully be used in a soup tomorrow. Also used up my pizza dough with half a jar of value bolognese, chopped up wafer thin ham,grated cheese and oregano. DS had this as he is not really a meatlover. Used my new steamer at last for the veggies-its bigger than my s/s one but both are needed on occassions. Somehow managed to get the sheps pies into the freezer! More byluck than judgement. Found a nice new leather purse/wallet in my wardrobe which was a freebie last year so that is my second purse for my "other" spends.
CW18-Ive now decided to not include the driving lessons in my budget-Ive allowed myself an extra budget for one-off purchases and excluded items of £1000 per year so it can come out of that. Neither am I now going to include the purchase of the bees as that is also a one off and if we get any honey to sell we can recoup it(I hope)and I will then put it back into that budget. Ive now amended my sig as needed. Going to count DDs pocket money as grocery though-sort of balances things.
Set up a new page on my spreadsheet for the savings made from whoopsies etc as that did sound like a good idea. So far already Ive saved approx £115.56 including an estimated saving on the items ordered from Approved Foods. Only actually spent approx £53 on food(as opposed to grocery) so this is a massive saving! Last year I kept a separate purse with the money I saved by using vouchers-it was approx £300 throughout the year!!!
I do need to buy a few more baco tubits (for bulk cooking/freezing)and no other brand matches the quality and suitability for me-mine are getting a bit manky but some of them are a couple of years old now.
Now-I want a pony too-for my youngest dd-its a bit of a joke with her sister!

bails

Morning all. Double scratch and £1 bonus at Minver today.
Bad night so day not looking too hopeful.
Mollymunchkin, you are indeed a star! I had no idea you could do this and yet my OH has unwittingly achieved this in the past :rotfl:Found a frugal website that explains how to do it so may have a go at some point :T [I'm conscious of your point about time/energy vs. getting on with it though BB so will have a careful think, thanks].
Really sorry to hear that Candygirl, I've been off for a while too so you can come and sit on the sofa with me
My £1 is in the post Nyk :rotfl:and I'm sure there's a certain animal lover not far from me who'll chip in too Go on, you know you want to! Depending on how miniature it is, you could offer pony rides at the local fairs and have a free lawnmower and free manure for the garden and...:D
Fizzel, I'm sure there's a way. How much extra would you need to pay them off completely if you lived on the 5k? Then we can help you think of ways to make/find this money. Am I right in thinking you're a SAHM? I don't for one minute think this means you have a lot of time on your hands but I'm hoping it means you have the flexibility in your day to accumulate some cash. Let us know and I'm sure we can help you achieve your goal.

FrankieM

Morning everyone..
Gosh, it's tough getting out of bed this morning!!

I've got a busy day planned doing housework and normal work. I've got to go to the post office and I'm out for coffee this evening but I'm paying for both with some extra cash I found. So hopefully that will make it a no spend day.

I've got out all my bits of cooked, leftover veg from the freezer to make bubble and squeak burgers for tea. Lunch is going to be soup from the freezer.

Righto, off to crack the whip, will catch up later...have a good day everyone.

ohh, I've just noticed we've had some snow here too!

cw18

I'm hoping to get a lot more of my 'stock take' costed into my spread sheet today -- and I still need to finish the rest of the cupboards, fridge and freezers......

For now I'm keeping track of what I use from the fridge and freezers (and what I'm putting in), but I've no idea what DS it taking from the fridge (unless it's something I've bought in the last couple of days) - so I think that is the next most important to list the contents of in order to give me the most accurate picture of where we started the year in terms of stock-pile value.

I shouldn't be more than a couple of quid out though -- there wasn't a great deal in that he'd just help himself to -- so I'm not too worried about this being a tad late in being done

fizzel81

Bails if i lived on 5k i would have paid off everything by christmas so im going to try very very very hard, got some bits for ebay to sort

Morning all
woke up to snow, its cold out but doesnt feel as cold as yesterday

was hopeing for a nsd but ds1 and ds2 now have grotty looking eyes as well so going to pop to oots for more drops (oh the joys of squezeing in 3 boys eyes) and its not looking likely for them being at school tomorrow with eyes like that (im sure its one of the things they cannot go to school with)

ironing must be done today lazy moo me, its not even a huge amount.

camera battery is charged got the following for ebay, 2 elec toothbrushs (around £70s worth each i got them for 20 quid but got a more basic one with boots points so going to sell these) new boxed buggy (dont ask!) it was a half price maclaren, small radley bag i was brought but ive never used, my free zapp got from boots points last year, and possibly my wii and the bits and bobs with that if i can make £350 from the above after fee's thats a small catalogue debt cleared, the sad thing is i dont have a houe full of things to ebay that i can use to make some extra debt funds so cutting back is an option, when the boys dad left feb 2007 i managed on child benifit for me a baby and 2 toddlers so i know i can stick to a small budget but also food was a bit cheaper then, im going to try to get £30 out on a monday for everything but no more than £50, ive put some aside in esavings for gas/elec and just waiting for the dd's to come out whatever is left is then going to halifax as thats my debit card so i can throw it at the debts, as i get the letters it would be nice to be able to ring and pay big chunks (well thats the plan) but will see how it go's

i must also do a cupboard/freezer stocktake, aside from knowing i have lots of loo rolls and cleaning stuff i dont know exactly what i do have, i can then see how i can plan it out, ideally id like to nothave to do a big shop untill middle of feb or march if i can ekk it out, market here is useless for fruit and veg one stall so there is no compertition, everything is in bowls for £1.00 so ive found it cheeper to use asda, though i do know there is a farm shop towards sidcup the bus pass's it many times a day so i may go and have a look next week (never been to one before)

Breakfast today, boys had weetabix
Lunch leftover pasta bake we ended up having for dinner yesterday
dinner vegtable rice

im off to get sorted

carolbee

Hi from a lightly covered with snow coastal Kent - looks lovely from inside.

off out to lunch which I have no qualms about, as have q**co/green m**polis money to cover, an unexpected invite to join a friend for his birthday lunch.

only 1 spend day so far until now, for local paper and stamps, am very pleased. Freezer seems like Mary Poppins bag, offering up all sorts of goodies!

hope all have a good day

savingfortravel

Hi Everyone!!
Looking forward to catching up with posts later.
Aims for today

1. Keep a Positive Mental Attitude-esp when dealing with people at school.
2. Ring up Boots to register advantage card.
3. Fitter not fatter-What with our snow-not sure about the walking...but will get on the exercise bike/do some sit ups.
4. NCD-Another No Chocolate Day...the car has to go to the garage (hope its not going to be too expensive!!)
5. Write my thank you notes for school Christmas presents.
6. De-clutter part of the spare bedroom.

Menu: Breakfast: Muesli Lunch: Flask of tomato soup-taken to school-I'll need it! Dinner-HM Fish pie, carrots and peas.
SFT

Raychee

Morning all.

No snow here!

Not working today. Work at the beginning of term for a supply teacher is quite slow. But I do have work booked from Thursday.

Anyways, couldn't work today as OH has taken my car while his has it's MOT. I told him how much income I could lose from him taking the car (if I had work), and I think it shocked him slightly! GOOD.

So, as I'm not working, I have a list!

1) Ironing and washing(OH has asked for his jeans to be washed before they walk off on their own. I showed him where the machine was... but I do have a full load to put on)
2) Wii Fit - this year, I'm not buying new clothes till I've gone down at least one dress size.
3) Buy some fresh veggies for dinner (Chicken with veg & gravy.)
4) Catch up with neighbour.
5) Fill in initial application form for adoption. (We're part way through the process, but I've sort of not posted the application to apply form, as I'm worried about debts - even though they're within agreed limits - and my weight.)
6) Put Christmas decorations away.

Well, that will do for now- though I know there's plenty more to do!

grandma247

angelatgraceland your ingredients are not strange at all. I belong to a few american frugal and food groups and many of them send in "recipes" with a tin of this and a packet of that in the list of ingredients. I once recieved a recipe for slow cooker meatloaf and it said to put it in the sc then pour in ketchup to cover.