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

Penny2myName

Hi Purple_sparkles, yes your thread has motivated me to attempt 365 days without buying new clothes (apart from necessary underwear).

boring_beige

May i join in, please?
I still live at home with my mum & Dad. so could I aim for £1200 including food & everything except my keep.

Buffythedebtslayer

I live at home too!

makes budgetting much more straight forward.

I am aiming to be debtfree by December 09. its going to be quite tough!

I owe 18,459. (which is less then when I started here but not as low as I would like! )

I am looking at having 333 pounds per month to spend on my "stuff" transport, phone and socialising.

but all the time looking for the cheapest ways to do things.

I also want to learn to drive and have budgetted £100 a month for lessons, after rent and loan and cc repayments I have 663 pounds to over pay, first the cc then the loan.

I really need to sort out what goes into to what bank accounts!

but I will do this by shamelessly stealing ideas from here!

In case I don't get on this thread I just wanted to wish everyone Merry Christmas ((((((hugs)))))))

xxxxx

NoDebtDiva

Hi

I am so looking forward to this challenge! As a family I believe we "waste" lots of money by leaving the lights on, multiple TVs going at the same time, wasting food by not planning meals (or spending more money when you pop out to buy something for tea!) etc etc.

I know I'm driving my hubby mad at the mo when I point out he's left a light on! My 3 year old daughter is even noticing when we leave leave lights on in rooms that are not being used!! I know I'm going to enjoy 2009 and look forward to channeling the money we would have "wasted" to pay off some of our debts or to put towards a fabulous family holiday!

The best news is that my dad just phoned to say that he's picked us up a massive bag of rice - reckon I can get a few months worth of meals from that!!! :T

Good luck everyone - the journey's about to begin!!!

Purple_Sparkles

Penny2myname - I've still not purchased anything yet but it's still early days but as I've said before, I have so much stuff it's embarrassing

It will be lovely to be able to open a cupboard without things falling on top of me :eek::eek:

grandma247

The best news is that my dad just phoned to say that he's picked us up a massive bag of rice - reckon I can get a few months worth of meals from that

We have rice two to three times a week and get through 20kg a year for four of us.
I bought 10kg for £9.00 on Saturday at our local asian shop and we were given a sample of a cooked meal to try and it was delicious so I bought some of the sauces they were selling to try out at home. They were on special offer. I got talking about sunflower seeds and how difficult it was to get the large bags,I have to travel to Burnley to get them at the health food shop. The lady said she would ask her suppliers because they normally only stock the seeds with the husks on which is no good with biscuits. She asked me if she could have the recipe for my biscuits so I made some extra and gave her them along with the recipe. I did wonder if they would be good for a cottage industry idea. We shall see.
On the subject of freezing, I freeze almost anything. Not lettuce or cucumber but anything else. If its a failure then I know not to bother again. I don't think I have had any real failures though.

grandma247

anyone like to make their own pickles?

cw18

I've made half a dozen jars of Old Dowerhouse Chutney this year - not tried it yet though

I've made the family's Marrow Chutney in the past -- but couldn't track down a marrow this year, and I don't have enough to last another 12 months

I've also pickled my own onions a couple of times.

Frugaldom

boring_beige wrote: »

May i join in, please?
I still live at home with my mum & Dad. so could I aim for £1200 including food & everything except my keep.

You may certainly join in the challenge for 2009, I'm just about to add a few more names to the list, so welcome Purple_Sparkles and Boomdocker (I knew we'd get them sooner or later) :rotfl:

Boomdocker - interesting budget, Elite? :cool: Now that is something I really can relate to, if only my interest had stuck at a £10 per month club membership - oh the trials and tribulations of the racing world, I LOVE IT!!! :j :rotfl:

Thanks to all for the info regarding the beans. I had been (pardon the pun) and checked the Food Standards Agency website to check on the OK-ness of freezing them. I ordered 5 tins @ 10p per tin from Crags thinking they were standard 400g tins, turns out they are 800g tins :eek:, so that's next year's kidney bean supplies taken care of. :rotfl:

The_cat, thanks for info, I'll email the site to let them know what happened with my delivery.

KayH, like you, I am really looking forward to keeping chickens (and quail & whatever else) again and can hardly wait until next year! Unfortunately, we don't have any battery hen rehoming going on near us, but I'm hopeful of rehoming some 'surplus to requirements' birds from somewhere.

Off to play with my beans now. :rotfl:

grandma247

I have a recipe for coleslaw. I have made three batches now and We love it. I use the cheapie bags of shredded veg from Mr.T. It is in a syrupy/vinegar solution and stays remarkably crisp. I even did some stir fry veg that was 4p a bag and they turned out well too. I just drain and serve but it can be mixed with mayo. I got the recipe from a canning group and was a little bit sceptical but not now. If anyone wants to try it I will post it.
I will have a look at those chutney recipes. I have made mango,gooseberry and marrow chutnies this year. All with either our own or cheapie Mr.T veg and fruit.