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

Kittikins

Hi everyone, have been keeping my head down as this month is always a yuk one, I'm thinking of saving up to get a SAD lamp for next winter, as I really noticed a huge uplift in my spirit on Saturday when we had sunshine and warmth, I felt like me again and realised I've not been 'me' for a while! It's put me in a better place for sticking more closely to the challenge, I've been good but not fantastically so!

I'm reading the "how I lived for a year on a pound a day" book - is anyone else reading it? I'm really racing through it, and am irritated that she's not really going into the nitty gritty of day to day life, just the "oh, aren't I lucky, I live in town near lots of free events" - from what I can understand, her £1 a day is after rent and utilities have been paid, so is food and going out (she doesn't run a car). I think I want to know more details of the day to day mundanities of life, probably because having a DD, I don't have the option to go out as much as her, but at least I borrowed it from the library so only cost me 50p to reserve!

I do admire her for the guts to hitchhike to France/Cornwall etc though, I've only hitchhiked once, in Germany and was lucky to be with a more experienced friend. We had a lot of fun though

redglass_2

What an inspiring lot you all are, whether things are going well or you're going through a rough patch - I find that coming on here usually restores my (rather battered) faith in human nature. That's one of the reasons this thread is so addictive, even when I can only just keep up...:smileyhea Special hugs for ((((( Liloandstitch))))) at a very difficult time.

I'm slowly realising I am just as hopeless at numbers as I was at school (used to cry over my maths homework). I did get the budget totaled up in the end but I forgot that when I was writing my siggie, each week's outgoings also had to include the direct debits for that week. :doh:It now looks a lot less encouraging than it did, but they are all things that I included in the original calculations (phone, TV licence, etc) so it's OK really.

Edited in: Kittikins, the book has just turned up for me at the local library so I'll be reading it this weekend. Like you I want to know the factual stuff so if she hasn't got much to offer, I won't be very impressed.

SiannieLaz

Morning All :T
Have just been catching up with all the posts from Friday - you guys are truly dedicated!!! Hugs to all that need them :j
I managed to have a no spend weekend as OH insisted on paying for everything (went out on Sat nite for friends bday) which is a bit cheeky of me, but than again, he isn't doing the challenge!! and he only pays me a small amount each month for all the groceries. He then went out Sun and bought me a mountain bike for £139 reduced from £350!!! So I guess I need to starting cycling everywhere instead of driving!! Managed to get to my allotment for the first time on Sat, marked out the plot and did about 3hours of digging over, pulling out loads of bricks, stones and glass - now have the feeling it's going to take a bit longer than anticipated:o . Popped down on Sunday but due to the monsoon we had on Sat nite the ground was far too wet so I'll have to wait till next weekend, and keep my finger crossed that it doesn't rain too much.
Signed on with a couple of recruitment agencies over the last two days, so another £38.50 in train fares:mad: , now keeping everything crossed they come up with something, 5 weeks left until my job finishes:eek:
Anyhoo, thanks to you all for all your brilliant support and advice.
xxxxxx

charliedavis

Hi all

Really struggling with my budget at the moment, lots of expenses that don't fall into any of the categories for 4k but aren't bills either - dog food, dog training, entertainment etc. Overspent already on the eating out budget (1 chinese, 1 dominos pizza and 1 fish and chips while the kitchen floor had been latexed ready for a new floor!) so in all feeling really despondent. May have to rejig and maybe say my 4k includes certain items but budget elsewhere for the dog stuff - they are SO expensive! (have 3 cats too lol)

C x

Masomnia

Hello all, token male challenge member checking in!

Looks like I have a lot to catch up on usual :j

For me I'm doing ok, back at uni this week so had quite a few expenses such as a big food shop, socializing costs from meeting up with people I haven't seen in a few weeks and so on.

Had to pay for the year's TV licence too, so that's eaten into the week's money, but between six of us it isn't too expensive!

I think that's it so far Hope you're all having a great day.

angelatgraceland

TRying to be inspired today but I just feel tired and have backache(arthritis)so everything is an effort. I did sort out a few bits n pieces in the bedroom but still have a long way to go yet!
Keeping up with the washing and drying is a pain as Im drying it on airers in the garage and only "finish it off" in the dryer.
I am going to spend today so now need to do my list. Ingredients for mango chutney which I must do before my mangoes are past it, plus some milk,bread,fruit,stamps,petrol. I could leave the petrol until Feb but I want to space it out and would rather fill up with half a tank now than a full tank in a week or two. DD was amazed at my high electric bill-perhaps it will help her to understand why wee keep watching the monitor!
I have a list of jobs I want to do:
shopping
charity shop
make chutney
sort out turkey carcass
downstairs cloakroom
more in the bedroom
take up 2 pairs of trousers
finish off a knitting project
Must go swimming twice a week too!
Now Ive declared that to you all I may just feel that I "have" to do some of it-I need something to push me! I really do want the new central heating this year so I must spare 15 mins a day on sorting out the "junk" I need to move. Must do what I can today as DH is on nights tomorrow and will need the day to sleep-perhaps that is the time for my swimming! Im thinking of getting a treadmill so if anyone has any advice I would be gratful-please PM me tho as I dont want to go off topic on this thread!

enjoyfinancialchallenges

Hi once more everyone, I have been trying to keep up with the challenge and keep up to date with the site. Not a lot has happened really except perhaps my two full freezers are starting to show the benefit of not adding more to them. I live alone so if I dont eat it up to empty it nobody will. My plan for this year was to empty my freezers and overflowing larder in order to reduce my expenses and pay off a few debts I have hanging over from the Christmas period, the biggest of these was completely unrelated to the Christmas period it is a £697.13 bill from my garage to pay for a MOT and service...the car failed the test so I just had to get the car up to scratch. THE WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS, Oh dear! Anyway Ive paid some off and will look at my finances at the end of the month, by the way is everyone else dying to get to the end of the month to see how this frugal living has benefitted us all, its the 21st today so not long to wait. :A

As well as the financial side od being on the site I'm also trying to loose weight as my trousers are getting tight and I'm certainly not going to buy a larger size, anyway I'm back at Weight Watchers but because I'm a gold member and a bit above my goal I pay until I am within 5 lbs of that. So all frugal stuff really.

I can't remember everyones name but I've been keeping up and digesting and benefitting from all the info given and want to encourage those who are finding it tough going, It really is worth it, the feeling at the end of the year is amazing when you see the debts have gone down and the clutter less by ebaying, freecycling, car booting etc. I was a debt free wanabe a couple of years back and learnt how to keep my head down and just focus on the task ahead and manage to pay off my £3000.00 debt in a year.

You wont be hearing much from me but I will be along side you all working hard to live on less, to reduce my waste and also play my part in reducing the amount of "stuff "going to land fill sites.

Please will somebody tell me how to put the extra bits at the end of this message, I think all you computer literate people call it your signature? Thanks I would be very grateful.

FrankieM

Hi guys,
Haven't posted for a while but have been keeping up reading as best I can.
Unfortnately, I've had no frugal tips to offer this month as its been a big spend time for me. I've updated my signature.
I'm adding all stuff in, even if I have overspent in certain areas, the idea being that I can claw back some of it in the up coming months.
We leave for Barcelona earlt tomorrow morning and I'm not back till tuesday. Frugal living kicks back in from then...

Just heard that my neighbour has been made redundant, they are ok financially but stil brings it close to home...

mumzyof2

Kittikins wrote: »

Hi everyone, have been keeping my head down as this month is always a yuk one, I'm thinking of saving up to get a SAD lamp for next winter, as I really noticed a huge uplift in my spirit on Saturday when we had sunshine and warmth, I felt like me again and realised I've not been 'me' for a while! It's put me in a better place for sticking more closely to the challenge, I've been good but not fantastically so!

I'm reading the "how I lived for a year on a pound a day" book - is anyone else reading it? I'm really racing through it, and am irritated that she's not really going into the nitty gritty of day to day life, just the "oh, aren't I lucky, I live in town near lots of free events" - from what I can understand, her £1 a day is after rent and utilities have been paid, so is food and going out (she doesn't run a car). I think I want to know more details of the day to day mundanities of life, probably because having a DD, I don't have the option to go out as much as her, but at least I borrowed it from the library so only cost me 50p to reserve!

I do admire her for the guts to hitchhike to France/Cornwall etc though, I've only hitchhiked once, in Germany and was lucky to be with a more experienced friend. We had a lot of fun though

I don't think this book is very good either and does not go into much detail. It cost me £6.99 from play and when ive read it it will be going back on play too lol

Spends today:

99p on milk and 58p on a paper

Total

£1.57

candygirl

hi everyone:hello:
Have just had a lovely afternoon out with my friend and her baby who's sooo cute, and weighs just over 6lbs now at nearly 3 months, but he was born at 29 weeks:D Went to a barn sale and got DD a baby gym for £3 and a few books for ebay:D Then had a coffee and a natter.It's weird cos she's my DD's godmother, and they're both having babies at the same time:D
Anyway apart from that haven't spent much ,and had a panic this morning as LLOYDS n HBOS have merged so I have to get my money out of Lloyds asap as I have CC debts wiv HBOS:eek: :eek: :eek: It means getting my money paid into the new account too, so lots of sorting out to be done