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

thriftyscotslass

.... okay, enough of the nerves - lets get going :j

My budget excluding mortgage; water; tax; life & home insurance and car expenses:

Groceries £2400
TVL £140
Electricity £480
Gas £500
Phone / Broadband £480

Total: £4000

My weekly food shop will be the biggest overall reduction - so am looking to buy a breadmaker and slow cooker and take up permanent residence in the OS threads :rotfl:

Next challenge will be reducing the electric; gas and broadband bills - they seem a bit high at the moment compared to some on the board - looking forward to seeing how much I can shave off them

All pennies saved will be going into mortgage overpayments - currently standing at 40k and 18 years :eek:

Bring on 2009 - am looking forward to the journey :T

grandma247

CW18 Thank you for those recipes they are copied and pasted ready to print. I will try them when I can get some of the ingredients.

fizzel81

evening all

dunno if its relevent but

i feel a splurge comeing on with my remaining cash, m brother has just left after exchangeing xmas gifts (and him doing my ironing) we have opened already as im not around for xmas and he is impatient iykwim

i have the nicest fluffiest towels ive ever ever had, so i said to my brother there great think im going to get a few more after xmas he just smiled (and i thought nothing of it) just said he got me the biggest ones as thats what i wanted

ive been online m&s and 2 xl bath sheets, 2 hand towels and 2 face towels omg £58 quid on towels!!!

nope i dont think im getting anymore the ones they have brought me well there all mine (they boys do have childrens ones)

its soo tempting to splurge the rest of my challenge money on them but ive also become too tight to do so after all whats wrong with a £7.50 set

maybe im worng for now looking to buy more i do feel a tad cheeky

other than that ive had 2 nsd in a row addmittedly today was one due to ds being ill

cw18

fizzel81 wrote: »

ive been online m&s and 2 xl bath sheets, 2 hand towels and 2 face towels omg £58 quid on towels!!!

nope i dont think im getting anymore the ones they have brought me well there all mine (they boys do have childrens ones)

its soo tempting to splurge the rest of my challenge money on them but ive also become too tight to do so after all whats wrong with a £7.50 set

I find towels are one thing you where you get what you pay for....

When I got my first house (1987) I had a cheap bundle. By the time DH and I bought a place together (1991) they didn't have much life left. So when we got married (1992) I put new towels on our list -- though ours were from Debenh@ms.

Given inflation since then, I doubt ours were any cheaper than the ones you're looking at -- but they're still going strong 16 years on, with no sign of needing replacing.

My originals are now on one side for the dogs when they come in from a walk. But they're next to useless when they've had a bath, so I'm going to have to find some reasonably priced ones for them (if I can't find the ones my kids had when they were younger, which had cartoon characters on)

fizzel81

these are 100% better than the 2 sets ive had previously
1st set when we got married got ruined by the now ex and the 2nd set is what i have now (and the ends have gone tight from use, they need stretching after comeing out the dryer)

i think i should not be tight and buy them then these new ones are double the thickness at least of the ones im currantly using

but then i will need a new towel rack, ive kinda got what i have now crammed into this naff thing from argos

angie_baby

Hi all,

have been looking at figures, want to do 4K a year on

Per Month Total of £333.33

Going Out / Clothes £71
Travel £50
Food £100
Gas £29
Elec £29
Water £27
Xmas £25

TOTALS £331

This is just for me and DS (7), i havent included any of his hobbies yet, but things we do together like swimming will be included in Going Out / Clothes budget.

I am really looking forward to this challenge as i really hope to be debt free by Jan 2010

fizzel81

ouch just realsied only have £84.67 remaining....... thank goodness its near on 2009

skint_chick

cw18 wrote: »

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.

I've never seen a marrow in a supermarket and veg specialists never seem to have them these days. My dad grows his own and they seem pretty simple to manage.

fizzel - we got bath towels from debenhams for our wedding presents and they are lovely and fluffy and the bath sheets are huge and they were relatively inexpensive - and they have 20% off days too :cheesy:

cw18

I'm told L!dl had marrows -- but only for a couple of days, and by the time I heard they'd all gone

I can't grow anything in my garden yet -- it needs a total overhaul, so it seems pointless trying to get things going in containers (which is the way I'm going to have to work it) only to have to empty them out so the garden can be done when the weather improves !!

sophiesmum_2

Good morning frunchkins:D

Busy day ahead here, first of the xmas meals for oldies. Menu is: melon and mandarin cocktail, aberdeen angus roast beef, gammon ham, with all the trimmings, very sherry trifle, sponge topped mince pies, coffee and chocs;) then after the meal we are having a singer/entertainer for a couple of hours ,pressies and a free bar. That should finish them off for the rest of the day:rotfl:
Looking forward to meeting cw who is coming along to help:A - will have to make the oldies be on their best behaviour so they don't show me up:p After today she may not want to return tomorrow:rolleyes:
Just got the beef slowcooking in oven and flat smells gorgeous:D

Have a great day everyone:D