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

[Deleted User]

Hello again everyone

I have totalled up my spends for this month (hopefully I wont need to buy anything else til next month), abit more than I'd thought £467.32 but £142.63 of that was the home insurance.... And I know that I got carried away buying food when it was on offer/reduced. The beans in Mr M's 4 for 75p, bread flour I stocked up on and general meat when reduced. Freezer is now stuffed full (cant get anything else in it). So next month should be quite a cheap-ish month! When I've finished work I'm going to cook alot of the meat into 'ready meals' so when babys arrived, it will be abit easier (in theory)

xx

sammey90

OK peeps, here goes...

Jan was a really pants month, so i decided that my year challenge would run Feb - Feb. Anyway, I was paid on Thursday, I have spent nearly £60 of my £126 grocery budget, but have a month's worth of food in the freeezer.

I did buy some other bits and pieces - shoes for DD (bargain - £8), savings tins (bought two in £land, only to find the exact same thing 49p elsewhere!! grr), and some yummy munchies (jan was horrible without any treats!).

The snowballer says my DFD is April 2010 - 15 months - who'd have thought?!

Bills go out next week, and everything should be covered, soooooooooo........

LET BATTLE COMMENCE!!

Sarah147

Hi all, just checking in quickly as about to order a Dominos pizza (I know... I know.... but sometimes you just need a little treat ). Tomorrow it's back to bringing in lunches everyday and eating dinner from the freezer so I shall enjoy this little blow out and not feel guilty at all. Probably.

Had a lovely weekend away with friends for a 30th birthday. There were 22 of us and my friend hired two huge cottages. For about £60 each for three days we ate, drink and were very merry. It was a wonderful break.

But now to get back to the moneysaving...

I need to sort out spends and update my lists, check internet banking etc.

Plus, I have set myself a bit of a mini challenge to focus myself and put me back on track with this challenge. I was supposed to be made redundant this coming Friday so from the day after, I am going to live for the rest of the month as if I actually was made redundant, so I can conserve funds. I have a trip to London (£10 return from Newcastle for National Express offer) coming up but most things to do with that are already paid for. The frugal life beckons and this time I am going to listen! :rotfl:

Frugaldom

Good evening frugalites
Just popping on here to welcome the latest new recruit, 'Jennyshrew'. Good luck, Jenny, hope you have a great time taking part and can weather the storm that is the first 3 weeks of frugaldom. It gets better after that, just set yourself realistic goals and remember that this isn't a competition, it's just a lifestyle devoid of waste and needless spending - allegedly. The road can be a bumpy one, as you'll soon find out when you see folks wobbling and/or falling off the wagon. So long as nobody gets hurt, there's usually someone about to help them back on again.

angelatgraceland

Just updated sig and one would wonder what on earth Ive allowed 10 k for! However-January is always an easy month for me as I find that the bills appear-as in car servicing, MOT etc in Feb so that will add a lump on! Then I always seem to spend more on home and garden in Marcha and April so as I said before-January I would be tough on myself. I do have treats lined up though for dd next week as I bought some 2 for 1 cinema vouchers on ebay and one runs out on Sat so Im taking her up there with a friend who I knwo cannot really afford the treat so the "free" part will be for her friend but that is part of the joy of doing these challenges-lots of peope benefit! Afterwards we may go to Bella Italia and use the voucher I have for there! Thursday Im going to see the last ever show of Riverdance(Ive not seen it before)but this was paid for last year and my neighbour is driving and has free parking arranged so no expense whatsoever! Im really glad hat Ive planned these events so well as otherwise I would begrudge the rather larger expense(their real value) and I don't want my family to suffer for my moneysaving-I want them to benefit from it.
They are now realising that the small sacrifices lead to larger rewards. I just need to plan some sort of holiday now before its too late for the summer.
I was asked to go to the chippy last night and I was indeed tempted after being on my feet all day. However-commonsense won and I refused and cooked pasta instead. I had the leftovers of that for lunch today.
Just done dds sarnies-still need to do mine-reduced bread and ham was on offer in Tesco. I did pop in there today but was very dissapointed at their lack of suplies and their prices. They have lost me now basically-they are not a patch on Mr M or Asda.

In_Search_Of_Me

Done my figures and am over but think its catchupable! Some of it was last nights night out and the other generally the gb. Not only will I hve to do the floor but roof also in need of attention...we tried intermidiate measures but that hasnt helped so time for a roofer to suck his teeth and say how expensive it will be! Will see if someone can help on relevant board re claiming on insurance..

sammey90

Does anyone else do this?

I buy 20 sandwiches worth of bread/rolls and ham/dinosaur ham/cheese slices, make them up into sandwiches, then freeze them for DD's luches for a month(ish).

She has raisins or fruit, cheap biscuits and a flavoured water carton as well and most months i do all of her lunches for £6-7 a month, instead of the extortionate price of school dinners!

Makes life easier in the mornings too - everything is grab-and-go!!

ilovetea

Hello,
Not posted for a while but I'm being good:p
Spent £65 since the start of the month 25 of that is on fruit and veg.Not the posh sort,just basics pots,carrots,onions etc.apples and bananas.Can't see how to cut this down any futher,On a good note have not bought any junk food.Decided what ever is left at th end of the month will be used for an on-line shop,either,Mr.T or Mr.A.. Oh,to have shops near-by,or maybe not ,probably pop in them every day:rolleyes: .
Have been reading this thread every day but,sorry, can't remember what most people have said.Must take notes in future:rotfl:
Take care everyone.

ilovetea x

sophiesmum_2

Good evening frunchkins:D

Never managed to get to mumzy's erlier as had to help poorly dad with something, will go later in week.

OH is at work again tonight and much as I love him being around I also love the evenings he is away so I can potter and get stuff done without feeling guilty. TV stays permanently off when he is out
Tonight I want to declutter another cupboard, sort through file of instruction manuals as have lots for things we don't own anymore, make a batch of individual sugar free jellies for low cal snacks - probably add some tinned fruit in, and chuck together another batch of muesli for breakfasts.

Went for swim this evening and DD came and joined gym, she is having student membership and paying herself from waitressing job so not impacting on budget- might give me an incentive to occasionally use some of other equipment:rolleyes:

cw18

Just caught up with the posts since early Saturday morning -- DD has been away for the weekend (25th birthday celebrations for a childhood friend), so I've had my GDs for company

Still not got my accounts up-to-date, so really MUST knuckle down and get it done (as best I still can - I know I've done one shop of around 60p in Whoopsies I didn't get a receipt for, and have a feeling I'm missing another for around £1 from a couple of nights ago too!) before the end of the month.

However my gut feeling is that I'm doing OK (Really helped by cheap mushrooms, free veg and trip to Costco though)

Used one of the Costco chicken breasts a couple of nights ago -- and was very impressed. I did a chicken supreme, which I'd have diced a breast per person for in the past. Did one between the two of us (albeit the heaviest in the pack) and there was plenty as they don't shrink (which I was promised by a number of people was the case). So I'm confident the smaller ones will be fine diced and used at 1 between 2 as well :T

Also made a sausage casserole the other night. I use a Mr A packet mix for the 'sauce' and used to use a pack for the family of 5. Stayed on a pack for 4 of us, and then 3 of us -- but seemed overkill for 2 of us. So I decided to cook for 4 and freeze half..... Also adjusted the 'sausage count' from 4 per person to 3 per person, but threw in a tin of (out of date) cannelini beans instead of the 4 sausages I didn't include -- and I've not heard a peep from DS about it (other than the normal gripe about not liking casseroles :rolleyes2 )



Belated congrats to JennyBee on the arrival of JD -- but I still think you could have hung on for another 3 days so that JD could share my birthday :rotfl:


ETA: And on Tuesday I replaced half the mince in a meal with Soya Mince, and DS (who used to spot it at 1000 paces) hasn't mentioned that one either. But I did add a small drizzle of gravy browing to get the colour more like 'normal', and I found that was enough to fool even me