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

cw18

Figures from various people are looking good -- well done all :T

Michelle - great to see that your DH is asking how it compares to previous months.... sounds like he's on board with this

Brighton_belle

Absolutely Lynne - not for me, but suits others well, and I love hearing everyone's differnt ideas for money saving and making.Because somethings are bound to appeal as doing able for me but also I like hearing others enthusism for the life style and doing the things that suit their talents/energy. Also, it's been good to test my boundaries and it helps clarify what I do and don't want and how much IYSWIM.

ChaMichelle - this is just the start: the more aware you both are of how you spend your money the more incontrol of your choices you will become. I think you're doing really well: there's stockpiling there of food and presents and your holiday. and you are doing the prep for growing some of your own veg:T . Things will even out over the months if you keep up the good work.

Must go to bed. Feel really chuffed with what I have got done today. Must do some bulk cooking of lunches tomorrow in slow cooker.

angelatgraceland

Well at last I have my end of month figures after going out spending as I wished today within reason.
Bogof cinema tickets and halfprice meal at Bella Italia. Then a topup in Asda.
All under £40! Well I'm underbudget as follows:
Groceries: £457.51/£500(actual food is £342.07)
Other £92.33/£300
Excluded: 190.00
So I have some over to carry forward into Feb which is also a shorter month and a nice £800 to cover it! I will probably go over in Feb as the cars have to be sorted out whatever!
I did in effect buy 2 presents this month-one is a concert ticket for eldest DD birthday in May £53.83 which Ive included in "other"as its a present whereas my own concert ticket same price Ive included in grocery. Just bought youngest dd her birthday present also on ebay but have paypal money left from last year to cover it so Ive not counted it. Two more birthday pressies to buy until end of May so that will be ok. Todays spends went on the grocery as Im now including a lot more than just food on it-hence the huge jump in what Im allowing in that area. I have £250.16 to carry forward into February-it sounds a lot but Im guessing thats my car service-and the MOT on DH car if Im lucky! I have £800 budget on top of that for the month.
Have done an order for AF last week but that is definitely from febs budget and when its despached I will take it from the money in my purse.
If the rest of the year follows like this I will know that last years spreadsheets really did work for me but I am still aiming to spend as follows:

Less than last year-regardless of rising prices


More on entertainment/days out

Better planning of all events-birthdays etc.

I have a stash from last year pre Chrismas of pressies for dds mates when their birthdays suddenly spring on me so I think they are covered for the year!
My main focus for my budget is on planning rather than having to make unexpected payments which could have been reduced or spread out with some thought.

sophiesmum_2

Good morning frunchkins:D
Feeling in a lovely happy mood this morning despite it being windy and freezing cold here today. OH just making my Sunday morning bacon butty so just got time ti post my aims for today:D

General frugal aims for today;

• storecupboard lunch and tea
• reduce, reuse,recycle one item-
• do something nice for me - OH mking brekkie
• do something nice for someone else -
• fitter not fatter - swim and jacuzzi
• Do something to prepare garden/greenhouse area and plan veggie growing
• Try out making some veggie sausages
• Go to costco for oldies

Todays frugal meals;

• HM seeded bread with bacon, OJ
• Tuna and beetroot salad
• Turkey from xmas, roast potatoes, carrots, sprouts, broccoli

Fruit and veg portions;
1 fruit, 0 pulses,5 veggies,:D

Expenditure or additional income
Just had £20 through door as we won the bonus ball at work for 50p stake:j
Spent £1 at shop on sweets for mumzy's littlies

Have a great day everyone:D

JAMIEDODGER

Here are my total spends for January:

329.82 Food
18.44 Cleaning
18.18 Toiletries
10.70 Pets
46.45 Sky
40.00 Gas/Electric
27.90 Tv Licence
4.80 Birthdays
36.62 Clothing
.58 Tobacco
70.76 Entertainment
20.00 Pocket Money
1.50 School Expenses
10.00 Haircuts
9.62 Parking
1.60 Postage
15.00 DS3 Activities with Carers

Total:

£661.97 (original monthly total £591.60 per month)

I went £70.37 over my January budget, but as you can see, I spent a great deal stockpiling.

Annual Total: £7099.20
Less: £ 661.97

Total Available for remaining 11 months: £6437.23 divided by 11 =

£585.20 per month.

Good luck for february everyone:T

Boomdocker

OK, January was interesting and costly considering I was out of the country for 2.5 weeks!! Boiler broke so in Misc there are some call out charges for that (Feb will include the major cost of boiler replacement).

Anglian Water 23.87
Misc Boiler 65.00
Clothing 00.77
Council Tax 96.00
Elec 20.00
Elite 30.30 (quarter bill)
Essex Water 14.41
Food 103.78 (includes food, non food and cat stuff)
Gas 86.00
Ground Rent 214.00
Media 95.73
Rent 150.00
Savings 50.00

Total for Jan is 943.86 or 9.4% of my 10000.00

lingojingo

morning all
have now got my january figures sorted, and am in budget :j

Grocery £118.55 (includes some stockpiling)
buildings & contents Ins £19.91
gas & electric (dd) £84(but we are £130 in credit after Jan bill!)
tv licence £11.95
tv/phone/broadband £57.83 (next bill, payable 12/2 is £12!)
mobile £14.69 (next month will be £9)
cat food & insurance £21.14
window cleaner £4.50
meal out £5.00 (mostly paid for in December)
busfares £7.00 (to go into town for cheaper groceries)
newspapers £6.36
postage £1.36
Mum's birthday present £29.00 ( next week, but bought January)

Grand total £381.29


also had best friend's 50th and 3 other family birthdays, gifts from vouchers etc earned last year. Also got gifts ready for 2 neices and a nephew in February, just need postage,

lilac_lady

lilac_lady wrote: »

NSD day today so my January total has ended up as £7.70 over budget even though I thought I was being really thrifty. I'm sort of ok with that but am determined that I'll make it up next month. Looking over my receipts, it's the food shopping that's made it go over so I'm going to try and give the big supermarkets a miss and see if that helps.

lilac_lady wrote: »

I know if I hadn't joined this challenge my spending would be worse so it's keeping me in check.

I've rechecked my figures and......................instead of being £7.70 over budget, I'm actually £92.30 under budget. I wondered where I'd gone wrong so did another calculation. I feel so stupid (but happy!)
I've had no big bills in January so I'll need that money to balance my spending when my home insurance, car tax etc becomes due so I'm not about to rush out and spend it. I've forgotton how to do that anyhow.

Off to catch up on the rest of the posts.

Edited to say that I'm full of admiration for the way you all total every spend. I do it the easy way, just remove what I've spent from my signature. (the lazy way!) I didn't withdraw the £330 cash last month so that's why I didn't notice my accounting error (sounds better than added it up wrong).

I've already got the full month's cash for February and am planning to put the notes on elastic strings to see if some will bounce back to me.

Good luck for the rest of February.

mk_wotsit

Found a joint of lamb lurking in the freezer so it's in the slow cooker for tonight.
Off to Bl*ckb*sters with my Clubcard vouchers - hopefully will be able to get Lost Season 4. We're a bit behind with Lost as we're too 'frugal' to pay for Sky!!

Will be making a Lemon Meringue Pie from here: http://www.be-ro.co.uk/f_insp.htm

There's some really nice recipes here - no poncy chef stuff - proper home baking!

OH has finished laying the base for my new and improved chicken run. They get caked in mud when its wet so the new one will have a hard base and a roof where thay will stay when the weather is wet. They can come out in the garden and do their scratching about when it's not wet.

nickynoo08

Afternoon everyone,
After scaring myself last week thinking i'd gone over budget i found where i'd written everything down. Thankfully my figures on my sig are correct, so i managed to come in under budget:D . I know fine well if it hadnt been for this challenge i'd of spent a fortune. Its really made me think twice about picking stuff up.
Right my budget for feb is....
£110 groceries, toiletries, baby stuff etc....
£40 treats and take aways
£30 into savings acc
£20 emergencies
Total £200
I've given us a tighter budget than last month, 1 because its a shorter month, 2 to see if we can manage on less.

Good luck for Feb everyone x