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

sophiesmum_2

General frugal aims for today;

• storecupboard lunch and tea
• reduce, reuse,recycle one item-few carrots and apples from one of oldies recycled to frugal pony
• do something nice for me - taking nice smellies to gym later
• do something nice for someone else -gave DD lift to stables tonight to pick up her scooter even though I was nice and snuggly with laptop and brew
• fitter not fatter - swim and jacuzzi later, exercise class with oldies

Todays frugal meals;

• porridge , OJ
• HM batch cooked carrot and lentil soup
• root mash from freezer, butterfly chicken topped with cheese & leeks

Fruit and veg portions;
1 fruit, 1 pulses,3 veggies,:D

Expenditure or additional income

No spend day

Remaining target cash for first 6 months food spends - £253.44 left from budget of £400 for first six months.

looby-loo_2

Lots of good news! Well done mumzy.

cw18

savingfortravel wrote: »

Also does anyone know if we pay Council Tax this month if we pay by DD. Have paid last 10 months but have a feeling you don't pay Feb and March Thanks

I don't know if different councils do it differently, but I'm "Council Tax Free" in Feb & March each year

sophiesmum_2

looby-loo wrote: »

'freezer' tea for us tonight with a leek from the garden (dug up with great difficulty, and FYI sophiesmum, I was wearing proper warm clothes and big boots with double socks!) as I didn't go out to buy veg.

Have a nice evening all

What no underwear? bikini? flipflops? not even a raincoat? Are you feeling under the weather?:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Seriously though I tried to dig something up at weekend and the ground was frozen solid -bet that was hard work:T

looby-loo_2

That's why we are sharing one smallish leek

Sarah147

Um right, I suppose I should finally get around to posting my January totals. Spent more than I would have liked but had a lot of birthdays etc this month. That's my excuse anyway and I am sticking to it

Supermarkets/eating out/take aways etc £38.12
not too bad I thought
Clothes £39.36
included purchase of "essential" swimming costume to get fit and, therefore, feel better and not eat so much rubbish as a result.
Presents £13.98
DVDs/Cds £ 6.98
In the sale and, no, I have not watched them yet
Toiletries etc £18.74
lots of buy one get one frees
Trains/bus/commuting etc £72.80
Tickets for gigs/shows £71.27
will be much lower next month, blame New Kids on the Block he he
Hotels £83.00
as above!
Dentist £16.20
Mobile £11.17
Charity D/D £ 2.00
eBay (inc. selling fees, postage etc.) £18.33

And, the main problem I feel...

ATM £300.00



This was for an assortment of things but I have now got my "daily cash spending recording diary" in action so I will know exactly where each penny goes too for this months figures. The main outcome is to try and cut this down as I end up wasting what's left in my purse on rubbish. from tomorrow I am bringing an empty purse to work!!

TOTAL: 691.96 :mad:

However, I did make back £104.25 in eBay, Quidco etc so the grand total is "only" £587.71.

Still, I am living at home for the moment and not paying rent so that is all I paid out this month in total, leaving a nice amlount left from my wages to put aside for a "rainy day" so it is not all bad at all :T


Hope you are all doing well with your particular challenges, I am going to catch up with the posts now.

ram_murdock

Good evening everyone!

Glad everyone is feeling very positive today - all the good news has really cheered me up!! :T

Had a NSD today as had homemade soup for lunch and scrambled egg on toast for dinner!! Very frugal and very weightwatchers friendly!!

I've seen a few ppl mention they do scratchcards- can someone tell me a wee bit more about them? are these free scratchcards? are they online?

looby-loo_2

ram_murdock how did you lose a stone in 12 weeks? Well done!

sophiesmum_2

ram_murdock wrote: »

Good evening everyone!

Glad everyone is feeling very positive today - all the good news has really cheered me up!! :T

Had a NSD today as had homemade soup for lunch and scrambled egg on toast for dinner!! Very frugal and very weightwatchers friendly!!

I've seen a few ppl mention they do scratchcards- can someone tell me a wee bit more about them? are these free scratchcards? are they online?

have a look on this thread

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1412565

sophiesmum_2

looby-loo wrote: »

I just remembered someone showed me this:-

http://www.growveg.com/members/checkemail.aspx

I'm doing the free for 30 days trial - not really anything new but it looks like fun and might get me organised too

ram_murdockhow did you loose a stone in 12 weeks? Well done!

Thanks will have a play with that. On the allotment (or lack of ) front my mum got chatting with man who delivers my dads medication and he just happens to be involved in a local allotment society (not council) and is going to keep an eye open for me on his place - even for anyone to share or have a year off while I have a go on their plot. So another possible lead there:j
I will get an allotment somehow;)