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

sophiesmum_2

bails wrote: »

:rotfl:at your snowman story Janey, he sounds great if a little 'ripe' I still haven't been out and built anything in the snow yet - I'm too cold from my soaking now but will have a go tomorrow if the snow's still here (as my pupil is still too ill to teach). I'm going to need to work out a policy for my time as working with ill children means a lot of extra time with the parents, supporting them too - anyone got any experience of this and how to manage it please?
Which reminds me, I'm going to check out local tutoring charges to see what my hourly rate could be.
Drive safely Marru, hope work are okay with your struggles.

Bails this may be something Andan could advise on she works with kids with disabilities/parents

Frugaldom

Hi guys and gals, been busy all day so have only just managed to catch up, congratulations Skint Lynne!

Bails, I'd take up Janey's offer to hex the neighbour - may his downpipes creak and his ceilings leak - to the power of 3 and all that.:rotfl:

Marru, hope all the delayes etc aren't affecting work for you, I'm sure they'll make allowances if there's been severe weather.

Mama67, thanks for posting your spends, you seem to have everything under control

Skint_chic, hope you are well. Not much of a consolation knowing what is wrong but at least you know that there IS something wrong and that it's been diagnosed now. Not much consolation but at least the worry of wondering should be past.

Mumzy, hope the neck is improving.

Appropriate responses to everyone else, I have now forgotten half of what I just read.

We had a bit of snowfall last night, so it was slightly white this morning but has, since, gone Hilltops still white, so still looks pretty. Nothing other than work been going on here, stopped briefly to have cuppa & chat with friend when she arrived and confessed to having bought some eggs for putting into the incubator to get the frugal gamebird & poultry project underway. I also had a couple of responses to my freecycle ad - I was looking for polystyrene to insulate the shed, poultry houses and brooders - so will be collecting that next week. :T I also spent £5.50 buying new sheets of the stuff before receiving any replies to the Freecycle ad, but it won't go wrong. :rolleyes:

The coriander seeds planted at the start of January sprouted and are now pouring out of the pot on the kitchen window sill, so I'll need to get them repotted asap, but should soon have enough to start making carrot & coriander soup again. :j Other than spending part of my 'Livestock, Pets & Vets' budget, there hasn't been anything else bought but, once again, I am needing to top up on a few items like fruit, veg & milk.

Will edit my post as I catch up with everyone else.

foxy-tigger

sewbocushions wrote: »

Hi - my first post to the thread - it's exciting.
My calculations are
TV Licence 140
Phone 108
Life Insurance 120
Gas 804
Mobile Phone 120
Electric 660
Broadband/phone 240
Scouts & Cubs 206.40
Local Paper 95
Groceries 1300
Other 206.60
I'm not doing very well - went to Tesco and spent a fiver over my weekly grocery bill! I really need to knuckle down and get the menus sorted, will need to look at the menu thread to find cheaper meals - and I thought I was doing really well! What do you lot usually do about putting your gas, elec etc on your signatures? Do you do a monthly amount at the begining or weekly? Not sure when to factor this in.
This is such a great challenge and I can't wait to get my credit card paid off and start on mortgage overpayments!!
Good luck everyone!!
x

is there a menu thread? can someone post a link? I need all the idea's I can get at the mo! :rolleyes:Thanks for the posts to everyone! I love this thread!!! :D:D

lingojingo

foxy-tigger there are loads of recipes etc. at the beginning of the grocery challenge thread.

Bails what a horrid neighbour, just be glad you're obviously so much nicer than him!

Well, managed to slip on ice a few yards from my house this morning, landed on my (very) padded backside but hit my head on someones garden wall! Got up quickly and carried on as there were several students walking nearby, I don't think they saw as no comments were made.
Got to school to find they had taken a very late decision to close, as the snow only started after half the students would have already set off (huge numbers are bussed in from the other side of a steep hill), but we had to wait till all those who had set off arrived at school before letting anyone go home, then everyone's parents had to be spoken to by a member of staff. What a fiasco! Finally got home 11.30!
Now got a stiff neck, must have wrenched it in the fall, it didn't hurt at the time.
Mumzy hope you're feeling better

Marru

Hello again,

Thanks Nyk and Bails. I am ok just really really tired after all the blimming stupid traffic problems. What a stupid thing to do to close the biggest (only?) long stay car park especially on a day when P&R is not running. :mad: They have been ever so nice about it at work. Today when I was rushing out our Finance Director thanked me for getting to work despite all the circumstances. (First time for almost 9 years I wished today that I was still in Finland. The weather would be the same or worse but without all these problems...:rolleyes:)

Bails - I am sure that something will come up that will be perfect and will solve the problem. Have some chocolate and KEEP BREATHING!!

Janey - lol at the polka dot snow man :rotfl:

Lingo - take it easy, I had a nasty fall (several years back now - during my uni times) when taking dogs out early in the morning. There was sheer ice and fresh powdery snow on top of it and I didn't have a chance, had a mild concussion. Try hot bath - might help.

Shaz - I really hope you will feel better soon.

Skint Chick - , but glad you enjoy your new work.

Need to get a snack for the Monkey so back to lurkdom.

Have a relaxing evening everyone and please please no more snow.

Marru

lingojingo

Marru wrote: »

Lingo - take it easy, I had a nasty fall (several years back now - during my uni times) when taking dogs out early in the morning. There was sheer ice and fresh powdery snow on top of it and I didn't have a chance, had a mild concussion. Try hot bath - might help.

thanks Marru - only problem is we don't have a bath here, only a big shower! Actually feels a lot better already though. DD has taken pity on me and is cooking tea!

Glad people at your work appreciated your efforts today.

:rotfl: at your snowman Janey, just seen pic of a 14ft high one on our local news!

savingfortravel

Hi Everyone!!

Great news!!-Simon, the little boy hurt in Kenya, is off the critical list. Thank you for all your positive thoughts and prayers. They worked!! His recovery will still be a long one.

Skint-Chick-Love the duck mosaic.
Andromache-Wow India, fantastic!! Can't wait to hear more.
Bails-All your plans sound very exciting. As for the neighbour, what goes around..
Lingo-Jingo-Hope you're ok after your fall. I walked back to from the Cinema last night and was terrified!!

Well just having a nice evening. Done a little bit of school work.. and now going to have the last glass of my gift wine.

SFT

MrDT

nickynoo08 wrote: »

So much for my nsd. I've just placed an order with AprOved fOOd for £13.51. Ordered loads of soup and beans (24 tins of each) plus raisins for ds and chewing gum for me and a few other bits too. I've never used them before but heard them mentioned a few times on here so i assume they are good. Not sure how long it will take for stuff to arrive as the site said they were still sorting back orders, but i'm not in a hurry for it.

I've heard a lot of good things about approved foods on here, but didn't investigate further until today. I'm now £34.02 poorer, £10.50 of that was on delivery.

The amazing thing is, had I bought the same stuff at tesco the bill would have been a massive £132.42!!! :eek::eek::eek:

Approved foods definitely has my approval so far! :T

I didn't intend on being a stockpiler, but the prices there practically force your hand. Made sure I got every last gram out of my delivery cost too haha! So, we're stocked up on soups, chilli base, and chewing gum for the next year or so Could come in handy should western civilisation come to an end anytime soon :rotfl:

angelatgraceland

Just chasing up my order which I placed on the 21st. Im sure the weather isnt helping either. I think on average the stuff works out at about a third of the normal price!
Another nsd for me as I hate going out in the snow. Did do a bit of buying yesterday(or was it the day before-lost track) as we had to get some new sink taps and some booze to keep DH happy. I think thats all I got tho-and got dd to get some milk-just milk-yesterday.
Have run out of cheese and I had some truly horrible bread which I bought in Asda the other day at 47p per loaf-the squarecut one-never again!
Rarely do I feel that way about any food but it really was horrible.
Listed a stack of books and a couple of dvds on Amazon so Im hoping to recover some money some time there. Spent on some ink cartridges but managed to get refilled ones which are "full" so I am hoping they are good. Not stockpiling those again though as Ive a habit of buying cartridges bulk and then the printer dies and the manufactures then do away with that cartridge and it gets wasted. Now I figure that the inks actually pay for themselves with money to spare when I print off the odd voucher! So never must I be without inks!

Masomnia

I can't believe how much I've been spending! My sister's birthday has meant I've spent twice my weekly budget at this point, more than in fact.

Oh well.

It wasn't helped by going out to a club last night, but I did have an amazing night and paid for someone very special to me's dinner and drinks. I don't get to spend time with her like that very often at all, so it was my treat. I don't regret it, and I'm glad I'm not stingey haha!

I'm hanging in there and hoping to be more frugal in the coming days