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

JAMIEDODGER

dND wrote: »

Is it sad I'm sitting here longing for the 1st so I can get started? :rotfl:

you're not the only one deborah!!!:D

Had some bread needed to use up this morning, so have whizzed that into breadcrumbs in the FP and bunged in the freezer, will probably make HM chicken nuggets for the kids next week:)

still plodding on with my food shopping list for next week, i keep chopping and changing my mind about which are the best things to stock up on:rotfl: I have the last of the £5 off a £50 spend vouchers to use up so want to make good use of it:rolleyes:

The ironing is calling me but TBH i cant be bothered this morning!:eek: Washing is drying nicely on the line, its lovely and sunny here in Bognor, fresh but a light wind, so washing should dry ok.

I seem to be getting rather obsessed with switching everything off ATM, which im sure is a good habit to get into, although the kids dont like the wireless router being switched off at 9pm:D

Fizzel - I really need to sort some stuff out for freecycle again, thanks for reminding me:)

Right, better get on with ignoring the ironing and make myself another cuppa:rotfl:

jtb2412

Ohhhhhh JamieDodger ........ i'm not far from you ! About 10 mins drive lol

Am just off to the garden centre to see what they have in their sale (I still have some birthday money to spend :j )

macwah97

OK here goes, have been doing DH's head in with my counting and recounting.

I have not included, mortgage, other debt repayments or anything which goes out by Direct Debit. I have put in a few extras, such as school uniform and gifts in an attempt to soften the blow come September 2009 and Christmas 2009.

Annual
£2600 Car Petrol (needed for school & work travel) £50 pw
£1248 Oil (big tank - probably an over estimate) £24 pw
£ 780 Electricity (on Powershift, cheaper after 8pm) £15 pw
£ 260 Coal £5 pw
£ 378 School dinners 2 wk/mth incl school fund £10.50 pw
£2600 Groceries (all in includes alcohol) £50 pw
£ 312 School Uniforms £6 pw
£ 182 General Clothes £3.50 pw
£ 520 Gifts (trying to include Xmas 2009!!) £10.00 pw
______
£9000

To be paid out of the following:

£1726 Child Benefit
£4753.96 Maintenance
£533 Tax Credits
£3000 Allowance
______
£10015.36

Surplus for holiday or emergencies = £1015.36

These figures are definitely going to be skew whiff as Tesco has 70% off clothing at present and our local one has school uniforms on the shelves - including shirts Must go shopping!!!

Being a complete newbie at posting anything like this - although I do run my own spreadsheets - I am sure to fail

Mentioned to girls in work before Xmas that I was going to try this and they thought I needed locked up!! :rotfl: but still they are the ones worrying about our longterm job prospects and how they will manage .

If I can stick to the figures above and try to reduce them and if both DH and I lose our jobs in March then we will be OK until August - I think !!!

Anyway - apologies for the long post. Belated Merry Christmas to everyone, Big Hugs to people who need them and ROLL ON 2009 - you may not get much sense out of me on 1st Jan 2009 - Picked up 2 bottles of Cava in Lidl :j

macwah97

why won't my signature show???

macwah97

OOPs - it helps if you click the box. I have tried to edit but today it will not let me AAArgh

angelatgraceland

JAMIEDODGER wrote: »

you're not the only one deborah!!!:D

I seem to be getting rather obsessed with switching everything off ATM, which im sure is a good habit to get into, although the kids dont like the wireless router being switched off at 9pm:D

Fizzel - I really need to sort some stuff out for freecycle again, thanks for reminding me:)

Right, better get on with ignoring the ironing and make myself another cuppa:rotfl:

We used to switch ours off but it caused us a lot of problems and many technicians say not to switch them off. They hardly use any electric so don't worry about it.
It is now the one thing which is left on all the time. We had to keep reinstalling ours and resetting it and I was always phoning up the internet provider asking what was wrong with the connection. Nothing-it was us-trying to save electric. Another means is needed to get kids off of computers though-unfortunatelly wireless routers do add to the problem.

JAMIEDODGER

jtb2412 wrote: »

Ohhhhhh JamieDodger ........ i'm not far from you ! About 10 mins drive lol

in which direction lol:D

sophiesmum_2

dND wrote: »

Is it sad I'm sitting here longing for the 1st so I can get started? :rotfl:

Reading through the posts on this and the old thread it seems that a lot of people would like to start growing some of their own food. Back in the 70's I got a book that was aimed at growing food in towns. It's probably a bit old fashioned to go out and buy even if it's still in print but if the library still has a copy it does have some good ideas.

It's called 'The Complete Urban Farmer' by David Wickers; my copy was a book club one and doesn't have an ISBN.

Happy growing everyone.
Deborah

My mum still has that from the book club days it is a great little book, you can get 2nd hand copies on mazon but it isn't in print now.

jtb2412

Towards Worthing JD, not as far as Rustington but further than Ford and Yapton ....... does that help? lol

Came to Bognor yesterday shopping ...... wasn't impressed with the sales .... I only came home with 1 bag ! :eek:

Pleased with what I got from the garden centre though (strainer bag and stand for when I do my jellies in the summer, 1/2 price. I had the bag hanging from coat hangers this year lol ).

JAMIEDODGER

jtb2412 wrote: »

Towards Worthing JD, not as far as Rustington but further than Ford and Yapton ....... does that help? lol

Came to Bognor yesterday shopping ...... wasn't impressed with the sales .... I only came home with 1 bag ! :eek:

Ahhh, must be the famous LA!:D If it is, I lived there myself up until 1999!

I popped into town yesterday too, to pick up ds2 bday prezzie for tomorrow, woollies is practically empty! was the last day open yesterday:( Sad to see it go! I wonder who will open up shop there next!

Just put a cheese and onion loaf in and some fairy cakes for the kiddies for tea!