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

savingfortravel

Hi Everyone!!
Well one estate agent is coming this afternoon. Quite excited about his ideas for selling bungalow as it is or doing it up. Also got a plasterer coming and expecting a call from a guy recommended to do the bathroom. He isn't cheap but most people want a decent bathroom these days.
(Our original plan was to do the house up once the mortgage was paid off -we wouldn't chose to live like this though everything is ok).
SF-Glad you had a nice evening xx
Blairweech-Hope you get things sorted. XX
Redglass-So impressed with your attitude regarding BF. No point compromising..it never works. You strike me as a real strong person.
PV-Glad your better. What film do you want to see?
Ddraig-Good luck with the plastic diet..Will follow it with interest.
Bails-Looking forward to see the puppy pics too. Thanks for talking about your dad. Just watched programme about the plane crash in the Hudson river and how the passengers now have a much clearer 'live for today' 'do what you want to ' attitude. Good for them.
Taka-No, I don't hang around..I am a doer not a sayer. But hopefully my figures which I spent a long time on with add up. Being decisive is def how I am.
CW18-How did you find the film No. 1 Ladies..I liked the TV series but thought the set was a little too clean to represent the Bostwana I've visited but accordingly to an African I know the characterisation was spot on.
Sarah-Your post really touched me as the most wonderful moments are not caused by possessions but friends/families/nature ..young children sometimes seem more open to this than grown ups in my experience...
My dad is happy feeling the sun on his back when he's out in the garden.
Will catch up later...let you know how the visit went.
SFT

cw18

savingfortravel wrote: »

CW18-How did you find the film No. 1 Ladies..I liked the TV series but thought the set was a little too clean to represent the Bostwana I've visited but accordingly to an African I know the characterisation was spot on.

Funny you should say about it being 'too clean', as (although I've never been there, and my reaction was based on TV footage only) it seemed that way to me too

But it was a good 'chill factor' film which I thoroughly enjoyed. Not one to leave at the front on my DVD cupboard for regular viewing, but also definitely not one to be relegated to a box for

I missed the TV series (caught the first episode, and then totally forgot about it as it clashed with something else I was watching), but would probably turn it on if they were to do a re-run sometime soon.

MrDT

Approved food order has arrived... 84 tins of soup, 60 packets of chewing gum, 24 tins of cooking sauce, and 4 jars of spicy bean and sausage stew.

The soup is good, heinz stuff, £1.44 for whole trays of 12 tins! The chewing gum will last a while and should save me a fair bit on shopping, £3.30 for the whole lot, I usually pay about £1.50 for 5 packs

A couple of items were out of stock, so I was refunded the cost of those items. No bother as they were 'extras' I put in the basket. I'd have been annoyed if the same happened with the soup or chewing gum though as I wouldn't have bothered placing an order if it weren't for those items. Bit of a risk I suppose, but I'll probably use them again in future.

Also got a mixed box (box of individually packed servings of meat you get in most chain pub lunches these days) off my mate that works at the frozen food company - two ham and leek pie fillings, five roast beef slices in gravy, seven roast lamb leg slices in gravy, five sliced turkey in gravy, two lamb shanks, and one 'mystery meat' package, all for a fiver Should help keep the spends down a bit having spent extra on paint, kitchen applicances, birthdays, and valentines this month!

Tempted to go out to eat tonight, got a text from a local pub advertising curry night: Two curries and two drinks, all for a total of £5.95 when you show this text at the bar! That's cheaper than Wetherspoons curry night even, it's about £6 per person there I think, and I thought that was dirt cheap! Maybe we'll eat out, or maybe we'll just eat some of the stockpile lol!

LollopyBear

Today has been a very wasted day. DH and I wanted to go for a walk and potter around up town, but we've been waiting around for a chest freezer to be delivered (our wedding anniversary present from my parents). *grr*.

To fill in the time I played with my spreadsheet some more (I'm a bit worried that I get so much satisfaction by colour-coding and inserting more formulae) and adding more categories. I had a category for "food" and this was a bit misleading so I have separated it into "groceries" and "eating out". I've also added a totals page so I can see how my spending for each category looks month on month and where any improvements can be made.

As I'm paying petrol money now to a friend who is driving me to work it seems that I am saving £25 per month on travel. I am in two minds about this as I would rather support public transport, but if she is going to be driving in already it makes more sense environmentally and economically to go in with her.

I still have £11 left for the final week, though I am going to be a bit over as I need to give £15 petrol. I have 36p credit left on my PAYG phone and I am determined not to top it up until Sunday. That will make it the first month I haven't topped it up £10-£15 in a very long time (if ever!).

I'm so behind with everyone's posts so consider all of you *hugged* for good money-saving/sympathy/congratulations/following this challenge...

slowlyfading

Afternoon everyone

I've been at work 9 til 3pm today, so its been a long day so far! Thank goodness the bakery was a bit busier than usual, but my assistant manager was in a strange mood today. I was naughty today and had a pizza slice from there for my lunch, and then special k with a banana for afters! I was so hungry today - I normally only have the cereal! Oh well, I'm sure the scales will show that little sin tomorrow :rolleyes:

The bf is coming over tonight, I'm so excited and continuing the unhealthy theme for the day - he says he wants to go to the chippy! :rotfl: not that I'm gonna complain, but today has definitely not been healthy! We're going to stay in and watch a dvd so I think I'll pop to the supermarket in a bit to see if they have any alcohol on offer, could do with a drink i think.

My night of "freedom" last night was lovely Had a long soak in the bath, with my gorgeous smelling bubble bath from Boots, then got into my snuggly dressing gown and sat with a big bar of dairy milk and watched er and skins and then went to bed best night i've had in ages - wonder if that has anything to do with my mum being away :rolleyes:

MrDT, 84 tins of soup?! Wow! that should keep you going for a while
SFT, hope the visit this afternoon has gone well!

Sending (((HUGS))) to those who want/need one.

sf xx

Frugaldom

OK, so I appear to have lost my newsy, catch-up BIG 50 post that I did yesterday, which is a bit weird as I know it posted ok. My guess is that it's had something in it that shouldn't have been, so apologies for whatever it was. I haven't got a clue. Forum police getting a bit over-zealous, perhaps?

Anyway, take it from me that I did read all the posts and did respond and if anyone can find my post titled 'Day 50' for this thread then let me know.

DT, I'm impressed by your soup savings! Does that work out cheaper than making those same quantities? I've placed another order with them, too, but not expecting it until next week because of all the delays. I missed the fresh orange offer but, hopefully, everything else I wanted was in stock.

Yesterday was a frugally successful spendathon day for me.

• Did washing, hung it out for frugal line drying
• Dropped off a box of stuff that I'd Freecycled because I was passing their location before they were coming to collect
• Dropped off a sack of stuff to charity shop
• Went and got my cheapish sugar before it was all sold
• Visited the new Ald! store and bought 2 large fruit trees for £4.19 each and got a free canvas shopping bag when going through check out.
• Returned to charity shop to make a sizeable donation in exchange for 2 units that I had spotted when dropping off the plastic (sorry, Ddraig ) sack earlier.
• Soaked and then planted the 2 new apple trees
• Planted the seed potatoes (earlies)
• Planted my cauliflower seeds
• Completed the walk-in frugal pantry project using what I got at charity shop which, in turn, enabled me to unpack & put away 3 small boxes of kitchen clutter.

Today's tasks

• Complete monthly report for work. Another month nearly gone
• Declutter my office space AGAIN
• Clean the kitchen & porch
• Finish making the curtains as I only have 8 days left until month ends!

My budget looks like it is going to pot because of the way the spending is going. My unscheduled charity purchases were made from my cash neutral budget and the grocery have been very sporadic with bulk buying whenever I get the chance. The fact that I've had to go into town 3 times over the past week hasn't helped. :rotfl:

Good luck with the estate agent/valuation SFT and, on the snowy road question, you start from home and clear it by rolling the largest snowball ever and make your own giant rabbit. I'd buy a house that needed work, it's the only kind of house I could afford, plus I wouldn't have to feel guilty about changing anything when it came to turning it into my longterm, dream home. My main concerns are roof is sound, plumbing and electrics are sound, heating system works (ok, in my case I'd make sure it was safe to light the fire )

Struggling on with trying to post amidst constant disconnections, interuptions and being nowhere near finished my monthly reports, but the fire's lit and it's warm in here, so dinner will have to just wait a while longer tonight. So will curtain-making!

skint_chick

SF - pizza isn't entirely the work of the food devil - tomato sauce is full of lycopene, and cheese has calcium I can't take my mind off lamb korma even though my bulgar wheat salad is in the fridge waiting for me!:o

Blairweech - have you tried posting a Q on DFW - there are some encyclopaedic knowledge peeps over there who will prob be able to tell you the answer quicker than ringing the council and give you a template letter to send them to tell them to get lost.

redglass - better to find these things out early and they'll be another one along soon - men are usually like buses :rotfl:

I've finished work for the day and start new job on Monday - very excited and clothes are already ironed ready to go. Going for mystery shopping pizza Mon night to celebrate for free Being frugal this weekend and not going out or buying anything. I have diy to do around the house - I bought the stuff last year and still not sorted and I want to get the edging for my mosaic sorted and a bag finally made.

HH62

I just wanted to say hello. I'm still reading, but not posting, so I think you can all guess what's going on with my finances
I need to start job hunting in the next few weeks - great time to be looking for work, in a recession :rotfl::rotfl:
Let's just say that my 5 Year Plan that I started in 2005 has gone very wrong.

What I am doing for my frugal aims is trying to learn to cut my food budget and spend a lot less on it.
But that's all I've been doing.
On the negative side, I'm spending in my head AND in real life. :mad:

Hugs to everyone who needs one, and what the hell, it's Friday, hugs to everyone who doesn't need one too!

smiler34

Good luck all - will be joining you next week

savingfortravel

Hi Smiler and welcome to this wonderful thread!! Tell us all more!

Thanks for your best wishes SF. Have a lovely evening with BF. You deserve it.
Great money saving DT and Lollopybear
HH62-Good luck with the job hunting.
Thanks for your message Nyk..Have to say had a vision of us making our own snow bunny and posting my dad a photo..no message just us and the bunny..enough said..bless him..he means well.

Well the Estate Agent came round (who also represents the couple who's house we are (hopefully, hopefully) buying). So if we go with him he has an incentive because that will be 2 properties sold.
I think the price we want is what he thinks is possible, without doing any extra work.
So glad I didn't get too carried away with what we could make. I think we're aiming to get what we paid for it 3 years..which is good, current climate considered and means we will get a big reduction in our mortgage..making our mortgage free dream in 2 years possible (with money from OH's redundancy/inheritance and ISA).
But its more about quality of life and I've always wanted simpicity in life. Reading some fascinating down shifting blogs at present and I feel really inspired.
Please could everyone keep their fingers crossed for us...

We are off to London tomorrow to see James McAvoy in the play 3 days of rain. Paid for by Theatre Vouchers (from class parents last year) and hoping to use our Pizza Express 2 for 1 voucher from The Times a few weeks ago and the remainder from OH's Mecca bingo win. So hopefully shouldn't cost more than train fare up. Saw a good play at our local theatre last night too.

Hope everyone has had a good day.

SFT