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

sophiesmum_2

Good afternoon frunchkins:D

Had a good day so far, picked up some hanging baskets and brackets from garden centre for my veggie plans, planted seeds and seed potatoes, been to visit parents, had a good mooch around garden and generally getting going with stuff. Still not started on bathroom drawers but almost there:p
General frugal aims for today;

• storecupboard lunch and tea
• reduce, reuse,recycle one item- ninched a few cuttings and plants from mum's garden;)
• do something nice for me -
• do something nice for someone else- took DD to stables
• fitter not fatter - treadmill - swimming later
• make a start on bathroom diy project

Todays frugal meals;

• bacon, poached egg, tomatoes
• hi bran crackers and pate,cucumber
• butternut squash stuffed with feta cheese, black olives and chives
• strawberries

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

Expenditure or additional income
Spent £18 yesterday - (toiletries, boots goodies and £2.50 on veggies etc)



Remaining target cash for first 6 months food spends - £230.46 left from budget of £400 for first six months.


Extra income generated £152.43 /spent £69.23 / left £83.20
(tortilla press/flour £33, boots pressies £18.35, hanging baskets and brackets x 6 £17.88)

Pips_Mum

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Dedwydd!

Happy Saint Davids Day!!

Well here are my declarations!!

Budget Actual +/- Running Total
Petrol - £10 £0 +£10 +£10.00
TV - £24 £23.25 +75p +£10.75
Food - £130 £216.43:eek: -£85.43:eek: -£75.68
Other - £166 £132.63 +33.37 -£42.31

So I am overspent by £42.31 but I know that it was because I stocked up with an order from Approved foods and a visit to Costco.

Total for the year so far then is Overspent by £49.75 which I really must try to catch up next month.

Budget for next month =
Tv Licence - £24.00
Petrol - £20.00 (should be able to drive again sometime this month)
Food - £143.00
Other - £143.00 (Mothers Day gifts, Dads Birthday, 2 Meals out and any other non food items I need to buy)

Good luck for March everyone x x

sophiesmum_2

End of februray declaration:D

JANUARY END OF MONTH TOTALS

Food for stockpiling £136.66
Fresh foods £8.50
Toiletries for stockpile £5.55
Gifts for stockpile £10.08
Shoes/clothing £32.99
Car Tax (annual) £120.00
Gym membership £32.00
Life insurance £14.49
Cable /broadband/telephone £82.00
Miscellaneous £5.05

TOTAL MONTHLY SPEND FOR JANUARY £447.32
Remaining of £4000 budget £

EXTRA INCOME MADE BUT NOT ADDED TO BUDGET £59.43



FEBRUARY END OF MONTH TOTALS

Food for stockpiling £9.40
Fresh foods £13.40
Gifts for stockpile £4.38
Toiletries £12
Gym membership £32.00
Life insurance £14.49
Cable/broadband/telephone £82.00
Miscellaneous £8.18

TOTAL MONTHLY SPEND FOR FEBRUARY £175.85
TOTAL SPEND SO FAR £623.17
Remaining of £4000 budget £3376.83

EXTRA INCOME MADE – TOTAL TO DATE £152.43
EXTRA INCOME SPENT – TOTAL TO DATE £69.23
Extra income still available to spend £83.20



:j :j :j :j

jtb2412

Afternoon frugal friends !

Hope everyone is well and doing ok challenge-wise.

I've not got much hope of catching up on all the posts this week, so hugz, comiserations, well dones etc etc. I might be able to have some bed-time reading if I get all my housework done later.

Really just popped on to update spending for this month (gulps :eek: ).

Feb Spending

Food - £421.83 (hugely over budget but have been stockpiling)
Window Cleaner - £10.00
Mobile (PAYG x 4) - £0.00
Sky - £36.57
BT - £0.00 (quarterly billed, due April)
Gas - £0 (quarterly billed, due March)
Elec - £0 (quarterly billed, due March)
Internet - £14.99 (down from £19.99, negotiated a reduction :T )
Toiletries - £15.63

Total spending for the month is £499.02. Under budget which is good but I've had no utilities to pay out for and I should have been much more under than I actually was. However, my stockpile is looking pretty good and I think another month of a bit of high grocery spending and I should be ok for at least the next 6 months for storecupboard staples. Then it's just meat that I'll have to buy (veg and fruit will be grown).

I've also spent a bit on the garden this month but hope to recoup that back by selling some plants at car boots in the summer. Also had DH 40th birthday so a bit of extra spending there too. Not counted in the £4K challenge though as I used Mr T vouchers for our meal out and had quite a few vouchers that I've been saving which went towards DH pressie (land yachting :eek: :j ). All being well I should be money neutral for birthdays and I'm already in 'credit' with vouchers/Amazon etc for this

March is a quiet month (no birthdays) and I shouldn't need to buy anything for the garden so I'm aiming for a very low spend month. Wish me luck !

Off to tidy the house now mum, dad, sis and neice have left (always sad to see them go though ).

Have a lovely evening everyone xx

Skint_Lynne

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

well done to penny2 myname and angelatgraceland and lynne (i think)

on your low(er) spends

Lynne my ex was a contractor and i was desperate for him to leave sometimes and then missed him..................what are we like ?? How is the shop doing ? wondered if you may reconsider having it at all once you started your new job...........but i think your tied into a lease aren't you ? Also do you sell online ? i am beginning to think there will be no shops left in 20 years and evrything will come mail order!

I am looking for extra way to make a few quid i am doing amazon and greenmertopolis for books and have been selling old currency to collectors on fleabay i do the TAB and l/wood scratchcards and have cashback accounts what else can i do apart from surveys/reviews i hate them

I am also planning a stall at the school fair in summer but not sure what to sell i would love to sell jam chutney and cakes and something hot like waffles with cream and syrup etc or something a bit weird like ostritch burgers ( i can buy these locally) any other ideas greatly appreciated


Shaz

Hi Shaz,

Yes, you're right about the shop, I'm tied into a lease. I've another 5 years to go, I could get out of the lease beforehand, but the plan is to live off of my wages and anything that I make in the shop will be used to start paying off the loans etc quicker. That way, I don't need to take any wages from there. I would actually like to get rid of it but I'll try and get my affairs in order first. I don't think anyone would buy it just now anyway with the way things are. Tried to get a website up and running, but it just proved too complicated and costly. Maybe I didn't get the right advice about it?

I am used to DH being away so much, it does become a problem when he comes back sometimes, he can be a nuisance.:p I am nasty, aren't I.:rotfl:
He got a posting to home a few years ago and it was fine, he joined the gym and had his own interests, so he didn't get under my feet at all. He just hangs around when he is on holiday.

Now about the school fete, how about a scottish theme, things like tablet and macaroon, and venison and haggis burgers. Also, scottish cakes like maderia and black bun. You could do chutneys and things as well.

Tablet is easy to make, especially for someone like you who is talented at cooking. It's quite cheap as well and I'm sure you could get £1 for 5 or 6 big squares of it.

I'll have a dig around at my scottish books to see if there's anything else worth cooking. Let me know what you think.

I am knackered today. MIL called at 8.30 to say that DH's gran had passed away, so had to go and pick up FIL (his mum) and take him down there. Felt sorry for DH's auntie who lived with her, she is heartbroken. She's such a nice person too, whe will be lost without her mum as she has looked after her for years. Don't know when the funeral is yet, probably Wednesday or Thursday.

Going for a bath now. Will check in later. xx

P.S. Just thought of something else if it is a coldish day, soup, !!!!-a-leekie or scotch broth. cheap to make and could sell for £1 a cup. xx

Oh no, I've been checked again, I'm not swearing, honest!!

Snow_White_5

Hello everyone,

I'm a newbie on the 2009 challenge, and just wanted to pop in and say I'm still carrying on with it, albeit on my own at the moment! It's going well apart from on the groceries front, where I've overspent quite a bit after a rather smug start .

I haven't got a hope of catching up with posts unless I take a week off work, but just wanted to say well done to all those still on board :beer:. Hopefully I'll be able to join in post a bit more when life's less busy. Until then I'll keep popping in. Thank you everyone for the inspiration. Good luck for the new month! :j SW xx

JennyBee_2

Hi all - I'm back (kinda!) Surprisingly my days seem to be mostly filled up with staring at the baby. Can't believe he'll be 6 weeks old on Tuesday..where has that time gone? It's March for goodness sake!

Anyway - will try and lurk and try and get my spreadsheet back to being organised!

Pips_Mum

Welcome back JennyBee.

Its hard work this motherhood lark isnt it!!!
Fun though, how is your "little" boy doing?

x x

sophiesmum_2

Welcome back Jenny Bee - hope little JD is behaving himself - expensive little things babies aren't they !

slowlyfading

welcome back JennyBee!

Well, I'm kind of annoyed about today, as I spent 38p on two bananas whilst at work, so ruined a potentially perfect NSD! all because I was bloody hungry! What's worse is that I work in a bakery - but was trying to be good! I can't believe it. So, I'm annoyed at myself more than anything.

Tomorrow will be a NSD even if it kills me! I have no plans to spend anything, and being hungy is not an excuse. I've been reading about planting seeds, don't know if I've got the confidence to try anything though - I never have before!

Hope everyone is okay, I have read through the thread but can't really remember everything so sending big (((HUGS))) to those who want/need one.

sf xx