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

thriftylass

xnatalie81x wrote: »

Hey all - am still around and following progress! Will update properly around end March but all is still good

Same here:D, although I'm dreading to post my spending, not been too frugal again this month :mad:

andan

Hey guys, hugs and congratulations to those who need and want them!!

My challenge is going well, my spends so far are at £939. I am very pleased with this as my budget includes car costs including parts which i have purchased four new tyres and also my car's MOT. It also includes most bills. Gas and elec have been going out on direct debit but i have been taking meter readings and am currently over paying by around £20 a month, so at the end of the year i will calculate how much i have overpaid by and will give myself this money back.

Although i have had some big spends this month due to tryes, my spends are down and i have been stockpiling which i am feeling the benefits of. I went and did some more stock piling today. I have also been quite sneaky and lined up around eight grocery mystery shops for April, so that will also help keep the spends down

I still haven't decided what to do about the free money i am making, but am now leaning towards calculating that at the end of the year as well.

All in all i am still enjoying the challenge and am currently focusing on using my bike to get around more and on growing my own. Currently we are doing the garden up, but with exception to a pair of gardening gloves we haven't had to spend anything. Thanks to a nice dfw who sent me lots of seeds and a hedge trimmer off freecycle plus the use of next door's strimmer, we are overhauling our garden on a very tiny budget.

Nice to read everyones posts and enjoy the sunshine!

skint_chick

loopylou - congrats to you and your family on the safe and healthy arrival of Daisy - great name!

SFT - good luck with the last minute wedding stuff - hope you have a fab day and enjoy being with your friends and family.

Skint Lynne - good work getting all your debts written down. For me it feels like I'm in control of the situation now and I can do something about it rather than being powerless when I was ignoring it. And you're already on the debtbusting case by doing this challenge

Went out with my best friend on Fri to see a musical - tickets bought before challenge started - and we were well behaved and only had £10 worth of drinks! Then yesterday was OH's birthday so I took him out for dinner so I've had a spending weekend - but I'm doing overtime this week in work to make up for it Filled up storecupboard at Mr T's with special offers - wraps for 60p, half price tuna and loads of reduced veggies. So I've made lots of soups and stews for freezer work lunches, and today I'm making more sushi for OH. It was £2 for the sushi rice and seaweed strips and the tuna is 66p a can - so a 2day batch of sushi costs £1.66 -83p/day - and even the lunch packs in supermarkets are £2:mad:

I've decided on a photography class and a Spanish class for September. I'm going to ask OH and my parents to get me a new camera for my birthday - the one I have doesn't keep it's charge well because it's 7years old. I was going to donate it to a charity/school because it works fine it just needs to be recharged after a couple of hours so it's impractical for holidays when you're out and about all day - and it's 5mega pixel and newer ones are 14mp - my phone is even 5mp!

Brighton_belle

Hello all, been awol from the forum this week but have been reading and taking in everyone’s news.
No particular reason for absence other than nothing particular to say and ‘just getting on with it’. However, I have been using my time and energy to refocus on ‘fitter not fatter’. (Amazing what a bit of sunshine does:D .)
To this end, I have returned to eating more protein & less carbs. It works best for weigh loss for me (I’ve slowly put on a stone since last summer) and I have problems with essential meds causing hunger that only seems controllable though protein. So having reduced my grocery bill by quite a lot, I recognise I have to spend a little more on meat to stay a healthier weight (and avoid spending money on clothes the next size up).
I’ve also enrolled on a beginners pilates course. This is quite a big step for me and it is relatively expensive (£9 a class for 10 weeks paid upfront) but I think it may help my strength/fitness with the arthritis and help me keep a full range of movement, and that is beyond price. It is also a class 5 mins walk from home which I need, to make sure I go – didn’t want to have to use the car or turn out on an evening (it’s on a Sat morning). By being so local I will go every week so make the most of the opportunity and money spent.
Although this comes out of ‘extras’ outside of the challenge, there is no doubt I have only been able to afford this because of this challenge.
I bought my first new clothes since last summer - £12 for a pair of ‘jogging’ bottoms and loose top from asda, for the class as I had nothing suitable.

Goal for this afternoon is to plant some salad leaf seeds…

lingojingo

Congratulations loopy lou!
got back from Paris last night, had a fantastic four days, the kids were all brilliant! Had a long lie in this morning though, as the days were jam-packed, and now all my washing is done. sadly it's really cold, grey and windy here, we had very warm and sunny days in Paris.
Our coach had an accident on the Arc de Triomphe, luckily no-one was hurt, very slight damage to the coach and a big dent in the boot of the car! (Belgian car driver's fault, he cut us up). Other than that only one sticky plaster needed and one girl travel sick about a mile from home!
It was very frugal, all meals paid for, and I didn't have time for shopping!!!!! Just our drinks in the evenings after the students went to bed.

slowlyfading

:hello: everyone

The film wasn't that good on thursday night - wasn't as funny as the trailer made it out to be and quite slow in places. Bit disappointing really! The bf was bored right from the start, so that didn't help either

Had a lovely weekend, and spent a bit so have updated my sig accordingly - I've just broken the £500 barrier which i don't think is too bad seen as we're coming towards the end of March. I think work wise will be a lot better in April, and I should be able to continue budgetting quite well I think. My main aim now is to get my savings up a bit more so i'm going to rein in a bit more, and try and get some more hours if they have any spare.

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

sf xx

Skint_Lynne

Hi all,

Had a nsd today, I've just realised.:T :T I've made a bit of a blunder. I had bad staining on my PVC window frames, I think it's mildew or something because they are quite old. Now, I decided to put bleach on to see if it would clean them up and it did. The only problem is that I forgot to remove the surplus stuff and it has stained them a horrible brown colour which won't come off. Does anyone know how I could shift this, it is really horrible looking.

[Deleted User]

Hello all

I have missed you all.... I know I have got so much to catch up on. Alot of thing have happened in the last week, have been into hospital twice since coming home originally on the Tues. Think I had an infection of the womb and was given antibiotics which I took religiously and then they were a funny combination I later found out and they made me very ill so had to go back in and be out on drips etc, had to get an ambulance in and everything :eek:

Came home again yesterday morning and really dont plan on going back in so hopefully am at home to stay now. Mummy and Daisy have missed out on so many cuddles so have got loads to catch up on. Did want to post a pic of her on here but DH wont let me, sorry.

Will try to come on tomorrow to read whats going on with everyone else.

Hope you're all okay

Catch up properly soon xx

taka

((((Hugs Loopylou)))) I hope you are feeling better now and I hope you got lots of lovely cuddles from Daisy today for Mothers day!

[Deleted User]

Morning all!

I've FINALLY caught up with the thread :j Daddy and Daisy having a cuddle in bed. Why when you have a baby does everyone have to tell you that you shouldnt do this and you shouldnt do that? :rolleyes: :mad:

The other night Daisy was screaming and screaming and had been for a little while, she'd been fed (she is a very hungry little piglet btw!), changed etc and she wouldnt sleep in her crib so we put her in bed with us and she slept without stirring for 4.5 hours!!

Daisy bought me a heart shaped locket for mothers day and DH bought me one of the willow tree figures the one of the couple holding the baby. So lovely. DH doesnt want me to post a pic so I wont.... I'll put it in my avator thingy instead cos that doesnt count does it?!

Have a good day all! xx