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

purplevamp

Morning everyone! Just catching up after a couple of days, I'vve missed loads :eek:

SFT - Congratulations (albeit belated ). Hope it went really well and that you and your DH have a long and very happy marriage

nyk - more chicks :j , contratulations to you too!!

loopylou - sounds like Daisy is enjoying being with her Mummy, hope you're feeling better. Make sure you do eat enough and rest, easier said than done, but do it!! I remember the Day 5 blues, you think they won't happen to you but they do.

cha97michelle - Hope your little one feels better soon xx



I had my home insurance renewal come through the post yesterday, they're putting it up to £20.78 per month, that's an increase of over £1 :eek: . I was straight on the phone to them, told them I'd never made a claim and that I'd been with them 5 years and how loyal I was. He put me on hold and came back and said he could offer me a loyalty discount and a different policy which still included unlimited cover for £15.49 per month. What a difference!! Very pleased with that.

I've got my MIL round for 2 days :eek: . DH, DS2 and DD are out with her at the moment, while I've got the house to myself. I can't remember the last time that happened, but I'm still doing housework :rolleyes: . DS1 is out with his mates. We're having chinese takeaway tonight, but I told DH I'm not paying for it as there'll be 7 of us, and it was his fault he mentioned it to his Mum

Hope you all have a good day!

Pips_Mum

purplevamp wrote: »

loopylou - sounds like Daisy is enjoying being with her Mummy, hope you're feeling better. Make sure you do eat enough and rest, easier said than done, but do it!! I remember the Day 5 blues, you think they won't happen to you but they do.

Oh good grief the 5 day blues are shocking!!
I felt like Harry Potter Dementors had got at me and I would never be happy again but then it passes and you are happy to be a mum again. Well done on feeding her yourself Loopylou, Pip was just too big and hungry for me to manage, he was having 240ml every feed!!! I did it for a month and then had to give up and put him on formula felt dreadfully guilty but soon realised I had been getting very stressed about it and that was not good for him.

Today should be a NSD weekend, just going to batten down the hatches and spend time as a family, cant believe Pip is 11 weeks old now it seems to have gone so quick.

Cabbage seeds are sprouting:j

angelatgraceland

Waitrose are not accepting the vouchers as well as they used to be so that will hit me in the future. Tesco wont take any lately either.All the more reason for free deliveries.
Bought myself a new GF grill this week as the last one(a cheap asdas own) was showing its wear and the nonstick was coming off and I dont want to eat that-let alone the difficulty cleaning it.
Apart from that Ive not spent a great deal. Avoided the "bargains" at work too as I dont "need" any more clothes.
Still got cupboards and freezer chocablock and also have an Approved Foods order on its way-dunno where that will go. DH will go a bit mad methinks.
I think I need 100 lines-I must not buy more food.I must not buy more food.I must not buy more food.
Anyway-sig now updated. I dont even need separate purses for my money any more-I can totally trust myself and everything is getting written down. Sometimes I put it in my phone memory so I cant forget when Im out. Ive included quite a few things in my grocery which could well have gone into my "other" spending the last couple of weeks but as Im also doing a 10k budget for total expenses this year it wont really matter. Its all logged day by day in my spending diary. Ive still got £265 left of grocery money until 31st March so that will cover approved foods and asda order and should still haveapprox £150 over to add to my next "quarter" April to June.
Now my fridge has suddenly stoped getting cold! It was like a freezer all iced up the other week-so much for a 3 or 4 yr old fridge!
So-in MSE style Ive asked for one on Freecycle and it looks like Im in luck!
Oh-my group(which I started)is 3 years old tomorrow and in that time nearly 12000 items have been offered(more really with lists).
So not new for me-unless I have to! Im guessing an old one will last longer!

Brighton_belle

Got cheque for £15 in post today for participating as a patient in post grad med exams:j . Offsets some of the £100 a year cost of a prepayment prescription cert I guess.
OH has just filled various pots with compost for me to finally sew salad leaves. Need it to dry out a bit first though before I plant the seeds. Should get to do that before end of weekend.
Just swept several hundred £'s 'spare cash' from current account into savings for end of month - my spending has so reduced I have plenty left over this month . No shortage of ideas of projects it can go towards though:D , as and when.
I've done 2nd week of pilates today so feeling very virtuous - suprisingly tiring for what appear to be simple stretches. Under the tiredness it feels good though.
I've ordered 5 books through our library but actually bought a 2nd hand recipe book from amazon for £5.50. Must be a year since I last bought a book . It's giving me loads of fresh ideas for meals - our 2 weeks repeated menu plan was getting a bit tired. So this afternoon making an asda list for April.
Have received reduced bus tickets bought on line and it all looks straightforeward, so will do this again from now on.

the_cat

Hi everyone

I haven't managed to find time to post or read for ages!
Hope you are all well and that all the news is good.

Have just added up my totals for the month and spending now stands at £966.49:eek: This sounds like loads but is only 2/3 of my allocation for the quarter so I'm really pleased. I have no particular news to tell as just chugging along really but will try to keep up to date on the news and join in a bit more through April

thriftylass

SFT All the best and a long happy married life!

Already had interest in my guitar and it was only posted yesterday on our uni newsletter, hopefully he'll really buy it and that way I can offset some of this year's overspent. That way posting my March totals on Tuesday won't be as bad .

Frugaldom

Hi fruguys and gals


SF, hope everything went according to plan today and that you had a fantastic day - the first of many as Mr & Mrs SF

MrDT, well done salmost making it a money neutral month, that is brilliant!

Trying not to spend too much as it's almost the end of the first quarter and I wanted to have as close to £3,000 remaining as possible. Havern't quite made it but the electricity costs should drop from next month and I topped up logs, coal and foodstuffs from Appr0ved.

Who asked what size a baby quail is? :rotfl: Here's one of my babies: I liken them to demented bumble bees.

Brighton_belle

advanced warning folks: the forums will be closed for a potential 2-3 days next weekend:eek: :
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...ment.html?f=79

Time to make frugal plans to cope:D

Very very cute quail Nyk

cw18

Thanks for the warning BB -- I don't normally wander around the boards (just keep up with threads I've subscribed to) so miss announcements like those !!!!!

At least it's a busy weekend for me - Saturday is younger GDs birthday party, and Sunday is a scrapbooking crop - so it'll not be as bad as most other up-coming weekends. But I guess it means early nights Friday and Saturday :rolleyes2


My budget spreadsheet is looking good for reporting at the end of the month, but I'm going to have to adjust my phone (and "everything else") categories as I've had notification today that my phone line rental is going up 75p/month :eek:

It's also looking like I'll "blow" my presents budget this year Had budgeted £30 for each child for birthday, but ended up spending closer to £60 on elder son this month. He's in "singles" accomodation (basically shared rooms) at the Army barracks - and just before he came home some swine pinched the hard disk from his XBox £60...... and he doesn't have insurance so I ended up replacing that for him. Could have got a 20Gb for about £45, but made more sense to pay the extra to get a 120Gb I've partially pulled this back though, as I've only spent a tenner on my GD (good quality pressies from Q/Save) and I'd budgeted £20 for that.

And I also forgot ( :eek: ) that this July is younger sons 18th - so I want to get him something decent for that

Skint_Lynne

Have escaped upstairs from DH - has been indulging too much and he puts CD's on.:mad: I think I am too used to being on my own, I like peace and quiet. I've not been spending much, just waiting on Wednesday coming so that I can resume the challenge.

I'll need to go and see what he is doing - loud noises are coming from downstairs - back to Kenya he goes.:D