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

MRSMCAWBER

Afternoon everyone..oohhh Its nearly time :j

I am going to do a bit more "final" planning and plotting later today ready for the big day....
Hubby and I have both decided we prefer meals made from leftovers to meals made from scratch the first time around :rotfl:
I have just done a kind of bubble n squeak with sausages and some baked beans all in the remoska...and it was gorgeous ...whoopsed sausage, leftover mash n veg from yesterday and 3/4 of beans in the fridge :T - I really need to make some space in the freezer so i can get some sausages made ........
I have just about sorted everything I need to make next years xmas pressies -so that should save quite a bit...
I can't wait to get started

MrDT

dND wrote: »

I found keeping the spending diary the most useful thing and the simple task of listing what I'd spent the money on - things like chocolate and bits and pieces really made me realise how often I did it. I set up a spreadsheet and began tracking and was shocked to see how much these seemingly little spends totalled up to over the year.:eek:

I guess for most of you this is like teaching granny to suck eggs, but I read posts every now and then where people say they have difficulty keeping track of spends - thought this post might help those people.

I've kept a spending diary for a couple of years now, second nature, no hassle. GF asked the other day how I managed to know exactly what my spends for the year were down to the penny, I suppose it might not be that obvious to new starters. Here are my tips - they could be especially useful for the fellas who won't have handbags on them to carry pink fluffy diaries around in lol!

I record every single purchase/withdrawal made (the value, payment method, and category) in my mobile phones 'memo' application. My phone is always on me when I'm out the house. I figure most phones these days will have a notepad/memo application on them, and most of us carry the mobile around everywhere right? This suits me better than a handbag and actual diary haha

Example entry:
24th
3 ca canteen
10.45 cc tesco
10 dc cashpoint

That's £3 cash spent on lunch at the canteen, £10.45 spent at tesco where I paid by credit card, then I took £10 out of the hole in the wall using my debit card. I do this automatically these days, spend money (or make a cash withdrawal), record it on phone. Takes seconds, just looks like I'm writing a text. Easy.

Once a week or so I input this data into a spreadsheet (just create one from scratch and tailor it to your needs). Means I'm not on the computer every day messing around with my accounts, just takes five minutes on a sunday morning or whenever I have time. I also cross reference my online bank accounts at the same time, record interest payments received, check for quidco payments, pay off credit card balance etc.

Oh, here's the biggie:
How do I know exactly what I spent on a night out when I was absolutely hammered and couldn't even remember my own name?
Easy, though it took me a while to figure it out... And no, I don't record each pint on the phone haha! First thing is to go to the cashpoint earlier in the day and withdraw a wodge of cash (record withdrawal amount on phone). Second thing to do is then leave your bank card at home, take the cash out with you. Third step, spend your money, have fun, get drunk, embarass yourself, etc. Step four, wake up, at home, or in a ditch, whatever. Step five, count how many shiney pennies you have left in your wallet (this will usually be between 5p and 95p, rarely over a pound left over!). Step six, in your weakened mental state use the phone's calculator function to subtract 'change' from the initial wodge, and you then have the exact amount spent last night. So simple, took me a while to figure it out though lol! This only works if you don't break your accounts down to differentiate spends on drinks, tickets, taxi, etc, just gives you a simple 'all in' nightout spend figure.

Other option for tracking nightout spends is to keep the debit card on you, check online banking the following day, subtract leftover money from the withdrawals to figure out your spends. This doesn't work for me. If I have £50 in my wallet and no more I have a fantastic night out. If I have a debit card in my wallet I have a fantastic night out but then face the following on my online statement the next day: withdrawal 6pm £20, withdrawal 8pm £20, withdrawal 11pm £40, withdrawal 2am £20. That makes the hangover all the worse lol!!!

carolbee

savingfortravel wrote: »

Hi Puss My best friend lives in Apollo Bay on the Great Ocean Road.. that's near your place isn't it ?(in Australian distances) :rotfl:

SFT

how spooky is that, just finishing off my Oz holiday journal from our October trip and putting the pics in of Apollo Bay, where we stayed for 2 nights - heaven on earth.

also spent time in Victoria with family - nice and warm at the mo' 33 degrees where they are!! bit warmer than here on the Kent coast!

2NDTIMEROUNDER

Re Mr DT

:rotfl: :rotfl: :TNow, THAT is what I would call the MALE perspective on doing things....

angelatgraceland

If I have a night out I empty my purse and put in a wodge of cash as MrDT does. It really is the best way to know what you spend. This is also what Im going to do each week for this challenge. Put in my weekly alllowance and empty it out each week at the end. Is this really male thinking? I dunno but a friends husband did say that I was easy to talk to cos I had a blokes way of thinking! I dunno-I think Im just a balanced person who always looks for the easiest way of doing a task. Thinking first helps!
Love the phone idea as I hate bags and had to be convinced to carry one years ago. Now Ive got a better phone this would be so easy for me.
Just got to stop buying gadgets too and make use of what Ive got!
I do feel lucky when I look around me-there are so many people who really are in crisis and are finding life really difficult.
Beware of buying any vouchers from any companies this year-so many companies have failed-its a chance not worth taking now.
Ive just been to Lidl and topped up the shopping-didnt need to but as Id had to drive to another area for a hospital appointment I wanted to make full use of the journey.
Still using 2008 funds so thats ok and Imstill under budget anyhow for December. Bought a big turkey today(well I only had a crown at Christmas)so this will be used for the weekend and next week.
May start reading/studying something again this year-probably French again but won't be spending on it as I already have all of the course materials.
That will keep me in the warm and not in the shops or spending money!
Want to start my knitting again but not sure if I should yet until I get my results of my hand Xray. I think Arthur(arthritis)gets everywhere these days.

mk_wotsit

I nearly just bought a Remoska from Lakeland as it's still 2008 but couldn't go thru with it when the discount code wouldn't work!
I shall remain Remoskaless until a new code appears ... nearly managed to sneak it in before 2009!
Got my new diary all ready ... Happy New Year all!
Slow Cooker Pork Casserole tonight to use up some cheap'n'nasty frozen pork chops from Farmfoods.
No party for us ... bottle of wine and some Films recorded off Freeview!

FrankieM

Hi everyone,
I've been catching up on everyones tips and pointers for the challenge...very interesting reading!
I'm hoping to spend very little this month. We have loads of food so I need to do a meal/menu plan for the month as much as possible.
DH and I are going away for a few days which will cost an indeterminate amount of money but hopefully not too much.
I'm thinking I'll be able to sit down and plan better next week as everyone is back at school/ work and I'll have some time to myself!

kittiej

MrDT

How do I explain leaving all bank cards at home and going out on the razz and coming home with more money than I started with?

This has always baffled me! I daren't go out any more just in case I remember!

Happy New Years Eve everybody! :beer:

whoohoo where's my vodka

JAMIEDODGER

my new fridge is in! oh what joy not to have to walk out to a shed in the freezing cold/rain etc!

also been to tesco to stockpile with some of the leftover money! £20 set aside for friend that I owe who I will see tonight and £12 towards the chinese this evening:D Wont be any money left after that except what I have left in piggy bank which is getting bagged up and put away towards next christmas!!

will not have to go anywhere or spend any money until 5th january when the kids are back to school.

bring on 2009!!!!

skint_chick

angelatgraceland - if you want any help with the French then I'm pretty fluent -and this MIT website is pretty good for free resources - I used to use it for German practice.

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Foreign-Languages-and-Literatures/index.htm

I have lots of other language websites too - what level are you studying at and I can post some? Happy New Frugal Year everyone