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

wornoutmumoftwo

Hello to you all

I have been trying to meal plan today, I have categorised all my meal types and then written lots of meals out, cut them up and have a dining room table of organisation.

I decided instead to put it all onto excel in a spread sheet with a shopping list and wondered if this was something others on this challenge could use.

It's alright for me as I do cook the same meals month or month.

Anyway, I've only just started it and have uploaded it here and just wondered what others thought. (The takeaway/fast food is actually home cooked not take out)

Besides that, I am resisting the tempatations to nip over to Tesco.

Dinner is pizza for the boys (H/M) and steak pie from yesterday for me and the OH

FrankieM

I'm hoping that the price cuts moves over to Mr T's as thats where we shop...it sounds like it could be very helpful.
I've been reading a blog where they talk about making goals for the year rather than resolutions and so I've been doing some thinking and wondered whether anyone else does that kind of thing?
I think I might put mine up here to encourage me once I've done them, anyone else want to join me?

so, today so far, I've eaten 2 leftover biscuits, some leftover crackers and a piece of fruit cake, which I really enjoyed considering I don't like fruitcake.

I've found a mince base for cottage pie which I've taken out of the freezer. Then I noticed some haggis in the fridge so I'm going to do those for dinner tonight and tomorrow and then some kind of Moroccan Lamb on Sunday with cous cous and roasted veg.
we have tinned soup, cereal, bacon etc for breakfast and lunch. I'll work on a proper meal plan next week when we get back to routined living and eating!!
I'll be doing proper housework then, too!

cw18

FrankieM wrote: »

I'm hoping that the price cuts moves over to Mr T's as thats where we shop...it sounds like it could be very helpful.

Me too -- I can walk to a Mr T (just, it's a 3.5 mile round trip, but I have a wheeled shopping trolley I can take), but the closest Mr A is over 4 miles each way meaning I have to use (and offset the cost of) the car :eek:

slowlyfading

Oh my goodness, doesn't this thread move fast?! I can hardly keep up!

Firstly, well done to cw!! :j That's great news, and it must feel fantastic to pay off some more. Imagine what you'll feel like when they're all at £0

Well, yesterday was a NSD, as I had a late night the night before :rolleyes: and was generally tired so just pottered around. I had to take my dad to the airport as he flew back to Kuwait yesterday, so its now really quiet. First the dog passes away, and then dad leaves, so now its just me and mum in this big house. I'm currently sat in the dining room as its freezing. The gas fire is on (her idea, not mine) but its still really chilly here.

I'm at work at 4pm til 7pm and I don't know if I'm going for a meal afterwards or not, lol so it might be a NSD or it might not, I guess I'll find out! :rotfl: I want to keep busy, and really get out of the house as everywhere I go there are reminds of the dog, and it gets me upset. Only time will heal that though I guess, so it'll be a rough ride for a while I think.

Hope you're all having a good day!
sf xx

charliedavis

Happy New Year to everyone!

Following my last post my DH has been to Lloyds, cancelled all his DDs to better control the spending, and was advised to call the loan department about his loan, whereupon he was immediately refunded £300 of charges when he explained the situation we are in. This is great news as his money kept getting swallowed by these charges.

I'm getting nasty calls from the bank about being over the overdraft and things being bounced but trying to stay cool. Money WILL come in soon.

DH has today been in to swap salary to our joint account so he can cover more of the bills which is GREAT news as I have been paying all of it.

Only spent £2.00ish yesterday on bread and potatoes (will ask DH for receipt to get exact amount) and today is no spend day. Cooking leftover pork in a curry for tea, which is new for me as I have tended towards serious extragavance in the past!

Following other's recommendations joined freecycle and been giving items away the past few days and am hoping to get a chest freezer to be able to batch cook.

Thanks SO much for the help and advice on this thread! XXX

Penny2myName

Ok, I have been a bad girl and used my catalogue again (big sales buying of underwear and household stuff) I have added it to my account but what I am going to do is pay the equivalent of one item/set each week on top of the weekly payments I have set up as a standing order to clear catalogue quicker. But I am really small busted so getting nice small bra's is hard or extremely expensive so have been waiting for this sale. My clothing allowences I am not adding into this challange, but also bought some household items in the sale too and they are being added.

1 Baroque Black/White Bath sheet 9.98 am counting these two as a set.
1 Baroque black/White bath towel 4.69 The towels are at 60% off but only say from £3.13 for the smallest size, so not sure what these were before sale

1 Black Faux Fur Trow 29.40 (49.00) Paid 2/1/09

Baroque Bedspread 17.13 (34.26)
Baroque pillowcase 8.81 counting these two as set

Delivery 3.99

trex170104

Hiya all - can't believe how many posts there are on here already! I put my breakdown on the last forum but I thought I'd add it here too.

Gas: £348
Elec: £600
home phone/tv/broadband: £432
TV licence: £143
mobile phone x2: £240
Food: £1800
contact lenses: £250
Xmas: £500
Holiday £500
Birthdays: £500
extras: £1200

Total = £6500 [£5000 plus £1500 basic child benefit and child tax credit]

Spent an hour yesterday sorting all my cupboards and making a list of all the food we have - soooo much! Hopefully we won't need to do much of a food shop until mid Feb!

sophiesmum_2

Done the shopping now for oldies buffet tomorrow, while I was at asda picked up a couple of bargains for myself, leeks 20p, radish, celery, toms 10p each, bananas 20p, battenburg (for marzipan loving OH)20p, and some extra special brie and mozzarella in breadcrumbs 50p. Also picked up some xmas paper 12p roll x2 and pale blue with stars which will do for birthdays 25p x 2 . Used my asda savings card to pay - free money from vouchers, so no impact on budget:D only came to £2.14 anyway:D , still have about £28 left to spend.

Fun thing for today - was asked to lunch on spur of the moment whilst out shopping so accepted invite and had a lovely free lunch with two of my oldies. Steak and salad - yummy:D

slowlyfading

Okay, so I am going out for a meal now - to the Indian! I'm looking forward to it already, even though I've got work at 4pm first! Ah well, it should be a laugh So definitely NOT a NSD today for me

slowlyfading

sophiesmum, you've got an impressive haul from Asda there for so little! and your lunch sounds great x