Live on £4000 for a Year, 2009 Challenge, part 2

boring_beige

Hi
Can i slip back into the challenge, please?

i've been keeping track of my spending but have been spending what seems like a lot. My mind has been wandering onto other ideas but i need to keep on track

£1200 for the year, excluding keep

April £199.32 this might change i included a complete order that has only been half charged since the rest is still out of stock.

May £117.21 includes a lot of food used several newpaper coupons.

this month so far £40.38

over all i have £604.76 left

Frugaldom

Boring Beige, your name was never removed from the challenge here, we know everyone who gets the bug has it for life, so welcome back, just think of it as having been on vacation from Frugaldom.

bails

Oh, all this talk of gardens growing is lovely, am very envious! I can't wait to grow my stuff next year. We have got lots of redcurrants ripening and loads of apples (but we won't get to appreciate them unfortunately - I hope the new tenants eat them).
Well done on the strawberry sales aeb, good to see you.
I didn't see the start either Nyk so I don't know :rotfl:
Very busy day here, lots of washing done in the sunshine, adverts put around to rent the house out, picked up my repaired camera and my watch from town, had a meeting, sorted out the house, walked the dog, met OH for a tea break, did the food shopping, went for a run. Just off out with the dog now then making some yummy meal for when OH gets back at 8.

Have a great evening everyone x

ps almost there with my 101 list, although I'm thinking of doing 2 lists, one just for travelling. Have you officially started yours yet SFT?

sophiesmum_2

Hi Frunchkins:D

Bit of a mixed time for me lately, £270 expenditure to sort out the car fiasco, which wasn't good - lesson learnt there - don't let OH drive my car third party on his fully comp policy. Anyway looking on the positive side he managed to get me added to his insurance to drive his car fully comp for the grand total of 52 pence:p plus a £10 admin charge so that was good value.:D

I haven't included any of the cash we have spent on stuff for the cottage or setting up the garden as this has come from savings, have looked for good deals though and tried to get the best value for the money we have spent. Really chuffed with the cheap decking planks we managed to get for the raised beds as we have made 7 beds plus a netted lid frame and a "greenhouse" lid frame for around the cost of one decent sized bed from a supplier:D Hoping to get more decking to make a log store and a compost bin too.
Have planted some runner beans in troughs along side the garage,plus dwarf french beans, cucumber plants, spring onions, spinach beet, mixed leaves, red cabbage, radish, onions in the new raised beds, plus some broccoli and artichokes courtesy of Nyk:D Haven't yet decided on permanent home for the artichokes so they are currently growing in two recyclable supermarket bags stuffed with compost and rotted down lawn clippings. The beds are taking a huge amount of compost to get them up and running but hopefully this will be a one off cost.This year will be mostly forward planning for next summer as I have missed the best time for planting a lot of stuff. I have enclosed the beds behind OH's shed and rabbit proofed(hopefully!) the corner with wire mesh fencing. Compared to frugaldom next door my garden is looking very bare at the moment, but don't worry I will soon be catching up:rotfl:especially when the feathered inhabitants move in.
Have just recycled a sheet of mdf and lots of jam jars for OH as he intends to make a shadow board for his tools and undershelf jars for all his screws in "his shed" - he has big plans for the shed which is quite large:rolleyes: have also been stocking up on recycled newspapers to use for making paper logs - enough here for next door too.
Indoors is coming along slowly, with the usual curtain poles, fixtures and fittings being put up, washer installed,etc. have just been given a huge rug for the living room from my mum,and recycled some lampshades,curtains and other bits and pieces. Painting and decorating needs doing yet but we have been enjoying getting stuff done in the garden first whilst the weather has been good so that can wait until wet days:rolleyes:


Have been reading everyone's posts but not feeling like posting and no internet at cottage so out of touch a lot of the time.
SFT - great news about your cottage :j:j enjoy your new home:D
Mooloo - I would sell the car in your situation - okay you may not get much for it but at least the running costs would disappear.
Bails - enjoy your travelling
Michelle - hope you start to feel on the up side soon, health and family comes first - work can wait until the future.
BB - my remoska has come into it's own at cottage, using it daily now instead of just for flapjacks and toad in the hole etc:D:D It is really growing on me now.

Have almost updated my totals now so will catch up soon. Have wafflled on long enough.:o
sm xx

Everyone else :hello::hello::hello:

cw18

Nyk - as best I understand the switchover, unless you have at least a Freeview box you won't get reception to your TV. But there seems to be a grey issue in that you certainly used to have to have a b&w TV licence to have a radio, and I'm totally unsure how it's fixed with being able to watch TV over the internet (BBC and ITV have places you can watch shows, and I know I can watch shopping channels on-line and in real time).

patchwork_cat

Nyk - found this might be interesting http://www.christiansat.org.uk/licence.html You don't need a licence to listen to radio, my brother doesn't have a licence as he is not watching TV (at home!!) in protest to the BBC's refusal to show the Gaza appeal. It is not without grief though as the TV licence people keep ringing him and asssuming he is just watching without a licence - he keeps telling them they can bring the detector van as he isn't! So good luck as he is getting very frustrated with their assumption that he is lying!

taka

nykmedia wrote: »

Hi guys, I'm back again. I just got a reminder that our region's analogue TV signal will be switched off on 24th June (next week) and we'll be switched over to digital, but we don't have any digital equipment. Would anyone agree in thinking that if we have no signal, therefore cannot watch TV, we'd be exempt from having a TV license? I'm certainly not prepared to pay a monthly fee for something like $ky and I'm not prepared to spend money on a digital box or new aerial - how do I know if the TV we have will pick up a signal. None of the websites about it seem to explain it in simple terms. Any of you fruguys out there able to explain it in simple terms? TV tuning, like video tuning, is technical, therefore it's a 'man job' in my little world, just like checking tyre pressure and using power tools.

cw18 wrote: »

Nyk - as best I understand the switchover, unless you have at least a Freeview box you won't get reception to your TV. But there seems to be a grey issue in that you certainly used to have to have a b&w TV licence to have a radio, and I'm totally unsure how it's fixed with being able to watch TV over the internet (BBC and ITV have places you can watch shows, and I know I can watch shopping channels on-line and in real time).

patchwork_cat wrote: »

Nyk - found this might be interesting http://www.christiansat.org.uk/licence.html You don't need a licence to listen to radio, my brother doesn't have a licence as he is not watching TV (at home!!) in protest to the BBC's refusal to show the Gaza appeal. It is not without grief though as the TV licence people keep ringing him and asssuming he is just watching without a licence - he keeps telling them they can bring the detector van as he isn't! So good luck as he is getting very frustrated with their assumption that he is lying!

What about asking on freecycle for a digibox and seeing if your current aerial will work? We get them listed quite often as people upgrade to a new TV and freeview is built in so no longer need the box. If not maybe SM could pick one up for you when she is next coming up? You can sometimes get really cheap boxes in the supermarkets or argos - ~£10-£20. What are they planning to do/use? Could you borrow their freeview box (presuming they have one) to see it your aerial is ok?

I guess BBC iPlayer etc is not an option for you with your broadband speed...

PS - Liking the new multiquote feature! :j :rotfl:

cw18

Ooooo.... hadn't spotted that they'd activated the multi-quote feature!! That's one thing that's been sadly missing on here, as I've been using it for ages on another forum run on the same platform :rolleyes2

sophiesmum_2

We are having a mini satellite dish and freesat receiver box installed next month for the changeover.One off cost and no subscription charges.

cw is right Nyk without a freeview box or a tv with built in freeview you won't get any picture at all.No need to replace the aerial though usually.

andan

Hi guys, just checking in, not much to report. Am still continuing with my frugal existence and things are going well. I am managing to stretch the food out quite a bit at the moment and am buying less sweet things which helps with the waist line and the food bills. I have also been making the most of discount codes and vouchers to be able to save more from my shopping bills.