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

Frugaldom

nykmedia wrote: »

Just got my Freecycle updates and someone in town is offering a Freeview box. I've emailed them straight back and have everything crossed that they still have it available for rehoming, as it would be really helpful and very frugal.

I just received phonecall saying come and collect if I am still interested in the Freeview box. Don't you just love Freecycle? :T:j Nipping across this afternoon. Pity I can't try out the box immediately but the digital signal is being switched on next Thursday, so not long to wait.

cw18

Great news about the F/view box Nyk :T

I still have one TV that needs 'doing' before November, and had planned to get a cheapo box for it (the 2 TVs upstairs - my craft/computer room, and DS's bedroom - both have already), but am now looking at other options. Freesat appears to have a movie channel that interests me, but apparently doesn't carry the channel I watch most :mad: But when I was asking elsewhere (another forum) about the differences, someone suggested getting a (possibly 2nd hand) basic satellite dish, box and card, so I can get the free channels that come from the 'big' name that way - which gives me the channels I watch now, plus a couple I'd like but can't get on either of the others.

Nothing doing on our Freecycle for this, and the only personal 'for sale' advert in our local rag this week is for a bed. But I might make a couple of calls to fitters (a few ads suggest they work with 2nd hand/reconditioned kit) and see what that would cost me,



I've spent the last couple of hours stock-taking, sorting, and re-arranging kitchen cupboards.... 2 down, only another 6 to go :eek: (And then I need to start dragging out and sorting the boxes that are scattered all round the house)

It's frightening how much food I actually have in, especially as I know how long some of it has been there. So -- especially as I have to offset the extra food wanted by DS while he's off college for 3 months -- I think I'm going to start switching over to a store-cupboard challenge at least until the end of July, and possibly well into August But I still have one more Mr M voucher to use (fingers crossed DD has a reasonably big list again), and am waiting to see if we get any special offers when the local Mr M opens the doors on 13th of next month.

Blairweech

Hi all,

Turns out the harddisk out of my old lappy has fried :mad: Have ordered an external case for it, to see if I can just get to the files that are on there but if not, I have lost all my data for the past 6 months. Plus all meal plans, shopping litsts, lots of internet favourites AND my 101. B*gg3r.

Anyway, I am still writing all my spends down in my notebook, so hopefully I won't go too far astray.

cw18

cw18 wrote: »

I've spent the last couple of hours stock-taking, sorting, and re-arranging kitchen cupboards.... 2 down, only another 6 to go :eek: (And then I need to start dragging out and sorting the boxes that are scattered all round the house)

:eek: counting the kitchen cupboards while sitting in a different room didn't work !! should have been '2 down, 7 to go', as I've since discovered food in a 'non-food' cupboard :eek:

now 4 down, 5 to go...... and losing the will to live And that still doesn't include my spice cupboard, as they share one with my pans!!

looks like I'm on tinned fruit and custard (yuck at the combo) for the next month or two :rolleyes2 But my fridge doesn't look as empty now, as I've put some of the tinned fruit in there, in the hope it will encourage me to actually eat some of it -- I prefer it chilled and reckon I just don't use it 'cos it's at room temperature

lyndasharp

Hi all, just been doing at bit of charity collecting. It was nice to see at least some people were still able to be generous with their donations, it sounds like there are a lot more cats waiting for rehoming due to the recession.

I'm just about to see if I can find a cheaper energy supplier, as we've got a 3 month bill in now and have some idea of what we're using. £175 for 3 months isn't bad, but it'd be nice to get it a bit less if possible! I suspect the best saving would be to change the ancient boiler, but while it's still working I'm reluctant to start doing anything to it.

cw18

lyndasharp wrote: »

£175 for 3 months isn't bad, but it'd be nice to get it a bit less if possible! I suspect the best saving would be to change the ancient boiler, but while it's still working I'm reluctant to start doing anything to it.

Doesn't sound bad for 3 months if your boiler is really old.

Mine is 7 years (from house being built), and my bills for 12 weeks up to and including 1st June were £149.92 - after all discounts, and including all charges and VAT.

That's for a modern 4 bed detached, with me (home almost full-time) and DS (almost 18, and at home as much as he's at college - with a desktop PC running almost all the time he's at home and out of bed), plus 2 GDs round school and elder son (20) when home on leave.

I'm on fixed price (for another couple of months) tariff with no standing charges (so I pay higher for the first so many units of each instead), and get discounts for dual fuel (£10.40 a year) and for running my account on-line (£15.75 a year).

But I also get an additional charge (11.5p a day) for having an IGT (Independant Gas Transporter) which we weren't told about when buying the house -- apparently this means the builders had the gas pipes on the estate put down by someone other than BG, and this other company charges all gas suppliers to use the pipes :mad: So this accounts for £9.66 of the above bill total :eek:




Have now done cupboard number 5 - and I reckon I have enough cereal for me (ie. types DS doesn't eat) for at least the next 12 months :eek: Didn't realise I'd bought so much in - but I know I have a habit of buying a couple of boxes every time I decide to kick-start eating breakfast, only to not get going at it. Have now put one of my boxes of soya milk (my preference for cereal) into the fridge to try and get going with this as well :rolleyes2 Also found some more custard powder, and I know I still have some in a box from App Foods that's I've not unpacked yet. And there was more tinned fruit in there as well.......

lyndasharp

Well, my utility switching will apparently save £100 per year, so that'll help. The £175 is for a 3 bed end terrace, computers on a lot, the boiler here is 23 years old!

Enojoy the custard Cheryl!

JAMIEDODGER

Morning all, have had a really bad week. Ds1 was assaulted at school on Tuesday, so has been mix of hospital, school and police trips and meetings. Things have calmed down a bit now so hopefully can get back to it today. Good news is that I haven't spent much money!

cw18

Heck! It was quiet on here yesterday!!

I can only assume everyone was out in their gardens Didn't anyone else have the rain we had?


Tea last night was made using a couple of tins I unearthed in my cupboard sort out (a tin of chunky chicken in a creamy sauce and a tin of sliiced mushrooms - served with rice to make chicken supreme that DS wan't sure he liked. Haven't told him yet, but I still have another tin of each in there ), and tonights main meal will also be based around a tin (in this case beef slices in gravy, which I'll do along with veg from the freezers and jacket spuds)

Want to do some more food sorting today, but will probably start with the freezers - mainly as I need to get the small spaces all together in one place 'cos I got some whoopsies from Mr T last night (on the way to baby-sit for DD). All bread type products (4 Naan breads for DS and 6 sub rolls for me), but they'd just been knocked down to 75% as I got there so I greabbed them fast :rolleyes2




In readiness for the start of the next quarter (and the new thread) I've been looking over my spreadsheet in detail. As a result I've changed my budget for a few areas, but kept to the same overall total.

I've dropped my 'dog expenses' from £400 to £275 - which is possible as the dalmatian is happily settled on a cheaper brand of food.

I've finally given in and dropped my 'petrol' category - from £500 to £300. Having filled up on Thursday I'm just about bang on target for month end - but I use less during school holidays and the second half of the year contains more than half the holidays, so that gives me a small safety net (unless I definitely decide to start driving hundreds of miles in search of a new home/income). It does, however, mean any repairs needed at MOT time will have to come out of my 'anything else' budget.

I've increased 'Toiletries/Cleaning' from £109.50 (30p/day) to £146 (40p/day) - and I'm still overbudget for month end. But this is due to a hefty purchase of carpet shampoo that I hadn't allowed for - some of which DD will probably be buying off me in August as she's hoping to get her place straight enough for us to attack her carpets. So August could actually see my spend in this category going backwards :rolleyes2

The remaining 'spare' money (which amounts to £288.50 - decreases on two, less increase on one) has been added to my 'anything else' - which now stands at what appears to be a ridiculously high £703.78. My current spend is well under half where this new budget would allow me to be at month end, but I now have a glimmer of hope for being able to afford car repairs (MOT at end of July), new shoes (if needed) and a new waterproof coat (once I get my head together to figure out where to go for what I want, and what kind of price I should be looking to spend without being ripped off).

angela110660

cw18 wrote: »

:eek: ....

looks like I'm on tinned fruit and custard (yuck at the combo) for the next month or two :rolleyes2 But my fridge doesn't look as empty now, as I've put some of the tinned fruit in there, in the hope it will encourage me to actually eat some of it -- I prefer it chilled and reckon I just don't use it 'cos it's at room temperature

This made me smile - my MIL always has loads of tinned fruit and Tip Top in her cupboards for some reason and we pull her leg and say that if there was a war on - at least she would be okay for vitamin C!! Don't know if that is true.