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

blueberrypie

My challenge is £700/month for everything except mortgage and rates. There are eight of us. As posted earlier, the electricity bill (quarterly) was higher than expected; this put quite a dent in my £700. Out of that budget, there is £26.07 left for the rest of April.

Ahem.

I don't think I'm being too pessimistic when I say we're unlikely to stay within budget!

So the edited challenge for April is to see how close we can come to it! LOL

cw18

blueberrypie wrote: »

My challenge is £700/month for everything except mortgage and rates. There are eight of us. As posted earlier, the electricity bill (quarterly) was higher than expected; this put quite a dent in my £700.

If your bills are quarterly and you take the money for it totally out of that one month's budget, then it's always going to make a dent (even during the warmer/lighter months). But if you deduct a third of the bill from each of 3 months budgets, then it will even out for you.

If I worked strictly monthly, then I'd get hammered in January (break down and car tax), have easy months in Feb and March (no Council Tax), and get hammered again in July (service and MOT), August (car insurance) and December (buildings and contents insurance). But by working on an Annual budget, it evens out much better over the year......

sophiesmum_2

BB - Thanks almost back to normal now with the arm, can do everything except raise it above head height which is still painful but improving. No more blackouts so have put that one down to the viral infection which was doing the rounds here last week as I had a really high temp that night.
Utmost respect to yourself, bails and others who are often waylaid through illness, I was very impatient to get back to normal even with just a week of not being able to do what I wanted. Made me appreciate how much I take my health for granted.:o
Off to gym now for swim, jacuzzi and free weigh in.

blueberrypie

cw18 wrote: »

If your bills are quarterly and you take the money for it totally out of that one month's budget, then it's always going to make a dent (even during the warmer/lighter months). But if you deduct a third of the bill from each of 3 months budgets, then it will even out for you.

*Sigh* Yeah, I know - but there'll be a biggish expense most months - car insurance/tax, heating oil, home insurance, etc. So I figure that instead of making it complicated by dividing all those things in three or twelve or whatever, I might as well just count them in the months they get paid.

My challenge is a budget I've set, rather than one I *must* survive on - I mean, we do have more than £700 a month to live on. So if I go over one month and can keep it under the next, I'll settle for that. The challenge itself is making us more aware of what we spend, which is really the point for us.

slowlyfading

Evening everyone.

Thanks for the well wishes everyone Not feeling much better to be honest, my head is really bunged up and my ears are hurting, and i still can't hear out of the right one. its not fun! lol still went to work today, though i think my manager was getting a bit annoyed by the end of my shift as i couldn't hear a word she or any customers were saying! -sigh-

went food shopping to the co-op after work, spend £22.99 on not very much it seems. However, did treat myself to some Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough ice cream, but it was half price. the only problem now is i've eaten some, and feel sick now! :rotfl: lol i'm not doing very well today, plus its really fattening, so my healthy eating has already gone out of the window! d'oh!

I should be doing housework right now, but am sat watching miss congeniality instead

Janey, its good to see you posting - i'm sorry to hear things have been so tough lately. i hope things turn around soon xx
sophiesmum, i'm glad to hear the arm is a bit better

sf xx

purplevamp

:j Well done Cheryl :j

I've always wanted a cricut as well, but they're way out of my budget. My budget just about stretched to a sizzix a few years ago. Does it come with lots of programs? Have fun making loads of cards, etc with it. And take photos to show us!!

MrDT

mumzyof2 wrote: »

Hi, how is everyone doing?

Long time no see! You've been hiding! Bad mumzy

sophiesmum_2

Thanks SF:A
Went to gym for free weigh in lost another 2lbs, but couldn't swim as there was a class on, was going to go back later but may give it a miss tonight - feeling a bit tired today for some reason.OH on his last night shift for the week so might just curl up with my books and ring mum to see if she is okay. I took her yesterday to get her cat put to sleep - it was 22 years old and poorly.

Cable/telephone /broadband etc DD out today so £82 to knock off budget.

Skint_Lynne

Hi everyone,

I had a no spend day today which was good. I was working 'from home', okay I was in the shop today, I got loads of work done for my job and the shop was busy for a change which was good. It was dead on Tuesday, we don't open on Wednesdays, and we had today, so we will see what tomorrow brings. The sisters are in there tomorrow.

I am heading up to Inverness tomorrow afternoon, I have finally convinced DH for us to take my company car up, he wanted to take his big jeep, which would cost a fortune in diesel, and as it is a work related trip, I need to take that car, and we don't pay for the diesel as I have a card, so it would be madness to shell out money for a work trip. We will have Friday night, and Saturday afternoon, and Sunday to see the place which will be nice. Heading back on Monday afternoon.

I have been in a lot of places in a short space of time, I'll try and remember them all: Carlisle, Sunderland, Newcastle, Tyneside, Hexham, Durham, Dumfries, Greenock, Ayr, Melrose, Perth, Stirling, Aberdeen, Rotherham, there will be some places I have forgotten about and Glasgow does not count as I live here.:D

If I don't get on over the weekend, see you on Monday night. xx

bails

Hi everyone and a speical hello to Janey, so lovely to see you back posting :T I'm sorry you're still having so much to cope with :grouphug: I know it's a very personal thing but in my experience, professional help has been extremely helpful and a wonderful space. if you feel it's the right path for you I hope you find someone great to help you, you deserve it.

Sorry to hear you're poorly SF, hope you're doing better now?
Hi Mumzy, long time! How are you?
EFC, sorry to hear about DD1, lovely Janey's story brought back a happy memory for you.
I never thought to claim tax back on teaching resources :rolleyes: Will definitely do this once I'm back at work again, thanks Redglass.
We heard back about the placements the day before yesterday SFT, he has an interview in Sheffield next Friday for one in Nepal! I'm trying not to do too much of this :j or this in case he doesn't get it, but he's done so well to get this far (32 positions and 1000s of applicants) so keep your fingers crossed for us please. I keep looking dreamily at the map and thinking mmm, Nepal...Tibet...Bhutan...:rotfl:
Right, back to catching up on more of the thread -wanted to post so I didn't forget what I wanted to say.

Ooh, more chicks Nyk, ace! Photos please (oops, reminds self still haven't posted any of the dog...:o...must look for the lead, will add to my list!)
Congratulations on winning your gadget CW, excellent news! :T And I also wanted to (and forgot) congratulate the person whose husband was given money by the millionaire - that's really wonderful and I love that he was rewarded for a good turn. Hope you enjoy spending it! :T
Sorry SM, I seem to have missed you having a poorly arm? (I didn't manage to catch up on all the posts the last few weeks) Glad to hear it's improving, look after yourself. Thanks for your kind words too, I (and I'm sure BB and anyone else with long-term illness) really appreciate them. Sorry to hear about your mum's cat too; what a wonderful age to get to though. I hope mine have long and healthy lives (our oldest boy hasn't been right since we went to Morocco in November so we're going to have to take him to the vet next week ).

We're off camping in either Cornwall or Wales for the weekend, it depends where has the best weather report this afternoon :rotfl:Have a lovely weekend whatever you're up to and 'see' you next week x