Live on £4,000 for a year - 2009, Part 3

Brighton_belle

Thanks peeps. I also appreciate there are others here for whom sadness over loss is that much closer to home. It's certainly given me a titchy insight into what some of you have/are experiencing.

Blair - I'm the same as you with haircuts: I've got a short bob, but my hair is very fine so the cut is cruxial. Not having it cut every 6-7 weeks leaves it looking like a wet weekend in Bognor and me feeling middle aged. So while not an essential essential, it is something I choose as a high priority on the 'not really esential but they are really kinda list':D
Oh for thick curly hair that I could self trim, sigh...

SM - are you telling that BB is being a bit slow in the 'maximising food best bits' stakes?

Lynda - you did better than us yesterday. The blackberries were well past their best where we went: we'd actually left it too late.

A friend has just brought round a sussex trug full of veg from her allotment as a late b'day pressie. On which note: happy birthday Nyk & Janey. Hope you are doing ok Janey. Hope the countdown to the wedding isn't getting too hectic Nyk.
This is the end of the first month of cooking 6 portions as often as possible rather than 4. This has meant I've had two extra meals to freeze rather than one and has definitely helped me stretch food a little further, as well as meant we've had more meals on tap when I feel lacking in ideas/ oomph to cook from fresh.
I have also got my logging cash spends back on track for the 2nd month in a row after a poor May and June.

I shall have to be careful with money this next month - our lodgers are likely to be leaving at short notice (with my blsessing) as they await the final signing on their new home so there will be a gap before a new lodger arrives and I think, looking around at going rates I will have to drop what I am asking, as well as the natural drop from a couple to a single person taking the room.
I've already saved for the decoration and new carpet I will be putting in (hopefully warm the room up so the heating won't need to go on so often for cold lodgers with drafty floorboards laid straight over a the chalk ground)
Also, I am taking 2 weeks unpaid leave as part of a year long plan to take more leave to stop myself getting too energy depleated and ill so often (which has worked really well) AND OH's winter contract starts and his hrs drop by 8 every week. So it will be a while before things are stable again. But I have been putting money aside all year to cover this period as I knew these events would happen some time, though not all the same time.
This is where budgeting and forcasting is really playing dividends.

Car duly filled up today.

Oh, and ec0n0my gastr0m is doing a house of students next week, so I am hopeful for a few really cheap and practical recipes...

Andromache - I agree with Nyk -you are doing very well. HB for tomorrow - does this mean you were always the eldest in your year - I was always the youngest. Very pregnant friend is hoping to get through the evening without going into labour so her baby will have the advantage, as she sees it, of being one of the eldest (though I must stress she is enourmously grateful to be pregnant at all.)

lingojingo

So sorry i missed your birthday, BB - have a belated cake:bdaycake:

Andromache, you're only just over 3 months younger than my DS, and doing much better than he is (or was, until very recently, think he may have seen the light at last).

DD is busy copying out some of my recipies ready to take to Edinburgh (less than 2 weeks away :eek:), and making a list of her essential ingredients to add to the big box of stuff she already has.

jtb2412

I must be a glutton for punishment. :rolleyes: :rotfl: No sooner had I written my last post, a freecyle ad came up for greengages :j :j :j. I'm currently jamming 6lb of them thanks to a generous chap who's tree was absolutely laden with them. Took me nearly an hour to stone them lol.

It is my favourite jam though so it's a labour of love with this one .

Don't think I'll be having a very early night, never mind it will give me chance to catch up on here .

xnatalie81x

Picked up two loaves of bread for 12p in Mr T today so they are frozen. Also blanched and froze the broccoli and only have a couple of broccoli plants left at the allotment now. Not sure what to put in the ground where they were...........

Budget over so far but my first year so giving me a good starting point for next yr. Not sure how tho as outgoings seem to be higher than incomings but i have no additional debt and have savings........... very strange. Shall have to scrutinise at end sept to see what is going on lol

cw18

Just added todays grocery and petrol spends to my spreadsheet, so can now declare my end of month position



I've added in an additional column, which I've headed 'Orig'. This is what I set each budget to for the start of the year, as I kept referring back to it to see how drastically some of the categories have changed in the meantime. Where the figure in this column is green it means my current budget is lower (so I reckon I originally over-estimated), and where it's red my current budget is higher (so I under-estimated!!!). Black is un-changed, but a couple of those that are coloured are only such as I've changed my current budgets to be exact pounds (no nasty pennies for Nyk to see anymore )

The 'Anything Else' category is actually a 'funny', and I'm debating changing the colour formatting on that row. As it stands now the 'Orig' is red as the new figure is higher - but in this case that's a good thing rather than a bad, as it's only been increased as others have been dropped

I'm currently over budget on
Gas & Electricity - but only 'cos they've adjusted my payments for the next 4 months down to £53 (from £60) having forced the system to do an annual review a couple of weeks ago.
Phone & Broadband - due to having changed to a cheaper package at the start of the year, so will in 'over spend' status right up to the end of the year.
Mobile Phone - due to having been tied to an expensive contact until the middle of August.
Gutter Cleaning - a 'one-off' that's been paid
Car Insurance - a 'one-off' that's been paid, but I'm still waiting to see if my cash-back goes through before (potentially) dropping the 'spent' figure by £20 (and the budget by £6)
Breakdown Cover, Road Tax, MOT and Service - all 'one-offs' that have been paid
Petrol - but only 'cos I put £34.01 in the tank today to beat the 2p/litre budget rise that comes in tomorrow
Toiletries/Cleaning - due to bulk buy of carpet shampoo, especially as DD still hasn't cleared out the rooms she wants me to do at her house (which will see her buying some off me!)


But at least my bottom line is the right way round - budget to end August is £5353.94, but I've only spent £4934.73, meaning that overall I have £419.21 in hand.

Of this, £33.69 is accounted for by 'one off' payments (what I've budgeted to date for all the categories in red against what I've actually paid), so will be needed by the end of the year.

Another £78.86 is ready for council tax - the January lower payment (end of previous year) and then 2 months without payment sure make a mess of that budget for the year :rolleyes2

So that's a total of £112.55 spoken for, meaning I really only have £306.66 in hand. But I'm also overspent by £96.34 on the two phone entries (home and mobile) which should balance out by the end of the year, so the two almost balance each other out anyway


I'm still loving my grocery records though Budget to end August was £1077.00, but I've only spent £955.39 - meaning I've got £121.61 'to spare' on this. (Edit - just realised this puts me a 'month in hand', as my budget for October is just £120.60) But the Whoopsies are doing fantastically, and so far this year I've managed to purchase goods with a combined shelf ticket value of £1073.91 for just £281.93 (just 26.25% of the real value).

However, looking at it a different way, it does mean that I've purchased groceries worth £1747.37 - and my annual budget is only £1584 :eek: I know that there's a fair bit amongst the Whoopsies I'd have bought cheaper versions of (had I not managed to get dearer brands on Whoopsies for the same price or less) - or simply wouldn't have bought at all -- but it's still slightly worrying that I've 'spent' more than my annual budget in just 8 months, as this means I'm very reliant on managing to get a regular supply of Whoopsies

Skint_Lynne

Just a quick post before bed, happy birthday nyk and janey, and happy birthday to andromache for tomorrow. :beer:

I've had a bit of a nightmare day, someone drove too close to my car and smashed the mirror off of it. At least the guy came and admitted it. It cost £200 to get it fixed. I had to pay it and I'm getting it back off of the company they guy works for. After that, it will be around another £60 to get the plastic cover on the mirror painted to match the rest of the car.

What a rip off, but at least I'm not paying. I had to get it fixed double quick as I'm off to morecambe tomorrow and could not go without a mirror on the car.:rolleyes:

Made a curry and put steak pie filling in the slow for WEdnesday's dinner, mum is still out of action so I am in charge.;) (the sister's don't like this as I make them clean the house).:D

I'm off to bed now, goodnight all. xx

jtb2412

Ahhhhhh just finished ! 12 jars of greengage jam - total price approx £2.50 (for the sugar, gas, wax discs and tops) . Think I might have to save some of this for pressies as even I won't be able to get through 12 jars .

Off to tidy up kitchen (quietly as everyone in bed :silenced:). Think I'll be off there myself then !

Still not caught up with posts but will aim to do tomorrow. Hope everyone is ok - hugs for those that need them xx

grandma247

Oh Sl it must be the week for smashed mirrors my dd rang on Sat to say she would be late coming to collect dg1 because hers had been smashed off sometime the night before. Unfortunately she ended up being even later as she broke down on the motorway and had to be towed home. Oh has a car so they came in that. Shes only had the car 6 weeks.

Cheryl I only skimmed it but your budget looks good. I wonder if its not so much relying on the woopsies as making good use of them while they are there? Thats the way I look at it.

JTB well done that jam looks gorgeous.

I will hopefully be able to post some pics of what i did over the weekend tomorrow if I can get ds2 to lend me his camera. I must try and do my figures too,I have been putting it off, not because I think they are bad just the sitting down and doing it when there is so much else to do.

BigMummaF

Oh dear...my first month of my mini challenge isn't going so well I'd set my 'grocery' challenge for £1100 to cover 1 Aug -31 Dec, but that was before the vouchers came along in the papers! To be honest, I think I've shot myself in the foot because the £370 odd I've spent does include a few prezzies & some bandaging for the Pup, so perhaps not all on food alone.
I so admire the tables some of you guys manage & have considered various options before the one I'm trialling now, but I don't think I've found 'The One' that is workable for me just yet. Still, I've time to sort out the kinks before I fully commit to this Challenge in January.
HB to those celebrating..No2 offspring still hasn't decided what to have for Birthday Dinner on Thurs. I'm hoping it will be a roast as I've a joint of pork in the freezer so it won't be too expensive! We've at least another dressing change for Pup tomorrow & they said it will go into a sock after that providing the bit of infection has cleared. In a way I can't wait for it to be over so the claim can be sent off to the insurance company, but I'm also wondering if they will reimburse for everything we've had to pay :huh:

Frugaldom

Good morning frugalite friends

It has stopped raining for a bit and I've managed to get some washing out at last! Thank goodness, as this place was about to look like a laundry soon.

HS has had to take his car back to the garage again as the brand new tyres he had fitted last week are deflating! Garage says rims haven't been sealed properly. Need to wait for that to be fixed before I can get a lift into town and start getting the last minute stuff needed for wedding preparations, including footwear that will go on over my bashed ankle. Typical! I think everyone in our family has something wrong at the moment, be it backs, hips, knees, ankles or feet! Sis said yesterday we're going to arrive at the wedding looking like Michael Jackson's gang in the 'Bad' video, staggering in like a bunch of zombies. :rotfl:

Between now and Friday, I need to gut the kitchen and livingroom, decorate the bathroom and get outside finished so the chickens & ducks aren't left to their own devices whilst we're away for the full day. There'll be nobody here to put them all to bed, so they need to be completely fox-proofed and closed into their new runs before then. I just HOPE the rain stays away for a bit as it's impossible to work in the mud, otherwise. :rolleyes: I've also got tons of washing to catch up with as everything takes so lng to dry when there's no heating in the house. Fire has been lit a couple of times over the past week or two but the grate needs replacing, so that's another bit of added expense that's been getting put off for months, along with chimney sweeping.

Off to stick more washing on and then make a start on the bathroom. Even if I can get the curtains hemmed and hung, that will be a start. If I can get a new shower curtain and a tin of cheap silk emulsion, that will be even better!

Catch up with everyone later Happy Birthday Lingo! :beer: