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

cw18

sf - I'm sure it'll be fine. So long as everyone turns up with the attitude that it will work, then it will

sl - best of luck with the groceries...... I'm sure you can do it




After today's grocery spends I've been back to look at my spends against budget for the year to date, as it was looking like I could end September being a whole month 'in hand' (ie. only having spent what the budget allowed to the end of August) - giving me a chance to revist and revise it


As such I'm (retrospectively!) reducing it by 5p/meal - be that a meal for an adult (meaning 15p/day) or a snack for a GD - which brings my annual budget down from £1584.00 to £1443.00

This actually looks a "nice" figure, as at the start of the year (before I allowed for having GDs round school after the summer hols, and before I had to increase it for elder DS being home much more than expected) it was £1448.50

It does mean that my cumulative total spends at the end of every month has shown an overspend until the end of August, whereas it was only showing an overspend at the end of January before. But if I stop buying all the Whoopsied junk food snacks I should still be able to come in under target at year end - so it gives me an added incentive to stop adding anything extra to that category :rolleyes2

sophiesmum_2

Just wanted to say thanks to all the lovely people who have sent me pm's over the past few days, I really appreciate the fact that you have taken the time, I love this little community.:A xxx

sf - good luck with everything at uni.

Skint_Lynne

Thanks cheryl,

I just wish that you lived close to me because you could teach me your whoopise hunting techniques. I think that it's amazing what you have managed to get. I've had limited success, but will keep on practicing.;)

I'm off to bed folks, see you tomorrow. xx

Kittikins

SM - so sorry to hear of your dad's passing xx

taka

slowlyfading wrote: »

Evening everyone.

Well, I'm all packed for tomorrow, apart from the things I need to use this evening/in the morning. Getting quite nervous now, I hope the people I'm going to live with are nice, otherwise I don't know what I'll do

Another NSD for me today, but apart from that I've not got anything exciting to say. I am hoping that this week isn't going to be too expensive, but I have no idea of knowing really.

Hope everyone is doing okay this evening.

sf xx

Good luck sf! I'm sure it'll be fine - they are lucky to be sharing with you!

sl - good luck with the shopping!

Nyk - have you looked into apartments at all? We stayed in one ~4yrs ago in Prague and it worked out around the same as a twin room in a hotel only we got to have separate rooms (well one of us in the livingroom, 1 in the bedroom) and a basic kitchen so we could self cater (we were nervous about the food as 2 veggies in Prague - Unfortunately we ate out the 1st night and both got Salmonella :eek: and were ill for weeks and completely wrecked the holiday! :rolleyes:) I think this or this is the company we used (certainly is the same prague email contact address as our prague booking anyway).

This is the Youth hostel assoc website for international bookings. I know you can change tesco clubcard vouchers for 4x face value but I don't know if a) you have any points as I don't think there is a Tesco near you is there? or b) if vouchers could be changed in time? or c) if you can use them to book stuff abroad...

Travelodge has a couple of spanish hotels listed too - Madrid I think but I've no idea how close to anything they are or if you want to go to either of them anyway! :rotfl:

savingfortravel

Hi Everyone!
I have been keeping up with posts but not posted myself.
Firstly SM-I am incredibly sorry for your loss. x
AEB-What news?
SF-Know exactly how you feel, I did a PGCE about 14 years ago now. Everyone in your house will be as desperate to make friends as you. So don't worry. Probably the friendships you make first won't even be the lasting ones but that won't matter. I found that everyone was so busy during their PGCE that most evenings were spent in halls so a real community feeling built up. Your social life goes out the window I'm afraid. Wishing you the very best of luck..loved my PGCE, one of the best years of my life. Looking forward to you posting how you've got on. Your finances will take a bashing initially, so best to work out a budget with what you have left after the big costs of books etc..
Lynda-Glad to hear you're ok after accident.
Bails-Hope you're enjoying Everest. What an amazing experience.

I feel a bit lost at sea as far as the finances are going. Our roof should be finished by the end of next week and that's 13k gone..a percentage of which I'm borrowing from my parents. I'm trying to look at the plus points of the situation, like AEB said we've got a nice roof now.
Keeping up with grocery challenge, though got to update sig. Buying alot of organic stuff and beneifiting from tomatoes from parents and neighbours, as well as foraging. Neighbours are selling their egg for 70p for half a dozen which is half the price of the supermarket.
On a positive I'm enjoying the gym. Strangely yesterday I felt a sense of happiness whilst there that I haven't felt for a while. Going for an included health check tomorrow. Preparing myself for some bad news, particularly about my waistline but at least I'm going in the right direction to do something about it. Membership is £59 a month so I'm trying to go as much as poss. It has a nice pool, sauna, steam room and jacuzi as well.
Today is my dad's 75th birthday. We are preparing brunch then off to a heritage event..a canal boat ride. All for free. What a great post. Thank you SC

Have a great day all.

sft

tryingtodobetter

SM - Sorry to hear about your dad, my thoughts are with you and your family at this time.

lingojingo

Just back from taking DD to Edinburgh (uni). Had to carry everything up 4 flights of stairs :eek: to her flat, but it is very nice. She's near a park and the main uni buildings are on the other side. Flatmates friendly.

Journey and overnight stay with ex OH went much better than expected far less stressful than it used to be.

Just had a quick catch up on the thread, so sending hugs to Lynda, SM and BB :grouphug:, you are all in my thoughts.
and good luck to SF, I'm sure you'll be fine.

Shaz, your dish cloths brought back memories of my Nan, she was advised that knitting would be good therapy for her arthritic fingers, but her sight was very poor, so she knitted dishcloths by the dozen (we all had some as part of our wedding presents) and also interstingly coloured squares (such as pink and orange together) which we had to sew up to make blankets 'for the old people' who were mainly about 20 years younger than her! She lived to 95!

lyndasharp

SM, sorry to hear about your Dad.

I made it home along with the paving slabs I bought on ebay. we've had a good look at the damage to the car, and decided not to put in an insurance claim, as the scratch should come out with some t-cut. I've been really tired though after all the driving, early night tonight!

slowlyfading

Just a quick post to say that I've got here, and the four girls I've met all seem friendly so far. We've only got one shower :eek: and one toilet between us which should be interesting, so we'll see how that works out! hope everyone is okay xxx