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

Hardup_Hester

I've just done my online shop & it's taken ages, making sure the offers are still valid on the delivery date & making sure my wages will have hit the bank account before the money comes out. Hopefully it will last about 3 months, I still have to go to the butchers for my meat & I get my milk delivered, a weeks worth every Saturday (that way I don't pop out for a pint of milk & spend £20 on nothing). I spent £151.23 on food, cleaners & toiletries & I shall spend £50ish at the butchers & my milk bill is £7 a month & I buy eggs from a local farm for £1.90 a doz. This works out about £78 a month & leaves me with £5 a week for fresh veg etc, as long as my stepson doesn't turn up, wanting to stay for 3 months we'll be fine. I wish I had excel on my pc as it would make all this working out a lot easier. Feel free to tell me if I've miscalculated as I ran out of fingers half way through.
Hester

cw18

BigMummaF wrote: »

Have you tried that out yet? I did a couple of weeks back & what a palava :eek: It's all very complicated so I hope you'll stick with me as I try to explain
You can only exchange the clubcard points in values of £5, to 'double-up vouchers' worth a tenner. I'm not entirely certain what will happen to the £1:50 'change' from the £6:50 points one I did--he said something about it going back onto my 'total' but whether that means it will stay as 150 points on my next statement or only earn me one to simulate an actual spend of £1:50 [as in a couple of pints of milk] I didn't think to ask :doh:
You need to spend the whole £10 or more in one go, in order to use your voucher. You have to say which department you intend to 'spend' your voucher & they are NOT transferrable so if you can't get the size of socks you can't make it up with a pack of batteries. They only last for three months from date of issue.
On a plus side the chap said as far as he knew, this was a long term promotion.
HTH.

I did a clothing double up lasr month. Gave the lady £5.50 of vouchers expecting to get £11 back, and asked in horror how come I was losing out as she tore up the vouchers I'd given her. She promised me the full 50 pts get credited back to my account.

I actually went and got the clothes before exchanging my vouchers though - so I knew I'd spent enough first

And yes, Mr T have announced the double up scheme is here to stay for the forseeable future :T

bails

Hi everyone! Not caught up yet, been up to see my nephew for the last time for 9 months and am now sat on the floor in the midst of all packing having a quick nreak! The good news is that I think we could pack up our life in a day if we really needed to, always reassuring for someone like me :rotfl:
Off to catch upon your news x

Wow, so much has gone on in such a short space of time, not sure I can remember what to reply to! Sorry to hear swine flu seems to be seeping into our community, hope you all get over it soon and it's not too awful. Great to see people popping back in to say hello and update us, it's always nice to hear your news! I'm still reading everyone's plans and ideas, mostly with a little tinge of jealousy as i can't be doing those things now :rotfl:I am really looking forward to re-engaging fully with the challenge once we're back and putting all your brilliant ideas back into place :T

My dad used to bring home bats and allsorts which had got stuck/injured at work - we were often got up out of bed in the middle of the night to see them, as someone said it was such a privilege! Maybe this is where my love of animals stems from?

I am now having dreams of the cottage :eek::rotfl:OH and I have had a good chat about it all, pros and cons, and there's a lot to think about. We would both love to do it but we're being sensible about not stretching outrselves too far in such an unpredictable economy and after several years with little cash. Plans are afoot to see where it goes, so we'll see...

Right, really must get on with the packing or OH will wonder what I've been doing while he's been busy! Have a great afternoon all x

Vixstar

Sorry haven't posted for a while. Still been trying to live within my budget - which I think I'm getting the hang of and will be helped by my dining out pal getting a job in France for a bit! Going out is definitely my biggest overspend but I do enjoy it and can afford it, it justs affects my deposit savings.

With all the talk of adventurous trips on here, I have booked a week's holiday in Marrakech (at a stupidly hot time of the year - should've done a little more research...) I'm now working to get enough free cash (and the contents of my change tins) to make it cash neutral. I don't think I'll achieve it before I go but I will definitely recoup the spend over autumn. I would have never thought of doing this or even known how before joining these boards - it's amazing what a difference they can make and how they can help you focus on what's important to you.

bails

Yae Vixstar, how exciting! Marrakech is a great city, when are you going? The hottest it's been when we were there was 47 degrees, insane! Have a fab time!

Frugaldom

First of all, HHester, you don't need Excel on your computer, I don't have any of the Office suite on mine as I couldn't afford the software. But I do have all I want that does every bit as well. Just download www.openoffice.org and it has everything you could possibly need and some stuff you may not. Takes a bit of time, but it is worth it.

Thanks to whoever pointed out the 'Build a New Life in the Country' rerun, I watched it today at 12.30pm and was suitably impressed. So impressed was I, that I have now added it to my list of things to do, tagged onto my Scottish Isand hopping category. Now I just need to decide when we can go and book it well in advance.

My frugal 'get fitter, not fatter' challenge is about to step up a gear. I'm not sure if anyone is still doing this with me? My daily challenge is to get some extra exercise. It did start with the exercise bike but I've had to give that away because we had no space for it when we moved here. Stationary cycling was replaced by walking each evening. To the end of the drive and back is 2.5 miles, so I do a minimum of 35 miles per week. My first decent walk will be to climb the Merrick, a 12 mile round trip, which should be very soon. However, a friend has just done her first C25K run and I'm hooked on the idea of joining the programme. It's FREE, so no excuses for not affording it! If anyone cares to take a look at the site and then let me know if you're up for another challenge, this could be it! Site is at www.c25k.com and rather than couch to 5K, I'm calling it Computer to 5K. Let me know what you all think. I could do with losing that kind of weight!

CW & Buzz - shared cooking would be ideal once the SM's get moved in properly, but I'm not sure that SM would apreciate my lack of culinary skills what with her being a chef and all that. :rotfl:

Shaz, sorry, can't ask SM about the canner, she appears to have left. Haven't seen of heard from her today and the car's gone. Hope everything is alright.

Vixstar

Bails we are off for a week in mid August, so it'll be v hot. Currently looking for loose lightweight clothing.

Nyk "Build a New Life" has persuaded me to add Harris to my places to visit list.

shaz_mum_of__2

Hi Guys

Back from my hols and nyk its 2 weeks time i get to meet weezl and ISOM and baby fergus

Took 24 hrs on and off to catch up with whats gone on on here my best wishes go to those with swine flu problems and a bon voyage to those who are off to distant shores ...................Bails so sorry about the placement falling thru but the cottage sounds great


SM and Grandma I am soooo jealous of the pressure canner thingy.

Busy day so catch up later

Total holiday spends inc petrol food and accomadation was less than £300 wk am happy with that

Frugaldom

Vixstar wrote: »

Nyk "Build a New Life" has persuaded me to add Harris to my places to visit list.

I've already been in contact with the stars of said show - John & Harvey at Lickisto Blackhouse campsite, Isle of Harris - to make sure it's OK for friend to take her dog with us. :rotfl: Frugaldom moves to a new level - busman's holiday to see more chickens! :rotfl: Pity we couldn't all be there at the same time!

bails

Ha ha, maybe we could move the Frugal Meet to their place! I also checked if they take dogs, which they do
Welcome home Shaz, hope you had a lovely time. The meet with Weezl et al will be exciting too!
Gotta dash, eating freezer chilli to celebrate a good day's work. After dinner it's Ebay for me then a couple of episodes of The W1re - need to finish the final series before we go