£160 for the month...

sunshinesheli

Hi all, after taking into account rent, and main bills, I have £160 to live on for the month. Is this possible?!

I will have to pay out £30 at the dentist, a £25 phone bill, as well as driving lessons, train tickets to my partners, and spending money for a trip that has already been paid for (thankfully!)

After all of that has been spent, I think I will be left with next to nothing - any advice on how I can go a month without spending money on anything else (such as food, other random travel costs etc) ??

Sorry if this seems frivilous, but I am desperatley trying to limit my debts (which are currently a couple of grand :eek: )

Miss_Piggy_2

This seems to be my answer to everything at the moment (;)) but why don't you try ebaying some stuff? Its surprising how quickly it can mount up.

Also, may sound mean but if you really will have no money left for food etc then I would consider suspending the driving lessons for a month or so.

Miss P
xx

bunny999

I'd forget the driving lessons. Have you got much food in the house ? There are lots of great meal ideas on the OS board.

rog2

It's going to be difficult, shel.

Perhaps, now is the time to be thinking of 'car booting' or 'ebaying' ?

Is it possible to postpone the driving lesson?

I wish you well - I earnt £209 last month, so I know what you are going through. :beer:

sunshinesheli

As much as it would solve my problem this month, I can't suspend the driving lessons, as I have my test veryveryvery soon - as it is all booked and paid for, I consider my lessons up to it to be kinda essential! *sigh*

I have lots of pasta and rice and things, but not much to go with it!

I will look into ebaying, but not done it before, I don't think it will make much difference.. Still, every little helps eh? Thanks for the quick replies guys!

Tixy

Could you cancel the dentist appointment and reschedule for next month - I know its only a temporary reprieve but might help a bit.

Any chance of travelling by bus instead of train? Or asking your partner to visit you?

BeautyandtheBeast_3

go to asda and get some sauces for a couple of quid and some garlic bread for 50p for two - go get some eggs (my butcher sells 6 organic free range for 85p)
handful of cheese couple of mushrooms - then you have omlette!

miggy

BeautyandtheBeast wrote: »

go to asda and get some sauces for a couple of quid and some garlic bread for 50p for two - go get some eggs (my butcher sells 6 organic free range for 85p)
handful of cheese couple of mushrooms - then you have omlette!

Garlic bread is cheaper to make then to buy, even at that price, if you have garlic of some sort and butter or marg!
Remember to check your supermarket for discounted breads/fruit/veg in the evening. It varies from one to another but here it happens around 4pm then significant discounts at 8pm. Well worth it if you can buy bread for 10p or 20p.
Do a 'leftovers challenge' - there is a thread somewhere - and if you're brave enough, tell your friends you are doing it and ask for donations! (though it might mean braving mouldy fridges!) There are two or three frugal threads I currently don't have links for but which are fabulous. I'll look them up for you in a minute.
You could consider becoming a freegan?
Before I go to find the threads, one last thing - please don't starve yourself. Better to increase the debt a little than make yourself unwell.
Good luck with it - will be cheering you on!

WillpowerFree

If i were you i'd ask your partner to visit you this month. With the food, it's a lot cheaper to make your own sauces and if you batch cook nothing will go off. I batch cook little pasta ready meals for my son (he's 14months) so there is always a ready supply in the freezer. For example, if you got a couple of tins of tomatos, a red pepper and a couple of courgettes you could make about 6 portions of quite a nutritious sauce for next to nothing. I had no idea how to cook till i started visiting the old style board so i recommend you go there and take a look.

Also maybe postpone the dentist?

BeautyandtheBeast_3

or even making your own bread. we make our own cob and loaves plus taste much nicer than shop bought

miggy

Links as promised:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1157641 or anything by Weezl, she's fantastic!
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=20967 (Store cupboard challenge)
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1129333(£20 to feed a family of 4 for a month)
and in case you want to venture into ebaying:http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=343625
Inspirational: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=536960
And the funniest thread of all time in case you need a laugh:http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=741653
Sorry those are all in longhand - am in a rush and my IT skills are very rusty so not feeling like doing hyperlinks!