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

[Deleted User]

Just wanted to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We're going to my parents for lots of yummy food and wine , lets hope Daisy actually sleeps through :rolleyes:

Loopy xx

P.S. VERY excited for new challenge to start tomorrow, I'm using my new Cath Kidston notebook to record spends (Christmas present)...

Paul - there is a new thread but I dont know how to do clever links :o

Blairweech

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

I too want to thank everyone on this thread. Your kind words, thoughtful gestures, funny anecdotes and tearful stories have all made 2009 an unforgettable year for me. I am particularly looking forward to 2010, as I have many exciting things planned, and I cannot imagine a group of friends I would rather share all that with.
You are all fabulous, wonderful, inspiring people and I wish each and every one of you all the health, happiness and good fortune the universe can muster in 2010.


SFT - I am going to Sri Lanka for 2 weeks at the end of Jan, my half brother is getting married over there Now I have my passport, I can actually get silly excited about it!

Brighton_belle

paul - go to Nyk's last post a bit higher up the page -she does a link to it. I think it is also on page 1 now too.
Good luck - and well done on the changes so far

Skint_Lynne

Brighton_belle wrote: »

:rotfl:Lynne, I know we are trying to befrugal, but don't you think your DH will notice: there is only so much gravy can disguise :rotfl:

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
He might not notice tomorrow if he is hungover, but probably will!!:rotfl:

Skint_Lynne

I hope everyone has a wonderful new year. We are having a quiet one, I'll be off to bed soon after the bells and DH is having a few drinks. Younger brother is having a party, but we are not going, I would be accused of looking at the amount that the sisters are drinking, we must be getting old.:rolleyes:

Thanks for the support on the thread to all of you and will 'see' you over on the new thread. xx

Frugaldom

That's it, the final frugal dinner of 2009, made up of haggis, mash and err... spaghetti hoops because the turnips are frozen solid in the ground! Christmas pudding and custard makes sure I'm maxed out on carbs just in case the festive spirit decides to visit later on tonight! :rotfl:

It used to be an annual tradition of mine to have open house after midnight, when folks would start first footing, bringing with them their lump of coal and bottle of festive spirits. Before the serious celebrations progressed further, we'd all have a bowl of homemade soup. When living in Aberdeenshire, stovies were the favoured Hogmanay snack, usually served with oatcakes and beetroot. Yum! I kind of miss the days when celebrating Hogmanay and New Year was taken for granted. I just can't believe that it's 10 years since the BIG party! :eek:

Hope everyone has a fabulous time tonight! Cheers, Happy New Year when it comes and I'll see you all on the new thread HERE

looby-loo_2

Hi, Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy and Peaceful New Year!

See you on the new thread.

cw18

Right - time to report my end of year budget status



The column headed 'Orig' is what my budgets were set to as of 1st Jan 2009, so it shows just how far out I was with some of them

Council Tax : Underspend of £22.86, but this will be due (at least in part) to my single person discount from mid Nov 2008 not being applied until December 2008 - so I'd actually overpaid in November, which was then deducted from Dec & Jan meaning my Jan payment was lower than it should have been.

Water : Underspend of £38.35. This is due to a drop in my Direct Debit from September (was £25, then one month of £11.73 and three of £16.64). Reduction partly due to my having been in credit at my previous review, but also due to one less person in the house using the 'little room' from Nov 2008 (so less used than they forecast).

Gas/Electricity : Underspend of £46. Again in the main due to one less person (TV not constantly left of standby, and no nagging that the heating needed turning up :rolleyes2 )

C/H Cover : Underspend of £1.47. Partly due to rounding, but also because of the reduction in VAT through the year.

Bldgs/Contents Ins : Underspend of £51.02. Totally due to cancelling my renewal and taking out a 'new' policy with the same company !!! Haven't applied the £30 cashback I'm hoping for either, so could really be declared at £30 less on the assumption it will clear :T (The cashback on my car insurance did, and I did the same thing with the same company)

Phone & B/band : Overspend of £22.61. Due to me incorrectly calculating what I'd owe my old B/band provider when I switched in January.

TV Licence : Underspend of £4.56. My calculations caused this, as I only did a very rough guesstimate of what my payments would be from May.

Mobile Phone : Underspend of £40.19. Again down to my calculations (thought I'd owe one more payment on my contract than I did). Could have been slightly more of an underspend if I'd switched to PAYG instead of a much lower priced monthly contract, but I'm happy to pay £5/month against £10 every 12-13 weeks (piece of mind that I won't run out of credit if I break down somewhere).

Endowment : Bang on, but so it should be as I know the premiums on this

Window Cleaning : Underspend of £3, due to over-estimating mid-year price rise.

Gutter Cleaning : Underspend of £51. Very surprised by this one, as the quote we got from the same people a few years back was around the £70 mark

Dog Expenses : Underspend of £108. Another surprise, especially since I had to start buying a specialist food in October......

Vets Bills : Overspend of £579.30 :eek: But as I had £655+ plus of emergency bills, this means I actually over estimated the routine stuff. So not as bad as it could have been...

Presents : Underspend of £51.16, but this is due to holding back some of what I bought to give in 2010 (so I've shifted the cost of them to show against my 2010 budget) and to having removed two people from my 'must buy for' list

Car Insurance : Underspend of £6.68 - after applying my £20 cashback, so could have been a £13.32 overspend if that hadn't cleared. Guess my estimate wasn't too far out which ever way I'd played that one

Breakdown cover : Bang on, but as I get my renewal notification in December for payment in January I can cheat and be accurate on this one

Road Tax : Bang on, but as it's another January bill it's another it's easy to be accurate on

MOT : Underspend of £10. This was a rough guesstimate, so happy with that

Service : Underspend of £10. Ditto MOT comment

Petrol : Underspend of £186.87, so a huuuge help to balance out the vets bills.
I've actually costed this out over the year, and I've used 323.16 litres to cover 2737 miles. This gives me an average of 8.47 miles per litre, and a cost of 11.44p a mile.
The biggest shock was the increase in prices..... On 31/12/08 I paid 82.9p/litre, but today (exactly a year on, and at a filling station from the same supermarket chain) I paid 104.9p/litre - a rise of 22p (or just over 26.5%) :mad:

Groceries : Underspend of £120.71 -- but actually 79p over where I wanted to be, as this is one category I continually reduced throughout the year to try and cover shortfalls elsewhere. But I'm not going to beat myself up over 79p - especially knowing how much of what I've bought (especially this last month) won't actually be eaten until 2010 :rolleyes2

Toiletries/Cleaning : Overspend of £69.65. This budget was a total guess, as it's not an area I've ever kept track of before. But I've stock-piled loads of washing powder, washing up liquid and surface cleaners (from store close downs) - and probably have enough of some of these to take me well into 2011 (yes, 2011 ). I've also bought a load of carpet shampoo that should last me into 2011 and beyond.....

Anything else : Overspend of £21.84, but -- given I've included £72 of expenses that only came about with starting a new job (trousers, shoes and a new iron) that I excluded for a while -- I'm actually really pleased with how this one panned out :T



Overall, my bottom line was £8k for the year, and I've come in at £7941.53

:T:j:beer::j:T

Skint_Lynne

Cheryl,

Well done you! I think that you should be really proud of yourself for doing so well. The way you keep your records is fantastic and I know that you are a role model for so many that follow this thread. (me included). xx

grandma247

well done cheryl you must be really pleased with that.

I have not added up what I have spent over the whole year yet but the months are done. I will get it done soon hopefully by weekend. I know it wont take long once I start.
I have had dgd1 here this week and havent had much time, also had 2 gds tonight for a few hours.
I was up till 4 am yesterday and bottled 44 jars of bean soup/stew and a jar of beef stock.