FRUGAL LIVING CHALLENGE 2010, part 1. (Living on £4,000 a year)

debtmess

ive umed and arghed over exactly what to include but ive sat down this afternoon and and aming for 8.5k for the year

as im only paying the car insurance till march as a favour for my brother when he will then have a years no claims im not including it, im also going to cancel rac and tell him to sort his own as the above he hasnt contributed for for the lst year

my monthly direct debits amount to £358.12 each month ive included my rent amount of £65.00 thats not covered by lha

everything else is included this being tv licence,sky,gas and elec,milk delivery,02 mobile,bt and thames water im going over the next week or so look at how i can decrease things, the 02 im tied into for next 22 months but i have been told you can downgrade package after 9 months (can anyone clarify that ?) ive had sky since march 2008 not sure how long that contract is but if i cancelled would my box and card work like freeview as my area doesnt get a good enough signal

food shopping ive allowed £150 a month thats me and 3 boys that then ive ive calculated right leaves £2,402.56 or 200.00 each month for everything else

£350.00 each month is a nice round figure to take out the bank each month if i then split by 4 thats around £87 a week for food and anything else, anything left will then be put into a pot untill needed, some months are longer than others so i will work my way round that, and i will draw above amount out 1st of each month (all being well)

im sure ive gone wrong or forgotten something but fingers crossed i havent

made a huge cottage pie whilst working this all out, cooking nicely in the oven and will do today and tomorrow as no room in freezer, banana custard for afters


on the thing of stardrops ive never tried for washing up but once the fairy runs out i will try stardrops ive used it for most other things, as i dont use an oven much i cannot comment on it for cleaning that but the starclean which im sure is white is fantastic for things like mucky ovens for the racks soak in the bath with bio washing powder overnight and muck will shift off, its also a good way of cleaning oven trays and such like .


would anyone know, does seatsalt, olive oil and say a fragrance oil make a good body scrub ? ive used olive oil for hair but never for anything else ive got all 3 of the above and it would save my buying a bottle next time i go to lush

Frugaldom

debtmess wrote: »

...£350.00 each month is a nice round figure to take out the bank each month if i then split by 4 thats around £87 a week for food and anything else, anything left will then be put into a pot untill needed, some months are longer than others so i will work my way round that, and i will draw above amount out 1st of each month (all being well)

It's much safer to work it out by annual divided by number of days then worked into a 'per week' amount of you're paid weekly. That way you don't get caught short! £350 per month is £4200 per year, or £80.54 per week. Budgeting for £87 per week, as you suggest, could result in an overspend of £336.84 over the term of a year. :eek:
It's the pennies that make up the pounds, remember.

NualaBuala

debtmess wrote: »

would anyone know, does seatsalt, olive oil and say a fragrance oil make a good body scrub ? ive used olive oil for hair but never for anything else ive got all 3 of the above and it would save my buying a bottle next time i go to lush

Yes definitely! I use all kinds of oils, and any old salt. I tend not to make up big batches, I've just mixed a bit in a bowl before using. But I have an empty Colman's tartar sauce jar that I might use now. I find it leaves my hands so lovely and soft after using it too! I tend to add lavender as that's my favourite scent.

I found out recently that coconut oil and olive oil can penetrate the hair, rather than just sitting on the surface like mineral oil so I use them to condition. Not sure if they penetrate skin but they feel very nice on it anyway.

debtmess

nykmedia wrote: »

It's much safer to work it out by annual divided by number of days then worked into a 'per week' amount of you're paid weekly. That way you don't get caught short! £350 per month is £4200 per year, or £80.54 per week. Budgeting for £87 per week, as you suggest, could result in an overspend of £336.84 over the term of a year. :eek:
It's the pennies that make up the pounds, remember.

i was worried about my adding up and was right to be duh at me

cheers for sorting that one out x, its as easiy to draw weekly on say mondays as once a month

thank you x

ceridwen

One thought re those wishing to grow food in containers - betcha you hadnt thought of your old childrens paddling pools:

http://www.technologyforthepoor.com/UrbanAgriculture/Garden.htm

shaz_mum_of__2

Crikey the threads going at some pace

First spend of 2010 today milk and a paper (only buy one on a saturday for the tv guide and crossword )

Been given 5 bags of cranberries by an aunt who goes whoopsy hunting 1p a bag!! i had a few cooking apples left so making a cranberry and apple jam/jelly as i have 7 jars cranberry sauce i made before christmas i have frozen a couple of bags with a view to making more mincemeat when i stock up on mixed fruit.

The dehydrator is on drying whoopsy leeks and peppers that i was given too along with some celeriac i had languishing in the fridge so i will have the makings of a mixed veg soup with some added approved foods broth mix !!

DS is cooking us dinner tonight as a thank you because his leave ends tomorrow, don't tell him but i will miss him.

Last essay for a while finished today..........phew just a short presentation to get done for the 18th which should be easy enough


Right jam needs me TTFN

Shaz

grandma247

debtmess wrote: »

ive had sky since march 2008 not sure how long that contract is but if i cancelled would my box and card work like freeview as my area doesnt get a good enough signal

Ring them they should put it to freeview. I think one of my daughters did that. We have sky freeview in the front room. We bought it as freeview and once the free four months package was up we were very firm about just having freeview even though they were offering a £3 a month sweetner.

Please please make sure you use essential oil and not room fragrance oil. Ds1 and dil bought what they thought was essential oil because the bottle looked the same but had nasty skin burns from putting it in the bath.Dil was not wearing her glasses when she got it and ds did not look at the bottle.

nikki20022008

I didn't have a NSD after all spent £16.80 in mr T mostly on whoopies which in the long run has saved me money and my freezer is at breaking point lol and £9.36 on toiletries I must admit I bought Aussie shampoo which was a bit expensive 2 for £5 so I did save £3 on them but they smell lush and I have justified it but it being my little treat for the month :rolleyes: I'm going to get Nicorete patches tomorrow and going to quit the fags they are my biggest spend so if anyone fancies joining me I'll be starting on Monday. :eek: so get ready for the mood swings lol

cw18

nikki20022008 wrote: »

I'm going to get Nicorete patches tomorrow and going to quit the fags they are my biggest spend so if anyone fancies joining me I'll be starting on Monday. :eek: so get ready for the mood swings lol

Have you asked your GP for these? I believe it's possible to get them on prescription, and they used to work out cheaper that way (even if you have to pay for prescriptions)

nikki20022008

ohhh no I haven't CW I will book an appointment and start later than planned but at least I'll save some money I don't pay prescriptions so free is good lol Thanks for the advice