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

FrankieM

Morning,
It's snowed here and I can't decide whether to try to drive to church or not. I currently only have one car so don't want to do any damage to it. Of course if I don't decide soon I'm not going to have to bother. I've sent the DS out to look at the main roads and see if they are clear.

I've got loads of veggie lasagne left from yesterday to freeze and I made a sultana & weetabix cake and a banana & weetabix cake and also some chocolate croncrete, so that should be lunches taken care of this week.

I think I'm going to do sausage casserole for dinner today, though I'm aware I did that last sunday...oh well

Other than that, I'll be getting some washing done and buying some milk from the local spar, though I have powdered milk in the cupboard so I mat just use that.

Hope you all have a good Sunday.

purple_angel_3

Morning everyone,

Today I need to update my budget sheet, hope to come in under budget, I have had a few days where I have bought lunch out and not taken lunch to work, not to unhappy because I have not spent as much as I would have spent in previous months and I have managed 15 NSD this month.

This challenge has made me start to look at my life in a new way, pleased with the start I have made.

Back later with figures.

Hope everyone has a lovely day.

purple_angel.

FrankieM

DS is back from his research. I've made the decision to stay at home. He is currently attempting to make a fire. It could be interesting lol.
So powdered milk for cups of tea and staying warm is on today's agenda.

I forgot it was the end of the month...my figures aren't very good but I have enough meat for most of the year as well as coal and I've taxed a vehicle. I'm pretty sure it'll all work out in the end.

As far as the laundry gloop....how do you store it? Would milk bottles be an ok way?

knithappens

11p under budget for jan woohoooo, made it.

mama67

So far we have spent £1047.09 which is under 1/12 of the annual total but I only have 4 weeks in Jan for weekly payments, so this will be adjusted as the year goes on.

The grocery budget is approx £100 over but I do have loads of meat in the freezer and tins/packets in the store cupboard thanks to whoopsies and approved foods. This will aslo hopefully be adjusted as the year progresses

We dont have any more snow this morning but do have a hard frost and are still into minus temps; as is it sunny i put my laundry out onto the line and by the time I had pegged the last teatowel the first was frozen.

candygirl

Morning all:D:D
Was woken by Boo shouting "Peppa" at 5.30am, so she's had 2 breakfasts and is watching her Peppa Pig box set, which I know off by heart now;)
It's snowed here, so don't think i'll be venturing out, as the roads really slippy, so I will have my final NSD which puts me exactly on target:D
I know I have gone slightly over budget this month, as have had clothes spends, which I wont normally have, so i'm ok with that;)
To whoever was asking, I grated my soap in my kenwood food mixer, and think it's ok:o:o
Have fabby frugal days everyone:A

ifonlyitwaseasier

ok have decided will take 1/4 of the gloop bloock and dilute it and keep the other blocks to dilute as and when i use up the first lot, i think i can safely say it was tooooooooooo much soap!!!

TY Ceridwen

Candygirl, wish i had, used a cheap grater and did it by hand

Frugaldom

First of all, IOIWE, don't chuck out the 'gloop' :eek: It will be fine stored as it is and just make up smaller batches as you need it. I have done about 10 or 12 litres of the stuff and that, along with the soapnuts, will last me all year. Likewise with the washing up liquid. I store it in a 6 pint plastic milk container and the laundry gloop in 5 litre plastic screw top tubs - mine originally held whey/power shake, as DS and his gym buddies all use it. (My budget only includes DS in household accounts, as he works fulltime and is, otherwise, independent.)

It's white here after a sprinkling of snow late last night, temperature has crawled up to -2 and the sun is now shining. Freezing or not, the wind is blowing, so today's washing is out on the line.

Just did a quick check on the budget and this is how mine is looking:

2010 BUDGET: £4000
Groceries £67.32/£900
Toiletries £6.32/£35
Cleaning £0.98/£5
Electricity £210/£1,040
Coal £0/£115
Logs £40/£160
Internet £19.99/£160
Mobiles £0/£40
Telephone £0/£140
TV Licence £0/£145
Clothing & footwear £0/£40
Gifts £0/£250 - (planning on handmaking most + all cards)
Extras £6.50/£190 (inc. NTS membership)
Travel £0/£200
Insurance £0/£45
Life Assurance £15/£180 (Tax free savings bond)
Livestock costs £0/£350
TOTAL £358.81/£4000
BALANCE = £3641.19

This includes absolutely everything relating to my household, except rent & council tax, plus extras like the savings bond and our National Trust membership. We don't pay water rates because we don't have mains water and council tax is paid in a lump sum at start of year to take advantage of the discount. (Apparently, not all councils offer this discount, though.) Electricity is high as we don't have central heating, I cook every day, rely on electric heaters and immersion for hot water and 2 of us work fulltime from home.

Re the posting about planting & veg growing, there's a FREE downloadable chart listed in HANDY LINKS section of page 1, as are the links to greenfingered moneysaving etc.

jtb2412

Waiting for the ground to defrost here so I can get in the garden and plant my fruit bushes ! DS and DH have come home from footie, back at 11.30 once the ground has improved a bit. Morning so far has been spent catching up with a bit of housework/tidying up.

Me and DH out for our meal at posh restaurant tonight (competition win :j) and I'm really looking forward to it. We'll have to put a little bit towards it as it doesn't cover drinks or service charge but I've budgeted for that.

I came in under budget for January (overspends in some categories, but under in others). Next two months should be quite high though as I'm due to pay gas/elec/phone which are always a big chunk of budget when they do appear.

Looking forward to my first full week at home and planning to get lots done. Must have a look at this gloop stuff and order soapnuts and do a few other things I've been meaning to do for ages !

Hope everyone has a good Sunday, will try and catch up later.

Karmacat

I'm getting my act together again, and now that I have more financial information, and my finances for some of my work have stabilised, I've actually done another budget. Which isn't too bad. Can I stick to it, tho? I don't have much trouble day to day, tho its very tight - the trouble is the bigger things - my sky box (I don't *pay* for sky any more, but I use the box as a freeview box) is about to die, a message keeps telling me, and I don't want to be without the freebie channels. So I have to buy a freeview box. Might look on the giveaway site thing for one (oh god, I've got dementia, I can't remember the name...). You know what I mean (I hope).

I went to a meeting yesterday of an organisation I belong to - just paid for a single bus ticket, and a woman on the bus who was getting off gave me her daily ticket (which mean my bus ride home was free). Random kindness and paying it forward..... it was a lovely thing to do.