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

catznine

Almost forgot to post!

Januarys budget was £350 and Januarys spend was £304.86 :j so £45.14 left!

In black is what I spent and in green is what I budgeted

Groceries - £149.27 (£200)
Dog food - £9.07 (£10)
Toiletries - £0 (£10) Plenty in to use after Christmas!
Mobile phone & ins £15.98 (16)
Charity donations £20.40 (£35) going to pay the surplus £14.60 into "Plans" Haiti fund
Presents/cards(3 birthdays) - £12.98 (£15)
Pocket money - £0 - (£20)
Clothing (bra/socks) - £31 didn't have a budget for this!:o will make one now!
Subscriptions - £28.90 - again no budget but no more due!
Petrol - £0 - (£20)
Anything else(book/heater/bun tin/postage) - £37.26 - no budget but used what I didn't spend from petrol/vits/pocket money/toiletries
Vits - £0 - (£15)

It should have been better but I couldn't resist the M & S offers (dine in for £10and 3 meats for £10) also put in an approved food order and bought myself a book (sucking eggs by Patricia Nicol from the Imperial War museum - hope I pick up enough tips to save that money back!:))

Spent £31 on clothing items - needed long warm socks for inside my wellies when walking the dog and found out I was in the wrong bra size so bought a new one (and need more asap:eek:)

The big freeze also bought our boiler to a frozen halt so bought a small fan heater £14.99
January was also a month for subscriptions, church related so didn't want to cancel, total outlay £28.90

So a few unforeseen expenses but I am so glad I'm keeping a record of where the money is going now! I also now realise the need to be looking ahead. We have 2 more birthdays in February, luckily I have the presents in the gift box so just need to make a couple of cards.

Aril - I would love it if you could put up a list of fruit and veg in season!:T

moneysavingideas

I think that I'll have to start this exercise in February and see how I go.

Erme

gilligansyle wrote: »

Apparently sometimes gloop can cause blockages, depends on how 'gloopy' you've made it.
I don't use fabric conditioner, realised ages ago, that the reason I needed it was that there was always a residue of powder left in clothes. Once I started using less, didn't need conditioner. If I want things to smell nice, I do a separate rinse and put some lavender oil in.

I've tried the free sample soap nuts, they have quite an odd smell, but I can't make up my mind whether they've got the clothes clean or its just the swishing round in the washing machine.

check out https://www.inasoapnutshell.com and go to the FAQ...that should answer your questions..

Erme

I'm going to work out my spend for January later this week (before FL)...seriously it wasn't good! I have the basics on my spreadsheet but I need to print off the statements and work out the actual. Today I'm going to charge last contract's phone and then tonight I'm going to try and unlock it and put on ebay - should pay for the sewing machine cable DV.....

Aiming for another NSD today. So that'll be 3 this week. Have already done the menu plan for tomorrow. Tomorrow it's tesco ala bus cos of the snow and ice (really can't afford to go to A+E for LOTS of reasons....) so that'll take yonks. Cos I bought extra tobacco on Sat and then was so nutty I barely used it I'll buy less this week and won't need to go urgently tomorrow. Tomorrow check the milk situ (don't think I unpacked it last week ) and go to FF in the am. So that'll be the morning and afternoon gone. At some point I'll put tithe in a bank bag so I've got it out the bank (should have been paid no later than yesterday :eek) and go from there. Have more room in the freezer cos I ate all that SOS food over the w/e so that can be used for HM. (I think that's the abbreviation).

Yep frunchkin .....thanks for that one .

The link for thrifty fun wasn't working last night so here it is - http://www.thriftyfun.com (I think from memory). Has everything. Home made gifts, home made cleaning - the works!!!

Aiming to stick to 'new' budget this week or just be £5 over....aiming anyway....

Everyone have a good day...just had my shower with non FL shampoo.....and cheap conditioner. Sainsburys do a cracking shower gel (girlie) for 10p - really fruity. Love it and it's fab on a sponge. Anyone get cheaper (bar soap...hmm might invest in that the cheap variety).

Hugs

E

FrankieM

Morning everyone,

Erme I use bath foam but put it in a shower gel bottle. It's runnier but works just as well. I'm not sure how it works out cost wise.

We are using the powdered milk for tea today. It tastes a bit funny but it'll be ok.
I'm going to pop into Aldi this evening to pick up the bits I can't wait till friday for and have a look at their Super 6. I'll also need fuel.

House work etc today and paperwork. I'm doing veggie burgers for tea tonight. I've been alternating between meat meals and veggie meal while DH has been away. I'm not sure I'll get away with it when he gets back at the end of the week.

Hope you all have a good day.

cw18

I need to do a 'quick' check of my freezers before reporting month end figures - purely as I'm sure I've used a couple of things from 'stock' without recording them as money transferred from my Grocery budget to my 'Grocery Stock Pile Fund'. In terms of money actully spent I'm vastly 'overdrawn' on my s/sheet (by £97.58), but as I've spent £106.50 more in 'one-off' payments than I put to one side for these each month I'm fine about that - and stand a good chance of 'getting out of the red' by the end of March due to not paying Council Tax this month or next.

gilligansyle

Morning all

Have been checking the budget sheet and I think I need to adjust it a bit. Main reason is that I came in £140 UNDER budget. It still looks as though I spend £850 a month and I don't have that much money! Mainly because it includes c/tax and thing that DS pays for out of his full time earnings.

Main saving has been on the T&C section. I only spend £2 out of a budget of £30. Also saved on petrol because of the snow. Grocery spend reduced from £220 to £136. I can't post it, as forgot to save it yesterday and its now got Feb budget in.

erme re the soapnuts, my question is rhetorical really. Lots of people say that actually you don't really need soap, its the swishing around that gets things clean.

cw18

gilligansyle wrote: »

I can't post it, as forgot to save it yesterday and its now got Feb budget in.

I forget who's using my s/sheet, but if you're one of them then it's easy to 'reset' the Totals page to January (unless you've recorded any spends for Feb).

Just change the value in cell A1 to 1, and you're back to as it was just before midnight.

Then once you've done your 'screen capture', just undo the edit (or re-enter the formula, which should be on the notes page).

This is what I'm doing ATM, as I still need to do the freezer checks......

gilligansyle

cw18 wrote: »

I forget who's using my s/sheet, but if you're one of them then it's easy to 'reset' the Totals page to January (unless you've recorded any spends for Feb).

Just change the value in cell A1 to 1, and you're back to as it was just before midnight.

Then once you've done your 'screen capture', just undo the edit (or re-enter the formula, which should be on the notes page).

This is what I'm doing ATM, as I still need to do the freezer checks......

Thanks for that, I am using your spreadsheet, and also thanks for whoever suggested putting it into Google docs. Means I can always find it. Will go back and do a rejig as I haven't spent anything yet!

candygirl

Not sure if I fancy driving today on this snow, albeit very light:o:oMight be goin to indoor play with DD nd DGD, and my neice and nephew:D:Dwont spend much, but do need to get some fruit n veg from ALDI, and pick up a dog bed from ARGOS as the mutts are now sleeping in the kitchen due to sofa nibbling crimes:eek::eek::eek:
Am determined to be a good girl this month, and come in on target:D:D