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

pagangirl

Hi folks

Managed another NSD yesterday, so thats 17 in all so far.

Budget for January worked out to £448.81 all in, so am really pleased. If I can keep this up, I may come in under budget of £6000.:T Thanks for the help & support on this thread.

Went out today for some fresh air - only spent £4.97on basics, but saved £3.40 so pleased with that. Glad rain went off, it meant I could walk home from shops as well - don't mind 1/2 hour walk each way as long as its dry, but its no fun in the wet
Don't need much else this week so hoping for a few more NSD's.

Candygirl - thanks for the tip re Nectar points in Arg0s - didn't know that

jbt2412 - hope your mum is ok after the op

slowlyfading - hugs to you, also, have you tried trainline.com for cheaper train fares? I use them all the time - try going for 2 single fares as sometimes cheaper than a return.

savvystudent - I had same thought as Ches, that maybe the oven temperature is wrong (not your cooking) ! You can pick up oven thermometers quite reasonably - worth checking it out.

Have a good evening all - going to checkout job sites - wish me luck !

rictus123

Hey everyone, hows it going? £104.50 out today for road tax Yearly spends now at £548.79. Hopefully manage to spend less than £40 on deisel this week and that will be my lot. Average spends of £500 a month means aslong as im under £1k at the end of this month im well on my way.

£451.21 left to see out the month.
i have -
Deisel at £60,phone £35,digs £100, £50 loan repayment, £35 credit card. £40 for a night out and £30 for valentines day. Total of £350. Well under my budget

On track for saving more than £800 a month after June

Karmacat

Erm.... I'm just realising that if I read the elec and gas meters on the 1st of each month, I can enter them online and get a reading. And do the figures that everyone else is doing. Coo..... fascinating how there's always more to learn in this dfw lark....

aeb_2

Good evening

jbt2412 - hope your mum's op goes well

nyk - left to myself I'm a complete hermit so no stories thank you - I remember a lady in my first village had three sets of twins, so ended up with 6 children under 5. She was in the paper and lots of fuss was made. I would have hated all that. I have to force myself out for the good of the children or they will never learn to socialise. My late OH wanted to run a pub which to me would have been :eek::eek::eek: so we compromised on the B&B idea.

Last night I sorted my freezer. I really will have to go proper shopping soon as I'm down to 'bottom of the freezer' meals, some funny combinations.

Today I sawed logs, I hasten to add I did this ON MY OWN with no little helpers to get in the way of the chain saw. It's only a little one and I have all the right safety kit. I did it during morning nap, it only takes 10 mins to do a big barrow full and they slept right through. The log pile resembles the ironing pile, ie a big heap ready for any unsuspecting burglar to trip over outside the backdoor.

I cooked a small brisket joint yesterday (£3*) with Yorkshire pud. We shall eat it cold with veg tonight (potatoes, carrots, parsnip from garden) and cottage pie tomorrow which will do two or three evenings but I shall freezer some so I'm not fed up. *From the local butcher whole brisket was £18 and cut into 6 joints so good value although beef isn't really for me.

I bought a yogurt and made some but it although taste was OK it was too runny.

Hardup_Hester

Evening all

I managed to put £74 into my savings account on 28th Jan (payday) which is good, sometimes I only have 18p to move to savings, It was a cheap month food wise as I worked my way through the freezer, there is still some stuff left, I also rec'd my order from Approved foods, 4 of us got together so it worked out at less than £10 each.
Hester

lynzpower

We both pay half for the bills and have our own current accounts, so really want to just include my own things - and half the bills, so feels a bit confusing...

Also how do I account for savings, e.g. putting £24 away for holiday and £8 for Christmas. The £24 is specifically to pay for a holiday that will be due in the Summer, so is kind of already spent, but the £8 for Christmas won't be used until nearer the time, but is not exactly available money..

Sounds like us! Its so confusing isnt it!

If you can find a thread from me from Sunday,. Ive sort-of explained how weve done it.

I am working only with my own personal budget (the bills account is as low as it can go and we are paid up Ins & TV license for the year)

Out of my own personal budget I also pay into a gift & holidays account ( seperate) and OH pays in the same amount. ( ours are slightly higher, 60pcm holidays & 40pcm each Xmas) Therefore, I take these monies out of the salary and then run my current account on a spend as little as poss basis.

I guess I should have decided ( maybe it would make more sense going forward to say)

January- spent 40 ox Xmas & gifts
" " spent 60 on holidays.

This money will get spent - so who cares when?! vthe good thing about having it set aside as can grab good bargains as and when throughout the year meaning no disruption to the budget on a daily basis. :beer: In saying that last year we overspent massively in december :rotfl: This year, will be better :A

I fully expect both of these budgets to be overspent this year, these are the two biggest challenges to get right down.

Fishcake_Random

TD - I love you crafty pics and your piggys. Sooooo cute.

Mooloo - Make sure you check out folksy if you get chance. Its supposed to be the uk version of Etsy.

JTB - Hope all is well with your mum and her op.

Lily - My future mum in law buys all the weekly mags religiously and gives me a massive bag every few months which keeps me occupied. I find one mag is just the right length to read in a long bubble bath lol

Fishcake_Random

Hey all,
Just finished catching up as yesterday we had a lazy sunday. A NSD spent on the sofa under a blanket with a pile of movies. We didn't even put day clothes on and it was bliss!!!!
Today I spend a whole 95p. And it was all on selfish treats lol. 75p on a litre of reduced choco milk from waitrose and 20p on a Lush bubble bar slice in a charity shop. Would have been £4 from Lush so I was very pleased.
I have decided to give up on knitting my fancy cardi as I am just not enjoying it and life is to short, so I'm moving onto my next idea of knitting squares in various stitchs and making a blanket. I have several patterns to try and I'm sure I can find some more online if I need to. Eventually I'm planning to use it as a throw/blanket in my nest at OH's shop.
Nice to see so many of us still going, Whoop whoop roll on month 2!!!!
x X x X

candygirl

Grrr so mad:mad::mad:Argos scanner thing wasn't working for my Nectar points, so had to spend real money:mad::mad:I know I can use em another time but grrrrr:mad::mad:
On the bright side, sofa will stay intact n dogs are cuddled up in bed:D:D

Happymrsh

Well, I have had a good day today. It hasn't been a NSD here today but what i did spend was well worth it.

I have been writing list for Birthdays and christmas gifts and I am going to try and put together some nice gifts with minimal spend. So i looked at Lloyds Pharmacy website at there sale items. I spent £24.73 but what i bought was worth £63.00!!!!!!! I got mainly sale items and then i found a 20% off code too!!!
I want to write what i bought as i'm really pleased with myself :j

Pack of 6 nail varnishes - will split into 2 sets - £2.40
Pack of 5 lipglosses - will split into 2 sets - £2.00
Little angel Carry case - will use as a box to fill for niece - £1.60
2 x Fairy wand - £1.20
Disney pencil and erasers set - will split into 2 sets - 60p
Microphone with stand and flower speaker with flashing lights - £23.00 full price I got it for £4.60!!!!!!
2 x ribbon pens - 80p
2x tubs of butterflies filled with bubble bath - 80p
2 x Peppa Pig Drawing sets - £1.60
Pack of 3 heart candles - will split in 3 - 80p
4 x photo frames - 96p
2 x radox for men - £1.60
2 x Radox scrubs - £1.00
2 x radox shower gel - £1.60
4 x Dove cream oil bath - £2.56
Palmolive Anti stress bubblebath - 63p

So thats the lot and I have loads now towards gifts.
I have also started making the name plaques for doors of the children i buy for. I made 2 last night and i'm very pleased with them.

Does anyone have any idea what I could do for a almost 2 year old boy and an 18 month old boy for chriatmas and a 1 year old boy for birthday. It pretty easy to make little girls hamper type sets but boys that are younger are harder to think of ideas for.

I am loving being frugal, i am really thinking about our money and feel a real sense achievement in thinking about what i spend on and trying to find bargains for things we need, and not buying the things we just want!