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

JayJay14

W ell got an email from quidco this morning and I have £25 cash back coming into the bank, so OH is going to go to the woodshop tomorrow to get planks to finish the forth deep bed. It will take some filling but we have the comtents of the compost bin (probably manky but will go at the bottom) and some soil plus the 7 boxes of compost we grew spuds in last year. the remaining money will buy some of the fruit bushes from aldi on Thursday.

OH has an appt re the dole on Wednesday and has been in touch with the mortgage insurance people so we can get that rolling, don't want to make any mistakes with that cos if he is still out of work at the end of the month we will need that paying out for sure. We have an expensive mortgage as it is a shorter term one and is at the end of a 5 year fix - so not worth pulling out of until summer when it ends. ( I just hope the interest rate doesn't rocket just cos we are going on the normal rate)

Just eaten some really dreadful fish we found in the freezer - won't buy that again:rotfl:wll have to have something decent tomorrow to compensate.

KazLA

lynzpower wrote: »

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.

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?!

Thanks, that has helped.

I think I will also work on my own personal budget, but include a category of "Bills" which will be my monthly amount that goes out to the joint account for all the DDs, then I can see the full amount I can personally survive on.

I like the reasoning of "This money will get spent - so who cares when?!", that makes sense, I can just put this money as being spent each month, and then not worry about recording when I actually use any money out of these 'pots'.

Ok, I will try to sort something out later this week! (Will also take a look for your post from Sunday)

thriftylass

Just finished booking some things for our holiday with friends next week in Germany (I know a bit late But it's difficult to arrange things with BF and friends that have kids). I would have loved to have it sorted last October :eek:when we had the idea initially.

Got a hostel in right in the centre of Berlin for 100 euros (16 euros per person including breakfeast) for the six of us in two private rooms (could've been a bit cheaper in a dorm but didn't fancy that with kids for the sake of saving another 2 euros, bit of luxury must be ) and a selfcatering apartment for the six of us near my hometown close to a cheap supermarket for three days for 225 euros (12 a night a person). Not too bad I think. The flights were not the cheapest at £137 but to get a bargain at the time you want gets more and more difficult. At least we stay 2 nights for free at my parents house after our friends leave. And most of the time we'll take trains and local transport to get around apart from maybe one day when we might hire a car. It's all coming out of saving that I planned for (well I did, BF didn't) but never mind, at least we're trying to make it as cheapish as possible and he started to cut down on some spending like pub etc to pay for it. Not ideal but could be worse, at least he's trying, if a bit late, bless.
Cannae wait.

P.s. Had my MrT delivery today, planned for the whole month and stocked cupborads and freezer up so that we don't have to do any panic shopping trips after the hols.

cw18

My eldest and youngest have just sorted out my Mothers Day present :T

Youngest (DS) is babysitting for eldest (DD) for free, so that she can take me to see The Soldiers in concert on March 21st

Makes for a very frugal pressie looking at it from DS's point of view, as DD is paying for the tickets

savingfortravel

Hi Everyone!
Am still reading but will now post weekly in order to do my bit to slow the thread down for those who are struggling to keep up (including me..really tough if you're working). :money:
My news:

• We've just paid off £2,200 off our mortgage which feels great after last year with the roof. Hoping to pay another £12k this by end of year. We'd love to get down to £35k but that would mean some planning so not sure if we will.
• Saved about £80 so far this year by stockpiling washing liquid, baked beans, tuna, gravy and stock cubes.
• We've got £30 cash and £90 M and S vouchers of our Grocery Budget money left. Have got meals sorted for Feb but need basics. Hoping it will last until April. Got another voucher that I'm currently selling on ebay and hope to get £75 or more for it which will also go towards this personal challenge. The £160 I have saved from Grocery budget is safe in my VW Campervan piggy bank to be spent on.....not sure yet (heart says flights to Aus/head says pay off some of mortgage)
• Spent £193 on clothes for school last month, :eek: need a few more cheap t-shirts tops and then that will be it for the moment..will prob need some sandals in the summer. In my defence its all for school and all second hand from ebay (except clarks shoes). I've got loads of bits to sell on ebay but need to get off my backside and do so.

SF-Lots of hugs to you. The time will start to fly past now. PM me for a chat if you feel like it.

sft

jtb2412

Thanks for all the well wishes re: mum. She's fine and I've just spoken to her (bit groggy and sounded drunk lol). In a bit of pain but to be expected. Surgeon said it all went well and they plan to get her up out of bed tomorrow ! :eek:

She's had it done with BUPA (via NHS, apparently they 'sub-contract' to cut waiting lists). She's got a nice room on her own so should get a good night's sleep.

Weigh in went well tonight, I stayed the same which was a blinkin miracle ! I need to get to goal fairly quickly as it's costing me money having a weekly weigh-in. But I do need that otherwise I won't do it .

SFT that's fantastic about the mortgage ! You've done so well considering you had all the problems with the roof :T. Amazing !

CW that's a lovely pressie ! Have told mine I'd just like brekkie in bed, a nice walk on the downs (weather permitting) and a nice dinner cooked and maybe a foot massage (not so likely lol :rotfl:). Not that my feet are manky though ! :eek: My kids just have a thing about touching other people's feet .

Happymrsh you got some great bargains there :T

Right I'm off to read my new cookbook (I bought it tonight at my WW meeting, not a very frugal buy but a 'tool' to help me along the way). I shall recoup somewhere along the line in the very near future, I promise

Ches

Bought 3 x 1000g mince for £10 from Mr S and yesterday I used 1 to make shepherds pies. With the addition of carrots,swede,value mushrooms, onions,tin baked beans with the rest of the potatoes from the big bag I bought before Christmas I stretched it to 21 portions. I was pleased with that. The rest of the mince I will batch cook into lasagne and chilli when I get freezer space.

Poundland are selling Maxwell House coffee so bought 2 jars for the storecupboard when I went in to stock up on foil trays.

I don't itemise my housekeeping but am very pleased with how the money is lasting now that I only use cash. It makes ny bank statement very easy to read as it now only shows dd's and my £80 pw.

I have to save money from the housekeeping to pay the £70 I put on the cc for two 1/2 price DB bedsets I bought from Debenhams sale. I am fairly frugal in as such that I only ever have two sets for each bed and the ones I am replacing are about 12 years old. They still have a bit of wear in them so I won't be using the new ones until they are past repair but wanted to stock up while I could get them fairly cheap.

rozeepozee

Happy February - but oh my goodness me. My mum was here for the weekend and so I've not had time to come on here and the thread's moved on by TEN PAGES :eek:. I've got no chance of catching up though I'll try and skim read some of the last couple of days as I'm curious to know how people have reviewed their first month of 2010.

Think I'll follow Saving for Travel's example and post weekly (though I do like to chip in and chat so I'll have to see how I go).

Am pleased with the new frugal me. Managed to stay within budget too. Think some goals for February will be

1. Get into a habit of using the new SC regularly (I'm still in training)
2. Finalise the sorting out of the new bank accounts
3. Continue trying to empty the freezer (we've made great inroads)
4. Finish my inventorying (is that a real word?) I found it enlightening to know what was in my cupboards and have used up some foods that haven't been used in ...years in some instances! Made some space.

Went to Costco today. In our new frugal guise it only takes half the time it used to to get round - and costs half as much :j

Also, had a growth scan on the twins today. They're developing well and it feels like there's light at the end of the tunnel now as they're likely to arrive in April so it feels like there's only Feb and March to get through. Very tired though so off to bed after me cuppa.

G'night all :T

NualaBuala

Oh dear, I feel a bit guilty for contributing to how busy this thread is. It really helps keep me focussed though. I really don't mind if nobody bothers read what I write though.

Today I spent €10.90 on a takeaway - the one I've been craving for the past two weeks. My resistance finally ran out. I did really enjoy it and there are leftovers for lunch tomorrow. It came out of my Treats budget; a pity to spend most of it so early in the month but there is still a little left. Anything leftover at the end of the month gets paid off my loans.

The left "mouse" button on my laptop has gone funny - feels as if there are 2 springs under it and one has broken. This happened last year and was covered by warranty but annoying as I was without the laptop for a fortnight. Will call them tomorrow but am afraid I'll have to pay as it's out of warranty now. Unless the repairs are guaranteed for a year or something. Fingers crossed.

Kaz, I don't include savings in my total because mine aren't proper savings for holidays or anything like that. I'm saving to pay off a 0% loan. I don't include my other loan repayment either. When these are finally cleared, then I'll be able to start saving for my rainy day fund.

I'm really pleased I took a couple of minutes to send an email to R*vita today as I've had 2 packets that were horrible. So they're sending me out a voucher - happy days!

Have done lots of freecycling, this time it's not my own stuff I'm decluttering though but still, it's all good.

Did my imeasuring and it's up on last week but still pretty good. I'm due a gas bill any day now and I can't wait to get it. I wonder am I the only person looking forward to receiving a gas bill? :rotfl:I've a feeling I've over-budgeted for my gas and this bill is likely to be the highest for the year. I want to know what I owe so I can chuck any surplus towards my loans. I've been playing with an interest calculator that shows how overpaying can shorten the term so I'm feeling very motivated to overpay as much as possible.:A

Hope you're all ok; hugs to anyone who could do with one. Have a nice evening everyone!

chinagirl

I had a NSD today, goody!
However, it has come to my attention, that having a smalll freezer means I cannot fit much in it, and as a family of 5 with me being the only Lady, I do have to pass up on BOGOF freezer items. Just won't fit in the freezer.
I had the idea of aquiring a small chest freezer to keep in the shed, and wondered, would it cost much to run? Would the saving of having the freezer space for bargains be worth the extra electricity running it?