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

katey1979

Frugaldom wrote: »

Good luck Katey, if it helps you clear your debts and make a few savings then feel free to post here. I think £69 per week for non-bill related items sounds loads but I guess that'll depend on your level of socialising and what you see as essential in your week to week living. With regards to soup, I find it much cheaper to make at home than to buy from supermarkets.

I agree that it is a lot, but the cost of getting to work comes out of that (£12 a week), nappies and wipes (£5 ish a week), so that brings it down to £52 a week, which is for any additional travel (we don't have a car, so I mean ANY additional travel, and family all live away), food for the 3 of us, cleaning stuff and toiletries, clothes and shoes, going out and entertainment for the little one.... still seems like it should be easily doable, but the fact I have run up debt shows I haven't been doing it up until now!

Today I spent £1.99 on 24 blank cards at The Works, to use for cards for any occasion, £3.45 getting to town and back, £4.00 in poundland on organix snacks for the little lad, a present for someone and toothbrushes and £2.30 in Greggs, which was an unnecessary spend, but I had given blood and felt light headed so needed lunch for me, and bought for the person who had looked after DS whilst I had been donating too. So £10.64 spend today. Tomorrow should be a NSD or very little, so don't feel too bad about it.

£14.79 spent this week so far out of my £69.23 budget.

rictus123

Hey everyone hows it going? Didnt manage to get on last night, had a lovely time at the gfs, been together 2 years as of yesterday! Ate lots of food:) 2 NSDs to not down so upto 12 for the month and 36 for the year, not bad if i say so myself Its payday in just 2 days which is fantastic as i only need another £40 or so for desiel for this month. Might put my van in for mot next week even though its not out until next month, give me time to put all the wrongs right! Might be better off getting another(really cheap) van. Not someone elses junk though. A night relaxing infront of the tv ahead of me

katey1979

Congrats on the anniversary Rictus!

Going to put some stuff on ebay tonight to try and get a bit more cash towards paying of the one CC, hopefully it will sell quickly.

Also, I noticed lots of people knit- what are you making at the moment? We have a new niece, so have made a blanket, bolero and midway through a carrot orange coloured cardi as SIL is fed up of pink already! Then cousin is having a baby, so it will be a tank top and blanket for him too. I am not quick enough to knit adult items!

[Deleted User]

katey1979 wrote: »

Congrats on the anniversary Rictus!

Going to put some stuff on ebay tonight to try and get a bit more cash towards paying of the one CC, hopefully it will sell quickly.

Also, I noticed lots of people knit- what are you making at the moment? We have a new niece, so have made a blanket, bolero and midway through a carrot orange coloured cardi as SIL is fed up of pink already! Then cousin is having a baby, so it will be a tank top and blanket for him too. I am not quick enough to knit adult items!

Right now I'm knitting a dress for a teddy, a pair of socks in lovely alpaca wool, and I'm crocheting squares to make throws for the sofas as we have two naughty dogs who climb on the sofa when no-one's looking. We know this because of the forensic evidence (muddy paw-prints and lashing of dog-hairs)

candygirl

katey1979 wrote: »

Congrats on the anniversary Rictus!

Going to put some stuff on ebay tonight to try and get a bit more cash towards paying of the one CC, hopefully it will sell quickly.

Also, I noticed lots of people knit- what are you making at the moment? We have a new niece, so have made a blanket, bolero and midway through a carrot orange coloured cardi as SIL is fed up of pink already! Then cousin is having a baby, so it will be a tank top and blanket for him too. I am not quick enough to knit adult items!

It's free listing tomoz n fri on ebay hun;):D

pagangirl

Hi all - up to 24 NSD so far, so pleased with that, total spends today was 30p tangerine ! Total for week is £5.53- woohoo

Dinner in oven sausage casserole, pud in oven pear crumble. May need to go out tomorrow but depends on weather - snow forecast??? This morning, woke up to hard white frost, went really dark round 9ish, looked out window - thick fog - dunno where that came from. Lifted earlier tho. Temp am inside 9-13*. Went out to post office, was that cold out, felt like a sauna in here when I got back, so hot opened all windows !

Been a sorting out large walk in cupboard in hall, everything ragged out, most of it still in living room. Old stamp collection going as donation to Dogs Trust, Surroundsound system/boom box going on freecycle if I can sort out which are the correct wires for it. Ex left bagful wiring, scart sockets etc.will be fun trying to sort thru that

Can anyone point me in the right direction for advice on an Ecosavers Powermeter - have acquired the meter, but no instructions. :mad: Anyone else got one - heeelpplease.

Thanx to mama67 for soup recipe,
fishcake - hope you get the flat downstairs - everything crossed
cw18 - go girl - enjoy, whatever it turns out to be !
Hugs & sorry if left anyone out !

rozeepozee

ceridwen wrote: »

...and further on that washing machine. I just googled for the price of that washing machine.....make that "...and the rest" on top of that figure I thought. Looks like about £700-£1,000 of my savings is about to go west...



I need a strong drink...(and any helpful comments about a cheap supplier of Miele washing machines....)

Ceridwen, I'm with you on the Miele products. When we replaced our dishwasher we bought a Miele and it was painful but it seemed impossible to buy them secondhand/reconditioned as they just don't seem to break down.

rozeepozee

Frugaldom wrote: »

On another note, does anyone want a 20 year-old DS to borrow for a few weeks whilst I try to get back to sanity? Mine is driving me nuts! He's now come in and announced that he NEEDS to eat at LEAST 240g of chicken for lunch EVERY day - that's 2 large chickens per week along with all his other meals PLUS he spends a fortune on ridiculous whey shakes and supplements amongst other stuff and he's on minimum wage with a car to run! He says it's nothing to do with my budget but overlooks the fact that he has made no start, whatesoever, to saving for his own future. He can't see why he needs to do this when he's only 20! :mad: Apologies for the rant but I am so annoyed by this that it was either put it here or else lunge at him! :mad: Breeeeeeeathe....

I'm sorta thinking the lunge option might have been quite satusfying, no? :rotfl:

top_drawer_2

hey everyone!

Not a good day today as I had to go to my Grandad's funeral ;(( it has been quite frugal though as I got fed at the wake and my dad drove me back home again.

I've still not decided what to do re the telephone table as I am finding it quite useful as a bedside table ... but still not 100% I actually "like" it.

Chika - Buying my little furry babies, guinea pigs in my case was one of the best things I have ever done - I love them to bits and they certainly brighten up any day for me :j:j However, they can also be very hard work as they certainly know how to make a mess and are adamant they wont be toilet trained :eek:

Thank you for the suggestions on the telephone table - I am going to sleep on it and make a final desision tommorrow. I still havent received my dress yet ;(( but its a silky, V necked, circle patterned. It looked lovely on the picture and I thought I could conbine it with my knee high boots for going out, maybe with a cardigan if it cold ...

I am being quite well organised at the moment and managed to buy a really nice mothers day card in the pound shop in town last week. I meant to mention it - I also got my Nephew a card. Both are large cards and are handcrafted with "sticky outy" bits on them (my nephews phase). Theyre really nice!! I got one for my sister too as she has had a rough time this past few months and didnt know if her husband would do all that stuff for her. Its my little nephews bday and I have asked my sis what he may like and it seems garden play things would be popular .... so gonna hunt around for a code/voucher to help cut that cost....

Katey - the best soups I have ever tasted are the baxters range, they are very filling too as they contain chunks of potato/leek etc.

Fishcake - the new flat sounds perfect for you!! Have you thought about decorating ideas? I love homify-ing things, Homebase and the local junk/outside market are two of fav shops!

Queen-Bee - lol at least he enjoyed it!! You must be a very good cook :T:T

So tired today, curled up in front of the telly watching Grand Designs and don't think I will be moving far tonight:(

TD

JayneC

Hi all,

Not posted for a while but more or less read up. My computer is sadly terminally ill and ridiculously slow so been popping on at work mostly!! Have bitten the bullet and bought a new one which will be ready to collect on Saturday. That's £650 that wasn't budgeted for, BUT not so long ago there'd be no way I could have afforded that without getting into debt! Am getting it built rather than 'off the shelf' so I know it'll have everything we need. It's very much a family computer used for all sorts of things so although it's very expensive it should cope with the abuse:D

DS rang today asking to borrow £300 for deposit for student house for next year!! Do they ever stop costing you money?! He's promised to pay me back when his next instalment of his loan comes through and he's usually very good at repaying (unlike his sisters!) so have agreed. That's all my savings gone now!

Other than that am doing very well, my freezer has never been so full! Managed to get 6 x 2ltr bottles milk for 49p each in reduced section of Sainbugs last weekend so that's taken up nearly a full shelf in the freezer. I'd got coupons for £6 off £30 shop so have been shopping there last couple of weeks and have received 6 more coupons today so looks like I'll be going there for next few weeks - feeling a bit guilty though as I'm really trying to support local shops and only shop at supermarket once a month - maybe I'll give some of coupons to DD.

Me and the 2 DDs at home have given up meat for lent (and so by default so has DS2 and DGS, lol) so am hoping that will bring down shopping bill a bit.

Frugaldom - re making presents - if you're not very crafty have you thought about doing something with plants, some strawberries in a pot or a pot herb garden maybe? I'm thinking about doing this for MIL birthday soon.

CW hope all goes well with your date that's not a date XX

See you all soon x