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

XSpender

Morning All

The iron tablets are finally working their magic as I seem to have my energy back. Not much frugalising has been going on here over the last couple of weeks but not much unplanned spending either as I have been too tired and can't walk far with my poorly back.

I must be on the mend as I have managed to make a decent dinner for most of this week and not just stuck something on a baking tray out of the freezer:o

I am knitting a blanket for baby. It is just knit but it is a lovely snowflake wool, soft and fluffy. It is my first attempt at knitting in over 27 years:eek:

I sat and went through our income and expenditure based on my mat benefits for the rest of the year and was over the moon to see what we could achieve this year as we will have cleared the IVA. My redundancy money will clear our IVA and we should be able to save enough to pay off DH HP and save over £2500 by the end of the year. This will leave us with a secured loan and a mortgage both of which are manageable and it also means that I can take my time about returning to work as we can manage on DH income and a bit of benefits. DH couldn't believe it when I told him, we have never been so well off!:j

I still think I can make some more savings on the grocery budget and in other areas so am aiming to save £3000.

I don't post much but read all posts and couldn't imagine achieving this if it wasn't for all your great tips and ideas and encouragement. Thanks guys:T

Off to Mr S today but I have really gone off shopping there as after my mouldy bread fiasco I have had a mouldy fruit fiasco this week but it is just at the end of the road. Will get spuds we need for toinght as BIL coming for tea but get any extra from Mr M on Saturday.

I need to look out some things to sell this weekend and get some books loaded on green met or amazon as I have made an extra £450 this year so far.

Off to make another cup of tea!

XS

homegrown_life

I'm off to Aldi now too...

cw18

Been to A!di - got the plum and cherry trees I was after, plus a couple of other garden bits..... none of which come out of my £8k budget

Also picked up a couple of laundry bits - a spray stain remover (had forgotten how hard it is to keep white collars clean, and both my work shirts look like they'll need attention paying to those and breast pocket tops once in a while) and a new clothes airing system (can't get things dry fast enough on my current one which is getting past its best - nor does it have enough space when DS decides to dump his washing on me with it need for it ALL back for packing the following morning :eek: - so got the one with arms that you put clothes hangers onto)

mama67

cw18 wrote: »

Been to A!di - got the plum and cherry trees I was after, plus a couple of other garden bits..... none of which come out of my £8k budget

Also picked up a couple of laundry bits - a spray stain remover (had forgotten how hard it is to keep white collars clean, and both my work shirts look like they'll need attention paying to those and breast pocket tops once in a while) and a new clothes airing system (can't get things dry fast enough on my current one which is getting past its best - nor does it have enough space when DS decides to dump his washing on me with it need for it ALL back for packing the following morning :eek: - so got the one with arms that you put clothes hangers onto)

Cheryl, what i have been doing for the past year or more with both ds's white school shirts is using an old toothbrush and rubbing it on a bar of value soap with a little water then rub along collar, they come out lovely each time, still look as good as when they were bought.

I keep the bar of soap in an old marg tub and have the water in there ready.

slowlyfading

Hey everyone.

Sorry I've not been posting lately - this last week has been so intense! Thanks for all the congratulations - I still can't believe it really, I never thought that I would get the job after the day was so exhausting. However, when the Principal rang to offer me the job, he said that I was outstanding on the day, so I must have done something right!

It's now over half way through the half term - why is it that the holidays always go so fast? I've been at home for the majority of it, and am having a nice relaxing time for a change. Didn't sleep very well last night though so I'm pretty tired today.

Today is my 10th NSD for February - not doing as well this month but then I've done more traveling than I'd budgeted for, and things to do with the car in general, so hopefully I'll still be able to get a good number, and then di better in March.

I'm doing the Feb GC Challenge but feel a bit of a cheat as I've hardly spent anything due to using food up and then being at home and not needing to spend anything foodwise there too! Think next month will be more tricky

Hope everyone has a good day

Lily_The_Legend

Morning everyone!

I've just read the last couple of days' posts to try to catch up a bit.

Erme – hope it goes okay at the doctor’s today

Homegrown_life – hope you are feeling better today. Don’t beat yourself up about not wanting to cook. No one can be perfect all time!

Katey1979 – saw in your signature that you won a Centerparcs break, that’s brilliant! A nice, free holiday! :T

ChinaTea – sorry you had a hard week last week, hope this one is better for you. Good luck with the OU. That’s something I’d love to do.

Frugal news here – me and my hubby put £100 each in per month for food shopping, but am trying next month to get this down to £50 each. There's only two of us, so I think it is doable.

The last NSDs I had were at the weekend. I usually go out for a soft drink at lunchtime with friends from work so don't often have them on weekdays. I'm going to try to have a couple of NSDs during the week now. It might mean going for a walk round the block or a walk to the supermarket and have a browse around and not buy anything! Shame there isn't anywhere I could go and read a book when it's cold. I sometimes go and sit on a bench and read when it's warmer.

Am also contemplating getting rid of the chest freezer we have. We have three quite big drawers in our fridge freezer, which I think is enough for us. We don't do a lot of batch cooking, so don't really need so much freezer space. Plus it will save electricity.

On a completely different tangent, it's very foggy here! There's always a few eejits on the roads with no lights on! Grrr!

katey1979

I ended up spending way more than I thought today- £8.78 on food at Iceland and £2.30 on some elastic as there was none in my sewing box. So £11.08 on what was meant to be a no spend or very little spend day-argh! I know tomorrow will be a lot as going to see MIL which is £10 in transport costs..... Oh well. Will just have to try and cut back as much as possible generally over the next few weeks. I am still within my budget, and haven't been to the bank all week or paid for anything by card, so I know where I am standing with my money, which has been a problem in the past.

DS and I have been baking cookies this morning as I had two tubs of Stork that are dated today- yum! The one batch got a bit stuck to the grease proof paper, but they are still edible

I have decided I must do some sewing as I have tons of stash. I think I might make a carrier bag storage. Not a necessity perhaps, but will make my under stairs cupboard look tidier!

Lily- foggy and murky here too-and blooming freezing!

Fishcake_Random

*Runs in/waddles

BIG BIG NEWS LADIES AND GENTS.

We officially have the flat!!! We get the keys tomorrow and need to be out of our flat and in the new one by sunday night as someone wants to view ours first things monday!!! As its only downstairs I don't think this is an issue and we have about 5 offers of help over the next few days. OH is just signing the new tenant agreement now and then I'm going to scout the shops for a few cardboard boxes so we can start packing tonight!
So expect a happy silence from me this weekend . And thank you for all the good wishes I just know thats what has tipped the balance.
x x x x
*dances off*

mama67

Fishcake_Random wrote: »

*Runs in/waddles

BIG BIG NEWS LADIES AND GENTS.

We officially have the flat!!! We get the keys tomorrow and need to be out of our flat and in the new one by sunday night as someone wants to view ours first things monday!!! As its only downstairs I don't think this is an issue and we have about 5 offers of help over the next few days. OH is just signing the new tenant agreement now and then I'm going to scout the shops for a few cardboard boxes so we can start packing tonight!
So expect a happy silence from me this weekend . And thank you for all the good wishes I just know thats what has tipped the balance.
x x x x
*dances off*

Congrarulations Fishcake, just remember to not do too much yourself and let OH/the helpers do the heavy/hard work. Yours can be a supervisory role.

[Deleted User]

Fishcake_Random wrote: »

*Runs in/waddles

BIG BIG NEWS LADIES AND GENTS.

We officially have the flat!!! We get the keys tomorrow and need to be out of our flat and in the new one by sunday night as someone wants to view ours first things monday!!! As its only downstairs I don't think this is an issue and we have about 5 offers of help over the next few days. OH is just signing the new tenant agreement now and then I'm going to scout the shops for a few cardboard boxes so we can start packing tonight!
So expect a happy silence from me this weekend . And thank you for all the good wishes I just know thats what has tipped the balance.
x x x x
*dances off*

So glad you got the flat - I had fingers crossed for you. Congratulations