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

rozeepozee

Hi All, feeling sad that I haven't been able to read and post much recently as I've had such a bad week with my pregnancy - soreness and muscle strain plus no sleep to speak of. I'm getting to the point where I'm almost housebound, as walking (and everything else) is a real effort. Four days and the thread is pages and pages on - and I deffo need to figure out what's going on with Cheryl's love life

The time I have spent in front of the computer has been used trying to sort out a pushchair for these babies, which could come anytime in the next 6 weeks :eek:

I sold my old singleton pram and car seat on ebay and got £80 after fees etc and decided I wasn't going to be a fool and buy new this time but instead see what I could get secondhand, buying component parts of a travel system separately. Am now feeling very smug with myself as my patience has paid off and I've got a "Jane" brand (very posh and expensive) travel system (pushchair and two car seats) secondhand for £142 (RRP about £700)! All the items are less than a year old and in excellent condition and I know I can always stick them back on ebay in a year or two and probably get my money back even then!

This and a travel cot have pushed me about £285 over budget this month but when I take into consideration the extra money from ebay and my Health in Pregnancy grant that arrived this month courtesy of HMR&C (total £270) I'm magically only just over budget. I'm trying to be really restrained and not buy loads of unnecessary things this pregnancy so next week DP and I'll have a garage inventory - there's loads of baby stuff in there that I've been saving from last time three years ago.

Gonna print off what I've missed, take the pages to bed and catch up. Have a good frugal weekend everyone :beer:

R x

cw18

rozeepozee wrote: »

Am now feeling very smug with myself as my patience has paid off and I've got a "Jane" brand (very posh and expensive) travel system (pushchair and two car seats) secondhand for £142 (RRP about £700)! All the items are less than a year old and in excellent condition and I know I can always stick them back on ebay in a year or two and probably get my money back even then!

Well done - what a brilliant result :T

Hope the rest of your pregnancy doesn't drag for you - but I'm sure it'll be worth every moment once you hold your precious bundles

rozeepozee

Thanks Cheryl and best of luck with your "date that's not a date" (an undate? a non-date? there must be a term for it)

Congratulations on your wedding kitty. It's good to know you can do it without spending a gazillion pounds!

DP and I talked about doing the deed ourselves this week (we've been together seven years now and have a son aged 3). Have always thought marriage unnecessary. To me having a child is the lifetime commitment that binds us and I hate the thought of the waste and the expense of a wedding. Think we'll get round to it sometime after the twins arrive though. Would just want family at the Registry office and then a party for friends and family afterwards. TBH, I know it's terribly unromantic but we'd be marrying for tax and inheritance tax reasons... and it would please our parents, all of whom would like to see us married because they're of the generation where living together was sinful...

R x

LilacPixie

Rozzee - my friend has the jane powertwin. Great pushchair but like steering a barge at first. We swapped for a trip out i pushed her twins and she look my LO in a quinny zapp!! That was a shock

Kerry_Woman

Congratulations kittiej on your wedding. Wishing you and your OH every happiness for your future together.

Kiwisaver_2

Congratulations all round for house movings, weddings, hairdos and hatching of chickies. We certainly get to see all spectrums of life here.

I'm logging my state of the nation for the end of February as I'm not going anywhere or spending tomorrow. In the two months to date I have spent $2,063 out of the budget of $2,500 - so I'm roughly £175 underspent. :T This falls almost equally half and half in two categories; electricity which will catch up during the winter months and the 'anything else' bucket being my pocket money, clothing, gifts, gardening and household bits and bobs.

• Still bought no clothes, shoes, makeup or handbags since before Xmas.
• Just one takeaway this month, I succumbed to being lazy and getting fish and chips on my way home from the baby shower this evening, as it was getting late.
• I made it through the whole month with absolutely no forgotten lunches.
• I've managed to spend $131 during the months on seeds, plants, compost and bits and bobs for the garden. Hopefully I get some of this returned in the form of some food later on.

I did a projected 'cashflow' for the next three months based on current spend levels to make sure I will achieve my target saving for my travels in June and I am presently only $6 short of what I need it to be: despite having the plumbers bill from hell earlier this month.

I've still got work to do and cannot afford to become complacent: my travel fund relies on me not spending anything at all that isn't budgeted for in the next three months and I really need to see about getting some new reading glasses, as mine aren't working any more. I also have to cross my fingers and pray every time I start the washing machine that it will make it through the next cycle. :rotfl:

Keep up the good work people, for sure I'm only in this position today due to all your support and motivation. :T

rozeepozee

LilacPixie wrote: »

Rozzee - my friend has the jane powertwin. Great pushchair but like steering a barge at first. We swapped for a trip out i pushed her twins and she look my LO in a quinny zapp!! That was a shock

That's the one - I'm hoping that two small babies in one bargelike pushchair will weigh less than one large 3 year old in an off roader! I've not done much pram pushing recently as I can barely lift my own feet off the floor. It's gonna be hard work, probably after a caesarean, to get back to being fit enough to push a twin pram up and down Sheffield's hills - a blessing it has good brakes and the exercise is great for shifting the baby weight!

R x

BigMummaF

kittiej wrote: »

Hello everyone.

I've been a bit preoccupied for a while because my DH and I got married yesterday :j

I'm wearing my woolie hat with an imitation pink rosebud in my ear & got a tin of rice on the desk because I can't find a confetti-throwing smilie so that will have to do Any excuse to wear a hat & I'm there :rotfl:Seriously tho, Every Good Wish to You & Yours x

Not meaning to put a dampener but I heard the tail end of THIS on the local news last night. Sounds like Life is going to be getting more interesting from here on in as I can see other utilities jumping on the bandwagon...

cw18

I heard about the 'seasonal' water prices yesterday morning...... I was totally disgusted, and guess it'll only be time before it spreads to at least all the water authorities

(guess I should be glad that the water butts were way up the list of essentials for my garden when I made my shopping list!)

rictus123

Morning everyone. Congratulations Kittiej. Managed a NSD yesterday Wont manage today though as im away to fill up with desiel and get a newspaper! Still not getting overtime in at work as everythings under snow at work. I think im away to go over £500 budgeted, its the shortest month of the year how did i manage that! Lol i blame the £104.50 road tax i had to spend at the start of this month. Even just over £500 for the month is still great! Got more than 2 weeks wages sitting in my current account and its payday on Friday so thats another 2, balance will be upto £1100 or so...hopefully can keep it above £1k by next pay on the 19th of March as il have all my dds for the month going out.

Mot is out end of March and im not putting my van through it so i hopefully wont be left with nothing Got my eye on a few older cars that are not the most frugal to buy!! Just have to see how much i have come April, hopefully have at least 2k.