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

viv0147

I had a very pleasing trip to Tesco today arrived at 3pm and ended up spending £4.23, and having food to the value of £11.65, and 1 of the items sliced green beans reduced from £1 to 45p on looking at my receipt I had been charged the full price, so I went to customer services and had a £1.02 refund and the beans for free. Yippee

Kiwisaver_2

Happy new year to all!! Wow, sorry no time to read all of this thread just yet, been away for two weeks and trying to catch up with the previous thread and find out where you all were. Hence, it's nearly 2pm and I'm still sat in my PJs.

I've not been in a shop for over a week and now having painful conversations with myself about the 'need' to go to the supermarket today. I so do not want to go and spend any money, but needs must. We're down to the dregs of the milk and I've no veg or bread.

I have about $25 (ten quid) cash in my purse (last year's money), so a mini-challenge is in my head to see how far I can stretch it, by just using up stuff I already have and buying only the bare essentials. Seems a good plan to me to start the new year - out with the old and all that. I figure that by starting off the year really mean will help out over the longer term and give me more to play with further down the track.

I saved a small piece of boiled bacon from yesterday to make quiche, but with no eggs or milk that's nigh on impossible, so here goes I best rally myself and head off to make my first spends of the year.

Good luck to you all for the 2010 Challenge.

taka

((((hugs)))) for you and your doggie Cheryl...

mooomin

Morning all!


Back to work today, but as it's a Bank Holiday up here in haggis country I'm working for double time, hurrah! :j Putting that together with the lack of council tax payment in February means I should have a nice big payment towards the debt-clearing fun! I have also suggested to one of my MSE friends (who has become a real-life friend) that we do a carboot sale when the weather improves as we're both trying to declutter at the moment, so that's another plan well in the making.

A total spend today so far of £265.90 before I even got the first sip of coffee in my mouth All of the direct debits that have been hiding since New Year have come out of my account!

I'm aiming on spending nothing for the rest of the day as we have plenty of food/milk and the trip to the local shopping centre I'm thinking about for later is only to return stuff.

Have a good and frugal day all!

slowlyfading

:hello: morning all!

First day back on school placement, and I don't feel ready at all...! I'm shattered, and need about another week in bed, but oh well. I'll let you know how it goes later

Going to have a spend day today - I have to go and get some food in after school as I have nothing left. I'm taking a scone with jam for my lunch (:eek: unhealthy, I know!) so I'll pop to a supermarket later.

Have a good day everyone

FrankieM

Morning everyone,

Back to some kind of normality today. £ eldest kinders are back at school so just the youngest to keep occupied. DH is off but doing other things today.

I have to get some grocery shopping done, get to the library, do some washing, contact butcher about buying bulk meat ( the freezer is looking very bare at the moment!) I also have to fill in my budget spreadsheet.
I feel like I've spent loads already this month, but I can remember nyk saying at some point that her year can be a bit like that! I've had to buy shoes for children, petrol to take people places and odd bits of food to 'cover'. I'm thinking perhaps I should have just done a proper shop.

I'm doing a beef and veg pie for tea tonight with some leftover roast beef from yesterday and the leftover veg from various meals in the freezer.

Righto, I best get started!

Hope you all have a good day.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

Will need to spend a little today. I'm using whitener in my coffee and have completely run out of fresh veg. I will probably have to pay normal price for milk for the first time in ages as I don't fancy walking to the further (cheaper) supermarket due to icy conditions. I'm spoilt for choice around here. There is an Asda half a mile away, a small Sainsbury's just a bit further in the town centre. In the other direction there is a large Sainsbury's (still less than a mile). All these are in walking distance if necessary. Across town (driving now), there is a large Tesco (2.5 miles) and in the other direction, there is a smallish Morrison's (3 miles). Oh yes, I nearly forgot. A smallish Lidl opened up about a year ago. That's just along the road from the Tesco. It makes spending money too easy but the flip side of that is the competition in prices. This is further helped in that Tesco and large Sainsbury sell diesel. They're usually 1 or 2p cheaper than nearby outlets and sometimes they offer 5p a litre off if you spend £50+ . I don't usually qualify for this though as I live on my own and would find it hard to spend £50. In addition to the above, there is a 2 day a week market nearby and veg can often be obtained very cheaply when they are clearing up on the second day. I got a 25kg bag of good Maris Piper spuds recently for £6. I actually went halves with a friend on this one. I have a dark storage cupboard but it needs to be cooler really to preserve them longer.

homegrown_life

good morning all! Today my total spent has bumped up as I suspect many peoples will have as some DD's have come out of the bank today. Still, it meant I could update the spreadsheet :rolleyes:

I'm also needing to go to MrS this evening so won't be a NSD. Monday is my normal shopping day, I just need to be organised, have a list ready and get there just when the whoopsies are being put out

I might have a go at making bread today as we have some bread flour in. I really want to get good at making bread, but so far nothing ever works well. Even when I had a BM it was pretty rubbish. Shall stay positive though, I will do it!!

Hope everyone has frugal days. Cheryl, big hugs to your and your little dog.

rozeepozee

DDs! It's never really occurred to me when they come out of my account BC (before Cheryl :rotfl:)

The gardener's also due today. I'm going to have to have a tricky conversation with him along the lines of: if he does not do as I ask and keep his fees down to a maximum of £150 per month, we'll be asking him to come fortnightly rather than weekly (should do that anyway, really but with twins on the way, I can't see either of us upping the time we spend in the garden this year :rolleyes:)

cake21

Further to the ethical food discussion some pages back (just remembered ), Sainsburys basics bananas are now fair trade which saved me a fair bit last year:money: