2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

ihatedebt_2

:hello: Hi all!

nykmedia can I join the challenge please?

funkyfunkymonkey

nykmedia wrote: »

Let me know the bread prices for our comparison chart here.

Asda smartprice - 37p
Co-op value - 65p
Sainsburys basic - 37p
Somerfield saver - 65p
Tesco value - 37p

We tried Tesco Value a couple of years ago and it was dry, greyish and not at all appetising. Is it any better now? I've just bought 2 loaves of Best of Both for £2.46 at a Tesco Express - it is lovely and fluffy and fresh.

FFM

Burlesque_Babe

ooooh, I've been tempted to spend today. Not sure on what, but I just felt the need to visit a supermarket.

Resisted though - the fridge/freezer and cupboard are heaving at the moment so it would have been just to feed the desire to spend rather than because I needed anything.

DdraigGoch

Quote:
Originally Posted by DdraigGoch
Nyk, it's 2 packs of firelighters @ £1.95 each and 3 Co-Op black sacks @ £2.39 each - aaargh! I can see that my social conscience is going to have to take a hard look at all this expenditure..... hence the scary smilie in the original post. I can't remember these things being this expensive before.

Oh the joys of someone else doing the shopping, eh?

The firelighters trick - half the amount by using homemade paper sticks and cheap kindling. Do you use candles at home? I usually have a scented candle burning but I always saved the excess wax that ran or cracked. You can also trim it off around the top, as many of the cheaper candles don't burn very evenly and tend to waste a fair bit. Waste not, want not, all these candle clippings are fire fodder, but be careful as I MEAN fire fodder. A few crumbles over the top of a kindling fire and it's alight in no time.

Another great idea is to collect pine cones in autumn and dry them. These can be dipped in melted wax for decorative purposes but also make excellent firelighters.

NYK HANDY HINTS AND TIPS: A sprinkle of sugar relights a dying fire, a sprinkle of salt damps one down (handy if you have a fear of chimney fires).

Thanks for the tips, Nyk. So far I already do all these things, including the pine cones - we just have two fires to heat two houses [long story, don't get me started!:rolleyes:] and a lot of our wood is either wet from the rain or insufficiently seasoned. I'm going to go and try and blag some dry kindling next week - hopefully very little need for firelighters after this

We get through an enormous amount of logs here. It takes about 30-3 logs a day to warm our house to the extent that you don't see your breath when you talk! The other place eats logs even more so :eek: but we are coping. We haven't used oil for over 5 years now, and used a total of 12 bags of coal through that time [bad, naughty, wicked DG]

Some times the newspaper is not dry enough to catch properly, hence the firelighters, but I will admit that OH is a little generous with them some days.....

thanks for the hints - shall remind OH again!

DG

bails

Sorry to have sparked more confusion about what is/isn't involved in the challenge! At the end of the day we all have different things to include (or not) and ultimately the challenge is to reduce our living costs as much as we can; how we each do that is up to us. I for one am loving being part of this and am hoping to see a real improvement in our situation this year. For me, it's as much about quality of life as saving money, and so far we are two very happy bunnies here! Well done to everyone so far, hope you all have a lovely weekend x

shazrobo

had to go to JJB sports to buy both sons some new trainers (wishes their feet would stop growing) and their was a sale on included top brand trainers, and as their feet are so big, there was their size available on sales racks, so two pairs of trainers for £25:j

checked online banking and the £101 for dd bills has been taken so far this year total spend is £168.03

thinking of taking sons for a day out tommorrow if weather is dry, but i might class this as a luxury, and not count it in my budget

Frugal_Fox

Can I have a number please???

looby-loo_2

I've read this thread everyday and so want to join in the challenge but I have a DH who wont hear of it. So I have decided to do my personal challenge which will be £4000 + one x child benefit. I'll allow £1000 extra for the approx £20 he 'wastes' on bits and pieces like newspaper, crisps, branded food (luxury soup @ over £1 a tin!:eek: ) batteries (wont use rechargables), bought mince pies (when there is is tinful of homemde) and worst of all buying household things from the village shop which we already have because he can't find them when I'm at work and he needs it now! These include - shoe polish and brushes, whole set (twice!), electronic thermometer (never used but opened so can't take back), shoe laces, socks and pants (10 pairs from M&S) when they were clean in the basket (special trip into town just for those:mad: ) etc,etc SO you can se my problem and I'm wondering if £20 is enough to cover him:rolleyes:

So please can I have a number? £4000 + 1 x child benefit. Thank you

My spend this year so far is one 2nd class stamp
DH spend this year is £23.47 (that I know of)

Mollymop5

Had another small spend at Asda today so althoug I will be updating my grocery challenge amount I won't update for this challenge until end of month when I add my total spends up.anyway it looks good for now lol

flowerofthewest

Well, I'm feeling very pleased with myself at the moment. Was sat here earlier thinking about buying a Chinese take-away, but then realised I'd have to admit in on here and decided to have a h/m cottage pie from frezer instead. Tasted even better when I realised that I had @saved' £13 bt not ordering the Chinese.
So far this week I've spent £48.45, including the money put aside for bills.
Fi