2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

Penny2myName

I am after making some draft excluder's for the doorways and that, but other than that, I do believe I have good installation, so my heating is staying within the house, also even if on timer, once the back lobby(coldest room) reaches the heat setting I have chosen, the thermostat will then override both timer and manual and turn heating off till heat drops below my chosen temp.

Frugaldom

Who needs newspapers, magazines and TV when we have these forums to read? :T It's more entertaining and enlightening here than prime time viewing and, like our librarian co-challenger says, books are free when we have spare time to fill in between MSE :j

This is NOT some sort of punishment exercise, it's just a way of life that tries to make the most out of a fairly budget. Only the essentials are counted in, but if you only have £4000 to live off then bank charges, debts etc would all have to come off that budget. However, if you are living frugally in order to have savings, make improvements to your home, clear off debts and/or mortgages, then these things are what get paid out of everything you have left after deducting your £4000 basic living expenses from your annual income.

Don't feel bad about the heating - I just forked out over £500 to catch-up with underestimated bills, I chart every unit I use, try my best to keep within a set amount but still bought 2 new heaters which are now set on auto for round the clock use. Now I've just found out I overpaid on the electricity, by £155! EXCELLENT!! Except I could have been holding that in the bank and gaining a few pence interest. :rotfl:

yoshimi2306

Late to the party as usual, but I'm going to give this a go. HubbY & I are going to live off £110 per week (£5720 for the year) starting yesterday After all of our bills that leaves us £50 for everything that doesn;t get paid by s/o or DD. I've been shopping this morning, and the weeks food has cost £16...I'm so chuffed!

We've decided to do it for 6 months initially, and at the end of that time half the money saved will go off our debt, a quarter into saving, and the final quarter will buy us a new TV and some weekends away I'm so excited!

hopeless_spendthrift

nykmedia wrote: »

I spoke very nicely to AOL and explained that as a very loyal customer I really didn't want to switch services BUT theirs was no longer affordable on my new budget. They switched the package to reduce my monthly paymants and gave me a £5 per month discount for 6 months I never resort to stropping until grovelling has failed. Grovelling has never failed :rotfl:

:rotfl: I did the a similar thing with my mobile contract Nyk! :T Got a good deal too. They gave me a 'loyalty discount', plus a nice new phone with more minutes, more texts, £5 of downloads each month and loads of things i don't even know how to use! Now my bill is just £20 per month if I stay within limits. It's '3' btw - but also arranged a similar deal with DD1's phone (t-mobile) whereby I only now pay £10 per month. It seems they would rather keep us customers at any cost, rather than lose us altogether.

Catchin' up on posts but I'll be back!

sweetpea03

hello yoshimi & hope you enjoy it here, well done on your shop today too!

thanks nyk for clarifying what to do with the charges, I will alter my siggy accordingly in a mo I had to go to town :eek: to pay some cheques in today & felt a splurge coming on so I used my £5 worth of nectar points instead to limit the damage & only had to put 19p towards the shop, anyway I now have mushrooms to make your soup Bails as I really fancy it today, it sounds so luxurious! & I also have Dairy Milk so help yourselves if anyone wants some
I don't have a thermostat either we are all electric (storage heaters) apart from 1 gas fire & cooker.

Thanks Janeryan for your lovely post

hopeless_spendthrift

juliejay wrote: »

Definitely going to make that sweetpotato soup today for free because all of that stuff is in already. Might get some nice bread to go with it because it sounds worth it.
I dont have a bread maker. Might have a go by hand over the weekend with some of that Lidl flour. Going to have a rummage in the back of the cupboard now to see if there yeast and if so how old. Might even be growing my own at the back of the cupboard by now.
More money saving! :T

:rotfl: How innovative JJ! U are a real dab hand at this! :T

mah_jong

My update, I had bills out of my account this week,
leccy 62, internet, 9.99 and my denplan 27.12.... along with the food for this week..

99.12 plus food of 19.68 for the week ... (2 for dinner most nights)

I have hardly set foot in a shop this year. I found a recipe to use of some chorizio and instead of buying all the items it suggested I 'made do'...

cherry tomatoes , I'll use those 3 large and going soggy tomatoes instead, chopped into bits!!
2 red onions, only have one so I'll just use an ordinary one!!

Tasted great ...by the way!!


I have updated my footer ... with the running total

hopeless_spendthrift

Good Morning Sweetpea and all!

Thank you so much for delish-looking and sounding Sweet Potato and Tomato Soup.
I have written it safely into my recipe book and plan to have that this evening as already have all the ingredients in! :j

I think that u not telling your hubby bout the challenge is an absolutely beautiful plan - i bet he will be over the moon! How lucky he is to be blessed with such a lovely wife :A

Here is the Mushroom Soup recipe u asked for:

Creamy Mushroom Soup

40g/1oz butter
350g/12oz potatoes, peeled and diced
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1.2 litres/2pints vegetable stock
250g/9oz mushrooms (button or field or whatever i guess!)
2 eggs
150ml/1/4pint sour cream
salt and black pepper
fresh mixed herbs, finely chopped, to garnish (!?)

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Fry the potatoes, onion and garlic for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

2. Add stock to the pan. Bring to the boil. Simmer over a low heat for 10 minutes. Meanwhile wipe the mushrooms with kitchen paper and thinly slice. Add to the soup. Simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Mix together the egg yolks and cream. Stir in just a little of the hot stock mixture. Gradually pour the egg and cream mixture into the pan, stirring constantly.

4. Season the soup. Pour into serving bowls and garnish with the mixed herbs and serve.

TIP: To clean mushrooms, always wipe with kitchen paper. Washing reduces the mushroom's flavour and vitamin content.

As I said, I made this the other day without cream, which would eliminate the need for the eggs also. (although it does add a luxurious flavour - for special occasions perhaps) And garnish!!??!! Does that mean it is not for eating?!? Needless to say I omitted this also and still tasted great Adding herbs to the main cooking pot would be a much better idea in my opinion.

Thanks again for your recipe - can't wait to make it - and yes! soup does seem to be the order of the day as it were!

georgiasmum

Been food shopping. Spent £24.53 in Aldi and got a tenner in cash. 21.48 for petrol and a diet coke as I really needed one. All in all am pleased

hopeless_spendthrift

Good Morning Bails So sorry you're not feeling on top of things this morning. :grouphug: Thanks for the Mushroom Soup recipe - will defo try it next time i have the ingredients in - sounds absolutely deee-lish
Hope you're day turns out like me....much improved with age!
Love Thifty x x x