2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

affordmylife

I see what you mean girls about extra money.

I have recently given up my second job which was £300 per month so I suppose that would have been my £10 a day for the month there but it was too much with also working 9-3 in main job, five kids, a dog and a 6 bed house to maintain.

But I do still do ebay and mystery shopping but doubt very much I would ever make £10 a day just a little extra here and there!

Great idea tho.

Frugaldom

Well, that's been a marathon catch up - well done to the NSD people, well done to the comp winners - you could always sell the threads and well done to everyone who make earning an extra tenner a day sound easy :T Mine's not going too badly this month but I think it's because I have the opportunity to sign up for new things, so have the benefit of those introductory offers.

My best news of today is that Scottish Power have refunded £150 that ended up being overpaid during the electricity bill scenario, so I have updated my signature and it doesn't look quite as bad now :j My 'tenner shop' for this afternoon has, sadly, been cancelled after someone rang early this morning to say they are coming to visit. Never mind, there's always next weekend :rolleyes: Guess I could always attempt it in Co-op later on tonight.

The £4000 can be made up from income, benefits, tax credits etc. The main object is to stick to a budget using money you know for sure you have coming in. The extra from Child Benefit ensures you aren't making the kids do without because of your budget. anything extra is spent on 'extras' that wouldn't normally be available to someone on a very strict budget

Mollymop5

Thought I'd just do a quick catch up but it's taken me ages.I decided that this year I was going to become alot more sociable and have friends round more often.I have girlfriends who I meet up with every couple of months for an evening out.We all decided to rotate each monthat each others houses.Mine first so I'm now on a marathon tidy up.I've sent my sister to asda for some wine cheese and crackers.I gave her £10 and that's my limit.Everyone else provides their own alchohol.We decided it better this way.Next month will be cheaper when I don't have to buy the nibbles.I will update sig later when I find out what she spent.I said I needed some change lol

debrag

I think I'm scrapping the monthly budget lol I keepmoving my Jan budget up and I know I must have gone over £350 already.

ebay = £60.65 - echeques from last year, haven't spent this year and don't plan too.
cash out = £90
bc = £150 - make sure I don't get anymore
mum = £100 - £50 each month for rest of year.
TOTAL = £400

Need to get my food for next month £20 plus £30 throughout Feb so doesn't count. Also £22 for skating.

£2550 left for the year.

Feb:
Mum = £50
Food = £30+£20 at end of month
Ice Skating = £44
TOTAL = £144
AIM = £200 - £56 for sisters birthday, travel etc.

So even though I've not done that well this month I am still on target. I have Chess in May, Dancing On Ice in April, mum + dads birthdays etc I haven't get much to spend, Chess & DOI are paid for already.

catznine

:hello: Hello!

I'm still here, just a tad tired getting used to being back at work, I popped on today to report back about the soap nuts, 3 washloads so far, the first including the dog's towels which were a tad muddy so I didn't expect much but was quite surprised, they came up well but I did cheat a bit and soaked them first in just some warm water and put in a really tiny bit of conditioner into the draw (I still have a couple bottles of the concentrated stuff to use) well it was doggy stuff and needed some freshening:rolleyes: all came out smelling lovely and washing was very soft. The next two loads were lights and have come out well so I am very pleased and glad I ordered the 500g bag - I am using 8 soapnuts in a bag as we are in a hard water area. will be interesting to see how long they last as I normally spend about £4 a month on washing detergent (£48 a year) and a large bag of soap nuts cost £7

My spends this week amount to £51.19 whcih includes organic box delivery, milk, bread, cheese, window cleaner and some birthday presents so will update signature. Still dreading those dd's at the end of the month (about £140) but at least it is helping me to focus on the areas I need to work at, how does everyone manage to get family to turn off lights? - I seem to be constantly [STRIKE]nagging[/STRIKE] explaining why we need to do this!:rolleyes:

Yesterday we celebrated ds's birthday with a meal out (from oh's social budget) so today is a quiet nsd with Thursdays leftover chilli for dinner and will watch one of the 50p videos.

Just managed to order £20 boots vouchers from pigsback winnings so that should take care of the next birthday present to buy but still have a small stock of presents in the cupboard which I top up from sales etc., and have been doing for years.

Off to menu plan so I can avoid any more shopping!

Catz x

slowlyfading

evening everyone :hello:
I've updated my signiture just now, and my total spends for this week are £31.43! :j which i don't think are bad at all. I'm going to have to look at ways to cut down that a bit more, and i don't have any direct debits going out now til next month, so I think i'm all on track
sf x

mah_jong

Update for the week ...total spent on food and groceries 55.03, not bad when i am making dinner for two everynight!!

The bills have continued to leave the bank ...but thankfully are not counted here. After mortgage and council tax there isn't much left!! I shall add the bills total at the end of the month.

My hapdash attitude to recipes continues ... recipe demanded frecn mustard, it got a bit of colmans and some mustard seeds!! Again tasted fine!!

Frugaldom

Well done those of you who have caught up and found out you are all on track! That's great news. If you do come in under budget, try to resist the temptation to blow the difference or carry it forward. Overspends must be carried forward until you can catch-up and balance your budget but underspends should be left in the bank so they can accumulate and go towards paying off extra debt/mortgage or towards savings for 2009.

So far, it's been a NSD for me with the benefit of the refund from Scottish Power. I didn't manage the tenner spend as visitor's just left, so it's had a knock on effect to my fajita making as I am out of plain flour! Still, the chicken stock is now simmering away with the last of the carrots and onions and the first soapnuts wash is hanging up to dry. So far, so good
Off to see how my 'tv licence fund' is doing on Greasypalm and by that time, the chicken soup should be ready. Catch you all later

Janey51

Nyk please could you re-visit my post 2255 and give your verdict? Have worried about this all day. We have been buying some gardening stuff that was incinerated (for the veg garden) and I would like to know your feelings about it being paid for from the insurance money....if it ever arrives

Frugaldom

Janey51 wrote: »

Nyk please could you re-visit my post 2255 and give your verdict? Have worried about this all day. We have been buying some gardening stuff that was incinerated (for the veg garden) and I would like to know your feelings about it being paid for from the insurance money....if it ever arrives

Hi Janey, I did mean to respond to your post but it got completely overlooked trying to catch up (and being silly about the possibility of soapnut plantation in Devon :rotfl: )

My answer would be no, you cannot be expected to fund the replacing of all your belongings from your living costs (the 4k). What I would do is only deduct items you would have been buying anyway, not anything that's a replacement for what was lost in the fire. If you do decide to count in replacement goods then you should add the cash back into your budget as soon as the insurance company settles. Good luck and sorry I forgot to post this response yesterday