2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

catznine

Trying to get back into the swing of this as the last few weeks have been very stressful with worries about dd but yesterdays appointment with consultant was reassuring.

To celebrate we had a spot of retail therapy to the tune of £31 - 2 bracelets (totally unnecessary but fun) 2 prs lovely snuggly socks, a book on how to crochet, a gardening mag with 3 pkts of seeds (tomatoes and peppers) and a pack of fat balls for the birds.
£25 went on getting the puppy a puppy clip as she couldn't see where she was going!:D £2 in church on Sunday and £13.84 on an abel and cole order. Other than that we are living out of the store cupboard and freezers. Total spend this week £71.84

NYK - I love the sound of that bike shelter, wonder if I could collect enough to make a small cold frame?

Halia - congratulations on graduating and good luck with the ceremony

andromache_2

Hi all

I just spent £1046.60 on flights :eek:

Good thing that's not part of this challenge budget! I should get half back as well... it's just a scary amount of money to part with!

I've decided to follow nyk's suggestion of calculating a weekly budget, which I've put in my sig. I've subtracted the days I'm away and that leaves me with £43.79 a week until the end of September. I reckon I'll spend a bit more than that in termtime and a bit less in the holidays, but it makes a useful figure to budget to. Now that I've bought all my textbooks, society memberships etc I have no other large one-off expenses for the rest of the year, so I just need to live on a week-to-week basis. I've bought all the gifts I need in the sales as well! It actually sounds pretty generous but the expense of train travel when in an LDR does eat into it considerably... just means I'll need to be careful elsewhere to try and get that weekly figure up!

I've had a very MSE day, sorting out a refund, claiming expenses, going to the bank to make sure I don't get charges, getting free Boots points, figuring out how to reclaim tax in April... if only I were as motivated to write my essay :rotfl:

MSHAWX

Hi all,
A NSD, weather fantastic, bet it doesn't last. Made some potted meat paste for lunch.
Few scraps of left over meat,
shallot or onion softened in butter - I used marg
tiny bit of cream out of freezer - I freeze any bargains/left over cream in ice cube trays.
salt, pepper and nutmeg.
all whizzed up in the food processor. Put into small fancy pots and into fridge for a couple of hours.
Looks a lot like pate, use on toast or in sandwiches - goes quite a long way.
OH was quite impressed - I think it was the fancy pots that fooled him

mama67

I allow £10 every week for care repairs, servicing, tax and MOT.

This weeks has gone on some repairs, the gas struts which hold the boot hatch up had lost their gas, so we had phoned F**d for a price. £75/pair
OH went to a couple of scrappies in town and got 2 for £5, he could easily fix these himself so it was a good job well done; we had said we would go up to half price at the scrappy as after that you may as well pay full and get the warranty.

Janey51

What a gorgeous gorgeous day :j
OH and I were outside most of the afternoon. We both wandered up to the veg garden and planned what we are going to do and how we can manage to get our "Square Foot Gardening" scheme up and running without spending any money
We think that by re-cycling a lot of wood from other schemes, we can build raised beds to save our backs. We have 3 good sized compost heaps ready to use.

My SIL got a large plastic container for us which we will use as a water butt
as its along walk with a watering can from the nearest water supply.

Then we cut up a load of branches for next years wood supply. The recent gales brought loads of branches down thankfully and they're all free
I gathered a trug full of pine cones to dry for lighting the fire.

I have used my soapnuts for a few washes now and they are doing great. Not so good at getting stains out of tea towels but everything smells clean.

The mincer attachment I won off Ebay has arrived to use with the Kenwood Chef (also off Ebay) so DH is going to make sausages and I will get the recipe out for faggots.:D

The rice pudding I made in the slow cooker yesterday is gorgeous.

Seed catalogue arrived with a £10 "no strings" voucher to spend. I don't know whether to buy more veg seed or some flower seed which I could grow on and give plants as presents.
Happy to report a NSD :j
Tomorrow we are going swimming so that will be £12:eek: We go to a private pool and its £12 for the hour but its worth every penny. Its our first real treat for ages so I think we deserve it.

Janey51

Halia you do what feels right for you on your big day. When DS graduated, we had no money but we still did everything and now, when I look at the picture of us after the ceremony, I am so glad. But I know your parents would hate it if they thought they were causing you any worry over your finances.
Well done :T

mama67 men do come in useful sometimes don't they

MSHAWX I love potted meat. Will try your recipe.:T

lilac_lady

I took a couple of items to M & S for a refund today and came away with a credit note for £22 as my MSE frugality kicked in and I couldn't bring myself to spend it. I'll keep it and use it when I feel I've just GOT to spend something.

LollopyBear

Sorry it's been a few days since an update - I have actually read the thread every day just hadn't got the energy to respond.

Bails - Thanks for the suggestions about Much Ado resources! I will be checking those out over half term as I just have to get through the next 2 days first!

I had a NSD on Sunday which was quite surprising. DH treated me to lunch and then we spent the afternoon at a National Trust property. We had been given membership for Christmas so that was free for us.

I have already spent £111.45 this month, and I think I am slipping with my willpower. I seem to be recovering from frugalitis - can someone infect me again please? As I may have mentioned previously, I am going to a Feast at Queen's College on Friday at a grand cost of £27!!! I wonder how much food I can sneak out in my handbag? At least that includes wine and after-dinner cocktails.

I hope to have a few NSDs next week so fingers crossed I can get my frugalness back.

On a plus side I have taken to baking once a week. Last week was hobnobs and this week was fairy cakes. I've really enjoyed taking homemade goodies with me to school and DH has been very appreciative too.

I am also very jealous about the chickens! I'd love to have some, but our current garden is too small

stefejb

Janey51 wrote: »

Seed catalogue arrived with a £10 "no strings" voucher to spend. I don't know whether to buy more veg seed or some flower seed which I could grow on and give plants as presents.
.

ooh what seed catalogue is this

still waiting for my first NSD but did manage to get some half price free range eggs from MR T - display by date 6.02 but use by date 13.02 - stocked up a bit but we eat a lot of eggs so they won't waste

whitewing

I have got a sore throat and blocked but runny nose so am dosing myself up with 33p packs of ibuprofen from Lidls.

Actually think we may have some lemon left over from Pancake Day. And whiskey from Xmas (that'll teach OH to laugh at my red nose when all his whiskey is used up!)

Didn't do any exercise today and not a lot of work either. But did check my bank balances about 15 times!