2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

LollopyBear

Jumble-Bee - You are hilarious! I wish I could have been there to see your improv.

Ergh - Again, I have parted with some cash over the past couple of days. I went out for the day on Monday to see a couple of friends in a very quaint town and we ended up pubcrawling around it. After the first pub I switched to half pints and that meant I only needed to buy one round when I was out as the lads I was with are very chivalrous!

Train ticket: £10.59
Round of drinks: £9.75 (3.5 pints)
Tea and a bun: £1.95
Mr Ts: £3.73

Yesterday I had to pay the paper bill (I know I really should cancel the paper as I only get it on Saturdays) and go to the Post Office to use the Passport Check and Send service. Paper bill was £17 as I hadn't paid it for a month and a half or so. Check and Send service was £7 but they told me my photos weren't good enough as there was a very slight shadow on one side. Grr. Everything else passed the photo check, just this tiny discolouration. Hmph. So today I've got to go and buy some more photos.

I found out the cost of a new passport - £72 :eek: And that does not include paying a bit extra to get the supporting documents (ie marriage certificate) sent back by secure mail as normally they are returned by second class post. A bit of a con there I think.

I only have £102 to last until the end of the month. £50 of that will be travel. Think I'm going to be over my target for this month.

Burlesque_Babe

£17.05 for me, which includes £5.20 for a top from ebay. Being larger than the average frugaller, clothes can get a bit dear and i've been slowly getting bits over the last 3 months towards my holiday next month (the £2 bras!)

FrankieM

Morning everyone...
Well I've got a confession to make...I've had to re-jig my budget and I don't know if I can really be part of this challenge...
I started getting so stressed out at how I was going to feed everyone. I've had to get car tax for 2 cars and we've been up and down the country seeing family which means I've spent over £100 in petrol already...

I've had to do a proper budget...I still have £17868 to pay off by September, but I just can't do it on such a strict budget, which may mean I have to put it on a 0% CC or at least some of it.

I don't intend to spend like crazy, but I just feel that if I have proper budgeted amounts for things, then I can stop being so stressed about money all the time.
I intend to use whatever is left over from each 'pot' to go towards the amount I have to pay, as well as anything else that I earn/make...

I hope that makes sense...I will certainly still pop in and read up on how you are going..

elantan

well i went to the dentisit today it's gonna cost me £150 and then i went into boots and spent nearly £25 but i have gotten three xmas presents and all the handwash i will need for the year (carex is down to 69p and boots basics even cheaper) now i have taken the candles back so got £50 and i am planing on mbing my wee heart out to pay for the dentist so effectively i will counter balance the money spent at the dentist but i am still gonna count it and just put the money in the bank is that right?

catznine

:hello:

Just updating! I have spent a total of £95.32 on groceries (2 abel and cole orders, trip to Mr S and an electric slicing machine:o always wanted one of these and I did use a £10 off coupon code! I am hoping daintier slices of meat and bread mean it will all go further!)

Not eating much at the moment anyway as I have had a lot of dentistry (bridgework) done. I am so glad that I decided not to include this in our budget as I knew that this was the year when a lot of very expensive work had to be done - we have decided that instead of expensive holidays abroad we would sort out our teeth finally! Sticking to a strict budget for everything else has made this possible. Hope you will allow me to still stay on the challenge as if I had to include these bills there would be no allowance left:eek: and I couldn't do it anyway! If we were having to live on such a limited amount then I guess it would mean nhs cheapest going dentures for us both, but comfort counts if you can possibly afford it.

Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the last few pages of the thread (trolls beware!) especially the new charity for knickerless nuns!:rotfl: laughed till I cried at that! :T

Catz x

Frugaldom

First of all, thanks for the 'cheerleader' info - pompoms and a 'write your own' songs type kit sounds great fun to make! No sewing maching, but have needles, thread and some really outlandish outfits (charity shop bargains from my wardrobe!) that could be adapted... will Google as soon as I have the time to read up on the subject.

FrankieM - please don't leave us Your goal is to save and our goal here is to save, so we are all heading in the same direction. The £4000 is not an annual budget for everything we are all spending, it is just a figure that was calculated out as being reasonable for the cost of living. It doesn't include all the extras that many of us don't have, so your having 2 cars to tax etc shouldn't affect it. Re-jiggng the budget to make everything affordable is everyone's main aim, so you haven't done anything that could exclude you from here and you should try not to get stressed out over meeting your targets. Are you in a panic about not being able to meet your deadline? Perhaps we can all help with some suggestions.

On the 'Wife Swap' query relating to the Maltesers, I can now categorically confirm that Sue had to return all that food, Maltesers included, to the bin! :eek: At least we now know that by buying up all the reduced food and making it into frugal meals is beneficial in the long run - we are saving it from the landfill! Having read through everything that's been said about the Freegan lifestyles (religion aside) I am now beginning to see that living on 4k is even further removed from 'enforced poverty' or whatever the term used at the start of our challenge by whoever was so disapproving. £4000 is a great deal of money and I in no way feel impoverished by restricting my food spending. But I digress... it is a beautiful day here today and I've been out into the garden with DGD. And surprise of surprises, someone else in this household has realised that the challenge IS making a difference. Yesterday was bin day here and all along the street there are always overflowing bins - lids squashed shut trying to hide the bulging waste - and I got asked the question, "How come our bin is always nearer empty than full?" Once again, I was so proud!

Elantan - yes, I would count it into my budget too and, if you need to play catch-up at a later date or cut back elsewhere, it should all balance out over time

Catzine - As you have been living on a budget in order to save for your dentistry work then the fact that you can now afford to pay for that is a reflection on your own success. Well done! :T

Interesting point, though, as I, too, am saving for dental work and know that it's only by spreading the cost and delaying having the work done that it will be affordable to me. I found out too late that I could have had it done free on the National Health if I had claimed child tax credits, but I didn't know they existed at the time, so missed the opportunity. :rolleyes: Apparently they had even been advertised on national television and in the national press! Guess that's what I get for hardly ever watching telly and never buying a newspaper. :rotfl: Now look what you lot have me doing!! Watching WIFE SWAP for hints on freeganism and considering buying papers or magazsines if they are cheaper than the product offered in their vouchers! :rotfl:

Editing again - to say thank you to you all for taking my 4k lifestyle challenge to a whole new level I am deeply indebted to each and every one of you and now plan on upping my regular charitable donations to help support some of the less obvious 'causes'. :beer:

LollopyBear

This is a very clueless question , but I'm sure you guys won't laugh at me, so here goes. Tomorrow I'm cooking a mince/bolognese up and cooking double to freeze half for a cottage pie on Sat. How do I go about freezing half? Do I just wait for the mince to cool down before whacking it in tupperware? Do I line the tupperware with anything? Can I just cook it from frozen on Sat by first warming it up on the hob before baking or should I defrost it overnight?

Sorry for all the questions, I just haven't made enough to freeze before and I don't want it to go hideously wrong.

Burlesque_Babe

Hi lollopy. Wait for the mince to cool, pop it in the tupperware tub (no lining needed). Defrost before you re-heat it.

LollopyBear

keren29 wrote: »

Hi lollopy. Wait for the mince to cool, pop it in the tupperware tub (no lining needed). Defrost before you re-heat it.

Thanks very much Keren! I hope I can hide it in my freezer so DH doesn't see. He apparantly is not a fan of freezing/reheating things so I'm going to have to be very sneaky

Frugaldom

keren29 wrote: »

Hi lollopy. Wait for the mince to cool, pop it in the tupperware tub (no lining needed). Defrost before you re-heat it.

Please don't let any of my household see this post as I, err... stick mine in the hot oven from frozen. Shouldn't I be doing this? :eek: