2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

Penny2myName

I know what you mean, my short month was very high:o, then again i did have two birthdays, included in that plus some one off payments, and Easter. Had good news, niece's birthday isn't till April, but so is my son's but I bought his birthday stuff back in Jan. Then no birthday's till August:j

System

right, my hatchettes are buttoned down, the feb totals are in and sealed with a kiss.....

ooh unless i pop the question to my bf tonight... apparently in scotland its the law that when a lady requests a mans hand in marriage (on a leap year), and he declines, he has to give her £100!!!!!!!!!

plus one of my friends insists that in that scenario it is also traditional to buy the lady gloves

sounds good to me!

bails

Great news about MiL's job Whitewing! :T And I'm so glad people are sticking it out, it makes all the difference having you around :heartpuls

Haven't added up my Feb totals yet, will do it tomorrow and post.

Hope you're all feeling great and have a lovely weekend ahead - I'm hopefully getting my gym induction and I'm taking my mum out for lunch on Sunday. I even did 2 lessons today (normally only do 1 every other day) so I'll see how that affects me.

Off to spend some time with OH as he's shiatsuing all weekend, so I'll have plenty of time to play on here then

The Good Life here we come Nyk!

In England you get a purple dress Jumblebee - I love purple...oh OH, where are you?;)

System

ooh i have just thought up a new mini-challenge (which i will probably fail instantly myself)

...who is up for the great 'keep your march balance at £0.00 for a long as possible' challenge?

any bets for who will win?

i bet NOT ME

Frugaldom

Penny2myName wrote: »

depends what you amount you wanted for your start total, as 5k will have a different amount compared to 4k etc etc

4k = 3333.33
5k = 4166.66
6k = 5000.00 oh a nice round number for the OCD sufferers.:rotfl:

Theye aren't such bad numbers!

As a longterm sufferer of financial OCD, I'm actually finding all the 3's quite a fun number and am glad I didn't have 8k to start with. :rotfl:

Mumzi, I'll get your name back onto post one with a 5k starting total. You should really count up everything you have spent to date and then you'll know roughly how much you need. I did have a look at Park when you mentioned it some time ago, I even sent for their catalogue, but then when I read it I went :eek: :eek: :eek: at their prices etc. Are you committed to them for the full year?

Brokemum - Hope you don't mind my being nosy, but what was your total spend for everything except rent/mortgage, council tax/water? There's no need to answer, I was just wondering what percentage of that was cost of living and what was debt repayments. My January spend was high and February low because of the way bills fall, so one month's expenditure doesn't really give an honest, overall picture.

Skintwellie - adopt-a-gorilla gift was an absolute gem of a find! Well done! :T As for the 'catch-up' money, what I like to do is use it to pay any 'luxuries' that I wouldn't normally be able to afford if I was on a really, really strict budget. Things like television (and TV licence), computers, gadgets, telephones, mobiles, Internet access, broadband etc are luxuries that we don't actually 'need' for survival, but we like having them, so we try to earn enough to afford them without incurring debt. Because they are 'wants', as opposed to needs, they shouldn't really be included in the cost of living, only the cost of our personal lifestyles. Hmm... now you have me wondering how much I spend on luxury items as opposed to absolute essentials! :rotfl:

Justkeepswimming - Shhhhh... I have tried to overlook the frugal fitness club because I've had such a terrible cold for the past fortnight that 'exercise' was relegated to the non-essentials file on account of my not being able to breath and cycle at the same time

poorandindenial

Err, I would love to have a crack at the march challenge but don't fancy my chances.

Mind you I am pleasantly surprised to find that although not officially doing this challenge I have only spent £700.90 (excluding budgeted luxuries) this year.

System

poorandindenial wrote: »

Err, I would love to have a crack at the march challenge but don't fancy my chances.

i dont fancy my chances either! but it would be interesting to watch and see how long some (organised/well stocked!) people can go...

it could be called the 'March march' (cos you try to march your way through the month of march without stopping to spend)

Frugaldom

Jumble-Bee that is an impossible mini-challenge for me, I'm afraid, as I'm having a day out on Sunday (Mothers Day) and doing my main shopping whilst away, I have a direct debit payment due out on Monday and am bidding in the online auctions. :rotfl: I'd last until.... the 1st :rotfl:

mumzyof2

nykmedia wrote: »

Theye aren't such bad numbers!

As a longterm sufferer of financial OCD, I'm actually finding all the 3's quite a fun number and am glad I didn't have 8k to start with. :rotfl:

Mumzi, I'll get your name back onto post one with a 5k starting total. You should really count up everything you have spent to date and then you'll know roughly how much you need. I did have a look at Park when you mentioned it some time ago, I even sent for their catalogue, but then when I read it I went :eek: :eek: :eek: at their prices etc. Are you committed to them for the full year?

Brokemum - Hope you don't mind my being nosy, but what was your total spend for everything except rent/mortgage, council tax/water? There's no need to answer, I was just wondering what percentage of that was cost of living and what was debt repayments. My January spend was high and February low because of the way bills fall, so one month's expenditure doesn't really give an honest, overall picture.

Skintwellie - adopt-a-gorilla gift was an absolute gem of a find! Well done! :T As for the 'catch-up' money, what I like to do is use it to pay any 'luxuries' that I wouldn't normally be able to afford if I was on a really, really strict budget. Things like television (and TV licence), computers, gadgets, telephones, mobiles, Internet access, broadband etc are luxuries that we don't actually 'need' for survival, but we like having them, so we try to earn enough to afford them without incurring debt. Because they are 'wants', as opposed to needs, they shouldn't really be included in the cost of living, only the cost of our personal lifestyles. Hmm... now you have me wondering how much I spend on luxury items as opposed to absolute essentials! :rotfl:

Justkeepswimming - Shhhhh... I have tried to overlook the frugal fitness club because I've had such a terrible cold for the past fortnight that 'exercise' was relegated to the non-essentials file on account of my not being able to breath and cycle at the same time

Heya, In park they are very expensive BUT i have gone for the £200 highstreet vouchers and i pay £5.41 a week untill end of november.. and that total exactly £200 so im only paying for what i buy if you get me..there no APR for highstreet vouchers.

System

bails wrote: »

In England you get a purple dress Jumblebee - I love purple...oh OH, where are you?;)

£100 could buy me 100 dresses :j(if i bargain hunt hard)... ooh i like the sound of that...

unless its a dress instead of the gloves - in that case grrrrrr im jealous, thats much better!