Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

nevadagirl

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to check in as I'm so excited about officially joining the challenge tomorrow. I've been a bit naughty and bought new glasses today (and OH bought a new laptop, but at a greatly discounted price, he tells me), but I have a few annual bills coming up during the challenge proper, including cat boosters on Tuesday, so I don't feel too bad about cheating a little bit.

I haven't gone as far as to stock up on a shipping container full of food - reminds me a bit too much of when I worked for a supermarket. We used containers occasionally to store overflow from the warehouse and dun dun durrrr, they were often overrun with rats. Yuck! :eek:

Hope everyone's having a good weekend and well done Mumzy :T for day 4

whowants2brich

Hi all,

Glad to see everyone's been enjoying the weather (I seem to be able to know when you've all got good weather, because there seem to be fewer posts on here...

I had a delightful shopping spree this afternoon, bought some essentials from Mr T and spent £4.50, but had vouchers that got me 80 points (£3.20 in deals), so a productive shop... Bought some ingredients so I could try to make a lovely gluten-free cheesecake (which turned out lovely, recipe can be provided) and all the ingredients cost me about 20p after the vouchers etc! We then went over to the local fruit & veg stand, and just as I spotted the £1 bowls of 12 (yes, twelve) lovely bananas, I saw a £1 coin on the floor. Nobody was looking around, so I just had to give it to the man behind the stall (who didn't see me pick it up, thankfully!) in exchange for the bananas! Bargain!

Then spent all afternoon cooking a few things, before noticing that our daily electricity consumption has gone from an average of 5kWh a day to over 10kWh a day for the past few days. I think I better stop cooking/baking... Mind you, the casserole I cooked last night went for last night's dinner, and we still have some left over for tomorrow's lunch, so I guess two meals (4 servings) can't be bad for an extra few units of electricity to cook...

Unfortunately, I've worked out that tomorrow won't be a no-spending day, because I have to drive 50 miles to get to my parents - just so that I can have a blood test first thing on Monday morning. Hey ho, gotta be done... I may well detour via the gym or Mr T, depends on what time I get to leave, and how long the shopping list gets. I've got to cook for my fiancee's cousin who's coming over on Monday, want to cook a potato gratin, but can't think of anything cheap/quick/easy/delicious to serve with it...

Oh, and don't worry - I have noticed that my posts here are only every few days but that they DO seem to get quite long... Sorry!

PS my basil transplant's taken off, my parsley shoots are sprouting all over the pot (after 2 weeks of almost nothingness), and my mint's been banished to the balcony as it's overgrown and needs to be tamed. I think I need to find the recipe book with 1001 ways to cook with mint! Now all I need to do is to grow something edible that isn't a herb... Probably too late for this season, isn't it?

Have fun, enjoy the weekend, and don't look at the weather forecast for early next week, enjoy the sun while it's here...

WW2BR

whowants2brich

PS Mumzy, for every hour that goes by and you haven't had a cigarette, put 10p into a pot. Round it up to £2.50 a day if you're feeling generous. After four weeks, you'll have over £70 in the pot. Aside from all the extra health benefits, you'll have a nice kitty to treat yourself with. Every time you want to have a cigarette, look at the pot and tell yourself why you've got it there. If you do decide that you have to have another cigarette, empty the pot and start again. See how much you can have in the pot. £100? £200? £250 is 100 days without smoking. What can you do with £250? One big spend in Mr T. How many veggie plants? Treat yourself...

Oh, and enjoy the physical benefits too, of being much healthier. That will be so apparent that when you have the £250 to spend, you'll feel so much better that you'll have hudreds of ways to spend it!

System

hello frunchkins!

(frugal munchkins - ps that is supposed to be a term of endearment )

i jumbled another jo malone thingy for £1 for resale on ebay yesterday, and my mum bought me a 50p cherry tomato plant to grow in my windowbox, to replace a plant that has suddenly went brown and died

i am assuming (hoping) that cherry = smaller than a normal tomato plant?

:eek: or am i going to end up with a big jack and the beanstalk vine growing up my window?

off to a car boot sale now, wish me luck!

ps - MrD(avie)T(esco) :blushing:

:rotfl:

lyndasharp

Phew, just managed to come in under budget for May, despite my impulse buy of a ticket to see Madness in August! We finally got last years pay rise plus a bit of back pay this month, and I'm expecting this years pay rise plus back pay in my June wages :j We've still voted to strike though, so look out for me on the news waving my placard.

6 house viewings yesterday, and the two I liked the most were my least favourites from the agents photos! Just goes to show photos don't give the full story. I'll go and get a mortgage decision in principle next Saturday and then go for a second viewing on those two. I'll see if boyfriend will have a look at them with me, useful to get a second opinion - he was a painter and decorator so he's the one who would be helping with all the redecorating!

Penny2myName

Total spend for 01 May 2008 - 31 May 2008: £503.64

TOTAL FOR ANIMALS £9.63
TOTAL FOR BILLS £183.58
TOTAL FOR BIRTHDAY GIFT £10.00
TOTAL FOR CLEANING £12.53
TOTAL FOR CLOTHING £22.50
TOTAL FOR DIY £26.00
TOTAL FOR FOOD £113.50
TOTAL FOR HEALTH £6.84
TOTAL FOR HOUSEHOLD £16.34
TOTAL FOR OTHER £5.90
TOTAL FOR SOCIALIZING £11.19
TOTAL FOR TOILETTRIES £40.10
TOTAL FOR TRAVEL £30.30
TOTAL FOR TREAT £14.01
TOTAL FOR UNKOWN £1.22
TOTAL £503.64

Initial amount to spend = £4000 over 366 days, average £76.50 per week
New balance = £1723.72 over 214 days, £56.38 per week. £241.64 for June:eek::eek::eek:

Think I will be seriously failing this challenge.:o:o

Frugaldom

Not going to be about much today or tomorrow as friend due to arrive here anytime, we are going collecting plant pots (freecycle) catching up and then tomorrow we are off on our first frugal mini-cruise to Isle of Man. No doubt the weather will break and it'll be torrential but I don't care! It's a day away to do exactly as we please and no telephones, no emails, no work orders etc, etc, etc. :j

MrDT, the jolly jumblebee and I will deal with you on Thursday!

Jumble_Bee, Cherry tomatoes are mini-tomatoes and it's OK to pinch out young shoots that are growing the wrong way to how you want them.

Cha, feel free to join us on this thread anytime. Congratulations on birth of baby, hope all your expanding family is doing well. Just one question, and it is in no way meant to be offensive, so apologies if you find it so and prefer not to answer. If you are returning to work part-time and your wages only just cover childcare, I'm assuming you will still have other costs involved in paying for your job (travel, work wear, lunches, extra cost of convenience items when no time for cooking etc, etc, etc) my question being - is it financially viable to go back to work or could you, possibly, be better off staying home? With the current tax credit system, you may be better off on one salary and claiming the work and child elements of the tax credits and you'd have no childcare costs. Off to hide now, in case you think I was out of order suggesting such a thing.

Will catch up with everyone soon, going to try to do my sums before pal gets here and then I'll try to post them for May. :eek: Wish me luck.

shaz_mum_of__2

Penny2myName wrote: »

Total spend for 01 May 2008 - 31 May 2008: £503.64

TOTAL FOR ANIMALS £9.63
TOTAL FOR BILLS £183.58
TOTAL FOR BIRTHDAY GIFT £10.00
TOTAL FOR CLEANING £12.53
TOTAL FOR CLOTHING £22.50
TOTAL FOR DIY £26.00
TOTAL FOR FOOD £113.50
TOTAL FOR HEALTH £6.84
TOTAL FOR HOUSEHOLD £16.34
TOTAL FOR OTHER £5.90
TOTAL FOR SOCIALIZING £11.19
TOTAL FOR TOILETTRIES £40.10
TOTAL FOR TRAVEL £30.30
TOTAL FOR TREAT £14.01
TOTAL FOR UNKOWN £1.22
TOTAL £503.64

Initial amount to spend = £4000 over 366 days, average £76.50 per week
New balance = £1723.72 over 214 days, £56.38 per week. £241.64 for June:eek::eek::eek:

Think I will be seriously failing this challenge.:o:o

No criticism intended here you are doing great and i am very envious of your spends but you seem to have a big budget for toiletries i just wondered if you had been stocking up

I would really struggle to spend that although i have converted all the family to own brand toothpaste,disposable razors,bubble bath,deodorant,shower gel etc(inc ladies stuff;) ) haven't noticed any huge difference except in price i even use the baby moisturiser for me or i sometimes get the aldi stuff everyone is raving about

I have made some soap but its not ready yet will keep you posted

I also make a lot of cleaning stuff and laundry gloop

Shaz

MrDT

Hello ladies! (getting my practice in ready for thurs nyk )

Thought I'd cross-post my self-sufficientish thread on the old style board

I can't really grow veggies etc here, so my attempt at self sufficiency is a little different from what you guys have been doing Have a look, go on, I know we got some winos here from the gala convos I've witnessed, might be right up your street

whitewing

Hmmmm...bit of flirting going on, I see...............(I've forgotten how to, if I ever knew).

Now, where's my wine from t'other day? I may join you for a glass, Mr DT (unless yours was last night in which case I'm just catching up on the thread)