Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

Frugaldom

JAMIEDODGER wrote: »

after failing miserably for the 1st half of 2008, i am coming back in for the 2nd half.

2k plus child benefit, will not be including rent, council tax, water, debt repayments, holidays or savings. have worked out that its £133 per week for me.

really needed to get my head out of the sand and make this work this time. will be writing down everything!!!

I've just spent the last hour or so going back through part 1 of this challenge, seeing all the names who joined and then possibly fell by the wayside. I am delighted to see you have returned and wish you the very best of luck for parts 3 & 4 that make up the second half of 2008. I did say this was a tough challenge right from the start but I still love it! :rotfl:

I've almost completed my half yearly 4k challenge report and am feeling quite proud of myself, despite having spent more than 50% of the entire year's budget so far. In true Whitewing fashion, here is my GBB (Good, Better, Best) quote, but with a difference:

Good - I have quit smoking
Better - I have paid off all debts
Best - I have savings!
Better than best - I FOUND MY LOST SMILEY FRIEND!

I'm now going to demonstrate my culinary ignorance by going to Google 'Tabbouleh'. Thanks Redglass, if it's frugal and tasty, it may well be on next Saturday's buffet menu

JAMIEDODGER

glad to be back!!!:D

Janey51

Need more virtual sympathy :rotfl:

Old lady I visit at night had locked me out of the house. Retrieved back door key from keysafe. Trekked around back of house along rough, wet and very muddy lane (past row of houses) to rear of house. Found path to back door totally overgrown with leylandii, brambles, holly etc.
Managed to fight my way through getting a thorough drenching and got to back door.
I then discovered I had brought the front door key with me by mistake :mad:
Fought my way back down path...pulled gate open and it fell off....right onto my sore toe :eek:
Much unladylike language followed
Hobbled back to front of house, got right key and went back again. Got into house, fell over clothes airer propped at back door.

Would have stamped my foot in temper but too painfull.

Phoned Manager and reported injury. Got a lot of concern and sympathy and asked if I wanted to go home but it takes more than a broken toe x 2 to deter a frugaller :T

Of course, bosses will be panicing as no Risk Assessment done on this client's property. I think there will be a few red faces in Head Office when it opens this morning

mumzyof2

Good Morning all,

I have an appointment this morning then i might go to my sisters to see my mum.. my mum says she will pay my train and bus fare But i dont see the point of doin an hours journey, and only get to stay like 3-4 hours.

I have just paid my orange phone bill of £100.86 , shocking i know but it was when i was ringing abroad and didn't know how much it cost..so i have now stopped that so next months bill should be alot less..and i will only have paid for the calls starting 0845. So i need to add that on to my total. Only other DD's this month is my home insurance of £11.27

Need to check my tomato plants today and see if they have drained off, and when they have i can give them some tomato feed, might make them survive a little. I have just put washer on and just lazying around now till babysitter gets here. Hope everyone is okay.

Janey - Im sorry to hear about all your injurys yesterday, hopefully today will bring you a better day

NYK - are we doing this challenge next year? I really want to do it again, so i can start from beginning and make no mistakes

whitewing

Mumzy - hope the appointment goes well.

Yes, we'll do the challenge again next year. I will anyway.

Look up on the main site about cutting costs of calls abroad.

Janey, ouchie ouchie ouchie. I feel your pain!

JD - welcome back.

I'm off to call the solicitor, so am nervous this morning.

wendywitch

mumzyof2 wrote: »

NYK - are we doing this challenge next year? I really want to do it again, so i can start from beginning and make no mistakes

I'd like to join up to! I've been lurking long enough, reading and getting ideas but I know I'll probably need help with it

whitewing

wendywitch

That's great news. We all need help - that's why we're here. I definitely couldn't do it on my own. welcome to the challenge. I assume you're starting from 1st July on £2K?

Frugaldom

Janey, I really hope you have a better day today! Bad enough you're working on pain to begin with but for more to be inflicted, it's terrible! I hope your bosses are thoroughly ashamed of themselves and you SHOULD make sure they sit up and take note. Makes me mad the thought of people being allowed to live like that, especially with gardens they can no longer look after, and then those who are supposed to be 'in the know' claim not to know! I wonder why they don't organise garden share & care schemes? People who would love allotments or gardens, but can't get them, could volunteer to take over an elderly or infirmed person's garden and veggie grow from there on the agreement that they kept it neat, tidy and cultivated. Anyone agree?

Mumzy (and anyone else who is interested), yes, I will be running this challenge next year. I've been running similar challenges elsewhere since 1999, so I'm not planning on giving up any time soon. I just didn't ever want to post on MSE when it was being published elsewhere because there were copyright issues. (There still are, but I try to be careful and not cross any boundaries )

If anyone wants to join in at this late stage, feel free to do so and post your thoughts, plans and results as you go along. Look at it as a practice run for 2009. I won't add any new names to the preliminary list at this stage as I'll be starting a new thread for Part 3 in one week's time.

It's sunny here today, so I hung out the washing whilst my day's work was printing. I'm beginning to dread the weekend and all that's to happen before it - I don't have the biggest of kitchens, I'll have parents staying, HS and DS all here plus cousin & partner arriving on the Saturday and I need to get all the shopping done plus all the cooking. DD does not seem to realise how long that will all take when I only have a 2-ring cooker and one set of decent pots plus very little workspace for setting everything out in preparation. So... when she said last night that she still expected me to babysit this Friday (yes, the day before the party when visitors here, shopping to be done and all the fod preperations!!) I almost choked. Is it just me? Is there something wrong with me that such a suggestion should upset me? :mad: I HAD to tell her there was no way - it would be a health & safety nightmarish hazard having a 3 y-o running around the kitchen!

whitewing

Lol, not like you to get upset, Nyk.

I do sympathise.

Getting reliable childcare is hard though from a parent's point of view. And upsetting routines can be hard for a parent to deal with the aftermath.

I agree with you, but don't be too hard on DD as she genuinely probably doesn't have a clue.

FunBrum

Mumzy. Hope your feeling more like yourself soon. I'd cry with joy, if my sister came to stay then went back home!:rotfl: Bless her....she can be such hard work....a bit of a bossy-boots!:D
NYK. I think for just a few pennies...I never spend much on my plants...you can turn a little corner into a thing of beauty. My Geraniums were given to me from my sister last year and they flowered all through last summer, I over-wintered them and they have sprung up again.
The bizzies were £1.99 for about 24 and have been planted into a hanging basket with last years Ivy, and 5 tubs together with Lobellia and then a 12ft border at the side of the house. Altogether I think I have spent about £8.50. So very frugal, and the Geraniums, and Ivy will be okay for next year.
By the way, good luck with the weekend.:D

Have just come back from getting this weeks shopping. My OH and I were saying how more we are having to fork out for groceries now. We budget £30 for the two of us and my 15yr DS, who eats for three!:eek:
In the past we have hardly ever spent more that £15- £20. But the last few weeks its been closer to £30. Still not too bad I suppose, but being a tightwad....erm.....frugal, it kills me to part with my dosh.

Well I'm off to make some lasagne, soup and Irish stew.