Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

Penny2myName

found some receipts I forgot to put into my spending dairy, so am just going to do them all as today, so budget will be straight by end of this month.

Kittikins

So far in my challenge I've spent the following:

£5.02 Waitrose - only £1.59 was needed, the rest was wants. Bad girl!
£35 electricity (I'm going to be switching absolutely everything off at the socket when not in use from now on, not just the cooker and things that are easy to reach, lol)
£11.61 TV licence

I'm going to struggle on £3k for the rest of the year, maybe I should include child benefit (I have a 3 year old daughter, Pumpkin) as my monthly outgoings come to £2,273.76 for the 9 months to the end of the year!

Must keep positive, I've read so many inspiring posts on this topic and shouldn't panic in the first few days!!

mumzyof2

Kittikins wrote: »

So far in my challenge I've spent the following:

£5.02 Waitrose - only £1.59 was needed, the rest was wants. Bad girl!
£35 electricity (I'm going to be switching absolutely everything off at the socket when not in use from now on, not just the cooker and things that are easy to reach, lol)
£11.61 TV licence

I'm going to struggle on £3k for the rest of the year, maybe I should include child benefit (I have a 3 year old daughter, Pumpkin) as my monthly outgoings come to £2,273.76 for the 9 months to the end of the year!

Must keep positive, I've read so many inspiring posts on this topic and shouldn't panic in the first few days!!

Does your outgoings total of £2,273.76 include your rent/morgage..as if so this challenge we dont include rent etc

mumzyof2

Ok today i have spent :
Bus - £0.90
Mr M - £0.55 (i even put it on my card as had no cash on me)
WHS - REFUNDED £0.92

total - £0.53 (took off 92p that got refunded because i had added themagazine at full price yesterday to my totals)

I got £5 cashback and got the follwoing

Ribbon - £0.50
Bus fare - £0.90
Mr M - £1.42

Total left from £5 - £1.40

£2.18 left from my fiver.

Total fot the day - £2.71

Im well impressed with that and i also got my bus fare in that too. Only got cordial,bread and some reduced sausage rolls (kids were screaming)

Marru

Hello,

I am finally back with my updated for March which is also my cumulative total.

Electricity + Gas + Mobile: 77.56
Food + other household: 126.3
Animals: 79.95
Other: 5.-
Car: 129.88
Total: 419.22 :eek:

My original budget for March was 338.80 so I went 80.42 over. Now here is the clever accounant part of analysing the difference (read excusing): March bough brush and ear drops for my old dog: 15.-, bought mop and bucket: 5.-, I will be able to reclaim 20.- of dog food back from the rescue I foster for, I have 10.- worth of hay in stock for piggies, I had an extra trip to London over Easter and the petrol was 26.- and because I timed one cheque incorrectly in February (slap wrists) I was charged 5.- so all this taken into account I actually was 0.58 under budget. And also my March was even without all the excuses 162.11 under what I spent February before I started this challenge so I am very pleased. :T

Hand bags: I think the sanitary towel that lives in my bag has an affair with my cheque book. I don't use my cheque book often but when I do it always brings up this other stuff when I pull it out. Hence preferrig platic.

I have decided to start calling my LO as DD from now on as she is almost 3.5 years now. I was so angry last night as after cooking us some potatoes and broccoli to go with the fish I had already cooked previous day I left the left over potatoes and broccoli to cool down on the kitchen worktop. I was sorting some laundry upstairs and when I went downstairs both containers were on the floor and all the veg gone. She ended up going to bed witout a story. Now I have to cook more potatoes tonight and I only have some mangy parsnips in the fridge and I am not sure if I should cook them or bin them. I know - not very frugal. :mad:

April fool: At least that what I hope it is! NW kindly defaulted my cc contract with them and sent me a notice - it came through the letter box today. I shall go now to nationa debtline website and then DMP thread to find out what I should do about it.

Oh, does anyone know a good (easy) recipe for HM joghurt? I spent a fortune to the stuff as both I and DD eats it daily and would be great if I could make my own.

Have a great rest of the day everybody. I will also be thinking of way to get the interest money and will let you know if I come up with something.

Marru

lingojingo

would we count vouchers from 'pork rear' etc. in our interest? I'm saving mine for birthday and christmas pressies, they're money I wouldn't have had otherwise, and so far I've got £45 worth.

Marru

Sorry back already,

What if saving the interest money from something that is part of the budget but we don't necessary need. In my case it it chocolate. I am sure that I spend more than that in a year for biscuits and chocolate. So from now till the end of the year I shall put £4.50 every week from my current account into my savings account from the money that would be used for unneccessary stuff. If I want to have that treat I will have to find a way to earn the extra cash to pay for it. Something new that I am not doing already as part of my Olympic 2008 challenge.

How does this sound?

Marru

Burlesque_Babe

I've re-started the challenge with a NSD

Not feeling great, some kind of cold I think, the right hand side of my face hurts. It started around my eye socket last night and is now a headache, sore eyesocket, cheek, glands in my neck and back of my skull all down the right hand side.

mumzyof2

Marru wrote: »

Sorry back already,

What if saving the interest money from something that is part of the budget but we don't necessary need. In my case it it chocolate. I am sure that I spend more than that in a year for biscuits and chocolate. So from now till the end of the year I shall put £4.50 every week from my current account into my savings account from the money that would be used for unneccessary stuff. If I want to have that treat I will have to find a way to earn the extra cash to pay for it. Something new that I am not doing already as part of my Olympic 2008 challenge.

How does this sound?

Marru

Excellent idea..id do it for magazines Isn't it like ciggrettes though but if you quit smoking?? I havent bough or had any today

LollopyBear

CharliesAngel wrote: »

anyone know any good recipes for eggs?! lol i'm getting so many off my sis that omelette is getting boring... mayonnaise? is that worth making?! erm.. i'd love to be bothered to make pavlova... Mmmmm raspberry.....

tempted to start selling them on the 'black' market lol.. i.e without my sis finding out... :rotfl:

I make Delia's squidgy chocolate log at Christmas which is gorgeous and uses about 8 large eggs (or about 11 medium eggs) in total! It'd be yummy at any time of the year. http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/squidgy-chocolate-log,1217,RC.html