Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

lingojingo

nykmedia wrote: »

Work/college/university associated costs - these do not get counted into your 4k cost of living budget as they aren't common to all of us, nor are they the same amounts for everyone who has them. Your living allowance is safe :)I

Thank you very much, it looks like it could become quite expensive, DD daughter says that as it'll be the most important decision of her life she needs to research thoroughly:eek: which means visiting everywhere. Also, she thinks it will be good experience travelling all over the country by herself. We've managed to work it so she can stay overnight with Grandma in Swindon en route a couple of times, so at least she'll be well fed and won't have to pay for accommodation!

Thanks for tip on starting off growing peppers, we eat loads of them, so I'm going to give it a go on my kitchen windowsill. Silly question, but how big do the plants end up?

lyndasharp

I had a very non money saving day yesterday, but it was worth it! Went to the Real Food Festival in London, and ate so many free samples that I didn't need to buy any food for lunch or dinner. The less money saving part of it was the bottle of toffee vodka for £15 (it's sooooo nice) and 3 knives for £30. I've spent my whole life hating chopping things because they never go straight, now I've got knives for a left hander, and it's amazing! It's so easy! I just want to cut more things up now! Anyone got any food that needs chopping?

bails

Ooh, left-handed knives, I didn't even know they existed!

Had lovely nettle gnocchi for dinner and am having a Grylling with Bear - my hero!

Hope you've all had a lovely Sunday.

MrDT

Janey51 wrote: »

MrDT.did you still feel not too bad about your beer spend when you had sobered up

Believe it or not Janey I still felt fine about it I've gone from having two nights out a week to one or two a month, and from spending £70 each night out to nearer £40... Ok, ok, so that's still £40 i may have spent that could have been chucked into my deposit savings account, but I need to allow myself some kind of social life lol

I've discovered the wonder that is slicethepie.com today could be something worth looking at for the interest beater guys. I've made a whopping £2 today :rotfl: Ok, I admit it doesn't sound like much, but if I can do that every day that's £732 a year. I'm not part of the interest beater challenge yet but might sign up if I can keep this up.

Another thing I realised was that £2 a day works out as £61 per month on average. And guess what my grocery challenge is currently at? Reviewing music in my spare time could potentially mean I eat for free!!! :cool:

Of course, managing an average of £2 a day could be a tall order, but some people have aimed for £300pm in the past so I'm not totally insane. If you're at the pc anyway, then this might make bingo thursdays a bit more bearable for some of you too :rotfl:

andromache_2

lyndasharp wrote: »

I had a very non money saving day yesterday, but it was worth it! Went to the Real Food Festival in London, and ate so many free samples that I didn't need to buy any food for lunch or dinner. The less money saving part of it was the bottle of toffee vodka for £15 (it's sooooo nice) and 3 knives for £30. I've spent my whole life hating chopping things because they never go straight, now I've got knives for a left hander, and it's amazing! It's so easy! I just want to cut more things up now! Anyone got any food that needs chopping?

Sounds like a great day On the special occasions board there are people who make toffee vodka for gifts - apparently it's very cheap and easy, you just need to leave it for a few months. I don't know if it would be as nice as the one you've found but maybe you should check it out!

System

MrDT wrote: »

If you're at the pc anyway, then this might make bingo thursdays a bit more bearable for some of you too :rotfl:

:eek: what, and miss out on the gala bingo tunes???

(ps i am joking, just in case your eyes pop right out of your head in horror...although it is quite horrifying that there must be some people somewhere who dont mute it... )

well, i have had a lovely frugal day out, i went to a park and then to a free art gallery

plus i picked up my stash of freebies that iv been getting sent to my bf's, and in with them was a brooch he had found on the street for me

he is getting good at pavement hawking, he found me a 20p,a marble, and a keyring today. I found a 10p too although im not sure the 20p wasnt thrown down to humour me, he dropped a 20p in the park just to see my wee excited face (the meanie!) i was hoooorrrrrified to discover that in general he doesnt bother to pick up anything less than 10p through

Frugaldom

LingoJingo - my last lot of pepper plants grew to about a meter high. I used them fresh for cooking and with only 3 plants, never had to buy peppers all year. I have read that if you decide to grow several varieties, such as the ordinary sweet peppers (green, yellow, orange, red) that they will cross pollinate with nearby chilli pepper plants so the next seeds, if germinated, would be cross-breeds. (Homegrown genetically modified food )

When I have plenty of space and a greenhouse, porch or conservatory, I want loads of peppers, as there are so many different types that look really nice when they get the fruit on them. (Apart from one extremely disgusting looking brute that should be X rated.)

Well done to those who have had frugal days and good luck MrDT with the slicethepie earnings. I was hoping I could have hit the £100 a month in bingo winnings to pay for the grocery bill here! :rotfl: Off to check that last night's winnings have cleared and are en route to bank. That was just sheer luck and I still have more games left to play there. They must be mad sending someone like me free credits!

lingojingo

nykmedia wrote: »

LingoJingo - my last lot of pepper plants grew to about a meter high. I used them fresh for cooking and with only 3 plants, never had to buy peppers all year.

Thanks very much Nyk, sounds just the job for us. I'll try starting some this week

taka

:undecided Where is everyone?? I feel sooooooo low today I should be all:j _party_ :dance: as I have made the decision to pay of my loan so will shortly be debt free (apart from mortgage). The loan was partly to do up my bathroom but I still haven't had it done and I won't be able to have it done for a few months and should be able to save for most if not all of it by then. I just feel bleughhhhhhhhh instead

I'm over budget for this month too... its not unexpected as I had 3 birthdays to buy pressies for but :wall:all the same. I think I'm at around £390 for April so far.

I wanna go back to bed... sigh...

Frugaldom

Hi Taka, I just popped in for a quick update, hope you are feeling a bit brighter and if you want to go back to bed then so what? If you have the time then go to bed, that's what I say! It's cheap, it's comfy and you can ignore the world until the phone rings. (Mine did, 3 times yesterday morning!) :rolleyes: But it's such a nice day here today that I just want to get outside rather than sit at a computer!

I think everyone gets a bit fed up with things now and again, and it can be made worse when you haven't any debt to blame! :eek: I KNOW that sounds stupid, but it's the truth from my point of view. You save, save, save and then something comes along that costs you money and instead of jumping for joy that you can afford it, you panic about how to replace it and all the 'what ifs' that go along with that. If all else fails, turn to the Billy Can method of placing the cash in the tin and then MAKE yourself spend it on YOURSELF, even if it is only a few pounds on a bottle of wine or a special meal.

For those of you with debts and doing this challenge to help clear them, your worries aren't over once they are gone. I think we get into a mindset of worry and, without debt hanging over us, we still worry. I succeeded in clearing off all my debts, loans, and credit cards and then had no ties to a mortgage after divorce meant selling the house. Now I worry about not having a mortgage because it means not having a house. I look at card statements and loan offers and think what I could do with the money and what I could do to make sure I earned enough to keep up with the payments. It gets shockingly depressing sometimes and we all need sharp reminders of WHY we do what we do. If there's no one about to remind us, then it starts the worrying process all over again... and we question our lifestyles and decide it's better off just to go to bed and hide from the world for a while.

HOWEVER...... we are doing whatever it is we do with a purpose and we are doing these things together, even although it's in a strange virtual reality. Just don't forget that the most important thing is to include some fun and if it means downing tools and going for a picnic midweek then so be it. Nobody is going to take you out into the street and shoot you for appreciating life. I'm rambling on and on, sorry Hmm... except I've talked myself into it now! Thanks Taka! :j I'll take my camera, go a rambling and see what the world has been hiding from me whilst I've been sat at my desk... proof will be uploaded this afternoon.

:beer: CHEERS TO TAKA for being my inspiration of the day. :T :T