Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

Prudent

NYK my total is in my sig. I am debating taking £1070 off that though. It was for a special last holiday with dd rather than day to day living expenses and was really a one off from money that would have gone into savings. I have had a lot of car costs this month which is just about to be added on and bump things up further

Frugaldom

Hi Prudent, I agree! You should deduct the holiday expenses, as these aren't 'cost of living' essentials

Prudent

nykmedia wrote: »

House 2 door's up has now come on the market, so I feel less threatened by the prospect of my LL selling ours at the moment, especially at the price he was expecting! (He reckons around 145k for this :rotfl: ). 2 doors up - on the market at o/o £75k and it has similar size garden to ours :eek: It also means that if he tries to sell this now, there could be 5 similar houses in a row all for sale.

It looks like you could be there until the next property boom if that the price your LL wants

Frugaldom

Who's who in August 2008

NYKMedia (I have spent 68.5% of my budget in 62% of the time.)
Slowlyfading
Doom_and_gloom
Penny2MyName
Wendywitch
Janey51
Bails
Marru
dfw844
Brighton Belle
PirateGirl
1274
MollyMop5
Lingojingo
Sophiesmum
Looby_Loo
DdraigGoch
Prudent

Frugaldom

Prudent wrote: »

It looks like you could be there until the next property boom if that the price your LL wants

I think he may be sorely disappointed when he finds out how many are for sale here, but it still doesn't get past the fact that my LL still hasn't registered, none of the repairs have been done and I suspect some dodgy wiring, as I now have no lights up the stairs. We'll keep looking for something else, as we just can't warrant spending the amount on rent that we do for a place like this, especially as there's no heating and the chimneys aren't safe to use.

Prudent

No heating, all that work and he wants 50% more than one neighbour and a 95% more than another :rotfl: :rotfl:

An American friend was telling me about a great scheme they rent under. Basically they rent houses at about 20% of the market rent for 'house sitting' a house that is up for sale. They keep it ready for viewers, out on the fresh coffee etc and just get out while the agent does the viewings. They are building a house and this helps with costs. It helps the owner get a better sale price and stops squatters etc. Most owners have relocated with work.

Prudent

nykmedia wrote: »

Hi Prudent, I agree! You should deduct the holiday expenses, as these aren't 'cost of living' essentials

Ok thanks. I think I will go back through the finances from January and get an accurate total to date.

Prudent

Updated everthing. The big car expenses and a new this week dyson (usually get from car boot - long story!) meant my total is £5052 to date. The only exclusion I have made from this total are:

£170 a month my petrol for work and dd's travel.
£10.95 union
£114 (over 10 months) council tax.

I have been replacing quite a lot of house items like the Dyson and mattresses this year. The car costs account for just over £1000 of the total.

Have I done this correctly?

Frugaldom

Hi Prudent, if I was you I would split the amounts again, as the 4k challenge is about the cost of living, more so than being about how much we spend, so it doesn't count council tax, although I may incorporate this next year to make things simpler, nor does it count cars, holidays, socialising, entertainment, home decor or furnishings than absolute essentials. Most of these things are dependent on individual incomes and lifestyles, and don't really affect the basic cost of living. So... looks like you have a few more deductions to make

If I had to add in everything it cost to live here for a full year (council tax & rent) + (cost of living), my total amount is £11,000, as it costs about £7,000 per year on rent & council tax. £11k excludes travel, holidays, hobbies, eating out, special gifts for close family, socialising, entertainment etc, etc, etc.
Example of what got spent last month:


2008-07-10 Umbrella £2.99
2008-07-20 Measuring Jug £0.98
2008-07-21 1L flask £1.79
2008-07-21 Toaster, Kettle, Iron £8.99 (was cheaper this way than replacing only the kettle & iron)
2008-07-21 Woolworths £17.97 (Gifts)
2008-07-23 Body Shop £21.00 (Gifts)
2008-07-07 Co-op £10.04
2008-07-10 Co-op £3.25
2008-07-12 Co-op £1.32
2008-07-15 Co-op £6.06
2008-07-17 Local £0.70
2008-07-19 Co-op £2.43
2008-07-20 Tesco £24.13
2008-07-17 Broadband £14.99
2008-07-02 Electricity bill £163.95
TOTAL £280.59

PS: Prudent, I am astonished by your 'win 2008 in 2008 challenge'! Well done with that! What sort of things have you won this year?

Prudent

Just a quick reply -estate due to take photos

Wins have a been a bit thinner this year as I have been concentrating on other things. Hopefully more time to comp soon. I will re-do the total -which will come out very differently. I have been adding way too much