Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

JAMIEDODGER

hi woody:)

the challenge doesnt include mtg/rent, water, council tax and work related costs. it also doesnt include debt payments and savings or luxury expenses like a holiday (as one would assume this would come from savings)

what is left is all expenses neccessary to live, food and bills entertainment and presents, ie everything you can work on reducing the cost of:)

please nyk or anyone else correct me if im wrong.

JAMIEDODGER

in an effort to be more organised for next years challenge, i have been looking at ways i can reduce certain catagories in my budget.

the first i am choosing to look at is cleaning.

i really like nice smelling laundry but with 4 kids, i do a lot of it and the cost is quite painful! i have tried lots of different products, especially since joining this site nearly 4 years ago and still i go back to either fairy or persil.

i have decided to approach this from a different angle this time. all the laundry products i have used in the past, i have expected to have the cleaning power and yummy smells of the expensive brands, however i have been looking at the soapnuts thread and after reading all the posts have taken the plunge and ordered these...i have extremely bad eczema especially during season change and often make myself bleed when the itching drives me mad!!!

while reading the soapnuts thread i noted that:

to make the laundry smell fresh add about 8 drops of essential oil (i prefer lavender)

instead of a conditioner, use some white vinegar

with a white wash use ecover bleach

to treat stains use a stain remover stick pre wash

for greasy or sweaty items also use either borax or soda crystals.


this week i will be going shopping for the above items as i am sure that over the months the cost of doing my laundry will tumble and using the tips i will suffer no loss of cleaning power!

ps, i do roughly 2-3 washes per day

lyndasharp

The last time I lived at home while earning my parents and I put in 'sealed bids' of how much rent we thought I ought to be paying... funnily enough my amount was the highest! My take home pay was somewhere around £800 per month, and I ended up paying £125 rent each month.

I've now roughly worked out my spend for Aug, as I wasn't properly keeping track in Scotland... but it's somewhere around the amount in my sig anyway. That leaves me £277 a month to spend for the next 4 months, so it's lucky I've done some of the Christmas shopping already!

The one rainy morning we had in Scotland some of the people on the trip decided to try and climb Ben Wyvis, but I wussed out of that one and spent the morning cross stitching, so I stayed dry and didn't fall down the mountain....

Edit: I am trying to include my holiday spending in my budget but not my interview travel spending, so Scotland is in my total but Ireland isn't... I did subtract my wedding car earnings from last months spend though, and also didn't put my car repairs in the total as that's needed for essential work travel (plus it would have used up amost my entire budget for the month!).

bails

Afternoon all and welcome Woodyrocks! Love your sig I've seen you around quite a bit before but can't think where, maybe the PB thread?
Anyhoo, you've just joined us as we're talking about next year's challenge which will probably run slightly differently. At the mo, the 4k excludes rent/mortgage, water and council tax bills and anything work-related. What counts is all other bills and anything else related to cost of living. Luxuries aren't included. If this sounds complicated then that's because it has proved to be! :rotfl:We all have different situations so it's quite tricky to all stick to the same budget. Next year we're looking at doing an all-in challenge, where we each have an individual amount we try and stick to. It's a work in progress so watch this space!
1274, and everyone else, I've just worked mine out yesterday as it happens and it is indeed scary :eek: As it stands, it's £16, 251.14. This is just for me :eek::eek: To put it a little more into context, 45% is house (mortgage, bills, food and shared stuff), 27% is health and 13% is my car (essential due to health). This budget is the amount I anticipate needing when I'm back at work, which realistically isn't going to be next year, so I can exclude some small amounts I'd included for work clothes and travel. That leaves me 15% for everything else.

The 'rent for kids' debate is an interesting one, with some valid points on both sides. I agree it's important to learn good money management skills and paying rent is part of that. I certainly wish that the parents of some of my boyfriends had provided them with some kind of 'money education', so you'll be doing your future DiL a favour! :rotfl: How much is more tricky, and I think can depend on take home pay. I think BB's point is an interesting one about the idea of enjoying disposable income for a time before responsibilities kick in, especially in your DS's case where he seems to have his head pretty screwed on in lots of ways already; not bad at all for a 19yo lad! Most importantly I believe is the idea of coming to an agreement together, where you both feel it's a fair deal. If you are keen to encourage him to save, what about suggesting that you think x is a fair rent but would be happy if he gave you x-y and put y into his savings?

ps I'd substitute a number in place of the x, as walking round with a large cross aint going to get you very far

Woodyrocks

Thanks a lot for the clarification Jamie. Will just tally up what I am currently spending on the named items and will see where there is any give. I know exactly how much I spend on bills because of direct debit, food spend is a bit more fluid as is entertainment spends.

Frugaldom

Woodyrocks wrote: »

£4000 a yr works out to around £333per month. Can someone tell me what this is meant to cover i.e rent, childcare, travel, bills or is it just food & other daily expenses? I would love to TRY and do this next year because it is getting to be a joke how much I am spending on randomness each month (£650 on shoes last month :eek:) but I need to know what exactly the limitations of the challenge are likely to be.

TYAVMIA

Hi and welcome to MSE & our wacky 4k challenge thread. We're usually quite a friendly bunch in here except I have to say... WOW! :eek: £650 ON SHOES? Was that for the entire family and you have a large family or was that just because you couldn't resist buying shoes? Or are you my daughter and you came into money without telling me? :rotfl:

The budget here is for living costs - those things that we all have to pay in order to survive and live a normal lifestyle. It's actually £4000 plus child benefit for those who have children. So that would include all household bills except council tax/water (as we all pay different amounts) and rent/mortgage because we all pay different amounts there too. It's for needs, not wants. It's easiest if you have a chart with everything that you HAVE to pay over the year and then you can see what belongs where. Child care costs are probably dependant on work situation, so it's a work related cost. Holidays, hairdressers, the gym, car etc are not an essential part of survival, so these are classed as luxury items (unless car is work-related item). Debt repayments are in the 'must do' category as we are all aiming to become and/or stay debt free, so these get deducted first, before even the challenge items.

GOOD LUCK

Edited in - DS agrees he should be spending as he pleases and thinks he's already paying too much, so I guess that's settled. When I mentioned costs of electricity up again and we can't afford fulltime heating, he said he'd wear a jumper! :eek: :beer: Job done! :rotfl:

Woodyrocks

Thanks for the welcome bails. I am such an MSE gypsy and can be found camping out wherever I lay my hat for the night

I have just done a quick calculation with the help of my online banking and I am already £35 over the £330 mark :eek: and that is excluding theatre spend, drinks with the girls, treats for Woody & I like eating out and let us not forget my shopping issue lol However am I going to do this without failing...
[SIZE=+1]
20 + 40 + 160 + 30 + 10 + 7 + 10 + 70 + 18 = £365[/SIZE]
Leccy + Gas + Food + BT + Pru Health + 18185 + Charity + Cleaner + Sky

Is it possible to try and aim for £6000 (even 5K maybe) a year instead. I just want to give myself an opportunity to succeed.

@ Nyk I just have serious issues. In my defence I did buy Woody 3 pairs also! I just need to STOP but I convince myself that a BINB Rupert Sanderson for £180 just has to be bought otherwise it is criminal not to

bails

Woodyrocks wrote: »

I am such an MSE gypsy and can be found camping out wherever I lay my hat for the night

:rotfl:Ha ha, I love this!
Finding a manageable total is what it's all about so that's great. We're not trying to beat each other, just get our costs down so we can eliminate our debts if we have any and either work less/spend our money on what really matters

Frugaldom

Woodyrocks, you can succeed. But you need to have a clear picture in your mind of WHY you want to succeed - is it to clear debts, pay off a mortgage, buy a new car, deposit for a house, holiday of a lifetime, wedding, etc? Once you have your own personal goals, then it is so much easier to focus on what's most important to you. Has anyone introduced you to www.spendingdiary.com yet? Great site, very easy to use and adds everything up as you go along.

Frugaldom

Hi Bails, we were posting at the same time
You are always so much better at explaining these things than me. Cheers for that. :beer:

It's still dry here so the washing's been out today! :j I've dug up a bucketload of potatoes and now have them all boiled and mashed, cooling down for freezing. Another bucket of apples to be stewed for freezing I've picked a bucket of green tomatoes and haven't a clue what to do with them. They had to be picked, they're falling off the wilting vines with no hope of ever ripening or reddening. So disappointing, especially as nobody here likes chutney. I would have to say that my first year of attempting to grow my own veggies has been far from a success. I spent about £80 setting it up but would never have spent that on veggies. Just as well the greenhouse was included, so I do have something to show for it all. That and a freezer load of potatoes, leeks and stewed apples, I guess. Oh, and enough seeds to grow same again next year and, probably, the year after. Oh, and all the pots that can be reused. Umm... come to think of it, maybe I did win out of this experiment afterall - I still have a load more potatoes, apples, leeks, onions and beetroot to pick plus some peppers and we've used heaps of herbs, eaten the strawberries, peas and rhubarb plus had some fun (entertainment value) and several BBQs (socialising with friends & family). :rotfl: :j
I wonder how everyones homemade wine is doing?