Live on £4000 for a year - part 4 (Oct - Dec 2008)

bails

Ha ha, we're all in the same boat the_cat! And there's no such thing as cheating, you do it however you like!
I've shaved £100 off my present budget and £20 off my insurance, which brings me to the 4k (but no clothes in yet). I really need to get a handle on my clothes as I have LOADS that don't fit me now so I may refuse to buy any until I have cleared out some more of the old (selling where I can to offset or charity shopping). Is insurance cheaper if you get house and contents together? I can't do this as the house is my dad's so he has to do house and I have to do contents, but I want to pay for both. I need to check it out but can't face it tonight.
I'm making a list (but of course!) of all the ways I can help myself next year and then ordering them in terms of financial/health/wellbeing benefit. The ones at the bottom will be scrapped entirely (for me that's things like clicks and bingo ) and then I'm going to prioritise a few to do for each month e.g. first up will be getting back to proper menu planning and shopping to keep those spends down. If I have one or two things to concentrate on each month it won't be so overwhelming.
EDIT: I like how I've reduced the number of things I'll do in the same paragraph; good girl Bails for recognising your limits

cw18

bails wrote: »

Is insurance cheaper if you get house and contents together?

Generally, yes it's cheaper to combine them. You effectively get a discount for having more than one policy with them. (I then get a further discount on both my car and house insurances for having both of them with the same people!)

I would image it's worth comparing keep them as individuals if you can get a hefty cash-back on each of them though

the_cat

I think they build in a discount for a combined policy too. Also I have heard that in general it's best to use one company for claim purposes. If the worst comes to the worst and you are flooded or something awful, it would complicate things no end if you had 2 insurance companies fighting over which bits each would pay for.

Frugaldom

:rotfl: Bails, there was no stopping you! I hope you are sitting with your feet up and relaxing as best you can whilst working on your budget! :cool:

CW - I'm trying to do an 'all in' budget next year, so all regular spends are being included. I know the tax free bond is a slight luxury, but I'm using it instead of a funeral policy. If/when it matures in 10 years, I'll then look at it as tax free savings.

Fpr my money-neutral part of my personal challenge, I'm hoping to off set as much of my budget as possible through things such as vouchers, winnings, free scratchcards, cashback etc.

It is going to be the tightest budget I have worked on so far and I'm going to have to hope that the new garden project is a success, because some things just keep increasing in price! (electricity!! :mad: )

Good - I have completed all my Christmas shopping. :j
Bad - I now have only £89 of my 2008 budget left! :eek:

cw18

nykmedia wrote: »

Bad - I now have only £89 of my 2008 budget left! :eek:

That's just over £4.94 a day..... doesn't sound too bad

(But I assume you still have your electricity to come out of that )

Brighton_belle

Bails, I decided not to include clothes at all in my 4K budget because if we talk about need, I don't actually 'need' any more (though I only run a small capsule wardrobe since losing the weight and getting rid of old wardrobe) but I choose to buy a few items every season as clothes I have wear out (but are still technically useable)that just make me feel good - comes under the 'health and well being budget' . In other words it is one of the luxeries I am cutting back on everything else for. I still need to pair down my wardrobe futher though to get rid of more.
Just re done my hse & contents insurance this month and reduced it to £149 with churchill through c*nfused.com via this website. There were some extras in that I didn't bother with, like accidental damage for various reasons ut I'm sure you can reduce yours.
Mine pressie budget going to be £100 for the year and not a penny more:o . First time I've had a presie budget and it's going to make me more creative.
Marru - well done on day 6 of alcohol free:T . Hope the visit of DD dad went ok and he left without angst.
I have also decided I won't be doing any bingo or clicks or such like next year: they take up too much of my energy/time that would be better spent for me on other things. I need to get the bigger things in place and not spread myself too thin.
Somehow managed not to do any xmas plans today dispite my great intentions. We just went to B&Q and spent money instead:o . However , all in a good cause - had big reductions on some roller blinds (bold red) that will look lovely in my kitchen and cost little more than my costings for tarting up the ones I was given:j and OH bought bit and pieces for fixing/putting up the freecycle shelves which will be my xams pressie (hoping to wangle 'putting up the rollerblinds' as the other half of my pressie:D )

Tomorrow I'm hoping to be fit enought to join OH on conservation task in the Downs (enticed by bonfire and mincepies):j .
My mates hubby is the drummer on strictly. Does that make me nearly famous?

sophiesmum_2

Provisional starting budget figures for 2009 challenge:p

£4000.00 budget

TV licence - (paid until end Oct 2009 from this budget so 2 months at new rates next year) £24.17
Food /cleaning/toiletries £800 ( starting with stockpile of everything built up from this years budget:D )
Car Tax (my car only ) £120 due 1st Jan
Car Insurance ( just paid one year up front starting Dec 30th from this years budget)
MOT and service £150
Life insurance £168
Mobile payg approx £20 - hardly use
Gym membership - £384.00 (my hobby)
House insurance contents only (Paid up to Oct 09 - £57 with £50 cashback:j )
All inclusive broadband,ALL cable channels, V+ and second box, and telephone including all calls(except to mobiles)- £984:eek: :eek: (OH's hobby!)
Electricity/Gas £0
Gifts £0 (aiming for 100% money neutral again )
Total £2650.17
Everything else including entertainment,clothes,shoes,household purchases, days out,charities, and any shortfalls from the above £1349.83 - any extra income earned from cashback etc not used for gifts to be added to this total.

Starting 2009 in a very strong position, stockpiles built up this year, several items pre paid well into challenge, lots of veggie growing planned, and aiming for money neutral on all gifts/cards and any surplus generated income adding into pot for the "everything else" budget - aiming to be showing a credit at the end of 2009.;) I will need to buy birthday and xmas gifts for 14 close friends and family and a few token gifts for other friends, as well as the usual easter, mothers day, etc.Have decided to concentrate my efforts on this and wind up my 100 day and interest beater challenges to simplify things.Tht money now earmarked for holiday spends
I'm also not bothering with clicks and free bingo etc as they are too time consuming and I can get better returns cash wise by stockpiling /gardening/batch cooking/baking/gift making etc. I suppose it's a case of prioritising what works best in your own situation.

Budget is for three adults and one part time adult DS, no pets.

Not adding child benefit to challenge totals - instead will be giving DD the child benefit and she will once again be using that for anything she needs - clothes/college stuff/etc. So in effect removing it from budget.
Also not including petrol costs as mostly use car for work purposes and receive expenses for mileage which generally cover my small amount of other use so no actual cost to me.
Good luck everyone:j :j

Marru

Crisis over... I have added 15 pounds per month for Jan to Aug and 20 pounds for September towards my TV license (due end of Sep). So in January I need to transfer additional £15 into savings account for that. This has knocked my "other" right down.

Frugaldom

Electricity £65 + Internet DD £19.99 = £84.99

I just HOPE that I haven't forgotten anything needed for Christmas dinner because the milk budget just won't cover it unless it's whoopsied to near zero and, seeing as we don't have a shop of any description within about 5 miles, it's very hard finding batgains! :rotfl:

sophiesmum_2

nykmedia wrote: »

Electricity £65 + Internet DD £19.99 = £84.99

I just HOPE that I haven't forgotten anything needed for Christmas dinner because the milk budget just won't cover it unless it's whoopsied to near zero and, seeing as we don't have a shop of any description within about 5 miles, it's very hard finding batgains! :rotfl:

Don't worry Nyk I can send you up a food parcel from stockpile unless its the turkey you forget:rotfl: