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

sophiesmum_2

Good evening frunchkins:D

I can't believe it is already 3 months since the last thread started:eek: I love this little community:heartpuls :heartpuls not only for all the moneysaving tips but also for the friendship and support that weaves its way between the members of this thread. There have been lots of ups and downs for us all but whenever someone has needed support it has been there in bucketfuls.You are all wonderful:A

I haven't put any money into my sealed pot recently in lieu of electricity spends:o so will add £100 tonight. Can't wait to open it in December as I know there is well over £1000 in there:j (ooh just had a thought Nyk - if my moneymaking skills fail me on the £1000 challenge I could use my sealed pot money for next years start:rolleyes: ).

I have also just spent 50p on two reduced bags of organic bananas, 50p on two reduced packs of 2 organic corn cobs, and 25p on a bag of organic peppers reduced. I was also naughty and spent 72p on a flapjack and £1 on 4 cans of tango as I had been sitting in traffic for two hours driving home from seminar and was starving and thirsty:o So £3.97 to deduct from contingency fund. Stockpile still doing well though:D

Will go and update my sig now.

Penny2myName

main run down for last month is in other post, but these are my figures for starting the last 1/4 slog of this challenge

Live on £4000 + CB for the full year #005 - £5778.40/£4342.46/ Weekly Budget £ 109.25/ October 483.82 for 31 days.

Mollymop5

Just popped over to make sure I didn't loose you all tomorrow.Off to check out my spends so i can update

Frugaldom

Sophiesmum, I hadn't given a thought to the sealed pot funds and, having more than made up for Christmas spends elsewhere, I will be able to include the contents of 'Phil the Pig' into my £1000 challenge - EXCELLENT! Mind you, I'm only aiming for £100 in there because there's a distinct lack of spare change in this household, but there have been 3 of us adding in any spare pennies we have left. My biggest 'worry' is that my utilities will run over the designated budget. My overall calculation estimates that electricity prices have increased by over 67% since this time last year! Another increase this year could see them doubled and that, in my book, is b***dy awful, especially when the Government starts spouting figures of 4% inflation! :mad: Who are they trying to kid?!

sophiesmum_2

Nyk when I took this job almost 6 years ago part of my salary was heat,light and water charges being paid -at the time this was estimated to be worth £500 a year. Water rates alone now accounts for 50% of this and electricity definately costs more than £250 a year for a 2 bed flat run on storage heaters , so I definately lucked out on that deal:j :j :j

cw18

Nyk - just checked my bills on line.

If I've done my look-ups right (pretty certain I have), then for my supply area paying by monthly DD.....

1/9/2007 - electricity was 7.191p per kWh, gas was 2.382
7/10/2007 - electricity was 7.191p per kWh, gas was 2.382 (same prices)

the last I have on a bill before I swapped to fixed price (no standing charge version)

9/07/2008 - electricity was 8.415p per kWh, gas was 2.771

According to the Scottish Power website, the non-fixed price is now

30/09/2008 - electricity is 9.281p per kWh, gas is 3.798


So, for me electricity is up by 29% and gas is up by a whopping 59.4%

:eek: at the gas increase -- especially as most of that is in the last 2 months since I fixed my price. thank heavens I finally took the plunge and did that !!!!

1274

I'm still here and in on the challenge (with extras) for the last quarter. Because I've recently become a contractor it seemed to make sense for me to clear all my employed financial data, start over with a clean (spread)sheet and switch over to the all-in challenge for the rest of this year. So, my budget for the next 3 months is £3,990 (oooh look it's a whole new 4K!) but this includes everything. To get it under 16K for the year is going to be really really tough since I've shaved money off all of my variable spend categories. I've just scraped enough from my current account today to transfer to my regular savings amount for the "big spends" which are coming up over the year (new computer and holiday). At the end of December, you can all look at how badly I've done and decide to stick with Nyk's original things which are excluded or you can come and join me (but still with this thread if you'll have us LOL) on the all-in 2009 challenge!

[Deleted User]

I'm aiming for £8,300 for the year to include everything. I'm currently at £6258.32. I'ts going to be a push to get in on target.... but hope to do it.

Not sure how I'm quite done it to be honest since rent is £420pm and I don't have an allotment or garden. However, every year since 2004 I've lived on approx. £9K a year. Means I've got a very healthy savings account now.

Good luck everyone!
Hiphouse

Frugaldom

cw18 wrote: »

Nyk - just checked my bills on line.

If I've done my look-ups right (pretty certain I have), then for my supply area paying by monthly DD.....

1/9/2007 - electricity was 7.191p per kWh, gas was 2.382
7/10/2007 - electricity was 7.191p per kWh, gas was 2.382 (same prices)

the last I have on a bill before I swapped to fixed price (no standing charge version)

9/07/2008 - electricity was 8.415p per kWh, gas was 2.771

According to the Scottish Power website, the non-fixed price is now

30/09/2008 - electricity is 9.281p per kWh, gas is 3.798


So, for me electricity is up by 29% and gas is up by a whopping 59.4%

:eek: at the gas increase -- especially as most of that is in the last 2 months since I fixed my price. thank heavens I finally took the plunge and did that !!!!

Comparing prices between here and there :eek:

Our rate is currently:

20.81p per day standing charge
12.848p per kwh during the day
5.807p per kwh during the night

We are with Scottish Power on white meter at online rates, so the discounts neutralise the vat charges. If I estimate that the storage heaters use 6 units each (5) per night, the fridge & freezer etc use 1 unit and the hot water, when switched on, uses 6 units, that's me up to almost 40 units per night plus we'll need at least 10 units per day because we work from home and have no alternative heat source.

October guesstimate would be £110, as follows:
£6.45 standing charge
£63.66 evening charges
£39.83 daytime charges
£109.94 total for October (round up to £110)
x3 (taking me to 31/12/08)
= £330 (rounded up)

I just found a new mini challenge! :j Working towards keeping my next electricity bill under £330! But I'll reassess this figure as soon as I work out the actual costs of having all the heaters on, as I'm not planning on using all of them just yet if I can help it.

Penny2myName

With my CB added on to the £4k, I seem to be near on rolling in it, yet without it I obviously couldn't afford to succeed with just the straight £4k.
So my plan is to see what my total is for this year, and shave atleast £1k off it for next year.
I have had large unexpected spends included in it plus holiday. Next year whatever I pay for with savings will be classed completely seperate from this challenge. Am hoping to get £834.05 paid off my debts by 31st Dec, so then I will be starting next year owing £4k, which I want to try and get paid off for 31st Dec 2009. Which is going to be a challenge in itself.
Then again having just worked out what I am going to have coming in, with strick budgeting I should be able to do both.
Will be studying for at least another year so not working
9298.64 Income Support
2282.80 Child Benefit
1200.00 Maintenance
12781.44 Total

I plan on the whole of the maintenance going into the children's savings accounts. But that still leaves me with just under £11k for debt payments and challenge, with some left spare.