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

mama67

SM where did you check this out please looked on site but couldn't find anything.

Or if you have any other good sites pls.

trex170104

Hiya all
Hope you all had a good xmas - haven't been on here in ages and so haven't got time to read all the posts but I've been working on my 2009 budget and here's the breakdown:
Gas: £348
Elec: £600
home phone/tv/broadband: £432
TV licence: £143
mobile phone x2: £240
Food: £1800
contact lenses: £250
Xmas: £500
Holiday £500
Birthdays: £500
extras: £1200

Total = £6500 [£5000 plus £1500 basic child benefit and child tax credit]
Will there be a new thread for 2009?

sophiesmum_2

mama67 wrote: »

SM where did you check this out please looked on site but couldn't find anything.

Or if you have any other good sites pls.

The main ones are envirophone, mazuma mobile,(I think mazuma and envirophone are also on quidco - mazuma def - £1,50 per phone on quidco) and the boots info is on the advantage points part of the website. You might need to log in first to see that.
Here it is :
http://www.boots.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/BootsMicrosites?page=AdvantageCard/index.jsp&langId=-1&storeId=10052&catalogId=11051

sophiesmum_2

SF sorry to hear about your dog, (((sending you lots of hugs:heartpuls :heartpuls :heartpuls )))

sophiesmum_2

bails wrote: »

:rotfl:Sophiesmum, I'm so like that sometimes. I hope you get permission to have them - as much as guinea pigs are great, they still don't lay eggs...

Yes very inconsiderate of them not laying eggs:p now that would solve a lot of problems we could all just keep a couple of piggies for eggs, and marru could open a piggy sanctuary and could start a sideline business supplying other people with piggy eggs:rotfl:
My friend who has eaten piggies in peru - huge ones apparently- suggested breeding them or rabbits for the pot - but I am with Nyk on that one and they would die of old age first:eek:

lyndasharp

SF, so sorry to hear about your dog.

I don't have time to look through all the posts yet, people have been really busy on here! Nan is looking very well and seemed to have a nice Christmas. She's being good about resting so far, she's not supposed to do anything for a month so I'm not sure how long she will be able to put up with that for. Bf came over late on boxing day and went home this morning, we've had fun sales shopping, going to see my friends and his friends (he also knows some people round Cambridge). I managed to be very good and only spent vouchers in the shops, buying some prezzies for next year!

I still have nearly £300 left in my official budget, but if I take off the £225 car repair bill that I didn't add in in August (think I should include it as I've included everything else) that still leaves me £65 for tomorrow. It's just a house party to see in the new year, which should be fairly cheap.

Roll on 2009! Looking forward to the new challenge!

looby-loo_2

So much to read every day even if I don't post everyday

Sorry to hear about your dog WW.

I have guinea pigs and one is huge, much larger than the others. My son calls then Mexican Takeaways just the wind up my other DS. He showed me a picture taken by his friend in Peru with a BBQ GP on a stick - it was horrid!:eek:

I took my DD1 into town today for a look round and she only spent £5! She's a MSE'er in training!

I hope everyone has a lovely New Year. See you all on the new thread

Frugaldom

Hello to all, welcome home to Janey and my sympathies to SF, so sorry to hear about your dog

Well, it's the second last day of our 2008 challenge and what a year it's been! Furthermore, it looks like 2009 is set to be an absolute bumper, with well over 200 names submitted to take part, so thanks to everyone for being here to make up the fabric of our frugally woven virtual community. :j At this rate, I may need to take semi-retirement just to keep up with the posts. :rotfl:

I'm not planning on spending anything tomorrow but I do need to go into town to post off some work stuff and finalise my end of month accounts & invoices, so I won't promise anything. I'm really pleased with my record-keeping this year as I have managed to log every penny spent. It has to be said that I started this in 2006, failed, started again 2007 and managed quite well, only occasionally forgetting the odd receipt that eventually got logged off statements but then for 2008, I did the challenge here, on MSE, with the help and support of you all - success in a nutshell! :j So, to anyone who worries about 'falling off the financial wagon', don't! It just takes a couple of years to get going and then things are so much easier. Good luck for 2009 everyone.

OK, if you have an aversion to number-crunching, please look away now!
My £4000 was to cover the cost of living for 3 adults, so I tallied up the basic household spends, excluding all non-essential extras, and the figures are as follows:

Groceries (includes recent purchases for 2009) - £1,226.15
Electricity (includes overlap from previous address plus business use for 2) - £1,218.90
Coal - £52.50
Logs - £40
Internet - £191.81
Mobile phone - £40
Telephone (includes preliminary installation bill for new address) - £222.17
Television - £139.50
Clothing & footwear - £75.36
Essential travel - £86.40
Gifts - £515.83
Insurance - £52.40
Life assurance/savings bond - £167.50
Everything else - £1,608.77
Total - £5,649.89

• My entire household budget turnover for 2008 amounted to £5,649.89 excluding rent & council tax
• I succeeded in making £1,946.83 from cashback, vouchers, gifts & winnings etc
• My overall costs for the entire year works out at £3,703.06 and this includes DD's party, moving house and all the new items I have [STRIKE]had to buy[/STRIKE] bought since last month's house move.
• The amount spent on real essentials was only £1,963.85

On a very, very positive note, if I was determined to live a proper, frugal, self-sufficientish lifestyle without all the luxuries that I currently enjoy, my 'free' cash income for 2008 was only £17.02 short of my essentials spending, so my cash neutral self-sufficient lifestyle is far from impossible.

Now that I have my own head in a twirl, I'm off to make something to eat.:D

bails

So sorry to hear about your dog SF, sending you lots of hugs xxx

Frugaldom

trex170104 wrote: »

Will there be a new thread for 2009?

This is the link to the new thread. If anyone misses anything or needs to check names or links, the 2009 challenger list can be found at post 2 of the new thread, all other links are on post 1 of the new thread