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

bails

Haven't exactly got my numbers head on TTDB but looking good to me! Someone will probablycome along and remind us both of something obvious...
Wow 1274, that's a lot of money each week! I'm impressed you can still get your daily coffee in next year's budget *makes note to look at own 2009 budget again*
That's impressive to have read the whole year's posts Michelle, bet you read some nonsense :rotfl:Welcome aboard officially!
NSD here for the first day of the new thread :A We were going to the cinema but I made OH stay in with me so I could weep endlessly through the Pride of Britain awards

Frugaldom

tryingtodobetter wrote: »

Hello everyone, hope you are all well :j I have been rather busy over the past week as have started my final year at Uni so everything been a bit hectic as I try and get back into the swing of things.

However I have had time to do a mock budget for next year, please tell me what you think e.g. things I have missed and things I could save on:

Monthly

Mortgage - £440.74
Sky - £25.99
M/I - £9.96
Council Tax - £126.00
TV Licence - £11.95
Broadband - £14.99
Gas/Elec - £80
= £709.63 per month
= £8515.56 per annum

Quarterly

Phone - £70
Water - £110
= £45 per month
= £540 per annum

Yearly

Car Tax - £120
Car Insurance - £120
MOT - £50
Service/repairs - £250
Christmas - £400
Birthdays - £150
Shoes/Clothes - £100
= £99.16 per month
= £1190 per annum

Changeable Monthly Expenditure

Groceries - £200
Petrol - £60
Entertainment - £40
= £300 per month
= £3600 per annum

Children’s Expenses

Beavers - £84
Swimming -£200
Guitar - £240
= 43.66 per month
= £524 per annum

Total Yearly Expenses = £14369.56

I await your knowledge.

Tryingtodobetter, I have a complete break down of all my 'known' expenses, just as you have, and I split them into priorities and then allocate them sources of funding, like mini challenges within my overall challenge.
For example, if you receive child benefit for 2 children, that should give you £1500 per annum, so I would allocate that to everything that is associated with the children such as hobbies, clothes/footwear, entertainment, Christmas and birthdays etc. (Yours amounts to £1654, mini-challenge to keep it within £1500 by making a few pressies or saving coupons, vouchers or cashback to make up any difference)

If you are struggling to pay debts, look at what can be reduced or cancelled, such as Sky (saves £311 a year) and telephone bill (drop to lower package and only make calls at weekends (saves £140 a year) so that takes you down to £12,418 per year.

Once you deduct the items that cannot be changed (mortgage, CT etc, yours is £7063.80) you are down to approximately £5354.

Deduct the £1260 for running your car, as you'll need this for work, I assume, and you now arrive at a figure of £4094.

Your personal challenge could be to see if you can reduce that to keep it within £4000.

It's quite amazing how often these figures arrive at around the £4000 mark for people and it is why we don't include the non-changeable stuff like mortgage, council tax etc and we consider Child Benefit as extra.

For anyone who doesn't actually have enough coming in to cover what's going out then there are only 2 choices - increase the income or reduce the outgoings - on this challenge, we prefer to do both and try to make it fun.
In 2009, I'm hoping to financially neutralise the entire year.

Frugaldom

Welcome Michelle! Glad to have you on board and I have now added your name to the challenger list. I hope we can make this fun for you

Jumble-Bee, have fun going 'back to school' tomorrow

PrincessAnn

I couldn't resist just popping on here to say nighty-night to dear redglass. Oh, it's so cosy here in the old 'four poster' bed. One can keep the chill out when the curtains are drawn around it. I don't think you can fit these four posters in to the shoeboxes that the common people live in, can you?

No, I don't recall meeting that media woman. She may have tapped my phone, of course. Occupational hazard, isn't it Big Ears? (tampax: mummykins was so cross with you for making such rude comments to Camilla, even if it were a private call).

Sleep well, peasant people....

mumzyof2

Hello all, i spent £2.39 yesterday and i have spent £20 odd on shopping for the week. I will update properly later as im about to go out in a min to my baby group.

Frugaldom

Good morning frugal campers

Anyone joining me for free bingo this afternoon? Just found out about my £50 win on Premium Bonds and am hoping it means some more good luck - like hearing about the house we've submitted applications for leasing! Not looking forwards to the cost of a move and all the paperwork & address changes but it will be more than compensated for by the fact that I'll can heat the place without going bankrupt and live in the place without worrying about a 'for sale' sign going in the window!

Hope everyone is well, hope your cold goes away soon, Lynda, hope to keep spending to near zero for a while after yesterday's mighty splurge but I do have 3 birthdays and 1 anniversary on the calender this month - all pressies already 'in stock' from DACSO (Discounts And Clearance Sales Offers).

Had a phone call last night about my laptop that's for sale, fingers crossed they get back to me as the call was around MIDNIGHT and I fear it may have been a drunken decision, although the guy had already emailed via my Gumtree advert, so here's hoping it's genuine.

mumzyof2

Where is the free bingo?

cha97michelle

I've been spending money already today. I've just written a cheque for £900 to fill DS1's trust fund for year one and moved mony from my savings to do it. At least i am buying while FTSE100 share prices are low.


Also, my DH's childhood best friend is getting married in a couple of weeks, so i thought i had best organise the gift. So £51.50 blown. :rolleyes: I love that our friends are becoming settled, but this will be the 3rd of Dh's friendship group from home that have been married in 3 months.

Weddings cost a bomb don't they. This particular one has anyway. Dh spent £150 on attending the stag do - they went paintballing, then for a curry, then to a club. We had to travel from Rotherham to London so he could attend (luckily combining with a work trip so no fuel cost at least, and also lucky we could stop at the ILs house.)

It is a Friday wedding, so DH has booked the Thursday and Friday off work so we can get there. Then there are smart clothes for the kids (we already have but could have cost), us (i will rewear a dress i have or borrow one from my sister), transport costs to get to London, cattery charges for Thursday night to Sunday night, and that is before even getting to the venue. :eek: Dh also mentioned the bride had requested he attend a wedding rehearsal on the wednesday night, but there is no way DH could afford nearly a week off work for someone else's wedding. He is already having more time off than he did before ours.

We don't want to appear tight as everyone was very generous with us when we got married, but the totals are a bit scary aren't they.

Thankfully we should now have come to the end of a series of weddings. We don't know anyone else who is engaged.


Our other big expense this month is DS1 is going to be 2, and we will be having a little party at home, which i am trying to frugalicise by baking myself, but i am afraid there is a culture of expectation amongst the 'snobs' i socialise with, and i may be looked down upon for it a bit, but i am going to do it anyway. I have so far bought some bits for that (balloons/paper plates/cups/banner/invites) from ebay using money from selling some old shoes, so it cost less than £2, and got some fruit shoots and other bits that were on special offer in Mr S. So lots going on, but i am determined we will do it, and i will not appear tight for doing so.

Any frugal tips for 2 year old parties? I have started by not succumbing to 'keeping up with the jones's' by booking a church hall/bouncy castle.

Michelle, x

Skint_Lynne

cha97michelle wrote: »

I've been spending money already today. I've just written a cheque for £900 to fill DS1's trust fund for year one and moved mony from my savings to do it. At least i am buying while FTSE100 share prices are low.


Also, my DH's childhood best friend is getting married in a couple of weeks, so i thought i had best organise the gift. So £51.50 blown. :rolleyes: I love that our friends are becoming settled, but this will be the 3rd of Dh's friendship group from home that have been married in 3 months.

Weddings cost a bomb don't they. This particular one has anyway. Dh spent £150 on attending the stag do - they went paintballing, then for a curry, then to a club. We had to travel from Rotherham to London so he could attend (luckily combining with a work trip so no fuel cost at least, and also lucky we could stop at the ILs house.)

It is a Friday wedding, so DH has booked the Thursday and Friday off work so we can get there. Then there are smart clothes for the kids (we already have but could have cost), us (i will rewear a dress i have or borrow one from my sister), transport costs to get to London, cattery charges for Thursday night to Sunday night, and that is before even getting to the venue. :eek: Dh also mentioned the bride had requested he attend a wedding rehearsal on the wednesday night, but there is no way DH could afford nearly a week off work for someone else's wedding. He is already having more time off than he did before ours.

We don't want to appear tight as everyone was very generous with us when we got married, but the totals are a bit scary aren't they.

Thankfully we should now have come to the end of a series of weddings. We don't know anyone else who is engaged.


Our other big expense this month is DS1 is going to be 2, and we will be having a little party at home, which i am trying to frugalicise by baking myself, but i am afraid there is a culture of expectation amongst the 'snobs' i socialise with, and i may be looked down upon for it a bit, but i am going to do it anyway. I have so far bought some bits for that (balloons/paper plates/cups/banner/invites) from ebay using money from selling some old shoes, so it cost less than £2, and got some fruit shoots and other bits that were on special offer in Mr S. So lots going on, but i am determined we will do it, and i will not appear tight for doing so.

Any frugal tips for 2 year old parties? I have started by not succumbing to 'keeping up with the jones's' by booking a church hall/bouncy castle.

Michelle, x

Hi Michelle,

I think that it's great that you are doing the wee one's party the way you want and not bending to peer pressure. I think that it is getting obscene the way things are 'meant' to be nowadays for a kid's birthday party. They are hiring limos and everything, a lot of nonsense.

It is nice that some people want to get back to the way it used to be and have a tea party in the house with home made cakes and sandwiches.

Let's face it, kids get that much, they end up playing with the cardboard boxes that the toys come in, how many times have you seen that happen!!

Games like statues and pass the parcel should be championed!! Bring back the seventies birthday party pronto:rotfl:

SL x

lilac_lady

My DIL had a great 2 year old's party in the summer. She tied balloons to the clothes poles, put all "big" toys onto the grass - toy kitchen, scooter, bikes, garage, etc and set up an art table with lots of paint, crayons and paper. She advised the mums that the children shouldn't wear party clothes as they might get ruined. There was a chute, sandpit and 2 swings in the garden already so she didn't buy any equipment specially for the party. She laid on tea and coffee for the mums and had a table inside with all the usual party food (all homemade, including the birthday cake). She had all the old games and made sure everyone had a small prize. Instead of an expensive "take away" parcel she gave each of the children a helium balloon and a slice of birthday cake. The weather was fine and it was a great success at little cost. It can be done without spending a fortune.