Live on £4000 for a Year, 2009 Challenge, part 1

candygirl

Aww PIPSMUM I hope baby arrives on time hun:D Dya know what you're having? My DD is due in March and is having a little girl:A :A I can't wait:j :j :j

fizzel81

sorry to vent on here now

lost my uncle tuesday morning from heart attack he leaves a 2yr and 5yr old daughters

and now ive just had my stepmum on phone her auntie passed away yesterday

seems so wrong to celebrate xmas this year

Paulgonnabedebtfree

fizzel81 wrote: »

sorry to vent on here now

lost my uncle tuesday morning from heart attack he leaves a 2yr and 5yr old daughters

and now ive just had my stepmum on phone her auntie passed away yesterday

seems so wrong to celebrate xmas this year

So sorry to hear that Fizzel.
I know that such losses are painful and my thoughts are with you.

dND

fizzel81 wrote: »

Congratulations too all expecting frugalmites in 2008/2009

pips mum hold on till the 26th (only as thats my birthday) i was due on xmas day made my mother wait though hehe

SNAP :j

Mind you I've never liked having my birthday then. I'm old enough that in my childhood everyone visited relatives on boxing day so birthday parties were out. Then there was the 'joint birthday and Christmas present' and finally having to wait 364 days to get another present :eek: I eventually decided to celebrate my half-birthday instead on the 26th June, but today I generally try to ignore birthdays :rotfl:

Deborah

sewbocushions

Hi Nykmedia and everyone, can I join the challenge too please? x

little_miss_moneysaver_3

Fizzel, sorry to hear your news. Especially with your uncle leaving the little ones. Christmas will be a sad time this year for you.

Our thoughts are with you and your family.

LMMS x x x

Frugaldom

Hello to all, sending best wishes to Fizzel and family, sorry to read your news.

Sewbocushions, welcome to the 2009 challenge, I'll go get your name added right now.

Shaz, have a look at the link in post 1, it's about cottage type industry ideas.

shorelines

I live at home so my lovely parents don't charge me anything but I buy my own food etc. I've listed all the annual spends with approximate spends, instead of lumping it under entertainment. I've set myself a target of £4500 so I can try and beat it and if not, I won't feel bad. I don't have that much expenditure but I've become accustomed to spending!

Mobile £480 (waiting for contract to end so this will drop)
DVD rental £120 (I've already cut my package to the minimum)
BFI membership £40
Film festival £200
Music festival £330 (overestimate as I get excited by merchandise!)
Food/toiletries £1500 (eek I have guestimated this. I probably spend more on this and less on everything else)
Holidays £350 (I doubt I'll spend this much)
Everything else (birthdays, going out, clothes etc) £1480

I'm hoping to spend less than £330 a month (with the £4k in mind) as I really want to save a lot in 2009 and I like a challenge. Also I plan to sell lots of books and cds. I've started by sending an old phone off and getting £52!
I hope that's vaguely realistic. Luckily the office christmas party has made me swear off alcohol so friday nights will be cheaper :beer:

Fizzel - so sorry to read your news. *hugs* to you and your family.

JennyBee_2

Goodness! It's taken an hour to catch up and it's only been 2 days since I was on here! Thanks for the new thread I'm very excited about it! Especially as it was pay day today which meant that we got a pay rise (for some reason we get it in december). Because our pay rise was half what was originally agreed (rubbish but still lucky to get one at all I know!) they gave us a one off lump sum of 1% as well...so after tax and student loan etc, I have another £150 to my name that I wasn't expecting! So that has gone straight into a savings account and I may cheat and start my £1000 in 100 days a couple of days early! Only problem is that I won't know what my actual salary will be until next month, as it's all out of kilter with the extra money (not complaining but like to be organised!) Then I'll be able to work out my maternity leave pay for the year (ish!)

I am so glad to be finishing work on Christmas Eve. Works out well as maternity leave won't start til 5th Jan but still get christmas off. (Baby due 18th Jan - help!). Excellent news about the increase in child benefit. I know it's sad to get excited by another £1.20 a week but it all helps!!

cw18

JennyBee wrote: »

(Baby due 18th Jan - help!)

Oooooo...... getting all excited now :j
I smell a possibility of a frugalmite holding on long enough to share my birthday :j