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

angelatgraceland

Well Ive done my sums and we need £10,200 per year NOT including the mortgage!
Tried to break it down to a £4k chunk but it really wouldnt make sense as Id have to miss out so many expenses. So-really-I need a 10k challenge. It is, however for 5 of us-4 adults and one 15 yr old. The adult kids are at present without jobs unfortunately and are trying hard to remedy this. So Im going to take out £200 per week and "everything" will have to come out of that. Its important that I manage this as DH is hoping to take early retirement in May when he is 60 because of health issues and we will have to manage on that plus the little I earn. So-Ive probably got until May or June to adjust-unless he stays on longer. I also don't want to carry on working too much longer as my knees are getting too painful and now Ive trouble with my hands-the work I do is making it worse. If I didnt need to work it would mean we cut down to one car and I save money in other ways also by being home. When I am home Im also less tempted to buy anything as I work on the High Street.Therefore 2009 could be a total change for us. I know it can be done-it just needs a little shifting around.
When I assessed this situation last year my budget showed us as needing £14k plus the mortgage which wasnt possible. Somehow or other even with everything rising in price we have managed to chop off about £3k. £1k at least was due to the grocery challenge and we made cutbacks on car journeys,toiletries,booze,general household stuff-it all adds up. For us it will be the difference between "breaking your back" or not so to speak. We would rather take it easy on less than slog it out to waste it. That 3k is the difference between me working part time-or not-as the case may be!

Paulgonnabedebtfree

nykmedia wrote: »

Wow! I just found someone who spends more than me on heat & light! :j I'm now approaching £30 per week electricity and was getting annoyed at a £10.50 bag of coal only lasting 10 days whilst using logs as well. There just doesn't seem to be a simple, cheap way of heating a house in winter - ANY suggestions welcome. I know how to keep warm, so no point in sending suggestions for that, but I'm sure that, among over 200 of us on this challenge, we can come up with a cheap, eco friendly, frugal alternative to electricity and gas. Then we could all retire as millionaires, or move some place warmer. :rotfl:

An excercise cycle in the living room linked up to powering the electricity?

mbaz

Right this is my year so please count me in!

shaz_mum_of__2

Moring all

Fizzel sorry to be bearer of bad news ....................having an open fire in a bedroom is now illegal ...............i don't know why or how it is enforced but the local council came and blocked mine up a few years back when the law changed .

Great someone mentioned bike powered heating ...I saw a programme on few years back where a guy made his tv bike powered so his kids had to pedal to be able to watch telly and get exercise at the same time ....fab

Nyk i know you wanted to grow biomass have you done any research about it on a domestic scale? I would be interested for future knowledge

Mbaz welcome,i enjoyed following your thread well done you lots of tips needed !

Its a shame there isn't a weed powered generator i have loads of them!!

Shaz

kerron7

Hi,

This is my budget as it stands at the moment, this is for 2 Adults and 4 children as you can see its way over 4k so i am aiming for a personal get it all under 10k. I also have to find money for a holiday from somewhere eek!

Groceries: £3000
Elec: £840
Gas: £840
Int/phone/tv: £480
TV Lic: £144
Mobiles: £360
Hse & Life Ins: £504.56
Car Ins: £432
MOT/Serv: £160
Tax: £240
Petrol: £720
Clubs/Interests: £193.96
Cloth/Footwear: £720
Gifts: £1250
Other: £35.88
Cont: £79.60

Need to get a diary now to record all my spends.

K xxx

blissfullydebtfreewannabe

I've been lurking on the old threads for a while, and have had a spreadsheet going for the last few months.

I am ready to go. Everyone around me thinks I am absolutely crazy to be so excited about not spending any money!!! I've done my budget and set my goal for 2009 at £4500. I just need a decent diary where I can record all my spendings... I'll ask for a Filofax for Christmas!

There are some absolutely FANTASTIC ideas on these threads, so thank you all :T and good luck everybody. 2009 here we come!

:xmastree:

MRSMCAWBER

Morning all

Hubby is out golfing....so I have spent this morning doing more planning and plotting... hubby asked the other day what was so interesting in my 2 diaries .... Bless him he got me a thick A4 diary and 1 half the size (is that A5? -i never know) -free from work..so I am all set for keeping track of every last cent spent in 2009 :T
Its my birthday tomorrow -So we are off out "somewhere" .. I want to nip into the NAAFI just in case there are any bargains I can take advantage of then probably we will have a wander around the xmas market ..in fact I might get him to take me to one of the big garden centres instead (well I have been to 2 xmas markets) plus I might come across some extra bits n bobs for my veggie growing
Right I had better get back to my knitting -nearly finished the scarf towards my nieces xmas pressie for next year :T

Paulgonnabedebtfree

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

Moring all

Fizzel sorry to be bearer of bad news ....................having an open fire in a bedroom is now illegal ...............i don't know why or how it is enforced but the local council came and blocked mine up a few years back when the law changed .

Great someone mentioned bike powered heating ...I saw a programme on few years back where a guy made his tv bike powered so his kids had to pedal to be able to watch telly and get exercise at the same time ....fab

Nyk i know you wanted to grow biomass have you done any research about it on a domestic scale? I would be interested for future knowledge

Mbaz welcome,i enjoyed following your thread well done you lots of tips needed !

Its a shame there isn't a weed powered generator i have loads of them!!

Shaz

After all those brussels yesterday, I think I should switch to methane power.

fizzel81

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

Moring all

Fizzel sorry to be bearer of bad news ....................having an open fire in a bedroom is now illegal ...............i don't know why or how it is enforced but the local council came and blocked mine up a few years back when the law changed .
needed !

Its a shame there isn't a weed powered generator i have loads of them!!

Shaz

yep it would only be the downstairs, i wouldnt trust an open fire in the boys room but to have one downstairs would be nice

JennyBee_2

We always grew up in a cold house and seeing as my husband and I now rent part of it from my parents, we're still living in a cold house!! We have an open fire in the sitting room which is a godsend and hot water bottles when we go to bed (how romantic!). The best thing I have is a huge (about 6'x6') crochet blanket that my gran did for me years ago! I wouldn't be without it as it is SO warm! Other than that we have a couple of the halogen heaters dotted around for times of desperation and if the worst comes to the worst, I do the ironing to warm up!!

This baby will probably have to wear more when it's inside than when it goes out! On the plus side, the house is nice and cool in the summer so we can't have everything! (It's an old converted barn that was built in 1881 so the walls are about 15" thick - unfortunately it's also draughty!)