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

Janey51

Here we are again :j
As I end the year on a minus note I cannot really do any worse can I :rotfl:

I think I will re-do my budget in it's entirety having got some good pointers from other people's....especially CW ..respect :T

I have realised where I can make savings and where I cannot possibly stick to certain figures without having roasted moggie to eke out the rations

Nyk weather permitting my little car will be wending it's way to your door early in the year.

ilovetea

Can I please join in? Will try and sort some figures out over the next couple of days.

:xmastree: ilovetea:xmastree:

Frugaldom

:hello: Hi fruguys and frugals! :wave:

Anything relevant to the 2008 challenge should still go on the old thread as it isn't really 'the old thread' until 2009 kicks in , this one is up and running with 2 weeks of a countdown just to make sure everyone is ready and understands the concept of this challenge: to become frugal budget control freaks who want to live a debt free lifestyle (possibly on planet Fruga, speaking frugalian, socialising with other frugalites and frunchkins) and enjoying the resulting perks! :rotfl: You need to be a little bit [strike]mad[/strike] eccentric to make the most of frugalling.

Welcome Angie_baby and Ilovetea, I'll add your names to the list before you have the chance to reconsider. :rotfl:

Janey, looking forward to seeing you. I [strike]may[/strike] will even have a cooker by then, electrician's coming out tomorrow morning to wire it in and see about fixing a timer to the water heater. :j

We made it to 200 for 2009!

Masomnia

Can't wait to get going, thanks everyone!

My budget is £3000 for everything except rent. So that's all bills, holidays, food, clothes, nights out etc. etc. Hoping to come in under that as it should be mroe than enough for a student.

I can't give accurate figures for income until later in the year, but I've worked out my rent for the year to be £2445.96, plus £3,600 for my ISA leaves me with around £3k after an approximate income of around £9,500 maybe £10k if I do well.

Good luck everyone!

sophiesmum_2

Provisional starting budget figures for 2009 challenge:p

£4000.00 budget

TV licence - (paid until end Oct 2009 from this budget so 2 months at new rates next year) £24.17
Food /cleaning/toiletries £800 ( starting with stockpile of everything built up from this years budget:D )
Car Tax (my car only ) £120 due 1st Jan
Car Insurance ( just paid one year up front starting Dec 30th from this years budget)
MOT and service £150
Life insurance £168
Mobile payg approx £20 - hardly use
Gym membership - £384.00 (my hobby)
House insurance contents only (Paid up to Oct 09 - £57 with £50 cashback:j )
All inclusive broadband,ALL cable channels, V+ and second box, and telephone including all calls(except to mobiles)- £984:eek: :eek: (OH's hobby!)
Electricity/Gas £0
Gifts £0 (aiming for 100% money neutral again )
Total £2650.17
Everything else including entertainment,clothes,shoes,household purchases, days out,charities, and any shortfalls from the above £1349.83 - any extra income earned from cashback etc not used for gifts to be added to this total.

Starting 2009 in a very strong position, stockpiles built up this year, several items pre paid well into challenge, lots of veggie growing planned, and aiming for money neutral on all gifts/cards and any surplus generated income adding into pot for the "everything else" budget - aiming to be showing a credit at the end of 2009.;) I will need to buy birthday and xmas gifts for 14 close friends and family and a few token gifts for other friends, as well as the usual easter, mothers day, etc.Have decided to concentrate my efforts on this and wind up my 100 day and interest beater challenges to simplify things.Tht money now earmarked for holiday spends
I'm also not bothering with clicks and free bingo etc as they are too time consuming and I can get better returns cash wise by stockpiling /gardening/batch cooking/baking/gift making etc. I suppose it's a case of prioritising what works best in your own situation.

Budget is for three adults and one part time adult DS, no pets.

Not adding child benefit to challenge totals - instead will be giving DD the child benefit and she will once again be using that for anything she needs - clothes/college stuff/etc. So in effect removing it from budget.
Also not including petrol costs as mostly use car for work purposes and receive expenses for mileage which generally cover my small amount of other use so no actual cost to me.
Good luck everyone:j :j


Strategies I will be using;

stockpiling
menu planning
making more vegetarian based meals
reducing portion sizes
making use of leftovers
batch cooking
bulk buying
breadmaking
baking
preserving
growing own fruit and veg
foraging for fruit etc - eg blackberries
using "free" money to make gifts throughout the year money neutral
handmade gifts
reducing, reusing and recycling
keeping spending diary and spreadsheets
sealed pot savings
£2 coin savings - holiday spends
Interest beater challenge - holiday spends
£1000 in 100 days challenge - holiday spends

Phew that lot should keep me busy:rotfl: :rotfl:

Penny2myName

I have decided to use my A&L account for the purpose of this challenge. I already have all my utilities coming out of it.

£135.15 Balance 1st January
£100.00 Maintenance 1st
£185.60 Child Benefit 6th
£421.75
Normal monthly income is
£100.00 Maintenance
£185.60 Child Benefit
£285.60 Total
£22.09 from initial balance for first 6 months

Each month I have

Utility DD's £1962.08/£176.25
Household Insurance - £142.08/£11.84
Internet access - £221.00/£17.00
TV License - £141.00/£11.61
Telephone - £154.00/£25.00 (6months left in contract to BT)
Gas - £534.00/£45.00
Electricity - £365/£32.00
Water - £405/£33.80

Leaving £2037.92 for
Animals - £222.00
Groceries - £1000.00
Delivery/P+P - £80.00
Everything else - £26.32
Travel - £431.60 (to visit mum once a week/deliver Avon)
Wildlife Membership - £48.00
Mobile phone - £50.00
Cleaning - £60.00
Avon- £0 Money neutral
Gifts - £33.40 Money neutral
Toiletries-£120.00/£108.96

£4000.00

Any savings made from travel/groceries will go into the everything else pot.

Already been deducted from £4k and covers 5x £22.09 for last 5 months is the toiletries spends. Just need to make a profit of £23 from Avon to bring my total income for A&L to £4k for overall year balance (including the £108.96 already spent)
No clothes/footwear are being added as I am doing a challenge not to buy any new for 365days in 2009

Have included an extra category to my list Delivery/P+P, as I do have a lot of things delivered and thought it may be a good idea to see what this is actually coming to.

SiannieLaz

Afternoon All,
Really looking forward to starting this in a few weeks! Never thought I'd actually be getting excited about not spending money!

Anyhoo, budget starting with the following:

Groceries £1040 pa
Cat food £343 pa
Lecky £420 pa
Broadband £240 pa
TV Licence £140 pa
Mobile £360 pa (going to switch to payg when contract up)
Open Uni £750 pa

total of £3293 which gives me a good buffer for emergencies. I have decided to put whatever is left over each month (confident eh!!) into a saving account where I am shoving as much money as poss to enable me to offer a lump sum to get rid of my debt/DMP.

Good luck all:rotfl:

shaz_mum_of__2

Hi everyone here's my 2009 Budget

Groceries (inc cleaning toiletries and alcohol ) £2500
Gifts £300
Household maintainence and garden £100
House and contents inurance £180
Broadband £180
TV licence £140
Telephone £300
Gas £500
Electric £400
Clothing £100
Leisure (lotto,RSPB,eat out,hobbies) £300

Total £5000

Thats for Me , hubby and 7yr old DS (and 17 yr old DS 2 weekends a month)


I home cook most meals ,bake bread, grow veg, make jams and chutneys and I stockpile too

I made a few prezzies too this year and will be doing more this year.

I have just started doing the free scratchcards and still have 9 months befor re jigging the 8k i have stoozed in 2008 i use a cashback site for online purchases and always ask for student discount in stores.


I plan to start a cottage industry but as yet undecided on what

can't wait to get started

Shaz

Marru

Woohoo! New Thread!!

Here are my plans for the 2009:

Exclude:
- Rent
- Ctax (shouldn't need to pay as full time student)
- Cleaner
- Water
- Car
- Nursery
- Business costs (NI+broadband+landline)
- Debt payments
- Extra courses and college stuff that not reimbursed

Include:
- Everything else

Budget: £3,650.- i.e. £10.- day

Money neutral: I have put £60.- into my savings account to cover utilities for January (gas, electricity + mobile) and then in January I need to earn £60 toward February utilities plus £15 towards tv license and put this money aside before I can spend any money for anything else that comes under this challenge.

Budget for not included: My deficit for not included is £1,996.73, this will reduce by the money I have left in the bank+cash on 1st of January, also I know I have over estimated my child care and petrol costs and also I am hoping to get tax rebate to help with this deficit.

Budget for additional courses: I need to sell my possessions to get the money to do this, I've got DVD's, CD's, knitting stuff, soft furnishing stuff, DD's buggies etc to sell. Also if I can sort out the deficit from "the others" budget and have something left over, it will come here.

Vouchers are not counted as income and when they are used they are not counted as expenditure. I have £80 worth of MnS vouchers so this should be more than enough for my clothes for the year.

This budget is for one adult, 1 four year old (that eats 15 meals per week in the nursery 48 weeks per year up to September when I start to provide breakfast and packed lunch, she still will have tea at nursery), 1 dog, 2 rats and 5 guinea pigs. My main methods are going to be: cooking in SC on Sundays for the week, making sandwiches into freezer to take for lunches to college and "if I ain't got the money, I can't have it" -mentality.

I think this is it and yes I have my spreadsheets all set up and I can't wait to be able to start using them.

Bring it on!!!

[Deleted User]

Hello all

New thread - how exciting!! :j

I'm also very excited about the challenge officially starting! My budget is 4.5k, this is for 2 adults (a baby who arrives in March) and our spoilt cat. I'm going to try and do this by thinking before I spend money, buy things when reduced, bulk buy/cook and get addicted to this thread again and picking up ideas from all of you Waffle over! x

Buildings & Contents Insurance 212.55
Gas 360.00
Electricity 300.00
Home phone & Broadband 360.00
TV Licence 139.50
Mobiles x 2 300.00
General Household - Groceries,
toiletries, cleaning &
laundry products 1820.00
Gifts 500.00
Everything Else 507.95

Total - 4500.00