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

slowlyfading

:hello: everyone, its great to see so many people joining in! I think I may have sorted my budget for next year - I'm going to attempt to live on £3000 :eek:

Slowlyfading's Budget for 2009 - £3000 :-

• Food: £800
• Toiletries/cleaning stuff: £150
• Haircuts - £140
• Clothing: £480
• Travel(NOT including car costs): £300
• Mobile: £300
• Entertainment/hobbies: £500
• Gifts: £220
• Spare funds: £250

Some notes:
Food - this is only for me, as I live at home at the moment and mum rarely asks me to contribute to the grocery bills I have offered, but as I'm saving to do a PGCE next year, she says that she doesn't like me to pay to eat. Which is nice of her, so this is just for the odd treat. It works out at just over £15 per week.
Haircuts - I don't get my hair coloured anymore, as it was costing me £95 per time! :eek: Now I just get it cut every 3 months, at £30 a time. The reason I've added a bit more is because I think its due a bit of a rise, but I love my hairdresser, and can live with that
Travel - I'm not including the car and pretrol in my budget, as I need that to get to work, and so isn't included. This is for train travel, or on buses. Its probably a bit generous, and I will hopefully make a saving here!
Mobile - I am tied into a contract at the moment for £25 a month, and judging my the amount I use my phone, i think this is worth it at the moment. It is due for renewal in April, and I will see if I can get a better deal there, so this may also change!
Entertainment/Hobbies - I am a professional musician, as some of you will know, and buying music to play isn't cheap! Also, I'm a bit of a film freak, and so love going to the cinema, which is getting more expensive by the month, it seems. I'm overestimating here I think, so I should be able to reduce this as well.
Gifts - I've worked this out at £10 per person, for each birthday and christmas. So £20 x 11 is £220
Spare funds - self explanatory!!

Blairweech

Right, iIhave just inputted my estimated savings (£200/month) into the ISA calculator and it came out with over £10k in 5 years!!!! Thats at 4.5% interest! WOW - what a motivation to save - I mean that is literally a house deposit :j

So, I plan to open an ISA - but is now the best time? And am I right in that if I save, say £500 until April '09, I can then roll that over but it does not count towards the *new* ISA allowance? And should I open an ISA with a bank whose rate has not yet been dropped?

fizzel81

opps savery porridge with veg for tea tonight hehe

cw18

Re: ISAs. You're allowed to invest £3,600 a year in a cash ISA each tax year. So you deposit £3,600 on 5th April 2009 to use all of this years allowance, and then go back and deposit a further £3,600 into the same account on 6th April using all of next years allowance.

Or you can use a different ISA provider every tax year.

Frugaldom

Good afternoon to all and welcome to more new people - the more, the merrier! :j I have another 4 names to add to the challenger list and will do this right away, well, once I finish posting this!

Paul, have you been reading part 1 of the 2008 challenge, when we were discussing those exercise bikes for power? :rotfl:

I have already started my 2009 spreadsheet, as I'm expecting a food order romorrow that will comprise store cupboard supplies for next year, so I am £60.02 down already! :rotfl: Here's hoping the cashback rolls in during 2009! here's also hoping that I can grow plenty of edibles in the garden, eggs included. I noticed quite a few have already updated their signatures, so I may do that too, but leave in this year's 4k results until the last day.

I'm really looking forward to the new challenge, it's amazing just how quickly 2008 flew past, despite a couple of slow-feeling months. I hope everyone has enjoyed taking part this year and that it has reaped you each some rewards. We have shared births, deaths and marriages throughout 2008 and have become a fairly close little community, but this is also a place where we welcome new arrivals and are very open to receiving new ideas about frugal living. With only 10 days of 2008 left, the final countdown really has begun. Good luck to all! :beer:

ISA savings - you can start a new one as soon as possible and save up to £3,600 between now and 5th April, then you open a new one (or keep the same one) and can save another £3,600 between then and April 2010. None of the interest paid on these is taxable. However, if you are a non-tax payer, then you may be able to get better rates elsewhere in a regular saver account.

fizzel81

nykmedia wrote: »

Good afternoon to all and welcome to more new people - the more, the merrier! :j I have another 4 names to add to the challenger list and will do this right away, well, once I finish posting this!

I'm really looking forward to the new challenge, it's amazing just how quickly 2008 flew past, despite a couple of slow-feeling months. I hope everyone has enjoyed taking part this year and that it has reaped you each some rewards. We have shared births, deaths and marriages throughout 2008 and have become a fairly close little community, but this is also a place where we welcome new arrivals and are very open to receiving new ideas about frugal living. With only 10 days of 2008 left, the final countdown really has begun. Good luck to all! :beer:

Fantastically said nyk, my aim this year is to contribute more on the thread

Frugaldom

Blairweech wrote: »

Right, iIhave just inputted my estimated savings (£200/month) into the ISA calculator and it came out with over £10k in 5 years!!!! Thats at 4.5% interest! WOW - what a motivation to save - I mean that is literally a house deposit :j

So, I plan to open an ISA - but is now the best time? And am I right in that if I save, say £500 until April '09, I can then roll that over but it does not count towards the *new* ISA allowance? And should I open an ISA with a bank whose rate has not yet been dropped?

If you start putting £200/month away, you'd have £12,000 plus the compounded interest after 5 years, so I think their calculator may be wrong.

cw18

nykmedia wrote: »

ISA savings - you can start a new one as soon as possible and save up to £3,600 between now and 5th April, then you open a new one (or keep the same one) and can save another £3,600 between then and April 2010. None of the interest paid on these is taxable. However, if you are a non-tax payer, then you may be able to get better rates elsewhere in a regular saver account.

Even as a non-tax payer, you need to check how it impacts on Tax Credits if you qualify for them now (or anticipate doing so in the next few years).

As best I can tell, CTC/WTC are calculated against taxable income, and the 'other income' which includes interest (and which for me will include Widowed Parents Allowance) has to be declared less the first £300. So if you get a higher rate but have to declare it, then it could reduce your Tax Credits -- but if it's tax free interest from an ISA then it I don't think it has be declared regardless of what other figures you have

kizzie01

Could I please join this challenge. I already write down in my little spending diary everything I spend monthly, but money still slips through my fingers! Its all those £20 I take out the cash machine that just disappear.

I start each month with my income from salary, and deduct all my DD's regardless of when they come out of my bank account, so I then know how much is left for food, petrol, entertainment, presents etc

I've just moved house, so some of my budget is an estimate but here goes:

Gas: £300
Electric: £300
Phone: £141
Mobile: £360
TV Licence: £144
Sky: £272
Car Insurance: £261
Car Tax: £120
Food: £1,200 for me plus 2 cats
Petrol: £480
Haircuts: £300
Presents/entertainment: £600

= £4,479, so I'm going to set my budget at £4,500.

I've not included mortgage, council tax, water, house and life insurance, dentist (can't get NHS dentist for love nor money!), and car loan.

Thanks very much and I'm looking forward to reading how well everyone is doing and help me to keep on track.

Frugaldom

Hi Kizzie01, welcome to the challenge and thanks for joining us here. We're a friendly bunch most of the time but I don't know what would happen if you shut us all in one room and threw in a free fiver :rotfl:

CW - :T Thanks for the nod on the benefits thing, it's an area I haven't got a clue about and I'm sure there must be many others in the same boat.