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

grandma247

Congratulations pipsmum.

Well I have finally finished my calculating (delayed to sort out internet ds1 and I finally sorted wireless together)

Wage (guesstimate) 12400
ch ben 1040
ch tax credit 2600
other income 1508
total 17548

mortgage 4160
ctax 1350
water 180
pension 1040
debt paym 4260
total 10990

child tax credit will probably go up more in April as it was reduced due to me working last year so will be adjusted when I know how much.

tv lic 139.5
groceries 1940.5
gas 825
elec 650
garden rent 70
fuel for work 1300
total 4925
anything else 125
total 5050

the anything else budget will increase by at least 1140 during April as the large loan will be paid off (1 year early)
gifts will come out of this
Other debts such as catalogue payments will also finish sometime in April so that will free up more money.

findingmyfeet

morning everyone, not posting much but trying desparately to keep up with you all and of course sticking more or less to the budget. Ok- day 14 and not doing too badly but must admit feeling the urge to buy something-dont need anything but feel a 'WANT' coming on! Decided that iam going to go and get the rest of my seeds today and hope that squashes the urge to buy anything else.
Did a big shop at mr m yesterday and was more expensive than i wanted it to be at £65.60! but hubby hsa man flu(sorry men) you know the 'im dying' thing nut wont go near a doctor. so cost me almost £12 for stuff to make him feel better. also ran out of coffee, wash powder etc all the most expensive stuff but kept it as much under control as i could.
PIPSMUM- congratulations enjoy every minute.
MUMZY OF 2- i use sew and so too always been very good.
SARAH147- leisure stuff so expensive around here too. Almost £4 for swim and £4.10 for return bus, car no cheaper with petrol and parking. so i have given in to save money. I go for a 30 minute walk most days and have found a video of mr motivator from the 1990s and been trying that at home (yes i did say a video...lol think it came out of the ark).

bails

Morning all!

For those of you who are feeling the urge to spend - well, you can already see you're not alone! I distinctly remember exactly this topic being brought up early on in last year's challenge and IT IS COMPLETELY NORMAL You're paying so much attention to your money and how you spend it, it's natural to have a reflex urge to shell out on something extravagant! I call this the 'Diet Syndrome', I'm sure you know what I mean Anyhoo, it does pass and interestingly, having the topic brought up again has highlighted that I don't feel like that at all this year. This just seems normal now and having a blow out seems weird :rotfl:Please don't think I'm trying to be smug here, quite the opposite, just trying to reassure you that it does get easier.

As for the virtual shopping, I think it depends on your mindset. If the things on your wishlist make you excited and determined to save for them, that's one thing; if they're making you feel deprived/unhappy etc then I'd wipe the list. Hmm, not so great at explaining myself this morning but hope you know what I mean!

Finished work and am off to meet a friend for coffee before my lesson this afternoon. I deliberately chose not to include entertainment spends in my budget again this year as I've been so isolated and want to make the most of opportunities when I'm able to. That's not to say I won't always be trying to get the very best deal I can
Really enjoying the working process and I can see this has a real future for me :T:j Being able to manage my own time e.g. working in bed as I have been this morning means I can manage my illness and get real job satisfaction - you can't ask for more than that eh? WOO HOO, life is gooooooood!

Have a wonderful day everyone and don't hibernate Michelle, it's a beautiful day out there x

little_miss_moneysaver_3

Morning all,

Congrats to Pipsmum! Altho the 9lb did make my eyes water slighty!


I have made a bit of a mess of this month. With 9 days till the end of "my january" I have £10.22 left :rotfl: Gotta laugh or I might cry.

I know where I went wrong.
1, Although I didn't spend too much on Christmas food, but more than I would normally. And are still eating the cheeses and crackers now.
2, I have bought lots of gifts and wrapping paper in the sale to put away. So that is nearly £40 of my monthly budget. I'm hoping it'll pay off later in the year.
3, I didn't look at the price list in a pub before sending BF to the bar. So didn't realise just how much money we were drinking. Haven't to a pub for a good while, forgot how much they charge!!! (was my friend's confirmation celebration). Lesson learnt for me!
4, And of course my whoopsieitis didn't help. Too many temptations to buy cheap (unneeded) stuff!

Hopefully next month I'll be more organised with present buying. Will be looking in my freezer and making a note of what is in there and incorporating that into my meal planner so I don't gather bits in the freezer that are there for years.

I'm thinking of doing a monthly meal planner so when I do my monthly shop I only buy things that will be used in the month. Normally just do a weekly one. Has anyone done this, or do you mostly do a weekly planner?

LMMS

bargain-chic

hi all! can i officially join in the challenge, i have been doing it this year up to now and have got my £332.00 for this month, and it is going good up to now.

there are some bargains to be had in mr. t if anyone is after presents for men? bought some presents for xmas, formula one polo shirts, grey reduced from £15.00 to £1.88, so have sorted three men out for xmas and dad ready for fathers day.;)

wornoutmumoftwo

I'm glad virtual spending is normal, yesterday I sat there with all my gardening books - dreaming away.

By the time my husband came home from work I had designed a patio area, filled up the greenhouse I haven't yet bought with a variety of plants, and added a pond and fruit trees for good measure.:rotfl:

Penny2myName

Just been browsing Cr0cus at there Gothic garden stuff plus lots of other stuff and thought how I could make my garden look so much nicer. Actually upset it looks like my cr0cus order didn't track on TCB, but going to wait until its been 14 days before I put a query in. Most of my order has been allocated, just waiting for a few planters to be allocated then hopefully they will send me my order out.
Seriously skint after my spending sprees of last week, but atleast they are on the whole all one offs, so next few months should be alot cheaper overall.

arthur_dent_2

For those of us who are on Facebook and have a need to spend, I am finding that having a virtual Pet on Pet society and spending virtual money on that is helping greatly. It is free and quite cute.

Frugaldom

We are now going into week 3, things should sink in within the next few days for serious newbies, but those urges to spend will come and go for a while yet. This time last year, I think we lost about 3/4 of all the original challengers It does take at least 3 weeks and then the next milestone to reach is three months. Be strong, if you have the will power, frugalising will become second nature. If all else fails, search the 4k challenge threads for 'billy can' to see some fun suggestions for helping solve problems.

1274 wrote: »

Good evening all. Does anyone else have a terrible urge to spend obscene amounts of money right now or is it just me? I want, ooh, lots of really expensive stuff (none of which I really need) and have saved it all in my internet favourites. My virtual spend in the last 2 weeks is £2,500 and I shopped at Waitrose today (only £7 worth but still...) :eek:

Virtual shopping is ideal because we then have an online record or can print out all the pretty pictures or make a list of all the lovely items we want. You can stick them in a 'wishing book' and use your 'billy can' to help decide if these things are what you really, really need or want. As an example, especially if you are trying to become debt free or amass savings, then spending any amount on items that are not truly needed is like taking the amount in bank notes, sticking them all in your billy can and setting fire to them; you are simply burning money.

The above is also an ideal method for helping get into the right mindset for stopping smoking. Instead of buying 20 cigarettes or whatever, set light to a five pound note and see how it makes you feel. Trust me, I've done it, it can work on so many levels, just never lose sight of the end result - debtfree with savings.

My Appr0ved F00d order is on its way, got the parcel tracking number last night. I suspect the place will be snowed under with orders now, since Martin included the link in this week's newsletter. Apologies if this sounds selfish, but I'm glad I placed the order before the newsletter went out .

Cha97 - Do you have, or could you borrow, any lamps you could plug in until the lights get fixed?

xNataliex - Couldn't you just keep a couple of little bottles and top them up from a large bottle for shampoo/shower gel etc before going to work? Mr T sells shower gel at 10p per bottle.

Grandma, your budget is looking good, especially if it means debts disappearing by April!

Bails - Great post! I still have my billy can sitting on my desk but it's filled with pens at the moment as I haven't needed it for a long time. Glad you are feeling so positive about tackling this year and have managed to sort out the work/health/home balance, well done!

Bargain-Chic welcome on board! And thanks for the nod on Mr T polo shirts! Pity I'm nowhere near a store but I'm sure there are plenty of people on here could benefit from that offer I'll add your name to the challenger list as soon as I have caught up on here.

Penny - My Cr0cus order didn't track with TCB either, so I submitted the claim as soon as I had received my order. I'm also getting impatient about my A$da insurance cashback, as it was pending for a long time before being confirmed and was supposed to become claimable by 31st December. I'll be really pleased when it comes through. Oily hand has confirmed my £20 cashback for $un B!ng0, that was another one I had been worried about but it's gone through alright.

Caught up at last, I think!

findingmyfeet

forgot to mention earlier there was an article in the sunday paper about approved foods- apparently they had 500 or so customers in september and by xmas it was 5000!!! no wonder they are a bit slower than usual. Its suddenly taken off.

And cant remember who posted earlier about stopping working or cutting down(sorry useless memory) but i did it last year too. Went from 10 years of very stressful job (and 2 kids) , working all hours and being a total miserable pain in the bum!!! It took me months to decide to finish (if i hadnt done it i would have had a breakdown before now). Never looked back since the day i finished. I do a few hours a week now in a mundane office and never felt better. Money not good but life is.