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

thriftylass

Piggles12345 wrote: »

Live on £4,000 per year?

There are thousands of students doing this every year!

(And having to pay it back PLUS INTEREST :mad: :mad: :mad: )

Good luck...

Thanks for this "useful" post. Ever thought about trying it when your 40 and have 3 or 4 to feed. Please, read the first post to see what this challenge is about before making a judgement.

2NDTIMEROUNDER

Hello to everybody, new members and old.

Congratulations to JennyBee. May the little one bring your family only the joy and happiness.

Spending wise I have been very careful all this past month. My food budget has been kept in control and to be honest I dont feel deprived of anything. I have cut back on the unhealthy snacks as well, like crisps and the like which cost a fortune. The mere fact that I have not drank a single drop of soft drink since Christmas is a major success for me as I used to drink between 2-4 litres per day. Plus I have managed to shed 6 pounds just be eating healthily. The new motto is eat everything but less of it.:cool: I can t be bothered with any diet that you have to count this and that. Of course cycling to work has worked wonders.

The only budget category that I have overspent a bit was clothing but it will balance out over the year. I have a lot of new clothing from past years but really needed a new coat which I have always considered a sort of investment as it will last at least 2-3 years.

In my last message many days ago I said I would be cutting back on posting as I dont feel I have much to add or contribute. Perhaps it was wrong the way I expressed my self. I find posting my daily spending tedious and boring for other people to go through, even though I understand why others do it. It keeps you motivated and it helps others seeing how other people handle their finances. So apologies if it came out wrong. Plus there is always the fear of being out of subject, just like university essays.:D I have not struck a balance yet so bear with me...I find this thread hugely uplifting so thank you all for being such a good friendly bunch of people.

I am currently sharing a flat as a lodger and since joining this challenge the flats electricity consumption has come down and the owner has out of the blue gave me 20 pounds the other day as a thank you, as the electricity is included in my rent. Nice suprise and nice of him as he didnt have to do it.

Enjoy your evening folks, count your blessings, have hope for the future because it is the only thing we have got and please please take care of your health. News are at this time depressing around us but hopefully by the time better economic times will come we will have learned to be slightly better human beings, care a bit more for others and have learned from mistakes and excesses of the past.

Sorry for the long post. That s what happens when you get rid of me for a couple of weeks.:D

andromache_2

Skint_chick - I've just started learning Spanish it's really good fun, you'll love it I hope that helps with the motivation to cut down your mobile costs, lol. I'm renewing in March as well so would be interested to hear what you decide.

The yellow mug thing made me smile, marru. These things are important!

Piggles, if you think £4000 isn't a challenge for a student then you could always join us with a reduced figure and share your expertise...? I think there are a few students on this thread who are budgeting less than the £4k.

I didn't get the Japan thing but thanks for the good wishes, bails and others. Ah well... lots of other projects in the pipeline

ETA: Nice to see you post, 2ndtimerounder... I know what you mean about not knowing if what you post is interesting but I do enjoy reading through what everyone's up to even if I don't comment on everything - your posts are always appreciated I don't have amazing frugal wisdom to share either but I like the community feel and friendliness on this thread. Congrats on the healthiness, by the way! I'm doing well at the minute with buying fruit and not chocolate and using my gym membership but I'm pretty sure that the motivation will dissipate soon!

candygirl

Hi everyone:hello:
Had another good day freecycling; got a bath, bouncing chair and lovely playmat for DGD to be, all vgc and from mamas and papas, so am well chuffed:D
Only bought a loaf today so am still doing ok in the GC :j :j
MUMZY it's a shame i'm allergic to herbal essences as is DD, it makes my head itch like mad:eek: :eek: well done on your bargain hunting though;)
Not hungry so will prob have leek n potato soup out of the freezer for tea:p

sophiesmum_2

2ndtimerounder - great results with the healthy eating /exercise since the start of the year. Good results with the electricity consumption too. Sounds like you are doing really well overall:D

Marru - my first cuppa mug says " Good Morning! ..... let the stress begin!!!" :rotfl: maybe I need a change

thriftylass - if you still want to use a card (debit) set up a separate bank account with a card and just transfer over the money you are budetting for spends to it. You can still use card but not allowed to go over budget. I actually like to use debit card if I go to costco etc as it gives me a written record of where I spent the money, all bills are on DD and money withdrawn on card so good records of spends.
If you had a cashback credit card you could spend on that then transfer amount straight from bank account to credit card account.

You just need to find the system that works for you.

shaz_mum_of__2

Marru - i can only drink from a mug with a white inside.............dark coloured ones make the coffee taste different..lol...............you thought yo were odd!!

Nyk - if i had no debts we would be living in a posh mobile home on a smallholding in dorset living the good life proper ..............instead of practising like now

Big spend today £7 on veg gardening mags but did get 9 packs seeds free

Have just updated my i measure figures and we seem to be averaging about £8 on electric and £10 on gas, i think this is good but interested in comparing with others

The hedging for the garden arrives tomorrow but will have to wait til weekend to be planted due to lack of slave sorry hubby to plant it for me (he is home tomorrow )

Fishfinger chips and peas for tea...............quick and easy and undomestic goddess like

Take care all

Shaz

nickynoo08

Hiya peeps,
well so much for my cheap spend day. I've ended up spending a grand total of £60ish. Not gonna complain tho coz we had a lovely day out.
Spent £15 in pizza hut - should of been free but i realised when we came to pay i'd forgotten my vouchers , £5 on bus fare, £10 on ds in toys r us(anything for a quiet life:rolleyes: ), £22 on paint for the kitchen and took £20 out of cash machiene for odds and sodds i need to pick up tomoro.

Plan for today...
Family day out - done
Start painting kitchen - started and will finish tomoro
Continue painting front room - will do once little un is in bed
Go on wii fit - doing in a min
Have left over bolognaise for tes tonight

Budget for Feb....
£110 groceries
£40 treats, take aways etc...
£30 into savings account
£20 emergencies
Total £200

mumzyof2

I have just rang up one of my debts and they want £135 F and F settlement. I dont know what to do. as i have another debt which stands at £70 odd that i want to pay off qith f ad f. The £135 one i am paying £10 a week standing order to them..which there happy about.
Im also paying my biggest debt off on saturday...so £750 will be gone!! woohoo

what do u guys think

sophiesmum_2

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

Marru - i can only drink from a mug with a white inside.............dark coloured ones make the coffee taste different..lol...............you thought yo were odd!!

I'm guilty of ths one too:rotfl:


Mumzy - will you save any money by paying the £10 a week one as f & f ??- if not carry on paying it with s/o and pay the other off first.
The idea is to find the way that will cost you the least amount of money overall.

wendywitch

Firstly, Mumzy can you afford to pay it off? If you can then I'd do it. It's one more gone and then you could use your £10 weekly payments towards the £70 one then that would be gone to!

I've finally phoned BT about my DD. They upped the amount to clear an arrear I had from when I changed my line rental to them but I've been paying the higher amount for ages now so I thought it was about time I sorted it out. Glad I did my payments now down by £14 a month :T