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

Frugaldom

Good morning to all and welcome Sarah123

It's not long before the start of the new challenge and I'd just like to remind you all that we have a list of helpful handy links at the bottom of post 1 of this thread. If there are any others you would like added, please let me know or PM me the links. The current list includes MSE sections & sites that have been used by members of our 2008 challenge, so it's a quick and easy way of finding your way to where we log electricity & gas meter reading, log spending in the free spending diary, compare notes on gardening, veggie & fruit growing, allotments, home cooking, recipes and any other such frugal activities. If it's anything to do with the cost of living and how to help keep it down, then the topic is welcome in here. Personally, I find www.spendingdiary.com and www.i-measure.org.uk to be very useful free tools, likewise, Martin's free tools that are linked at the right hand side of all these forum pages. I'm amazed at how often people forget about them. (OK, by 'people', I mean me! :rotfl: )

If anyone has free webspace, a homepage or a blog, please consider linking it to your MSE profile and sharing it with us. It's great to know how everyone is doing and that nobody is attempting the impossible. This challenge is completely possible if you have calculated your budget correctly and can tolerate what may seem ridiculous, at first, until it becomes second nature, a process that many frugalites will have discovered can take anything from 3 weeks to 3 months. Then, however, it may become irreversible and you will be eternally hooked on frugal awareness. This really is about lifestyle and how being in control of our own financial welfare can reap rewards and help lead to freedom from debt. It may be tough, but it is certainly worth it.

Thanks to all who have joined me in doing this, 2008 has been a great success story for many and a living testimony to the diversity of virtual lifestyles online. The 2008 challenge threads have become a giant, multi-personality diary, recording daily events of ordinary people from all walks of life, mainly with one thing in common. With this in mind, I would like to dedicate the 2008 challenge to the memories of all those loved ones who passed away during that year, whose lives touched a virtual world, perhaps without their even knowing it.

2009 looks set to be a year of new beginnings, new lives and new lifestyles, GOOD LUCK TO ALL and let's start the official countdown to the next new beginning. There were no failures in the 2008 challenge, we all succeeded in becoming more aware of the cost of living and what means most in our personal lives. :beer: :T :j

dND

Beautifully put NYK :A

Buffythedebtslayer

Oh Nky that is lovely.

write a book!!

Frugaldom

Thanks dND & Buffy

I have reviewed the break down of my anticipated 2009 spending plan and it now looks like this:

Groceries - £1200 (includes toiletries, cleaning & laundry products)
Electricity - £1000
Coal - £126
Logs - £120
Internet - £240
Mobiles - £30
Telephone - £150
TV - £139.50
Clothing & Footwear - £75
Gifts - £260
NTS membership - £78
Travel - £100
Insurance - £47.50
Livestock, Pets & Vets - £260
Garden - £100
Everything else / Misc - £74
Total = £4,000

After careful consideration with regards to the slow disappearance of supermarket basic / saver / no frills packs, I have had to allow for an increase in the groceries rather than hope to have reduced the amount spent. I have also considered the implications of further energy price hikes and, as electricity is our only option here, have increased the electricity budget accordingly. I decided that hot water is an added expense that I don't mind budgetting for, especially during winter months. It makes you appreciate the luxury of a long, hot soak and will mean making a saving if we ever get a log burner with a water heater / back boiler. Mind you, we'd need more logs, so that would probably negate any savings. Best allocate the higher amount, but it still makes heating more expensive than eating!

LollopyBear

Thank you for setting this up again. I fell off the bandwagon about May time last year (not in a major, non-frugal way but I stopped keeping a close eye on expenditure) and then my laptop packed up so I couldn't check in on the thread very often. These threads help keep my money in good order!

I received a new laptop for Christmas - DH's tax refund - so I'm back online again. (he's so good, he went to Currys and asked for a laptop that they had out back in storage that was not as good as the ones on display and to give him a hefty discount on it. The girl wasn't sure, but he didn't give up and so I have a great laptop at a very reasonable price ).

I've now finished my teacher training and have a full time job in a secondary school so I have a salary now (yay!), but DH hasn't had much work (self-employed plasterer) so our finances are still very tight. I think my greatest frivolities are the drinks I have on a Friday night. Money just disappears there.

As last time my budget aim of £330 per month includes:

Food
Monthly season ticket (£82.60)
Insurance - £5.40
TV Licence - £11.95
Pet - £20
Gifts -
Mobile - £15
Entertainment
Misc
Tobacco (yes, I started up again and will quit again soon!)

I'm looking forward to getting reacquainted with all of you lovely people

Bring on 2009 :T

sophiesmum_2

love your intro to the new thread Nyk:A especially the dedication. It has been great being a part of this in 2008 and a part of our virtual/not so virtual community. Great how online friendships have developed into real life friendships, and the support from everyone has been phenomenal over the year.
It's lovely to have so may new members and I hope some of the oldies resurface too. I miss jumblebees posts in particular;)
Good Luck everyone for 2009.

kittiej

I have to agree with NYK, especially the last paragraph as I can't help feeling as though 2009 is going to be a complete turnaround for me.

I just feel soo excited and I don't really know why, maybe it's because I've had such a difficult couple of years because of money.

I think it's partly to do with the fact that I've got 2 loans coming to an end this year (yay) - April and October and thank goodness to that! I can safely say I don't want to ever, ever have another bank loan nor a car on HP.

I have drummed it into OH that from now on if we need something then we have to save for it and get ourselves out of the 'want it - got to have it now' way of thinking.

I know some people are going to think me a right tightwad (esp. at work) but that's my business and they can say what they like lol! It won't change things much anyway seeing as though I didn't buy anyone a xmas card this year, not because I couldn't afford to I just couldn't be bothered if truth be known. Well at least I'm honest about it!

I normally hate wishing the days away but for once I want it to be Thursday, 2 reasons for that tho, not only do we start our new challenge but my little boy will be 3 years old as well, little monkey he is!

Enough from me, someone elses turn now me thinks.

Good luck all!

MRSMCAWBER

Afternoon all

Well, today we nipped out to the garden centres -popped into the 1st one on the way to make sure they weren't selling the cold frame I wanted any cheaper :A
so I got this one below for €40 ..had seen them for €50 and then saw how much they were on line so Im happy

http://www.csnsheds.com/Juliana-Greenhouses-Double-Cold-Frame-JU1001.html

Hubby was going to get me 2 -but im not sure if I will fit 2 -so the rest of my xmas pressy from hubby will be compost :rotfl:
Next week hubby will be building that and the rest of the arches -so I will be ready to go by the middle of FEB (won't start any earlier as this is supposed to be the best time to start )
In the spirit of this challenge I was very big n brave and walked through all the xmas decorations etc in the sale -and I DIDN'T buy a single thing :A :rotfl:
I have started a sealed pot for my lose change and will weigh it rather than keep track of how much is in there:D
Right -Im back off to get on with some more knitting for next xmas

2NDTIMEROUNDER

nykmedia wrote: »

Thanks dND & Buffy

I have reviewed the break down of my anticipated 2009 spending plan and it now looks like this:

Hi NYK, I hope you won t find me being rude if I ask for how many people is your budget for? It will help me put mine in perspective, because I think its very high for 1 person. Thank you and I apologise if you find this rude. :rolleyes2 :xmassmile
===========================================================================================
I will share my frugal triumph for today, as I am very proud of myself.:D Up until now I was spending AT LEAST 1,000 POUNDS :eek: per year on a particular brand of diet fizzy drink. Yes, that comes down to a few litres per day, I am ashamed to say! And that went on for some years. I realised that I was addicted to the stuff so I decided to stop drinking it completely for health reasons first and foremost.
Well today I was shopping at Tesco s and they had it reduced to half price BUT the moment I saw the shelf I just turned the other way and left without buying a single bottle. THAT to me is a huge triumph. Thank you for listening!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Frugaldom

2NDTIMEROUNDER wrote: »

Hi NYK, I hope you won t find me being rude if I ask for how many people is your budget for? It will help me put mine in perspective, because I think its very high for 1 person. Thank you and I apologise if you find this rude. :rolleyes2 :xmassmile

It isn't rude, don't worry, we have no secrets here. :rotfl:
My budget is for a household of 3 adults, although the other 2 buy their own clothes, pay their own cars and pay their own mobile phones. DS is 19 and takes packed lunches to work, otherwise he needs to buy his own lunch .
I work mostly from home (hopefully only working from home in 2009) and houseshare works fulltime from home, hence the amount spent on electricity.

Well done with the coldframes, MrsMC. I can associate with that kind of gift, I got 3 bags of compost to go with my 5 fruit trees. :j

Edited in: Just saw your edit 2NDTIMEROUNDER - £1000 on particular brand of fizzy drinks? Wow! You'll be pleased to know that you are not alone in that particular 'addiction' as I have spoken to several people with the same 'problem'. The stuff does seem to have something in it that causes some form of habitual indulgence. Why not join me in my "quitter's savings" challenge? I was smoking the equivalent of £1.35 per day when I quit, so I now bank that amount every single day that I don't buy cigs. The incentive to save for something in particular is stronger than my need to smoke, although I do still indulge during special celebratory occasions - DD's engagement, gran's 90th and I got 10 for Christmas, but will save a couple for New Year.