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

andan

Hi guys, congrats to those who took part in the last one. I would definitely like to take part this year and will work out a budget in a little while once i have read all your posts.

Snow_White_5

Hi everyone! I'd like to join this; will put a budget up when I've worked one out. It feels a bit :eek: but it's worth a try and I'd like to learn more about growing veggies and things like that.:j

redglass_2

Just testing my siggie - haven't had one before...

cw18

redglass wrote:

£400K challenge for 2009!

I think even I could manage on that budget :rotfl:

JAMIEDODGER

hi guys, have finished my budget for 2009:

Food/cleaning/toiletries/pets: 3000
Sky/Tv Licence: 370
Utilities: 500
Gifts: 850
Clothing: 600
School Expenses: 350
Pocket Money/Stationary/Haircuts: 400
Entertainment/Days Out: 450
All else:415.40

Total: 6935.40 (4k plus child benefit) this is for me, 4 kids, 6 cats, 2 chickens and a hamster.

I will be doing my best to make money via cashback, ebay, carbooting etc to hopefully make xmas 09 money neutral!:)

jtb2412

Hi everyone !

After much too-ing and fro-ing, reading all your inspiring posts and discussion with hubby and kids (!) ...... I've decided to give this a go next year ! Hubby is a bit sceptical but we'll see how it pans out .... I'm going to give this my best shot !

Budget is as follows:

Food - £3640.00

This is based on £70 per week for 5 plus a dog and includes all toiletries (of which I have a good stash thanks to the Boots thread !), cleaning products and dog food/treats. We do have an allotment so the summer months are superb for us not spending much on food at all, so any money I have left over from the food budget will go into next year (thinking ahead already here ! lol)

Clothes

Have just realised I haven't accounted for clothes but I should be able to cover this. Kids usually get money for birthdays and more or less always spend it on new clothes so that's more or less sorted. Otherwise i'll use money made from car boots for this.

Window Cleaner - £80.00

Living on a main road we really need to have this done regularly but have included it in the £4K budget as I don't class it as a necessity !

Mobiles (Pre-pay) - £100.00

Mostly for me and the kids. We hardly use the phones so the amount is kind of a guesstimate - probably over rather than under.

Sky TV - 456.00

Have just signed up to a 12 month contract so no going back on this one !

Utilities - £1000.00

With the same supplier for both Gas and Electric and although it does seem a high amount, we do have a big house to heat, plus i'm at home a lot during the day so probably use a bit more than some people. However .... I will definitely be looking at ways of cutting this down during next year but one step at a time at the moment !

Telephone - £400.00

This covers line rental and calls and can be pretty accurate on this one as my quarterly bill is usually about £100 per month. Again I'll be looking at ways of cutting this back next year (I do get free evening and weekend calls so will make more use of that !)

Internet - £240

Happy with provider and really not looking to change so keeping this as it is.

Total = £5916.00

Not included in the budget is rent, council tax, water, TV licence, house insurance and the dog's booster injections/worming/de-flea as I class these as essentials.

Presents

Hopefully going to try and be money neutral. I already have a few bits (again from Boots thread) ready for next year and will be doing some car boot sales to hopefully make a few extra pennies ! Not going down the Ebay route (that's another story ! lol) but do online surveys so get a few vouchers throughout the year. Will also be saving Nectar/Clubcard points etc towards presents throughout the year.

Car

Hubby has a company car so everything is paid for this. We only use about £40 per month petrol and I'm pretty sure I can discount this via either spending less on food shopping/utilities/telephone.

I think that's it !

So, my budget is £6160 (£4K plus child benefit) - which leaves £244 for any emergencies/overspends.

I think i've covered everything, sorry for the long post but it's my first time !

If anyone can see anything missing, please let me know !

kiwigirl

Can I also join please? Couldn't join last year but would like to give this a go. Have to reign in my spending on the garden!

Frugaldom

Hello and welcome new frugallers! Thank you for plucking up the courage to give this a go, I am sure you will have some fun along the way.

I have added Andan, JTB2412 and KiwiGirl to the challenger list on post 2. It can become quite hectic in the challenge threads sometimes, but I have several, reliable 'wingmen' who will heep you right.

Homegrown fruit & veg will be a fairly hot topic, as it's something that most of us have contemplated, practiced and/or already achieved to some degree, even if it did turn out to be tomato triffids in a livingroom or a sad looking pepper plant on a windowsill. :rotfl: It seems it is never too early to start planting. I moved house last month to one that has no cultivated garden, as such, so I am starting completely from scratch. I planted some salad leaves seeds in a largish plastic tub of compost (I made some drainage holes in the bottom) on 28th November (20 days ago). The tub is sitting outside my back door, with a clear plastic bag lid held up with a reshaped wire coathanger and held on by clothes pegs. I already have dozens of tiny lettuce seedlings, despite the fact that it has been freezing here with temperatures dropping below zero on several occasions over the past few weeks. :j I have also planted some garlic in another tub by the door and have the top of that covered with bubblewrap. I have a small rosemary plant, mint and parsley, all growing, despite the climate and repeated doses of frost. I can't wait to getted started properly for 2009.

OfficeSpace

cw18 wrote: »

I take it those are monthly figures? How many people are they for?

The figures for Broadband and phone look high -- especially compared to combined packages. I've been paying £20 and £11 respectively (plus cost of phone calls), but have just changed to a combined special deal. Without the offer it was still under £17 month -- and that includes evening and weekend calls to 01/02/03 landlines.

Food is another I'd question..... I reckon I can feed 2 (me and a 17 year old) for just over £100/month -- but that's no take-outs, no eat-outs, no ready meals and lots of Whoopsies (mark downs) especially in the meat dept. But if you work long hours and have young children, then the 'no ready meals' and 'lots of Whoopsies' may be a lot less achievable for you

It's based on just the 2 of us (my girlfriend and myself) and monthly. I have tried to be quite prudent when working out the budget. We've agreed to put in £x to cover mortgage and all of those expenses. I'm hoping we can then undershoot all of those costs and build up a nice surplus. We'll certainly not be eating out lots for a start, although i hope to be eating plenty of food (good meat and some home grown veg with any luck!).

skintwellie

Having failed my £5,000 challenge this year:o I am planning to do better in 2009.
I have learn't loads from this thread over the past year. I've persuaded my partner to make me a chicken arc and run for my Christmas pressie after downloading free plans from the internet. I hope to have three or four chickens, plus build four raised beds for veggie growing. We have a problem with slugs and snails so will be asking you guys for advice on how to get rid of them organically!!
I have taken a leaf out of 'How I lived for a year on a pound a day' and have been scouring the freebie papers for free entertainment. Being extremely rural there isn't very much available for free. (We did get free coffee and mince pies today at the church drop-in centre, but not sure that counts!)

My goals for 2009 are:

To lose 4 stone in weight.
To save all lose change under 50p towards Christmas next year.
To use cashback, Amazon book sales money and mystery shopping money so that my lovely sister and I can visit the German Christmas markets.
To WIN a holiday! (I've just had THREE wins in three days - £200 Halfords vouchers, £30 Wentworth jigsaw puzzle and a 42inch Sony Bravia tv and home cinema system - so Christmas is looking gooood!)
To not overspend my £5,000 budget!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a fantastic:rudolf: Christmas everyone.
See you all in the New Year for the new challenge.