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

MRSMCAWBER

Evening everyone

Well I have been to 2 xmas markets in the last couple of days and have still not actually purchased anything :eek: ..so I think its safe to say that my "frugalitis" is well and truely ingrained :T :rotfl: ...... hopefully that is a good sign for 2009:p
I am nipping to the supermarket tomorrow to take advantage of a few offers on pasta and the like -to top up my stores and today got 2 chickens whoopsed to €2 each -1 is safely tucked up in the freezer and the other has been done in the remoska and is in the fridge for tomorrow and leftovers will go in the freezer, also got quite a bit of whole fresh milk for the freezer too:D.
On the veggie growing front -Im hoping to just need compost and the parsnip seeds -I have loads of every other seeds I need,,, although I will have to be good as I do have a weakness for veggie seeds
Scarily -I have started knitting a scarf today toward my nieces xmas pressy for NEXT year :rotfl: ..Im determined to get off to a good start :T
hope everyone is having a good day

fizzel81

haveing a blond momet trying to work mine all out whilst juggleing household duties

in 2009 what is the total amount of child benifit for 3 children please

sophiesmum_2

New rates for 2009 are here fizzel . just x by 52.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/Pre-BudgetReport2008/DG_172918

off the top of my head think that is about £2412.80 for 3 kids but you had better check those figures.

Frugaldom

Well done, Skintwellie! Those are some impressive wins! And you must be really excited about the chickens! I know I am, as it's been several years since I was able to keep any because of all the moving around I've had to do, but 2009 is going to be a good year! We will get the chickens! As for the slugs and snails, the best thing I tried last year were homemade beer traps, the slugs and snails homed in on them from miles around and just drank themselves to happy oblivion! I have just bought a pack of 3 proper plastic slug traps at a huge cost of £1.68 from the gardenbird.com site (went via cashback site as well). I was happy with my homemade ones but the birds were getting the snails and I was scared the birds would get tipsy and then the cats would catch them! :eek: I used Mr T's 23p per can no-branded lager, as I didn't know the difference between beer & any other canned alcoholic drink - cheapest worked for me. They also liked the leftovers from a bottle of cider. :rotfl: The 'real' traps have a packet of yeast as bait.

Mrsmcawber, good work on the non-spending and the knitting! I have another knitting idea for you - legwarmers! They are brilliant! I asked Santa to get me some for Christmas and am wearing them already! I did threaten to cut the arms off a jumper and do a quick DIY job but, fortunately, someone took me up on my early pressie request. Beats switching on another heater.

lilac_lady

I've finally decided how to divide up my £4000 in 2009. (£330 per month + an extra £40 for Christmas next year). I'm single so it's just for me.

monthly budget
Car expenses including petrol...... £100 (retired, so not counted as essential)
Groceries, toiletries....................£100 (includes anything bought in supermarkets)
Eating out/takeaways .............. £50 (lunches with friends + family)
Christmas & Birthdays ............... £25 (should be enough)
Clothes................................... £20 (hoping not to spend as much)
Entertainment...........................£20 (includes taking out DGS + DGD)
Anything else............................£15
TOTAL:...................................£330

Hope I can stick to it with all your help.

kittiej

My plan is to spend my 4k on groceries, diesel ad gas/electric.

I want to stick to a budget of £1600 for groceries and that's for 2 adults and 2 children 3 & 4. I thought I'd get another purse and automatically put £30 a week in it no matter what and see how it goes.

£1500 for diesel but since DS2 is due to start school in January I'm hoping this will reduce since I won't have the twice daily nursery run. I fill up every Friday atm but if I find I don't use as much I will put the extra to one side.

The remaining £900 is for gas/electric, hopefully I can get this down a bit but I do get clubcard points for each pound I spend so they could help towards pressies too.

I will get more clubcard points because OH has a Tesco mobile so that's 4 points for each pound.

I get vouchers from the Coop too because I bank with them and I get cashback with the Halifax once a year from spending on my debit card so that's a bit extra to go in the pot if I run short.

Can't wait to get going now!

lilac_lady

In case some newbies are wondering about my 2009 target, I'm not including anything paid by direct debit or standing order, so this excludes the following:

Gas
Electricity
TV License
Telephone and Broadband
Council Tax
Charity donations
Savings for grandchildren

I know I'm not doing such a tough challenge as some of you but as Nyk says, work out your personal challenge and try to stick to it. It's a great way to budget.

Pips_Mum

Wow I wish I was as brave as you all!!!

I am on paid maternity leave at moment but that will drop in May 2009 to SMP and ideally I would like to take longer off work so it would be REALLY useful for me and my families finances if I could do this challenge.......but
I am scared!!:eek: :eek: :eek:

Its going to be tricky to work out my total income as some months will be full pay, some will be SMP and some will be no income at all!
I will give it a bash and see what figures I come up with.

So just to clarify (sorry!!) I DONT include rent/mortgage, council tax or water,nsurances or debt repayments. I am beingreally thick, but if I go on what I spend now and say a direct debt goes down from £50 to £40 thats freed up some money for me right?

Well as Arnie says "I`ll be back!" Whens the latest I could join by?

cw18

Pips_Mum wrote: »

So just to clarify (sorry!!) I DONT include rent/mortgage, council tax or water,nsurances or debt repayments. I am beingreally thick, but if I go on what I spend now and say a direct debt goes down from £50 to £40 thats freed up some money for me right?

That's exactly how most people seemed to "play the game" last year :T

I'm being really awkward and running 2009 as an "all-in".

You don't need to stick to the £4k limit though -- the common one seemed to be £4k + Child Benefit. In you case I'd be tempted to say that plus (at least) half your CTC (assuming you qualify), as you get double up until baby's 1st birthday due to them being 'expensive' when they're new


ETA: Just seen your due date in your signature!! Are you hoping for early, bang on time, or late? (My eldest was due 16th Dec and arrived on 2nd. I was pleased to have a bit longer to recover before Christmas)

Pips_Mum

Thanks for that Cheryl.
Maybe £4000 plus child benefit is the way to go for me.

I was hoping for early but that thought seems to be fading fast!!!
I REALLY dont want the baby to come in the week between christmas and new year so that will be precisely when it comes!!
Gosh you were left to go quite a long way overdue werent you? I bet you were fed up by then, I am now!!