Mortgage Free ASAP

Queen-Bee_2

I've recently been reviewing how much I spend each month, and on what, in order to try and calculate the minimum I need to live off - and the maximum that can go towards the mortgage.

There are MSEers on the Forums who manage to live off of £4k a year, and as I've pruned my expenses down to the minimum - or so I'd thought - when I added them all up, I fully expected them to come out at around this figure.

How wrong I was. Excluding the mortgage, I've calculated that my bills come to just under £13k a year, or £1,115 a month. And that just about covers the essentials!! :eek:

The obvious 'luxury' to ditch is probably the car, which costs £900 a year, or my health insurance, which rolls in at £1,416 (probably more in reality, as I've been told that come April, my premiums are going to rise).

I know this is a MFW forum, but does anyone else budget like this? And what do their (non-mortgage) expenses come out at?
QB

Budget for 2010
Car - MOT £41/annum, £3/month
Car - petrol £240/annum, £20/month
Car - residents parking £50/annum, £4/month
Car - road tax £185/annum, £15/month
Car - insurance £385/annum, £32/month
Groceries - cleaning & household £84/annum, £7/month
Groceries - food £1,040/annum, £87/month
Groceries - cat food £182/annum, £15/month
Insurance - BUPA £1,416/annum, £118/month
Pension £2,880/annum, £240/month
Personal - clothes (tights for work/ebay for rest) £240/annum, £20/month
Personal - eating out/cinema etc (assume 1x week) £780/annum, £65/month
Personal - toiletries & make up £240/annum, £20/month
Personal - presents £180/annum, £15/month
Property - building & contents insurance £504/annum, £42/month
Property - Council tax £1,480/annum, £148/month
Property - maintenance £200/annum, £20/month
Property - boiler & plumbing insurance £192/annum, £16/month
Telephone - broadband & landline £260/annum, £26/month
Telephone - mobile PAYG SIM only £180/annum, £15/month
Travel - travelcard £600/annum, £50/month
Utilities - Electricity £480/annum, £40/month
Utilities - Gas £960/annum, £80/month
Utilities - Water £180/annum, £15/month
Total - £12,979/annum, £1,114/month

LilacPixie

QB don't feel bad. I am part of the frugility challenge and living on around 12k a year and thats frugal!! We have some expenses you don't and you have some we don't. Other differance is we are a family of 4.

I would be questioning your car. £20 a month on fuel is nothing, maybe 120 miles. is this needed at all??

LilacPixie

Plus B&C insurce is HUGE!!!!!!!

Queen-Bee_2

LilacPixie wrote: »

Plus B&C insurce is HUGE!!!!!!!

I know... but I shopped around really hard for this one! Partly it's because of where I live, partly it's because the house is old and the rest? I don't really know, apart from the fact that I just answered all the questions I was asked as truthfully as possible... I read other people's B&C figures and just think how???
QB

Queen-Bee_2

Just received confirmation from HSBC that it has credited my account with £50 following the transferral of my direct debits from Santander (formerly Abbey) :T

However, this morning I overran ten minutes on my permit when parking outside my parents' house and promptly received a £60 ticket (£30 if I pay within a fortnight) :mad:

I guess I need to look on the bright side, pay out at once and accept that overall, I'm twenty quid up.
QB

earthgirl

Sorry to hear the news about the ticket. Annoying!

I was going to say the same 12 is frugal, we all spend different amounts on different items. We don't pay bupa, and our b&C is £240 even after a claim a few years ago. But I spend a lot on grow your own stuff and my garden. You wouldn't want to cut down on going out to bring it down - it would be hard! Have you tried cooking forfriends and swapping over every week - we do this every week and its great.

My only question could be could you get the make up for less?

Good luck with the reductions x

setmefree2

Queen-Bee wrote: »

However, this morning I overran ten minutes on my permit when parking outside my parents' house and promptly received a £60 ticket (£30 if I pay within a fortnight) :mad:

Booo :mad: Pesky parking people:eek::eek:

Queen-Bee_2

Humph... just tried to pay my parking fine using my Nectar credit card, so I'd least I'd get some points, but the Council's automated system doesn't take Amex... :rotfl::mad:
QB

Queen-Bee_2

Hello LP and EG - you've made me feel a lot better about the £12k, though at the moment, as I am not working and studying hard, I am concerned about making ends meet! As I've pared back to the essentials, I thought it'd cost me less than that!!

BUPA is getting ditched come April as they've just confirmed they are withdrawing part of their cover from then on. That's a £1.4k saving for a start!

I'd like to get the make up for less - if anyone knows where I can buy the spray on Dior foundation at a discount, please let me know!! I tend to wait for 3-for-2 offers in Boots for my moisturiser and use very cheap make up remover.

I'm envious of your garden EG - I have a very tiny one that's overshadowed by a tree. However, I do have a flat roof above one of my first floor bedrooms. Access is difficult up there, but it's wasted space. I was thinking it might be a good place for a bee hive!!!
QB

SuzieSue

Something I did around 20 years ago (I'm in my early 40s), was to tell everyone that I wasn't going to buy any presents at all and that I didn't expect to receive any. The only exception is wedding presents, but I haven't bought any Christmas or birthday presents since that day.

Not only has it saved me thousands of pounds over the years but it has also saved me a lot of time and stress as I hate buying presents.