Live on £4,000 for a year - 2009, Part 4

Skint_Lynne

Good afternoon everyone,

I'm in the shop until 2pm, then that's me off until Monday. I have decided on my budget for the year.

It is all in at £10,000. I have worked out that my bills will cost around £5k, so that leaves me £5k for living on. This may seem a lot, but I am actually hoping to come in under that amount and I may be going on holiday as well, so that will come out of this budget.

I'll go for the neutral present challenge as well, which helped me last year. This was funded out of surveys and doing car boots etc, so I'll give that a go again.

The aim this year is to get rid of some/most of my debts and get a bit of a savings cushion should I run into trouble.

The challenge helped me out no end last year. I was able to get a good stock of shopping in and have bought a laptop for cash, I would have never been able to do this sort of thing before. So, this thread has a lot to answer for, but in a good way of course! Thanks to all, but again, a special thanks to nyk for giving up a good chunk of her spare time to coach the likes of me (ex)spendthrift. xx

lingojingo

Hello everybody
just back from 8 days in Swindon with my family. Stayed at Mum's, DS and DD both back from uni, wonderful Christmas dinner at my sister's, lots of fun times with them and my brother's family, visits to aunts and uncles, plus caught up with some old school friends I hardly get to see.

So sorry to hear about Mr Bails' grandad.

Mooloo, hope you're all soon better and fingers crossed you get more support in the new year.

No idea of exact figures for this year, lost track since about October, but still got money in my account and have left 3 January birthday presents for my Mum to give out at the appropriate time to save on postage!

lyndasharp

A very late Merry Christmas to everyone from me, and a slightly early Happy New Year too! The budget is looking OK for this month - not too much sales shopping. I've redone the figures for next year, as although I've been under my £12k overall budget, a lot of the other categories are way higher. Bills have been a lot lower than I expected, so it's worked out fine by spending the spare money from that 'pot'. I've really overspent on cars and petrol, as I've been including business travel. Too complicated otherwise! I also included the cost of building a carport in that section...

Frugaldom

Nice to see you back, Lynda, congratulations and well done on staying under budget despite the unexpected car costs and building of carport. Are you starting to get excited about impending frugal wedding in March?

I've just completed both my 2009 budget analysis and my 2010 budget forecast so will now post them as definites. This is how 2009 is ending:

Groceries £1,185.00
Toiletries £50.00
Cleaning £15.00
Electricity £1,030.00
Coal £147.00
Logs £160.00
Internet £240.00
Mobile £20.00
Telephone £145.00
TV £142.50
Clothing & Footwear £185.00
Gifts £372.00
Extras £30.00
Travel £51.00
Insurances £40.28
Misc £187.22

TOTAL £4,000.00 (I have £8.73 left for last minute incidentals)

This is my 2010 forecast budget, which will be juggled accordingly as necessary over the forthcoming months:

Groceries £1,095.00
Toiletries £75.00
Cleaning £15.00
Electricity £1,095.00
Coal £150.00
Logs £160.00
Internet £240.00
Mobiles £30.00
Telephone £145.00
TV Licence £145.00
Clothing & footwear £50.00
Gifts £400.00
Extras £50.00
Travel £120.00
Household Insurance £45.00
Miscellaneous £185.00

TOTAL £4,000

Clothing & footwear greatly reduced as DD's wedding now past, travel greatly increased slightly as I'm including cost of passport 'just in case'. I don't own a car, so the only time I do need one is business related and, therefore, paid as a business expense; I do everything I p[ossibly can whilst out wherever.

Chicken curry for us tonight - leftover chicken, 4p supermarket sauce and bulk bought rice - plus the remains of a bottle of wine gifted to us at Christmas. Cheers for now!

Blairweech

Nyk - Am glad you are getting a passport, it is an absolute palaver but so worth it. When I went for my interview, they advised me to check my credit report for ID theft every year, especially if you move around a lot.

Not much to report atm, work is still mental. Was phoned at 7am this morning and pleaded with to come in 2 hours early :rolleyes: Oh well, the taxman will love me this week!

Really must do my online shopping, just finding the time!

So pleased to hear everyone coming in under/on budget, and looking forward to all the people joining in next year!

DdraigGoch

The budget is being worked on. Can't do much else as a] we're snowed in [hurrah!] b] MSE's going off the air for a while.

Well done to everyone and commiserations to those whose efforts didn't turn out the way they hoped [that'll be me then!] Without this thread in particular and MSE in general I'd be a lot worse off, so thanks again.

Just a quick thought - if anyone loses where the new thread will be for next year, don't fret, just look up someone whom you know will be posting on it, and Bob's your uncle, you'll have the link. Hope that helps anyone who gets as easily lost as I do.

Wishing us all luck for the new year.

{{{{{{{{{{{Bails}}}}}}}}}} - grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr and jumping up and down shouting on your behalf. Tell us the details and we'll mount an internet campaign!

ceridwen

bails wrote: »

ARGGHHHH! I am so sad and angry and frustrated here - it is puppy season and people keep dumping litters on the street :mad: Someone has literally just put a box of them down outside the internet cafe :mad::mad: If I'd seen them I'd have told them! I know life is hard here and animals are lower down the scale but then DON'T GET A DOG YOU CAN'T AFFORD AND DON'T LET IT HAVE PUPPIES!!! Argghhhhhh! It is SO incredibly hard to watch...
*goes off to see what I can do*

Quite agree with you Bails - there is no excuse for this behaviour - as surely even the stupidest of people in any country knows its possible to get animals neutered and if it costs money they cant afford - well...in that case...why on earth did they get a dog in the first place if they cant afford one? DUH!

Hmmm....thinks....."mind you the number of people who do things they cant afford without stopping to think first in several different contexts I can think of never ceases to astonish/infuriate me - as others are left to pick up the pieces/pay for it for these selfish idiots". Okays - rant over for the day...

cw18

Just realised I came home all wound up and ready to share some news - but totally forgot 'cos my Inbox was full of requests for my spreadsheet, so I got stuck into sending that out instead :rolleyes2


I'm hoping to get myself an NVQ2 starting next month :T

Not quite sure what the official title of it is though

Work have announced a new training program, which is currently only available to those who work on the Market Street (butchers, bakery, deli, fish monger, green grocer etc), and apparently all we have to do is do our job while being monitored - no class work and no homework or anything. They've trialled it somewhere, and it rolls out nationally starting Monday....

Saw a message on a board yesterday with the date, and saying to ask the store manager (D) for more info. Thought I'd ask my dept manager (J) if he knew anything about it first, and he laughed at the thought he'd have been briefed :rotfl: But a couple of minutes later D walked past the bakery, and J called him over and told him I had something to ask - then walked away and left me to it.

Apparently the info only arrived with D on Monday, and he's not had chance to read it yet himself...... but he's promised to let me know what it entails etc as soon as he has I'm now just keeping my fingers crossed that I don't get excluded from this first run due to still being on my 13 week trial (this is week 8), but I'm sure it will still be available at the end of that anyway.

J seemed impressed I'd asked about it, and I'm happy that I asked him first - as (in my eyes) he's shown support by pulling D into the conversation.

As I have no official qualification above an 'O' level (my kids insist I call them GCSEs, but that's not what I took 27 years ago or what my certificates say), this is quite a big deal for me

savingfortravel

Best Spreadsheet and whoopsie hunting
Congrats Cheryl! Sounds like you've got lots to look forward to next year.
Well done for giving so many your spreadsheet. Everyone is raving about it. :T
Frugal living and offering support
Nyk-Thank you for your amazing thread. It's made a huge difference to so many. I know why so many people are joining. Apart from financial necessity they see that you offer a chance for people to change their lives and plan their futures (so as you say its about giving people more freedom). Mr SFT and I have got married and moved to our little cottage this year and survived the roof drama..all thanks to this thread and the support of our parents.
I loved the photo of your place but was curious to know who hiked up the hillside to take it..it looks beautiful but I know your life is not ALL ABOUT GLAMOUR.
Biggest Heart
Bails-Please don't get more upset...Just concentrate on your immediate and closest concerns at the mo..I know you are a selfless person with a huge heart but you've got to stay strong for your family at them mo so don't take too much else on.

SFT

BigMummaF

Skint_Lynne wrote: »

....
The aim this year is to get rid of some/most of my debts and get a bit of a savings cushion should I run into trouble.

The challenge helped me out no end last year. I was able to get a good stock of shopping in and have bought a laptop for cash, I would have never been able to do this sort of thing before. So, this thread has a lot to answer for, but in a good way of course! Thanks to all, but again, a special thanks to nyk for giving up a good chunk of her spare time to coach the likes of me (ex)spendthrift. xx

HearHear :T
I too would like to get a little bit of padding over the bones of my finances [shame I can't use my personal padding cuz there'd be enough of that for everyone :embarasse] & I feel a lot more able to begin the groundwork now I've met yooze guys.

lyndasharp wrote: »

.... I also included the cost of building a carport in that section...

Did you get the guttering sorted..something with the fixings wasn't it?

DdraigGoch wrote: »

....
Well done to everyone and commiserations to those whose efforts didn't turn out the way they hoped [that'll be me then!] Without this thread in particular and MSE in general I'd be a lot worse off, so thanks again.
....
{{{{{{{{{{{Bails}}}}}}}}}} - grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr and jumping up and down shouting on your behalf. Tell us the details and we'll mount an internet campaign!

HearHear Again :T I must find out where the peeps get their amazing smilies from cuz I feel like a Cheerleader today

That is truly awful Bails on top of everything else just now. My first thought is getting in touch with your credit card company if you paid with that method of course. Don't they offer a total refund or something I wouldn't know as I don't use mine.