Frugal Living 2010 -The Cost of Living Challenge, INTRO

Frugaldom

plzhelpmesave! wrote: »

Hi all

Challenge sounds amazing and life changing.... any advice on how to get OH on board??

Also what would be a realistic target for 2 adults and 3 kid (3,5,and 7)

Would love to join in but dont know where to start!

Hello and welcome! Looks to me like you have already started, so well done with that! :beer: The will to do something is the first thing anyone needs and then it's just a case of adjusting to a learning curve that doesn't become too steep that you slide back off it.

Getting OHs on board is one of the trickier things that many have had to face and the general consensus of opinion seems to be favouring the use of baby steps. Without OHs being able to see the goal, how can they take a shot at it, type thing. As long as your OH realises that finances are at problem level then chances are they'll be prepared to hand over the reins to whoever can make the problems go away. I do appreciate that some of the OHs we have encountered over the years tended to hand those reins to the wrong people, (usually involving alcohol, medication and/or alternative 'entertainment'), but all beginnings and endings are the same, so plenty of scope for diversions between the two. In the meantime, make sure you have clearly set goals so you can demonstrate very simply what those are. Hope this helps.

Just been catching up on an assortment of gossip and can pass on the news that, according to Mr MSE, Mrs MSE is not, as published in The Independent, pregnant. :rotfl:What I want to know is this: if he woke up and found Mrs MSE pregnant, that suggests he was in bed reading the paper, but if he's such a frugal moneysaver, what was he doing lying in bed reading the newspaper? Wouldn't that mean the added expense of paying to have it delivered? That's MUCH more newsworthy than err, someone's wife is having a baby, :rolleyes: don't you think? :rotfl:

pammyj74

found this online personal-budget-spreadsheet which I have just altered to my own items and its great to work out what your annual figures are etc
and you can also add in your actual figures for grocery spends etc through the year and any other extras
will definitely be using this through the year
nice to actually see proper figures
will update my frugal figures later but it seems that the extras after mortgage, ct. water etc comes to £4480 so cant do the 4k challenge but I do little extras to earn a bit more money so will keep track on the spreadsheet for that as well.

cw18

pammyj74 wrote: »

.....but it seems that the extras after mortgage, ct. water etc comes to £4480 so cant do the 4k challenge but I do little extras to earn a bit more money so will keep track on the spreadsheet for that as well.

A lot of people were doing £4k + Child Benefit + CTC, so perhaps that would be an option for you

I don't do either - I work "all in" and set what I think are realistic budgets for me and my house

huston_kw

pammyj74 wrote: »

found this online personal-budget-spreadsheet which I have just altered to my own items and its great to work out what your annual figures are etc

Thanks for the link:beer:. I will be doing ours later, unfortunately we a bit unsure of income as OH is on the sick so we just trying to work out finances. So once I know what our income etc is I will post budget.


On the note of where this thread should be - I think for me it should be in the OS board (it's where I spend my time), we've got no debts so I never venture to that board, it's not about savings. It's like the grocery challenge on a larger scale, but I guess the powers that be disagree. I've subscribed so wherever it ends up I will be there.

Kerfuffle

Hi oldMcDonald,

The Compact is elsewhere, it's not on MSE.

pink-numbers may be able to do a link or explain it better, or if you google it I'm sure you'll find some info.

Basically it's about reducing, reusing and recycling and not buying anything new (with a few exceptions), and restricting yourself to bartering, borrowing and the like, and probably so much more but I don't follow it myself.

Hope that helps, and that I haven't offfended anyone with my simplistic description.

plzhelpmesave!

Thanks nykmedia, Have been looking through all the old threads (for most of the day!!) so got a much better idea and am so impressed with what you have all achieved! hope i can be a small part of future successes!

Have gone through martins money makeover, and not much more we can shave off. Already do or done most of what he recommends - will try to haggle down my home phone and internet tomorrow - they're closed today. will do energy comparison before i log off and sort out the house!!

Have joined dec grocery challenge again - and will keep all receipts for spends this month, and hoping to come under £260 for 5 of us. Have lots of stuff in so need to do some creative cooking - we ate lods of pasta dishes last week!

Even so, i am looking at a lot more than £4k to cover all our expenses, groceries, kids clubs, 2 x petrol etc etc etc!!

Will aim for £8000 for the year, but will do my very best to shave off this amount wherever I can, e.g. can walk to school tomorrow am. Also looking at getting a small car for me next year -currently have a 2litre diesel 7 seater, so hoping to get a much smaller engine size.

oldMcDonald

Kerfuffle wrote: »

Hi oldMcDonald,

The Compact is elsewhere, it's not on MSE.

pink-numbers may be able to do a link or explain it better, or if you google it I'm sure you'll find some info.

Basically it's about reducing, reusing and recycling and not buying anything new (with a few exceptions), and restricting yourself to bartering, borrowing and the like, and probably so much more but I don't follow it myself.

Hope that helps, and that I haven't offfended anyone with my simplistic description.

Thank you, Kerfuffle

I will Google - it sounds like something I would be keen to try.

Kerfuffle

Hi everybody,

well I'll introduce myself and hopefully explain in some degree as to what I'm about. If you don't want to know then scroll *NOW*.

SFT did ask me on the previous challenge and I was a bit hesitant, not because I've got anything to hide but mainly because I don't think there's much to say. Anyhoo....

I'm a Yorkshire Lass living in British Columbia, Canada and I'm married with 2 grown up children.
Hubby moved here April 2008, DD and I moved here Sept 2008 and DS moved here April 2009. Hubby and I live 'out of town' and the kids live in rented accommodation 'in town'. To all intense and purposes the kids are independant.

Before we made the move to Canada we didn't have any debts (with the exception of a relatively low mortgage), however the move has used all our savings and then some. The main problem has been that my Visa took 9 months to process and so I was unable to work in all that time. The recession is also evident where we live, and it also relies on tourism and unfortunatley we have been 'between seasons'. However on a positive I start a new job tomorrow so hopefully that will be the turning point.

So, I've been addicted to MSE for some time, mostly lurking, but have decided to bite the bullet and embrace Nyks challenge, primarily so that we could live without going further into debt, and now to continue to live as frugally as we have been doing so that all my earnings can firstly go towards getting rid of the debt and then to accumulate savings.

I already batch cook, make from scratch, make do and mend, charity shop purchases etc, the areas I would like to develop are to start growing my own fruit and veg, and also making more of my clothes.

I'm conscious of the affects of my existence on the planet and try to reduce my impact as much as possible and this challenge enables and encourages me to do that.

I do quite a few of the various challenges on MSE and some of them crossover, Nyks challenge seems to incorporate a little of everything which I think it's why it's so popular. The advice, encouragement, sympathy and empathy shown on this thread is brilliant and I'm really excited to be a part of it.

Well I hope that hasn't bored you all too much.:D

Ps If anybody recognizes me because of all this info then say "Hi", it's all good fun and I'm not embarrassed to be here!

cw18

Kerfuffle wrote: »

However on a positive I start a new job tomorrow so hopefully that will be the turning point.

Congratulations, and good luck :T



Having recently (3 weeks ago) started a new job myself, I have to say I've found it quite a boost to my confidence. I'd officially been out of work for just under 12 months, but wasn't included in the unemployed headcount as I'm a 'widowed parent' as far as the benefits system is concerned. This meant the couple of times I approached government agencies for help in applying for work I didn't seem to be classed as a 'priority' for their resources, and in fact felt I was wasting their time

But it felt to me as if I'd been out of work for much longer than, as I'd been on 'gardening leave' for 6 months prior to my end date, and a 3 month 'staged return' (reduced hours) immediately before that following a period of almost 20 months off on sick leave - so it's actually over 3 years since I felt I was 'gainfully employed' :eek:

Kerfuffle

cw18 wrote: »

Congratulations, and good luck :T



Having recently (3 weeks ago) started a new job myself, I have to say I've found it quite a boost to my confidence. I'd officially been out of work for just under 12 months, but wasn't included in the unemployed headcount as I'm a 'widowed parent' as far as the benefits system is concerned. This meant the couple of times I approached government agencies for help in applying for work I didn't seem to be classed as a 'priority' for their resources, and in fact felt I was wasting their time

But it felt to me as if I'd been out of work for much longer than, as I'd been on 'gardening leave' for 6 months prior to my end date, and a 3 month 'staged return' (reduced hours) immediately before that following a period of almost 20 months off on sick leave - so it's actually over 3 years since I felt I was 'gainfully employed' :eek:

Hi cw18,

I actually finished work in the UK May 2008 so I will have been without work for 18 months, and whilst at the start I had plenty to do getting ready for the move and everything once I was here there was very little for me to do and it's difficult finding things to keep yourself occupied all day every day.

Whilst I was waiting for my visa to come through I was unable to work and also unable to undertake any learning programe, and was unentitled (!) to any benefits.

More recently since I have been able to apply for jobs my confidence has really taken a battering as to not receive any response to an application is really sole destroying and demoralising.

However, it's all good just now so onward and upward to 2010.:T

I'm really pleased you're happy with your new job, having a job is so much more than finance.