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Frugal Living 2010 -The Cost of Living Challenge, INTRO
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I'm having a bit of trouble doing the budget at the moment, you see we are a family of 2 adults & 2 children - how we do the finance at the moment is;
We got a spreadsheet and we input monthly income for the month, and we have lines to add different expenditures - the calculation takes into account of which account every think goes in and out from, we normally have approximately 400 quid a month extra money which gets split 50/50 between me and OH for our own personnel spend or savings, as OH gets the bulk of the income (I get child benefit in mine - he gets the rest in his), at the end of the month he transfers my personnel spend and reimbursements (as I pay for groceries, household expense and kids stuff etc), he pays rent and utilities.
I was thinking of ignoring rent & utilities and his personnel spend money (he can't keep track:rolleyes:).
So in theory it would be 4800 to pay for this, but OH is currently on the sick and don't know when he is to return to work (if at all).
I really want to join in, so my question is once I know for certain our income/expenditure/budget, would it be possible to tweak it to reflect any changes if there are any?
If I can then, I will post a budget based on 12 months previous average spend for my money and groceries (the ones I have control of). We doing the inputting of the figures for November tonight, so I can base it on averages for now if this is ok to change at a later date (probably late Dec / Early Jan).0 -
Hiya can you add me to the list please. We've just moved house and so have to save save save to redecorate0
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Hello
The budget is based on what you have as disposable income after paying the absolute essentials like keeping the roof over your head, servicing your debts (if any) and covering the expenses related with keeping jobs. Just take your entire annual income from ALL sources and then deduct all of the above to find out how much you have to spend on running your household. Once you have established the true figure, then it's easier to begin breaking it down into how much can be allocated where. Hope this helps.
Edited in - perhaps this will help you understand how I arrived at the original budget, it's post number 3, I think.
I have worked out I have a disposable income of approx £12000 once taking out rent gas electric council tax tv licence debt repayments car & work related costs phone and home insurance. where do i go from here?0 -
I have spent the weekend going through my budget and thought I had it sorted at £3795 for me and 3 cats. I left out much the same things as you, the car is on the mobility scheme so no car tax etc just petrol that I have included in my budget.
I really need to shave this down a bit, looking at it the cats are a big expense so going have to find alternatives that they will eat. I have one with a sensitive tum so generally get what I know won't upset him. I haven't included cat insurance but have included frontline/worming/boosters and any other vet costs.
Back to drawing board for me, I need to save some serious money for work on the bungalow etc and possibly full and final settlements on at least one of my debts.
Hmmm....other than pet insurance I hadn't thought about my dog, his food comes in shopping bill (fortunatley he isn't fussy) but worming, injections vet bills etc wasn't included, though I suppose I could put them under 'sundries', anyway, time to rethink before Jan, work in progress!!:j
Charley0 -
Ok, a quick explanation as to my circumstances. I'm 29, and got married this year. We're off on our long-haul honeymoon next April and we've got the money saved for that already.
I have no pension and no savings, which is basically my own fault as I went travelling the world when I was 25 and spent all my savings on that, then after building some more savings up when I got back, spent it all on the wedding.
I saw a financial advisor last year (for free!) and asked about a pension, but she said it would be better to save in ISAs for the forseeable future, in case I need the money for something else in the meantime. So I want to build up my savings for that, and also for just in case I get made redundant. Also, may need a new(er) car soon as have had several problems with it this year.
I don't have any debt at present, except for my student loan (which comes off my pay each month).
Me and my husband keep our money separate. I pay him rent which covers half of the mortgage and bills etc.
I'm going to do this challenge with just my money, not the household money, so I'm going to try to spend £2,000 next year, after all bills including grocery shopping and petrol (need it to get to work).
Income after tax £16,800
£500pm rent
£120pm petrol
£30pm need to save towards car bills
£100pm food
£15pm dentist
£20pm mobile phone
= £9,420 a year
That leaves me with £7,380, so in theory if I only spend £2,000 next year (just over £160 a month) that means I should be able to save £5,380.
Hope that makes sense. If the plan goes well, I may also try to cut down our grocery bill and household bills! And overpay the mortgage too!0 -
have done the budget plannner too and am shocked at how much we go through and how much we "should" have left. i am now the proud owner of three bank bags with stickers on them "shopping £60" "petrol £20" "dinner money, papers & spare £23" all with their weekly amounts written on them, have found an old pass book for a building society account with £25 in it -last updated 2005 so am going to make a point of using that for ebay sales, money that we wouldnt normally have or any spare left over from the weekly spend as with it being a pass book i cant "jiggle" money back and forward between accounts and this is for a summer holiday, normally spend £4,000 on a holiday no wonder i'm skint!! but 2010 am looking to do the "Cateran Trail" (similar t the west highland way but more peaceful) and take the kids with me to raise money for Scottish Motor Neurone , wont have to pay kennel fees either saving £200 as i have a mad spaniel who will love the moors and forrests. Tomorrow am taking my boots to the cobblers to be re-heeled ~a first normally just go and buy another pair (i hear you all tut tut tut!) so will have saved myself £70ish, ok must go and get organised and do the ironing as i'm sure the secret to this is being organised not just with money but with everything else.
have a good night allskintbint x
here's tae us, wha's like us - fell few and and they're a deid"
10k in 2010/£6988.30-69.88%@29/12/10, 11k in 2011/£897 07.04.11- fell by the wayside!!!
12k in 2012 - £204.00 @ 4/1/12
do not confuse me with the other skintbint who joined dec2011 - i am the original bint:rotfl:0 -
TotalDespair:D:D:D:D
Can you put me down to join this challenge please.
I shall work out my budget and post and roll on 2010 and hopefully will survive the year thats going to make me realise where my money goes etc...
Now am off to get that budget sorted....now where did I put that pen and paper....
Lexie:T:T:TOne newly single jobless female here thats disillusioned by having an expartner that didnt accept any financial help with the mess he was in...:mad::mad: so am out there again on my own :T:T paddling my own canoe, unfortunately jobless but solvent but extremley skint:D:D :rotfl::rotfl::j:T;):):D:D:D0 -
I have spent the weekend going through my budget and thought I had it sorted at £3795 for me and 3 cats. I left out much the same things as you, the car is on the mobility scheme so no car tax etc just petrol that I have included in my budget.
I really need to shave this down a bit, looking at it the cats are a big expense so going have to find alternatives that they will eat. I have one with a sensitive tum so generally get what I know won't upset him. I haven't included cat insurance but have included frontline/worming/boosters and any other vet costs.
Back to drawing board for me, I need to save some serious money for work on the bungalow etc and possibly full and final settlements on at least one of my debts.
There has been a lot of discussion about feline nutrition and value for money over on the Pets board, so worth running a search. The most MSE option is to see if your cats will take to raw food, then get freebies or very cheap meaty bones and carcasses from your butcher. The butcher often has to pay to have these taken away so ... :money:
As this sort of diet is completely natural (they'd eat raw creatures in the wild) it's unlikely to upset the sensitive cat, providing you introduce new foods slowly. Obviously raw meaty bones are not a balanced diet alone, you can either feed a complete dry food alongside or some heart and liver, again which can be sourced super cheap or even free. :TDeclutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️0 -
have found an old pass book for a building society account with £25 in it -last updated 2005 so am going to make a point of using that for ebay sales, money that we wouldnt normally have or any spare left over from the weekly spend as with it being a pass book i cant "jiggle" money back and forward between accounts and this is for a summer holiday
Just check the account is still current with the Building Society. i.e. that they still keeps this account up to date with competitive interest rates, as they are prone to bring in new schemes with new names and drop the old accounts down to zilch percent interest.Mortgage
Start January 2017: $268,012
Latest balance $266,734
Reduction: $1,278.450 -
Count me in please - Heather 2409 Don't know how to increase font size on this.
Many thanks0
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