Frugal Living 2010 -The Cost of Living Challenge, INTRO

Kiwisaver_2

BigMummaF wrote: »

I'm afraid I have been guilty of seeing homes on the tv & jealously thinking 'half your luck' when I see the mahoosiff fridges & freezers, rooms the size of a football pitch & lush veggie patches, before coming down to earth with a bump when the reality is--they only show the best bits on the telly :doh:But how bluddin stooopid to know your own 'local' produce is being sold cheaper half way around the world There's just no sense to that at all--even our very local tomato growers insist their wares go up to London etc, before our shops

It's just crazy, I checked an example one of my favourite wines which I only ever buy when on a seriously good offer.

Oyster Bay chardonnay 750ml in my local supermarket reduced to NZ$17.99 (was $19.99). Waitrose (not usually known to be the cheapest shop) has it currently at £5.99 which converts to about NZD$15 and it's travelled half way around the blooming world.

All those 'Escape to / Get a new life' type programmes on TV have a lot to answer for, they never show the financial sides or the cost of living. It's great when people visit for a short while or are on holidays whilst earning pound notes; they think everything is cheap. It's only when you start earning the local dollars that the truth shows up. Wages in NZ are a lot lower, probably 30% lower in most cases and that's what drew me to MSE as we simply could no longer afford to fund the frivolous 'lifestyle' we had in the UK.

Don't ever be envious of those mahoosif lounges, the size of football pitches, cos therein lies the rub; you have to pay megabucks to heat the damn thing in winter and it's very rare for a house here to have double glazing or central heating. Hence the electricity bills are :eek:

knithappens

well this is the 1st time i have kept a spending diary and it is a real eye opener. With it being december i am spending a slight bit more on a few luxuries but it is making me really second guess and actually not buy, when I can now see just exactly what I am spending.

XSpender

Hello All:hello:

I am having a trial run this month, recording everything I have spent against the categories I have set for December. The budgets are not as low as they will be in the 2010 challenge but it is getting me in the habit of recording all my spends and thinking about how much I have in each budget before I spend owt.

I have calculated my 2010 budget at £8000 but I am still tweaking the amounts in the categories a bit as it seems dog food is going to cost me more and I am looking at stopping going to the haridressers and getting my friend to cut my hair for me (she is qualified;)) which will save over £200 a year:eek: She says she won't charge me but I am working on a tenner a cut as she has recently taken a job on lower pay but better hours etc. I am also going to try waxing my own eyebrows:eek: another £100 saved. DH says that I should allow myself some treats( waxing? a treat?:rolleyes:) as I am pregnant and not going out as much as I did but I would rather save the money. I am on a bit of a saving mission this year me thinks.

I am looking at seriously reducing my grocery spend which is the bit that is giving me the most food for thought (no pun intended:rolleyes:) as I have never once hit my GC target and am not sure if it is achievable. I am looking to reduce this by £100/month and am not really sure how I will achieve it

XS x

Moneybag

Hi all
Moneybag

would love to join in. Will spend next week sorting out finances and post again if I'm not carted off by the men in white coats, having sent myself mad !! :eek:

Thanks and good luck to all.
Moneybag

Frugaldom

Good afternoon frugal friends I've just updated the 2010 challenger list to include all the new names - welcome guys!

I'm still working on the finer points of my 2010 budget trying to keep it down as close to the £4,000 as I can, but I may need to incorporate a few changes, like affording the ever increasing feeding costs for the feathered friends we have here. It's currently looking like costing us almost £10 per week for feeding alone plus bedding, shavings, supplements, grit, worming and any veterinary treatments they may require. Then there's the garden project, as I want to aim for becoming as self-sufficientish as a small garden will permit. I'm thinking along the lines of £4000 for household associated expenses and another £1000 for outdoor non-essentials, because these also provide us with our leisure activities, hobbies and home entertainment, not to mention all the eggs we can eat plus enough left over for trading and/or hatching.

PS We have just broken through the 100 mark on number of challengers for 2010 :j

maz1964

hello nykmedia

thank you for the lovely welcome and im reading so much that my eyes and my brain cant keep up lol

but im learning so much stuff im really keen to get this off in a positive way ready to embrace 2010 with gutso :rotfl:

anyway glad we have hit over the 100 mark that is fab

keep up the good work

cheers maz

mama67

nykmedia wrote: »

Hopefully, where I live now will become home for the foreseeable future and, hopefully, I've now met the right person to share it with, so the budget may change slightly in 2010 as we adapt from house sharing to life sharing. :rotfl:

Can't get away with just dropping that one in Nyk. lol!!

skintbint_2

just got the fleece blankets out rather than putting the heating on, am limiting it as much as possible only on timer in the morning, last year had it on timer morning, evening and night time, really cold here (NE Scotland) possibility of snow tonight so will get the cosys (hot water bottles) out tonight and get them into the beds in about another hour (remember when i had my first flat didnt have a hot water bottle so used a gin bottle and had a friend to stay she asked if i was ok staying on my own as she was concered that she had found a gin bottle down the side of my bed!) Am becoming really frugal getting a Mr T delivery tonight between 9 & 11 as it was £3 cheaper for delivery tonight rather than tomorrow. used on line as then i wont buy whats not on my list so worth the £3 charge. had h/m Lentil and Tomato soup for lunch today and h/m chilli tonight normally would leave the leftovers sitting in the fridge for a couple of days then throw them out but not now, they will be put in the freezer for another meal for the kids or OH to take to work.

kittiej

I'm going to have to try really really hard next year to be good

Things went a bit haywire this year lol, we bought a caravan and have just bought a puppy :j

So my challenge is for my OH and myself, the 2 boys and the puppy called Millie.

I shall have to sit down at some point and work out our budget for next year.

I am trying to keep the heating off as much as poss. If it does get too cold I put the heating on for an hour at a time. It's working so far....

Puddleglum

Hi all,

please can I join

Puddleglum

I have made a good start in 2009 but want to do better next year. :A