Frugal Living 2010 -The Cost of Living Challenge, INTRO

grandma247

look just above at thread tools. Click it and the drop down menue has a subscribe option.

llydaw

Now I know I need sleep. I thought I was posting this on Weezl's diary in the mortgage free wanabee thread and as you can see failed. Can someone move my post over there please?
thank you

llydaw

grandma247 wrote: »

look just above at thread tools. Click it and the drop down menue has a subscribe option.

Thank you will have a go now, then will have a snooze:o

VickyA_2

:eek: Just done my budget for the year (including all insurances but excluding mortgage repayments) and :eek: is all I can say! A bit more work needs to be done, I feel.

FrankieM

Hi to all the new people!!

I've readjusted my budget a little after filling in cw's spreadsheet. I'm still going in for £12k for the year but that now covers everything except mortgage and protection, regular giving, savings and our loan.
It actually doesn't feel as tight as I thought it would. I'm hoping to get most birthday/christmas presents from survey vouchers and I'm currently working my way through weezl's threads to give me ideas for food. Everything else will just have to be super frugal bargain hunting. I'm even hoping to have a go at home brewing!

Should I be posting my budget breakdown?

cw18

FrankieM wrote: »

Should I be posting my budget breakdown?

Seems to be totally personal choice (a lot of folks on the 2009 thread didn't seem to), but I personally found that posting my initial budget and montly updates (at the category level) helped to keep me focused.

For some reason having to explain 'overspends' to others kept a little voice going in the back of my mind - the one that says "is it a want or a need" and "do you already have something that will do that job" and "will you get enough use from it to justify the expense" :rolleyes2

poorbutrich

So excited about this challenge - I think it's going to completely change our lives for the better. OH has got into the same mindset and spent all of last night brewing his own beer which will make a significant cost saving in our 2010 budget!

thriftylass

Oops, just found the new thread for 2010 is already here

I posted my 2010 budget in the old thread but reading through this thread and some of the latest posts in the old one inspired/motivated me to tweak my number a bit more and reduce them. I always have really good intentions and if I were alone it would be so much easier - so my biggest hurdle for next year will be to resist temptation like going to the pub every week and finally stop smoking again which aren't helped by the lifestyle that comes with BF and that I really enjoy but is expensive.

P.s. how do you post tables, do you have to save them as a picture in photobucket?

mama67

I have been playing with my figures, and am going to do an all in this next year apart from mortgage, mortgage repayment vehicles, council tax and water.
I have also excluded the regular savings pots which will start on Jan 1 which if fufilled will be £1050 in savings (unless a major problem occurs)at the end of 2010 without any other savings made along the way.

So I am looking at £13400 for absolutely everything else for this household which is 2 adults and 2 teenage boys.

the_cat

Ok, I have gone over my figures ( again:o) and will definately go for an all-in budget of £16,000.

Terrifyingly high but will include mortgage, council tax, water rates and all day to day expenses for 2 adults and 2 late teens

The only things I am discounting are
1. holiday - this has already been saved for so only a couple of sundries like airport parking to pay for. An 'essential' treat for us this year as it is likely to be the last holiday DS1 will take with us (17yrs) and saving for it is one of the reasons we have lived frugally this year
2. DIY - not planning anything major but need to finish off lounge with a computer hideaway desk thingy. Viewing as 'capital expenditure' - I sooooo should have been an accountant:o
3. Savings - the main reason for doing the challenge in the first place this year.

I think I will keep from posting a breakdown and if I overspend anywhere I will juggle the figures a bit as I go along.

I always have a nice time at Christmas, but I can't help feeling a bit impatient for it to be over so that I can begin in earnest! Sad, huh?