Frugal Living 2010 -The Cost of Living Challenge, INTRO

slscarborough

please add my name to the list - hoping to remain a SAHM.

pink_numbers

OH YES! I've been waiting for this thread to start, now that I'm finally a bit more ready for such a challenge!! Thank you ever so much for starting the thread.

pink_numbers

I'm going to £6000 for absolutely EVERYTHING (fortunately, mortgage paid already). That's food, bills, insurance, car, pets, etc, etc... I use to struggled on 24k, but nowdays, I think it can be done!

my break down will be:
Mortgage - £0 (paid off)
Shared bills (council tax, landline, internet, building & contents insurance, water, electricity, gas, parking permit, etc) - £1200
Food - £600
Car - £1200
Pets - £600
Orange - £360
Sky - £240
Pet Insurance (2 old cats) - £204
Cash - £1200
Emergency Savings - £240

That totals £5844, which will give me a little leeway if I need it.

I am planning to also cancel Sky when the 12 months contract is due, saving me more money.

I'm also going to be doing the Compact Challenge (buy nothing new) so that should really help with cutting the costs down.

Skint_Lynne

I've followed over and subscribed to the thread, but will post on the other one until 31st December. I can't believe it's nearly the end of the year again.:eek:

kittiej

Count me in please NYK kittiej Thank you :j

Blairweech

Pink Numbers - Sorry to be nosy, but is your food spend a shared cost? My food spend is horrendous, only spending £600 a year on food would give me so much extra money!

Frugaldom

Hi Fruguys and frugals

Looks like we're going to have plenty of newcomers joining our merry team for next year, maybe we should crack open a bottle of elderflower bubbly!

Welcome to all new challengers, we're quite a happy-go-lucky bunch of frugalites here and it's rather exciting for us all to be moving from the DFW to the OS boards. That's not to say that we're all debt free, more a reflection of how many have succeeded in clearing our debts and have now taken the next step along the way to living the dream, even if it means doing so on a very strict budget.

For those who aren't aware of the previous challenges, I first began this in 1998. It wasn't brought to the MSE forums until 2007 for the start of 2008, so this is now coming up to year 3 for our original MSE participants but year 13 for me. :eek:

This challenge, for me, is about enjoying frugal living whilst pursuing a self-supporting lifestyle based on the theory of waste not, want not. I love my current lifestyle and I hope each one of you will find a way of realising your dreams. Good luck to all.

Ches

I have already put my name forward but haven't declared the budget for 2010. I am estimating all my household utilities etc (mortgage paid off) will come to £4206 for the year and they are all on d/d. I am aiming to spend £80 cash per week on everything else such as food/clothing/presents/socializing etc. That comes to another £4160 so a total of £8366. I think the household d/d's will look after themselves but the £80 cash will be a huge challenge for me as I am a spendaholic for clothes and hobby stuff. Thank heavens the weather in January is usually so rotten I don't go out to the shops much.

pink_numbers

Blairweech wrote: »

Pink Numbers - Sorry to be nosy, but is your food spend a shared cost? My food spend is horrendous, only spending £600 a year on food would give me so much extra money!

Hi Blairweech :hello: £600 a year for food (£50 a month) is just for myself. OH and I put in £50 each at the start of the month, total is £100 for the two of us. I can usually feed us for £1 per person per day. We normally have £10-£20 left over at the end of the month that is put towards bulk buying things or a meal out if it's a special month like birthdays.

At the moment, we do a big shop every two weeks. However, we just bought a great big freezer, which means we should be able to get away with doing grocery shopping once a month! :beer:

How much do you spend on food atm?

bunny_too

Count me in too. Thanks Bunnytoo:j

SuzyWuzy_2

NYK- Can you count me in too please..Suzywuzy
thanks. I'm looking forward to this !

Hi everyone !

I normally lurk but I'm excited about this and thought I'd join in.

Not going to have a budget as such as too many changes going to happen and I don't know what yet. I'm currently on mat leave and not sure if I am going to go back in April next year when my leave runs out (and my money too!)

We're a household of 2 adults, 2 teen boys , 1 x 12 boy , 1 x 10 year old boy and a 3 month old girl (and a fish....not sure of gender ! )

I want and aim to live as cheaply as possible and cut back on my food shopping even more (was £600pm now £75 per week and struggling! ) I aim to grow some veg this year and see how I go on.

I'm looking forward to receiving tips and inspiration from everyone on the way!

Good luck everyone!

Suzanne