Frugal Living 2010 -The Cost of Living Challenge, INTRO

ceridwen

cw18 wrote: »

Ceridwen - Wanted to say "well done" for being brave enough to try and work out what the spends are for each category :T

Well - I'd never be in the same league as you and Nykmedia - I wouldnt dream of even trying - I know when I'm beaten at the outset:rotfl::rotfl:. I have yet to see anyone's budget as meticulously costed as yours...:D

rozeepozee

xnatalie81x wrote: »

I think that is quite good, but then we are all in different places! I spent about £150 on takeways last year!! I know there are 2 adults and 3children here but our average weekly grocery spend was £98 a week......

Small change for me, I'm slightly ashamed to say. I wondered last year why our local curry house gave us a large box of chocolates and some promotional mugs as a Christnas pressie as we walked through the door - then I worked out what our regular £20 per week spend was in annual terms.... over £1000 :eek: We must have been a valued customer, sadly for them it motivated us to learn how to make our own curries and we now only have a takeaway about once every two months when we're dead on our feet and just can't face cooking.

ceridwen

nykmedia wrote: »

Good morning

Ceridwen, that is a brilliant challenge you have set yourself! When you see the itemised breakdown of how your money will be spent in comparison to what would happen if you were in receipt of single person's income support/benefits it really does make you see how easily and quickly debt could trap the unsuspecting.

Very true. Even assuming someone had a totally "clean slate" at the outset - it could very easily happen. I would certainly be very very conscious on that money of literally not wasting as much as one single penny - accidentally burning the dinner even would be a mini-disaster - as I would have to use extra unexpected ingredients to provide a substitute meal! A pair of shoes wearing out and needing replacing would be a major disaster. I guess some people looking at the £3 per week for dentist would think "well - she wouldnt be paying any of that anyway if on the Dole" - oh yes I would...unless I could find an NHS dentist to swop to and I wouldnt want to anyway as I'm quite happy with the one I've got and would be wondering if there would be a "space" available for me to swop back to them when things went back to normal. Some people would cut out the insurance costs - but then I'd lie awake worrying at night in case I needed to claim on it but couldnt...so wouldnt do that.

rozeepozee

LilacPixie wrote: »

Anyone know where I can get a spread sheet for this challenge or at least instructions on how to make one?? Excel hates me.

That woudl really help me, too, please....

ceridwen

Been meaning to investigate this website for quite some time - and its a good one:

http://www.radiopaq.com/

Whatever radio station one wants to listen to from anywhere in the world - and select by genre or country.

Found one so far that I'm likely to favourite:

GotRadio Celtic

(an American one that came up when I clicked on "New Age" genre).

Lots of music for free - thats what I like:D

larmy16

rozeepozee wrote: »

That woudl really help me, too, please....

I found one in my Microsoft works. There was a very good beginners tutorial on Youtube I watched to remind me how to do it. Shaky start but I am getting there.

viv0147

add me please viv0147

cw18

LilacPixie wrote: »

Anyone know where I can get a spread sheet for this challenge or at least instructions on how to make one?? Excel hates me.

rozeepozee wrote: »

That woudl really help me, too, please....

If you have Excel (97 or above), I have a spreadsheet I'm more than happy to share. Quite a few people already have a copy to look at, and I promise I don't hold people to using it if I send it to them It has a lot of pages - but they're very simple, and you only run with a few pages each month - and I've added an instructions/guidelines page to it as well.

If you'd like a copy, drop me a PM with your email address. If you have Excel 2007, then let me know that too...... that's the version I run, so it was written for that. But I've saved it out with backwards compatability for 97 onwards, and I don't think anyone has had any problems because of that yet

tatu-rach

hello there, this is my first ever thread on m.s.e., ive just calculated my incomings and outgoins for the next 12 months and it doesn't look like we'll (the family) have much left over so i think i need this thread so plz add me thanx very much, love tatu-rach x x x x x

larmy16

I am posting this in case it helps someone.

I saw this tip ages ago on this site. It was using Value washing powder instead of dishwasher tablets or powder.

I did do it years ago but for some reason got seduced into using the tablets.

Just did a load of dishes with 1/2 tablespoon of Value Tesco powder £1.64 (2kg box) and they came out lovely and sparkling clean.

As I am looking to cut all costs possible this will save me a lot as the box will last for ages.

I still use the rinse aid and salt but did anyway. I got ten bottles of rinse aid from Poundland but have spotted someone saying they use diluted Stardrops as rinse aid and it works very well. You can also use white vinegar.