Frugal Living 2010 -The Cost of Living Challenge, INTRO

in_spired2

Hi, I'm new to the site. I'd like to join this Challenge ... aim - pay off a CC, reduce my bills and generally put my money to better use in 2010 and after.

Please add me - in spired2

JustKeepSwimming_2

larmy16 wrote: »

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

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.

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.

Any idea of how dilute the Stardrops needs to be? I love Stardrops & use it for washing up & cleaning. Amazingly it is the one detergent that is OK for my skin.

I've been using the value bio washing powder instead of "proper" dishwasher detergent for ages - its great!

grandma247

I am curious about the use of stardrops as a rinse aid since it contans a bitter tasting substance that is designed to stop children drinking it. I don't know exactly how a dishwasher works but would it get all the stardrops off?

larmy16

RE STARDROPS AS RINSE AID

Please note I have just had a look at old threads and come across one where a poster's hubbie had put stardrops in the rinse aid and she had a case of millions of bubbles, so maybe not good to try until you research what the dilution should be!

rozeepozee

Hi guys, can I join you properly now please?

A little about me: We are a family of 3, myself, DP and DS (3), soon to be a family of 5 as we’re expecting twins in April. We are already mortgage free and my aim for this challenge is to be more conscious of where our money comes in and out and to fill the whole in our savings that buying our campervan has created!

I’ve been looking at our expenditure and I’m not sure if I’ve grasped what I’m supposed to do yet but I’ve looked at some other posters examples and have tried to follow suit. I consider our essentials to be as follows:

Endowment policy

1080

Council tax

1687

Buildings Ins

344

Contents Ins

200

Road Tax, insurance, servicing, fuel etc

1765

Water rates

240

Maintenance on home

1500

Savings for son

1200

Alarm service

52

TOTAL £8068

8068

It doesn’t look like there’s any way we could live on £4000 over and above this, as what I consider to be my basic living expenses comes to just over that (£4176.92)! The childminder, gardener and cleaners may be luxuries to some but they’re not something I’m willing to do without at a time when my time is filled with child care responsibilities and I’m heavily pregnant. Maybe later…

Gas

1200

Electricity

168

Pruhealth

87.48

Gym

96

Creche pass

144

TV Licence

145.44

Broadband

240

Mobile phone

180

Child minder

780

Gardener

600

Cleaner

416

Window cleaner

120

TOTAL £4177

4176.92

You may have noticed, this doesn’t include food…..

We spend fortunes on food, probably over £80 per week (even though we cook mostly from scratch). My aim for the first quarter of this challenge is to reduce this to £40 per week and try and use up the stock pile we have in the freezer and cupboards. So far, we haven’t shopped for anything other than milk for a few days and I reckon we must have a couple of weeks’ worth of food that we can eat before we need to do a proper food shop again. We also started growing our own veggies this year in a flower bed.

So, my target amount will be £6257 for the year. I hope I’m not being wildly over-optimistic.

Can anyone help me as to how I incorporate Child Benefit and tax credits into my working please?

Right, I’m off for a nosey at everyone else’s posts!

Looking forward to receiving your wisdom over the course of the next year.

RP x

PS The numbers have fallen off my spreadsheet copy and paste! I've added the totals back in but can't be bothered to do the rest at the mo as my bump aches!
PPS: Just found them - they're at the far left hand side of the post - whoops - computers are so confusing!

cw18

rozeepozee wrote: »

A little about me: We are a family of 3, myself, DP and DS (3), soon to be a family of 5 as we’re expecting twins in April.

Congratulations :T

We are already mortgage free

And more congratulations :T

Can anyone help me as to how I incorporate Child Benefit and tax credits into my working please?

At the start of 2009, there were a number of challengers who worked to £4k plus CB and CTC. This would have given me a personal budget of £7800, so the £8k I ended up with (by calculating budgets for each category) came into that way of doing things closely enough for my liking

sammylds30

Please add me too Sammylds30

oldMcDonald

larmy16 wrote: »

RE STARDROPS AS RINSE AID

Please note I have just had a look at old threads and come across one where a poster's hubbie had put stardrops in the rinse aid and she had a case of millions of bubbles, so maybe not good to try until you research what the dilution should be!

I think that might be one of my posts!

I would not advise putting stardrops anywhere near a dishwasher! Maybe at the right dilution it would be ok, but I wouldn't be prepared to chance it!

It took me over two hours of using a syringe to force water into the rinse aid compartment in order to get rid of the stardrops. We had bubbles all over the floor, the dishwasher was full of bubbles - it took an age to get it all cleaned up and back to normal.

The kitchen floor was sparkling clean at the end of it all, though!

xnatalie81x

Thought i would post my 'intro' too

Last year (2009) was my first yr doing this challenge. The way i work is that i add up my income (wages/child benefit/tax credit etc) for the year and then i subtract the things i cannot change (childcare/council tax/water/rent and debt payments) which then leaves me with my 'disposable income' - this is what i must live on!

2009 i saved 2000k and lived on 13,700ish

For 2010 my income will be similar, or slightly higher, but i aim to live on 12k and save 4k.

About me: I live in Herts and i work as a swimming teacher for a council, a swim club, a school and as of jan i have my own swim school. I work a total of about 18hrs a week (including admin for my own business). I have a partner who i have been throught tought times with including custody, seperation, termination and much more! and all in 2009.......... yet i still stuck to the challenge

My children are a boy of 5, a girl of 3 and a son of 2 - they all go to a childminder while i work on a mon and wed (6.5hrs) - all other times they are looked after by family.

We also have a mad staff who gave birth to pups 4 weeks ago. (on my youngest sons b'day) and i have had great fun raising them lol! We will prob keep 1. We will make a small amt from the pups but it was not planned so only selling 3/6, keeping 1 and giving 2 away for free to great homes! She will be sterilised asap and that will come from savings from last year!

In addition we have 3 hens that are laying us eggs every day and i have an allotment.

That is about it - every1 here is fantastic and amazing and there is such a lovely atmosphere.

Frugaldom

Hello again

Another 5 names added to challenger list and the clock is ticking as the new challenge draws nearer and nearer!