Frugal Living 2010 -The Cost of Living Challenge, INTRO

XSpender

My diesel budget is already under pressure for 2010:eek: Because I have a company car all my diesel costs go on a charge card. I then pay my personal mileage costs off this the following month. Due to the terrible weather on Christmas Eve I collected my DM from her house as she was too frightened to drive and was coming to us for the festivities then took her home on Sunday. That was 340 miles. I have a funeral to go to tomorrow which is a 360 mile round trip. This is approximately £80 of diesel I haven't budgeted for but will have to paid for in late Jan/early Feb:eek:

I suppose if the budget looks tight towards the end of the year I can always move some money from 'anything else' and bump up the budget a bit?

I haven't started spending on 2010 apart from the diesel as I want to count my spends from the 1st Jan to 31st Dec, otherwise I will just confuse my poor old brain.

cake21

cw18 wrote: »

*** Possible problem with spreadsheet ***

The inconsistent formula was highlighted for me as a tiny green triangle in the corner of the cell (2007 version) but as the formula was effectively the same and the triangle tiny I left it Thanks again for the brilliant spreadsheet :T

What are people doing with cashback and similar "income" please? Do you net it off the related spend? Or track it separately?

Frugaldom

ifonlyitwaseasier wrote: »

ok on reflection i think looking at debt repayments as part of this for me isn't going to work so i've sat down and worked out that hubby and i have (drumroll please)....................... £75000 as general money and the rest of whatever we earn will be to our debts and that'll be seperately.
ioiwe x

:eek: Is this a typo and should be the original £15,000 you mentioned, halved to £7,500 or is it genuinely £75k and not enough to pay off any debts? :rotfl:

cake21 wrote: »

What are people doing with cashback and similar "income" please? Do you net it off the related spend? Or track it separately?

I track all my extra income/free money/winnings on part of my spreadsheet and offset it against 'everything else' spending that isn't part of the challenge - like the cost of running my garden & poultry project. I'm trying to make that cash neutral but still haven't worked out how to include things like swaps, bartering and LETS (Local Exchange Trading Scheme) trades.

Only 2 more days remaining of 2009 and then it's a brand new year, with a brand new challenge. I'm quite looking forward to it, as I have no major planned expenses as per the previous few years, 2010 just includes DS's 21st but I already have the savings set aside for that. With any luck, I'll be able to fill my ISA! :j

Final budget:

Groceries £1,095.00
Toiletries £75.00
Cleaning £15.00
Electricity £1,095.00
Coal £150.00
Logs £160.00
Internet £240.00
Mobiles £30.00
Telephone £145.00
TV Licence £145.00
Clothing & footwear £75.00
Gifts £350.00
Extras £50.00
Travel £260.00
Household Insurance £45.00
Miscellaneous £70.00

TOTAL £4,000

I am not counting in rent or council tax, as I have no control over them, and we don't pay water because we aren't connected directly to the mains. We don't normally do holidays, socialising or extra hobbies here. Living with the countryside all around us means we have most of what we need right here on our doorstep. Plus, I'll have my new neighbour here full time from summer, so there'll be plenty more coffee mornings, foraging forays and possibly even the odd evening sampling homebrew. :beer:

:j For anyone who has been wondering, this is where we stay and this is where SM will be staying very soon. This also explains why things like supermarkets, High street sales, public transport and trips to the pub/cinema/gym don't feature very highly on my list of priorities. :rotfl:For a start, it's 1.25 miles to the wheelie bins and the nearest road.

cake21

nykmedia wrote: »

I track all my extra income/free money/winnings on part of my spreadsheet and offset it against 'everything else' spending that isn't part of the challenge - like the cost of running my garden & poultry project.

Thanks, have tweaked spreadsheet again and the total should reconcile back to my 2010 wages received. This should hopefully stop me frittering away cashback :j and give me a really good basis for setting the 2011 budget :j:j

(obsessed, moi!?! :rotfl:)

nykmedia wrote: »

:j For anyone who has been wondering, this is where we stay

Looks lovely! I won't ask if it is as romantic as it looks, don't want to spoil my mental image

Frugaldom

Further to the cashback/gifts/winnings etc, I run my spreadsheet to incorporate every single penny of extra income and this is the amount I allow myself to use for things like keeping the hens & ducks, establishing the veg garden, buying all those non-essential luxuries. I overspent in 2009, but will be doing an itemised list of just how much got 'neutralised'. Working on thet now.

Edited in - apologies for typos, I haven't stuck the new letters on my keyboard yet. HS managed to salvage several sheets of sticky letter & number labels from old blank videos, so I have no excuses now! :rotfl:

cake21

nykmedia wrote: »

Further to the cashback/gifts/winnings etc, I run my spreadsheet to incorporate every single penny of extra income and this is the amount I allow myself to use for things like keeping the hens & ducks, establishing the veg garden, buying all those non-essential luxuries.

Yet another simple but fantastic idea from this thread, I am so grateful to the person who linked to this in the first place (sorry can't remember who, but thanks!) :j

I will try and pay for magazine subscriptions/books/dvds/music (easy target as these could be borrowed free from the library) with cashback received in 2010 :money::D

Small steps, but I'll get there! :j:j

Memory_Girl

Hi cw18

Your postbox is full hon - but if you could pass me over a copy of your spreadsheet it would be brilliant.

Memorygirl

Nessa56

cw18 wrote: »

*** Possible problem with spreadsheet ***

I had a query yesterday, where one person was getting an "inconsistent formula" error message. This happened on the 'Totals Page', and was coming up on cell D24 (ie. Groceries row, Spent column)

I wasn't seeing the error, so I suspect it will only be happening for people using the backwards compatible version (the attachment file name will contain '97' rather than '2007') on a version of Excel below 2007 - though the inconsistency is actually in both versions I've sent out.... oops!


The formula in that cell does (for some reason) differ slightly to those in the rest of that column, but I'm surprised it's causing a problem......

If you look closely it says

=IF(SUM(F24:Q24)=0,"",(SUM(F24:Q24)))

But to match the others in the column it should be

=IF(SUM(F24:Q24)=0,"",SUM(F24:Q24))

ie. there's an extra set of brackets around the latter part


Doing a copy/paste from D23 should fix it just fine (I hope) - or you can edit the formula in the cell and remove the extra brackets.



I have rectified this in my blank versions for sending out, and anyone who's received the spreadsheet since midnight will have the new version.





If anyone else has had any problems/niggles with the spreadsheet, then please feel free to let me know.

If it's something you've managed to sort, then it may still be worth letting the others know about (I think I've now sent out 31 copies, hence posting this here rather than sending individual PMs/emails).

If it's something outstanding, then I'm more than happy to look at it for you (though it will almost certainly not be until tonight, as I'm out to work within the next hour - hence up and posting at this 'unearthly and very cold' hour :rolleyes2 )

Hi I am still trying to work out a budget for myself so I can join this challenge but would love the spreadsheet if at all possible please CW18 ???

Thanks


v
x

shaz_mum_of__2

Hi guys

had to buy milk today but not bought anything else for over a week now .........apart from a piece of worktop to make a desk!

Been for a mortgage review and upped our payments and reduced our term by 5 years and put a regular overpayment plan in place .......Mortgage free in 3 (hopefully)

Great to see so many newcomers and old hands alike

Nyk i have showed hubby the idyllic location but he still won't budge. he is determined to move southwards:rotfl::rotfl:

Aril -we brew our own wine and beer too the tea wines are a fave here esoecially the cranberry and raspberry one....lush rose style one

Frugaldom

Hello, I see we have a few more joining our frugal ranks - WELCOME!

I have just done a full analysis of my 'extra free cash' that was accumulated over the year by way of free scratch cards, money gifts, winnings, cash back, sales of surplus eggs and interest paid on savings. In total, it amounted to a whopping great £2,141.64 which is certainly not to be sneezed at! :j:T Over the entire year, I spent £2,260.02 but this included all of the following:

NTS annual family membership
Friendly Society bond (£15 per month tax free savings)
Set up garden at new address
Planted a mini-orchard
Set up small poultry project
Feeding & bedding for above
Greenhouse
Patio & Pergola
Kitchen shelving, trolley & veg/pot racks
A walk-in larder all shelved
Decorated the bathroom
DD's wedding extras
Outfit, shoes & bag for DD's wedding
B&B expenses for 6 for weekend of wedding
Fleeces to insulate all the windows

As you can see, £180 of the above went straight into a tax free savings bond but of that, £118.38 was from my surplus/extra income, meaning that all my extras for 2009 that weren't included in my original £4000 were, in fact, cash neutral! :j:beer::j Not content with that, I haven't counted my £2 coins and I have a balance equivalent to over £100 in my LETS account.