Frugal Living 2010 -The Cost of Living Challenge, INTRO

candygirl

Hi can I join in please with a budget of £5000 for the year for everything except mortgage and council tax:DI did try the 4k challenge last year but got sidetracked with DD's new baby and numerous other things:o:o
I have already got my grocery budget right down, as I have been dieting frantically, and my car ins and house ins has reduced slightly, so things are looking up;)
Have a fab NYE everyone xx:A

purple_angel_3

Thank you cw18 for the spreadsheet, going to spend some time today putting in my budget.

Happy New Year everyone.

purple_angel.

grandma247

Netto has a pack of four [EMAIL="br@nst0n"]br@nst0n[/EMAIL] beans at £1 and sugar 59p on saturday and sunday

cake21

DdraigGoch wrote: »

odd fact 37 - if you go to the header and click on "how much have you saved" you get to the forum itself. If you then click on the "number of replies" number, a popup appears with the list of who's posted how many times on the thread. Not fantastically interesting.... but it could be very useful. If you then click on the number of times someone's posted, it lists their posts.

Didn't know that, thank you!
Posted my first two Amazon sales this morning :j

Poppycat1

Can I join please? Still got to work on budget. Hope to get started on it tomorrow.

Poppycat1

jtb2412

Hi everyone, first time over on this thread I think if memory serves me right !

I've had a busy morning finalising figures and organising a few finances, seemed a good day to do it so I can start 2010 totally fresh and enthusiastic :j.

So, I had a really good 2009 'practising' and am ready for the real thing now !

Here's our all-in Budget, except rent and council tax which I have no control over (based on last years figures) as follows:

Water - £400 (hoping to reduce this figure this year)
Gas/Elec - £1200 (have just changed supplier so potential £300 saving, will know more as the year goes on - also got £62 cashback for this :T)
Contents Ins - £242.52 (will look at reducing when renewal is due in March)
Sky, Phone and Broadband - £1029.88 :eek:(just changed supplier too so figure should be reduced to approx £780 - saving of £250 :j) - we don't drink or smoke so Sky is one of our little luxuries.
Mobiles - £100 (for me and 3 kids, very low usage, DH has work one)
Window Cleaner - £100 (a must have as we live on a main road and no way risking DH getting up a ladder :rolleyes:)
Birthdays/Xmas - £1410 (5 of us and a huge family (46 people :eek:), we buy for everyone, always have done and always will do so all I can do is cut it down from what it was last year)
Kennels - £500 (a total guesstimate based on last year, lots of weekends away visiting family for weddings/birthdays etc, not so much this year so should be reduced quite a bit)
Vets/Dog Food - £200
Pet Insurance - £57.60 (may be able to reduce this a bit when renewal is due in Feb)
Petrol - £240 (DH has company car so all work-related fuel is reimbursed. The £240 is for private mileage).
Kids - £850 (this covers Guides/Football subs and school trips/uniform/pocket money etc etc)
Holiday - £1500 (accommodation AND spending money - been the same amount for the last 3 years running so I know I can holiday on this figure)
Clothes/shoes - £500 (total guesstimate - kids have new, I have charity shop lol :rolleyes:)
Toiletries - £100 (mostly 'ladies' products as I have a good stash of everything else)
Groceries - £3900 (equates to £75 per week for 5 of us - more than likely will reduce this to £60 per week but will see as the year goes on - we're losing the allotment later so not as much produce as last year)
Cleaning - £100 (have a good stock of things so a realistic figure here)
Anything else - £570.02 - (covers things like garden, emergencies etc)


Total budget is £13000 which I know is HUGE compared to some people's and I only wish I could do it on £4K like NYK does. I'm sure I can get it down to approx £11K, maybe less with some hard work, determination and good advice and support from everyone on here


I'm a tad embarassed by the gifts section but it equates to £100 on each of the kids at birthdays, £150 for Xmas (me and DH don't buy each other) and approx £15 for each family member for birthday AND Christmas. I need to try and get this expense down but it's so hard especially with 3 kids, £100 doesn't get you a lot these days ! :rolleyes: The children don't get many 'treats' throughout the year so I do tend to spoil them a bit at birthdays and xmas so please don't shoot me ! :eek::o:p

All that remains for me is to wish everyone a very Happy, Prosperous and Frugal New Year and for me to thank (yet again lol) NYK for all her hard work, support and advice over the last 12 months I've been here. Also to all the regular contributors who have kept me on the straight and narrow (as much as I've allowed them to :rotfl:). Effort will be 100% in 2010, I promise !!!!

Next job on my list to write my 4 weeks resignation notice for work ready for Monday :shhh:

Buffythedebtslayer

Buffythedebtslayer wrote: »

Ok, its 20 to 3 in the morning and I have to go to bed BUT I wanted to make known my intention, I joined before in 2008 but was an utter failure, however I am more determined now.

I will set my budget at a generous 5,000 for the year.

and be back with details tomorrow. Hope that is ok

xxxx

Morning, well ok Afternoon.

Me - single, 33, living at home
Budget - now 6000 (to include paying for new boiler) to cover everything aside from rent and loan repayments

BUT

The point of me doing this challenge is to spend as little as possible each month in order to pay of my debt as quickly as possible. so the 500 pounds a month is an absolute maximum, putting away money for the boiler, Christmas/presents and the car and keep in all other spends to a minimum. What ever I don't spend each month will go on the loan.

I want to get rid of the debts so I can leave my job which is making me, well frankly depressed. I have been to the doctors but know the answer is to leave. Eventually I want to save enough to buy a house (we are talking in 1/2 years) and rent it out whilst working part time.

Well that's all for now.

thanks, I am only up to page 21, I never knew you could dehydrate vegetables!!

Happy New Year

Buffyxx

poorbutrich

I'm sitting here reading through all the posts and am very excited about the challenge and about everyone's reasons for participating!

I've got a spreadsheet of sorts and can't wait to get going with this - only a few hours to go!

Happy New Year everyone!

andan

Nyk, can you please add me to this years challenge. ANDAN

Not sure about budgets yet, will see as i go along, depending on how i wish to do it.

Just want to wish everyone good luck and here is to a prosperous and frugal new year.

NualaBuala

Hi Ceridwen, mmm, I like the sound of your shea butter concoction. I love coconut oil too and use it for skin, hair, nails. I'm trying to keep things simple too - not easy when I have a cupboard full of stockpiled toiletries!

nykmedia wrote: »

Don't forget to plant your garlic for next year

Ooh, I like the sound of this - how do I do it? Would it be ok in a pot do you think?

I'm still modifying my spreadsheet but I think I'll be aiming for about €10,000 - €12,000. I know that sounds ridiculously high for one person but it includes putting money aside for contingencies and I have scarily high energy bills which I hope will reduce soon. I really enjoy doing budgets like this and playing with spreadsheets - I'd have thought I was very sad if I didn't see so many of you doing the same!