FRUGAL LIVING CHALLENGE 2010, part 1. (Living on £4,000 a year)

cake21

KarrieBee Not an ommission, are those bank account fees for a packaged current account? You've probably already analysed it, but just in case I found the package worse value than buying the travel insurance / breakdown cover etc.
grandma247/mama67 Wow what a blast from the past! I grew up in the area and my very first summer job was in Burgh-le-Marsh. Ironically I moved from there to my dream area because I couldn't afford to buy there :rotfl: Love it here though, walking distance to the beach :j all I have to do now is pay off the mortgage
savingfortravel thanks for the encouragement, so far no grocery or snack spends :j
cw18 great news about your doggie, hope she continues to improve
Chinatea thanks for sharing, that's inspirational to know how much difference the thread can make.
Brighton belle can't imagine anything worse than living on a smallholding I live within walking distance of the town centre (officially a city, but :rotfl:), a very quiet beach and park, and it's perfect for me :D

Got my first monthly British Gas bill this morning, nearly had a heartattack as it was so high :eek: When I calmed down I realised consumption was still significantly down on last year so that's good news. Also I've been edging the heating up so this is a timely reminder to keep an eye on it.

Lunch was HM lamb & spinach curry from the freezer, dinner was HM sweet chilli salmon ditto. Eating too much in the cold weather, but feels great to be eating better and cheaper :j

ceridwen

MushyPeas wrote: »

Evening everyone

Gosh, it sounds dangerous out there, please do all looking after yourself. Slowlyfading, please do take care - concussion can be delayed till the next day.

Well... I'm sitting down with a stiff drink after trying some baking. I'm almost out of food and from reading everyone's frugalling adventures I thought.. how hard can it be?

All I've tried to make are some biscuits and I've discovered the following that cookbooks don't tell you:
* rubbing butter into flour by hand is really hard, takes ages and then later when you think it's like breadcrumbs bit lumps of butter appear! (is there an easier way?)
* flour gets EVERYWHERE
* when you have your hands in a bowl two things will happen a) the phone will ring and b) you'll get an itch on your nose
* trying to figure out how to cook three things at once is almost impossible

Oh dear... I think I need more practice :o:o

In the over are:
* cornish fairing biscuits, a bit like these (actually probably not at all like those as they said walnut sized balls and I don't really know how big that is supposed to be...)
* two small ramekins of apple crumble
* chips! (I am seriously running out of food!!)

Now the conundrum of what / how to cook was:

* chips 20 mins @ 220
* biscuits 12 mins @ 200
* crumble 40 mins @ 180

I've put the chips and crumble on the top, biscuits bottom and set timer for 20 mins. Just checked biscuits... they might turn out to be large cookies :eek::eek::eek:

So I'm sort of keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best!!!

I think I need to skulk around the baking part of OS a bit :cool:.

Pea x

When rubbing butter into flour - cut it up into the smallest possible pieces you can to start with. Then start rubbing it in and the way to avoid hidden lumps of butter appearing is to grab the bowl by both sides and give it a gentle shake at intervals - those lumps will then come to the surface where you can see them and rub them in.

Re floury hands when the phone or doorbell goes - I've often seen the recommendation to have a bag or two to hand to put flour-y hands in to cover them up temporarily whilst answering.

Frugaldom

xnatalie81x wrote: »

...can anyone elighten me as to why i get a tax coding notice in january????

Natalie, it could be that they've sent out the letter to coincide with your newest job, ie self-employment. The tax office people have always been really helpful anytime I've had to phone them to ask anything, so maybe best just call them and get it straight from the horse's mouth. My part time employment, outside of self-employment, is all taxed from the first penny, then I need to make any subsequent adjustments on my tax return. Things like tips, vouchers and freebies all seem to be classed as taxable income, too, as I remember a query about Amazon vouchers that arrived as freebies with stationery orders. Apparently, even they are classed as income! :rolleyes:

My 'master plan' isn't anything exciting, nor is it completed, so nothing more to tell, yet, sorry. I just haven't had time to even think about it today, let along finalise it. And I still need to go make dinner.

cw18

xnatalie81x wrote: »

2. Tax letter left me fuming!!!!! - apparently my 1400 year job gives me 'expenses' and 'benefits' that take 2285 off my personal allowance. Now lets work this out. my allowance is the 6475. so that means that i then pay tax on my income of around 400 odd - on an income of 1400 year - i take home 1000... (2hrs week) BUT it also means i have to pay that tax again on my self emplyed income so that is another 400odd - i have emailed the job asking what these are for - all i can think is that it is for my 'free' gym membership that is worth about £0 because i don't get priority booking or anything!!!!! fuming!!!! - and can anyone elighten me as to why i get a tax coding notice in january????

Can't even attempt to follow all that without sight of accounts and the letter, but....

A tax coding will be sent out at any time in the year if there's a significant change in circumstances (ie. an additional income that has to be deducted from your code, though a deduction from code can also be used to collect tax that was underpaid in previous years - which is where I currently am)

All income will basically be looked at as one income - the difference being the codes applied to them. The widows pension I get from a company sheme used my 'proper' code (which isn't a full personal allowance due to an underpayment in the 2007-08 tax year). The income I now get from working is taxed using a 'BR' code, which means I pay the basic rate on everything.

So your tax code should (as I understand it) only be applied to one source of income, and I would hazzard a guess the reduction in your code (for where it's being used) is because they're expecting you to not deduct tax from the other.

So - you have one income of 4000/year, currently using the personal allowance of 6475
You then get another income of 1500/year

The two options for the IR are that
1. your code stays the same for income 1, and you pay Basic Rate tax on all your new income, or
2. They assume you won't have tax deducted from your second income, hence using up 1500 of your tax allowance. To compensate for this they'll reduce the allowance against your original income by 1500 (to 4975)


I think the way they play this depends on which income they consider to be the more stable. In my case it's the pension (one annual increase), as the job can mean an undetermined number of additional hours (from 0 to 15+) a week - so we can't work out an accurate estimate of income from job, but know that the income from pension will be more than my personal allowance.


What you NEED to know from them is what Tax Code you should be using for your self-employed income........


As to gym membership - whether or not you get priority booking, it's still worth what you would have to pay to be a member. So if the normal cost is £50/month, then it's a benefit worth £600/year.

ceridwen

mumtoomany wrote: »

Ex girlfriend of DS came round, needs £19 for her uni application. Her parents won't pay, can't afford it!!! (Mum alone earns in a day what DH and I earn in a week!) So £19 for M.
Add to this the Direct debits for Gas Electric and TV, have spent a fortune so far. Must do better.
Take care in the cold and snow all,

Mumtoomany.

Ye gods - whatever sort of parents has the poor girl got? Whatever sort of people wont spend a measly £19 to ensure their own darn daughter goes to University (even if they were on benefit level income...). Words fail me...and even more so when you say that Mum at least is on good money....

Well - its good that she had you to help her out there - so kudos to you for that. If her parents have that nasty/mean an attitude to their own child - then heaven help them if they need any help when they get old (what goes round comes round....).

So - good for you:T

cw18

ceridwen wrote: »

Ye gods - whatever sort of parents has the poor girl got? Whatever sort of people wont spend a measly £19 to ensure their own darn daughter goes to University (even if they were on benefit level income...). Words fail me...and even more so when you say that Mum at least is on good money....

They're probably not keen on her going.....

If she gets in, then if they're on a good income they'll be expected to support her (ie. she'll get lower/no grants etc)

But if she doesn't go, then she'll have to work - and will either move out (saving them money) or be made to start paying keep (so giving them an additional income)

** just my initial gut reaction **

xnatalie81x

FrankieM wrote: »

natalieSorry to hear you're having a bad day, wish I had some amazing knowledge or advice to share but unfortunately I don't. Are things better with your DH? Big hugs..

OMG YES lol - we have a new deal - i do dinner for kids, he does mine and his. He is also in charge of front room (yet to mop today but getting there) - we have decided to employ childminder to avoid rows and split the cost. After 5 years together i never expected things to change BUT they have lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



AND Even more amazing - he doesn't moan anymore when i tell him not to put the heating on and the budgeting as i showed him the budgets and he realised ALL my wages were getting eaten up but he was keeping all of his! Now he pays virgin tv/internet and phone plus he does some grocery shopping (i still write my budget based on only my income and our joint benefits but his income goes on luxury stuff)

cw18

For ANYONE having problems getting to grips with the spreadsheet.....

If you have my email address (from me sending you a copy of the spreadsheet), then please feel free to use it for help.

If you don't have my email address (downloaded the spreadsheet, or deleted my email) then please send me a PM to let me know you need help, and I'll get my email addy to you as soon as I can.



I have a number of years of experience writing step-by-step user guides in the IT industry - complete with screen shots. So if that's what someone needs I'm more than happy to create one, and can then also upload that for sharing

xnatalie81x

cw18 wrote: »

Can't even attempt to follow all that without sight of accounts and the letter, but....

As to gym membership - whether or not you get priority booking, it's still worth what you would have to pay to be a member. So if the normal cost is £50/month, then it's a benefit worth £600/year.

it is about 30mth but they get priority booking! So really i have like a 'value' version of the membership!!! the letter says 'employer benefits -1190' and taxable expenses payments' -1095 i did get 2 coding notices for 2 employments but one was a mistake! i hae emailed work to find out what these amounts are for. I have been working there for a year and a couple of months so why this has come today i really have no clue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - i am hoping it has nothing to do with my starting my own swim school..................................

ceridwen

cw18 wrote: »

They're probably not keen on her going.....

If she gets in, then if they're on a good income they'll be expected to support her (ie. she'll get lower/no grants etc)

But if she doesn't go, then she'll have to work - and will either move out (saving them money) or be made to start paying keep (so giving them an additional income)

** just my initial gut reaction **

Possibly.....but they had her ...and its up to them to do a "full parenting job" of it and not make excuses to themselves about it maybe affecting their income. I've always thought its totally crazy for the Government to regard anyone as anything other than an independant adult the second they reach 18 - but this has been the case for longer than her 19 years that shes been around for. It wouldnt have crossed my mind if I had ever had children to have a "funding cut-off point" on them until 22 (to allow for the fact that I would have expected they would probably have gone to University). I would have been surprised if they didnt go - and regard myself as having a bit of an unexpected bonus saving on what I had bargained for 19 years or so previously when I had decided to have a couple of children.

So - I still think "naughty naughty mother".

EDIT: Methinks "naughty mother" got off lightly actually...as if I'd been the one in Mumtomany's position...I wouldnt have just restricted myself to handing over the missing £19 - I would have been quite likely to ring up the "miscreant" trying to put my concerns tactfully (errr....and I cant guarantee I'd have managed it.....).