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

little_miss_moneysaver_3

Hiya Nyk and everyone.
Happy New year to everyone!
Thanks for setting up the new challenge for 2010! Took me a while to find it lol

Please can you put me and OH down for £3600 this year? Aiming for £300 monthly but it'll be a "rolling budget" so some money for some parts will be rolled over. Parts like clothing clothing and toiletries.
Out of this money will be
Food and Household bits - £100
Toiletries - £8
Clothing £20 - this is for essential like work shoes, trousers etc for OH, underwear and bits like that. Or a new top if were going somewhere nice (Sounds a lot but we're budgeting so we don't spend "our own" money)
OH's squash £40
Going out/leisure £60
Housey stuff £10 - odd gadgets etc for the house we may need
Alcohol £10
Misc £4 (stamps, paracetamol, batteries odd stuff)
Presents £28 - have worked what we want to spend on everyone, inc birthdays, Mother's days, father's day etc
Haircut £20 (for both, OH is £10 monthly and mine £20 alternate months)

Hopefully if I added it up right it'll come to £300! It looks like we did well on paper last year, but I know if I was out i'd buy milk and bread for example out of "my money" then not add it onto my shopping diary. So this year is going to be stricter!

cw18

flying_fresian wrote: »

Who in their right mind would have 7 shower gels? Especially when that's the emergency ones, I also have 6 premium shower gels (ie cost a bleeding fortune )!

Don't think I have so many shower gels any more, but have 8 large bottles of Imp Leather bubble bath (rarely take a bath!! these were a freebies for taking out a magazine subscription about 4 years ago....)

Need to get into a cupboard I can't currently get to in order to check the shampoo/conditioner stock, as I only have a couple of each within easy reach now (didn't buy any in 2009). Any shower gels I have are probably in the same place, so I do need to get into there soon :rolleyes2

And I've still enough deodorant, face cleanser, hand moisturiser etc for all of 2010 (all carefully stored in cool and dark conditions, so should be fine)

slowlyfading

:hello: and good morning all

Yesterday was my first NSD of the year, so that's good! Today won't be one though as I have to go into town for a food shop - I go back to uni tomorrow :eek: to be honest, I could do with another 2 weeks off! :rotfl: I've decided that christmas holidays are much more stressful than I used to think. I have lots of work I should have done as well, which isn't good I'll get some done today, but then I'll be travelling tomorrow. I will have tomorrow evening to do some stuff as well.

It's nice to see so many people posting! I love the start of the year, when everyone is so enthusiastic about this challenge, and then it gets quieter and quieter as the months go on. The only thing I want to say is even if you think its impossible to achieve when you're a couple of months in, just keep going. I went over budget last year by about £60 in the end, but I was so chuffed with what I had achieved, and managed to live on, and learnt so much. That's what this challenge is all about!

By the way, if anyone wants to send shower gel to a good home... I need to buy more! I thought I'd get some for Christmas so didn't buy any, and now am onto my last bit! lol :rotfl:

Have a good day everyone

sf x x

larmy16

Hi

I am going to adopt Nyk's Billy Can idea. Last night I was panicking as I had broken into someone's present of chocolate (had not seen them to give them it) and now I have to buy another present.........:rolleyes:

I found myself on Amazon, frantically looking at books regarding chocolate addiction and was on the verge of clicking "Buy Now" when I remembered my pledge to not buy anything from Amazon or Ebay.

So what I am going to do is this. Each time I overcome a desire with my will power, I am going to write it on a piece of paper, date it and say what it was and place the piece of paper in my Billy Can.

this way, I can build up my confidence that I do have the choice to exercise what I eat or buy or whatever the case may be...............Thanks Nyk.

viv0147

This is a very useful site you put what you have in the fridge and your cupboards and it suggests meals you can make. http://www.cookingbynumbers.com

signs_of_recovery

signs_of_recovery wrote: »

So: our income is £308 a week after tax (£1335.65 pm or £16027 pa)
Expenditure (weekly, monthly, yearly)
mobile phone £9.23 £40.00 £480.00
home phone £10.85 £47.00 £564.00
car fuel £50.00 £200.00 £2,500.00
car tax £4.81 £19.24 £250.00
car insurance £4.07 £17.62 £211.44
regular debt payments £61.15 £265.00 £3,180.00
Totals weekly £140.10 monthly £588.86 yearly £7,185.44
So after the payments above, I have 167.00 ish a week "disposable income"
So that would give me figures of :
expenses above + groceries of £50pw +£10 =
Total family spend on everything of £200 pw (£866.66 pm £10400pa)
All remaining money to be spent on overpaying the debts.

Ok, I'm going to put down a sum for the year which includes the expenses above, but excludes the regular repayments to debts, as these are going to make my household budget look skewiffy, and I would rather see what we are actually spending on maintaining our lives rather than paying off the debts - which of course, will be disappearing like sna' aff a dyke in the sun shortly. (that's snow off a dry stone wall in the sunshine to the confused)
So I'm updating my sig to. £138.85pw £601.66pm or £7220pa
Still not decided if I'm going to be weekly, monthly or yearly.... can you tell!!! :rolleyes:

candygirl

viv0147 wrote: »

This is a very useful site you put what you have in the fridge and your cupboards and it suggests meals you can make. http://www.cookingbynumbers.com

You must've read my mind hun, I was trying to remember the name of it last night whilst looking in the depths of my fridge:rotfl::rotfl:
I'm slightly raising my annual target to £6500 instead of £5k as i'd completely forgotten the water bill , and clothes n pressies:o:oThis excludes the mortgage and council tax;):D

Blairweech

Hello folks :wave:

My word, we are all doing well so far. And so productive! Loving everyone's tales of decluttering and baking and other such wonderful things

It has snowed overnight here, but is starting to melt now. I don't know whether to risk going out in it to the supermarket, or whether to just do my shopping online and risk a lack of stock/offers ending...

Plans for today

[STRIKE]- Shower[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]- Shopping (if I manage to get out :rolleyes:)[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]- Cottage Pie for tomorrow[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]- Take Christmas tree down (to be taken to the tip tomorrow, along with a couple of other bits)[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]- Change bedding[/STRIKE]

And tonight OH and I are going on our first date of the year, to Pizza Hut and the cinema

cake21

[Long post / thinking aloud alert!]

Here is my budget, if it works it's thanks to cw18's instructions :T



Just wanted to note down my thought processes at this stage to compare at the end of the year. I've never had a budget before but I have monitored my cashflows for a long time to ensure I didn't go overdrawn (time lag between incurring work expenses and being refunded). As a result I've had the credit / debit card transactions in 2009 to refer to which has been a great help.

The bold items from food to medical I have considered "needs" and the others "wants". The above includes all expenditure apart from Council tax / Mortgage / Rent / Water rates, and together with those accounts for all my income :eek:. It's not quite as bad as it sounds, I have accounted for my rate increase in May, and there are overpayments which could be used/reduced in a real emergency. But I really hope not.

Budgeted items thought processes:
Food etc This will be the biggest challenge, 30% down on last year. But I've been terribly wasteful historically and the slow cooker bought in October has already paid for itself.
Furniture/Household maintenance This is an estimate of spends last year, excluding the loft insulation. Previous iteration didn't include cash spent on gutter cleaning and roof flashing. *Hoping* this is an overestimate (and not that my house is ridiculously expensive to run) and excess can be used as "contingency".
Gas Another challenge to reduce consumption, 5% down on last year. Consumption already reduced since I started monitoring it on imeasure. Will check other tariffs and switch if poss.
Toll fees Virtually fixed as I need to use the Severn Bridge to go to/from work regularly. (thanks to TPA for the reminder :T) Would like to monitor to the actual spend.
Telephone Rolling monthly contract, increased with VAT increase. Will check if there is a cheaper SIM only deal - use too many minutes for PAYG.
Internet Rolling monthly contract, increased with VAT increase. On the look out for cheaper deals but difficult as no landline, nor use for one really.
Electricity / Buildings & contents insurance 5% inflationary increase on last year.
Dental / Medical Total guess. No prescriptions (they're still free in Wales I think anyway?) and hopefully only dental check-ups required. Will reallocate funds if required.
Gifts Includes birthdays, Christmas, and sister's wedding in 2010. This is a "want" because the only people on my gift list would be perfectly happy with no/free gifts.
Entertainment Includes cinema/ theatre/ books/ dvds/ magazines/ random days out. I've listed 45 books/dvds on amazon already, and the aim is to make this sub-category money neutral and use the library a lot more.
Holidays Based on £480 spent last year. (did budget that one, as I usually overspend wildly on holiday)
Socialising Guess. Will try and reduce spend but go out just as much (not much in reality :rotfl:), taking full advantage of 2 for 1 vouchers, happy hours and the like.
Vanity Includes £60 for clothes which is a total guess. The rest is based on last year and I'm not really willing to cut back. Everyone has a vice
Fitness / Course fees Again based on last year and not willing to cut back. Will slash entertainment budget if required.

Items not budgeted for:
Contingency There was nothing left :eek: Hopefully household maintenance is overstated. Entertainment / Socialising / Gifts budgets to be raided if necessary.
Car / transport expenses Company car maintenance and fuel paid for through PAYE so not included in budget. Other transport costs (e.g train, tube, taxi for nights out) to be allocated to the relevant category.
TV licence / landline No television or landline, can't foresee that changing.
Charity No DDs this year as always end up sponsoring people for various things anyway. Sponsorship to go in Socialising, events attended in Entertainment, and ad-hoc donations in Gifts.
Snacks Trying to cut these out! Will be included in either Socialising (e.g. coffee & cakes with friend) or Food (e.g. cereal bar for long drive).

If anyone has got to the end, thank you! Any other glaring omissions, please let me know :A

sophiesmum_2

Good morning frunchkins

Not much happening today here just pottering and working on my budget. lso doing a few weekly menu plans. If anyone needs a template I use this one http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC010183031033.aspx?CategoryID=CT101423511033 We probably have enough chocs , biscuits and other goodies which have been bought for us to last us until summer as treats,I don't eat much chocolate prefer savoury stuff.Cheeses and pate on the other hand get eaten quickly
re the toiletries debate - like Cheryl we now have enough shower gel, shampoo, handwash, deodorant,shaving gel, wipes, toilet rolls etc to last the whole of 2010, thanks to boots points, bogofs and costco bulk buys. I underestimated on deodorants last year so increased those in the stocktake, everything else was about right. OH got a glare the other day when after me stocking up with a year of shaving gels etc he announced that he is going to grow a beard !!! men!!!

Have a good day everyone