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

chika

Frankie Apparently white vinegar makes an excellent softener. I've never tried it, I'm too addicted to my smelly stuff but the old style ladies seem to love it.

SuzyWuzy_2

Cake - The MSE group on Imeasure is called : Moneysaving Carbon Club

A_fiend_for_life

January spend

a) Groceries................£67.50
b) Gas and Elec.............£46.74 (s/sheet)
c) Line Rental..............£42.88 (3 mo from Jan)
d) Eve WE calls.plus BB.....£10.92
e) Mobile....................£0.00
f) Clothing..................£0.00 (bag of hand me across stuff)
g) Bathroom..................£0.00
h) Cleaning..................£0.00
i) Entertainment............£26.44
j) Travel....................£0.00
k) Gifts / SO................£0.00

z) Total...................£194.48 ([STRIKE]£192.40[/STRIKE])

This looks better than it is at the moment, or not as I have a stupid level of stock and no outgoings in some areas - this will change.

Spend is £194.48 / £2,000 - this is looking challenging already.

I have received a voucher of £12, and need to declutter big time, so I am not sure if you write this off against the total.

pagangirl

Brrrrr snow last night, snow this morning, just had more now - enough to just stick, but nothing major. Just seen news about Germany & Hungary, snow brought the place to a standstill !

Another NSD here, - blitzed bathroom, pulled stove out & cleaned behind - no fun being out of work, but great having time to catch up with jobs that kept getting put off! (the stove, NOT the bathroom) :eek:

Pork loin roast tonight - just a bung in the oven recipe, with roasted veg etc, one of my frugal buys from Mr S0mmerfield

Going to work out Jan budget - didn't do set amount each month just for whole year. Will be interesting to see what's been spent - although coffee n scones come high on my list of spends ( must stop having an eat - why can't I just get the coffee) then to sort dinner out. Will be a lazy evening and tv - oooh Lark Rise is on later !

Happy Sunday folks (or what's left of it) !

glendam

I always use white vinegar on my towels as softener is bad for them. They feel great a dont smell of vinegar just a nice fresh smell.

Glenda

mama67

I don't use softener for any thing as most of the boys footy stuff says not to use softener, so it is just easier if I don't use it at all.

Frugaldom

Frunchkin = Frugal Munchkin (we have a whole fru-dictionary somewhere on here :rotfl:)

JayJay14 - gardening expenses, if they aren't regular outgoings, could be set as a mini-challenge. This year, I have challenged myself to have a cash neutral 'everything else' spend, so if it isn't in the actual budget then I need to raise the extra from elsewhere - free clicks, free scratchcards, winnings, eBid sales (got 2 decent sales this weekend), LETS trading etc

AFFL - well done on working out your budget and getting it posted! :T We almost had identical grocery spends this month.

Fabric softener is something else I don't buy, forgot that one from my lists, thanks for the reminder. I'm a vinegar fan here too. Last year I just added my laundry gloop striaght into the drawer of the machine but have now switched to laundry ball thing after finding mine lurking under the sink. I read somewhere that the gloop can dry out and get blocked in the drawer but can't say this has happened here. I had more problems trying to get commercial powder to dissolve in cool washes, so gave up with that completely. Haven't bought any laundry detergent or softeners since 2008. Did get a couple of free sample sachets, though.

gilligansyle

FrankieM wrote: »

Is there a reason it has to go in the drum and not the drawer?

Also what do you guys do about 'clothes softener'?

.

Apparently sometimes gloop can cause blockages, depends on how 'gloopy' you've made it.
I don't use fabric conditioner, realised ages ago, that the reason I needed it was that there was always a residue of powder left in clothes. Once I started using less, didn't need conditioner. If I want things to smell nice, I do a separate rinse and put some lavender oil in.

I've tried the free sample soap nuts, they have quite an odd smell, but I can't make up my mind whether they've got the clothes clean or its just the swishing round in the washing machine.

lynzpower

Calling January's figures in.
We have a somewhat convoluted set up between our finances :cool: We have got it to work :cool- finally)

We live in semi tied accommodation with my job, and have no utility costs. TV license & Contents insurance just paid up in December for the full year.

We both pay 205 into a bills accounts that goes towards
phone line
internet
time out magazine
contents insurance
tv license

We dont have sky.

We pay for our own mobiles from our own current account. I also pay for gym ( thinking of cancelling as its about to go up I dont go enough, but love going when I have time) and private health care and TU membership. Other than that we pay our own travelcard ( OH just reduced his to 40 a month from 90 a month by taking a bus instead of the tube :j ) or I use work transport ( van) as I start my job from home some days.

For food budget - he pays 20 per week into a savings account and I buy all the food toiletries, cleaning stuff from my money as Im a better shopper than he is
We then have an "invisible" saving of 1040pa. This way if its not in current accounts we cant spend it

For other items eg home/garden/pet/vet - I spend it ( as little as possible and he refunds the amount into the savings account. With this in mind- Im very very pleased with my efforts in January and really want this to continue- thanksto all postersand thier contributions!

To confuse things further- I am running this from last pay day which was the 20th of December- an I got paid last week, but my figures are still in for January ( IYSWIM)
And furthermore!! We also pay into a savings account for holidays ( 50pcm each) and Xmas/birthdays gifts ( 40pcm each) These are high as it usually involves some sort of car hire.
I get paid monthly- he gets paid weekly. God its been a real mission trying to grapple with the figures in the light of this that we have come to this:

We run 3 accounts ( his CA, my CA, a bills CA- )
IN 410 ( 205 each)
325 accom
14.50 bt line
10.00 internet
10.00 time out
__________________

374.00 leaving a residual 40.00 ish per month slush.


My current account
Private heath 35.00
gym 30 ( rising to 70 though next month eek, im going to cancel)
Home Items ( eg seeds, pie funnel etc) 17.75 ( Oh is putting half this into savings acc)
8.30 dog food (ditto re the savings account)
19.33 ( he puts half into savings for this)
Enterntainment 20.00
Clothes 32.50 ( needed new clothes in the sales)
Food and drink - LUNCHES & SNACKS 34.93 ( gutted)
Food and drink HOME 126.91

Very pleased with 126 for food, as we have loads in. I feel al renewed with my new kenwood chef ( did I mention!:rotfl:) I am whipping up HM delights in mins and its saving a fortune.

305.39 x 12 = 3664.68. ( not including Ohs share of money that will be put into savings- total from this month food & home items 111.13)

We will have 1200 over the year to spend on holidays. we spent a phenomenal amoutn of money on holidays last year ( my real weakness) and this year 1200 seems like nothing- yet now- Im thinking gosh thats LOADS!

Anything that doesnt get spent in either of these will be popped into savings.

(Is anyone elses budget as convoluted as this?)

Frugaldom

Lynz, I wouldn't worry about complicated budgets, it's more about how we spend to make it a frugal budget, so your challenge is more about increasing savings whilst you are in a fairly fortunate situation of having no utilities bills. You could always bank the equivalent of what it would normally cost for these things? I think that's what SM did last year, as she was in a similar situation.