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

debtmess

chika wrote: »

quickly and doesn't have to stay in the hospital for too long.

Debtmess - Yes growing stuff in buckets is easily done - theres an mse thread about it http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=338111. I grew a few things in growbags because my house is rented and I can't dig up the garden. Also don't buy buckets!!! If you go to Mr S and possibly any other supermarket they will give you some of the black ones that they use on the flower stand. You will have to pop drainage holes in them but they are sturdy and more importantly free!

thank you x my house is also rented hence the pots/buckets idea dont know what ll would think if i turned garden into a veg patch

never thought of asking in asda for the black flower buckets, who would i ask? and do they oftern give them away

lizzyshep

I'd like to join please - I really like this thread. I often work out a monthly budget but when you look at it for the whole year, you can really see where savings can be made.

Anyway, I'm just using my monthly budget to work this out for now, I will update/change it when I've had more time to think about it, or if circumstances change. I'm sure I can make savings somewhere, but at the moment I'm being realistic about what I spend.

HOME AND INSURANCE
Mortgage, council tax and service charge £7142
Gas and electric £900 (will try to cut this down by wearing more jumpers at home!)
Water £164 (massive saving since I went on the single person's rate)
TV £145
Mobile phone and internet £336
Insurance £853 (that is a lot! I'm not sure I need it all but sod's law is that I'll stop paying it and then something will happen)
Household products £120 (seems a lot, probably spend less than this)

EATS, DRINKS AND SMOKES
Food shopping £720 (could probably cut down a bit)
Snacks out and at work £300 (ditto)
Meals out £300
Drinking out £720 (yikes!)
Smoking £70 (not too bad but that £70 could be better spent elsewhere, would be healthier too)
Chocolate clubs £80 (might cancel this)

TRAVEL
Transport £1000

DEBT REPAYMENTS
£2305 (should have paid some of these off by the end of the year)

FUN AND FROLICS
Hobbies and pets £150
Days out and cinema £230
Shopping for fun £260

HEALTH AND BEAUTY
Nails, waxing and haircuts £750 (must try to cut this down, I like looking good but that is ridiculous!)
Cosmetics £60 (could cut down, have loads stockpiled)
Opticians £144
Dentist £90

CLOTHES
£400 (will try to get more from charity shops, will also try to keeo weight stable as I've wasted a lot of money this way. Will only buy things I like and will wear - if in doubt, don't buy it!)

OPEN UNIVERSITY
£700

BIG ONE OFFS
Christmas (managed to get some gifts in the sale so may not spend this much) £100
Birthdays and weddings £180
Sofas £236
Workshop £300

ODDS AND SODS
Charity £408 (really need to think about this. I'd feel bad if I cut back, yet it really adds up)
Newspapers and magazines £60
NUT subscription £213 (hmm, do I really need to pay this?)
Counselling £4000 (scary! But it is helping and hopefully I won't need to go for the whole of the year)
Miscellaneous £240

TOTAL
£23676


Very interesting when I look at it like that! A lot of money is being 'wasted' on things like food, beauty treatments, drinking etc, and I don't think I'm spending enough on having fun! If I can start enjoying myself more, maybe I can cut down on the counselling too, now there's food for thought... I also want to start saving into my ISA.

I'm off to wake up OH and get him to take a look, think he will be shocked!

lyndasharp

Hi everyone, I've found the new thread! How has it managed to get to this many pages so quickly? I think I've got a lot of reading to catch up on it all...

Final total for 2009 was £11379.25 all in, so £620 under budget! I'm going for another £12k almost all in for this year, not including the £4k wedding costs. I'm also not going to include the planned new central heating system, though hopefully with this boiler scrappage scheme it won't be more than £1500... My aim for the year is to pay for all that and still fill up an ISA!

grannynise

lizzyshep wrote: »

NUT subscription £213 (hmm, do I really need to pay this?)

YES! Unless you aren't actually in work at the moment? Sorry, I know I shouldn't shout, but as a headteacher I feel so strongly that everyone who works in a school should have the protection of a union (not pushing you to belong to the NUT but to any union that you feel will support you if needed)

I've been involved in several situations where people have needed this support and it has been invaluable in all cases.

Sorry - it sounds all pushy and dictatorial but I mean well!

cw18

lizzyshep - I totally agree that things look different when you look at them on an annual basis, rather than weekly/monthly. There were no end of things I used to pay for monthly when I was on a good salary, but since the dive in income (meaning I've had to trim back) I've missed very few of the things I've dropped........ and it actually scares me to think how much I wasted this way over the years :eek:

chika

debtmess wrote: »

thank you x my house is also rented hence the pots/buckets idea dont know what ll would think if i turned garden into a veg patch

never thought of asking in asda for the black flower buckets, who would i ask? and do they oftern give them away

Haha, mine would have a heart attack. they almost fainted when we set up a bbq in the garden let alone turning it into an allotment. If you can find the person who looks after the flowers ask her but otherwise just ask on the customer services department. I don't know if the policy is the same for all supermarkets but when I worked in Mr S we just kept them in a big pile by the back door and gave them to whoever asked for them. They just went in the crusher otherwise.

chika

grannynise wrote: »

YES! Unless you aren't actually in work at the moment? Sorry, I know I shouldn't shout, but as a headteacher I feel so strongly that everyone who works in a school should have the protection of a union (not pushing you to belong to the NUT but to any union that you feel will support you if needed)

I've been involved in several situations where people have needed this support and it has been invaluable in all cases.

Sorry - it sounds all pushy and dictatorial but I mean well!

I agree about the NUT thing. I'm still only a trainee and don't pay but they have been invaluable when I needed some advice and I know other teachers that owe them their sanity and their jobs.

pink_numbers

jtb2412 wrote: »

F*iry WUL gives me bad hands :mad: I get dermatitis (sp?) whenever I use it so now that the dishwasher has broken (will be getting a new one at end of January) I have to use rubber gloves whenever I wash up :rolleyes:. Only problem is I'm not used to using them and keep breaking things - good job I've got plenty of mugs/glasses :rolleyes: !

my mother always say (when I break something of hers) that it's god's way of telling you that it's time to 'retire' that thing and replace it.

I love my mother for her infinite kindness!

debtmess

i had to fight my ll to get a fence put at the back of the garden as the back was such a mess but also i had just wire fenceing seperating my house from a busy train line if i then went and turned garden into veg patch she'd freak

will ask next time in there if someone is around, didnt realised the frequantly bin them (what a waste)

i wanted to make a crumble but have found my scales are no longer working (batterys) anyone have a foolproof way to measure the needed ingredients

pink_numbers

Homemade wrote: »

Hello.....I would like to join in with this challenge this year but am unsure of something...
...if my budget was £4000 and I made an extra £100 a month at carboot sales, does that £100 help me out during the year by adding onto the £4000 or does it go in as savings?

The thing I like most about this challenge is that it is so flexible. You can choose what suits you. You can choose different goal amount, what you include in it, how you choose to count the money.

Personally, I wanted to reduce my spending this year, so I am not counting any extra money gained throughout the year. I am trying to get all my outgoings to be under £6000. However, this might not work for some, and it'd be silly to stick to it if it's not suitable.