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

crystals2632

need a rug but can't afford it a rag rug sounds like a really good idea, how do I get started ?

Frugaldom

Crystals, if you read the last few pages of posts or else use the 'search this thread' feature (search for rag rug) then you'll see it's already been discussed in the past day or 2.

I have a large chicken roasting and have just baked a tray of biscuits whilst oven was on. It's been dry here, so we managed to get a couple of hours garden work done. My containers on the greenhouse patio are now all ready for planting potatoes, carrots, lettuce, radishes and spring onions. Whilst clearing out the tubs, I discovered another few carrots, so these have now been washed, peeled & chopped [STRIKE]ready for adding to soup[/STRIKE] and are now in the steamer for dinner.

I've also had another look at the budget and have decided to add a few more items to my cash neutral budget, as follows:

Garden project
Hens & ducks
Coal
Logs
Cleaning products
Gifts

My income to date from web clicks, eBid sales, cashback, egg sales and free scratchcards amounts to £160.41 and, of that, I've spent £121.93 on coal, logs, wildbird peanuts and fruit bushes. My plan is not to spend anything before I've first 'earned' the money from residual income, guaranteeing that my 'everything else' spending will be cash neutral in 2010. If there's nothing in the kitty then it can't get spent - simple.

New budget for 2010 looks like this:

HOUSEHOLD BUDGET

Groceries - £900.00
Toiletries - £35.00
Electricity - £1,040.00 (average £20/week including business use)
Internet - £164.00 (got 3 months free with new deal)
Mobiles - £30.00
Telephone - £150.00
TV License - £145.00
Clothing & footwear - £40.00
Travel - £240.00
Household Insurance - £45.00
Life Assurance - £180.00 (is also a savings bond)
Council Tax - £935.00

Total £3,904 :j

Cash neutral part of the challenge means if I don't have it, I can't spend it because everything else is going into the savings pot. I've now included that part of my challenge into my signature, along with my spending to date on cost of living.

rictus123

Hey guys how is everyone? After clearing the card on Saturday(capital one gets cleared this week) iv decided to start fighting at the £1529.84 loan thats my only outstanding debt. So iv made a PAD today of £29.84 so its at £1500. A minimum payment of £51.13 will be coming out in the next week then intrest will be getting added on at the end of the month. Padding this il hopefully get it down to at least £1300 after intrest by the end of Febuary...£40 into my tin at my gfs over the weekend aswel, its got no weight to it at all and i know theres at least £75 in there in notes, maybe a bit more + a good bit of change...gf says she thinks im manage to get a grand in it but im not so sure, hopefully i can! When its full im going to be like a kid counting it up il be so happy. Hopefully by then il be debt free aswel so itl be a bit of savings for me,if not itl go towards my loan. Padding onwards from now on

NualaBuala

Good evening frugal friends :wave:

Rictus - you are doing brilliantly! :T Well done on clearing that debt!

For those of you wondering about using tyres for potato planters; it was suggested by one of the experts on Gardeners' Question Time last week. I don't know if that means they know for certain it's safe. I would probably go for it but don't have access to any.

I have wanted a pair of wellies since 12th May 2009 when I added it to my list of things I would like to buy but want to think over. Well I've thought it over and splashed out! I was looking for a pair I really like for ages but practicality and durability were my prime considerations. I wanted rubber rather than the cheap vinyl ones for environmental reasons. All this preamble is just to put off admitting I spent €42 on a pair of wellies in C@th K1dst0n! :eek::D I've never bought anything there before and doubt I ever will again as the prices horrify me and I have the (probably misguided) notion that I could make the same thing for cheaper. Anyway, that's my yearly clothes and shoes budget almost used up. They will get good use in the garden - I've been getting so muddy till now.

I also popped into M&S and got some special offer trout (find it better than elsewhere and their fish is sustainably sourced).

I noticed a change in me; in the past visits to these 2 shops would have left me coveting all sorts of things but I didn't want anything at all. I'd have gone home wishing I had money to buy loads more "lovely stuff". But I got what I needed and had no desire to browse or even look at stuff I don't need and can't afford. So I'm very pleased with that. :A

My gas bill came and my efforts to reduce use have paid off as it was less than I'd feared/budgeted for. :j

Hope you all have a lovely evening. Hugs to all who'd like some!

slowlyfading

Just a quick visit - I start Placement B tomorrow and I have the interview on Wednesday so things are really busy. Spending has been horrific so far - bought a new suit this weekend and things are just not as good as they could be right now.

I'll post later on in the week, have a good one everyone x

shaz_mum_of__2

Fishcake my mum is a April Fools baby ! she hated it when she was younger

I had 2 polar opposite pregnancies 1 great and one horrendous ..........strangely enough this was reflected in the babies personalities too

nuala - well done on the new qualities you have acquired!

Clubcard vouchers arrived here and already bought some days out type vouchers for our easter holidays at Ironbridge with them our 1 weeks break has so far cost us £150 for caravan site fees the days out will be covered now as the pass covers 10 attractions in the area just the food to pay for( and that will be all self catered or from meal vouchers) Petrol will be the biggest expense but cheaper than flying at least

Half term week we have managed to bag some bargain travelodge prices so spending a week in Cambridge ......never had so many holidays and still well under budget

chika

Well done Rictus. I like reading about how well you are doing. Just a thought and I'm sure it has been mentioned here before now. Instead of keeping your money in a tin can you use it to pay off the balance on your loan faster. That way you will be saving on interest. Also why not put it in a bank account where you could also earn interest, I know its not a lot at the moment but better than nowt!

Slowlyfading - I hope everything is ok and you have a fab time on your second placement. Good luck!

XSpender

Hello All

I have been MIA for couple of weeks as I have been off work sick with a pregnancy related bad back for 2 weeks and have had no access to my work computer so have been unable to keep in touch.

I am off work for another 2 weeks at least but DH has used his birthday money to buy a laptop. I am so proud that he used it for something usefull that we both need as we do not have a laptop of our own as it died months ago and my work one goes back when I am redundant in July.

On the frugal front I have had a £206 refund from NP0wer and they have reduced my DD by £51/month:eek::T I have also saved£5/month on water rates and £42/month by cancelling my gym. I have been noting down all my spending and may need to tweak some categories now that I have a better idea and have made some savings. I think my overall annual expenditure will come down from £10,500 to nearer £8,500 but will see ow I get on.

DH cannot believe how much we have saved each month as we have bought everything for the baby for cash.

Further to the talk earlier today about enjoying pregnancy or not as the case may be I sailed through the IVF treatment and am now 28 weeks and apart form the back ache have been well and enjoyed it.

I am off to catch up with the 50 pages of thread I have missed:eek:

XS x

rozeepozee

Well I came home to a perfectly serviceable soup in the SC, so that was great. And there's loads left, enough for at least 2 more meals so I'm going to freeze them and have them in an emergency (we usually resort to a takeaway when we're too tired to cook so I figure that's two takeaways we won't have to buy.

I can't believe I'm actually managing to sell something on ebay too. I've had bad experiences with it in the past, things not arriving with the buyer and me not having proof of purchase etc. Despite this, I'm struggling with it a little to be honest. At the moment I have bids of £31 and £13.50 on two items that I would otherwise have given away to friends or freecycled. They cost me over £300 new and are in good nick. My problem is all the listing palaver and then packaging and sending by courier seems like such an effort for such "paltry" sums. I'm finding it hard to get my head round my "worth" per hour. Having previously had my own legal practice where I earned very good money, it seems like a huge step down and I guess I need to reframe and think that I only need to earn "enough" and that the benefit of earning smaller sums is all the extra time I have and that I would have got nothingfor it had I given it away and the money I gain will go towards reducing the cost of my next pram (which will be secondhand so potentially on resale I'll get back a good portion of that) and (even if I only sell for £43.50) that is 5% of my monthly budget....

I know others on here have downsized. Does anyone else have these sorts of issues? Maybe I need some more therapy on this one :rotfl:

cw18

My (gross) hourly rate now is less than 40% of what I was on 15 months ago, and some days (especially a Tuesday, which is my one day with an early start) I do still find myself wondering whether it's worth getting up for :eek:

But then I remind myself that it's all extra to what I was getting 4 months ago, and almost enough for me to be 100% certain I can afford to keep the house long-term (after other incomes disappear in the summer).

When I'm feeling that way I also remind myself that I used to do 5 hours a month just to cover the cost of commuting, and that I spent a good 2 hours a day (10 hours a week) travelling to/from work even when the buses ran on time - whereas now it's less than a 10 minute walk each way (unless we have thick snow), so 1hr 40 a day (8 hours+ a week) of extra 'me' time and no additional time lost due to traffic jams, roadworks, accidents, local football matches, bad weather etc.