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

pink_numbers

cw18 I am so sorry to hear about your dog, it's sometimes so hard with an older pet, you know farewells are round the corner, but you never want it to happen, or for your pet to be in distress

I am more than sure that your doggy had the most wonderful time being looked after by someone so caring as you have been. We will be thinking of you and your doggy.

rozeepozee

Cheryl, I'm sorry to hear your little dog is poorly too. I lost my little dog (years ago) at the same age. It sounds like she's had a good innings if it's a worse case scenario. Sometimes, I think it's less kind to keep them hanging on. We decided it was time to let go when we woke up one morning and she'd lost the use of her back legs due to osteoporosis.

RP x

Brighton_belle

Debs08 wrote: »

How do you skim read these messages without missing anything and how to you all get so much done and keep up with this thread and others by the sounds of itGetting under pressure

I definitely will miss things - but suffering from information overload means I won't do them anyway: I find I need time to build up new practices. And the good stuff always comes around again. I just find it preferable to giving up reading at all because i can't cope, lol. I hate not respoding to many peoples great posts too but at the mo it's about being frugal with my mental energies too and prioritising.
Oh, and I personlly have frequent bouts of not getting so much done.

Good point granny re things like NUT subs- I think it important not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. To me, being frugal is about cutting back where we can, to give us the life choices we want, be that cutting work hrs, repaying mtg early or more travel or funding life enhancing holidays or regular lunch out with friends. It isn't about miserly living, but rich living. I think I would see the such things as NUT subs, as an example, as another 'quality of life' insurance.

Frugaldom

vintage_beanpole wrote: »

Totally illegal to destroy money though! Also a crying shame - might I suggest giving it to charity/the homeless instead?! :eek:

Sorry to disagree, but this is nonsense. :rotfl:If I want to set my savings alight then I will, it is NOT illegal. I think you're confusing this with defacing notes, which is a crime in the UK under the Currency and Bank Notes Act 1928. My suggestion that burning £5 is similar to spending £5 on cigarettes, firewood or anything else flamable and sending it up in smoke is entirely relevant. But I do agree with your suggestion that if you have so much money that you can afford to burn it then fine, give it to charity.

sophiesmum_2

First spend of 2010 £40 for some feeders/drinkers and healthcare products for the chickens, inc delivery.

Cheryl - sorry to hear about the yorkie.

signs_of_recovery

I know that sounds very princessy and spoiled, but sometimes, when I'm busy not spending money, (and I didn't have a huge huge money habit) I have that horrible feeling I had when I was stopping smoking or dieting... ie I am trying very hard not to do something, and it's a bit counter-intuitive for me, and I wondered if anyone else felt similar.... (or, sadly, is it only me )

I live in the centre of town, and it's far too easy to amuse myself by going out to the shops, chatting away with the shopkeepers, (many of whom are friends) and inadvertently spending. A walk involves going past the shops, and I'm far too habituated to walking to Tesco every 5pm "just to pick up some ginger for the curry I've suddenly decided to make" . Same with nipping out for a coffee and a cake, or a magazine, or a book. I don't watch tv, I do read, I knit, sew, listen to the radio, and am attempting to garden, but I have a horrible "marking time" feeling..,.Of course, I spend more time on the internet than is healthy, but what else! There is only so much I can clean, declutter, cook for and actively do.... (which is what I've been distracting myself with)

Are you sighing and shaking your head at me? Oh dear, I hope not. I do feel a bit embarrassed about posting this......

Fishcake_Random

Hey all,
Nice to see we are all doing well!!! Lets keep it going!!!
OH and I went for an xmas money blow out but found pretty much nothing we fancied, just some cheap babygrows and an arsenal hat lol.
After 2 hours odd walking about the baby seemed to have had enough and in the end we had to come home a bit earlier than planned but after a bath and a nap I seem to be okay again lol. I think someone is telling me to slow down for the duration lol
x x x x

lizzyshep

Grannynise, Chika, Savingfortravel and Brightonbelle, thanks for the advice on the NUT subscriptions, you have helped me feel happy that the money is well spent.

Anyway, I have revised my budget - there are some things I won't cut back on (NUT, charity, insurance - though I may see if I can get this any cheaper) and others I think I can save a lot on. I'm going to try growing my hair so I don't need it cut as often (I'm a bit bored with the same cut anyway) and I'll try going to Mr Topper for a trim (only £10-£12 for a cut!) - a bit of a risk but I'll see how it goes. In the meantime I will try to look after my hair better, using hot oil masks (home made of course!) on a regular basis. I also plan to grow out my false nails - had these done for the first time before Xmas and they are lovely but cost far too much to maintain. Hopefully by the time they have grown out, my natural nails will be stronger and will look nice - again, if I look after these, they should be as good as the false ones. I've cut down the money spent on gas - it sounds silly, but I only realised recently that shutting the living room door keeps the room much warmer, and as this is where I spend most of my time, it makes sense to do so! I've also put more layers on - the heating is off at the moment, and though I'm a bit cold, it's not too bad. I just thought to myself whether I would prefer to be warmer, or to have an extra £300 a year to spend on other things - the decision was easy then! And it would do me good to get used to a slightly cooler house - I'm always cold when I'm not at home, because I have my heating on so much. Good for the planet too! Finally, I've trimmed down other budgets (e.g. grocery, snacks away from home, drinking, clothes) and I've increased some (e.g. hobbies, days out, savings). I'm lucky that I live in London so there are loads of free things to do - spent a nice couple of hours wandering around a museum with OH today, we both enjoy that kind of thing.

Here is my new budget (revised totals in red):

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!) £600
Water £164 (massive saving since I went on the single person's rate)
TV £145
Mobile phone and internet £336 £264
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) £50

EATS, DRINKS AND SMOKES
Food shopping £720 (could probably cut down a bit) £500
Snacks out and at work £300 (ditto) £180
Meals out £300
Drinking out £720 (yikes!) £470
Smoking £70 (not too bad but that £70 could be better spent elsewhere, would be healthier too) £36
Chocolate clubs £80 (might cancel this) £0

TRAVEL
Transport £1000

DEBT REPAYMENTS
£2305 (should have paid some of these off by the end of the year) £1662 checked and realised I only have this left to pay :-)

SAVINGS
£1500

FUN AND FROLICS
Hobbies and pets £150 £250
Days out and cinema £230 £300
Shopping for fun £260 £180

HEALTH AND BEAUTY
Nails, waxing and haircuts £750 (must try to cut this down, I like looking good but that is ridiculous!) £330
Cosmetics £60 (could cut down, have loads stockpiled) £10
Opticians £144
Dentist £90

CLOTHES
£400 (will try to get more from charity shops, will also try to keep 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!) £300

OPEN UNIVERSITY
£700

BIG ONE OFFS
Christmas (managed to get some gifts in the sale so may not spend this much) £100 £80
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 £120

TOTAL
£23690 (somehow added this up wrong the first time!)
£22789

I'm happy with that, it's less than I originally planned, plus it includes more money for savings and for fun :-)

savingfortravel

Aril wrote: »

Hello fellow frugallers

Best of all we managed to save £6000 which is a large whack of our income and I've just realised that we will finish paying off our mortgage in 2011 and I shall still only be 45:j:j
Arilx

OMG!! That's amazing..I salute you as my hero..:T We are hoping to pay off ours in 40 months ..about 2013/14 and I can't wait. I'll be 42 or 43.

sft

sft

shaz_mum_of__2

signs_of_recovery wrote: »

I know that sounds very princessy and spoiled, but sometimes, when I'm busy not spending money, (and I didn't have a huge huge money habit) I have that horrible feeling I had when I was stopping smoking or dieting... ie I am trying very hard not to do something, and it's a bit counter-intuitive for me, and I wondered if anyone else felt similar.... (or, sadly, is it only me )

I live in the centre of town, and it's far too easy to amuse myself by going out to the shops, chatting away with the shopkeepers, (many of whom are friends) and inadvertently spending. A walk involves going past the shops, and I'm far too habituated to walking to Tesco every 5pm "just to pick up some ginger for the curry I've suddenly decided to make" . Same with nipping out for a coffee and a cake, or a magazine, or a book. I don't watch tv, I do read, I knit, sew, listen to the radio, and am attempting to garden, but I have a horrible "marking time" feeling..,.Of course, I spend more time on the internet than is healthy, but what else! There is only so much I can clean, declutter, cook for and actively do.... (which is what I've been distracting myself with)

Are you sighing and shaking your head at me? Oh dear, I hope not. I do feel a bit embarrassed about posting this......

For me its crafty stuff ,knitting,cards sewing ,reading baking gardening we do have a love film subscription , the cheapest option we watch about 8 movies a month sometimes more

I spend far too much time on "the net" than i should but its so absorbing

How about starting a blog they take up a lot of time (haven't updated mine since summer:o)


I had my first big spend today at the shops but have enough beans kitchen roll sugar and teabags for the year!!