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

pink_numbers

I spent £704.22 this month, which takes my annual total to *gulp* £1633.86. I'm over spent by over a month!

However, it is less than what I used to spend in one month before I started this challenge, so I guess I should be pleased at my progress. Now if I can just stick to my budget...

grannynise

Continuing to readjust and refine the plans as the year goes on - in every category my actual spends bear almost no relationship to what I thought they'd be.:eek:

I'm so pleased that I decided to trial this before doing it for real - my income will drop slighlty at the end of April then drastically about a year later - by that time I hope to have learnt so much from this thread and be so much better at planning my spending that I won't notice the drop! Thanks again to everyone and especially Cheryl for the spread sheet.

NualaBuala

Hi frunchkins :wave:

Great to see so many people with their accounts looking good and frugal! Cheryl, you are such a whizz with spreadsheets, yours looks so professional compared to my homemade one.

I've spent €1417.35/€10,000 so am doing fine so far. There is still much room for improvement though, particularly with what I spent on junk food and takeaways last month. What works well is having made a big batch of something that I can bung in the microwave when I get home every day. I haven't been shopping this weekend so made a curry out of lentils, spuds and some sorry looking bottom-of-the-fridge veg. It smells lovely! Since there's just me to cater for I think it will do me all week - just as well I don't really mind lack of variety. I might attempt to make some kind of flatbread to go with it if I have the energy some evening.

I did a wee bit in the garden, not much though as I was tired and sore. I also repotted some of my window sill herbs - hope they survive as the roots were in bad shape.

Your chicks are gorgeous Frugaldom, and your blog is so inspirational. I had a quick look at yours SophiesMum and I just love your stuff - you are so creative. I'm trying to spend less time online but I will check out all the blogs in time.

Crystals, that's terrible about your Dad and I hope he'll be doing better soon. I think that you should make an issue of it. It could highlight a lack of training, or a procedure that needs improving. It's oversights like that that end up with people having their good leg amputated or the healthy kidney removed.

Rictus - Treat losing the bet as a lesson learned. Never bet money that you wouldn't be happy to lose. It might seem like a shortcut to having lots of money but it's not - the bookies/casinos etc make money from the gamblers, not the other way around! Sounds like you're getting back to your frugal self so well done! You are doing just great!:T If you can learn how to handle money well and avoid taking on debt or when you're just 18, just think how much you'll have saved by the time you're my age (38).:D

Hugs to all of you who are poorly or feeling low.

xnatalie81x

I can't find sophiesmums blog. Checked first page, spent ages finding a post by her and checking on her name (that is how i found frugaldom's) - so where is it hiding

cw18

NualaBuala wrote: »

Cheryl, you are such a whizz with spreadsheets, yours looks so professional compared to my homemade one.

Ahhh, but I have 23 years of working in IT and 12 months of refining it under my belt

As with all things, it's a case of finding what works for you individually - and I lose anything on paper, so it has to be on my laptop for me to keep track. And the more detailed I keep it the better I find I can spot my problem areas/weak spots (such as CDs and DVDs!!!)

cake21

Total spend for January & February: £982 against budget of £955, overspend of £27. Major differences:

1. "Other" category £314 overspend, £298 of which caused by replacing plane ticket :eek: and £19 in credit card fees. Lessons duly learnt!!
2. Insurance / Council Tax / Water / Christmas / Birthday / Holiday / Wedding total £261 underspend due to timing, will be paid later on.
3. Gas £80 overspend. Budget didn't account for paying off debit balance incurred last year. Should even up by the end of the year hopefully, will include any debit or credit balance at the end of the year in 2011 budget.
4. DVDs / books / going out etc £48 underspend. Very happy with this, have also raised £88 selling DVDs and books online. :j
5. Groceries £39 overspend but compensated for by work lunches £45 underspend. Need to assess whether this should be one category as I've got into the habit of taking meals to work from the freezer.:D
6. Fitness/Sports £30 overspend. Partly Feb specific, but definitely an underestimate of budget which needs to be clawed back from somewhere, not sure where yet.

NualaBuala

xnatalie81x wrote: »

I can't find sophiesmums blog. Checked first page, spent ages finding a post by her and checking on her name (that is how i found frugaldom's) - so where is it hiding

Hi Natalie, how's the house-hunting? Here's the link to sophiesmum's blog. I got it from the blogs and links section on Frugaldom's website.

cw18 wrote: »

Ahhh, but I have 23 years of working in IT and 12 months of refining it under my belt

As with all things, it's a case of finding what works for you individually - and I lose anything on paper, so it has to be on my laptop for me to keep track. And the more detailed I keep it the better I find I can spot my problem areas/weak spots (such as CDs and DVDs!!!)

Wow! - clearly you're a woman of many talents! I have a spreadsheet as I love messing on my laptop. It isn't nearly as detailed as yours but I agree with you 100% and next time I will have more categories as it really does highlight where the money goes. For example, I used to just have a "cleaning/groceries" category. Now I've broken that down to separate ones for food, cleaning, junk food, takeaways and it has shown me just how much I've spent on rubbish. I resolve to do better!

xnatalie81x

NualaBuala wrote: »

Hi Natalie, how's the house-hunting? Here's the link to sophiesmum's blog. I got it from the blogs and links section on Frugaldom's website.


QUOTE]

THANKS! It is not lol - we want to move end of March so start looking tomorrow properly as landlord/ladies want you to move in quickly - we have until 31st April if we have problems tho

I hate moving

A_fiend_for_life

I see people are posting before the month is out and ended up panicing there was some HMRC type fine or something.

Totals for the month are as follows:

a) Groceries................£43.46
b) Gas and Elec.............£43.76 (s/sheet)
c) Line Rental...............£0.00 (quarterly)
d) Eve WE calls.plus BB.....£10.99
e) Mobile....................£0.00
f) Clothing..................£0.00
g) Bathroom..................£0.95
h) Cleaning..................£1.99
i) Entertainment............£36.35 (?)
j) Travel....................£0.00
k) Gifts / SO................£0.00

z) Total...................£137.50 (provisional)

a) Groceries is somewhat unusual as I have bought a fair bit of stock too as well as using other stock and there is a lack of five a day that needs rectifying. I am certain one or two receipts have gone missing.

b) This is just going up and up but c'est la vie it is needed.

d) Brilliant!

e, f, j, k) I quite like these categories for the time being.

i) Entertainment is unusually high as I have had three nights out this month usually I only go out once a month or every two months. This includes £6.35 shop bought and the rest pub I am in no way certain I spent £30 in the pub but if I did it was worth it.

NSDs I've not intended counting them but since they pop out of the spreadsheet anyway 12 / 28.

One CC closed and one OD reduced.

Spend for Jan is £194.48 / £2,000 - this is looking challenging already.
Spend for Feb is £137.50 - this looks grossly wrong and underspent though last month included the quarterly line rental.

Total spend so far is £331.98 / £2000.

I'm not sure how on track I am with the different categories I will need to check. Unfortunatly I seem to have Ctrl X'd instead of Ctrl C'ing January to create Feb. :eek:

mooomin

Overspends mainly in:

1. Entertainment. I thought I was quite dull but turns out I have a social life
2. Toiletries. And by quite a long way There are a couple of brands I don't compromise on (MAC for eyeshadow for example) and had run out of something I know I will use. In pounds per wear it's justifiable for me.

Good news:

Under budget by £50 in groceries, meaning we're spending £125 per month on food for us and the kittehs, which I'm quite impressed with. I had a budget of £250 per month when I first became a DFW, and used to think it wasn't possible to live on a budget like ours. We're eating better too!

Holiday budget will be over budget by the end of the year as I have spoken to my friend and we're doubling our contribution. We're going to watch the Olympics in 2012 and want to make sure we have an amazing time. We've saved £20 per month between us for years, and have almost £1000, so now we're upping the stakes

So, I'm only showing as green this month because I haven't had to pay council tax, and because the home insurance people haven't taken my payment, but are likely to take it tomorrow.

I think that I will be able to make amends next month, as I thought I had blown the budget completely but seem to be doing better than I thought. We're also away for four days at the end of next month and this won't be coming from anywhere frugalicious, but will be paid for by my annual bonus. We have three nights booked in York (£37 for three nights thanks to the Travelodge sale) so it will be quite a budget holiday nonetheless.

I love seeing how well everyone else is doing, well done :T