Frugal Fresian's 2010 Adventures

mooomin

Hello!

I'm flying_fresian and I've been stalking the DFW forums since November 2008 when I had my LBM. In that time I've paid off lots of debt, but have a way to go until I hit my aim of being Debt Free By 30 (December 2010)

We have lost £350 of our monthly income as our lodger moved out and we decided not to replace him Peace and quiet now reigns at Fresian Towers :T

My total debt when I had my LBM was £9,112.63 :eek:

I have cleared quite a bit since then and the total is:

Loan £4,729.26 (More than that but I now have savings which are offset against the balance. Savings!)

So, debts were £9,112.63 and debts are £4,729.26, meaning I have paid off £4,383.37

Challenges

Regular viewers will know that I like a good challenge My favourite one is:

• A Payment A Day....makes the debt go away :rotfl:Does what it says on the tin, you pay one amount per day to your debt to reduce it quicker. It has helped me to make amazing progress and is recommended to all!
  

I Like A Plan, I Do
This year I have decided to join the Live On 4k For A Year folks, but have set my budget to £8,000. This includes everything that isn't debt repayments. I am going to offset any earning to this as well, so if I make £50 on Ebay, I will take it off my spending for the year if that makes sense.

My budget is roughly this:

Council Tax £1280
Scottish Power £1212
Virgin Media £432 (Evening/weekend calls, freeview and 10MB Broadband)
Mobiles Phones (Myself and Mr Fresian) £408
TV Licence £144.12
Bus Pass £504
Pet Insurance £276
Home Insurance £216
Union payments £96 (Would like to continue paying this)
Holiday 2012 £120 To (hopefully) attend the Olympics in 2012
Christmas/Birthday gifts £300
Groceries £2040 which I know is a lot.....to be reduced!! (Aimed to spend £250 per month this year so am reducing this to £170 per month for this year)
Entertainment £360
Boiler Cover £312 (included cover for plumbing)

I have savings of almost £1000 which I hope to grow and I will use this as my emergency/contingency fund. The groceries budget will cover all food, toiletries and cleaning gubbins as well as all the food/treats for the cats.

The above comes to £7,700.12 so I'm going to aim for £8,000 for the year, as this will cover anything unexpected...I hope!

If I can stick to this budget and throw everything else at my debts including (hopefully) my annual bonus from work - if I receive it - I should have a good change at being debt-free by December. I'm planning on Ebaying everything that isn't nailed down and selling bigger items on Gumtree too. This will help me to have more cash and also declutter my house.

More posts to follow, if you want to read my previous thread (It's a big 'un!) then click here

mooomin

Quick Copy and Paste from previous thread!

January Plans

As I am now in possession of a Shiny Beautiful Diary which I'll be using for the 8k challenge, I'm also going to use it to challenge myself to do more. Each month I'm going to set myself 5 household tasks, small ones, and hopefully complete them. This will help me to feel like I'm taking control! So, January plans are:

1. Declutter kitchen cupboards. This is a big one. Since I have become (slightly) more OS, I have been receiving recipe books, kitchen implements and baking things from people. I have NOWHERE to put things I have done two of the cupboards, and really need to go through the rest. I'm also thinking of throwing out our microwave as I rarely use it. I might have to speak to Mr Fresian about that...

2. [strike]Join Freecycle.[/strike] I did this ages ago but can't seem to reset my password. New email account to be created and Freecycling to begin! I have lots of things which are too bulky to Ebay and not worth a huge amount, I would rather be rid. So, small step = set up Freecycle account, big step = declutter house! Done this morning while avoiding housework!

3. Find 10 things to list on Ebay, put on Turbolister and prepare for free listing day. Whenever there are free listing days I seem to lose my mojo for Ebay. This way I will just have to press "upload" Setting the target at 10 items seems to make it feel more achievable.

4. Tidy jackets. We don't have anywhere to hang jackets in my wee flat, so they seem to hang from the side of every door handle. Plan is to put them in the wardrobe in the spare room and look to Ebay/charity shop them later in the year.

5. Inventory toiletries. I suspect that I have enough toiletries to see me through until Doomsday. I'm going to list them all and then see how long I should realistically be able to go without buying any more.

January Challenge

Buy no meat in the supermarket unless it's vastly reduced (Much less than half price) This will use up the excess gubbins in the freezer and save money for a Costco trip in February.

SarahNeedle1872

Hiya f_f, will be following as ever! Happy New Year and Happy New thread!

Sx

pixiechick99

Hooray, a lovely shiny new diary for you f_f:beer:
You are soooo damn organised for 2010....I shall be following avidly and hoping some of your sparkliness rubs off on me hun:rotfl:

Happy New Year!_party__party__party_

taka

Happy new diary (and year... lol) f_f!

DedicatedDFW

Hi F_F just subscribed to your new diary - I should be starting mine tomorrow yikes! hope its as simple as clicking on start new thread...

Happy New Year to you and Mr Fresian and also to all readers!

Have you thought about doing any mystery shopping to help up your income? Some of the jobs are handy for gift purchases too.

MellyB_2

Happy New Year and Happy New Diary!! - can't believe it's new diary time already!

x

Intergalactic_Floozie

YAY new diary! I think you should do a new one every month HOORAY!

mooomin

Right, the dishes from last night are gone and a load of washing has been done (Another one is in the machine) I've folded and put away all of the washing that was hanging up yesterday too, so there is no Washing Mountain lurking away anywhere.

I've also been having fun planting loads of crops on Farmville

Currently decluttering my email (Some of them go back to 2002!) and drinking tea. Next move is to declutter some biscuits...

edinburgher

Happy new year FF

Have subscribed as I'm a sucker for all things OS!

honeybear_2

Happy New Year & Happy New Diary!