FRUGAL LIVING CHALLENGE 2010, part 2, April - June.

cw18

NualaBuala wrote: »

I know most of you are feeding families but I'd be interested to know how much you spend per person on food?

My food budget, which is almost twice that of Frugaldom, is £1.70 per person per day. The only spending above that is anything DS buys from his EMA, which includes his college lunches/drinks and the odd packet of sweets. The take-away pizzas on Saturday are coming out of my 'social life' pot, which is totally outside of this challenge (for this calendar year anyhow, while I get to grips with what it costs me)

grandma247

Pagan girl I hope you enjoyed your trip to Skipton even though the weather was not too good. I love Skipton and often wish we could have moved back there when we came back from the south. It was too expensive for us and now we are thinking of moving further afield in a couple of years.
Nulabula I don't know if this will help but you can get a dongle that is pay as you go. My daughter has one because she can't afford a regular bill with cable etc. You have to shop around though as some work out very expensive.

BigMummaF

NualaBuala wrote: »

....I know most of you are feeding families but I'd be interested to know how much you spend per person on food?....

We are four adults, a vegetarian iguana & a 2yr old Pup. I'm trying--not quite achieving but very near to --£7:50 per day for food, toiletries & things like pain killers, doggie treats & tin foil.
My Miscellaneous category is for things like shop-bought bread rolls if we have burgers for dinner & the Store bit--also in my Food budget--includes batteries for remote controls, the doggie treats, water filter cartridges...One offs, like a new fish slice or something, comes under Other.
Probably not that helpful to you, but I know I like to read how other folk sort things & then pick out bits that may work for me.

Blairweech

Good morning everyone,

CW - Have you done your DS's student finance form yet? I honestly cannot get to grips with mine, I really struggled. There are no instructions!! So I asked for the paper forms and they still need filling in. Rubbish

Seeds are coming along nicely, we have planted more strawberries and tomatoes. Still need a couple more tomato varieties, I want cherry tomatoes and I think Mum wants something else. Weather has turned here - was glorious yesterday (my cat was sunbathing) and within 2 minutes the sky was completely black and it was hammering down (my cat looked like someone had thrown her in the bath). Not raining now but its pretty overcast. had planned to finish sanding down the garden furniture today, so I hope I can still do that.

Went to the car boot yesterday and got some new boots for £1.50. Filled in my spreadsheet and its not too bad for April, althought not as many NSDs as I would have liked. I have decided to take Ebay out of the equation, as I think that is a separate thing.

Anyway, hope you are all well

cw18

Blairweech wrote: »

CW - Have you done your DS's student finance form yet? I honestly cannot get to grips with mine, I really struggled. There are no instructions!! So I asked for the paper forms and they still need filling in. Rubbish

Nope! I need to get in touch with them about it though, as I know from friends you could use a later years income if it's dropped by more than 15% when applying for finance this time last year.

The year they're asking me for (2008-09) is a lot higher than I had for 2009-10 and even anticipated income for 2010-11 (which is likely to be slightly up in terms of taxable income than 2009-10), as I was on a f/t salary from my IT job from the start of the tax year until mid-November :eek: If can use last or this years it's brings it down well over the 15%, but there doesn't seem to be anywhere on line you can do this (and there's no indication if it's even possible doing it any other way)


ETA: Just phoned the Student Finance people, and the young chap I spoke to talked me through exactly where on-line I need to go to in order to download the special form I need. So I need to find my 2008-09 figures to complete the on-line application, then print off and fill in the additional form with anticipated income for 2010-11 (estimating as best I can, given I work as many extra hours as I can grab!), then post the completed form along with evidence required for the 2008-09 figures to them (apparently they go to the same address, and it's easier for them to marry everything up if they get sent together). Then come this time next year I need to send them proof of what I actually ended up getting in 2010-11, though he recommends getting in contact with them during the year if it looks like my estimates will be 'significantly different to the end of year actuals'

cw18

Have received the renewal for my central heating cover from BG today. The monthly payment is set to increase from £18.54 to a staggering £19.67 - a 6% increase :eek:

Phoned Sc0ttish Power as they now offer the same service, and the quote from them is £16.83/month. So I phoned BG to cancel my renewal, only to be told that the cover from them will (from renewal) also include accidental damage to the system - presumably supposed to jusitfy the increase - but that they can, and will, price match my quote from SP. So now I need to decide whether to stay with BG or move to SP (who supply my gas & elec).

Either way this means I can leave the budget for this category as it is, rather than finding myself having to up it by £6 as I hadn't allowed for as big an increase as BG applied to my contract

Kiwisaver_2

NualaBuala wrote: »

Sounds like you don't have many NSDs planned for when you get back! :rotfl:

You are not wrong there and 99% of the reason why I am doing this challenge, since four weeks away from home is costing me almost as much as I have to live on for the other 48 and that doesn't include any spending!! :eek: It' so hard to know how much money I actually do need, as we still have to eat and pay for petrol etc and expecting quite a lot of socialising and various gatherings for diinner with folks.

Beside fretting if we'll ever have enough, it has been troubling my brain wondering how I was accounting for the four weeks away and its taken me almost four months to figure out I made a boo boo (in a good way thankfully) and I am better off than I thought. :T

When I calculated the figures for my annual budget a few things like weekly groceries and pocket money I budgeted enough for 48 weeks and of course the spreadsheet just divides the annual amount by twelve. Hence I have been finding it hard going, as I've been restricting myself even more than necessary and when the spreadsheet ticks over to July I will have had four free weeks and be massively in credit. So I am going to move the extra savings into my travel fund as back-up funds and hope not to spend it. Yay!!

Just spent a frugal hour or so sorting through holiday bags to see what toiletries and wash gear I already had. I decanted shampoo and stuff into my travel bottles, shopped from the bathroom stockpiles and all I need to get is some shaving gear for Sir Kiwi and a new mascara for myself.

stitching_witch

Hi guys and gals. I'm going to need some serious help here. Just been told by DWP that I'm not entitled to benefit from 26th March, but DH will have an increase added to his ESA. Having looked at the figures, it means we are £27 a week down :eek:

My original budget showed a deficit of £90 per month and this will now become a £207 deficit per month - this is before taking debts into account. I realise some of this will be offset by a bit more Housing and Council Tax Benefit, but I can see that the figures don't add up.

Apart from running away at great speed, is there anything I can do to help us survive the next few months???

grandma247

Kiwi saver since you can buy any amount of toiletries for very reasonable prices here why are you bringing any. Or is it because you have a long stopover?

grandma247

Stitching witch you need to put a list of exactly where your money goes. It does not have to be detailed just categories. The grocery budget could be squeezed a bit more possibly and maybe other things. Also if you have not done so already have you looked for things to sell?
One of the most important things is to contact those you owe money to and negotiate smaller payments or talk to one of the debt charities mentioned on this site.