FRUGAL LIVING CHALLENGE part 3, July - Dec 2010

youngmummy

thanks cw18- yer id love to do that ... if its ok with everyone i will at least then it will be slightly easier in 2011

thanks grandma247 i will have a look

goodluck everyone .... xx

NualaBuala

youngmummy wrote: »

thanks cw18- yer id love to do that ... if its ok with everyone i will at least then it will be slightly easier in 2011

thanks grandma247 i will have a look

goodluck everyone .... xx

Welcome youngmummy :wave:
Have you done out a budget yet - listed all your outgoings and incoming money? And then try to shave off what you can. I find listing everything I spend money on in a spreadsheet helpful. I did my own but you'll find a link to Cheryl's budget spreadsheet in one of the first few posts. There's loads of helpful info there that will get you started. And it's NEVER too late to join in and start the frugal challenge!
Best of luck with it!

youngmummy

thanks nualabuala yer i have dont think i will manage the £4000 a year tho .... how does everyone do it .... we're a family of 3 lol so not huge but little one is in nappies still hopefully for not much longer xx

NualaBuala

youngmummy wrote: »

thanks nualabuala yer i have dont think i will manage the £4000 a year tho .... how does everyone do it .... we're a family of 3 lol so not huge but little one is in nappies still hopefully for not much longer xx

Haha, I'm nowhere even close to £4000 and I only have to feed myself!

cw18

You don't need to manage on £4k - unless that's all you have coming in

I'm a family of 2 (and a dog) for another 5 or 6 weeks, and then DS is moving out for Uni so it'll just be me and the mutt. My annual budget is £8k, and includes all household bills (no rent or mortgage), food, clothes (for me, DS has been buying his own from his EMA), birthday/christmas presents, car expenses, dog expenses etc.

The income for this is from a state paid Widows pension, a company paid Widows pension and linked Dependants pension (which is really DSs, and it's been paid to him rather than me since last month so he can use it for Uni related purchases/paying keep to my parents when he moves in September), child benefit, and my salary. As this income is fixed and all I'm guaranteed to get (and I've already 'lost' the one, and lose two others at the end of next month), then it's a case of having to make sure the budget for out-goings comes in at no more than the incoming money.

But anything I spend seeing my OH (including petrol to get to his and back), on my garden (trying to grow some of my own fruit and veg) or on my 'get fit campaign' is all excluded, and is covered by any extra hours I get at work (social life) and Tax Credits (garden and 'get fit'). I also keep spreadsheets covering all this income and expenditure, so I can ensure I'm not dipping into my 'essentials' budget money which would cause me major problems later in the year.

top_drawer_2

hey everyone,

I wrote a loooog post this morning offering words where I could .... but the stupid Uni laptop somehow decided to backup to the previous page and I lost everything. I was so annoyed but I turned off and went up to the desktops as they are much more predictable.

SF - Go for it and !!!!!! what anyone else thinks, life really is too short.

I can't remember whether I told you all but I have applied for a HA house and I rang up for some help with the form on Tuesday and the lady said she actually had a property coming up now so today at 8.30 am I viewed it......... I cant take it simply because of my exams BUT otherwise it was pretty fantastic. It did seem a LONG way out (Ingol in Preston) but it had a garden so I can take my pots!! There was absolutely nothing (carpets, oven etc) in the property but I guess we all have to start out somehow. The lady said these type of properties come up regularly so she is looking for something for me with a move date around September!! I am (was) so excited but then I realised I will have to start paying TV licence, council tax and bills on my own ..... plus if I want the internet that too. I've done a brief calculation

TV licence (I only got the TV a few months ago! and I do love sitting in watching tv in the colder months especially) £142
Council Tax £1054 (band A)
Rent £57 a week/£295 a month
Bills - not sure

Is there anything else I have forgot? I just cant see it as do-able on £105 a week. I never did manage to work out the spreadsheet, it just wouldnt let me add up things in the columns and it seemed to take so much time.

I've also noticed my plants are struggling, its rained and rained so much here that I havent been out in the yard for awhile. My potato plants seem to have chunks eaten out of the leaves, and some sort of sticky stuff on the leaves. I have in the past few weeks cut loads of leaves off (as advised on the internet) because they were showing spots of (what I thought was) blight.

My lettuces look desperate and again they seem to have been eaten.

Jen

slowlyfading

Thanks for the comments on the running - once I've got settled in the house, I'm going to attempt it

Well, only one more day to go until we move in properly! We're going tomorrow to get the keys and move some stuff in but we booked the van for saturday so that's the proper moving in day. Can I just say how excited I am?! :j it's finally happening!

We won't have the internet til nearly the end of August, so it might be a while before I update on here again but I'll be keeping a tight reign on expenses.

cw18

top_drawer wrote: »

Council Tax £1054 (band A)

Jen,

Looking at this figure (and comparing to what I see with a quick search, which doesn't quite match up but I'm not sure which council Ingol comes under), I don't think you've allowed for the fact you'll qualify for the single person discount (as long as it is just you moving into the place). This would bring it down to £790.50 (25% discount)

ETA: And if you're only getting £105/week, it's quite possible that you'll qualify for at least some help with the rent and/or council tax

Former_MSE_Forum_Manager

Well done to all, especially those taking up running.

Just wanted to mention that if the podcasts run out or you want some new music, our Tunechecker.com currently has Mercury Prize albums at three quid, and singles for 40p

Bit of upfront investment, but obviously the more you run and play them, the more cost efficient they become!

(Sorry to interrupt your thread)

Erme

Just checking in... last weekend's pass didn't go very well so spent another 3 psychotic days on ward..Home on pass for weekend again but not sleeping and have another infection...

Bad news...mobile bill from hospital = £70 :eek:.... and spent the cashback on a fridge freezer...:(

Good news = going for my Groupon hair cut next week (£10 rather than £33 - first one in a year...been doing it self) and like got straighteners and hair dryer from freecycle (professional quality) the other day :T (as in Genie hair straighteners Worth about £65) and like have another infection...

Just applied for another job @ Mr. S (online middle of night so not confident about getting it) so we'll see...I so need a job now but think it'll be a while..

Blessings


Sorry I couldn't read the long posts

and I have another infection

E