FRUGAL LIVING CHALLENGE part 3, July - Dec 2010

cw18

slscarborough wrote: »

Now sure if it worth setting myself a budget for the remainder of the year or just going with the flow??

I only did the back end of 2008, but did set myself budgets as best I could. Gave me an idea of how far off I was for some of the categories in readiness for 2009.

slscarborough

No idea where to start with a realistic budget though?

glendam

I hadn't got a clue on budget when I first started so I logged everything in spending diary for 1 month to start. Then look at those figures and if you see a lot of silly stuff like takeaways or costa coffee( my weakness) then you can start by cutting them down before cutting them out. Anyway then you have some numbers to work on.

It seems to take along time to start with but gets easier once you have thought of categories that mean something to you.

There is a link to spending diary on page 1.

Glenda

cw18

For things like utilities, I just used past bills and recent readings/unit prices
For things like Insurance policies I used last renewal plus a %age
For groceries I costed up the meals we had over a week or two, and based it on that
Toiletries & Cleaning was a total guess - but set at what I thought was a realistic level based on how often I seemed to have to replace things and the current cost of the brands/pack size I bought
Dog expenses I could be pretty accurate on (knew cost of food and boosters, worming tables, flea treatment), but built in a bit extra to allow for price increases

The most important thing is that the total of your budgets doesn't exceed your income (and if there are any costs you don't include in this challenge such as debt repayment or work related costs, then you need to deduct them from your income first to see what you have left)


My budgets aren't set in stone though, and I had to do a fair bit of tweaking (reducing one to be able to increase another) during 2009.

This is continuing through 2010, though to a lesser extent as I've managed to build in a 'contingency' category this year - and I use that when I find I'm short somewhere (such as unexpected vets bills), but it also covers things like car/house repairs which don't have set budgets.

grandma247

Lovely to hear from you aeb and I am glad things are going well. You will get there in the end with the house.

xnatalie81x

Generally browse at the moment but had to pop in and say hi to:

AEB

and how quick has that gone!!! ONE YEAR OLD - wow

Now i am here i shall update - i am now 31 weeks pregnant with my 4th baby - i have been living in a new house for 2 months after leaving the kids' dad over 4mths ago (for good - and he has the old house)

Not following as strictly as could as too much upheaval recently but now have a budget for each category and at the start of each month i put that in an envelope.... seems to be working!

Swim school expanding like my bump but on a positive note i am now 8.5ln lighter than i was at 5 weeks and i go to exercise classes 4 times a week while son goes to creche (£25 mth gym membership and subsidised creche cost but cost is easily outweighed by the lower food consumption ha ha) - feeling amazing and keeping on budget till end yr when i shall join the challenge in jan for my third year with you all - am prepping for winter this week and spending on ebay for coats/wellies and slippers for the 3 kids

Kiwisaver_2

Ooohh, edging ever closer to that $10k mark, I did the first of my VAT busting shops tonight. I've done a 30 day meal plan using this idea that I found on another thread: http://littlenannygoat.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-heck-it-30-meal-plan.html

Now I have a nice long list of things that I hope to purchase over the next ten days, so that I have at least one of each item required (or a spare one in hand if I can) assuming of course it can go in the freezer, is not perishable or has a good long date on - except at present I can only think of 27 meals. :rotfl: I've been gradually working my way through the contents of the freezer and now it's got plenty of room for stocking up again.

It seems weird trying to second guess how prices will go with the new VAT regime, because I can't see that all the items that are currently rounded to the 0.99 cents are going to go up by random or odd amounts. It will be interesting to see how it pans out, if everything currently $2.99 will change to $3.06 or will they set that psychological pricing bar elsewhere. I've seen in a couple of shops that bigger ticket items are all geared up with dual pricing on them all ready for the switch.

Note to self, must remember to fill up with petrol too!!!

rozeepozee

I must have heard aeb typing that post - what a coincidence to find you here when I hardly ever have time to post these days and only ever get chance to read the last page of posts!

Well, my babies are 5 months old today. I often think of you, aeb, and how you manage as I only have baby twins and a nearly 4 year old and an OH who's at home with me full time and we're still going spare looking after these children!

Things are getting easier but the nights kill me. I'm exclusively breastfeeding and they don't sleep longer than 3 hours at a stretch and take it in turns to wake up! I'm just reading a borrowed copy od the Baby Whisperer and last night wasn't bad so I'm hoping once I can read it fully and implement the routine, that'll help.

I've been able to do nothing in the garden but OH has soldiered valiantly on and we have a small crop of various things: tomatoes, onions, chillis etc. We are still hoping to buy a smallholding. Now thinking of renting in Cardigan where we've decided is where we like best and can afford (possibly).

Haven't been recording figures and money saving has gone off the rails a bit. Your quote made me laugh, Cheryl.

cw18 wrote: »

The most important thing is that the total of your budgets doesn't exceed your income (and if there are any costs you don't include in this challenge such as debt repayment or work related costs, then you need to deduct them from your income first to see what you have left)

This is just what we don't know but I hope we will be the end of this year with your lovely spreadsheets.

Anyway, baby crying so gotta fly. Will pop in again and hoping to get back on track for the final quarter of the year.

R x

ChinaTea

I finally back again. I did write a long post last week and lost it and this is the first chance I’ve had since to catch up.

Things have really hectic. DS has decorated the hall and spare room and laid floors in both just my bedroom to go although the carpet will stay in here. This last week he has been demolishing the very old garage. It was originally a turkey shed from a local farm that we paid £10 for in as far as I can remember in 1982. It was really huge and both DH and DS used it at one time as a workshop as well as garaging sometimes up to 3 cars. I’d always thought it was asbestos but after having it checked it’s some sort of double walled cement board which meant there would be no problems taking it down. My garden now looks like a demolition site and has grown by about 2 thirds so I can have a nice big veggie plot next year rather than having everything in pots and the cost of growing compost. The wood and corrugated metal form the roof is now on freecycle and the wooden doors should be by the weekend.

With all this frugalling has been at the top of the agenda, I still need to replace fencing where the garage doors had been so an expensive time but it will pay dividends in the long run. I had taken a stray cat in just before christmas and had made several attempts to find an owner but to no avail so she became the lodger although she wouldn’t sleep indoors. Yesterday she came in with a horrible gungy patch on her neck. Thinking she had got stuck up with something bathed the are and she had a large abcess that had burst and the fur surrounding it was falling out so a quick dash to the vet. She turned out to be a he and within an hour of being home I had a phone call from his owner who had been looking for him. Needless to say I was more than happy to return him and still can’t believe that after all this time someone would claim him, they had 2 young children who were really happy tohave their pet back. They also refunded the vet’s fees as well so although a happy ending it was also tinged with a bit of sadness as he had become part of the family.

I have a load of receipts to enter on my spreadsheet but although I know most of the budget, food and the like are on course dread to think what the rest are like. It’ll definitely be down to the wire by the end of the year but I am learning so much that’ll help with next years budgets and won’t have all the building work etc to contend with so taking this year as a steep learning curve.

Sorry for the ramble I’ll catch up with some of the thread now although I take it that everyone else has been busy as well as it seems to have quietened down a bit.

grandma247

I can have a nice big veggie plot next year

That is brilliant news.