Frugal Living 2010 - the final stretch

fuddle

I have done my 2011 budget. It's £5300 with a lot of tweaking. I'll be looking at percentages come the end of January. Hope to goodness I'll be on track!!

What is screaming at me is the amount gone on mobiles and internet usage. I'm under contract till february 2012 but after then i'm a strictly pay as you go girl. No need for that money wastage, Internet is a struggle with where we live, could knock off a couple of quid a month but would the service be as reliable? I doubt it. Really happy with internet. For once.

Arctic_Sky

Hello one and all from a long-time lurker . Determined to get on top of my finances in 2011, now that I have a stable job and house (well, huuuge room in a house!)

I know I'm about a month and a half early, but thought I'd introduce myself :cool:. I'm thinking the hardest part of this is going to be the cooking part - still trying to get out of student ways, i.e. a rotating meal plan of beans on toast, scrambled eggs on toast, soup... cheap yes, interesting and varied NO!

Looking forward to getting to know y'all,

xAx

cw18

Welcome aboard Arctic Sky

xnatalie81x

Nice to meet newbies

Went to midwife today and need to see consultant tomorrow so had lunch in tesco (from other budget) and then did my top-up shop which will combine with the huge shop on 1t Nov to now last until end Nov and i couldn't resist the 3for2 on baking so total cost top-up shop: £7.13, total baking spend: £13.85 and xmas treat spend: 1.26 = £22.24

Mum and i met sis for coffee and her and mum wanted starbucks - i asked for a cup of hot water (which was fine as long as she wasn't using it to warm a bottle) and i popped in health food shop for pack raspberry leaf tea (I AM DESPERATE lol - 39+2 weeks now) and had that Total additional spend : £1.39- all above spends have been deducted from grocery budget this month and as you can see in sig i am well below budget so far!!!

Tested heating in new house and it works perfectly but am staying at mummies again tonight as she is worried about me going into labour with just the kids and my dad is not so hapy about her staying at mine lol. Have bought my freezer bolognese around with spaghettti and so we will be having that for dinner tonight

Not much more frugal news here - have agreed with my mum that as a baby welcome present i want her to buy nappies so she is doubling up her tesco vouchers and buying me the pampers new baby 2 - 2 boxes for £20.00 (which is only 10.00 of her vouchers BUT she has saved them all year and has 50 to double to 100 - lucky mare) So nappies sorted - i am very fussy about using pampers for the first few months as they are the only tiny bubba nappy i find that can deal with breastfed baby poo - as soon as baby gets a bit older and they 'firm' up - i will go back to my baby essentials tesco - usually around size 3. My DD is 4.5 and wears nappy to bed, as does my almost 3 yr old. Both wear size 6. Will have plenty of clubcard vouchers next time with all the nappies i'll be buying this year :eek:

Love to all - off to eat my dinner with my munchkins - ah the little things

cw18

cw18 wrote: »

I've started having a think about my s/sheet and budgets for next year as there are several companies I want to speak to in order to try and reduce some of my out-goings - and as I'm off work next week it's the ideal time to deal with these.

The first is my energy provider when I next submit readings (next Tues eve/Wed morning) to ask them to force a review of my account. From the bill dated 20/10/2009 to the bill dated 19/10/2010 I've only eaten into the credit on my account by £49 (still over £100 in credit, and that's with no change to my monthly payment in the comparison period) - and although my gas useage is currently higher than at this time last year my electricity has dropped by at least a third (DS's bedroom light and computer no longer being in use here being the only difference I can think of). I'm hoping this will reduce my monthly payments by a couple of quid, but if they try to raise it again (like they did on the standard annual review in July when they wanted to increase it by £7 :eek:) that will result in a further negotiation to leave it as it is now for a while longer (they agreed last time, so don't see why they won't agree again as I'm more in credit now that I was then )

Another good result :T

Just read my meters and phoned my supplier. Explained briefly to the chap I expected these readings to force a review, as I'd sweet-talked one of his colleagues into not increasing my payment with the annual review in July - but only on the basis another review would be done in 'about 3 months' but didn't seem to have been done yet. Also mentioned I was actually hoping it would drop my payment due to dropping one person from the head-count, and that being heavy computer used

He put my readings into the system, and informed me it was dropping the payment from £47 to £46 -- all of £1

So I quoted him some figures from my s/sheet (actual cost of bills over last 12 months which include 9.5 months with the computer user here, credit balance, total that would mean I'd have to pay over next 12 months if useage and price stay the the same and I use all my credit against it, and what that calculates at a month - which was £41.54).

He then re-ran something through the system and said the lowest the computer would approve was £41.50 - at which point I stunned him by asking to have it set to £43. But when I explained I don't want to be in debt (or see a major increase) at this point next year he could see where I was coming from

So that's another £4/month I can allocate to another category :T

And the reduced payment starts on 1st Dec, so I'll be £4 under on my 2010 budget for this one too

cw18

fuddle wrote: »

I have done my 2011 budget. It's £5300 with a lot of tweaking.

I've been on £8k for the last 2 years (which was for 2 people and 2 dogs until Jan 2010, then 2 people and 1 dog until early September, and is now just for me and one dog)

I've brought some extra categories into my 2011 budget (garden, 'get fit', and memberships for a diet website I use and the gym), and as a result am having to go for £9k :eek:

Mind, I don't actually think that's toooo bad

My new categories have taken up £912, and I've also included a specific savings pot for kitchen appliances which is an extra £300 over the year - so that's an additional £1212 to be accounted for.

My grocery budget has risen from £1.70/day (that was per person when there was a second mouth to feed) to £3/day, which means an extra £474.50 over the year for me (and only £88 down on my total 2010 budget!)

I've also dropped my TV licence, which is another saving of £145/year

So, if I deduct the reduction on my annual grocery budget and the cost of the TV licence from the new areas, this means I'm covering an additional £979 with a £1k increase - so only a £21 increase over the year on all the categories I've run for the last 2 years


Just going to have to keep my fingers crossed I'm not far out with estimates on things like insurance and CT, as (other than o/t and bonuses from work) I really don't have much else to fall back on

ChinaTea

Been MIA for a couple of weeks and just caught up wih the new thread. Just want to add my appreciation to Frugaldom for the original thread and the inspiration. I lurked on the thread through last year and dived in this year and although I still have debts I can afford to eat well and have heat through the winter. I’ll be here next year and although I don’t post regularly I’d be lost without this thread.

Well at long last all the work on the bungalow and demolition of the garage is done :j. Still some tidying up and planning to be done in the garden and although my new veg patch looks a bit sorry for itself I can look out the kitchen window with a bit (a lot) of imagination for planting in the spring.

Apart from the foodie presents to be made Christmas is sorted. The cupboard(s) are full as is the freezer such a difference from this time last year. The health problems I’ve had for several years have worsened over the last few weeks the good side being I can’t get out as much but it does mean apart from being tempted to spend I am enjoying knitting, sewing, baking and all sorts of stuff I’ve been meaning to do.

Still trying to settle on a budget for next year. Hoping to really cut down to much nearer the £6000 all in and as there is just me is doable.

Timer on oven just gone so need to fly. It’s good to see that so may want to carry on with the challenge and some newcomers as well.

NualaBuala

Cheryl, re spending on gardening and "get fit" (although shouldn't that be stay fit now as you are doing so well? ) - I think they contribute to health and wellbeing and so are worth every penny. I wouldn't be surprised if they save money in the long run.

I am looking into changing my mobile phone provider. I'm currently on the lowest billpay tariff available - €10 pm and I curtailed my use so I don't use more than the 50 minutes that includes. But now there is a new provider offering 100 minutes plus free calls to landlines for €14. So I'll have to figure out if it is worth it, I don't think I spend €4 a month on calls to landlines. The retentions dept of my current provider say the best they can do is offer another 45 minutes and that might well be enough. I'm only on a 30 day contract so I can always leave if I think the other offer will work out better value.

xnatalie81x

Cheryl I have to agree with the fit category! I also now have a 2011 one for it. I am still 5pm lighter than when I fell pregnant 9mth ago but more importantly my bp wa 137/87 at 3mths an yesteday was 110/60! - the benefits of exercise and weight loss are amazing and I think about how much I have saved in petrol/prescriptions as I have been I'll ONCE this year, rather than about 10 cold by now plus the feel good factor.

cw18

Thanks for the reassurances that it's not unreasonable to invest in my health and well-being

It just seems to be taking up a huge chunk of my income, which I guess it what's left me a bit restless about it. I've allowed for renewing at the gym, but that's not until the end of July so plenty of time to decide if I'm getting my monies worth out of it (or if I can possibly cope by 'going it alone' by then). I definitely plan to renew on the diet website in March (I do 6 months at a time, and have allowed for 2 renewals next year), but may not bother come September depending on how my weight's settled down by then (finally managed to maintain this last week, but had to eat 250 cals/day more than the site tells me to in order to manage it!)

I'm hoping the garden costs will eventually be recouped by harvesting my own crops, though I didn't get a great deal planted this year (and very little off fruit bushes, but I figure they should/could do better in their second year However, if I do re-locate (ie. don't come into a small windfall in the meantime ), I'm never going to reap the benefits from the fruit trees I planted this year and will have to totally start over I'm just really not up with what should be planted when, and even with books am struggling to make sense of it all.....