Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

NualaBuala

Erme - for buying in bulk I would stick with non-perishables. For me at least I wouldn't go for oil/marg/butter as it does't keep indefinitely and I'd never get through it. What do you like to eat - what about some pulses; chickpeas or beans? They could go in soups, stews or be made into hummus or veggie pate.

I love the secuirty of buying in bulk and having plenty of food stored but I think it might make me less frugal and more wasteful. Am going to have to look at that and monitor my habits!

kezlou

Happy new year!!


Well i'm just copying and pasting from my last post, and keeping with that. If thats okay with everyone.

So here goes:

Outgoings these are an over estimation based on vat etc

• Car insurance £812.50 (due for renewal may 2011) so going to mark that down as £900
• water £335.04 (new bill due soon) so say £350
• council tax £1090 (supposed to be frozen for the year)
• gas / electric £1200 (£100 dd, its shocking and i'm not impressed with edf either)
• Virgin net + phone £357.00 (not including phone calls)
• home insurance £324 (due for renewal in may 2011)
• groceries £2000 (i spent less than £1500 last year)
• car tax £115 (due in July)
• mot £40 + repairs (say £100)
• service - not sure yet.
• credit cards collective £960 annual min payment (feel sick looking at that)prob with vat say £1000
• breakdown cover £128.00 (aa)

As you can tell we have a lot going out.
So say a minimum of £7564 going out annually not including mobile phones, fuel, hobbies, days out and general things like clothes. if i our income stays the same we will be forced to live on about £3400 and rent to come out of that too. Hmm this is not good. This is for 2 adults, 2 children and 2 cats. Will put a definite figure up later when i cna get my head around calculations.

I;m not sure how to fo this, do i count the bills price + the left over income or just the bills hmm.

Okay well, as you can tel, i;m stressed and concerned for the future. Em lets say £8000 (roundup for bills etc minus rent, fuel etc).
If this is not the correct please could you all let me know, cheers.

Aril

Happy New Year:beer:
Aril

cw18

kezlou - I've set budgets based on what I hope to stick within for each category, and then just checked (and double-checked) that the total for all categories together is no more than my expected (basic) income.

If you're excluding categories (such as rent), then you need to work out a total figure for those first. Then deduct the total of these from your income, and then ensure your budget for this challenge is no more than the remaining income.

(And your c/card payments won't go up due to VAT - you pay that on goods as you buy them, not on the repayments to the card companies)

pagangirl

Hi all - count me in for this year as well CW - thanks for starting this new thread.

My target for this year is £5000 all in. Slightly less than last year, but doable I think looking at last year's figures.

Last year my target was £5500 - came in at £4452.53 = £1047.47 under - Ist time I'd done this challenge and totally blown away by what I achieved. Had 149 NSD out of 365 so pleased with that too.

Started well with a NSD today, going out to friend's tomorrow, but have a prepaid bus ticket bought in 2010, and dinner is sorted, so hopefully another NSD tomorrow.

Wishing you all a Happy, healthy & frugal New Year !
Hugs
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oldestgnome

Wishing you all a Happy, Healthy & Frugal 2011, Happy New Year ! :):)

Count me in too please CW :j First day of 2011 = NSD - long may it last!

HelenPie

Hi Cheryl,

Please can you add me to the list for this year? I'll probably be lurking for most of it but will try and update how I've done once a month. As this is my first year, I will really be aiming to get a feel of exactly where my money goes, so that I can really see the best places to cut back. I can really go for it in 2012 then!

My budget looks something like this:
Insurances (Home, Life, Mortgage, Pets, Dental): £805
TV, Broadband, Mobile Phones: £1,435
Water: £270 (included as we are on a meter)
Gas & Electricity: £550
Cars (Insurance, MOT, Services, Petrol, Repairs): £4,225
Groceries (including food for us and cats, household cleaning, and personal toiletries): £2,000
Total: £9285

As this doesn't cover gifts, or any contingencies, I will round up to £9,500. :eek: I must say that I really admire those that do manage on £4,000-£5,000. Maybe I'll get there one day :cool:

My boyfriend and I are hoping to take up walking as a hobby this year, so unless we end up travelling to explore new areas and spending extra on fuel, that should entertain us pretty much for free! We have very few evenings together to go out spending money

Happy New Year to you all.

H x

Annie56

Happy New Year to one and all and hope 2011 is all we hope it to be, must say Im glad to see the back of 2010.



Could you put me down for £5500.....thats doable and hope to not go above it:p I must now go and scout around the links given at the begining of this challenge and start the ball rolling to be more thrifty.

Fingers crossed this will get easier as the days go past.

Annie56:beer:

chika

Erme try aldi for cheap Olive Oil, I bought some lovely stuff in there for about £2 for a 750ml bottle. I was a bit skeptical but it has a which best buy label and tastes as good as the posh stuff I used to get from Mr S that costs £7.

nannyboo1

JustKeepSwimming wrote: »

We spend far to much on food - groceries & eating out, so these are my target areas. I'm going to try & be more organized & take drinks with us when we go out for the day. This is when I really miss having a car though, as having to carry food for 3 all day & on numerous trains/buses isn't that much fun - often dont take food if we need to take coats as my back complains :rotfl:.



Snap - apart from the selling on Ebay as I just can't get into it & I doubt anyone would want to buy any of my old clothes anyway .

I don't know how old your children are but could they not have their own little rucksack to carry some light stuff in This is what one of my friends does. Her little ones are 3 and 4 and always carry something on days out in their own back packs