Unexpected benefits of a dfw lifestyle

SunderlandBlackCat

Kaz2904 wrote: »

OK- now I have to ask, what would that £500 per month cover?

Mortgage £150.00
Groceries £100.00
Council Tax £75.00
Gas & Elec £36.00
Car Ins, Tax, Service & MOT £60.00
Water £25.90
Phone & Broadband £18.00
TV Licence £11.61
Ground Rent & Buildings Insurance £9.58
Mobile Phone £5.00
Total £491.09

Except for petrol those are my fixed outgoings at the moment. I havent included petrol as if I'm unemployed the car would only be used for going to job interviews & I'd cycle or walk anywhere else.

According to entitledto I'd be entitled to full council tax benefit so that would be £75 less per month & I'm years ahead of schedule on my mortgage payments so I could take up to a years payment holiday according to the T's & C's freeing up another £150 which takes my potential outgoings down to under £270

Also I've already paid for my season ticket for next seasons football & that accounts for most of my social activity at the moment.

ceridwen

mortgage £0 (as paid off)
phone/broadband £26.95
tv £11.37
gas/electric £60
water £21
insurance & yearly gas service £20.50
Council tax £64 (must check again on that - but I understood that one only gets help with that if on £70 per week income, anything over that then it gets reduced proportionately - so on £500 would still expect to pay noticeable amount)
mobile £5?
groceries/diet supplements/etc £200? (food dearer because everything poss organic/'green')
car £0 (don't have one)

£345 then approx + whatever Council tax I still had to pay
- but that doesnt include leisure costs or clothing.
I have loads of clothes - but essential bits would need restocking from time to time. Also health care costs - whatever is needed for glasses/alternative health care/private dentist etc - hence the £500. Think that would about cover me for everything basic (ie not holidays!)

The people I know are pretty "green-minded" - not money-oriented types - so that helps.

Kaz2904

Is mine allowed to be higher then as there are 4 of us and I've included all yerly payments and gifts etc? If we absolutely had to then we could live on less but only short term while the kids are small.

SunderlandBlackCat

Kaz2904 wrote: »

Is mine allowed to be higher then as there are 4 of us and I've included all yerly payments and gifts etc? If we absolutely had to then we could live on less but only short term while the kids are small.

Of course it can be higher than that it has to be with kids in the mix

While I am working & debt free I will be allowing myself much more of my wages as spending money than that, but I'm ex-military & lived for several years with nothing except what i could fit into a small locker so it's not all that difficult for me to go back to living that way in civilian life if circumstances mean I have to.

MUSTBEFUNNY_2

Hi

I agree with most of the benefits mentioned above - enjoying things more, feeling in control, not filling your house with junk, etc...one of my spin offs has been to see my kids becoming more savy with money and I also think less spoilt. My youngest was at a friend's house when his parents decided to order a take-out - his friend's family ended up rowing about whether to have Chinese or Indian and his friend got into a strop and was crying to get his own way. My son was shocked, he couldn't believe that his friend & his sibs weren't grateful for either (as they were both wonderful) and that they couldn't appreciate how lucky they were - priceless:money: :T

Punkygoth

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

I get to indulge in my secret obsession for lists and excel spreadsheets...

Yes I am with you on that one!:p

mrssnowy_2

Eight years ago OH was in serious debt,which I didn't know about-until the bailiffs came round!I have now paid it all off as in this time OH unfortunately became disabled.He's now retired,we are debt free-and have been for several years.Abroad twice yearly on hols,no children at home,lovely Grandchildren.All I want to do now is declutter on e-bay!!AND I'm still working ,and love it

SAFC73_2

Re my earlier post; got my wish about going to the match. Spurs at home first game of the season when sister is away!!! Plus I would give her the money for missed games but she's not bothered with that as she says it's worth more for me to be happy! Oh, I think I'm going to cry

Anyway. HAWAY THE LADS!!!!


Tip re flowers- put the tiniest drop of bleach in your vase and they'll last a bit longer. Got that from a professional florist. They also are quite partial to lemonade.

LookingAhead

I have lost about half a stone and kept it off since becoming DFW which takes me more into the size 10 bracket because we mostly make all our dinners from scratch now and I can count on one hand the amount of takeaways we have in a year now. Being veggie helps I think but we really control the amount of fat & wheat in the meals.

I went for a cholesterol test earlier in the year and the results came back as 'excellent' at 3.2. The last one I had quite a few years ago wasn't bad at 3.9 but it was a drop!

I used to binge drink stupidly but now I am happy if I have one or two glasses of wine a month and I really enjoy them too!

The elated feeling I had when I paid off my last credit card too! I really felt I had achieved something, even though I have the overdraft still to tackle, I never thought I would beat the credit cards down - but I did. I am not a failure! :j

Maisie

SunderlandBlackCat wrote: »

Mortgage £150.00
Groceries £100.00
Council Tax £75.00
Gas & Elec £36.00
Car Ins, Tax, Service & MOT £60.00
Water £25.90
Phone & Broadband £18.00
TV Licence £11.61
Ground Rent & Buildings Insurance £9.58
Mobile Phone £5.00
Total £491.09

Except for petrol those are my fixed outgoings at the moment. I havent included petrol as if I'm unemployed the car would only be used for going to job interviews & I'd cycle or walk anywhere else.

According to entitledto I'd be entitled to full council tax benefit so that would be £75 less per month & I'm years ahead of schedule on my mortgage payments so I could take up to a years payment holiday according to the T's & C's freeing up another £150 which takes my potential outgoings down to under £270

Also I've already paid for my season ticket for next seasons football & that accounts for most of my social activity at the moment.

.Sunderlandblackcat. Check your council tax banding at https://www.voa.gov.uk.
Make sure you're not any higher than the neighbours. If so look at the council tax discussion thread where you'll get some help in asking voa for a review and possible rebanding (and rebate).

Voa site worth checking on for everyone.

HTH

Maisie