2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

kayharcombe

well I have finished my first week spending 33 on groceries, so under budget on that, have also paid £6 on library fine, which im including in figures here as its not a debt as such, more a fee for being stoooopid.

Took kids to cinema yesterday for saturday morning movie special, which cost £7.50 for 3 kids, and me and a friend got to to along for free, so she drove using her petrol, and nipped into new ikea and bought a glass side table for £3.49. TV licence has come out of bank which was 11.61, will add all other dd`s as they go out, otherwise it would look horrendous if i added them all first week.

My ex, came yesterday and put a lock on pantry door, to stop ds1, who is autistic from bingeing on sugar, chocolate etc in the night, when im on phone etc. Most kids get hyper for an hour or 2 after sugar, mine lasts for days with no sleep and high pitched noises, which are annoying to say the least.

Will update sig later today, Kay

Burlesque_Babe

wow, is it a week??!

I suppose I can only dream the rest of 2008 will be as good as this week - other than a couple of DD's I've not spent a penny so far! :j

Should be another NSD for me today. :T

This coming week though will see gas, electric, Virgin, car insurance and my self employed NI contribution all coming out of my account (sob!) but other thanthe mortgage, that's all the DD's for the month.

Just need to see how long I can stay out of the supermarket. I've finished the cereal today and I'm getting low on hairspray :eek:

So, it's going to be toast and the 'non-glued' hair look for the forseeable future!

mah_jong

I have pasted the sheet of what is included and what is not into my documents and this week very little has been spent ....Not many bills have been paid, or DD's come out

so for week ending 5th

Groceries 7.00,
TV licence monthly DD 11.61

Ephemera

Well, I've surprised myself. Spend for this week so far:

£37.09 mobile phone bill (now cancelled and going on a cashback deal)
£29.95 gym membership (tied in for another year, so best use it, eh?!) :rotfl:
and 30p for car parking yesterday, went shopping to see if I could find a dress for next week's works dinner and dance. Got pipped to the post on eBay so was looking to see if there was anything else....nothing. It was almost like Christmas parties had gone out of fashion. Last year at this time there were loads of party dresses in the shops - ho hum, I'll have to wear the dress I wore to the Christmas do instead. I work with men so they're unlikely to notice anyway!!

Haven't spent a penny on anything else. Lived out of the cupboards, and still working through Christmas food. Even brought my work van home on Friday - because I can't drive it at the weekend for private use I either have to walk or get a lift. I can easily waste £10 in fuel of a weekend aimlessly driving around....so good for the environment and my pocket! :A

Well done to everyone else - I don't have a family to look after so £4000 is going to be plenty for me although I will also be running my car out of it, including servicing, fuel, tax and stuff.

Only 360 days to go!! :beer: :dance::beer:

georgiasmum

Time to check in, I have spent £48 of allocated £100 per week which leaves £52 until friday. I need petrol and to pay the childminder for 1 day (Mon) which will probably leave me with £10-£15 to play with until Friday 11th. (My week goes Fri-Fri.)

Pleased to say that my spending has been essentials - small amount of food, petrol (had to pick up dd from airport) and parking. So far so good. I feel almost angelic! All this and I am having 7 people for lunch today.

I haven't included my fixed costs (DD etc as they do not change and I can't slash any more off!!!) but I am determined to slash amounts of my discretionary spending and food bill as this where I waste money.

My spending diary this week is illuminating as I have noticed some patterns. I go back to work on Monday and think that will make things easier as I won't have time on my hands or have to travel to the airport!

My goals for this £5000 a year lark are to pay for a summer holiday to Tunisia and give money to inlaws there without feeling stressed about it and go to my parents for Christmas in 2008 in Oz as I haven't had Christmas with them in 13 years. I don't know if holidays are acceptable goals in this challenge but DH parents are ever-needy and mine miss me....

mini_huny_money

hya everyone

well here goes for the first week of the year

DD's which are included 133
all other spends incl food 32.25 = 165.25

No other DD's to include till 1st Feb

am not setting a target for this month as Im going to take this slowly and see how things pan out. Am usually guilty of jumping right in and then failing miserably, but I hope to have all other spends come in at less than 50 a week.

oooops.....was looking at my updated sig, and thinks thats not right.......1834 left !!!!! changed it and thats much better!!!!.......No wonder I failed MATHS

Will have to or I WILL have failed miserably!!!!

bails

Ephemera wrote: »

and 30p for car parking yesterday,

WOW, where can you park for that little?! I'm impressed! I currently run the gauntlet in Sains/Homebase car park each time I go into town, although they are now putting in these sneaky sensors in the ground :rolleyes: I've been v good though and have been saving PMS parking money so I have enough put by should I get one of those nasty little yellow things on my windscreen...
I've changed my mind about how I'm recording my spends and have gone back to good old-fashioned writing - my mum gave me a diary for Christmas but I already have (an academic) one so I'm using that. Will be interesting to look back on it like nyk and see how it really was this year!:D
I'm aiming for a NSD today but hedging my bets as I may go to Sains later so will tot up my week's spending tomorrow (I started on 31st Dec). It's going to be a pretty hefty first week but I'm telling myself it'll all come out in the wash... Which reminds me, this may be irrelevant as there's probably a much better OS way of washing clothes (still on my 'to do' list to get over there ), but we use Eco balls which cost around £30 but do 3x the amount of washes for an equivalent spend on own brand washing powder (at least, that was my calculation when we bought them).
Oh, and I've been inspired by another thread to make some personalised journals, so that should cut down my present budget, yae! and keep me entertained. Have already got some old calendars coming from Freecycle to use...:T

LollopyBear

nykmedia wrote: »

I was going to save this little 'nugget' until the end of the month, but I just cannot wait that long :rotfl: It's like a 'bonus' part of this challenge that we use as a reward scheme for hitting our targets. It's every bit as hard as the 4k challenge but ... no... I can't do it... I can't tell you yet... it is just me being over enthusiastic ... and I must learn to curb my obsessive enthusiasm. I'll tell you all at the end of the month, but you can only take part in the bonus if you have met the targets you set out for month one.

Argh! I hate suspense! We have to wait 25 days to find out what it is? I suppose that is another motivational device and it is working, dammit.

mumzyof2

I have spent £13.46 on groceries this week. I have £20 left out of £30..dont know how, think my mum gave me too much money back yesterday as i paid for train ticket and taxi to get me to my sisters and then she gave me £40 back which included £10 for kids money (as i had to use it to get my mum 2 lamps she wanted) but i have now put that back in to kids money box. so still left with £20.

so £13.46 spent
£20 left

now does anyone know what i do with the £20 left over??? Il be withdrawing £30 tomorrow for new week

bails

I think it just goes into a 'pot' somewhere, so that you can use it later in the year if you're getting short. If you have any left over at the end of the year, then that goes towards debt/savings/holiday or whatever. At least that's my take on things...