2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

Frugaldom

mini_huny_money wrote: »

Thought never even crossed my mind..........gotta have something to replace the thrill of spending money......:D

Like.... the thrill of saving money... :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

hopeless_spendthrift

nykmedia wrote: »

Nothing has changed, so long as you know how much you have going out and know that you have enough in the bank to cover it. The main thing is that you don't risk getting any bank charges.

I have had a ridiculous day of it today!
Had budgeted for the 2 DD's I knew were due out 2day and made sure there was enough in the bank to cover it. Checked my bank balance online this morning....£49 overdrawn!!:eek: :mad: !!
The funny thing is - I have started this Challenge and have been so careful about my spending etc over the past week for the first time in my life - and I go overdrawn by more than I ever have done b4!!??!!
5 big DD's all going out on the same day was reason for going overdrawn (must spread them out a bit!), Called the bank and was told that if I deposited CASH into bank b4 3:30pm, I would not incur any bank charges. Advised to then call back and ask for all my DD's to be honoured.
So...RAIDED all my little jars and pots I started saving in around the house, INCLUDING my £2 saver jar AND the sealed pot (which u are not supposed to open at all til end of year)!!!??!!! :rotfl: Scraped £50 together from these and shot off to the bank to deposit same.

When I called customer services on my return as directed, they had no record of my deposit and kept me on hold for about 20mins (my phone bill! :mad: ) and then asked me to call back later which I did. Encountered same scenario when I called again - another 20min hold and still no joy in honouring the DD's - instead advised that there will be no charges -hallalujah:j - but all 5 DD's will be returned :rolleyes: so will have to contact those companies to explain my blip!
What a palava!!!
So glad I payed my Asda delivery out of my Virgin card - not ideal, I know, but fully intend to pay that back in full b4 any charges incurred.
Have overspent on the budget I set myself for travel expenses for the month, but twas the school holidays and took the kids out again on Sunday for a final fling b4 end of hols, so hopefully things will even out from now on - although school dinners, trips etc are always costly during term-time
Have just realised that I don't necessarily have to include entertainment and leisure activities in the £4000, so, bc I seem to have overspent wildly so far,I am going to chicken out on including everything as originally planned and just include the stuff on the 'Things That Should Be Counted' list. I don't wanna fail!
Am hoping that it is only down to my lack of experience in all this that things are looking very dire at the moment - keeping to budget-wise - and that those that know better will reassure me that things will even themselves out over time...
Anyways, my spends since last update are: £7.90 travel on Sunday + £7.00 gifts for others ( £5 dvd and £2 worth of sweeties for the kids:p ).
Total spend for week 1: £80.54
Still not sure what total of my Asda order is, as I ordered for my neighbour too, so combined. Will post just as soon as I work it out properly. It arrived today, so will add it to this week's budget .
Q: Are charity donations counted as Gifts For Others?
Also plz tell me what dd, ds and dh stand for...?
Well done to you all for doing so well in this challenge. And thanks for all your help and support.
Best Regards,
Thrifty

hopeless_spendthrift

:confused: Think I will update sig at end of week only as I am confusing myself! :rolleyes:
Keeping tabs of all my spending in a diary, (plus have now signed up to www.spendingdiary.com which is great thank u:dance:).
I make it a spend of £80.54 for last week, but my sig stands at £76.76 b4 update and I can't imagine why
So, updating weekly from now on
Thrifty

hopeless_spendthrift

Catz - Do hope your daughter is ok x x x

Rafiki_2

Oh my, my.

What have I started here?
I had never thought myself to have an addictive personality but this Challenge has really got my attention, hugely.
I'm watching and guarding the pennies so jealously :rotfl:

That said, yesterday was a surprisingly expensive day - even without taking Lover to lunch. I bought her a coffee in the morning and she, now aware, very kindly offered to pay for her own but finally we agreed she could buy me a drink when we went to the Theatre on Thursday (I fear I've possibly got the better end of that little financial negotiating...)

Anyway, popping it to wish everyone well - this is so much fun!!

:j

Rafiki_2

Oooh, just to add, out of my £76 a week, I have been puting aside £10pw for my 2008 Christmas fund.

Now in Week Two, that's £20 already banked.
In essence, one whole Christmas present for someone.

That feels amazing!!

:j

*pops off, too chipper for words* :rotfl:

Maybe I should start a wee holiday fund too ...

Penny2myName

nykmedia wrote: »

I was just a bit confused by the entertainment and WoW payments... what's WoW? Wombles of Wimbledon? World of Wildlife? Wonders of Websites? With or Without? Me not know what WoW means, sorry :rotfl:

World of Warcraft, online game, 3 months subscription. Whole family plays it, so i class it as family entertainment.

sweetpea03

morning everyone, hope you all had a good first week

Everyone was out for a few hours yesterday which is really rare here! so I finally got to grips with doing the accounts on this challenge, its all completely new to me so i am quite pleased i finally understand it

My first week ended yesterday so spends for the week were
Food £33.39 ( I split the hamper costs between food & presents)
Electric £30.00 (This is bad I think it was probably more because we were all home, have to get this down or I will fail the challenge )
Presents £11.79

Total £75.08 out of my weekly budget of £94.23

This week I have had to start to transfer the £16.00 a week into the bill account for the phone, tv licence etc to cover the dd at the end of the month so will count it as spent once its transfered. Have to get electric today & have a Tesco order coming tonight (3.99 delivery) for about £37 for staples will have very little left for this week after this, so there will have to be lots of no spend days

I'm going to do a weekly summary on here on Mondays, I'm so glad to have worked the budgetting out

Have a lovely day everyone

fizzel81

Thank you for having me here.

few silly questions as there is alot of posts ive missed but going to try daily to ctah up

how much approx does 4000 work out to be weekly? i work weekly as such as im on benifits and thats how they pay them, i also need to x my childbenifit (im capping mine off at 42 and leaving the pennies behind) for 52 weeks so i can keep better to the challenge.

im looking forward to the idea of having something in my bank account, i would like to learn to drive so if i manage to complete this that should give me a very good chance at this.

not sure what i do when i move time, i have all my furniture but where do i cost the van hire and possible carpets and any decorating from would i need to include this in what i have to budget from?

sorry for the silly questions.

and today i have spent grand total of 4.17 my local shop is very expensive but a bus to town for the few bits i needed is £5.10

flowerofthewest

So - end of week one and I'm doing OK so far.
Have spent £65.88 so far, including £30 put into the bills account as I'm on benefits and therefore have to budget for everything weekly instead of monthly.
Only one snall disaster in 1st week - Virgin applied for £51.10 that I wasn't expecting. Apparently when I moved to cable modem with them instead of getting internet via set-top box they set up separate internet account! No-one had bothered to tell me this, even when I rang to query the next bill I received, just told me amount was right and that was all I had to pay - no mention of new separate billing for internet.
Anyway the DD bounced as no funds in bank to cover (because I didn't know about it!) so will have £30 fee at beginning of next month. I will be writing to Virgin requesting refund but I'm not holding my breath (Virgin has very bad cust svcs and prob won't pay).
However, on the good side, my mobility car has gone back so will soon be receiving money for that into bank account every 4 weeks - this will go straight into savings account.
Fi