2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

Mollymop5

skintwellie wrote: »

:T

Mollymop5 here is the recipe for the Lentil and Potato Bake (I don't usually measure anything, so have given approximate measurements).

Thank you.I love lentils can't wait to try it

mini_huny_money

Rafiki wrote: »

Hi All! :j

Well, it happened again.
An impromptu lunch - and therein another unbudgetted expense :eek: :rotfl:
Still, she ate heartily, looked happy and somewhere, somehow (cue Barbara Streisand) I'll claw it back.

Already damned tomorrow - unexpected 'business' lunch - just not business-y enough to put on company expenses.
Then early evening cocktails with family member (although I've sourced a bar doing superb cocktails at 1/2 price! :rotfl:)
Then dinner with lover.
Then theatre.
Then after-theatre drinks. (Lover's buying 1 of them)
Tomorrow stands a good chance of wiping out my weekly budget in a day (easily)
.
Am I down about it?
Am I stressed?

No.
Life does this sometimes and the fun I'll have over the next few weeks trying to figure out how to bring it all back into balance is exhilarating! :rotfl:

Keep on keeping on, all - and HUGE hugs to those who had a tough day today. Personally I think that's great 'cause somewhere something has gotta give and the good's gotta come round! :rotfl:

Plus, who ever said the right way was the easiest way? Personally, I've often found the right way is the way that challenges us the most, the path that helps us grow and right when you think you've hit a brick wall, voila, if you keep on going, something shifts!
Just like when we all found MSE :j

Rafiki.... I love your posts, you sound so laid back and cool

Rafiki_2

mini_huny_money wrote: »

Rafiki.... I love your posts, you sound so laid back and cool

Secret for you - I didn't used to be but yep, these days (and for about the last 20 years) I'm the happiest person I know :j ('cept realising it's nigh on 20 years has just reminded me how old I am :rotfl: )

Thank you for the very lovely comment

Night, night.

Frugaldom

Good evening all. I watched 'It Pays to Watch' and quite enjoyed it, especially the part about the final mortgage payments. Hmm... I wonder...

Anyway, back to basics and apologies if you have read the following already. I edited a post on the first page to squeeze it in there as well.

I'm still being asked the question, why £4000? So I'm going to try to explain, again, how I can arrive at that figure. I compared several very different lifestyles (some time ago), such as the following:

Lifestyle 1
Couple with 2 of a family, husband works full time on a salary of £30,000 and wife is a full time mother/homemaker (not sure what the politically correct term for this category is any more!)
Total income approx £452 per week including Child Benefit.

Mortgage & Buildings insurance - £740 per month = £170 per week
Council Tax/Water - £125 per month = £24 per week
2 cars, both on HP - £300 per month = £70 week
2 x road tax, insurance, servicing, petrol/diesel etc = £270 per month = £62 week
Credit cards - £100 per month = £23 week
Bank loan - £100 per month = £23 week
Total expenditure before actual living expenses - £372 per week
Balance to live off - £80 for everything else (£4171 per year)

Lifestyle 2
Couple with 2 of a family, husband works full time, wife part time, joint salary of £18,000 plus Child Benefit.
Total income approx £300 per week including Child Benefit

Mortgage & Buildings insurance - £303 per month = £70 week
Council Tax/Water - £100 per month = £23 week
Home Improvement loan - £266 per month = £61 week
Credit Cards - £100 per month = £23 week
Other debts - £100 per month = £23 week
Car - road tax, insurance, servicing, fuel etc - £100 per month = £23 week
Total expenditure before actual living expenses - £223
Balance to live off - £77.00 for everything else (£4015 per year)

(There is a slight difference in today's figures in that both of the above would now qualify for Child Tax Credits - I checked online for amounts.
Family one would be entitled to about £130 per year
Family 2 would be entitled to about £878)

It didn't really seem to matter what the annual income was, there always seemed to be a significant difference in the way that income was spent. As another example, a single professional person earning £52,000 a year may well only have £4000 to actually live off after paying the upkeep of a rather spectacular house complete with tennis court, swimming pool, fast car, regular entertaining, foreign holidays and paying for the resident gardener and housekeeper. No matter what your income bracket, we could all be in the exact same boat. Fortunately, we have the freedom to choose how we stay afloat. No matter what you do or how you do it, you are always going to have to pay the cost of living. If you can reduce the cost of living and clear off ALL debts, then think of the fun you can have from thereon in.

I'd love to reduce my overall cost of living to £10 per day over the coming year (£3660) and my main motivation for this is to save every penny I can towards living debt free in a mortgage free house.

Budget to within an inch of your life and see just how much it costs you to live. You can see by the above how I arrived at the £4000 and, hopefully, this will make things a little clearer for our newest members rather than having to scroll through about 75+ pages of posts

Thank you to every single one of you for helping make my year 2 a very, very exciting prospect and I really do hope you will stick around to see this challenge through to a successful conclusion for 2009.

Week one has passed, we are moving on, learning as we go, adjusting our budgets accordingly, but always with the same goal in mind. Don't lose site of those goals - ensure you have something that reminds you what they really are.

catznine

Just spent £7 on soap nuts after watching Lillibet on "It pays to watch"! But it should save me a fair bit on detergent over the year which OH was becoming allergic to anyway!

Made a Nasi Goreng this week which nicely used up the last of the ham and the oddments of veg still lurking, fed us for 2 days!

(((hugs))) to Mumzyof2 and fizzel81

Thanks for that link re frontline Aril! :T

Well back to work tomorrow, will put a bolognaise sauce into the slow cooker while i am out so we won't be tempted to get a take away if I am too tired! Might light a couple of candles for the table so we can save on electricity bill!;)

Catz x

mumzyof2

where did you get the soap nuts from? isnt it cheaper to buy own brand washing poweder? if you oh wasnt allergic to it? how many soap nuts did u get? i watched the prog too i loved it!

catznine

Hope this works!


This is the link I followed from the thread on old style Quoting here:
Soapnut shell are economical (from only 3 pence a wash compared to 25 pence for a standard non-bio)
They leave your laundry fresh, clean and soft eliminating the need for softeners.
Because they are natural and chemical free they are gentle on your skin and clothes. Suitable for sensitive skin, allergy and eczema sufferers.

Soapnuts are amazingly economical at just
£7.00 for 500 grams including p+p
producing up to an astounding 300 washes
and £4.00 for 200 grams including p+p
for up to 150 washes
(figures based on using 6 half shells 4 times)


http://www.inasoapnutshell.com/

As the cheapest washing powder is about £1.20 a box and we are all allergic to that so a good quality one would probably cost me about £5 for a months supply!
£7 of soapnuts should last 300 washes so about 10 months of 1 wash load a day roughly!

Frugaldom

Thank you for the soap nuts link, that's BRILLIANT! I do about 3 or 4 washes a week, so could probably get away with ordering 200g. Total cost for a full year's washing - £4!!!! WOW! Gone soapnut shopping :beer:

mini_huny_money

catznine wrote: »

Just spent £7 on soap nuts after watching Lillibet on "It pays to watch"! But it should save me a fair bit on detergent over the year which OH was becoming allergic to anyway!

Made a Nasi Goreng this week which nicely used up the last of the ham and the oddments of veg still lurking, fed us for 2 days!

(((hugs))) to Mumzyof2 and fizzel81

Thanks for that link re frontline Aril! :T

Well back to work tomorrow, will put a bolognaise sauce into the slow cooker while i am out so we won't be tempted to get a take away if I am too tired! Might light a couple of candles for the table so we can save on electricity bill!;)

Catz x

Hi Catz will be really interested to see how you get on with the soap nuts........have heard dffering things bout them....theres a thread somewhere on OS........dont know how to put links in.... if anyone can help ....pleezzz


edit to say....sorry should read to the end of a thread before posting.........

Frugaldom

Hi Mini, to add a link just highlight the text, click on the little blue globe/paperclip icon above and then paste the url into the popup box. I've made a very rash decision this evening and have gone and ordered £4 worth of soap nut shells. The site is also offering free samples if you don't mind paying the P&P of 75p via PayPal or sending stamped addressed envelopes. Will let you all know how they work out - something else to look forward to this weekend. Oh, how the simple things can give such pleasure