2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

Frugaldom

Update time again :j

I love the term, 'challenge by proxy syndrome' and have now noted it in the same column as 'financial bsessive compulsive disorder' as it must rank on a similar scale. My financial OCD has reached such an extent that I read people's signatures and see if I can round down their debts against their cash pot or coins savings! ROFL I also like the sound of the OH!!! meter, as that's what I'm like when I see the meter whirring round at great speed when the water heater comes on! Aril - you'll need to ask your hubby to do us a chart of how much is used by what, starting with the kettle and the PC Who else has this syndrome? Elantan and Ibex, we can seeeeeeeeee you

Wornoutmumoftwo - you gave me a laugh yesterday when I imagined you running backwards and forwards watching your electricity meter in between switching everything off and then back on agaain one at a time! You should have cheated (of course, umm... I have never, ever done this in my entire life as I'm not that obsessive, err... ok, perhaps, maybe, I might have tried it once... hanging head in shame now). Pour yourself a cuppa and make the kettle the last thing to switch off. Pull up a chair and side table (for your cup, ashtray, notebook and pen) in front of your meter and then send someone else around the house switching everything on whilst you sit and chart the speed of the meter turns. It's a very shocking display, I can tell you, especially when the immersion heater and electric heaters goes on!! Thanks for the link to the shows, I'm sure anyone who managed to miss Martin's Wednesday night slot will be very grateful knowing they can see the reruns on their computer. I didn't know that

Janey51 you sound like you've gone box crazy but it all sounds fun! Or at least it all sounds very, very familiar in a funny sort of way... oops! Snap! LOL Just looking at my own coupons box that I 'rescued'. It was a broken index card holder that the hotel was chucking out, but it glued back together fine. My chocolate box receipt file, sealed house brick and several various boxes for small gifts, freebies etc are all here... oh, dear, it's another money related OCD. Aril, we need a name for this one, too.

Hopeless_Spendthrift - I knew there was nothing hopeless about the way you got involved in this challenge, you are a superstar!! Look at you, all up to date with signature, responding to all the posts, checking out the underafiver site, thinking of selling some homebake and experimenting with the sample soap nuts. And what about the thrill of finding that email for a free sample of fabric conditioner? Wow! I am glowing with pride!

Sweetpea, you are so good at keeping up with everyone, you're like my cyberdoshing wingman on here :rotfl:

Penny2myname - hope you are ok, snuggle up with a duvet, hot drink, painkillers and the PC or laptop

Keren, there's plenty of time to catch up, especially where pressies have been bought, think of how cash conscious we'll all be in November/December when we'll be wondering where to save the balance of what we have left when all the shopping's done.

Halia - well done with the eBay sales! I really must declutter some more and see what I can get rid of before spring.

Georgiasmum - We are all going to have overspend weeks, but that's the nature of keeping to a budget. The weekly amount is just an average amount calculated over an entire year and is based on what we know we are going to have to spend.

Carlsberg - Congratulations on the new car! Don't forget that we don't count car expenses into the 4k if the car is needed for work related purposes.

Anyone who feels they are overspending, you can try keeping a separate note with receipts of everything you spend that wasn't in your original budget. This builds a whole new piece of your financial picture puzzle and lets you see how to adapt your budget for subsequent weeks, months or years. It's easier to look at what you have left out of your budget rather than focus on what you have already spent, as you do not want to reach the stage that come November or December you are looking at having some ridiculous amount left per week to live on... it jjust doesn't work and it is why we neeed to appreciate the impact every single pound spent has on the overall annual budget.

Speaking of overspending, my own personal weekly average is in the midst of a crash diet, so I really do need to watch the meter and keep the electricity use under control as the £4000 is my total budget for the full year. The electricity bill error has cost me more than £10 per week over the full year, so I need to catch up with that somewhere along the line. Overall, the impact of this, along with a credit card bill and the home insurance has had the result of reducing my £76.50 per week to £63.75 (I spent £14.75 today, £7.76 on groceries and £6.99 on a very reduced 3-DVD box set for a gift that isn't needed until May.)

As the weeks and months progress, you will see that it is simple to recalculate your weekly budget to ensure you stay within your annual budget. IF you are doing this challenge using £4000 as your ONLY income then you cannot, and must not, go outside of that for the simple reason that you do not have the funds to cover the extra costs. It would mean incurring debt. This, of course, is what we are trying to avoid at all costs. We want to get rid of all debts and live happily within our means. If you are unable to do that then something, somewhere, has to give. Please use the MSE demotivator tool that can be found at the right hand side of this page listed under 'free tools'. This will let you see how much you are spending per year on non-essentials. Last year, I completed the challenge with only £1.50 to spare. On reflection, cigarettes accounted for more than 10% of my £4000 budget! It's a real eye-opener when you start counting up how much money goes out on non-essentials.

Never lose sight of why you are taking part in this challenge, whatever your reasons may be. It is not a compulsory restriction imposed on your normal spending habits, it is a choice you have freely made. I look on it as a complete lifestyle but I also view it like a hobby; most of my spare time is spent researching how to save a few extra pounds by cutting costs. Like most people, I'm quite obsessive about my hobby. You do not need to become obsessive about this challenge - but it helps:rotfl:

notanothergreyhair

Hey everyone, hope you are all well and not spending any money

Have spent £3.94 today on food and will have to spend a few quid on trains and taxi later Still, I'm having a great day so I'm not going to stress about it.

taka

:wave: Another 'challenge by proxy syndrome' lurker here :rotfl: This thread is way too addictive :T I just confuse myself too much month to month (even week to week:o ) to try to keeping track of my spending for a whole year!! I've got too many pots of savings for XYZ and predicted spends and they never seem to add up! :rotfl:

Frugaldom

You are welcome to 'lurk' as long as you like and feel free to jump in anytime. Sorry you've acquired 'the syndrome' but we'll try our best to make it as pain-free as possible. although... I have heard that it's chronic! :eek:

taka

nykmedia wrote: »

You are welcome to 'lurk' as long as you like and feel free to jump in anytime. Sorry you've acquired 'the syndrome' but we'll try our best to make it as pain-free as possible. although... I have heard that it's chronic! :eek:

:eek: :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl: ... yup... caught it day 1 of this thread...

Janey51

Spent £16.99 on Glucosamine for DH but got 6 mths supply through Quidco with 25% cashback and it was post free. Forgot to check when the cashback is credited but will go into the savings pot!
Have also changed DH's dental insurance over to Tesco. We were both with Denplan but the monthly payments went through the roof this year. I need a lot of dental work:eek: so I am staying with Denplan for now but OH (who doesn't have a lot of problems) should be OK and that is £30 a month cheaper and Clubcard points with a bonus 1200 for signing up. That should translate into £48 of Clubcard offers by my reckoning!

fizzel81

Afternoon all

well another nsd here for me, spent half of it in bed with a headache that didnt want to shift.
boys have now gone with there dad till tuesday and im all packed ready for tomorrow

recieved soapnuts samble today (you have to pay for postage and paypal fee's) and have now got a load of washing on the go, if there good then im all for the change and will be ordering there 500gs bag (which is £7.00) i was slightly unconvinced they could foam up so run one under water (only i would do something as silly as this) and yup they do foam though i cannot call this first wash with them a true idea of how they will work as there will be residue from my normal washing powder.

my big test today will not being doing my normal when the boys are away and ordering in a chinese, ive told myself this weekend comeing will be too big a spend for me to have that tonight so ironing instead.

will play catch up on posts now
Fiona

broke_mum_of_three

Yes yes yes a NSD for me! Only my 2nd from I started:j :j :j :j :j
Checked out the underafiver site, when you google it NKY your post comes up:T , anyhow was getting all carried away outfits for 90p and that, when I checked out the postage which isnt too bad but its mainland UK only, so that rules me out in N.Ireland:mad:

shelovestobuystuff

Please remember that 2008 is a leap year. £4000 over 366 days = £76.50 per week

Edited in - For those participating in the original challenge, £4000 is for EVERYTHING except rent/mortgage, council tax/water rates. Hopefully, this should avoid confusion. Budget wisely and, if all else fails, learn to play 'catch-up' rather than "rob Peter to pay Paul".

The target figure is for essentials and all regular household bills. It does NOT include rent, mortgage payments, council tax or water rates. However, since announcing the challenge, numerous variations appear throughout this thread to reflect individual circumstances. For some, their target does not include repaying debts, essential work related expenses or 'luxury' items such as holidays - that's what everything over the target figure is for. That and, of course, savings.

Set your targets, I can list them here, then from 01/01/08 you deduct your essential spending throughout the year, not forgetting that the amount includes gifts for friends and family for birthdays, Christmas etc.

The Live on £4,000 a year Challenge starts here - have you got what it takes to succeed? The figure was calculated against minimum wage earnings, feel free to join using your own target figure. If you have a family, then you should be in receipt of Family Allowance/Child Benefit, so your target would be £4000 + Child Benefit

We dont have £4,00 left after paying the mortgage,council tax,water rates,gas and elec so I can,t play.

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Ellidee

:hello: Hello from another lurker/follower and occasional pop-er in -er. Well done everyone I couldn't cope with the maths never mind the rest.