2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

DdraigGoch

Thanks for that *sigh of relief* I buy meat by the whole animal usually - apart from cattle, of course. Them I buy by the quarter, got two quarters ... :rotfl: Let's hope the electricity bill gets paid reliably;)

hypno06

Not a good day for me today. My spending consists of the following:

Diagnostic test for the car £10.00
Petrol £15.00
Coffee and a twix £1.20
Prescription charge £6.85
Reduced Xmas gifts for 2008 £3.96
Supermarket £12.82
Fish & Chips (only for the kids, not for me) - TBC (DS has gone on his bike to get them and not back yet).

Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit better. I know this is not counting for the purposes of the challenge, but I am trying to get into the swing of things so I can go into the new year well prepared!!

Frugaldom

Oh! LOL I did that too! I spent some of this year's surplus on next year's pressies when I saw the 'up to 80% off' ad for Play.com LOL

I'm not worrying about the next 10 days' spending so long as it's within my current year budget. 1st January is a whole new year and best to leave it at that whilst the madness of the coming week unfolds.

Today was a NSD other than the courier costs for items sold on eBid, P&P paid by the buyer, so it doesn't count

shazrobo

think i'd like to join this challenge. mine will be higher because i have two disabled sons so the car is a necesity. need to work out a budget first then i will post back

1274

Can I have a joining number too please. I need to do this challenge to meet my MFIT goal of reducing my mortgage to £50000 by 2010

Frugaldom

Welcome on board the good ship 'Frugalite', Shazrobo and 1274!
I'll add your names and you can get back to us with your target figures before 01/01/08. The list of numbers is at post 1 of this thread.

1274

Great. My target is £4000 (£1200 of which is supermarket stuff, £1200 clothing and personal care, £1200 holidays and £400 going out). Because I'm going to be working this challenge with a cash budget (apart from supermarket and holidays) this doesn't include travel to work costs, mobile phone or house expenses like insurance, TV licence and utilities. Still be a real challenge tho.

Frugaldom

Just wondering, is anyone else going to be comparing notes on here?I don't mind keeping mine up to date but if I get really stuck and need something I can't really afford as a necessity, it'll be handy to find the solution in the MSE forums I've started checking the cupboards and am pretty well stocked in toiletries and cleaning products because of all BOGOF offers tha I take advantage of. I'll also be doing a shared shop (these are great fun!) now and again when 2 of us go shopping and buy identical basics and grab all the BOGOF bargains we can. Some visits during 2007 we ONLY bought BOGOF offers, meaning half price shopping December is a fairly good month because the Co-op dividends get paid out and they also send you vouchers. In total, I've had £18 of freebies this month, so with that and the BOGOF offers, and the 3 for £5 offers, the Christmas & New Year's dinners have cost me nothing

mini_huny_money

DdraigGoch wrote: »

Right, *nervous gulp*, I'm in. Please can I have an official number. I'll share it with my OH whom I'm trying to get to look in here and join in..... fingers crossed. To be fair though, work's system isn't keen on MSE, keeps blocking it for some reason, hey ho.

I'm working on £4,000 total spend for food, presents and holidays. If I can include anything else I shall - I too shall attempt to do the signature thing

Best of luck to us all

DG

ps does it count that I already have 2 freezers full of food? plus I always keep my larder fairly well stocked? Or do I have to "buy" this from myself? Opinions please, thank you.

2 freezers full of food.....am so jealous......Ive got a freezer thats so empty at the minute except for ice, that the winter olympic toboggan team could quite happily practice on......freezer defrosting as we speak in anticipation of the goodies being bought early on Sunday morning

DdraigGoch

Thanks for the advice. I've included holidays in the £4K as it'll be our honeymoon. We were married in September and haven't been able to take our honeymoon this year, so I am including it as a necessity I do have £100 of travel vouchers as a wedding present, plus some others, how would you suggest that I deal with them in the scheme of this £4K/annum?