2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

brunettegirl

How does this work if the money you earn every month does not cover all bills and debts?
I earn 1,000 a month
My mortgage is 457
My council tax is 90
Water 25
Elec 30 (but in debt by 150)
Gas 50 but in debt by 200
Insurance 41
Car loan 139
Car ins 71
Credit card 200 (min 30)
Credit card 350 (Min 30)
Double glazing 4,600 (min 20)
Food and petrol 80

I can't remortgage as I did recently to get a fixed rate - so tied in for 2 years.

Any ideas would be greafully recieved, Im trying to sort a weekend job, but my current employers are not happy about it as they like me to do occasional overtime for them....

I haven't had a holiday in over 5 years, i shop for clothes in charity shops, ity woud be nnice not to have to worry about money or feel guilty for meeting a friend for coffee.....

HELP!

Burlesque_Babe

Hi brunette girl, might be worth starting a thread off of your own so all the peeps on DFW can help you find the best solution.

skintwellie

:kisses: Hugs and kisses to you all. I have been reading through all of the posts and am amazed at all of your resourcefulness.
Thank you to frugalmum for explaining about how to use the soapnuts correctly. I have to admit I still haven't used them, but am going to try and use them for the pet towels and bedding next weekend.
Like whitewing I have been shopping without money. I used my points, coupons and vouchers and came home with several bags of free shopping. I combined this trip with collecting Entry Forms for several competitions, so hopefully I will be lucky.
Thank you to mortgagefreeforme for the tip regarding getting a higher yield of potatoes. I have a potato barrel already, so will be growing my own this year. Our council has gone over to wheelie bins, so I am going to drill holes in my own plastic dustbins and grow carrots and garlic.
My man took me out to lunch the other day (it was lovely). It was near W******e and I went in to look at the half price veg. My favourite aplles had been reduced to 49p for 4. I picked up all of the packets when my conscience said that it was a bit greedy! So I put one back. I bought several other items off the reduced shelf plus a free range chicken for only £2.00. I cooked alongside a bolognese sauce in the oven and used the breast for 2 lots of sarnies, make a chicken and veg pie and made soup with the carcass.

I really admire those of you who are undertaking this challenge on far less than me(£5.000 per year) cos I'm really struggling. I am £175 over budget this month (due to vet's bill for mog, bailing out daughter at uni and son's unexpected school trip). This breaks down to a new weekly total of £82.00 a week for 3 of us at home, occasional meals shared with my darling bloke, and meals for my daughter at uni when she comes home. How do you all appear to manage on a lot less than this???

Frugaldom

Hi Brunette girl, I'd second Keren's suggestion as this would make a great thread and there are so many people in a similar situation. I think you need to look at how your earnings are made up and make sure you are in receipt of any extra benefits you may be entitled to, plus check with HM Customs & Excise to find out if you are entitled to any tax credits. If you live alone, then you should be getting the single residency discount on Council Tax and then, if it was me, I'd need to look carefully at the prospect of getting a lodger if you have a spare room, and if it was worthwhile running a car.

Hope some of this helps and I'll be interested in reading your thread. Just go to the main Debt Free Wannabee section and click on 'start new thread' at top left of page. Good luck and feel free to pop in here any time. I'm assuming you also have a home phone & Internet access to pay from that as well, so you could join in the earning extra from home type threads too. They are always jam-packed with ideas.

Frugaldom

skintwellie wrote: »

How do you all appear to manage on a lot less than this???

Trial and error plus loads of practice? Mine also includes numerous uses of the phrase, "It's that or nothing". :rotfl: I just hope I can make it through this year with so many things increasing in price. Time will tell and it's fun waiting to find out how the year goes Is my life sad, or what? Today I was happy because my £6.50 sack of Maris Pipers had 25kg in it and I'd convinced myself it was only 20kg. I feel like someone just gave me 5kg of spuds for free. And my free sample of Nivea arrived, along with a free book for DGD and a few free samples of cocoa butter, shea butter and some sort of natural soap. And Argos delivered my friend's order, so I got my mega-cheap electric blender (treated myself, as I am underbudget on the groceries this month). And basically, fugal living is extremely obsessive and addictive and makes you much happier to live on a tight budget knowing that emergencies are covered (or will be) by the savings made. :T

PS: I think you sound as if you are doing extremely well and am convinced that you are well and truly hooked as a frugalite

slowlyfading

updated my sig spent £11.41 today at Asda that should last me for the week, hopefully! Seems like I've spent loads already, but I'm sure it'll even out over the next few months.
Hope everyone's having a good day! x

Prudent

This thread is huge now. Lovely to see so many people joining in and sharing their tips.

I have just added my january spend up as my pay is due in. It actually took a while to do as I had to go through my bank account an excluded money transferred to savings (which also included lots of little amounts as I use the lloyds save the change scheme), allowables like my commuting and daughter's commuting, union fees and council tax. I was really pleased to find that after taking the 'allowables' out I had only spent £390.22 this month I must have been hibernating. I did have a puncture a few weeks ago which added £50 to the total too, so a good month.

Just off to update my sig

Last week I had a letter to say I have won an organic veggie box once a week for three months, so that should help nicely.

Frugaldom

Prudent, that is a fantastic win! Think of the savings!! Well done. And just while I'm reading your sig, 2007 wins - £3177.80? :T :T :T

Maybe I need to start trying some comping but I never seem to win anything. I am managing to get a few more free samples through nowadays, however, so maybe my luck has changed? :rotfl:
It's the end of week 4 (TODAY!! :j ) Only 48 weeks and 2 days left to go and my weekly average has been slashed from £76.50 to £67.38 because of the silly electricity bill. However, I have paid the house insurance in full for 12 months, paid off the £450+ balance from underestimated electricity bills since moving house, cleared off the small balance on a credit card, got quite a few pressies in for the coming year and managed to save 28 days worth of cigarette money from quitting on New Year's eve.

Any time you feel in despair of failing to meet targets, just pour yourself a cuppa, have a seat and count back the weeks to see how much you have achieved. It doesn't matter if you can't see a pile of cash savings yet, just keep a note of everything so you can see that it IS making a difference :beer:

For anyone new to the boards here, I thought the following might help, especially if you are also taking part in the grocery challenges. I've added a link to the appropriate section of MSE so just click the schedule to go to the right page and read more.

georgiasmum

I have some fantastic news!!!!!!!!! I had an interview about 2 weeks ago for a revision course tutor and heard nothing so I assumed the worst. It was well paid £550+ for a weeks worth of tutoring so well worth it. Anyway, I not only got the job today but was offered the post Director of Studies - an enormous pay rise and fantastic opportunity!!! I cannot believe it. She said she was so impressed with me that she decided to not offer it internally but to moi!!! Just the boost to my fragile self esteem that I needed. Wa Heeeyyyyyyy!!!!!!!

Ellidee

:T Wow well done Georgiasmum that's brilliant. Well done you ! :T