2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

Chaddee

Yeah, why not I actually really am not paying for rent/council tax/bills through my salary - it's a bit odd, but basically it's what I'm not paying that makes the difference...! I get paid extra for being live in staff (extra responsibilities etc) but then I also get the accommodation (including food if I want it) for free. I reckon it's worth about £10k a year in stuff I'm not paying for...if that makes sense!

If I can do it again for another year and carry on saving the way I have been then hopefully I'll have a very plush wedding in the summer

Frugaldom

Chaddee wrote: »

If I can do it again for another year and carry on saving the way I have been then hopefully I'll have a very plush wedding in the summer

Ooooh that would be great if you managed that! You'll get plenty of support here to keep you on the tight budget track. Everyone is brilliant here and even Dithering Dad is helping out with some great info for us (Thanks DD )

I've updated post 1 and you are number 39 in the challengers' list. Welcome on board

87p

Nyk...

If I had an artistic bone in my body I would...maybe I should go over to the sealed pot challenge and offer the used magazines to the highest bidder... ooo I've got an empty loo roll too.. how much do you think I could get for that? :-)

87

Frugaldom

87p - I'd offer the spare loo roll tube to theunknownstuntman 'cos his pig had an accident that left it three-legged temporarily LOL

shell37_2

Hi everyone
Glad I'm not the only one wondering how I'll start & finish (hopefully) this challenge!:rotfl: :rotfl:

Am fascinated by the earlier discussion re pension/WTC, this sounds like something worth investigating..............:D I don't have a pension so far (my boss is wanting us all to have one as part of our wage rise in April 08) Must look into this asap.

Want to make 2008 the year I clear my debt and put the excellent MSE tips into practise! Are we going to update each other how we are doing with this challenge? (I'll need all the help I can get! )

chriz1000

Right I’m going to give this a try as I’m just buying my first home
Mortgage (including overpayments) £1600 a month
Water bill £26 a month
Council Tax £140 a month
Net pay £33,000
So potentially I could save over £8000 if I stick to the rules, following this topic closely
I’m planning on selling my car, as I’m about to move less than a mile away from my workplace! I have no dependents, my girlfriend pays her way, so as long as I’m careful it certainly looks possible.

bigbullyweedave

Been following this thread with interest and I'm up for it!

Pay £950 each month into a joint account to cover my part of our Direct Debits and it breaks down roughly as:

£700 for mortgage & Council Tax DDs

£250 for all other DDs (phone - mobile/BT/one tel, gas/electricity, tv license, insurance - home/car/life, internet, sky, union fees, football season ticket, AA). So £250x12=£3000

My other regular monthly outgoings are on food shopping and running a car. Plus anything I need on clothes, holidays (short breaks), presents etc. For all of this I'll give myself another £250x12 = £3000.

So my overall target is £6000.

Not quite as hardcore as others I'm afraid but a realistic goal for me!

Looking forward to this :cheesy:

always_amazed

hey bigbullyweedave!

I'm on this challenge too (and a fellow scot, though ex edinburgh and now country bumkin!!)

I think in the original post nk says that we don't need to include holidays in this, that things like that come out of the 'savings' made by only living on the £4k (or 5 or 6..!) and that your amount need only be for essentials.

I'm looking forward to it too, see you along the way!!

affordmylife

I am seriously interested in being frugal for 2008 but i just dont know where to begin...

I have me, hubby, five kids and a dog to keep.

We already follow loads of old style and frugal ways but there is always room for improvement.

How do you keep track of it.

Hubby pays mortgage and all bills except sky £21, sofa repayments £38 and pet insurance £7 which i pay for. So out of my £4000 do i pay sky, sofa and pet insurance anything else that we need up to £4000. So thats food, dog expenses (minimal i hope), clothes, trips treats etc.

Does hubby then do what he likes with his money ( he has plenty!!!) or is his money supposed to be in this too?

He could just carry on as normal and im doing this or should i just not bother. We have no debt and are quite comfortable (we both work) but i would like to overpay the mortgage. Any advise?

Protogenia

Good day all

Having sorted out our finances and I have worked out, that to live on £4500 a year (excluding mortgage etc) I have £61.50 to spend per week after gas, electric and phone (I have budgeted £25 per week for those three utilities). So I am aiming for £30 per week groceries and the other £31.50 for xmas 2008, pet food, hard wear, electronics, repairs, dentists, prescriptions, toiletries, gifts, mags & newspapers, clothes, nights out & entertainment, petrol, bus fayres & travel, car tax...can't fink of anything else.

So things will be tight, but a whole load of fun...I am looking forward to being more financially savvy next year.
I have started already by knocking Warbutons bread on the head, it's £1.25 for a loaf up here (East Yorkshire) and gorgeous though it is I cannot justify £8.75 of my weekly budget on it. I have been checking out the cheaper breads and have found Asda's Smart Price bread to be only 37pence a loaf and doesn't taste half bad.
As I am dieting also I will be eating alot less bread anyway so I am aiming to buy 6 loaves a week for the boys instead of usual 7.

37pence x 6 = £2.22 so that's a saving of £6.53 a week OR £339.56 a year

What have you all decided to cut back on?

Have a snuggly Sunday

Genia X x