2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

Frugaldom

justme111 wrote: »

I see. I've never been in dept up to now and I wish I had not done that in my early twenties. Honest. Homemade vegiies - does count, that's the best! For someone retired having time to lok after home veggies the £4000 may be very reasonable, I was speaking from the working person budget point of view.

I read the above as meaning that you hadn't had any debt up until now, as in, now you have debt. I have homegrown veggies, I cook from scratch and I bake. I have to feed 3 people, I am not retired, I am a 'working person'. Please explain your problem with a £4000 budget?

hopeless_spendthrift

Hey Guys

Just been scanning the posts and noticed the justme111 'debate' and feel compelled to put in my 2penneth... I also am not in my early twenties - almost double that to be precise! And I eat only organic food. Joining this challenge has enhanced my life. I had already committed to buying organic, baking my own cakes because u know exactly what's in them and cutting down on junk snax and trying to encourage my (3) children to choose the healthy option before doing this challenge, but actually committing to the challenge and being careful about how and what I spend the little money I do have coming in, means that I am now actually better able to afford to apply my strongly held principles of choosing to buy and eat more healthily and ethically.
We are all on this challenge for our own reasons and we, each of us, has our own individual goals. By committing to this challenge, these goals can be more easily and quickly realised. I don't see nuffing wrong with that! Rather, I think it is very much a positive step, because all of us, whatever our circumstances, have more control over our lives and are consequently acting more responsibly and maturely (can't vouch for all of us on here on this point mind you! ) with regards to monitoring how our money is spent and on planning for the future.

LollopyBear

I am one of the few in this challenge who counts as being "early twenties" and I am not missing out on anything with keeping within a budget - on the contrary my savings account is growing so fast that as well as being able to afford to rewire our house now, there is also enough to either go on holiday or replace 2 of our windows.

I mostly eat organic/free-range foods, from local suppliers preferably, and this challenge has also meant that I've boosted my veg intake due to the great recipes posted here! I bake my own bread, pizza dough, cakes and biscuits completely now and I really enjoy this. I don't drink that often and my spending downfall in the past was random, impulse purchases such as dvds, games, books etc. Apart from a couple of books I've got rid of these and I don't even miss them! What I really don't miss is the guilt associated with buying products that I don't need, will take up space in my house, and not allow me to do something big because I've frittered the money away on all the small stuff.

I have a husband and a cat and we are planning to have a baby in the next couple of years, and I will hopefully still be on a budget then! I am training to be a teacher so I count myself amongst the "working" but I also take part in the student life at my University including my expensive hobby of playing polo!

I have been enjoying my life far more since this challenge began in Jan because I am now in control of my finances and don't have the guilt of spending on useless stuff hanging over me. I have never been in debt myself (though my husband brought a credit card debt into the marriage) and I am not one to live on takeaways and alcohol. I hate consumerism, but I thought it was inevitable and there was not much you could do to avoid it. I have been happily proved wrong.

I have: reduced my carbon footprint; reduced what goes to landfill; eat better; have money for the larger purchases that are very needed and have been put off for a long time; regained control over my life; increased my happiness.

What is wrong with the above?

Janey51

Good morning.

Following on from the active responses to justme111's comments, I would like to put my twopenn'th in

I am way beyond my 20's.....54 in fact.
If I had trained my brain to think the way I do now about money, I would not have ended up in the situation I am now.

My previous post (that didn't escape Nyk's beady eye ) was very much tongue in cheek.
I was highlighting to myself that I now think very carefully about what I do with my money. I don't regret what I bought but I know that I will have to make a change in another area of my budget to even things out. Not thinking like this and sticking everything on plastic is how we ended up in debt.

We are saving for 2 things

1. To get our garden sorted. Both getting older and DH has bad arthritis so we are wanting to get raised beds put in.
2. DS will be going to New Zealand in the next few years to live so we want money available to go visiting as we will probably be relying on pensions by then and its an expensive holiday

Penny2myName

I cant speak for others, but since I started this challenge back in Jan, it has actually brought back a better family atmosphere to my home. The kids are enjoying having homemade soups and breads. We are all eating together more at the table, and even spending time watching tv for an hour together (i am not a huge tv fan). I recently started a sign language course which gives me an evening of socializing, and kids look forward to me returning home to show them what I have learnt, so then they can try to learn it too. I have bought more exotic food stuff since doing this challenge than ever before. Also for the first time in my life I am ENJOYING cooking. If I had felt that this challenge would have meant living a life of abject misery, I for one would not have done it, instead my life on a whole has improved. In fact there isn't a single area of my life that has not been enhanced by this challenge. Actually I have even been out more to the pub since starting this challenge than I have over the past 12 months, as the budgeting and financial planning has helped to free up more money.

funkyfunkymonkey

Mollymop5 wrote: »

Fantastic thank you.will have to give it a try very very soon Yummm

Make sure you use strong brown flour, I used wholemeal flour and it has not risen as much as I would have expected. Although it is soft inside I needed a jack-hammer to get through the crust.

Not had a taste test yet, smells okay :rotfl:

FFM

elantan

I wrote this reply whilst night shift last night so please forgive if it doesn’t make any sense 2 and a half hours sleep since Friday at 12pm knocks you sideways …

Well that certainly sheds a new light on things, I wont therefore count my work expenses in (will count the £3 for the tea and coffee though). Thankfully we eat a lot of homemade chinese a 20kg bag of rice is £11 (or something close to that) and lasts for months curry paste (big 5kg tub) lasts months as well same goes for noodles and wraps so hopefully food will be okish. I have already discussed with a friend saving money separately for any holidays I plan on going on (am hoping to maybe sneak a wee couple of days to Krakow if possible) this will be done through quidco, bingo and matched betting. So now to figure out what I am going to do…. Monday 11th feb is week 7 of the challenge leaving 45 weeks left of this year ..i think I will aim for half way between the £80 and the £100 and go for £90 a week (this year, hopefully less next year) which leaves me the grand total of £4050 for the remainder of the year or £337.50 a month for b/days, xmas, food, gas, electricity, t.v, additional car expenses trips out ..now I have a present box already which has some stuff in it the only annoying thing is the things I have arn’t suitable for anyone I buy for lol lol lol …anyone wanna swap lol …

Burlesque_Babe

Should be a NSD today.

Whitewing - I'm going to buy a cheap copy of Call Me Elizabeth from ebay fro my holiday. There are a couple of 1p plus postage copies kicking around so hopefully I'll get one of those.

Going to make some flapjacks later.

justme111 - I'm 37. I wish I'd known in my early 20's what I know now. I cooked everything from scratch back then as I do now, but everything had to be Tesco Finest, Sainsburys Posh etc. I'm not quite sure what you are really trying to prove, other than you think everyone ate pies before this challenge.

Living on a budget doesn't have to be hard work - the challenge is part of the fun!

Why don't you join us - share your experiences

funkyfunkymonkey

elantan wrote: »

a 20kg bag of rice is £11 (or something close to that) and lasts for months curry paste (big 5kg tub)

Wow! I bought a 10kg bag and thought that was huge, it was about £15, so yours is great value.

Where do you buy your rice and curry paste from? If you don't mind me asking. Also, please excuse my ignorance, but how do you use curry paste? I use either shop bought curry sauces or make up my own using curry powder.

TIA

FFM

carrottopsuk

I don't see how rationing what you have is at all bad. It seemed to improve the nations health in world war 2. I don't think people here are starving themselves. If they cook from scratch I see it as being healthier than pre-packaged meals which are full of sugars, additives and goodness knows what.

“For many of the poorer sections of the community, rationing introduced more protein and vitamins, while for others it involved a reduction in the consumption of meat, fats, eggs, and sugar.” - World War II Cookbooks: Rationing, Nutrition, Patriotism, and the Citizen Consumer in the United States and Great Britain

One of the surprising effects of food rationing during the war was that it improved the nation's health by encouraging a balanced diet.

http://www.worldwar2exraf.co.uk/Online%20Museum/Museum%20Docs/foodration.html

Also, I cannot see how reducing costs is a bad thing. If people can get better services for less, I think that is great! If people don't buy things that they don't really need, surely it will help the environment. Talking about health, how will global warming impact on people's health and the health of future generations?

People may be on a budget, but it doesn't mean that they are unhappy or aren't spending quality time with their children.