2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

bails

Poorandindenial, you're not trespassing, we love to have people 'popping in' to say Hi and let us know how the challenge is helping them - we'd love to offer you a cuppa and a slice of cake but well, it would eat into our budget
Nice to hear about exes who can stay friendly, must make life so much easier.
DFW844, reaching your halfway milestone is definitely a great incentive, hope you make it!:T
The 'only spending on DD days' could be a little challenging, in that ours come out on 1st/6th/11th/13th - okay for the start of the month but the second half could get a little dicey...Not sure OH would handle no fresh veg in the house for that long, but if I could change one of my DDs to later in the month, it might be doable...*thinking cap on* won't do it if it means v busy days on those days though, need to spread my energy out but defintiely worth entertaining the idea
OH may be about to blow my NSDs as he has found 4kg of cat food for £6 :T I think this might be worth sacrificing my 5th day for, we'll see if it's still there when I get to the shop.

dfw844

nykmedia wrote: »

:j :j :j Isn't this exciting? They are starting to talk about THE Budget! Wonder what the Chancellor is going to hit us with this time... anyone want to start guessing? (Cigs and Alcohol not available options as they are foregone conclusions).

Now, when is the Budget and WHO IS THE CHANCELLOR??
I didn't claim to actually KNOW anything about government and politics, only how THE budget affects MY budget. :rotfl:

And do I remember that last year he announced changes to PAYE income tax that will be effective from 5th April this year? I think they are getting rid of starting rate relief (10% on the first few grand you earn over your tax-free allowance) and lowering the basic rate from 22% to 20%?

I think I worked out that (bizarely for a labour government) you only benefitted if you earned over a certain amount, and the more you earn, the more you benefit.

Anyone know more about this than me? (Believe it or not I manage our payroll, but I haven't got round to thinking about 08/09 yet).

Frugaldom

Next year's basic allowance before tax will be £5435 (approx £104/week), a slight increase, but they have abolished the 10% rate in favour of the (reduced) lower rate of 20%. The lower earnings rate for National Insurance has also been increased slightly to £90/week.

What it means to a serious 4k frugalite

An income of less than £90 per week will attract NO DEDUCTIONS for tax or National Insurance. If you are employed, then that's about 16 hours per week on the national minimum wage for over 22's (currently £5.52). If you are self-employed, then there's no saying how many hours you work to make that.

On the bright side, £90 per week is just over £4,690 and our budget is £4,000 (£76.50 per week)... so it is not that difficult to cover the cost of frugal living once all the debts are gone. I think it's safer to voluntarily pay the minimum NI stamp even if you're exempt, though I can't remember why. A wise money man told me that some time ago.:o

(Sorry to go off topic a bit, but I am assuming that this is what the Freegans mean when they talk about working for free (or very little) and not paying taxes. I mean, they had to be at the beck and call of a production company and camera crew for 10 weeks and TV isn't based on minimum wages. Last time I worked on a set it was £120 a day, so times that by however number of freegans appeared and that's an entire year's allowance for 4k frugalites Did the Freegan thread get deleted? )

This link has all the relevant financial info you could need.

poorandindenial

nykmedia wrote: »

Everyone is always welcome here, even if they end up leaving with a flea in their ear. :rotfl: I like reading the 'member by proxy' posts and lurker posts - we all know you're frugalites in disguise but want to shift the debts or up the savings before you commit to this challenge officially.
Oooh... someone could always set up another thread alongside this for the "dummyrunners" (no offence meant) ... like a training camp for the 4k frugalites. :T

None taken, I like the idea of a training camp and love the idea of being called a dummyrunner (I am odd like that:rotfl:), given my situation it seems kind of apt. Thank you for the warm welcome:D and we all need a flea in our ear from time to time. I am not dooing TOO badly at the mo, I am still finalising the rules in my head but I have spent in between £590 and £760 since the start of this year depending on the how I interpret the rules - I need to revisit the first post and work out what is in and what is out. Room for much improvement but a dramatic difference to my old lifestyle so feeling pretty good about it.

nykmedia wrote: »

Poorandindenial & DFW844 - I am WELL impressed by your debt clearances! :T :T

Thank you very much, sometimes it feels a bit drop in the ocean so thank you for reminding me that it is all adding up and taking me closer to dfd - although I know I can do better and will have to if I am going to hit the pay £20k by xmas target;).

poorandindenial

Oh dear, I really am a 'dummyrunner' in my mind more stuff was left out than council tax, rent/mortgage and water rates. Ho hum, well in that case I have deffo spent £760 figure. I also haven't been including travel as it is non-optional to get to work and the £90 comes out of my salary before I get it. I think I will stick to my 'take out £70 on Thurday and that will have to do me for the week' scheme until I graduate from training camp.

Frugaldom

Don't forget that non-optional work related expenses aren't included

poorandindenial

nykmedia wrote: »

Don't forget that non-optional work related expenses aren't included

Ah, makes sense, Phew or my £70 a week would have dropped to £55!!!

Right time to work out how I will tackle the Jan/Feb overspend

EDIT: have just rechecked the rules [again, am clearly a bit slow] and brilliantly my lower figure of £590 applies as the other bits are from my specially designated luxuries budget (£70 per month) that I put aside to pay for holidays and treats like going to gigs and stuff. Sorry to be slow, got it now (I have been reading this since the begining but I guess I got lost in the quagmire of confusion in the early days (ie first 4 pages)

grandma247

Hi everyone
i have just got through all the posts again. I have a recipe for washing powder that I make myself. I have been using it for months and our clothes are clean and smell fresh so I thought i would give you the recipe for those who can't get soapnuts.
1 bag washing soda 54p
1/2 bag borax from Wilkinson 80p for a full 500g box.
2 bars soap from a 3 pack at Morrisons for 16p (bettabuy beauty soap)
3 scoops tesco stain remover bought at home bargains for 50p a tub (optional)
Grate the soap or put it through your food processor and mix together with the other ingredients.
use 1-2 scoops (Scoop from the stain remover tub)
If anything is really dirty soak it overnight first.
This amount lasts me around 2 weeks for 3 adults and 1 child.

slowlyfading

This is my 6th NSD in a row! :j:j:j:j:j sorry, got a bit excited there. :rolleyes::o well anyway, I think I'm doing quite well! Wonder if I can make it a week? Don't need anything drastic, so I could probably manage tomorrow as well. i'm going to try anyway!!

CharliesAngel

nyk - bet it's painful buying real milk! do you dilute it? you can get away with diluting half without being able to tell the difference in coffee/tea/on weetabix lol.. i buy a 4 pinter sometimes and put a a pint in a two pinter carton and fill it up, put another pint in a two pinter carton and fill it up... and fill the original up lol... i then put the 2 x two pinters in the freezer.. :rolleyes: