2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

sharronloves2spend

oooh.... i love being a member by proxy.... i am a closet frugalite(in training)!!! i read this thread everyday and love all your humour. The nuns knickers made me nearly wet mine:rotfl: And i love the idea of living in a bunker.....love to you all sharron

Frugaldom

CharliesAngel wrote: »

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:

I've been buying both whole milk and semi-skimmed milk for the past few years and it was getting ridiculous. When the bread prices doubled, it meant that bread and milk alone could cost almost £20 per week and I had to draw a line at that! :eek: So I've been experimenting with powdered milk and have now discovered the levels of acceptance within the household. Real milk needed for cereals only and I can manage the rest with the powdered variety. I just can't warrant spending a fortune on bread and milk when we really do need to save to find a permanent residence. Renting is OK, but short term assured tenancies take their toll after so many housemoves. You never know when a landlord is going to change their mind and sell up!
I will try freezing some whole milk and see if anyone grumbles. I've now started keeping a 2 litre carton in the fridge filled with the mixed powdered milk, ready for sauces, coffee, tea, milk puddings etc. This has made a huge difference to the budget and this is just the first month. If I come in within my reduced budget, the only major change I've made is in cutting down on real milk. Fingers crossed

Janey51

Jumble-Bee I would love to join you on the "spend no more" challenge but I have a DD for electric coming out on the 21st. Good thing is that next month, the electric will have reduced from £61 to £27 :T Result :T

Nyk that is such a good idea about increasing the number of NSDs we have during the month. As nearly all my DDs & SOs come out at he beginning of the month and that is when I do the big shop, I will have to look at this change of tactics.

Keeping a spending diary has helped me see the pattern of spending I have. Although I usually manage to combine grocery shopping with doing other jobs there are times when the system fails.
If I could get everything done in a couple of trips, this probably won't save me any money as I will miss out on bargain buys from end of date items, but it will save me time...a very valuable commodity.:D

Burlesque_Babe

Morning all, I might be able to have a second NSD in a row! I've only got enough cordial for 1 more glassful and although I have water during the day anyway, OH likes to have cordial with his dinner - or beer - and there isn't any of that at the moment until the homebrew is ready next month!

My free bread from yesterday is still going strong and I'll wait until tomorrow to blitz I think as there is definitely another day of life to it.

Cold today, i've got my feet on a hot water bottle.

slowlyfading

this will be my 7th NSD in a row if I can manage it had a look in the cupboads and don't have much food left, but I'm going to wait til friday to go food shopping. So, if I don't take my purse with me today, I'll have no money to spend and therefore it should be a NSD!
I'm getting some results back at 12:30PM today and am SO nervous it isn't funny

1274

Seeking your support in giving myself a well-needed kick up the backside. My "spending sins" during February include: 3x bought lunches, 5x bought coffees, 1x very expensive train ticket (because I advance bought a ticket and then wanted to change the dates - stoopid me!), 1x bottle of wine and a huge blowout on the grocery spend!

Anyone else notice a link between the number of posts they make and whether they keep to the challenge? I didn't post much this month and look what's happened!

bails

Slowlyfading, good luck with your results, I hope they are okay x You can do a NSD, a whole NSW will be fantastic!
JumbleBee, I can't have a no spend for the rest of the month yet, although I will have a look at things and see if we can manage it after tomorrow.
The nurse had real trouble getting blood out of me this morning (it's been like that since I've been ill, used to pour out of me ) so I am a pin cushion There wasn't enough to fill all 3 phials so two of them only have a little bit in, I hope it's enough as I can't afford to pay for the tests again :eek: Got away without having to pay for my blood to be taken though :T
Hmm, now what shall I do with my day?...
1274, here you go, have a kick up the backside from me, hope that helps! I post here every day so can't help you on that, although saying that, when I don't post regularly for other challenges I lose my way too! Posting regularly will help all of us so do come on here more.

Frugaldom

Good luck Slowlyfading! Hope the tests come back OK

BAILS, I can't believe how extreme your Frugalitis has become - I've never heard it progress to the stage of refusing to part with money and blood!! :eek: Hppe you're not too pin cushion like - think of the heat loss through those gaps! :rotfl:

1274 - I'm sure there's a direct co-relation between times spent posting and not-posting. I am guaranteed NOT to spend any money whilst sitting typing in the MSE forums - can you tell how hard I've been trying not to spend?

On a completely different note - I was taking part in the Freegan discussion forum after, I think, Keren posted a link to it. Anyhow, I have been totally dismayed by it and see that the entire thread has now been deleted by the forum police. I don't want to take our 'living on 4k' thread off topic, but I think this is relevant to anyone living on a budget, regardless of what their budget is. If your earnings are insufficient to warrant paying tax, or if you are in receipt of working/child tax credits, child benefit etc to the tune of an amount more than the tax you pay, does that make you someone who is 'sponging from the taxpayer'? If you are a high earner married to a non-tax payer and offset your tax liabilities against your wife (or husband) and stash the remainder of your income into a pension plan, thus avoiding paying the income tax, does that mean you are sponging from the taxpayers? Or if you are self-employed and literally don't earn enough to be pay tax, but can live on less than the £5000+ PER PERSON allowance, does that mean you are sponging off the taxpayer? and finally, if you are unemplyed for whatever reason and in receipt of benefits, but choose to 'work on the side' and not declare your income, does that mean you are 'sponging off the taxpayer'? And should any of the above types have access to national health services or free schooling for their families? I'm really sorry that this is such a long-winded post, but my longterm ambition is to be able to live as frugally as possible and be happy to be 'self-sufficient' in the finances department - but the amount won't be enough to pay tax and I choose to buy produce that is zero rated as far as VAT is concerned. Will that mean that I am not contributing to society and, as such, will be classed as 'sponging off the tax payer' if I needed emergency hospitalisation? As a frugal, eco-friendly wannabe, am I heading down the same path as Freegan Sue, albeit without the dedication to a specific set of religious beliefs? Will society condem any of us who succeed longterm in this challenge?

OK, ponderings over... except I can't help but keep wondering, especially as I was a stay at home wife/mother for years and never paid tax during that time. Help! I don't want to be treated that way just because I can live on less than the Government says is taxable.

Hardup_Hester

My ex has in excess of £300k in savings in offshore accounts, he runs his business at a 'loss' & he claims benefit. That's what I call sponging off the tax payer!
Hester

whitewing

Part of the trouble I have with regard to money is what is 'morally acceptable', and I used to ask myself similar questions to those posted by Nyk above.

I know plenty of people who go to work, earn a decent salary and make everybody they come into contact with feel like pooh. No one ever mentions the hidden costs of a nasty attitude.

My philosophy is that if you (as an individual) are striving towards enabling the people you meet and live with happy and confident, then you are contributing to society. If you are able to do this over a period of time, you will have time to develop your gut instinct as to what is and isn't morally acceptable. This will then guide you into deciding for yourself whether you are comfortable with claiming particular benefits etc, even if you are entitled to them.

My MIL, as I mentioned before, only arrived in England on Sat. On Mon, we wrote out an application for a job, and this morning, she attended an interview, which - fingers crossed - seemed to go well. If she gets this job, this will potentially mean that she will remain in England permanently (albeit on a relatively low salary). Some people may think that she is taking jobs off UK residents, and I know when have spoken in general about it to people I acquainted to, I almost feel that they don't agree with her coming over and doing this. But morally I feel this is right for us as a family, and it makes us happier in our everyday lives to know that she is somewhere where we can support her. This will of course have knock on benefits to the people we deal with. I suppose I am saying that money is essentially important, but there are other things that are equally important and it takes some regular review and reflection to stay on the right path.

As a family, we earn less now than we have ever earnt. But our value as humans has never been higher.