2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

rosieben

ref my previous post (*393) and benefit payments –

my cash benefits come to about £3k a year. I've just calculated what other benefits I get in terms of rent, council tax, prescriptions plus I’ve included a token sum for dentist and glasses. All of that takes my total to well over £10k.

Just wanted to illustrate that its perfectly feasible for anyone on benefits to join in on this challenge. I'll stick with my OS ways, but watching this thread for ideas!

:dance:

Frugaldom

Hi Artnoble and Barole, welcome to the challenge of the year - and the one that got 'chat of the week' in Martin's Weekly Money Tips

Artnoble, your challenger number is 49 and Barole, you are number 50, so we have even more reason for celebration - 50 challengers!!

Good luck to all, the countdown has begun and we have only 3 days left before it all 'kicks in'. For the intents and purposes of THIS challenge, my £4000 is for EVERYTHING except rent/council tax/water. This is a household of 3 adults and 2 extra mouths to feed on a few occasions every week and I do not have a car.

Jacks_xxx

patootie wrote: »

It's not often Martin makes me cross .. but this challenge is an 'insult' to all those people on basic pensions and the disabled .. flamin' cheek I call it .. my income is jusy £5000 .. that's it .. from that I have to pay for everything INCLUDING rent, mortgage payments, council tax or water rates essential work related expenses or 'luxury' items such as holidays ..

I am long term disabled .. I've been on a low income for the last 15 years .. I haven't had a holiday for 15 years, I don't go out, don't drink, don't smoke, don't socialise .. so I'd love to have the LUXURY of £4000 to live on for a year .. (without rent etc) .. woohooo .. with £4000 I'd be RICH ... compared with my present bread line existence ..

So for once Martin .. you've made me very, very angry ...

Hey Patootie,

I'm mortified that you feel this way. I'm sure that nobody involved in this thread meant to upset you - or anybody else living on a low income.

I've been beating myself up because I can't see how the four of us would be able to live on £4000 for a year but it makes me feel even more embarrassed to be reminded that some people don't have the choice.

Love Jacks xxx

whitetigeress333

This sounds like a brill idea and would def help me get out of the **** Im in at the mo....lol
I have 2 kids and Im a widow with low income but have just managed to get a job to start on monday so will be a good start for 2008 with support and tips to get us out of the red and into the black with everything. We are used to struggling on less than £800 pm with rent to pay so fingers crossed we can do it
where do I sign up?

In_Search_Of_Me

patootie wrote: »

It's not often Martin makes me cross .. but this challenge is an 'insult' to all those people on basic pensions and the disabled .. flamin' cheek I call it .. my income is jusy £5000 .. that's it .. from that I have to pay for everything INCLUDING rent, mortgage payments, council tax or water rates essential work related expenses or 'luxury' items such as holidays ..

I am long term disabled .. I've been on a low income for the last 15 years .. I haven't had a holiday for 15 years, I don't go out, don't drink, don't smoke, don't socialise .. so I'd love to have the LUXURY of £4000 to live on for a year .. (without rent etc) .. woohooo .. with £4000 I'd be RICH ... compared with my present bread line existence ..

So for once Martin .. you've made me very, very angry ...

Like others I am unsure why this has made you angry? While I fully appreciate that you may not have spare money to play with this is hardly the fault of people on here! Be thankful that you dont live somewhere like the Phillipines where some families live in a bowl of rice a day if they're lucky and some days they dont even get that and get NO housing benefit/NHS/DLA etc....
The challenge is set to try & help people get out of some dire situations in some cases caused by debt and I would have thought that someone living on the breadline would appreciate that people want to get out of debt and get a better life for themselves? Its a real shame that you cannot applaud and join them and use your own experiences to positive good and help people who are trying to live frugally.
I've read most posts and really applaud people doing this. I wish I could but just know that I'd stick it for about a week...thats not to say I dont think you're fab cos I do and i nowt else you gotta prove dithering dad wrong!!:rotfl: :rotfl: Will be keeping an encouraging eye on you all & cannt tell you how proud I will be ofthose who manage it - mainly because I know I couldnt do it

BrickingIt

Count me in for £4,160. £80 per week.

I spend loads on crap and am looking to cut right down this year.

However i'm going to be honest and include only personal expenditure fags, petrol, clothes, going out etc. Excluding any household expenditure.

Petrol costs me £25 per week.
Fags cost me £20 per week.
Hence that leaves me £35 per week. Or £5 per day.

I'll try and cut out the fags.

What do I have to do?. Stick something in my signature showing how much i've spent or something.

Frugaldom

whitetigeress333 wrote: »

This sounds like a brill idea and would def help me get out of the **** Im in at the mo....lol
I have 2 kids and Im a widow with low income but have just managed to get a job to start on monday so will be a good start for 2008 with support and tips to get us out of the red and into the black with everything. We are used to struggling on less than £800 pm with rent to pay so fingers crossed we can do it
where do I sign up?

All you need to do is work out your annual budget, set aside enough from that to cover rent/mortgage/council tax/water and then set a target figure for what your aim is. Len let me know what your target figure is and I'll get the details added to the challenger list. You can add it into your signature and many of us will be comparing notes here (and elsewhere, like the grocery challenge ) and updating to reflect HONESTLY what we are spending on.

Every penny saved goes towards paying off debts or saving for whatever it is you have chosen. This is my second year on this challenge and it's the ONLY way I could have paid off debts and started saving for real

Your number for the challenge is 51
Good luck, thank you for joining us and, above all, have fun doing this! :T

PS: the safest way to calculate your week is to divide annual amount by 366 and then multiply by 7, as 2008 is a leap year.

Frugaldom

BrickingIt wrote: »

Count me in for £4,160. £80 per week.

I spend loads on crap and am looking to cut right down this year.

However i'm going to be honest and include only personal expenditure fags, petrol, clothes, going out etc. Excluding any household expenditure.

Petrol costs me £25 per week.
Fags cost me £20 per week.
Hence that leaves me £35 per week. Or £5 per day.

I'll try and cut out the fags.

What do I have to do?. Stick something in my signature showing how much i've spent or something.

The above doesn't quite fit into the idea behind this particular challenge, so what I would suggest is that you take your annual income, deduct your rent/mortgage/council tax/water and essential work travel costs, then deduct your current personal spending habits (cigs, £5 a day extras etc) . If you have debts that need paying, deduct the year's minimum payments, if you have private pensions, club fees, regular savings, holidays etc, deduct all of that too, and what you have left is the figure you have to live on - ie EVERYTHING else. It's the only way we can come anywhere near making this a fair challenge.

Good luck with the budget and I really hope to see you back here taking part. You can also join us on the 'quit smoking' challenge, if that helps. It also helps to know exactly WHY you are doing the challenge - I'm assuming that yours is to cut down on all the unneccessary expenses and save or pay off debts instead? If it's for saving, set yourself a target amount and that also adds incentive to cut down on the extras. Have fun and congratulations for taking the step of cutting down on those 'extras' :T

dreams_R_free

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

I've read most posts and really applaud people doing this. I wish I could but just know that I'd stick it for about a week...thats not to say I dont think you're fab cos I do and i nowt else you gotta prove dithering dad wrong!!:rotfl: :rotfl: Will be keeping an encouraging eye on you all & cannt tell you how proud I will be ofthose who manage it - mainly because I know I couldnt do it

Oh, go on and join us ISOM. You know you want to really;) .

Like you, I'm worried that I won't be able to keep at it, but I won't know unless I try. Even if I can't manage to keep totally within my budget I'll still be a lot better off than if I didn't attempt it at all. I don't think it could be classed as failure so long as we all do our very best. Having some company and encouragement along the journey from other challengees will be a real help to me as I've been trying to soldier along the debt-busting path alone for far too long and it's been getting me down:eek:

I'm really excited about next year now and can hardly wait until Jan 1st:j
Good Luck, all:beer:
Imp x

Prudent

notanothergreyhair wrote: »

Hi Prudent,

Just to go off track for a second. Do you sell on most of the things you win or keep them?

I have been sniffing through the posts on the comping threads and am thinking of getting heavily involved in comping.

I personally don't sell my prizes. I either use them myself or for presents. Some of the regular compers do sell their prizes. Have a go, its lots of fun

If you are looking at it purely for financial gain you might get a bit frustrated. In terms of hours put in it probably pays well under the minimum wage. I simply find it relaxing and fun. Its a nice surprise when something unexpected arrives, especially if its something you would like to buy, but can't afford/justify.