2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

liuhut

mini_huny_money wrote: »

liuhut....thts a good idea checking the lecky and gas every night, though waht they'll mean to me I dont know.....!!!!!

I now what you mean but I'm hoping that I will see a pattern emerge. It will also make me be more careful about turning stuff off, not using the tumble and dish washer. Also I'm going to try to batch cook and fill the cooker with other stuff to cook when I'm doing tea

Penny2myName

Sorry to hear about your mum. After dealing with a number of deaths over last 18 months I fully understand how hard its going to be for you. My aunts headstone got put on on the 21st Dec. One of the reasons I am doing this challenge is I would liek to be able to budget in the form of imaging there was only me at home, in that sense I would only have £3075.80 to live on a year to cover ALL expenses if on benefits. Admittedly by that point I hope to be working, but it will help make me prepared for the worse financial situation (without debts).

whiskylizzie_2

I'm new to this - I've browsed in the past but I really need to do something positive about my debts so I'd like to join.
Sounds really difficult to me & I'm tempted to increase the amount but feel that would be defeating the object.
So put me down for the £4000 challenge.

What do I do next?

Penny2myName

whiskylizzie wrote: »

What do I do next?

Sort your budget out, you have 3 days to be organised in:rotfl:

hypno06

Roll on 2008 - getting fed up with 2007 now :rolleyes:

mini_huny_money

sweetpea03 wrote: »

Hope that you're feeling better soon Buffy I'm feeling excited too though I'm not sure why! It is going to be a tough challenge but after all my dithering I am really glad I joined now, its going to be great to be part of the 'living off £4000' team! :T
I'm going to put every bit of change I can find into my chick on the 31st so I start with nothing
How are you all planning to keep track of your spends? Will you be using spreadsheets? I have a diary that I think I'll write down my daily spends in, I quite like writing things down.
Thanks for the number too nyk

Hya sweetpea am goin to use my diary to record my spends, I like writing things down too.........am a list maniac, hopefully most of the days will be blank!!!! and use a spreadsheet to officially record all my outgoings, and then I can check back easily to see how the months go. Have done this in the past but previously its been a bit hiss and miss

am also goin to write in my diary though probly not every day my meter readings

Frugaldom

Thank you all so much for keeping me company during this epic challenge of 2008. I'm stunned, to be honest! It is not unusual to be a little bit excited about starting, I was the exact same this time last year and that was without documenting it here!! I guess in that way, I cheated. I have the benefit of the past 12 months under my belt and know that it can be achieved but it is difficult. This year will be more difficult because prices have increased in so many of the items that I rely on to 'manage'.

This is the list of challengers so far - yell out if your name is missing or I have a wrong amount next to you.

CHALLENGER LIST

001. Nykmedia - £4000
002. Mumzyof2 - £4000
003. Notanothergreyhair - £4000
004. Mini_huny_money - £4000
005. Penny2myname - £4000
006. Hypno06 - £4000
007. Impomdasp - £5000
008. Whitewing - £5300
009. LoadedIWish - £4000
010. Tigerseye - £4000
011. Oliveoyl - £4000
012. Funbrum - £4000
013. Tryingtodobetter - £5000
014. 87p - £4000
015. Cranky40 - £5000
016. Bluesteel705 - £4000
017. Chewits - £4000
018. Prudent - £6000
019. Shell37 - £4000
020. Juliejay - £5000
021. Azjh77 - £4650
022. Nicola1982 - £4000
023. Rachyp - £4000
024. Kiki - £5300
025. McSaver - £3000 (WOW! BRAVE OR WHAT?)
026. Pollydaydream - £4000
027. Maverickangel - £4000
028. Loadedlaura - £4000
029. Kayharcombe - £4000
030. Buffythedebtslayer - £4560
031. Flowerofthewest - £4000
032. Mollymop5 - £4000
033. DdraigGoch - £4000
034. Shazrobo - £5000
035. 1274 - £4000
036. Always_amazed - £4000
037. Protogenia - £4500
038. Georgiasmum - £5200
039. Chaddee - £4000
040. Chriz1000 - £4000
041. Bigbullyweedave - £6000
042. Affordmylife - £5000
043. Liuhut - £6000
044. Cumbrianmum - £4000
045. Che75 - £4000
046. Sweetpea03 - £4900
047. Scorpio04 - £4000
048. Broke mum of three - £4000
049. Artnoble - £4000
050. Barole - £4000
051. Ephemera - £4000
052. Liloandstitch - £4000
053. LyndaSharp - £3500
054. Sassamac - £5200
055. Sue09 - £6000
056. Don't want to be in debt - £6760
057. Princess Leia - £5000
058. Saverram - £4000
059. Sashacat - £4000
060. Whiskylizzie - £4000

mini_huny_money

Hya nyk.....hope you're still proud of us in a few months time........its always easy at the beginning isnt it, like starting a new diet.

I know Jan/Feb will be easier for me cos Im used to cutting back then.

My difficult time will be when the springtime comes (though up here that mightn be till July/Aug) but I know what Im like, thasts when I want to buy things for the house and nice summer clothes......but hey I'll cross thast bridge etc etc

Penny2myName

My way to keeping account of all outgoings
I have a clip folder which has a number of sleeves in it.
One Sleeve which has my 8 remaining pages from Cash Journal with incomings and set out goings wrote down up to end of March in them.
1, DD travel 01/01/08-31/12/08
2, My Travel " " "
3. DS Travel " " "
4, Asda
5, Tesco
6, Netto
7, Aldi
8, Vanquis
9,Range (great place for art supplies, and a shop I dare not enter with CC)
10, La Redoute
11, Littlewoods
12, Game
13, WHSmiths
14, Boots
15, Whitby Holiday(travel, accom, expenses, spends)
Plus three other sleeves for anything else that may crop up, like ebay, amazon or any where else I may end up shopping. I will be placing Statements/Receipts from each of these places into their respective sleeves, as and when I receive them.

(Vanquis, LaRedoute and Littlewoods are debts) Apart from Water, all my other household bills are online only with no paper statements any more. These are set up in a separate account.

Child benefit £120.80
Maintence £100.00
Total £220.80

T.V Licence £10.95
Water £33.30
Gas £80.00
Electric £30.00
Insurance £18.58
Sky £20.00
Phone/BB £25.00 (max)
Total £217.83

This account just doesn't get touched.

From July this year I started keeping all till receipts, so had a practice run so to speak. 2007's folder received its last statement/receipt in it today.

slackster

Hi, I would really like to know how to live on £4000 a year. I'd love to sign up for the challenge. Can you tell me more about it, please?