2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

Jacks_xxx

nykmedia wrote: »

Guess we're aiming for the same target in the grocery challenge from January onwards. Mine's set at £120 per month so I can try to scrimp off the few days extra and let them build up in savings. It amounts to over £100 a year extra savings or debt payments if I can stick to the budget. :rotfl: Slice of banana spongecake, anyone?

Post one has been updated again, just need to search for JacksXXX post to see what the final target was, cos it says 10k on the board... anyone know for sure?

Yep sweetie,

It's a whole embarassingly mahusive £10,000 :eek: (It was £9924 but I rounded up slightly to keep it a nice neat number for you - and because I know we're going to struggle as I'm worried that I've under estimated clothes, gifts, the cat, AND heat and light. )

Items that should be counted

Groceries/toiletries/cleaning products £300

---

(Current ave spend £339 p/m)
Heating & Lighting £100

---

(the DD is £110)
Telephone £11.50

---

(line rental)
Internet £26.00
TV Licence £11.37

---

(Is this going up this year???)
Home insurance £37.13

---

(lowest quote)
Gifts for others £50

---

(£100 p/m last year)
House Pets (if you have any) £31.00

---

(food/ins/worming/fleas)
Basic travel £200.00

---

(I visit my grandparents by bus daily.)
Essential home maintenance £10.00

---

(something's bound to break!)
Essential household goods/furnishings

---

£10.00
Essential clothing/footwear

---

£50.00 (for 3 of us)
Cigarettes (if you smoke)

---

£0
Alcohol (if you drink)

---

£0
TOTAL PER MONTH

---

£827
TOTAL PER YEAR

---

£9924


And I can't see at this point how I would get it any lower. Even if I took my £50 p/w travel out (which I concede is an unsually large amount) it's still £7524 per year.

And I didn't want to mess about with it - picking and choosing what to include - I want to be on the same playing field with the same goal posts as everyone else. (only bigger numbers!)

If I tried to do this for £4000 I reckon I'd run out of budget in about May which would be extremely dispiriting and demotivating. I'm not into setting myself tasks I already know I won't achieve. (not to sound defeatist or negative of course! )

I'm going to be posting every bl00dy detail of my spending so that you can all tell me where I am going so wrong- cos until everyone started signing up for this challenge with reckless abandon I thought I was doing quite well! :eek: :rolleyes:

Obviously if it's possible to do better then I want to - so I will be reading everyone's posts avidly trying to glean as much from this challenge as I can.

Is everyone else posting their "mini SOA's" for comparison?

Love Jacks xxx

PS I'm pretty sure my Prescriptions "Season ticket" is due again this month - which category do I take it out of on my spreadsheet?

micron_2

Hi all,

I've just registered after reading the posts. This is my first time on a forum but I think I need the support and motivation.

I'd like to join the £4,000 challenge, although I will need to find myself a job in the next week or so and do my budget planner so I've got a better idea of where I stand. Can I have a number please.

I have been living off my house sale money and realise that most the profit has gone so need to sort it out now before I get myself into deep trouble.

Carlsberg

Ive not been on here for some time, but as a new years res, i would like to join if I can. Im not on the internet, so I cant update that often, but ill keep notes in a book and update when I can? Please let me know if I can have a number, im really excited about this. Me and My husband live on a really tight budget as it is, as a year ago, we lost alot of money from our job. We have learnt to live with that, and ive forecast that I can save approx 9500 by next Christmas. Im going to try and take out what I can from the £76, and im gonna start a saving pig. :T :T :T :T

whitewing

Hi all,

Nyk will be along later to update the list of challengees. Let's try and get it over 100 to give ourselves a flying start to the year.

Last chance to join TODAY!! Happy New Year!

sweetpea03

Jacks it is difficult to see how you can lower your outgoings by much, its the travel that is the killer isn't it but I can understand how important it is to you so don't feel bad, your budget is realistic for your circumstances & thats good

Here's mine (deep breath!)

I've worked mine weekly so £4900 divided by 52 = 94.23

Items that should be counted

Groceries/toiletries/cleaning products £40
Heating & Lighting £20
Telephone & Internet £11.50
TV Licence £3
Home insurance £1.50 (this is included as part of our rent but will include in soa)
Gifts for others £10
House Pets (if you have any) £1 (our lovely gerbil)
Basic travel going to have to walk everywhere I think school is within walking distance thankfully
Essential home maintenance rented property
Essential household goods/furnishings need to get a shed this year but will try freecycle
Essential clothing/footwear £7.23 (this is for ds3 only, ds1 + 2 buy their own clothes & me + dh are going to make do with what we have)
Cigarettes (if you smoke) n/a
Alcohol (if you drink) n/a

I was hoping for £50 a week for food but have had to reduce it to £40 which is making me a bit panicky but one of the reasons for doing this apart from building up my savings was to start to use up lots of things I have in my storecupboards as its a bit of a compulsion of mine to hoard so will see how it goes, it may be my saving grace on this challenge

whitewing

sweetpea03 wrote: »

Essential household goods/furnishings need to get a shed this year but will try freecycle/quote]

Oh that is so wonderful! I've been entering competitions left, right and centre to hopefully win some DVD's for a bday hamper I'm doing. And you're aiming for a shed! That is absolutely brilliant. It does seem as though 2008 is the year WE can do ANYTHING!

PS. Maybe try seeing if your landlord can get you a shed from somewhere?

Jacks_xxx

sweetpea03 wrote: »

Jacks it is difficult to see how you can lower your outgoings by much, its the travel that is the killer isn't it but I can understand how important it is to you so don't feel bad, your budget is realistic for your circumstances & thats good

I was hoping for £50 a week for food but have had to reduce it to £40 which is making me a bit panicky but one of the reasons for doing this apart from building up my savings was to start to use up lots of things I have in my storecupboards as its a bit of a compulsion of mine to hoard so will see how it goes, it may be my saving grace on this challenge

Thanks honeybun! :T

I am nothing if not a realist. (That's what we pessimists are calling ourselves these days! )

I think I'm the polar opposite to you when it comes to shopping though!

I do get that panicky "Oh my god we've run out of EVRYTHING!" feeling - but I also get a bit of a kick out of having used it all up and having empty cupboards to fill.

(Does that make me weird??? :rolleyes: )

Love Jacks xxx

Jacks_xxx

Ok so here's ours - weekly, monthly, and for the whole year.

(I'm a bit obsessed with this challenge today! )

Items that should be counted
Weekly monthly annually

Groceries/toiletries/cleaning products £69.23 £300 £3600
Heating & Lighting £25.38 £110 £1320
Telephone £2.65 £11.50 £138
Internet £6 £26.00 £312
TV Licence £2.62 £11.37 £136.44
Home insurance £8.57 £37.13 £445.56
Gifts for others £11.54 £50 £600
House Pets £7.15 £31.00 £372
Basic travel £50.00 £200.00 £2400
Essential home maintenance £2.50 £10.00 £120
Essential household goods/furnishings £2.50 £10.00 £120
Essential clothing/footwear £11.54 £50.00 £600
Cigarettes (if you smoke) £0 £0 £0
Alcohol (if you drink) £0 £0 £0

Totals £190.84 £827 £9924

It's a bit wiggly woggly as my primitive computer skills don't include how to do neat regimented columns!

(AND some of the figures don't quite tally cos of rounding up .236521 etc.)

Love Jacks xxx

FunBrum

Jacks_xxx wrote: »

Yep sweetie,

It's a whole embarassingly mahusive £10,000 :eek: (It was £9924 but I rounded up slightly to keep it a nice neat number for you - and because I know we're going to struggle as I'm worried that I've under estimated clothes, gifts, the cat, AND heat and light. )

Items that should be counted

Groceries/toiletries/cleaning products £300

---

(Current ave spend £339 p/m)
Heating & Lighting £100

---

(the DD is £110)
Telephone £11.50

---

(line rental)
Internet £26.00
TV Licence £11.37

---

(Is this going up this year???)
Home insurance £37.13

---

(lowest quote)
Gifts for others £50

---

(£100 p/m last year)
House Pets (if you have any) £31.00

---

(food/ins/worming/fleas)
Basic travel £200.00

---

(I visit my grandparents by bus daily.)
Essential home maintenance £10.00

---

(something's bound to break!)
Essential household goods/furnishings

---

£10.00
Essential clothing/footwear

---

£50.00 (for 3 of us)
Cigarettes (if you smoke)

---

£0
Alcohol (if you drink)

---

£0
TOTAL PER MONTH

---

£827
TOTAL PER YEAR

---

£9924


And I can't see at this point how I would get it any lower. Even if I took my £50 p/w travel out (which I concede is an unsually large amount) it's still £7524 per year.

And I didn't want to mess about with it - picking and choosing what to include - I want to be on the same playing field with the same goal posts as everyone else. (only bigger numbers!)

If I tried to do this for £4000 I reckon I'd run out of budget in about May which would be extremely dispiriting and demotivating. I'm not into setting myself tasks I already know I won't achieve. (not to sound defeatist or negative of course! )

I'm going to be posting every bl00dy detail of my spending so that you can all tell me where I am going so wrong- cos until everyone started signing up for this challenge with reckless abandon I thought I was doing quite well! :eek: :rolleyes:

Obviously if it's possible to do better then I want to - so I will be reading everyone's posts avidly trying to glean as much from this challenge as I can.

Is everyone else posting their "mini SOA's" for comparison?

Love Jacks xxx

PS I'm pretty sure my Prescriptions "Season ticket" is due again this month - which category do I take it out of on my spreadsheet?

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: BLIMEY JACKS!!!!!!:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

sweetpea03

good luck with the comps whitewing! Its great when you get a surprise win in the post isn't it? Its a great idea to help towards pressies

Jacks I would much rather be like you with your empty cupboards! I am definately the weird one :rotfl: I think its going to take a while for me to get to that stage though!

Love the new SOA, wow!!!