Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

Frugaldom

rathga wrote: »

I know! It's scary! Sadly one of those things I never thought about until I started adding it up:

£2 breakfast
£2 mid-morning snack
£6 lunch
£2.50 coffee
£2 afternoon snack

Have made great strides recently by getting up earlier and eating breakfast at home - but I'd get strange looks from my co-workers if I started bringing in poorly made sandwiches and avoiding the coffee trips.

Rathga, I'm with the others on this and couldn't believe the total amount you quoted. I got it down to £3484 by letting you work 5 days per week and allowing you 4 weeks holidays. :rotfl: Please, please consider joining us here because the 4k budget equates to £10.92 per day. If you could reduce your mealtime spending to that amount, then you could bank the money saved and have over £500 extra at the end of the year. (Even allowing for the holidays.)

If you earn enough that such an amount doesn't make that much difference to your budget, please consider trying the above anyway and then donating the balance to charity.

Hope everyone is perked up today and ready to proceed in a frugal-like manner.

Bails, perhaps you could 'make' yourself a job and seriously consider the possibilities of freelancing or hone-based self-employment. It could be something trying to tell you that it's better to make your own hours and feel in full control of work situations.

Janey, that's brilliant news about the holiday spending money, you must be feelong great about that! Well done! :T

Shaz-mum, thanks for the chicken info, they are about same price here and I really should know better but haven't bought any chicken feeding or wormer etc for over 10 years. POL pullets are STILL £5 each! I was getting (and sometimes paying) that for them in the 90's :eek:
Regarding the JSA, they used to have a 6 month non-claimable period if you voluntarily left a job. I had to leave my job and relocate to help deal with a family problem in 2004, but DWP wouldn't even consider my case. Things may have changed since then, but I've never set foot back near the place after the way I was treated! :mad: Personally, if work is bad, I'd hand in my written notice and find something else asap, even if it's temping.

I was having a quick read at Martin's headlines ("Predicted 35% energy price rises" - look to right of this screen under heading 'Highlights' - now I feel physically sick!:eek: ) and had already read my BBC green newsletter and instantly thought of you lot (my frugal friends) and the freegans. Check out this news story if you haven't already, it's about getting off the power grid!

Janey51

Our electric is on the British Gas capped rate until 2010 but I am dreading the end of that.
Our oil keeps going up and up. Its scary. We are going to get as much free wood as we can for next winter but that only heats one room.
See, I'm already planning ahead!

Frugaldom

Janey51 wrote: »

Our electric is on the British Gas capped rate until 2010 but I am dreading the end of that.
Our oil keeps going up and up. Its scary. We are going to get as much free wood as we can for next winter but that only heats one room.
See, I'm already planning ahead!

There is absolutely no way I am going to pay £2000 per year for electricity and still freeze through the winter, I can't believe this news. I've now read the full article, plus several others forecasting various impending financial crises (such as a 33% drop in house prices over the next 2 years) and I really am in shock over this and feel really strongly about being forced into a situation that makes an 'alternative' lifestyle look even more appealing!

Number-crunching has been joined by teeth-gnashing, what's going to hit us next, I wonder? :mad:

bails

I will certainly get my thinking cap on in a few days about the self-employment route Nyk, thanks for that. At the mo I'm stuck proofreading my OH's final project :eek:

I was going to mention the predicted fuel increases too, v scary stuff! Better get OH making us a wind turbine and solar heaters sooner rather than later! Will read further on things once project and funeral (tomorrow)are out of the way.

Janey51

Still waiting for bird flu.

taka

(((( hugs)))) for all that need them and I hope the job situation gets better for both CA and Bails.

I'm with you all in going :eek: at Ragtha's £15 PER DAY for workday brekkie/lunch/coffees etc. That should be reducable without too much pain. Blimey even taking a caffitiere (sp??) and posh coffee into work, taking lunch with you a couple of times a week and bringing your own snacks would cut it by £100s if not £1000s :eek:

I am glad my Gas and Elec bills are so tiny... all the price increases are bad enough without that hitting me too. I think my Gas and Elec bill was around £180 for the year last year (mostly as my heating wasn't working properly for a large chunk of winter ... oh and I live in a 1 bed flat...lol). I just need to get my food bill down instead as I am seriously in awe of Jumble-bee's £9/week food bill!

Frugaldom

Janey51 wrote: »

Still waiting for bird flu.

Yes, it does make you wonder what's lurking and the hens are making such a come-back that it would make a good 'trauma-inducing exercise'. But, I'm kind of paranoid and convinced there's a conspiracy behind every big story. Like all these millions of people reclaiming the bank charges - surely that could impact on the banks somewhere down the line?

mama67

nykmedia wrote: »

I have been racking my brains again, trying to work out an annual grocery budget and I have now come to the conclusion that I could, indeed, attempt to cut my budget to £1000 for the year. Believe it or not, my biggest expense over a full year is DAIRY. The following is how I broke it all down:

Dairy products - £375
Meat & meat products - £250
Fruit & Veg - £200
Bread & Cakes - £75
Jams, pickles, spreads - £75
Tins - £65
Toiletries & cleaning products - £50
Dry goods (pasta, rice, pulses etc) - £50
Flour - £50
Sugar - £50
Eggs - £35
Herbs, spices etc - £10
Misc - £15

My original challenge target was £25 per week (£1300 per year) for groceries and the above is roughly how it would break down. I've cut down a bit on dairy by cooking with powdered milk and have cut down a bit on bread by baking more and buying for the freezer when reduced, hence the reason I cut back to £1200 (£100 per month in grocery challenge) but now I'm intrigued to know how the actual figures compare to the above guesstimates! I may need to do a spreadsheet! :rotfl:

PS: Getting a nanny goat, a couple of chickens and decent fruit, veg & herb gardens going doesn't look so daft when it could shave £500 off the above! :eek:

Was going to do a spreadsheet to split mine all down into categories then realised I spend a minimum of £80 on eggs in a year actually more, as this was based on a tray every 2 weeks but some weeks I buy 1 a week.
We eata lot of eggs!!!!

Frugaldom

Hi Mama, I think we'll need to start eating a lot more eggs instead of meat, plus I can't even remember whereabouts in my list I included cereals. At a guess, I'd reckon that breakfast cereal and oats could account for about £100 per year, so my dairy & f&v spends must be down more than I first thought. Or perhaps it was the decision NOT to buy DS a jar of peanut butter every week (over £50 a year).

I'm quite looking forward to tallying everything up at the end of 2008 to see where this year's money goes. Having read the article about 'escaping the grid' I would LOVE to find a patch of land and build a cabin for £50,000 inclusive! Wonder where that is??? Wherever it is, I'm off to pack now :rotfl:

TOMORROW IS THE 1st OF MAY!

That means today is the last day in the first third of our challenge, which should mean I've spent one third of my budget. Umm... :eek: :eek: :eek:

PS: That also means that it's time to grab the free bingo tickets tomorrow. Groooooan...

Marru

HI!

I have just come back from the college and I have passed both the assesment and the interview and I have got a place to start two year diploma course in animal management in September!!!!! :j :j :j

Just saw my neighbour she gave me some birthday cake (chocolate) and I told her that if she can hear thumping sound that is me jumping up and down from joy. :rotfl:

I am off to have a very late lunch with chocolate cake for pudding.

Marru