Live on £4000 for a Year, 2009 Challenge, part 1

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  • JAMIEDODGER
    JAMIEDODGER Posts: 4,339
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    oooh the new thread! i havent finished my budget for 2009 as yet, still finalising a few things. loving reading everyone elses plans though!
    November NSD's - 7
  • Mollymop5
    Mollymop5 Posts: 2,095 Forumite
    thanks for the newthread Nyk.Good to see I'm on the list.I'm afraid I need to get christmas sorted before even thinking about next years budget.i promise to post in between xmas and new year though :)
    lost my way but now I'm back ! roll on 2013
    spc member 72

  • I'd love to join in but I am a bit confused about how you all do this. How do I work out how much things will cost in advance:confused:. How do you organise it....Do you put £4000 in an account with all dd's coming out and food money etc and then once it is gone it is gone? I don't think I have the time to read through last years threads but I really would love to join this challenge if I could have a bit of advice to get me started please :o
  • Frugaldom
    Frugaldom Posts: 6,936
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    :j I've now managed to juggle my figures as tightly as I possibly can without setting myself up for a nasty fall if things take a turn for the worst: energy prices hikes, increase in raw products, continuing low interest rates, national financial melt-down, you know the kind of stuff... :rolleyes:

    Here's what I have finally come up with and it does include some non-essentials, so no frugal heckling (freckling?) in the background, please. :D This is for a household of 3 and I want to start the preparations that will help make it as self-sufficientish as possible.

    Groceries - £1095 (includes toiletries, cleaning & laundry products)
    Electricity - £1000
    Coal - £126
    Logs - £120
    Internet - £240
    Mobiles - £30
    Telephone - £150
    TV - £139.50
    Clothing & Footwear - £75

    Gifts - £180
    NTS membership - £78 (for cheap days out)
    Travel - £100
    Insurance - £227.50 (household and life assurance)
    Livestock, Pets & Vets - £260
    Garden - £100
    Misc - £79

    Total = £4,000

    In order to attempt/achieve this, I will be bulk-buying, stockpiling, cooking from scratch, baking, batch cooking & freezing, bargain hunting, homegrowing veggies, making gifts & cards and, hopefully, neutralising spends with cashback, winnings, vouchers, points, selling any surplus to requirement belongings and selling extra eggs to friends & family once the hens have moved into their new home.

    My ultimate goal is to start the year with £4000 and end the year with £4000, making it completely money-neutral. :D
    I reserve the right not to spend.
    The less I spend, the more I can afford.


    Frugal living challenge - living on £4000 in 2024
  • I'm going to watch this with interest! We are just about to buy our first house and based on costs i took from friends came out with a budget adding up to just under £7.5k. That's everything excluding mortgage payment and putting money aside for cars (eg insurance and tax) plus other savings. Not that there will be much!
  • thriftylass
    thriftylass Posts: 3,981
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    I'd love to join in but I am a bit confused about how you all do this. How do I work out how much things will cost in advance:confused:. How do you organise it....Do you put £4000 in an account with all dd's coming out and food money etc and then once it is gone it is gone? I don't think I have the time to read through last years threads but I really would love to join this challenge if I could have a bit of advice to get me started please :o

    The first post in this thread gives you a good idea of how to get started. And the other ones in this thread give you ideas for budgets.
    I don't put 4k into a seperate account. I worked out I have 333 per month and subtract as I spend. Set budgets for things like groceries & household (e.g. 150 or less/month for two should do). Certain things you know how much you'll spend, like internet access, phone bills, electricity (go by last years etc) or insurances. Plus you can shop around for cheaper deals as the come up for renewal. Often like with gifts and clothes you set yourself a budget rather than knowing what you'll spend and then you try to stick to it e.g. by home making, using vouchers or buying what you can afford within your budget. Also a good way of starting is like I did the last three months. Test run for a while i.e. monitor/write down your spending over a couple of months, that way you know exactly what you spend on certain things and where you could save. Hope that helped a little.
    If you don't have time to read all posts search this thread for "budgeting", "spreadsheets", "vouchers" etc to get more specific posts.
    DEBT 09/23: CC 6347 5120, Other 1763 NSDs 0/20 Planned debt free date: Dec 2024
  • Frugaldom
    Frugaldom Posts: 6,936
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    I'd love to join in but I am a bit confused about how you all do this. How do I work out how much things will cost in advance:confused:. How do you organise it....Do you put £4000 in an account with all dd's coming out and food money etc and then once it is gone it is gone? I don't think I have the time to read through last years threads but I really would love to join this challenge if I could have a bit of advice to get me started please :o

    Hi Lalaladybird, if you read post 1 of this thread, it gives a simple method for working out your budget, then you need a list of all your regular spends so you can see how much you can afford to spend on each category, how you prioritise these items is up to you but the main theme of the forum is to become and stay debtfree by taking control of your spending. :)

    OOPS! Just noticed Thrifty's post :D Thanks for that.
    I reserve the right not to spend.
    The less I spend, the more I can afford.


    Frugal living challenge - living on £4000 in 2024
  • Thank you thriftylass, I have made a good start since I found these boards and have introduced loads of OS ways to save money, I am going to try to grow a few easy vegetables in pots in the garden next year... root veg? I have happily downshifted to value products and have cut out loads of non essentials from the supermarket, mostly toiletries/cleaning product:rolleyes: I have no idea how cashback sites work or how the people on these boards earn money through surveys/cashback etc so I'll try to investigate this as a way of "neutralising spending". I think a lot of our money is wasted because we have a toddler and I don't want to turn the heating off in case she freezes (but then people survived before central heating so I know I could do this I suppose) and I cook separate meals for her etc so.... wasted money:rolleyes:

    Thank you nykmedia.... where in Scotland are you? If you start giving lessons on living this way, I'll come along ....and pay you too!!!

    So I work out a budget and ways to stick to it, right? I spend about £70 a week in Tesco on everything but that comes to £3640 in a year:eek::eek::eek: which I am shocked at now! Must do better but I'm not sure how, I cook from scratch, buy value stuff, bulk out food, eat porridge, soups etc. I have a lot of work to do to join you lovely people but I will try I'd be so chuffed if I could do it...I know my OH would be thrilled....he's a real penny pincher:p
  • Frugaldom
    Frugaldom Posts: 6,936
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    I'm going to watch this with interest! We are just about to buy our first house and based on costs i took from friends came out with a budget adding up to just under £7.5k. That's everything excluding mortgage payment and putting money aside for cars (eg insurance and tax) plus other savings. Not that there will be much!

    Hi OfficeSpace, cost of living depends on individual lifestyles, yours may not be the same as your friends'. Perhaps you could start with a spending diary so you can see where the money goes each week/month... it soon becomes a year - then you'll become a frugalite, just like us. :D
    I reserve the right not to spend.
    The less I spend, the more I can afford.


    Frugal living challenge - living on £4000 in 2024
  • nykmedia wrote: »
    Hi OfficeSpace, cost of living depends on individual lifestyles, yours may not be the same as your friends'. Perhaps you could start with a spending diary so you can see where the money goes each week/month... it soon becomes a year - then you'll become a frugalite, just like us. :D

    At the moment most of it goes into my savings or petrol tank so not much to change there. The following have been my estimations though. Some are probably too much, others too little. I am hoping it balances out!

    Home insurance £30.00 Payment protection £50.00 TV License £15.00 Council tax £125.00 Water £30.00 Electric/gas £75.00 Food £250.00 Broadband £30.00 Phone line £15.00
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