2008

A question about : 2008

Can you live on £4000 a year?
Part 1 - 1st quarter of 2008

Part 2 - 2nd quarter of 2008 HERE

Throughout 2007 there were several of us accepted this challenge elsewhere for various reasons. With only a week or two to go, I can say that it IS possible and I WILL succeed. I'm setting myself the exact same challenge for 2008 and have heard from a few people on here that would like to know how it's done.

CHALLENGE RUNS 01 JANUARY - 31ST DECEMBER 2008 - GOOD LUCK TO ALL!

Please remember that 2008 is a leap year. £4000 over 366 days = £76.50 per week

Edited in - For those participating in the challenge, £4000 is for EVERYTHING except rent/mortgage, council tax/water rates. Hopefully, this should avoid confusion. Budget wisely and, if all else fails, learn to play 'catch-up' rather than rob Peter to pay Paul.

The target figure is for essentials and all regular household bills. It does NOT include rent, mortgage payments, council tax or water rates. However, since announcing the challenge, numerous variations appear throughout this thread to reflect individual circumstances. For some, their target does not include repaying debts, essential work related expenses or 'luxury' items such as holidays - that's what everything over the target figure is for. That and, of course, savings.

Set your targets, I can list them here, then from 01/01/08 you deduct your essential spending throughout the year, not forgetting that the amount includes gifts for friends and family for birthdays, Christmas etc.

The Live on £4,000 a year Challenge starts here - have you got what it takes to succeed? The figure was calculated against minimum wage earnings, feel free to join using your own target figure. If you have a family, then you should be in receipt of Family Allowance/Child Benefit, so your target would be £4000 + Child Benefit.

CHALLENGER LIST

001. Nykmedia - £4000
002. Whitetigeress333 - £3920
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 - £5500
019. Shell37 - £4000
020. Juliejay - £5000
021. Azjh77 - £4650
022. Nicola1982 - £4000
023. Rachyp - £4000
024. Kiki - £5300
025. McSaver - £3000
026. Pollydaydream - £4000
027. Maverickangel - £4000
028. Loadedlaura - £4000
029. Kayharcombe - £4000
030. Buffythedebtslayer - £4560
031. Flowerofthewest - £4000
032. Mollymop5 - £4000 + Child Benefit
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 - £5200
049. Artnoble - £4000
050. Barole - £4000
051. Ephemera - £4000
052. Liloandstitch - £4000
053. LyndaSharp - £3500
054. Sassamac - £4000 + Child Benefit
055. Sue09 - £6000
056. Don't want to be in debt - £6760
057. Princess Leia - £6200
058. Saverram - £4000
059. Sashacat - £4000
060. Whiskylizzie - £4000
061. Slackster - £4000
062. Jamiedodger - £4000
063. Whitevanwoman - £4000
064. Skintwellie - £5000
065. Fairywings - £5000
066. Sos999 - £4000
067. Mumzyof2 - £5000
068. Keren29 - £4000
069. OldMcDonald - £4000 + Child Benefit
070. Mah_Jong - £3500
071. Hardup Hester - £4000
072. Miss_Pink - £4000
073. Grunnie - £4000
074. Rafiki - £4000
075. Catzine - £5000
076. Andromache - £2750 (student)
077. Doom_and_Gloom - £3000
078. Tracey04 - £4000
079. Wherediditallgo - £4000
080. Sallyrsm - £4000
081. Wornoutmumoftwo - £4000 + Child Benefit
082. Lexxi - £4000
083. NEGirl - £5000
084. Wendyw1947 - £4000
085. Truthseeker - £1500 (a teenage budget - I am most impressed!)
086. FrankieM - £4000 + Child Benefit
087. JustKeepSwimming - £4000 + Child Benefit
088. RedMel1621 - £5200
089. Blackfairykitten - £5000
090. Funkyfunkymonkey - £4000
091. Carlsberg - £4000
092. Nate123 - £4000
093. DJenks - £4000 + Child Benefit
094. Miss Empty Piggy - £4000
095. Micron - £4000
096. Hopeless_Spendthrift - £4000
097. The_Cat - £5800 inc Child Benefit
098. LilyBee - £3000 from 01/04/08
099. Carolinabirichina - £5000
100. Bails - £4000
101. Debrag - £3000
102. LittleMissClimsy - £5000
103. Gem2509 - £4000
104. LMac - £4000
105. LollopyBear - £4000
106. Slowlyfading - £4000
107. IHateDebt - £4000
108. Frugal Fox - £4000
109. Looby-Loo - £4000 + Child Benefit
110. LingoJingo - £5000 inc Child Benefit
111. Fizzel81 - £4000 + Child Benefit
112. Summertea - £4000
113. Jammiejen - £4000
114. Jay1 - £4000
115. Yoshimi2306 - £5720
116. Janey51 - £4000
117. Freyaluck - £4000
118. DJJoJoJuice - £4000 (£3836.07 from start date 15/01/08)
119. Frugalmum - £4000 (£3836.07 from start date 15/01/08)
120. Lysasparkles - £3,500 (from 16/01/08)
121. Shelovestobuystuff - £3,700
122. Angelofthenorth - £4000 (from 17/01/08)
123. Mama67 - £3661 (from 01/02/08)
124. BigEars - £3661 (from 01/02/08)
125. Paul Varjak - £3661 plus disabled vehicle expenses (from 01/02/08)
126. Stefejb - £3661 (from 01/02/08)
127. Laurabelle - £4000 (from 20/01/08)
128. MSHAWX - £3661 (from 01/02/08)
129. Hansolo81 - £3661 (from 01/02/08)
130. Jumble-Bee - £2008 (from 01/02/08)
131. Nimbo - £3661 (from 01/02/08)
132. GemGems - £3661 (from 01/02/08)
133. DFW844 - £4000
134. Elantan - £80/week (from 08/02/08)
135. Marru - £3345 + nursery fees (starting 1/3/08)
136. Alli_Baba2 - £3388 (from 25/02/08)
137. SophiesMum - £3388 + child Benefit (from 25/02/08)
138. Charlies Angel - Living on under £1000 a year
139. Tigwell - £3333 (from 25/02/08)
140. Headofsteam - £2983.50 (from 01/04/08)
141. Bleufleur - £3158 (from 17/03/08)
142. All_hours - £80 per week

Please note that this is part of a cyberdosh (online money) challenge

Best answers:

• £4k.. with or without any form of benefits? Even when I was a student my rent was £2184 a year.
  Frankly, i don't think it's possible without state assistance, and if funded with benefits, then this is quite an irresponsible challenge.
• UPDATED: updates in blue
  £4000 excludes rent or mortgage and council tax/water rates and, frankly, it is possible - and no, I am not on benefits
  I didn't say that's what anyone is earning, only that after rent or mortgage & council tax/water rates £4,000 is what you attempt to live on - everything else is used to pay off debts or gets saved. (I think there is some confusion over what constitutes 'the cost of living' - if anyone is unemployed or disabled and relying on Social Security benefits, they will not be paying full rent or Council Tax.) This challenge is for a purpose - you either need to pay off debts in order for you to afford to live, or you want to save cash for something.
  I'm may be mis-understanding you, but what is irresponsible about living on a budget of 4k?
  ======================
  Edited in for further clarification:
  I'm still being asked the question, why £4000? So I'm going to try to explain, again, how I can arrive at that figure. I compared several very different lifestyles, such as the following:
  Lifestyle 1
  Couple with 2 of a family, husband works full time on a salary of £30,000 and wife is a full time mother/homemaker (not sure what the politically correct term for this category is any more!) Total income approx £452 per week including Child Benefit.
  Mortgage & Buildings insurance - £740 per month = £170 per week
  Council Tax/Water - £125 per month = £24 per week
  2 cars, both on HP - £300 per month = £70 week
  2 x road tax, insurance, servicing, petrol/diesel etc = £270 per month = £62 week
  Credit cards - £100 per month = £23 week
  Bank loan - £100 per month = £23 week
  Total expenditure before actual living expenses - £372 per week
  Balance to live off - £80 for everything else
  Lifestyle 2
  Couple with 2 of a family, husband works full time, wife part time, joint salary of £18,000 plus Child Benefit, total income approx £300 per week
  Mortgage & Buildings insurance - £303 per month = £70 week
  Council Tax/Water - £100 per month = £23 week
  Home Improvement loan - £266 per month = £61 week
  Credit Cards - £100 per month = £23 week
  Other debts - £100 per month = £23 week
  Car - road tax, insurance, servicing, fuel etc - £100 per month = £23 week
  Total expenditure before actual living expenses - £223
  Balance to live off - £77.00 for everything else
  (There is a slight difference in today's figures in that both of the above would now qualify for Child Tax Credits. Family one would be entitled to about £130 per year, family 2 would be entitled to about £878)
  It didn't really seem to matter what the annual income was, there always seemed to be a significant difference in the way that income was spent. As an example, a single professional person earning £52,000 a year may well only have £4000 to actually live off after paying the upkeep of a rather spectacular house complete with tennis court, swimming pool, fast car, regular entertaining, foreign holidays and paying for the resident gardener and housekeeper. No matter what your income bracket, we could all be in the exact same boat. Fortunately, we have the freedom to choose how we stay afloat. No matter what you do or how you do it, you are always going to have to pay the cost of living. If you can reduce the cost of living and clear off ALL debts, then think of the fun you can have from thereon in.
  I'd love to reduce my overall cost of living to £10 per day over the coming year (£3660) and my main motivation for this is to save every penny I can towards living debt free in a mortgage free house.
  Budget to within an inch of your life and see just how much it costs you to live. You can see by the above how I arrived at the £4000 and hopefully this will make things a little clearer for our newest members rather than having to scroll through about 50+ pages of posts
  Thank you to every single one of you for helping make my year 2 a very, very exciting prospect and I really do hope you will stick around to see this challenge through to a successful conclusion for 2009.
• Perhaps a link to the original thread may have been of use then
• Well yes maybe. Ј76 per week is this for a family of 2/3/4 or just a single person?
• sooooo what does this include? sorry i ask so many uestions just i need things in simple terms to understand it..sorry xx
  if iam correct i can make Ј4k from ebay amazon extra work etc? but what des it include
• i fidn it intresting too
• First of all, this is not about earning extra money, it is about an economic lifestyle that allows you to either clear debts or increase savings. I did the challenge in 2007 so I could clear my debts and start saving to buy a house. Initially, I'd just like to know if there's anyone here who lives on a really tight budget and fancies making it 4k so there's a bit of moral support. It is a very difficult challenge, in my opinion.
• so do you only have Ј4000 to live on or do you want to save for something?
• could you pm me and tell me that way in easy language lol sorry xx hope you dont mind
• Sounds like forced economic hardship.. surely you should budget what you spend in a year based around your situation and income? Setting a value X to spend is odd.. wouldn't it be better to say 'live on 80% of what you live on at the moment'
  Case example: It'll cost me £2k to get to work on the train next year. I can't cut this down (and i'm not cycling 26 miles a day through heavy london traffic)
• That is what I live on anyway. And most of 2004-2007 I had less.
• LIVING ON 4K A YEAR
  Regardless of what you have coming in each week or month or over the full year, this challenge is to live on Ј4,000, which EXCLUDES rent/mortgage and CouncilTax/Water Rates.
  In order to embark on such a strict, "shoestring budget" lifestyle, you'll need to have a target and a budget, so here is an example using easy to convert figures:
  Annual Income = Ј10,000 which, I think, is about Ј190 per week, or Ј825 per month
  Deduct rent or mortgage
  Deduct council tax/water rates
  Whatever is left is what you have to pay bills, pay debts and live
  In this example, if the rent/mortgage and council tax/water rates added up to Ј6000 then you would only have Ј4,000 left to live on and yes, you would probably be eligible for benefits of some description, but I don't know anything about them. I guess if you were able to live on the 4k then any extra benefits you might receive would be money in the bank if you were debt free or else the extra would be paying off debts.
  If you are earning Ј40,000 a year and paying out Ј15,000 in rent/mortgage/council tax etc then you have Ј25,000 left to live on. If you managed to live on 4k then that would be 21k to pay debts or save. Whichever way you want to look at it, this is about a lifestyle geared towards paying off debts and/or building savings.
  If you are spending 2k a year on travel then that would be essential in order to maintain your current income, and would be deducted from the overall figure, not the 4k.
• ringo its just a set figure..if you get to end of year and you have only lived on 3k then you have still won...anyway..cant be bothered (wrist is hurting now)
• The link to last year's one was hidden in the OP's signature.
  Here it is (I think):
  Nope... it was back to here. So I've removed the link.
• Here's an example (using my current circumstances)...
  I earn Ј12.5k PA (approx)
  I pay out Ј3.9k PA for my rent (which, in may case include water rates)
  I am left with a total of Ј8.6k.
  If I was to take part in this challenge, I'd be aiming to reduce my various living expenses so that I was able to live on Ј4k, leaving Ј4.6k either to save or pay off debts...
  I won't be participating in this challenge, as to be honest I don't believe I have the resolve to see it through to the end, although I do wish the best of luck to all who do take part - It's a helluva goal to set yourselves, but I have faith.