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How it all began 1999 - My first regular column in a monthly newspaper was called 'The Scottish Pound'. This was an ongoing 'challenge' to feed a family of 4 a main meal for £10 per week. It made interesting reading and opened quite a few eyes to the needless extravagances ill-afforded by many breadline families without their even being aware of them. Frugal living and moneysaving pays and people are wanting to find out how! The first step is to become debt free and to do that takes money. Reduce, reuse, recycle and catch a severe dose of frugalitis. It's much more environmentally friendly and much more fun than being skint. I also contributed to a column named 'The Plonkers'. This was an attempt to find some cheap alternatives to fine wine at the dinner table. In all these years, the best I've found cost no more than the sugar it takes to ferment the elderflowers, but it was still fun sampling wine provided by the stores in their hope of achieving some cheap plonk advertising. The 2006 Cyberdosh Challenge Following on from the above, 'Now You Know' issued a booklet edition, in which I participated in a previous challenge. My mission was to carry out the following financial experiment over the period of one year :-
At the end of the experiment, I had to report my findings and explain why I thought each of the above was, or was not, an ideal 'investment' opportunity. The results were interesting, especially as I got to keep the profits, the shares, the winnings and the Premium Bonds! The
2007 Cyberdosh Challenge To make all things fair, cost of living does NOT include rent / mortgage payment or council tax / water rates, as these costs are dependent on personal circumstances. The basis of the challenge is, live for 12 months on no more than £4000. This may seem ridiculously unrealistic to some but I have accepted the challenge and am almost sure that I am of sane mind. It's a far cry from the original £600 experiment! Once again, my one stipulation was that at the end of this experiment, I keep any surplus stocks, shares, cash, bonds or winnings. On £4000? They thought I was crazy! For ease of understanding, the figures in the monthly plans have been simplified. You may see entries described as reimbursements. These are payments that have been made on Credit Cards when doing joint shopping in order to benefit from better prices. The other people concerned pay this back in full and I benefit from a slightly better accrual of Tesco Club points etc! I also dabbled in the stockmarkets with small amounts and penny shares. 2008 'Living on £4000 for a year' Challenge See the Moneysavingexpert 'Debtfree Wannabe' forums 2009 'Living on £4,000 for a Year' Challenge See the Moneysavingexpert 'Debtfree Wannabe' forums 2010 'Frugal Living - Living on Less than £4,000 for a Year' Challenge See the Moneysavingexpert 'How Much have You Saved?' forums Life in Frugaldom continues HERE Copyright 2006-2010 NYK Media. Shona Prophett writes for pleasure, entertainment value and payment only. Nothing within her writing should be taken as financial advice and she removes herself from any responsibility, whatsoever, for anything. This is NOT financial advice, it is simple reading material. |