Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

taka

15% :eek: now thats a scary thought. I have to say the last recession sort of passed me by as I was still at school and didn't have a clue . I found ~8% rates scary when I took out my 1st mortgage

DdraigGoch

If the interest rates hit 15% gain - yes, I do remember our mortgage doubling in 6 months along with the work drying up .... *gulp* - I suspect that the government will reintroduce "Super Tax" to soak up any of our gains from our frugality ..... if they can't hit you when you're down, I'm convinced they'll hit you until you fall down .... grrrr. Guess who doesn't like centralising governments ...?

sorry [/rant]

BlueFleur

taka wrote: »

15% :eek: now thats a scary thought.

It went up to 17% in 1980- I wasn't around then, but they taught us about it in economics

I think if interest rates got that high again we'd be looking at serious problems through out the country. Imagine what credit cards would set interest rates at! And all those loan companies on daytime tv....

the_cat

Hi everyone.

I follow this thread but don't often post and have been trying to stick to the challenge since January. I have learnt loads of new ways to frugalise and my bills have definately gone down, but due to the recession (or whatever the powers that be have decided we should call it!) and the likelyhood that things will become worse I have decided not to count my spending for the rest of the year.:eek: :eek: :eek:

I have been finding that all the new ideas I want to try, which will save me money long term are needing an initial spend (ie stockcupboard, tubs etc for veg, thick curtains and rugs, airers for indoor drying - well, loads of things really) and I have been put off from doing it just so that I don't bust my budget.:o

As I am lucky enough to have a bit of a surplus cashwise and am convinced things will get a whole lot worse over the next few months - I always was an optimist:D I have decided that I am going to concentrate on buying a few of the things which will make frugal living easier and get organised for the challenge next year.

I am still going to follow this thread to keep me on the straight and narrow though and will also trawl through some of the big saving energy/recipie threads etc for more ideas.

So thanks to you all and especially Nyk for starting this challenge - please consider me practising for the rest of the year!!! :T

bails

Ooh, Poundwoman was just on local news! Sadly nothing groundbreaking to report - the hardest part was giving up her £25 a week coffee habit :eek:
Off to catch up, back soon.

Marru

Hello all,

Yes I got cought at 1989. I bought a flat when the prices were at their top level - what an idiot. And bank happily borrowed me the money and I was a student at the time with no regular income. I had 10 year mortgage, paid it for 6 years and then sold the flat and got absolutely nothing back - especially after the penalty payment to the bank for paying the mortgage off early. I did raise a fuss and got discount but despite that it stung. I was one of the lucky ones that walked out without negative equity. I have to say it was a very expensive "rent" for a studio flat and a big lesson learned.

Now I am just concentrating on getting by and at the same time try to get some savings. The excersise that I am planning on doing by allocating different source income to different outgoings should help me focus more and also cut back more.

At college Monday mornings we have our duties session and today we cleaned the rabbits and piggies. Guess who was very happy? Failed to have proper breakfast and settled for banana, meant to go and buy that seed for my HM joghurt but I am so used to leaving my purse at home so forgot to take it with me. New attempt tomorrow. But snack bar was lovely (next time will put less dates and more oats and leave seeds whole) and soup devine. But then forgot to take our evening food from the freezer, doh. DD doesn't seem to be hungry and has had her snack. I will have an egg sandwich later.

Tomorrow is my first day in my work placment. I will work from eight to four and after that I will go and do my dog walking job. Tonight I need to clean my piggies and rats and work with some client accounts. This workload is starting to scare me now but need to just try to take it day at the time and see how it goes. Sophiesmum - you are right I am in a process of getting new piggy but I had to wait for BBP to recover from his castration and now I have been too busy with batch cooking and birthday parties to advance with that. Need to call the rescue and do some equiries when I have a moment.

I will crash on the sofa for awhile (if DD allows me to watch something else than Shrek) and then get on with stuff. If you see my green light on after 10 this evening can you please give me a virtual kick as I need an early night tonight. Thank you.

Have a great evening everybody.

Marru

whitewing

La, la, la ...I'm not listening to any posts with % in! I've had a lovely day with DH...christmas shopping. Got some great stuff. Happy, happy day.

Brighton_belle

Sounds good Marru:T I think you are right to try and just take it a day at a time because it is easy to get overwhelmed when you know a lot has to get done.
Taka, hope your day is better at this end of it.
During the 1989 meltdown I worked for a local housing office and it was heartbreaking seeing the families come in, having been reposessed in absolute shock that they were having to turn to the coucil and at that time we could only put them in B&B for TWO years, the waiting list was so long, which wrecked families - made me so:mad: . NO cooking facilities either:eek: . It would have been cheeper for the Gov't to keep them in their own homes than all the cost of B&B and the resultant breakdowns.
I think like others have said, I am getting in practice now so that we can ride out whatever comes. Fortunately we don't have an extravigant lifestyle to lose, but we have plenty to learn and change yet. I feel most hit by petrol costs at the moment.
thecat - I think that sounds a wise move to spend a little to save later, if you have a bit of spare cash. Have you tried freecycle for curtains and rugs?
Woody - well done on starting to write things down that you buy - this is the key to start changing I think:T .
Nyk - I can't understand anyone spending a fortune on a wedding day either . It is beyond me. If we get married, it will be done on a very strict budget and I just don't care about most of the things your 'suppose to have'. I just think we are lucky to have found each other - isn't that enough?
(EDIT: haha hope I don't regret this post one day - first sign of OH on bended knee and I'll buying in cakes, dresses and matching bridesmaid dresses to serviettes before you know it:rotfl:)And I felt like that when I was younger to, so its not just getting wise as i get older. Ditto expensive honeymoons. On one of the 5 occasions I was a bridemaids (yes 5 times and never the bride:rotfl: ) the couple decided to spend all the cash both sets of parents gave them on a mega honeymoon. I was only 24 and even then I thought they were bonkers not to use it on a deposit.
Sophies mum - what can I say but thinkning of you and your family at this precious time.

Frugaldom

the_cat wrote: »

...I have decided that I am going to concentrate on buying a few of the things which will make frugal living easier and get organised for the challenge next year.

Hello to the_cat, I am so pleased that you are going to stick about for the rest of the year and practice for 2009 :T but please don't buy everything brand new for your new frugal lifestyle - try freecycle, the eBid wanteds (although I'm not having too much success with these), local ads and asking friends and family if they have what you need that they no longer have a use for - I've just tracked down a clothes airer that can be collected when I go to friend's to pick up my new bathroom suite for the house I don't yet have (long story).

Bleufleur - Fortunately/unfortunately, by the time the mortgage rates went over the 15% mark we had given up our house and were trying to pay off the debts incurred from the negative equity. I now try to live within my NEEDS rather than within my means (means never stretch as dar as you think they will), that way I can save for what I want and it is so much better this way that I can't believe how stupid I've been in the past. :eek: If this challenge does nothing more than allow a few people to learn from my mistakes then I'll be happy with that.

Bails, I still haven't seen or heard anything more about Poundwoman, who do we know that's local to her and they can watch out for her on local TV? I'm going to start trawling the 4k challenge posts because there's someone on here somewhere who had to give up a £25 per week coffee habit, I know there is! I distinctly remember being shocked that someone spent more on coffee through work hours than I did on my entire grocery budget. :rotfl:

DS just polished off the remainder of last night's stew then came to ask what was in it... I admitted to the steak and kidney but he pushed for further explanation... I eventually admitted to having added a portion of cooked mince to it, but I still don't know what kind of mince it was! I freeze single portion extras and had both pork and turkey mince in the freezer :rotfl: Whatever it was, it tasted OK with beef gravy in a steak & kidney stew. HS and I had turkey chow mein.

Not sure who asked me, but the following is an average week of meals in the NYK household

Breakfast - fresh orange juice, toast, cereal, yoghurt & fruit

11ish - coffee & biscuit/cake depending on what's available

Lunch - spaghetti, beans or scrambled eggs with toast, omlette, sandwiches, soup, noodles or other speedy meal followed by mousse or creme caramel or yoghurt (speedy desserts)

Afternoon - as per 11ish

Dinners (the past week to today)
Tuesday - Roast chicken, potatoes & veggies
Wednesday - Chicken fajitas with salad
Thursday - Sweet & sour chicken & veggies with boiled rice
Friday - Spaghetti Bolognese
Saturday - Macaroni cheese
Sunday - Stew, mashed potatoes, veggies
Monday - Stir fried turkey & veggies with chow mein noodles

We quite often have pudding after dinner, probably too often!

Desserts & puddings
Tinned fruit & custard
Banana & custard
Apple sponge
Syrup sponge
HM cake & custard
Semolina
Tapioca
Rice pudding
Bread & butter pudding
Jelly & fruit
Trifle

Suppertime - Hot drink & whatever is available whilst watching TV or DVDs, even if it means sampling hm bread or fruit loaf with jam before it's cooled down properly. It isn't unheard of for pancakes with sugar & lemon to be on the go after 10pm here.

Major admission - I eat far too much! I have piled on even more pounds since frugalising the food budget because I cook and bake more, need to sample the produce and hate to see waste, so it goes straight to my waist! :rotfl: Prior to frugalising, I hardly ever had iced sponges or hm biscuits in the cupboard! Now when I make them I usually have a selection of toppings and even vary the colour of the icing!

slowlyfading

Just thought I'd do a quick post, just to say i'm still around. I haven't really posted lately, as I've been feeling really down. But, I feel selfish as other people have so much worse problems than me. Anyway, I've updated my sig and its been a nsd today. Hope everyone else is okay. x