Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

Frugaldom

Janey, HAVE A GREAT HOLIDAY! Try to make the most of being away and I'm glad you got things sorted out for your mum's residential care.

I've been trying to gtet some free tickets in bingo but they ahve completely changed the rules despite what their promotions page says. The free tickets are now like gold dust and there are now no games between 2am and 12 noon, then only in one room at a time. I guess it was all too good to last.

My 'To Do' list for the day comprises:

• Trip to post office
• Buy a new sweeping brush
• Work on spreadsheets
• Wash kitchen floor
• Wrap & store box of green tomatoes
• Stew more apples
• Clean bathroom
• Sort out washing
• Claim free bingo tickets
• Do some accounts

I've been 'up the street' and posted what had to go and then went to buy a broom - but nobody sells them in my area! Worse still, the little 'cheap shop' that opened earlier in the year may be closing down because the wholesale prices have increased so much that it isn't worth trying to stock the shop! I know I didn't buy much but I did go there first when I needed anything they sold. I guess the era of bargains really is almost over. :eek:

Off to try claiming tickets now, good luck to anyone else who plays Thursday free bingo

slowlyfading

Janey, I hope you have a great holiday!
whitewing, the average student loan is around £3k per year, and it can go upto £5k depending on circumstances and income etc. You can also get a loan to help with tuition fees, if you want it.
I've had to drop the car off because the lights aren't working. which is very annoying! so spent a little getting the bus home, and that's all for today will update sig in a minute! x

dfw844

lyndasharp wrote: »

Hi all, had a nice surprise in my email as I've got a £5 play.com voucher through a Quidco giveaway! I've just spent it on a new t-shirt! Plus in the post was my first £10 cheque for petrol cashback through barclaycard/leisuretime. Must admit when I sent my claim form off I didn't really think it'd work... but I'm glad I was wrong!

Hi Lynda,

I also took up the leisuretime / barclaycard petrol cashback thing, though when I did it last year it was £80 over a year in £20 instalments. At the beginning of each new quarter I got a receipt and sent it off, and each time I thought, nah, they'll never pay, they'll just say it got lost in the post. And everytime a cheque arrived - even the final one which was almost a year after taking out the offer. It's brilliant - money for nothing!

If anyone else gets offered this, jump at it!

xx

Brighton_belle

nykmedia wrote: »

Edited in: I may continue calling it the 4k challenge and it's up to everyone else what's counted in.

I think I like this idea best Nyk:althoug I am way off target at the mo, I am gradually focussing on changing what I need to to be truely in step with the challenge as it is - it gives me a goal to focus on. In the meantime, I can compartmentalise my accounts anyway I need to to suit myself (and continue to do so) and that is already being tremendously helpful. I also think that maybe keeping the challenge 'ideal' at £4,000 may stop this thread from being too swamped: a generalised 'cutting back your expenses as much as possible' thread is so broad that so many may jump on board that we'll have the same probs the GC is having - too much too fast to keep up with. (Not that I want to sound excluding - I really appreciate having been welcomed on board only a few months ago)
Plans for today have been scrapped, as I seem to have been trampled by a herd of wildebeest in the night and it's a duvet day at the mo. Dinner is is SC though and I have managed to tackle the black hole that is our under kitchen sink cupboard. Have discover a number of long lost cleaning supplies that I can noew cross off my shopping list:D .
Janey, hope you have a really good holiday. And although hard foryou, I'm gald you been able to sort your mum's care: you'll know she'll be safe and well cared for.

whitewing

Very nice surprise in the post today - £20 (belated wedding gift). We also got given a massive bunch of flowers and an ornament on Tuesday (belated gifts from a family who were on holiday over the period). So that's made this week special.

Going to be very good and pay the cash in. I feel more in control again now since wedding/back to school/Xmas shopping splurges in the last few weeks. I have swapped some money between accounts and now have my savings up to a comfort level. It's funny as our current account balance was quite healthy (waiting for a tax refund cheque to clear). I was desperate to spend, spend, spend. Now I have reduced the balance down to a mere £40 or so, I feel the gnat-bottomness overcoming me. I don't feel any desire to spend money at all now. Maybe that's my secret.

This week's DH's wages are being paid late for some unknown reason. At least that has stopped me Xmas shopping them! And we will need to pay them and next week's into the savings acct to 'pay back' some savings I spent. So that should work provided we don't fuel the car (but did receive my £12.50 nectar sainsbury's vouchers so that can be used for fuel if nec; fuel at least is competitively priced there).

Yesterday was a bit of a bleurrrggghhh day so am feeling much more normal today.

Very happy with DH too - he loves National Geographic magazine but was umming and ahhing whether to renew his subscription. So we talked, and he will do 4 extra shifts at his job to cover 2 years' subscription and my Xmas present. He's all cheerful that he has got a plan.

Granny was pleased with DS for a very good reason so she told him to spend £40 on a treat and she would reimburse him. I didn't say anything but I was slightly annoyed that she couldn't just send him the money down. Anyway, we took him shopping on Monday and he reported back, thrilled with his bargain purchases (enough PS2 games to last him a couple of years). DH got £3.50 off by using his points, but they still went £4 over budget. But kind Granny has paid the surplus. Anyway we have a nice surprise for her as DS made the local paper so she will be getting the clipping in with a thank you letter.

I am putting off sorting out all my receipts etc - can you tell? I have some stewed damsons that I will need to make a cake with...but must do my paperwork first.

DH doesn't make many mistakes with his English, but I laughed so much last year when we were preparing damsons for the freezer and I had to pop out. When I came back, he said, 'What should I do with the damsels in the kitchen?'

taka

Janey - Have a good holiday and I'm glad your mum's care has been approved.

Mumzy - I hope you and your son managed to get through today without too many tears!

I feel like a zombie today! Its neverending!! :eek: I think its something to do with not leaving work till 11pm last night though :eek: Basically I went home, straight to bed, got up and headed back to work again. Early night for me tonight I think!! Oh well at least my experiment seems to have worked so it wasn't in vain! :T

taka

whitewing wrote: »

DH doesn't make many mistakes with his English, but I laughed so much last year when we were preparing damsons for the freezer and I had to pop out. When I came back, he said, 'What should I do with the damsels in the kitchen?'

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: (I have a horrible urge to say eat them in response... he he he)

whitewing wrote: »

Very happy with DH too - he loves National Geographic magazine but was umming and ahhing whether to renew his subscription. So we talked, and he will do 4 extra shifts at his job to cover 2 years' subscription and my Xmas present. He's all cheerful that he has got a plan.

Have you got any spare tesco clubcard vouchers? I think national geographic is one on the ones you can get with your clubcard points. Just checked... yep 1yr subscription =£7.25 in clubcard vouchers.

Skint_Lynne

Hi All,

Nyk, I have been reading through earlier posts and came across your webpage. Your garden is fantastic. I have dabbled with growing stuff in the past, but haven't had time this year. I am sure that I have potatoes growing underground, perhaps from 2 years ago. If I do and I find any, will they still be okay to eat? My garden has become a bit overgrown but will try and get it sorted out for next year.

I like tomatoes and courgettes and have grown both of these. I've plenty of pots and stuff to get me started off again. Away back to read more old posts.

SL x

Skint_Lynne

Forgot to tell you all,

I was checking out the reduced section at T the other night, just to see what was there and this whirlwind appeared. She was digging right into everything and literally pushing people out of the way, I thought how rude!!!

Then I walked around a bit and noticed the girl putting reduced stickers on things, she appeared out of nowhere again, and started picking stuff up that she hadn't even put a ticket on and waving it under her nose - how much she was shouting, yes, shouting!!! I did notice that she had a nice joint of beef in her basket reduced to 1.50 from 6.99. Maybe cheek pays:rotfl: . I think you can be polite and a whoopsie queen at the same time, she was done out for guerrila warfare methinks!!!

Will need to get my DH's combat gear looked out for reduced bargains if she will be around all the time!!

SL x

Frugaldom

Hi SL, my garden isn't looking so healthy when I think of how few veggies it actually produced after all that work and then knowing we need to leave it all behind when we move again. Still, it was good fun and we have probably got enough potatoes, leeks, beetroot & apples to last us for the rest of the year. The salad leaves are still growing strongly too, so no shortages there for the fajitas & salad sannies. Speaking of which, my green tomatoes are turning red on the windowsill, so all is not lost just yet - I haven't weighed them, but will do that very soon. Must take piccie for webpage, seeing as it hasn't been updated for so long. I'll add that to tomorrow's 'To do' list

Free bingo is verging on a riot because of all the new rules and the diminished numbers of tickets available!

Still working my way through today's list of 10 things 'to do' but I have managed to add another £53.75 to my September £500 mini savings challenge. :j If I can get everything up to date this week then I may even find the time to list on eBid. Must also try to fit in a visit to parents and to collect the bathroom suite etc. Where does time go when You have so many things to do? It's probably just as well I don't have DGD 4 days a week just now.

Re: the guerrilla warfare tactics for reduced items - bargain hunting IS becoming more like big game hunting! I've noticed this recently, too, and can't even blame internet sites for promoting it - unless there really is a secret army of silver surfers using underhand tactics to beat us to the shelves and using their age as a weapon! I realised this one day in local 'autumn meadows' store, when I thought I was going to get slapped by a purple-rinse granny when she pushed me out of the way to get at reduced bananas! Imagine what she'd have been like without the promise of a free TV license, free bus pass and winter heating allowance? :eek: SCAREY!