Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

Frugaldom

Oops, wrong person, sorry BB & Taka, got your posts mixed up.

I need to get my mum on this challenge but don't know how! Spoke to her tonight and the recent gas & electricity price hikes have now kicked in - £180 a month for gas and 80 a month for electricity????!!!! How can this possibly be right? My parents are both past pension age and there are only the 2 of them in the house! OK, it's a big old lump of a house for just 2 people but one still works fulltime and the other part time (but is out every day). I'm thinking that I need to make an emergency trip to see if maybe there's a mistake and that amount's supposed to be quarterly! I can't understand it and now I'm panicking in case there's a gas leak somewhere! If I'm not online tomorrow, you'll know where I've gone!

taka

Brighton_belle wrote: »

Haha, Nyk - it wasn't me that listed re the £2 coin club or loose change, it was taka, however I have this ridiculous sense that this is 'a sign' (cue spooky music)I have to follow this path:rotfl: . Ho hum, there goes my change, kerching!! Just unearthed a couple of 'beach hut' saving boxes my bro gave me a few years ago.

He he he... sorry :rotfl: I do love getting £2 coins though... Unless I'm at risk of failing my Grocery challenge (the budget most likely to generate £2 coins) :rolleyes: I just bet I get some when I'm in Sainsburys tomorrow!! :rolleyes:

PS The 4k challenge is actually £4k+CTC if you have kids... (or whatever it's called - can you tell I have no kids )

taka

nykmedia wrote: »

Oops, wrong person, sorry BB & Taka, got your posts mixed up.

I need to get my mum on this challenge but don't know how! Spoke to her tonight and the recent gas & electricity price hikes have now kicked in - £180 a month for gas and 80 a month for electricity????!!!! How can this possibly be right? My parents are both past pension age and there are only the 2 of them in the house! OK, it's a big old lump of a house for just 2 people but one still works fulltime and the other part time (but is out every day). I'm thinking that I need to make an emergency trip to see if maybe there's a mistake and that amount's supposed to be quarterly! I can't understand it and now I'm panicking in case there's a gas leak somewhere! If I'm not online tomorrow, you'll know where I've gone!

Good luck trying to frugalise your Parents. I've given up on mine... I hate to think what they pay for utilities - no capping at all and they live in a bigish draughty old house. They wont even believe me that they are very likely to be paying too much for their council tax - I did the checks Martin suggests and 17/20 of the identical terraced houses are on a lower band They are 1 of 3 (which actually are all slightly smaller as they have no cellar) that are paying the higher band. It makes no sense at all and it even looks like 1 of the 17 has previously appealed and got moved to a lower band as their date the band was determined was only 3 yrs ago. :mad:

The sad thing is its potentially £1000s they are missing out on. My Dad has recently retired so they now have a lower income and I KNOW they are finding it harder.

BlueFleur

taka I can sympathise with that. My parents are exactly the same. They pay more in gas/electric for a month than we do for a quarter, and more for internet than our internet/phone line/cable TV! I went food shopping with them last weekend, and I can definitely tell why I'm struggling to keep to a small food budget. They didn't pick up any deals, got the most luxurious brands etc. It was like they'd reversed Martin's shopping tips :rolleyes: My bf was just as bad, but is improving rapidly.

I'm very impressed with all the 2009 budgets I've seen. I've got an endless list of jobs it seems at the moment, but I'm hoping to work on mine later.

lingojingo

taka wrote: »

I'm in Edinburgh :hello:

Hi Taka, my DD went to uni open day a couple of weeks ago and loved it! It's gone straight to the top of her list of places to study from next year.

whitewing

I've got a sore throat and the shivers.

I made a cake last night (victoria sandwich mix). Had some pureed damsons to use up so just blobbed it on top of the cake mix before I put it in the oven. Wrote my letters, came on here and forgot all about it!

Looks a bit weird but is still edible. Actually very nice.

Got to go and ay DH's wages in. Another tax refund (a massive £2.60, but I am ridiculously pleased); I could get used to this!

Frugaldom

Morning frugalites!

I've given up worrying, as the parents just aren't really that interested in the frugalising part. I don't quite understand why, and they all seem to be the same - living in big, draughty old houses with far too many rooms for just 2 people that will, eventually, become 1 whether we like to think about it or not. Mum has assured me that the utilities amounts are correct, so I can only account for this by accepting that we are from different eras! :rotfl:

Today's 'TO DO' list comprises finding the thermostat on the hot water tank so I can try to turn it down, breadmaking and biscuit baking. It's raining here YET AGAIN, so the wet towels from yesterday morning are still just as wet, I can hardly read anything as it's so gloomy and you can definitely see your breath in our hallway. There's no way can I last until 1st November for heating and, probably, no way of even lasting until 1st October! :eek: I really, really need a more compact house.

OK, grumble over, going to get some more work done.

Sophiesmum, I hope the funeral preparations are all going to plan, thinking of you!

pennib

nykmedia wrote: »

Hi Shaz - 0% credit cards are great when we can get them. I am a stoozer who has used up all my options for now, but I refuse to pay the excess charged on things like council tax just for paying via credit card. 0% interest CCs aren't always the best way to go when there are people (read that as local council) charging penalties for using them.

If you are paying cash for a major item, always ask for a cash discount. It costs the companies about 2.5% of the total to process a cc payment, so it's always worth asking, even if it's only £15 off a £500 item and even if they say no. You can then resort to paying by CC Oh, and never forget the cashback option should be included in your calculations. If you can get it online with 5% cashback plus 1% cashback on the card plus you know it's costing them 2.5% then ask for at least 8.5% cash discount. I know the arithmetic may be a little bit out but it's much easier adding it up this way.

Must discuss 2009 budget options with HS. I really need him onboard for next year's challenge to work as he'll be OH by then.

Nykmedia; I did this with a carpet shop, and the assistant said that they have to pay more to bank cash than credit card. I didnt know how to answer him on that score but I stuck to my guns tho and asked for the manager who reluctantly gave me a £15 discount. I think they realised that I was there for the duration :rotfl: (it was totally embarassing for dd as I was doing this for her:rolleyes: ) So anybody got a good answer for next time??

On the frugal front, while I'm not doing the challenge, I am watching the pennies very carefully and following this thread everyday. I have promised myself not to buy any more clothes for a year:o . Apart from a dressing gown (bought in a charity shop for £3 as they were cashing up and didnt have change:T its a lovely soft one, looks new. I recycled my old one into a sausage dog for door drafts.) I also need a pair of outdoor shoes and slippers. Having so far managed to ignore the clothes shops for 3 months. My family doesnt have much faith that I will do my challenge but after moving the wardrobe and having to empty the contents first I bet I will stick to it. Too much stuff!

Frugaldom

My 3-tier electric steamer just arrived and it looks great! Now I can cook a frugal meal without even switching on the cooker! :j It's 650w, but as it'll cook everything at once, it should work out cheaper than the slow cooker during the daytime, as it'll cook the food in a quarter of the time. But (there always has to be a but), I can't cook the potatoes in it! My stainless steel version that sits on the [strike]cooker[/strike] 700w hotplate boils the potatoes and steams whatever else is on top! But, I can't cook meat on top of potatoes... Hmm... decisions, decisions... help!

Edited in: Batch cooking! If I already have all the potatoes cooked and mashed and frozen, then I don't need to steam them, just defrost & zap in the microwave for a few minutes. And the electric steamer can be left alone on the timer and has auto-cut off if it boils dry, whereas the cookertop one needs watching most of the time. Plus, HS just arrived and he says I should be able to benefit from at least some of the bargains I find. (If only he knew how often I already did!) :rotfl: OK, I've included this in my 'everything else' budget and have just bought myself a new kitchen friend, decision's final!

Pennib, well done with the discounts. Counteract their cash argument by paying by debit card and it saves them the cost of paying in cash. Or, order online via a cashback site using any discount codes you can find and paying using a cashback credit card, which saves you the cost of travelling to the place in the fist place. I've turned into a hermit!

PS: I always ask for discount on major purchases. It bamboozles the salespeople when your first question is, what's the cheapest way to pay for this? And never forget, if it's out of stock but still on display, ask for ex-display discount and take the one they have in the window or on the shelf. :cool:

lilac_lady

Went to Mr T's yesterday and took AGES to go around the store as I seldom go there. I'm sure a store detective must have been at my side because I kept picking up items and after a sharp intake of breath kept putting them down again. I spent £17.63 and saved £5.21 by buying BOGOF and half price items so I felt I'd not spent badly. I don't have a loyalty card but use a spare one on my DIL's account so she'll get the points. Can't believe the cost of some basic items.