Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

whitewing

Bleufleur,

I pay gas/elec by monthly DD purely to spread the cost. But it does mean that you may pay more or less than required until you get a grip. Maybe next year I will pay quarterly but set aside a monthly amount and keep better tabs on my meter readings as I go along.

I did this with car ins this year. Was £10 cheaper to pay the whole lot in one go, so I did. But I have a £50 a month savings plan (with my bank) to cover the cost of renewal and tax. It's one of these plans that you can take money out at any point but can't replace what you have taken out. Which stops me from dipping into it!

I am going to the baptism of a 19 month old baby soon. I wanted to make a 'towel elephant' to take as a gift but DH won't let me use our wedding present towels (despite the fact that we have hundreds of towels). I kind of understand why. But I have got silver cakecases left over from our wedding so thought about baby sock cupcases. Do you think this would be good or do I need something a bit more formal?

dfw844

Whitewing cakes sound lovely! I say go for it. Better than buying tat that they will have to sell on ebay when the rest of the world comes down with frugalitis!!

Bails nice to see you back, we have missed you.

I'm having a quiet few days, like Marru I'm feeling very tired! I'm wondering if it's the change of seasons affecting me. However, that said, I just love Autumn, it's my favourite time of the year.

So my plan for the weekend is to stay in, read, do some housework, and not spend any money! I do have an appointment in town tomorrow, but I'm going to take my cashback vouchers in case I feel the urge to spend!

x

Brighton_belle

Avast there me hearties (it's international talk like a pirate day:D ) Gloriously sunny here for counting dubloons and such like. My OH says I have to come on here and confess that he rescued a 'reusable' pencil I had thrown in the bin in the belief it had run out of lead. It hadn't. I have been truely shamed:rotfl: .
Marru - sounds like you GP is really looking after you. I know the feeling of wanting to come off meds asap, and I think sometimes we get caught up in the negativity around meds, them not being 'natural' or pure and all that. But in fact they can be fantastic and act like arm bands as we/our bodies slowly learn to swim. She's right - you have so much change going on, although all very good, now is not the time to rock the boat. Just keep prioritising sleep and good food.
Whitwing -I think the sock cupcakes sound brilliant: I think the baby will get quite enough 'silver trinkets' and such like.
LS - lots of good luck with the date. And my (completely unasked for:D ) advice is always go for a second & third date before deciding he's not for you. I liked my OH on first date but couldn't ssee him as a boyfriend at all. But a couple more dats and a few emails and I realised under the quiet exterior was a lovely man who was also a lot of fun. Good luck too re the house - always a nerve wracking time.
Off shortly to pick up table and chairs I have been given. Was up in the night unable to sleep and got reading house mates mag and came a cross a 50 ways to beat the credit crunch. I remember thinking there were a couple of good ideas in there so better go and find it now and re read (I know this website was mentioned.)

Frugaldom

Ahoy there, frugalmateys!

Not a lot to report from here today. I've done all the usual routine stuff, updated al my spreadsheets, checked accounts, been to post office & bank and haven't done a stroke of housework... sounds about right! As usual, it's wet outside, so no laundry done and the stuff that I thought got dried yesterday is still damp! I think I need to consider the dehumidifier sooner rather than later, especially as we've now to shoulder the front door to get it open.

I had no luck at the free bingo last night but have done 2 lots of 'claim your free vouchers' this week, so am hoping that'll be another 2 x £5 shopping vouchers in time for Christmas. I spotted an advert for half price sale at Ace when doing some free click competitions earlier and a quick double check showed that they are listed on the cashback sites, so... I'm going to do a bit more Christmas shopping this weekend. I'll search for a discount code first, just in case, and also use a cashback cc (if I find anything to buy).

To do list for today:

1. Post eBid item (already done)
2. Pay cashback cheque into bank (already done)
3. Update all work-related spreadsheets (already done)
4. List magazines for sale to help declutter
5. Stew more apples
6. Boil & mash more potatoes
7. Do a stocktake on the contents of the overflowing freezer! :rolleyes: Probably all veggies, potatoes & apples!
8. Clean out the hallway in preparationg for investing in a dehumidifier
9. Make a list of all the [strike]junk[/strike] surplus items I declutter from hallway so I can list them on eBid
10. Arrange to collect bathroom suite from friend & visit parents this weekend

Hope everyone is having a good day.

tryingtodobetter

Hello Everyone

Feeling a bit sorry for myself today as I am in pain from the lumpectomy that I had yesterday

I got my water bill today and it got me thinking as to how much water everyone else uses per quarter and how much it costs them, we used 22 units costing us £103. It would be interesting to see how much everyone else uses.

Only managed to transfer £1.68 into my ISA today as I am waiting for DS1 music tuition to come out of the account and there is not much left after that

Hope everyone has a good day.

bails

dfw844 wrote: »

Bails nice to see you back, we have missed you.

Aah, thanks DFW and everyone else!
Sorry to hear about your lumpectomy TTDB, hope everything will be okay soon x

Still not able to catch up fully (think I'm on p92) as it's Chaos Central here at the mo. The carpet fitter arrived at 8 this morning :eek: and we now have new-to-us carpets up the stairs, on the new landing and in OH's room (which will be our bedroom for the next few months until the attic is sorted). We're both dead excited about having our own rooms, a real luxury we'll make the most of until little people (hopefully) come along.
OH's first friend arrives in a few hours for party weekend and the house is still topsy turvy with nowhere for anyone to sleep at the mo! OH is still painting in fact :rotfl:I'm about to be called to move all the furniture back into various rooms and move our [strike]junk[/strike] clutter up to the attic so will catch you all properly next week. Hope everyone is doing okay, more hugs coming your way Sophiesmum, and have a lovely weekend everyone xx
ps BB could you please pass my love on to everyone on LW and give Delly a big hug please, really gotta dash!

Frugaldom

tryingtodobetter wrote: »

I got my water bill today and it got me thinking as to how much water everyone else uses per quarter and how much it costs them, we used 22 units costing us £103. It would be interesting to see how much everyone else uses.

Hope you are feeling better soon, TTDB. I was looking at your water bill but am no help here, whatsoever. Is £103 just for the quarter? :eek: Ours gets charged along with council tax but, if it helps, the following is what it costs for the year:

Council Tax - £932.44
Water Charges - £158.40
Wastewater Charges - £178.96

As you'll see, it costs more to pull the plug than fill the sink, but the wastewater charge does cover the rain running off the roof. This also shows me that having a place with a septic tank and soakaway would work out cheaper, as it's only about £80 to get a private company to empty the tank. Hmm... another small savings potential for greener living if we could all have reedbed filtration systems and our own water wells running on power supplies generated from home.

(The Government is bound to crack down on off grid living, private water wells and septic tanks pretty soon if there's a possibility of losing over £300 per household.)

Edited in - I gave up waiting for a response to my repeated wanted ads and have now [STRIKE]bought[/STRIKE] invested in a brand new dehumidifier. I'll let you all know when it arrives and if they are all they are cracked up to be. It's only 235w, as opposed to the 1kw heater I had to use last winter, so here's hoping it pays for itself this year.

taka

The dehumidifier I had in my old flat was fab - very effective and it made a very cold somewhat damp end of a flat very much more pleasant to live in!

I so can't concentrate at work today! Roll on the weekend!!

tryingtodobetter

Yes £103 just for the quarter but compared to my mum's bill that is good, she isn't able to go on a water metre and she pays £55 a month :eek: :eek: oh the joys of living in the South West.

Marru

Hello all,

Feeling better today. Still tired but not as badly as yesterday. Despite going to Mr M decided to come straight home, first time this week I had the opportunity to do that. BB, thanks for your lovely post (you "sound" in writing same as Bails)

We were handling lizards today. I tried to put images here but I didn't manage to resize them.

TTDB: Hope you are feeling better soon
Bails: Sounds very exciting, have a fabulous weekend and please give my wishes to your OH
Nyk: thank you for the company last night

It is sunny here so I have put my piggies out. I hope that the sunny weather will continue so that I can get my washing dry over the weekend and take The Dog and DD for nice walks.

Tasks for weekend:

See what can be rescued and cooked from the stuff that is in the fridge
Clean animals
Go to Mr M and get shower gels and hunt for bargains
Get my personal spreadsheets up to date
Do some MB
Washing
See if I can find a freezer from freecycle

I was vey naughty today. At college I bought chocolate, chips and beans and can of drink despite having taken a sandwich. It was nice thou. I have to be careful it doesn't become a habit.

Better go and give The Dog a quick walk before picking DD up from nursery so cach up with you later.

Marru