Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

wendywitch

Morning all. Had a bad night here. At 1 this morning my dog started having multiple seizures (he's epileptic) so we had to rush him to the vets.
She phoned this morning to say he was awake but still very wobbly, not surprising with the amount of drugs she had to give him. I have to phone later to see when he can come home.
Anyway, as you can imagine I didn't "budget" for this so I really don't think I'll make the 2K for 6 months challenge. The bill so far is £151.65 which I don't actually have at the mo but luckily it's payday on Friday, I just hope they'll wait 'til then.
I think Max, my dog is my biggest expense. His meds cost £30 a month and I don't have insurance (I know you don't have to tell me I'm stupid) and this time last year he managed to get out of my garden and got run over by a 4 x 4 costing £1677.44 which my mum generously paid with her credit card but I still owe it to her.
Well I'll update my sig when I've paid the bill and see how we go from there! Off for strong coffee to wake me up now.

Hugs to all that need them!

Frugaldom

Good morning everyone, it seems to have been a rather eventful 24 hours for many of you, so I'm sending waves of frugal support in the hope that it helps.

Wendywitch, ask your vet if you can set up a payment plan rather than risk getting into debt. You could offer to pay half the account and then agree to pay a regular monthly amount that keeps you up to date with on-going treatments. Once the bill is cleared, continue putting that amount into a seoerate account that's just for the dog. You could also find out about dietary control and keep a record of when seizures get worse, that way you may find a common denominator. Out of interest, did anyone in your household have any extra stress or arguments yesterday?

Whitewing, sorry to hear your news, it's awful worrying about family and money at the same time, especially when it can feel like there's a conflict of interests. Maybe there's a tiny silver lining to this cloud. If you and H2B can survive everything that you have so far and up to the 8/8/8 then it must stand you in very good stead for a long and happy marriage as your relationship will already have survived the strains of everything that has gone before. Not much comfort, I know, but it's always something to help get you through the worst possible scenarios. I see marriage as 2 families merging, so his family problems are equally yours and vice versa. No amount of money, on the otherhand, can guarantee a good relationship. These survive despite all odds.

Veggies and potato substitutes - yes, I mash turnip, parsnip or carrots with potatoes as it's the only way DS eats parsnip or turnip. The carrot disguises both quite well. :rotfl: Butternut squash - it's a no no, as it will simply be refused, as will sweet potato. When I say this lot are fussy, it's an understatement. I have to deal with outright refusal to even entertain the thought of eating some things! It's a case of not even being prepared to try and I can hardly force feed them.

Brekkie was 150ml fresh orange, 2 slices of toast and a banana, so that's 2 of the 5 today so far, although DS tends to drink fresh orange like juice, so I'll need to be having a word about that! Now it's elevenses - coffee and a hm sultana biscuit.

Brighton_belle

Whitewing - sounds like you are going through tough situations at the mo that are outside of your control. Trouble is, if you use your rent money for something else, how will you catch up with that (and arrears will show up if you what to later apply for a mtg - that will go against you big time in the current climate (I work for a mtg broker). A difficult one for you:grouphug: .

Might venture to Lidls today to spent the last of my monthly food budget (£6.50:D ). Also want to get to the library where a slow cooker book awaits me on reservation. Really enjoying Hugh F-W book on meat at the mo (also from library) All about the different cuts of meat, and also how to use all the cheaper cuts to make delicious and cheap meals. It is great to beable to reserve books on line. I use the library much more becasue of this and doesn't cost a penny. I think I'd like to read hiis river cottage year next, to get a bit more into using seasonal food.
Jumble-bee congrats on winning that prize - don't forget to put that on your CV!
Wedy -sorry to hear about your dog. I've never had a pet so haven't experienced either the joys or pain loving one can bring, but certainly have seen it in other people.

Frugaldom

Hi BB, I think Whitewing means foregoing MIL's rent that she contributes to the household whilst living with Whitewing, who owns her own [strike]mortgage[/strike] house. We've all been here for so long that it must get confusing for newcomers but don't worry, you'll soon get the hang of it. :rotfl:

Now that you have given your occupation away, I can ask you a frugal question. When applying for a mortgage does anyone take the weight of rent payments as evidence of the ability to pay or is it strictly based on annual income through employment? I'm one of these people who will probably never be able to get a mortgage because of my (self-employed) work situation, unless there's a scheme that allows you to transfer the equivalent of rent to mortgage payments. Other than that, I have another thread called buying a house without a mortgage but it's now on on hold until after DD's wedding next year.

Forgot to say earlier, congratulations Jumble-Bee and, like Marru suggested, could you ask them to change it for book tokens? Otherwise, I'd be doing what you are thinking, unless you know of a way of getting a Chrissie pressie for someone

Brighton_belle

nykmedia wrote: »

Hi BB, I think Whitewing means foregoing MIL's rent that she contributes to the household whilst living with Whitewing, who owns her own [strike]mortgage[/strike] house. We've all been here for so long that it must get confusing for newcomers but don't worry, you'll soon get the hang of it. :rotfl: Thanks for this nyk!! Sorry whitewing - newbies confusion:D . I'll leave it in as a good general point

Now that you have given your occupation away, I can ask you a frugal question. When applying for a mortgage does anyone take the weight of rent payments as evidence of the ability to pay or is it strictly based on annual income through employment? I'm one of these people who will probably never be able to get a mortgage because of my (self-employed) work situation, unless there's a scheme that allows you to transfer the equivalent of rent to mortgage payments. Other than that, I have another thread called buying a house without a mortgage but it's now on on hold until after DD's wedding next year.

Nyk, for a completely accurate answer, I'll double check with my lovely employer (an IFA) when I am at work tomorrow. Re being self employed: generally you need 3 yrs accounts if self employed, but I am guessing fro,m what you say that on paper, your business doen't look as if you earn enough). You can get self cert mtgs though, where the IFA signs they are satisfied you can afford the mtg, and then income isn't checked by the mtg company at all. Some IFA have unfortunately abused this, and mtg companies are getting a little stricter in current climbs. But I have a self cert mtg as my income is low, but my IFA knew I planned to have lodgers, so once in the property I would beable to cover the mtg, even though my income before buying wasn't high enough. I'll double check about the rent thingy tomorrow. But feel free to ask any questions (in the context I myself am not legally qualified to give finanical advice, but happy to answer individual questions in this context)

whowants2brich

Hi all,

I want to say loads about all that has happened over the past weeks, but don't know where to start - all I will say is that summer should be a time for relaxing, having fun and enjoying life and the outdoors. It's sad in itself that so many people on here aren't able to enjoy it, for so many different reasons. I hope that you are all in a better position soon and that things improve so that you can have some fun before the end of the summer, if not even sooner. Take it easy, everyone...

Ok, now onto the good and bad news of what I got in the post today. Some of you may be interested as I'm sure it will impact your points collections at Mr T:

Bad: Tesco healthy living mailing. Money off coupons, not clubcard points vouchers. No real incentive, as they're worth face value instead of 4-times... How annoying.

Good: Tesco healthy living mailing. 1000 points when spending £50 on tesc.com online shopping. Depending on how we use the deals vouchers, that would mean that we'll pay £10 for our groceries, and we have 6 weeks to get it delivered - which means we have plenty of time to run the cuboards bare...

Good luck with staying frugal in these difficult times, enjoy the homegrown fruit and veg, and remember - always look on the bright side of life, think of something nice so that you smile, and things will have already improved.

Frugaldom

Now I'm upset. I signed up for evey possible Tesco mailing and have never received any, at all. I'm beginning to think that AOL must filter them out as spam. I've checked my settings and all possible addresses are included, they just don't seem to be getting through. I find this happens a lot with AOL, but don't know it until someone mentions something that I should have received and didn't. I know it's easy to just make up a new email address but, to be honest, working online daily means I receive hundreds of emails as it is and havin g to log into another service is something I am just not prepared to do as it takes up too much time filtering through all the junk.

I'm seriously considering giving up my Tesco points saving, along with my Tesco cc, as I was so annoyed at how many restrictions are imposed on the Deals. Can anyone tell me what they do with their points that makes it financially worth their while collecting them? I'm open to suggestions, as I don't want to miss out on anything that helps my frugal lifestyle

Marru

nykmedia wrote: »

Forgot to say earlier, congratulations Jumble-Bee and, like Marru suggested, could you ask them to change it for book tokens? Otherwise, I'd be doing what you are thinking, unless you know of a way of getting a Chrissie pressie for someone

I would like to take the credit from this but it wasn't me. But congratulations from me too :T!!!

I am saving my Tesco points to pay my car recovery service next year. Unfortunately didn't realise this early enough to be able to do it this year as not enough points but hopefully will have it next year.

The Dog is enjoying the new excercise regime. Have had two walks today and the second one was longer than our normal midday walk. We kept good pace as well and I must say for a 14 years old dog she does move. We were both panting in the end thou and were in desperate need of water when came back home. I might go for a third walk before picking DD from nursery as weather here is just fantastic today.

And did my yoga stretches in the morning as well and haven't bought any chocolate today. I have some herbal tea in the cupboard so I have decided to try that to fend my chocolate and biscuit cravings and see how it goes.

WW so sorry to hear about your H2B's Granny. Such a hard situation especially as you all are in the middle of the final wedding arrangements. We are all here to support you.

Need to go and eat properly now as not to fall back on my old bad habits...

Marru

Frugaldom

Frugal 5-a-day in the 'Spratt' household now at 3 for the first day of my mini-challenge. That's also 2 of the no-need-2-knead wholemeal loaves gone, as we'll be finishing off the bread & butter pudding tonight after dinner.

I telephoned customer services at Tesco Deals and explained my predicament re not being able to use the deals and not being able to do anything else with them before the first lot expires. Got given an address for returning them, which you can do for up to a couple of months after they expire, and will get the points credited back to my clubcard until I want to use them. These have now been posted (certificate of posting stamped) and I should see a very healthy points balance in my next statement. I'm still planning on getting to Ireland to see the Giant's Causeway but it works out CHEAPER paying the full cost than it does going the Tesco Deals route!
Marru - check that you aren't cheaper taking out car recovery via a cashback site rather than using Deals. From what I can see, I'm probably better off saving mine to pay for extra shopping, but I'm off to have a look at the Deals section of their site just in case I'm wrong.

whowants2brich

Nyk:

a) I get the vouchers in the snail mail, not email...

b) I think I'll have to use the vouchers for dry cleaning, meals out at restaurants when we go into London etc for days out. And if necessary, I'll put it towards a full service or MOT or both in due course... As has been posted above, always check that things can't be cheaper elsewhere. I think it's £15 of vouchers for joint membership for me and my OH at the English Heritage. However, with Quidco, we can both sign up and get £20 cashback - aka £40 for the two of us - to be members of the National Trust. That's an extra £20 saving effectively. As long as the vouchers are used on things you want/need, that can't be bought cheaper elsewhere, then fine. Yes, a Boots meal deal would work out cheaper than a restaurant meal, or taking my own meals with would be cheaper still, but hey, proper cooked meals are lovely treats after a hard day's window shopping!

c) One month ago, I got two vouchers for 1000 points when getting £50 of wine. 36 bottles, spent £112, got 2100 points (£84 of deals) and two 5p/litre discounts off petrol. This month, I got the voucher as mentioned above, 1000 points when spending £50 on my usual grocery shop, on which I'll get another 5p/litre discount voucher... £165 of normal food shopping, and 36 bottles of wine to drink, £126 of deals vouchers and £6 of petrol savings... can't be bad?

PS My mum asked me if we can keep the wines for my wedding next year, as that'd be a fantastic way to stock up. If nothing else, I saw that the deals vouchers can be used at Goldsmiths, so that could be where we blow £350 of the deals vouchers on a contribution towards the wedding rings...