Live on £4000 for a year - part 4 (Oct - Dec 2008)

Frugaldom

My thoughts exactly, cw18, and I already know that it'll balance out roughly the same, possibly worse, as electricity has gone up 67% over the past 12 months! :mad: My spending diary now reflects ONLY what has been spent from 1st January 2008. With things going the way they are with the heating situation, despite our extra frugal ways, it looks like my end of year bill could be over £400 for this quarter. I'm really working hard at trying to reduce that, though, and am carrying out all sorts of experiments and combinations of heating, as per my participation in the meter watch challenge.

On the housing front, there's still no word from anyone and they haven't contacted any of our references, so I can only assume that the landlords have found someone they consider 'more suitable' to rent their house. I can't believe how difficult it is to secure rented accommodation! The last place we applied for asked us for bank, work and character references, cash deposit plus 6 months rent up front because we couldn't provide contracts of employment (we're self-employed) and charged us for the priviledge of providing all of what they needed. I have a sneaking suspicion that the relevant information never got as far as the potential landlords, as none of the references were ever checked. I doubt any of the information even left the estate agent's office! :mad: I'm so annoyed about this. When we handed in all the paperwork on Monday, one of my references was in a sealed envelope addressed to the owner of the property - the estate agent said she wondered what it said AND OPENED IT UP TO READ IT! :mad:

lyndasharp

Off work today as my cold was just getting too annoying. Thanks to being around at the right moment, I've picked up a mystery shop for tomorrow - they are quite often gone by the time I get home from work

Made it out to the Co-op earlier and they were giving out free biscuits from their biscuit selection box :j Very nice - didn't actually buy any though! I went in thinking that I felt like some muffins for lunch (savoury ones that is) and they were reducing them as I got there They were reducing the bread rolls too, so I got a heap of them as well.

I'm almost at 7000 ipoints.... has anyone tried the 6 bottles of wine you can get for that? The wine would come in very handy for Christmas but I'm wondering whether to wait and get an M&S voucher in 400 ipoints time.

mumzyof2

NYK I am hoping i can stay on board in 2009 i really really iam. I keep saying "friend" because the guy i met on my 21st birthday is my "friend" but we spend alot of time together but don't think it will go anywhere to be honest

lilac_lady

Nyk - if you don't want anyone else to open an envelope, address it to "personal addressee only". No-one else, such as a secretary or PA should open it but I suppose it depends how well they do their job (or how nosy they are!)

Marru

Hello all!!!

And welcome to all newbies from me!!! :hello:

About the piggy, well I can't put my new baby with BBBBP and he is too young to be castrated so can't put him with the girls either so I need to get him a new friend. I am now waiting for the right one to find me .

I am so furious to my ex. He called today to say that the insurance will expire next week and that he can't find the log book. I can send a form to DVLA to say that I am the new owner of the car but processing that can take over a month. I need to email my ex and say that if he can't find the log book by Monday I will send the form off and that in the meanwhile he better sort out temporary insurance. I am so angry as I have been asking for over a year to get the log book back. I even sent a letter via solicitors in September last year asking for it. Need to hunt down some quotes this weekend. :mad::mad::mad:

I need to go to the shop now to get some fruit for DD for weekend and I have already promised to myself to buy some comfort food .

Catch up with you later...

Marru

Frugaldom

lilac_lady wrote: »

Nyk - if you don't want anyone else to open an envelope, address it to "personal addressee only". No-one else, such as a secretary or PA should open it but I suppose it depends how well they do their job (or how nosy they are!)

Unfortunately, I didn't write anything on the envelopes, they were references addressed to the person who has the house to rent - the estate agent was only advertising the property. Leson learned - if they say the 'alndlord' is dealing with bit themselves then I'll send everything directly to the landlord so I know for sure that they receive it. Apologies if my post came across as a bit grumpy, I'm just fed up with the situation I am in and being unable to do anything about it - there just doesn't seem to be anyone to ask about tenancy problems when you find out you are an illegal tenant, especially when living in such a small place that houses are in short supply and those that are available are snapped up as holiday homes, retirement homes or by those heading for a 'life in the country' after giving up well paid jobs in the cities. It's very disheartening, to say the least.

Marru, you are going to end up with hundreds of guinea pigs at this rate, I hope you don't need to move soon or you'll need a lorry just for all the cages :rotfl:

SL thanks for the info on lottery wins, it's easy to see how people could get carried away with it if they got into believing that they must hit the big time sometime, I guess it's a bit like me refusing to get rid of my few premium bonds, 'just in case'.

Mumzy - better a "friend" than not, as it's always better company than none at all when getting comfy to watch a film.

Whitewing, I'm planning on an early night and pretending 2009 doesn't exist, that way, I can't get any older. :rotfl:

Just posted another advert on Gumtree to see if I can get rid of some books, videos etc and am hoping that the laptop is sold, as I've just had an email saying someone has sent payment including postage & packaging. Fingers crossed. I'll be really pleased if I succeed in my 1000 in 100 mini-challenge.

Brighton_belle

Ooh, just sold another book on amazon:j . Will be about a £6 profit.
Busy starting to list ebay stuff via auctiva...

lingojingo

whitewing wrote: »

Aaaarrrrgggghhhh,

You mean to tell me now that instead of singing old lang syne, we'll all be taking meter readings at midnight on New Year's Eve! The things we do for this challenge.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Marru

nykmedia wrote: »

Marru, you are going to end up with hundreds of guinea pigs at this rate, I hope you don't need to move soon or you'll need a lorry just for all the cages :rotfl:

Ummmmm - guilty

If I ever get my own place I will have The Ultimate Retirement Home for Guinea Pigs. Any suggestions for the name?

Actually now I am thinking that I should put my girls with BBBBP and get another girl pair and then when baby grows and can get castrated he can go with the new girl pair. So watch this space.

I "saved" some money for not going to the chippy like I was going to. Settled for ready made pizza (offer) instead. Plus I got some sandwich filler whoopsied (and some other lovely stuff as well from whoopsied section) so BM will go on first thing in the morning.

Have a great evening everybody. I inted to take it reaaaaallly eeeeeaaaaasyyyyy.....

Marru

mumzyof2

NYK That comment made me laugh (or did i just read it wrong?) LOL