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

Skint_Lynne

bails wrote: »

Ooh, I'm so excited, someone I know has built a cob room! I went to see it this afternoon and it's amazing! My cob house dream is back on!! Anyone know how much a piece of land is? :eek:

What is a cob house bails? I shall probably google it as I am very nosy.

SL x

Edit: Investigated, they are really cute, like a doll's house, do people live in them all the time or are they for holiday homes?

Penny2myName

Some of the pictures I looked at where so sweet and adorable, I thought about the Hobbit homes with them.

purplevamp

Double scratchcards on L!ttlew**ds today. I won 10p and £5 :j

whitewing

Thank you folks for your support and advice on tax credits. I have been on the tax credit casulties website and am following their dispute process. Of course, I will pay back anything that I wasn't entitled to, but the amounts don't tally at the moment with anything I paid so I'm really seeking clarification. My MP is helping me too; he's very good anyway in general. I know of a number of people that he has helped out in the past on different matters. It's understanding what is going on that is the main problem.

However, the whole situation has really knocked me. I had just got another messy financial situation sorted out after a number of months, in which I really had to stand up for myself when I would have been easier to do nothing.

I was feeling positive but now I feel a bit like what's the point? I don't know that I have any fight left in me. I am thinking of changing my name to 'doormat'.

I have a whole pile of things that I could be doing, both tricky and mindless tasks. I have a couple of books that I haven't read yet. I have letters to get in the post. And I don't want to do anything. But I do want things done.

I even have reason to be cheerful (I weighed myself this morning, I had a very nice email from someone I am professionally acquainted with, DH is doing an extra shift today), but I can't snap out of my gloom. Actually, it's not gloom in that I don't feel particularly unhappy. I don't feel anything really. And I've been like this since last week.

Right, I am going to snap out of this, and I'm going to do some housewifely things. See you all later.

bails

Whitewing, sometimes we need to 'sit through' these phases, incredibly frustrating though they are. Ironically, by not trying to get past them they can actually pass much more quickly. Being with it can be the hardest thing; we are all here for you though x

I just mentioned this on the LW thread but in case it's of use to anyone - my nurse just offered me a fasting blood check, a free pedometer and 3 months' free vouchers for WW to help lose weight.

Well done on the £5 win Purplevamp, great stuff!

The traditional thatched cottages are examples of cob houses; people definitely live in them and they can be as big as you like/can afford! What I love about them - well there are lots of things actually! - is that they are organic, feel amazing to be inside and so warm, you can create any shapes you want including curved walls etc and can build holes in for shelves, window seats etc etc. Basically you can design your perfect house and then build it :T or at least I can (prob not to everyone's taste):rotfl:Check out these ones SL - McCabe is the guy who got me interested in cob houses initially.
Some 4k incentives:
'A cob house, McCabe notes, is cheap to build - about £20,000 - and this leaves plenty of scope for quality finishes.'
'a cob house typically uses 20 per cent less energy.'

Spending the day with Shakespeare today so have a nice one everyone. EDIT: uh-oh, I'm being drawn back into the Wonderful World of Cob - kids don't really need to pass their GCSEs, do they?

Frugaldom

Good afternoon all

Whitewing, I get days like those, sometimes you just need to say, 'stuff it' and take a break from everything by doing absolutely nothing. Like they say, "as well a sheep, as a lamb", so grab the duvet and a big pack of whatever you enjoy, switch on some music or a DVD and get vegging.

I've just realised that my house moving day is day 50 of the £1000 in 100 days challenge and that also means there'll only be 50 days left of this challenge. Posting may become sporadic, as we could lose the Internet during the changeover, but I'm hoping that it won't interfere too much.

This morning, I got another £1 off e-voucher for a popular CD website. Wow, I thought, let's see if I can get a bargain, as it's also free delivery. Logged in via a cashback site and found a comedy for £2.99, the voucher code worked, making it £1.99, delivery is free and I could get a total of 6% cashback if it tracks. I bet these companies are glad that all shoppers aren't like us! :cool: I also claimed a free DVD through a cashback site and it has tracked 80p already! It's an extra pressie for someone. Will update my spending to reflect the frivolous £1.99 - Videos & DVDs could be my downfall this year. My frugal entertainment at the weekend was the Riverdance show on video, purchased from eBid charity auctions and we are still working our way through videos we got several years ago for 99p each from the Blockbuster clearance buckets. (Friend & I would go rake every week, as these were cheaper to buy than a new film was to rent - back in the days of living near a rental outlet. :rotfl: )

cw18

I feel like I'm bashing my head against a wall with government type places as well !!

Finally got our tax credits re-instated last week -- with a huge deposit (over £1k!!) into my bank, and notification of payments of just under £59/week to follow each Monday. That payment went in on Monday -- followed by another for just over £57 on Tuesday Phoned them this morning....... the reason is I phoned them with a change of circumstances last week (yep! to give them my CB number and estimated income for this year which is £9k higher than last years!), so they've reduced the weekly payments for the next 21 weeks by £2+. and added all those reductions together into a single payment (which is exactly the same amount) which was paid on Tuesday Why !?!?!?!?!?!?! And still no feedback on my appeal from last year (nor indication when we might get any) -- they say we were overpaid by over £700, but they've not applied 2 changes I repeatedly told them about :mad:

Still waiting on CB to be restarted. Claim has been received. Benefit number has been issued. But apparently they're still "checking it's a valid claim, which we aim to do in 4 weeks from receiving the claim". 'Scuse me, but you've had the claim form since 3rd/4th September. Can't give any indication of when we might actually start getting anything !!!!

And DS's EMA still isn't paying -- haven't even received his contract yet. I know they received it on 3rd September 'cos I sent it Recorded Delivery -- but they won't even send my P60 back to me until it's all sorted..... and it normally takes 4 weeks to return once the claim process is complete :eek: I need it for something else by the end of the month, but there's "nothing they can do to speed up the return of it" :mad:


*** wonders what home insurance companies think about cob houses ***

whitewing

cob houses look fab bails, I'd love one.

I've made some of Twink's hobnobs to cheer myself up, and they are delish (both cooked and raw!).

Brighton_belle

Sounds a good move whitewing.Nomnomnom. When I feel flat & dull, sometimes I just try and sort of ignore it and ride it out, knowing it is part of the human condition. It is hard when you've lots to get done and no oomph though. And sometimes something as simple as hobnobs can move things along. And like nyk says - shutting up shop and going for the duvet can work wonders. I had a duvet day yesterday, albeit coz I was exhausted and feel a refreshed for it and ready to tackle a bit more. I do think this tax credit thing sounds a nightmare though - i hear so many stories like yours (& cw's)and it is appalling.

I've started sprouting my own seeds this week. Bought some reduced ones at asda last month and they were delish added to lentil lunches. So bought a bag of mixed seeds for £1.80. Didn't want to buy a sprouter so went online for ideas of how to do it. Of course was directed staright back to an MSE forum and I picked up the ideas of using a cafetere to sprout/rinse & drain them in. It's working a treat as I had an unused one in the back of a cupboard:j . First lot harvested and in fridge.
Purplevamp - I would have been pretty annoyed about the fireworks thing too! We might head for a hill tonight and get an overview of fireworks through out the city. Or we might just curl up on the sofa and soak up the happy vibes from america.Yes we can...
And yes, I want a cob house too.
Just received a free cinema ticket curtesy of pigspack, which should cover our cinema trip next week to see James bond, along with orange wednesday paying for the other one. AKA a free night out at the cinema:D . For those desparate for cheap xmas ideas - in martins email this week there is a great link to creative ideas for under a fiver.

Frugaldom

Just been checking out national log prices and found an offer that may do someone who hasn't got access to a local supply - prices include delivery and there's a code for free kindling. I was doing a comparison as we'll probably need to buy in logs this winter and I wanted to know what to expect - haven't bought any in over a year and the few we did have left from last place are coming with us again to the next house. Waste not, want not