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

shaz_mum_of__2

I watched the programme to and agree with andromache that her views were her parents although i do believe she did change her views slightly but held back for fear of what her mother would think

I guess editing affected how we interpreted the programme anyway,i was surprised that the rich girl never mentioned the conditions in the house.

Programmes like that really tear at my heart i want to help them all,i guess thats why i am doing a sociology degree!!

It also makes me realise how lucky we are

got a chicken and chorizo casserole in the SC and the house smells lovely

My DS is on weekend leave and am excited to see him ,he's bringing a friend too i am so pleased he is settled and making new friends :T

aiming for a NSD but my previous employer is insisting on paying my final paycheck in cash with my P45 so will have to go into town to pay it into the bank and the bank is near poundland:eek::eek::eek:

Shaz

taka

Morning everyone :hello:

Sophiesmum - I love all your baskets/hampers! They all look amazing and I bet everyone will love them. I know I would!

Decluttering is still ongoing - I checked my kitchen cupboard (walk in one - filled with all sorts of tools/paint/carpet cleaner/vacuum/random household stuff etc) this morning while my toast was toasting. How is it possible I have a cooker hood extractor thingy and not remember about it at all? It matches the horrible brown cooker I have so it must have been there since I moved in This is why I sooooooooo need to have this clearout! I also appear to own 3 kettles! :doh: I think my local freecycle is going to love me... :rotfl: On a slightly less embarassing note I have now found the screws and nuts etc for the single bed (dismantled) taking up room in my kitchen so I can finally get rid of that too! It also appears that I don't need to buy handwash for at least the next year I rediscovered 8 bottles... :rotfl:

Oh dear... Right... off to blitz the rest of it!

Have a good day everyone!

bails

Great basket SM, and great news about the placement Marru! :T

Thanks for your views about the programme guys, I found it very interesting (and horrifying) on lots of levels. I also think that Alice's (RK's) views were most definitely her parents, and to some extent her peers re chavs etc - I certainly hope they weren't influenced by her school but who knows! I agree the editing will have impacted on how we viewed things; I was also surprised that she said nothing about the condition that Natalie (PK) lived in. I do think that her views did change a little by the end of the programme (thank goodness -some of the things she came out with were outrageous!!) but TBH years of 'nuturing' by her parents aren't going to disappear immediately.
I think it's natural that you made the comparison Andromache, especially as you think it might have been your school! I did the same thing, as I also went to private (secondary) school, and compared both my family and those of my schoolmates. Thankfully I'm pleased to say none of my friends were remotely like this girl, although I do have to concede that some of the richest kids had an element of their beliefs :mad: As for my family, both my parents took two jobs to send us there as our local school was very poor at the time (it's now a very good school) - I didn't see my dad for days on end growing up. Interestingly, their choice to give us what they saw as the best start in life (and for which I am eternally grateful) meant that we became 'outsiders' - most definitely the poorest kids at our school (and pretty much the only working class family) and even more bizarrely, ostracised by our extended family for daring to want more from life :mad: School was without doubt a fantastic experience for me, I loved every minute of it and yet that has left an interesting legacy too: my brother, despite being bullied initially, is insistent that he will send his kids to private school; I intend to send mine to the best local school.
Sorry, I digress! One of the saddest things about the programme was the seeming lack of support for the poorer family; such responsibility on young shoulders always breaks my heart (I saw so much of it in my job). What lifted me most though was the spirit, tenacity and self-esteem of Natalie :T I loved the fact that she didn't think Alice's lifestyle was out of reach :j

Janey51

Good afternoon frugallers

It is cold, raining and pretty miserable in this little bit of Scotland today. But I am going to make my Christmas Cake and try to drum up some festive cheer :j

You are all so inspiring at the moment..especially love the basket SM:beer:

I need dried apricots for my cake and trawled round and round Mr A looking for the best deal which turned out to be buying 3 of the snack size packets which seems a bit strange

I will be soaking the fruit for the cake tonight and cooking it tomorrow.
Found an expired jar of mincemeat at the back of a cupboard but also found a recipe for a cake made using a jar of mincemeat so guess where it's going
I don't think a slightly out of date jar of mincemeat :rolleyes: will finish anyone off. But, just in case, I can think of a couple of people who I could feed it to

Filled the car as diesel is 6p litre cheaper in the big city...but only half filled it so the excess weight doesn't use more fuel.

Sold another 4 books on Amazon so doing OK there as well.

I will be out all evening so no need to put the log burner on :T and I will get fed which is a bonus.

Marru

Hello all,

Last time you heard from me I had just got up at midnight to do some work. Guess what, I didn't go back to bed. I am feeling pretty finished at the moment. (Bails - I did manage to send the document through our intranet and the deadline was 23.25 this evening so I am clear).

Oh - the zoo trip was AMAZING!!! I want to be a seal now. I spent ages in the under water tunnel just watching the seals. They came right on the other side of the glass literally inches away.

Off now to get DD from nursery and also I am going to do something very unusual. I will shut down my computer and not open it again until tomorrow morning.

See you all tomorrow, have a great evening!!!

Marru

Brighton_belle

In the guardian today(online) was an interesting link to a site (Economic and Social Research Council) that very easily calculates where you fall in terms of income with regard to the UK population.

http://www.ifs.org.uk/wheredoyoufitin/

I fall in the bottom 10% (but in the top haldf of that 10%) which is very interesting to know.
Bought a wild rabbit (sorry bunny loving peeps)for consumption for £3.50 today at local market thanks to a local forum on here.
Loved the basket SM - so inspirational.
Taka - you've been on a stunning journey this year:T . Really excited to read of your decluttering - you are going to feel so 'free' when it is done. I'm at the start now of 10 days off work and hope to do the same mass decluttering. 'To do' list down from 29 to 26 items.
As for the coffee vs choc cake discussion - I have never eaten cake(just never fancies it). As a child my mum had to get very creative on my birthdays. I have therefore only recently discovered the joy of making them for others. Unfortunatly the same cannot be said of donuts or eclairs:o .

cw18

just had a play on that site based on the income we'll have from the end of the month -- which is a massive reduction on where we were for the first half of 2006.

Using just DH's IB and DLA, plus my Carers Allowance and Child Benefit it says "you have a higher income than around 19% of the population".

If I discount the DLA (it's not used in calculations for means tested benefits, then I get "you have a higher income than around 4% of the population" which is closer to where I expected to be.

Using the figures we'd get if we were entitled to full benefits (including ISMI and CT, but excluding DLA) then "you have a higher income than around 28% of the population" and including DLA "you have a higher income than around 51% of the population" -- which scares me to see how much of a difference the DLA makes !!

Estimating my figures from early 2006, we get an embarrasing "you have a higher income than around 86% of the population" :eek: Hardly surprising we're starting to struggle

thriftylass

Brighton_belle wrote: »

In the guardian today(online) was an interesting link to a site (Economic and Social Research Council) that very easily calculates where you fall in terms of income with regard to the UK population.

http://www.ifs.org.uk/wheredoyoufitin/

I fall in the bottom 10% (but in the top haldf of that 10%) which is very interesting to know.
.

Just tried that site, eyeopening. Makes me appreciate my situation much more, not that I was ever unhappy with my income. But I didn't quite expect such an extreme result. To my defence (not that I feel like I have to defend myself ) I only started working at the age of 28 after finishing uni -30 now- and hence saving for life and just having payed off my studnet loan. Rather interesting to see where I stand compared to where I thought I'd be. Better make the most of it now before my fortune or circumstances change. One reason why I'm here, prepare (save) for when things might change. Maybe should show it to BF so he starts saving

bails

Interesting site BB - with my DLA I am doing pretty well apparently (I included HB in this). Just to note that the calculation is based on most recent figures (2006/7) so it is not a completely accurate reflection of where you are - effectively we are all better off than we really are, which means you're even lower down in real terms BB!!

cw18

bails wrote: »

Interesting site BB - with my DLA I am doing pretty well apparently (I included HB in this).

When I did the calcs based on the full benefits we'd qualify for if it weren't for my redundancy pay-out, I included the help we'd get for Mortgage Interest and Council Tax. It said to include benefits, so I assumed it meant these as well

I agree that the DLA makes a huuuuge difference, but not sure whether it should be included or not as it's not counted against means tested benefits as they expect you to need that extra to maintain independance.