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

whitewing

quote=sophiesmum;16123195]Whitewing that is lovely - have to say you think quite often along the same lines as me,m[/quote]

Good, I look forward to the day that I have £100K in my savings acct too!

Won't be anytime soon. I am in a grump. 'D'H and I have been putting our lists together and have had a discussion about fuel/car costs. It's our biggest, we-haven't-got-it-in-control-yet expense. At the moment, MIL uses our car and fuel to get to work, provided she drops DS off at school too. This is great in theory as it saves us about 10 miles a day (ungenerous estimate). However, now that things have settled in her new home and she's a bit more in the routine of budgeting (I assume), I kind of worked out that she has a larger disposable income than us, and I am getting resentful. At the time we put this plan into action, we were assuming that MIL would have to pay more for her lodgings etc. Now, if we ask, she will willingly put £20 of fuel in the car but I hate asking, so I wait until it becomes an issue and then moan at DH. Then I get annoyed that neither DH or MIL offer or attempt to proactively think about these things.

As part of our discussion, I pointed out that the way you drive affects fuel usage, which DH took great offence at as he took 'you' to mean him. Then he defended his mum's driving. And is very cross that I said that 'one' may take less care if it not one's own car (bear in mind his mother doesn't appear to have ever budgeted in her life before).

I've sort of suggested we may need to just consider costs of DS taking the bus in (thus saving on 'after school fees', which admittedly aren't much), and MIL getting a taxi to and from work. This would mean that we wouldn't need two cars to pay for. Now, as we're rural, this may be a total no go, but it is certainly worth looking into. (There are some related issues which I can't go into to do with cars/lifts etc). But anyway I feel bad now and the TV has gone on so I guess that's it for tonight!

Marru, you have my sympathy. Especially right at this moment, lol!

Edited to say: this is why I shouldn't do financial stuff after 7 o'clock at night.

Skint_Lynne

sophiesmum wrote: »

Paul Seems a fair and logical way of working it out to me:D
By the way well done on your freecycle freezer aquisition, sounds like lots of preparations afoot in your household getting ready for this challenge:T :T :T

Marru - glad little one had a good day, stay strong ignoring the guilt trip stuff, he isn't going to change so choose to ignore it. Enjoy the drink and celebrity

Thinking of doing hot choc sachets, few choc stirrers and some mini marshmallows in a mini xmas stocking for my oldies for xmas morning - will hang on all their front doors - do you think they would be okay???? - reckon I could make them for about 50 - 60p each ( I will need 50)
I hve material I could use for stockings.

I think that's a lovely idea, you could say that they were from 'santa'.

sophiesmum_2

Skint_Lynne wrote: »

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I think that's a lovely idea, you could say that they were from 'santa'.

I was thinking of something like that, it's only a token gesture but some of them I know won't have anything at all to open on xmas day - it's so sad.
I will be going full out on xmas eve making them a full xmas meal, 3 courses, coffee and mints, wine, the lot, will be funding that with a raffle and doing cooking myself so at least I know they all will have had an xmas dinner and a good evenings company .Going to do a quiz and charades and may even get the karaoke out if they're up to it:rotfl: At least they will go to bed happy on xmas eve- I'm quite happy to give up my xmas eve if I can achieve that for them and OH is rota'd to work then anyway.

cw18

I'm back on GD duty today..... picked them up from DD's at 7am instead of DD's work at 7:20am, due to the fact my Dad ran them around on Tuesday and the car seats ended up at her house. Thought about collecting the car seats yesterday, but I have to pass her work to get to/from her house, so it would have meant a return trip to hers yesterday and then a return trip to her work today -- so I saved mileage on the car (and petrol money) and time for me and her (she normally has to get two buses to work so I picked her up 15 mins after she normally leaves the house).

Girls are now watching CBeebies while I'm on here. School drop off for 8:55, then I need to collect the little one at 11:30am. While she's there I need to phone a pension company -- and realised yesterday I'll almost certainly get a lump sum from them as well as a monthly payment. A quick calculation of what I already have, and what I'll have from my redundancy, the bit extra on life cover over and above the mortgage, this extra from the pension, a savings plan that pays out next Feb, and another savings plan in March 2011 means I'm unlikely to ever qualify for anything that's means tested unless I get some unexpected (and major) bills that I can justify to the Benefits Agencies. So I'll be paying off all my debts (which they wouldn't let me do) to reduce monthly outgoings (and save me a lot of money in the longer term), and am now declaring myself "officially retired" -- and I won't be 43 until January :affraid:

Mentally I don't think I could manage 17 years without working (that's when my first company pension kicks in) -- much less 22 years to my other company pension and state pension. So I'm going to spend the rest of this school year helping DD out with younger GD's pre-school runs, and sorting the house. Come July (if I've sorted the house) I shall investigate the logistics/procedures for becoming a registered child-minder. As long as I have at least one other 'paying client' DD can continue to get help from Tax Credits to pay me to look after my GDs -- and I still can't think of anything better than being paid to spend time with them Plus it means to some extent I can pick my own hours -- if I take the extra "client" as part-time only it means I'll still have time to myself during the week in school term-times.




Had a look at my outgoings for next year (around £9.5k without anything for clothes, shoes, treats, unexpected car/vet bills, presents etc -- that's just monthly bills and groceries), but have no idea yet how much I'll have coming in. I was trying to make sense of an on-line leaflet about Widowed Parents Allowance (WPA) yesterday, and it looks as if I could qualify for the full amount of that (which also means a small amount of CTC) and 50% of what DH would have had through SERPS (not a lot, as he was contracted out for 18 years) while DS2 is still a "dependant" I get CB for. But as that will stop before I'm 45 (DS's course -- and my entitlement to CB -- finishes 5 months before then) it also appears I won't get any top-up to my state pension from his NI which seems a bit unfair...... if I were a year older with DS2 being the same age/on the same course then I'd get beyond 45 meaning I'd receive it later as well !!!

I also have no idea what I'll get from the company pension scheme in terms of monthly payments yet. I'll get half his preserved pension (not sure of his finally salary, and they index link it after it becomes preserved anyway), and if DS2 were under 16 I'd get the same again for him. I remember (from my time in the scheme) they can -- at their discretion -- pay for a dependant child until their 18th birthday if they're still in certain education. So I could be looking at around £35/week for me or £70 for both of us Either way I'm still going to get a tax bill as the WPA is taxable (and I still owe IR some money from last tax year they're partially collecting this year, with the remainder to be collected next) !!!


The IR site for calculating CTC also gives unexpected figures. I didn't expect to get anything due to not working (after this Wednesday) and not receiving means tested benefits. But as I am now it seemed to suggest I'll get £10/week for the rest of this tax year (but the child element of WPA is under £9). I then had a play using this years income as last years and it was coming up at over £50/week

So I guess it could be quite a while before I can confirm my budget for next year !?!?!?!?!?

cw18

double scratch-card again on L1ttlew00ds

Marru

cw - respect, my mind is bogging about all that, good on you for being able to tackle it.

Sophiesmum - I think the little stockings are great idea. And WOW what a party!

I have sore throat so decided to stay home - again. And also cancelled my dog walking for today and tomorrow. I really need to get some college stuff done but might have a little nap first.

Frugaldom

Good morning frunchkins

Thanks CW, I got the double scratchcard and a £1 log-in bonus from mine, so I was able to set a withdrawal for £10 - hoping it gets cleared OK

Parents due here in time for lunch - chicken broth's in the slow cooker and should be ready by then. Have to go to postie then to old house to collect a few last items & do a washing, which reminds me, I must phone and find out when the washing machine will be in stock as the order confirmation email said 5 working days. Then be back here before lunchtime! Hmm...

Dry outside at the moment, hoping it'll stay that way to let me get the washing hung out to dry and sirt out some more planters etc from other garden to here. Mum's bringing her electric saw, so we'll get some wood cut this afretnoon, weather permitting. Oh! Must go order some coal, too.

Hope everyone is doing alright - good luck with the interview, SkintLynne, try not to worry too much about the cash situation, CW and can I invite Sophiesmum to stay here the run up to Christmas 2009 so she can instruct me on frugal homemade gifts - have you any idea if cooking chocolate would work, as I have loads of that in store. Paul, we're self employed, too, the Inland Revenue site explains how much per mile is allowable for any work-related travel but I take it as a lump sum payment at year end to save confusing things.

Whitewing, perhaps the cultural differences will take some time to level out and you'll need to start taking back a bit of control to ensure things are being done properly. POint out that MIL's driving licence and your car insurance probably wouldn't cover her for driving in the UK and that it costs extra to have her covered. She needs to contribute enough to cover her fuel, wear & tear of the vehicle plus percentage of the insurance. If their culture is one in which the man of the house took responsibility for all things financial, the perhaps you'll need to temporarily fill that roll if DH doesn't feel right about doing it. Apologies if this is way off track but I think I'd grow to resent the situation you are portraying and would be thinking along the lines of not wanting DS to miss out at the expense of subsidising MIL (who now has more disposeable income). I didn't give my DD a lump sum until she was setting up her own flat, then she had her 21st/engagement party and, next year, she'll be getting married. I made a point of putting the cash away each week for both her and DS. I made a joke many years ago about giving them £1 for every week of their lives when they reached 21 - £1000 lump sum and the odds spent on gifts - but couldn't actually afford to save £2 per week back then. But the idea stuck, and I've caught up by doing this challenge for the past few years. From thereonin, I'd like to give them £1 per day as a lump sum payment on birthdays. I know it doesn't seem a great deal, but I know that it's a lot to them and it will make a difference. If I live to be 80, it's like drip feeding them about £15,000 each over the term, it's not subject to any sort of tax and if there's extra available, they'll get it. I can always hope to reach my magical £100k in the bank over and above that eventually. I prioritise the savings - ISA, friendly society bond with life assurance, any other planned events (DD's wedding) and THEN the drip fed (non)inheritance.

Catch up with everyone later tonight

the_cat

Haven't posted for a couple of days and loads of posts to catch up with!
Hugs to all that need them, but especially cw, janey and marru who seem to be 'going through it' at the moment

Sophiesmum - more fab pressies:T :T Will be taking notes and trying some next year

Nyk - thanks for clarifying the budget stuff - I have printed it off and am trying to sort out my figures. Still at the scribbling stuff out and tutting stage atm

Have just received my order from approved food - mega bargain:D Will be going stockpile shopping later today to make use of Morrison voucher thingy and then need to clean the house.
Speak soon, Cat

whitewing

Hi All,

I had a good night's sleep and can get everything into perspective again now. I should stress that MIL is always agreeable to anything we suggest, but she is not used to managing a budget anyway, our money still looks strange to her, quantities are very different too. I wish her and DH would say 'whitewing, let's talk about such-and-such' rather than me having to be the one all the time that says it's not working.

DH wasn't annoyed with me apparently and was mystified when I thought he was, so I think I was winding myself up at that point.

I will look into it all eventually. Still think there's merit in the idea of a taxi (but have no idea how much costs would be).

I am pleased as I have lost 2kg since I last went to the doctor. I wasn't keen on the doctor last time (although I wouldn't mind having her figure eventually), and I was going to ask if I could swap for my next appointment. But she took my blood pressure and beamed at me when she said it was very good, and she beamed again with my weight loss, and was really pleased which has made me determined again. So I was very happy, and DH came with me as we were in town together, and he's very chuffed.

And we popped in to see family on the way home and have been given 4 pheasants - DH is in charge of dismantling them. They're hanging in the kitchen at the moment and he'll sort them tomorrow.

I'm off for a bit now and will report back later.

lyndasharp

SL, hope the interview goes well, hope you feel better soon Marru, and hugs to everyone else who needs it! Congrats on your weight loss so far Whitewing, and good luck with dismantling pheasants - remember to remove the bullets, I still haven't forgotten the shot I started chewing on in a pheasant casserole... yuck.

I've been to see the 3 bed semi and was very disappointed. The range cooker in the description should really have read 'space for range cooker'. The back garden was all decking (easily cured with big bonfire!), and it all needs a bit of work decoratively though nothing too major. The real issue for me is the road out the front was very busy, even at 2 in the afternoon, and the garden was overlooked from all sides, no nice green areas around. It would be a very good investment, but I just don't think I'd like living there and I'm looking for a home not an investment.

Seeing the flat tomorrow, maybe that will be nicer - at least I know there is some greenery around it! If not I'll just keep looking...