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

lyndasharp

Happy Birthday Penny :beer: Janey and Mumzy, good to have you both back

Finally got my contract through for the new job today. It looks like the company car paperwork is mega complicated, and would cost me £160 a month if I'm reading it right? There's all sorts of strange abbreviations, doesn't make a lot of sense. My car insurance has to be renewed tomorrow, so I've decided just to insure Betsy for business use as it's only an extra £30, and I can decide whether to go with the company car another time. They appear to have sent the contract out for a permenant job, not for a 3 year job. Am very tempted to just sign and return, but I'm far too honest and will mention it when I have my hand over day with them on Friday.

Just been to look at the room my friend from salsa dancing has available, and it will be perfect. The kitten is extremely cute but did spend the whole evening trying to kill my hand. I'll have to stock up on plasters before I move in...

Janey51

Thanks for that info whitewing. I will try and get my head round it tomorrow but I think I have left things a bit late beccause it has to be paid by the end of Jan. I really don't know what DH did with a lot of his tax stuff but the Tax Office are not interested in personal circumstances.
Even when I was trying to expalin the situation I am in, the advisor could only keep apologising and saying that the amount is correct based on the information I have provided.
I made an enquiry as to what I did about recording his tips ?????? He asked if DH kept a little book with notes in of what he got.
How the f*** do I know???
Grudgingly he said that they would forget about it.

Brighton_belle

Janey, it's lovely to have you back, with much understanding of why you had time out.
Cw - glad you are keeping up the scrapbook club - I think it important to have a social thing like this to do. I feel the same about my weekly mosaic class. Very theraputic and I don't have holidays

Had great fun this afternoon putting together my spreadsheet for 2009 and the finalisation for the 4k challenge and my budget as a whole. After 5 months on here, I now feel so much more in control and have been able to break down every area I spend money in and allocate a budget. If OH still hasn't found work after 6 months, I know which things will have to go, but in my 'all in budget' I am going to at least start off indulging my hobbies.
Every penny counts more than ever now and I am so glad I got this under control now, so we stay out of trouble. It's not that I spent madly before, but I was far more casual and would have got in a mess next year if I hadn't sorted it. As it is I may need to make 2009 the year I have a go at matched betting to fund my mosaic class if OH job prospects remain poor.

EDIT: a nearly belated very happy birthday penny

Penny2myName

I'm now £37.40 lighter, but was a good evening, fantastic atmosphere at the church, my son really enjoyed himself. My mum thought the concert was brilliant, and kids enjoyed their meal at Italian Restaurant (local pizza hut is closed down) An expensive birthday, but a pleasant one that has ended with a satisfied smile on my face and kids going to bed laughing.

cw18

Sounds like you all had a fabulous night out, and sometimes it's impossible to put a price on family bonding like this

sophiesmum_2

Belated Happy Birthday wishes Penny:beer: Glad you had a lovely time with the family:D

Penny2myName

cw18 wrote: »

Sounds like you all had a fabulous night out, and sometimes it's impossible to put a price on family bonding like this

Have to admit, I had thought to myself, if I had the money would have quiet willingly paid twice the amount for the final results of the evening. Only thing missing is a loving man to hug me to sleep.

Cat_Addict

Aww Penny!! Glad you have a loving family though!

Janey51

Good morning from Lapland

We have had more snow overnight and if you are a Met Office groupie like me, you will know that more is on the way.
It was -7 last night and the log burner chose to give up the ghost :mad: Some of the insulation has fallen off. If DH had still been alive this would have been no problem but you may as well ask me to scale Mt Everest in the nude as ask me to fix it :rolleyes:
Luckily, I have had to ask the landlord to send a plumber to fix the hot water tap in the bathroom (which won't turn off) and also to fix the radiator in my bedroom (which won't turn on) and a friend's husband assures me that any plumber worth his salt should be able to reapply the insulation.

This morning, the Janey High Fashion Ensemble comprises a camisole, 2 long sleeved t-shirts, a jumper, a fleece, a Puffa jacket,woolly tights, knee length socks, short socks, jeans and knee length fleecy slippers. Fingers are still frozen but the body is warming.
I am in the kitchen where the Rayburn is attempting to raise the temperature above hypothermic level and I have put a calor gas heater at the other end....the kitchen is 25ft long and very high ceilinged so takes a lot to heat.

Would anybody like to say how romantic it is living in the country again? :rotfl:
I am off to visit Mum before the next blizzards arrive and may have to make a detour to stock up on chocolate to sustain me through the bad weather
For those of you who helped me so much when Mum first went into care...she is now so much more settled. Still daft as a bat but the staff are wonderful and endlessly patient and understanding. It is so fashionable to criticise care homes, but this one is really special and I thank the Gods (and Goddesses) that she got a place there.

I just need someone to look after me now Any volunteers? I am cheap to keep and could probably be quite useful...washing up, cleaning, ghost busting :rotfl:

Serious note....the credit crunch is biting but I am so pleased I have been a member of this forum because it has taught me to totally re-evaluate the way I use money. I think all of us on here (and MSE generally) have a more healthy attitude to budgetting and NOT keeping up with the Jones. We are so much better placed to deal with things.
There is a possibility I may have to consider sequestration (the Scottish form of bankruptcy) in the future but I am trying to avoid it happening. I am not scared (much ) but it will take me many many years to pay off the debts which I had taken on from DH prior to his death. I am trying to fight them with the help of other online forums but sometimes I think it may be best to just start again.
It would be more beneficial to move over the border to England as bankruptcy is a lot simpler there...but this is my home.

All start praying that I find a pot of gold soon :rotfl:

Good news: Sold 4 books on Amazon last week making me £19 richer :T And a Quidco payment of £7.52 went into the bank :T
I collect my £20 Morrisons voucher after Dec 15 :T

I used Tesco vouchers to buy 2 magazine subscriptions for Christmas presents ..cost £16 in vouchers and worth £58 :T

Frugaldom

Good (frosty) morning frunchkin friends old and new.

4 weeks to go and I know I'm eeking (?sp) out every penny in the hope of making it last until the year end. However, as the temperatures continue to fall, I am not prepared to freeze, so I may need to increase the electricity allowance and switch on an electric heater, set low on the thermostat. I thought we were doing not too badly, but the guinea pig disagrees! He lives in the back porch, which is unheated. Last night, for whatever reason, his cage door got left open and this morning, the tell tale signs indigate that he climbed out, managed to get into the hay bag, and appears to have helped himself before clambering back into his cage - the footprint on the wall gave that away! :rotfl: I opened his house to find him snug amidst a heap more hay than normal - he's usually eaten half his bed by morning! :rotfl: But it was nice of him to go back into his cage unassisted, even although he must have had a bit of a scramble to reach it.

Sitting waiting for arrival of cooker and washing machine and hoping the ice melts at some point today. I've poured half a bag of salt over the path and the sun is shining, but it never reaches the front door. The ground is solid, so no chance of any garden work being done today, so I guess it's paperwork, updating spreadsheets and [STRIKE]playing[/STRIKE] working online. Or I could do some online shopping!

Penny, glad you had a good night out, these are very rare when living the frugal life so it makes them all the more appreciated by everyone concerned.

Lynda, can't you phone your new employers and ask them about the contract? I would jump to the opposite conclusion and worry that they couldn't guarantee the 3 years. From my experience, it's easier for them to conclude a 'permanent' contract if finances get sticky than it is to terminate a fixed term. Or, if you are happy with the terms in the contract they have sent you, I would just sign it and return it. Nothing is permanent these days, in my book GOOD LUCK!