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

Frugaldom

Sophiesmum, my DS learned to drive on the disused airfield near here and, when I was employed, I was working on air bases. Not driving on runways, though, as there were F15's and such like taking off and landing! :rotfl:Mind you, DS had to pull over and allow a small private jet to land and I'm sure that's where Princess Anne's helicopter landed when she came to visit recently. (The town, not me personally).

PrincessAnn

nykmedia wrote: »

Mind you, DS had to pull over and allow a small private jet to land and I'm sure that's where Princess Anne's helicopter landed when she came to visit recently. (The town, not me personally).

Yes, it was. I'll visit you next time, Nyk.

Janey51

Good afternoon.
The temperature is dropping fast up here in the frozen North
I have bought a hot water bottle in case the power goes out with the forecast high winds/blizzards and no electric blanket. It was £3.15 in the local shop which I thought was OK.

I am going to put the freezer on "superfreeze" so that I have a head start if the freezer goes off. It has all my Christmas stuff in it and I know I can claim on insurance but I'd be gutted to lose my home made goodies.

Thanks for the comments about sequestration :T
I really don't feel any shame at all as I know DH and I did not live the high life and we have both been very hard workers all our lives. This is the first time in my life I have only had one job.
The only thing that bothers me is that I do have some savings and I will obviously lose them all. There is not enough to negotiate full and final offers with my creditors and, from my reading around, Full and Final Offers have no actual standing in law and the creditor can still sell the debt on...even if you think you have got an agreement.
The only other thing I could try is to use the templates off National Debtline to see if any creditors would actually write my debts off.
My GP has just signed me off for another 2 months and I was told last week that I need foot surgery soon which will mean me being off work for even longer :rolleyes:
Although I have been told I won't get the sack (work for the Council) you couldn't blame them as I have only worked 5 months of the 10 months I have been there.

Oh joy... :rolleyes:

andromache_2

lol! Someone mentioned Prince Charles earlier today and I had a little smile to myself about the time he & Princess Anne came to visit the frugalites... nice to see you again Ma'am

Nice to see you again too Janey though I'm sorry you're finding things difficult at the minute. :kisses3:

I had to order a new textbook today and managed to find a 40% discount code for Borders. On the one hand I'm happy to get the discount but on the other hand I'm gutted that I bought all my other textbooks at only 10% off in Waterstone's and it's too late to return them! Could probably have saved over £50 as I have to buy a lot of brand new textbooks for my course.
(oh, and while I was on the discount board I was seduced by a 30% off coast code into buying a new top for £20 as well... :shhh: this week's budget isn't going well...)

At least term ends soon so I will be spending less when I'm back with my parents over Christmas. Hopefully some of my current overspend can be clawed back!

Have a nice evening everyone

Marru

Hello,

I was reading yesterday but didn't post as I was aching everywhere including my head. After dose of paracetamol last night and another one this morning I am only now starting to get some release from that aching head. Bless DD she was so wonderful. I went for my bath last night as I was so ill I couldn't wait until she was in bed so I left her downstairs watching her videos. When I came out of my bath she had changed into her night clothes and put herself to bed. She has got such a lot of praise today!!!

Penny: Belated Birthday Wishes for you!!! And I know exactly where you come from with that last comment .

Lynda and Sophiesmum: When I was in driving school up in the frozen north (and I don't mean Scotland) we had mandatory breaking test in the winter on slippery ice. And I was driving a lorry...:rotfl:

Lynne: Please make sure you are not paying to work. If you need outsiders view on your figures please feel free sending me a PM. I used to be an auditor in my previous life.

Shaz: I am in exactly the same situation as you. I was running this franchise that didn't go well (and left me with lots of debts) and now due to my illness I am retraining. I have not filed for bankruptcy but I have been tempted and there is not a single week that I don't think about it at least once.

And if there was something else I was going to comment then please excuse me as that head ache managed to wipe most of my hard disk space :rolleyes:.

I had involuntary NSD yesterday as I forgot to take my purse with me and didn't have time to come back to get it. So it was second night of rice, beans and tuna for me. Then today I went to my local coop to get stuff for my stir fry and everything I needed was whoopsied!!! :T Plus I got houmous whoopsied as well so that will make me sandwiches for college for further five days.

But I do have to confess that I have sinned. I ordered this meditation programme from States. I have done their training courses and they have 1 year money back guarantee. I have listened the demo and loved it. It came in the post today. Also I [strike]wasted money[/strike] got a Christmas presents for myself when I ordered couple of CDs which also came today AND I got a HHHHUUUUUGE parcel from my Fairy Godmother and that arrived today as well (I will dive into it when DD has gone to bed) So it feels like Christmas arrived for me today.

I think that is enough prattling for one day.

Have a great evening everybody!!

Marru

sophiesmum_2

had a really bust day at work today, baking for xmas fayre and then xmas fayre itself, shattered tonight but have promised friend I will go swimming at 8pm - might spend little longer than usual in the jacuzzi;)

Not frugal at all but have just had first chinese take away in ages for tea paid for from sealed pot as OH can't cook and I was shattered.It was yummy:D
Spent £5 at xmas fayre on bits and pieces - some knitted toys etc for mumzys kids - will take them when I go to xms play - as you know I would rather saw my legs off than knit something:eek: but these were cute ready knitted santas:D

need to go and get organised for swimming:rolleyes:

grandma247

Hello everyone I am glad to see you all seem to be hanging in there despite it getting harder.
I was almost knocked off my course financially a few months ago after having to give up work but we stuck it out and things are almost right now. Hubby's overtime starting again and tesco whoopsies saved the day. I have a chest freezer,tall freezer and an undercounter freezer full to bursting and it probably has only cost us about £20 to fill them from tesco. Mostly veg but since that is 1/3 to 1/2 a meal thats not bad.
I also learned to can (bottle) fruit and tomatoes this summer and made chutney and jam so I feel good about the next few months.
I spent £26 plus postage on a food dryer and have a lot of fruit and veg dried and in jars too.
We should be ok to keep going with paying off debts and with overpaying the mortgage we will be ok if the worst happens and hubby's job goes, not that there has been any sign yet of that happening since they have recently paid for some expensive training for him and want him to do more next week.

I loved the story of guinea pig Nickmedia, I always said they were intelligent.

I am going to try to catch up on reading all the old posts over the next couple of weeks to see what I have missed.

thriftylass

Had a frugal three days after being back, had two NSDs and only needed to buy fresh mushrooms and milk for work so far. The freezer and stocks fed us til now (will probably do for the rest of the week, might only need more milk and bread at some point) and mum send me a lovely food parcel with chocolates, ham and salami etc. Mmmhhhhh. That gives me hope for the rest of the month, so that I can maybe rescue my 3 months test run budget.

Called Mr T about my missing vouchers and again they were returned to them due to faults with the address although there's is nothing wrong with it. There are two versions for the flat name but I receive other mail for either name just fine. Plus my name is now on the door, so no idea how they can not be delivered anymore as it was fine 9 months ago. I'll have to wait a week now to see if they manage to deliver them this time.

Penny2myName

Suppose to go to Liverpool Tate with college today, but couldn't get on the M62 from Manchester, so after circling Manchester a few times we ended up at The Whitworth Art Gallery. A good friend, bought me a hot chocolate from Cafe Nero and Egg Mayo sandwich from Lidl for my lunch as a belated birthday treat. So I only bought the Hot Chocolate at college before we set off.

sophiesmum_2

Friend turned up early for swimming so been- and back again now - looking a bit prune like after a good swim and twenty minutes in jacuzzi:p but feeling very relaxed and refreshed:D
Think I may put my xmas tree up later, will butter OH up with a cuppa first as it is in the loft space;)
Grandma 247 - I love my dehydrator - also have lots of stuff dried for using over the winter - I love banana chips done in the dryer:D