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

cha97michelle

Morning everyone

Our snow was a tiny smattering that has already gone. It is a bit mad how it is do different not that far away, but i am not moaning as that will mean less to heat my house. I'm trying to see a bright side, otherwise it could be very depressing. We personally are trying to carry on as normal in the hope that there is light at the end of a tunnel somewhere. It can's stay this bad forever.

Frugality today - i have just planned our meals for today and tomorrow, to postpone the shopping trip till the weekend.

I was thinking of going to the rhyme time at the library, but it is so wet i think i would get soaked walking with the buggy a mile each way. Not appealing in the cold. I might get DS1 to do some painting or gluing here instead.

We'll think of something to entertain ourselves anyway.

Janey i would definitely try nyks advice. If it has just tripped it is only flicking the trip back in place and it might make life a bit easier for you. It must be hardest when silly things like this happen for you. I hope you, and everyone else here can manage to stay warm today.

Michelle, x

mama67

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

Whoo hoo got a bonus from energy supplier of £77 i forgot they do this its a months payments back as a loyalty bonus (@tlantic )




Shaz

Shaz I'm with these as well, when I've been accosted in Tesco etc for electricity as soon as I mention them the sales rep seem to back off..

Hopefully I should be getting my payment soon as well.

shaz_mum_of__2

mama67 wrote: »

Shaz I'm with these as well, when I've been accosted in Tesco etc for electricity as soon as I mention them the sales rep seem to back off..

Hopefully I should be getting my payment soon as well.

I recently had a BG rep at the door offering me a better deal when i told him who we were with he shut the laptop and said he couldn't beat them :rotfl::rotfl:

He did however show me how much better we would be getting rid of the Economy & meter as we no longer have that heating the night time rate was of little benefit and the daytime rates are a little higher ,got the meter changed for free and we are now in credit despite the rise in prices


we are also £100 in credit for Gas and we only pay £40 month i think this is mailny to do with refusing to put the heating on til november ....................well ok i put it on one evening :A

Shaz

Penny2myName

I see interest rates have just gone down to 2%

the_cat

nykmedia wrote: »

the_cat, I fully understand your concerns about dwindling interest rates and inflation creeping up, it is a crazy time! If I was in your situation and the home improvements could be done without incurring any further debt, ie adding to the mortgage, then I would go ahead and get them done, assuming the house is your longterm home. So long as mortgage payments are kept up to date, you could be increasing the overall value of your property whilst turning it into the home you really want and are happy to own. As soon as you can afford it, then get back to your plan of paying off early, that way if the worst ever happens income wise, you'll at least know that the roof over your head is safe. (Only my thoughts on the matter, as I know of no tax benefits of having a mortgage, so I'd assume one is as well without the debt as soon as possible. )

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
Omg!!! Nyk said I should spend money!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Frugaldom

I caved in and am buying logs! One of the local treefellers can deliver me a load, ready cut, for £40 and is bringing them here tonight. My huge cubic meter hessian sack that I had filled with sticks during summer has gone already, along with a bag of coal, about 3 bags of chopped wood and the bag of peat! Thank goodness that was all free fuel! I'll use the hessian sack to store the excess logs in the garage and have a smaller logpile next to the coal bunker. I am hoping that one load of logs plus the 5 bags of coal I have will see us through to next year, when I'll start stockpiling fuel for next winter, but I'm not convinced that it will. My fire at previous house but one was the hungriest pet I'd ever had to feed! :rotfl:

Stockpiling seems to be the only way of beating inflation these days! I am so glad that I adopted this method of grocery shopping and thank Sophiesmum for all her encouragement, both in this department and in the homemade pressies department. :T Forget investing, foraging and squirreling will be my most regular frugal hobbies of 2009 - I'll forage for every kind of bargain be it food, fancy gifts, footwear or fire fodder, and then squirrel it away until it's needed. We'll beat this recession if we need to hit it with big sticks! (And then we can chop & burn the big sticks.) :rotfl:

Sky is quite black here, no snow and the sun is trying to shine through. I wonder if it's worth trying out my new washing line?

PS: Just noticed that the Bank of England has, indeed, cut the base rate to 2%!!

lilac_lady

I've had quite a lot of expenditure recently and am looking forward to joining the £4000 a year club (on my own easier terms). The £4000 will have to cover everything apart from my direct debits. All my car expenses and household insurances will have to come from the £4000 as I pay them as I get the bills, not by direct debit.

Keeping to the budget will be a challenge for me but I feel I really want to do it this year. I know that a lot of you have a very limited income and hope that prices will be kinder in 2009. I'm in awe of you all as your quality of life doesn't seem to suffer through your frugality.

BTW, I agree with Nyk that if you need to buy stuff, do housey things etc, now's the time to spend your money (as long as it's being paid for, not borrowed) as interest rates are so low that the goods and/or services you've bought will soon be worth more than the actual money.

Roll on 2009 - I'm ready!

grandma247

I'll forage for every kind of bargain be it food, fancy gifts, footwear or fire fodder, and then squirrel it away until it's needed. We'll beat this recession if we need to hit it with big sticks! (And then we can chop & burn the big sticks.) :rotfl:
Well said nykmedia. That is just how I feel. I have had the feeling this was coming for the last two years so have been working towards getting rid of debt and stockpiling what I can.
At least if we get to the situation where we can not get our money out of the bank we can eat and keep our homes and selves clean.

cw18

nykmedia wrote: »

Janey, if it helps, look at your main electricity meter where the fuses are and see if all the switches are set to 'on'. If it's a newish meter then there's a separate 'trip' switch that cuts out and can easily be switched back on again to reset the fuses. I remember my first house, with the original fuse wire! And (horror of horrors thinking of it now) who all used to fix fuses with tin foil biscuit wrappers? :eek:

I didn't have foil biscuit wrappers -- but kitchen foil does the trick too

When we moved from 'my' first place to 'our' first place it needed a rewire, and as part of that we paid for a new fuse box -- including the extra to have the 'trip switch' version (that was 1991).

The 'trip' ones now seem to be pretty standard, so I would expect any full rewire job since then to be on one of these. The only pain where I am now is that it's half way down the garage - beyond all the push bikes - so if the 'wrong' one blows I don't even have any light to get to it without finding a torch first :eek: I've had a few bruised ankles in the 5 winters we've been here

lilac_lady

Off to practice my frugality with yesterday's food bargains. I bought 1 whole medium half price chicken on offer @ £2.37, 1 bunch of broccolli (still green) @ 25p and a pack of 6 tomatoes @ 22p. They were from the Co-op. On the other hand, I passed by a Warburton's seeded loaf @ £1.81 in the same shop!!!!