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

lingojingo

Mumzy - our Morrisons has 5 energy saving lightbulbs for 50p this weekend, two different types. Don't know if this is a national thing , it was on a flyer with the local free paper yesterday. Also Homebase had them on offer for a bit more, can't remember exactly but less than £1.50 for 4 or 5 (sorry but put all the ads out in the recycling bin this morning as it was our collection day).

Also I got 4 free from E-on a few weeks ago, not sure why, I think it was just all their customers, so you could try asking them, then I got another 4 from warmfront when they came to do my loft insulation (but couldn't have cavity wall insulation as my 105 yr old stone walls apparently don't have cavities!).

Frugaldom

Mumzy - check this out and see if it's still available, it's same one I posted about earlier in the year. http://www.freelightbulbs.co.uk/

Redglass, THANK YOU! I have posted in several places trying to find out where the thermostat is on my water heater and it sounds like you've just solved the mystery! STOOZE NEWS - I have left the money in ICICI for now but only because the site was down. I'm not scared of losing the money, I'm scared I can't get at it exactly when I need it to pay off the stoozed cards then end up losing everything I've earned to interest because I couldn't get a switch. I'm running out of 0% options in my shuffling career :rotfl: I'm thinking of shifting it to the Tesco online saver account - they have the special offer again with 6.5% and free clubcard points. That could mean free stoozed interest plus 1000 extra clubcard points Problem with this scenario is that Tesco site isn't allowing any submissions for the new account just now... am I just getting overly paranoid???!!:eek:

cw18

I've never "stoozed" (have only very recently figured out what it means), but have to say I'm more than mildly concerned about everything that's going on in the banking world :eek:

ATM we don't have anything to save (desperately trying to pay as much off my debts as I can before 26th November - one reason for my freezer stock take, as it means I now know I don't need to buy any more meat before then which has freed up some cash that was earmarked for groceries), but when my redundancy money comes through late November/early December I need to find homes for that -- but where we're guaranteed to be able to get at it when we need it.

I'll need a regular amount transferred to my existing accounts each month/week to cover our budgeted expenditure, which ought to be (but will be more than) what we'd get from the Benefits Agencies if we didn't have more than the maximum allowed before they stop you getting anything that's means tested.

But we also need access to the rest of it in case of dire emergencies (major house/car repairs, or anything else I know is going to come along at some point but can't put even an 'estimated' date on).

Interest rates aren't really an issue for me here -- as interest will only count as income that then counts against us !!!! Security of, and access to, the money is a much more important factor just now......


I'm finding it hard to follow today's news on the 'net (for some reason I can read forums, but can't read papers/books on-line), so I think I'm probably going to invest in one of the "high brow" papers tomorrow for a good read on the latest events. In particular I quite fancy finding out which banks are being bailed out so I can seriously consider giving them a wide berth (sorry, but if they've made big enough mistakes to get themselves into this mess, then I'm not sure I trust them to stick to any agreements with the government).

I also know I don't want to leave all my money with one institution -- even though it's below the £35,000 mark in total (not sure I trust the new £50,000 limit as I discovered yesterday some banks are still quoting £35,000 on their websites), I'm thinking that if I split it around a bit, then if one has problems and freezes accounts I can still get money from the others


Nyk, I guess I'm ever so slightly paranoid too

looby-loo_2

cw18 - I have pm'ed you

lingojingo

nykmedia wrote: »

Mumzy - check this out and see if it's still available, it's same one I posted about earlier in the year. http://www.freelightbulbs.co.uk/

Oh yes, I'd forgotten about these. I got them too when Nyk originally posted about them.

thriftylass

Woohoo, bought a random lotto ticket on Tue for the first time in ages and won a tenner. That covers a good portion of a christmas present I ordered yesterday :T for my parents. Great start to a day.

sophiesmum_2

Continuing on that positive note I have just been given a lovely tin of shortbread from one of my oldies as a gift from their holidays - nomnomnom:p

Have a good day frunchkins, hope it is a better day for everyone today.

Boomdocker

CW18 - If you are not worried about interest rates have a look at NS&I.

whitewing

Mmmmmm I love shortbread.

I got my free bottle of Lenor Touch Effects Fabric Conditioner + coupons as part of the Touch Effects trial.

skintwellie

Hi Guys,
Sorry I haven't posted for soooooooooooooooooo long. Well done to all you bravehearts who are managing (or nearly) to stick to your budgets.:j
Loads has happened since my last post (way back when?), but I won't bore you with all the detail.
I have returned to teaching after looking at my pension forecast. It seemed the best way of getting even a reasonable retirement!
So of course I had to buy a car! Fiat were doing a buy your car now, get £1,000 cash towards petrol and start repaying nine months later. So I 'm driving around in a nice new car which I don't start paying for until next May! However I have had trouble keeping within my budget especially with the rise of food and utility prices. I've come up with loads of new extremely frugal recipes, some of which have been well received and others have been fed to the dog!
Have managed to 'earn' quite a bit of money selling unwanted books on Amazon and writing letters/sending photos to magazines. (Pick up the addresses from mags left in doctor's waiting room or write them down when browsing in WHS!) Cute photos of pets always seem to be accepted.

Keep up the frugalling!:T