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

Frugaldom

And how about this for the MOST FABULOUS OFFER available... pardon me whilst I mop my tears of laughter...

"... As a xxx Cardholder, we'd like to offer you a special opportunity to save over £210 with a super offer. You can receive the latest edition of the magnificent Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World - worth £150 - for just £9.95 (plus £4.95 towards p+p) ..."

followed by,

"PLUS, order today and xxx will send you a FREE gift of the leather-bound Compact Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus AND the beautifully illustrated 2009 xxx Diary. In return for this special offer, all you need to do is purchase... "

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: What a bargain! What if I order 3, one each for DD and DS and one as a longterm investment for DGD? :rolleyes:

(Apologies to anyone who may find my humour a smidging less than amusing, I'll blame my lunacy on the full moon. )

cw18

I thought an 0845 was charged as a local number? The only difference it makes (as best I understand) is if you're on a package that includes all local (and national) calls for free -- 'cos 0845 numbers don't get classed as 'local' for those purposes....

It's 0870 numbers that charge at higher rates !!!

Skint_Lynne

nykmedia wrote: »

And how about this for the MOST FABULOUS OFFER available... pardon me whilst I mop my tears of laughter...

"... As a xxx Cardholder, we'd like to offer you a special opportunity to save over £210 with a super offer. You can receive the latest edition of the magnificent Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World - worth £150 - for just £9.95 (plus £4.95 towards p+p) ..."

followed by,

"PLUS, order today and xxx will send you a FREE gift of the leather-bound Compact Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus AND the beautifully illustrated 2009 xxx Diary. In return for this special offer, all you need to do is purchase... "

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: What a bargain! What if I order 3, one each for DD and DS and one as a longterm investment for DGD? :rolleyes:

(Apologies to anyone who may find my humour a smidging less than amusing, I'll blame my lunacy on the full moon. )

Yes,

This is indeed a once in a lifetime offer, will you order me one while you're at it??

Thanks in anticipation:p

SL x

Frugaldom

cw18 wrote: »

I thought an 0845 was charged as a local number? The only difference it makes (as best I understand) is if you're on a package that includes all local (and national) calls for free -- 'cos 0845 numbers don't get classed as 'local' for those purposes....

It's 0870 numbers that charge at higher rates !!!

0870 numbers charge at standard national rates and you are correct in that 0845 charges local rates. But the operative word here is 'charges'. :rotfl: As diehard frugalites, if we pay an 'all inclusive' package price, we don't appreciate extras to be added on top

cw18

Would have thought frugalites wouldn't use the phone enough to justify an 'all inclusive' package I know that we don't, and I've compared against them regularly over the last 2 or 3 years !!!!

trex170104

Hiya all
Nyk I wouldn't bother getting in touch with the ebay seller at the end of the day they listed the item for that price and they should've checked posting fisrt - just think of it as a success on your part and maybe go back and see if the same seller has listed anything else you might get another bargain haha!!
Well today is a voucher day it would seem. I popped into Boots for DS milk today and just had to have a browse at the reduced section - thank goodness I did. They had all the little me organic baby baths for £1.99 each instead of £4.99. Now I know £1.99 for bubble bath is quite expensive but I don't like to use anything other than 100% natural products on DS, as babies skin is so precious. But anyway pleased with the knowledge that I would be saving £3 per bottle I picked up 4, but when I got to the till the reductions just got better as they were also 241 - so essentially they were £1 each so a grand total of £4 each saved, or £12 for the 4!! I also picked up some really good shampoos for 50p each. Finally I noticed if you spent £5 they gave you a £5 no7 voucher and also that no7 was on 342. So I stocked up on moisturiser, face wash and eye make-up remover [3 of each - prob enough for a year!] I managed to get 3 vouchers as I split my shopping into 3 lots of £5 beforehand and fair dues the cashier had no probs putting it all through separately. Also because no7 is quite expensive the three transactions for the 9 items also came to more than £5 each so I now have another 3 £5 off vouchers to spend!! I now also have £63.51 in boots points that I am saving for the jan sales.
Also, when I came home I had £20 of mothercare vouchers as I agreed to up the payment every month to DS Trust fund, which I see as an investment for his future. All in all a good frugal day.
PS: almost forgot large free range eggs were reuced to 60p in co-op so grabbed some of them too.

taka

Hello frunchkins!! :hello:

We finally found out our pay increase this year as the RPI figures are out. Looks like we get a 5% increase:j (It was whichever is highest out of RPI or 2.5% - agreed 3 years ago) Its been driving me mad trying to work out how much that will mean after pension/tax/NI and every online calculator comes out with a different amount - varying by as much as £25 per month different Anyone understand these things? I am now a confused mess of salary sacrifice/tax/opted out NI :wall: :eek: I guess I'll just have to wait till payday :rolleyes: ... only another 2 weeks :doh: ...


I am so thankful I found MSE and particularly this thread Thank-you everyone especially Nyk! :T :beer: :A

My bills/groceries/utilities etc are less than this time last year :j Mind you I still can't do it on 4k a year I think my budget for 2009 is coming in just over £5.2k or £14k all in (inc a holiday) at the latest tweek I like going out too much :rolleyes: Oh well... still it means I can fill my ISA this year and may actually be able to start proper overpayments on my mortgage next year :j Part of the reason for me doing this challenge is I'm hoping my mortgage will be gone before I turn 44 (the day before my 44th birthday would be the day my 1st ever mortgage would have finished had I continued it ). It means reducing it from 19.2 years to go to 10.8 years but if I can keep up with this challenge it should be possible :j:beer: :money: :j

cw18

taka -- I used to have a spreadsheet that calculated my nett pay once I put in the gross, and can remember most of the formulas and know where to double check the figures they used. But in order to do it I'd need a fair bit of info (such as your tax code / whether the pension is a works one, if so what rate you pay into it and if not what percentage of salary you sacrifice for it (been there, done that) / what your current salary is) which you may not want to pass on even though none of it would let me identify you as a 'real' person to stalk you. If you want me to have a 'play' I'm happy to, but best done by PM.

bails

Ooh Taka, I think that means we're about the same age! I have NO hope of paying my mortgage off by the time I turn 44 though so well done you! Great news about the pay rise too :T
Thanks for pointing out that 0845 is a local rate call CW, brain fog taking over today, and thanks Nyk for defending my diehard frugalista status (I wish it were true :rotfl:). I do have free calls but evening and weekends so it still offends my frugal tendencies to be on hold for so long during the day. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet and do it though, as the WTC will hopefully be more than worth it (ooh, I could use OH's free minutes :j).

cw18

bails wrote: »

(ooh, I could use OH's free minutes :j).

Assuming you mean on a mobile, I'd check the small print very carefully first. My mobile contract is the same as an inclusive land-line -- any calls to 0845 (and even 0800 !!!!) are excluded from the 'free' status. So even if I have 100s of mins still available on my mobile, then they'll charge me to call an 0845 even if only for seconds (and at more than the 10p/minute to a geographic number) :eek: