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

trex170104

Ahh the bank of Dad - this is always a good one. My mum and dad have been fab since I told them I'm on this challenge, I think their trolley is full of one for us and one for thems, mum and I have also been scouring the shops late at night, as dad and OH not too interested in bargain hunting, for all the whoopsies and mad reductions. Good luck with your mortgage lynda

cw18

Lynda -- that's fantastic news about the Halifax coming through :T I can understand you not being thrilled about the extra on the mortgage, but at least it means you don't risk losing the house

I seem to remember you saying the sellers were waiting on probate -- is there any news on that yet?

Frugaldom

Marru, hope the toothache gets sorted out soon - no fun at all.

T Rex, those are excellent breakdowns of your budget and I wish you every success with covering the extras. It's as much fun doing that as it is sticking to the budget. You could try a few competitions to win stuff, too. In fact, you can earn 5p for each entry into some if you play through a cashback site - double whammy! (I need to write your name as T Rex, otherwise I think of trex cooking fat )

Lynda, brilliant news about the house purchase going ahead as planned, you must be really pleased, well done! :j

lyndasharp

cw18 wrote: »

The Auschwitz is the one I think I'd be more likely to agree to pay for as well...... it's a very special piece of history, and I think it's important that the youngsters of today understand it all (not that I'm anywhere near old enough to have " been around" then, but it was also never covered when I was at school and I do feel we really missed out as it's more important than some of the stuff we did cover!)

It was covered almost endlessly when I was at school - I dropped history for GCSE because I was so sick of covering WWII and not doing any history of anything else!

My first major memory of moneysaving stuff was when my secondary school had a trip to the war graves of France. I lied to my parents and said I didn't want to go, because I knew they were struggling for money at the time and it was the equivalent of a months mortgage payment. That's part of the reason I'm on here, if I ever have kids I don't want them to be in the situation I was in if I can possibly avoid it - and that means I'd better get used to a sensible budget and saving when I can!

cw18, no news on the probate yet but I'm waiting for quotes from builders too, so I'm not rushing it - gives Icesave a bit more time after all!

trex170104

nykmedia wrote: »

Marru, hope the toothache gets sorted out soon - no fun at all.

T Rex, those are excellent breakdowns of your budget and I wish you every success with covering the extras. It's as much fun doing that as it is sticking to the budget. You could try a few competitions to win stuff, too. In fact, you can earn 5p for each entry into some if you play through a cashback site - double whammy! (I need to write your name as T Rex, otherwise I think of trex cooking fat )

Haha :rotfl: I know - luckily Trex is not my name I am T Rex - also kind of unfortunate or cool whichever way you look at it but luckily this is my married name so I wasn't teased all through school for this! Cheers for the support, I really appreciate it I may be needing some gardening tips next year we grew a few things this year but want to really do as much as possible in the space we have next year. Which cashback sites are the best for competitions?

lingojingo

Nyk - on our localfreecycle there has been a dehumidifier (offered, accepted and collected within an hour)!!!!! Unfortunatelt it all happened while I was at work and I've only just seen the posts, otherwise I'd have been after it too. Inspired by your sucess, I'd love to try to dry out my cellar and see if I could dry washing down there (my washing machine and freezer are in the cellar so I already make frequent trips down the stairs).

The_Shiner

nykmedia wrote: »

Good morning to everyone

I have been self-employed for most of my adult life, so I'm a little concerned to see that the above is thought of as "essential if self-employed". The ONLY reason I say this is because I DID have an accident that laid me up unable to work because of a back injury and I DID have the above insurance fully paid up. Only problem was, I hadn't read all of the small print and they refused to pay out on several 'excuses'. The first was that I was self-employed, therefore NOT incapacitated from doing ANY of the work - I was fit enough to answer the telephone! Secondly, the 'accident' cover only covers certain types of accident and depends a huge amount on what hobbies you have, where you were when the accident occured, what you were doing, the circumstances etc, etc, etc... we had a mortgage to pay, that insurance didn't cover me either. Please, please, please, anyone who is paying insurance for anything relating to payments in the event of your not being able to earn - have someone 'in the know' read through the small print. In my personal experience, the policies I have had haven't been worth the paper on which they were printed and did nothing more than waste money.
No offence, whatsoever, meant to The Shiner, yours may be perfectly suitable for your needs, just re-read all of the small print before paying out possibly thousands of pounds over your lifetime that may be better spent paying off debts, mortgage or building savings 'just in case'.

Thanks for posting that. I will certainly get this checked out. Although of reasonable intelligence, I do have an aversion to insurance companies' gobbledegook so will need to select someone to degobbledegook it for me. I've no idea who though as I don't know anyone who is up to that. Any suggestions please? I only want the insurances if they are appropriate for me. I suspect that the term assurance/critical illness stuff should remain but not certain about some of the other stuff. It will probably be a couple of weeks or so before I sort this stuff out as I'm getting a lot of other stuff organised. Got a couple of phone calls recently which could well lead to a few grands worth of extra work so that needs my attention at the moment.

Marru

Hi again,

Painkillers are kicking in and DD is in bed. Sorry I have only skimmed posts today. Need to come back to them when I am not this tired.

About the phonecall. I am not suppose to answer my phone when at college on lessons but today my phone rang (it was on silent thou) during doing my duties at the animal house. As it was witheld number I answered as it could have been DD's preschool calling me. This man told me that he had delivery for me and that to confirm my address. I wasn't happy at all just telling someone my address over the phone. He didn't even ask "is this Mrs/Ms such and such" and when I asked if they had any part of my address he couldn't answer. He asked me if I want the delivery sent back to the sender and I told them to do so. How bizarre. When I asked what delivery company it was they said Interlink.

Todays whoopsies: coleslaw (sp?) and sausages when I had to go to the shop to get vinegar and salad dressing.

DD's dry pants training: all day dry but just now before going to bed she was sitting here on my lap and wet herself. No star for today. But last night she did sleep in her own bed the whole night - bliss. I hope that trend continues. I did thank her this morning and told to the nursery lady as well in front of her.

As I said too tired to read any messages properly so not able to reply to any of them. Just want to say: HELLO!!! and WELL DONE!!! to everybody. I am sure that those two will apply to all.

Might go to bed soon...

Nighty night

Marru

sophiesmum_2

lyndasharp wrote: »

It was covered almost endlessly when I was at school - I dropped history for GCSE because I was so sick of covering WWII and not doing any history of anything else!

My first major memory of moneysaving stuff was when my secondary school had a trip to the war graves of France. I lied to my parents and said I didn't want to go, because I knew they were struggling for money at the time and it was the equivalent of a months mortgage payment. That's part of the reason I'm on here, if I ever have kids I don't want them to be in the situation I was in if I can possibly avoid it - and that means I'd better get used to a sensible budget and saving when I can!

cw18, no news on the probate yet but I'm waiting for quotes from builders too so still not rushing it - gives Icesave a bit more time after all!

DD went to Ypres last year with her high school to visit the trenches and war museums and the war graves etc. It had a big effect on her especially when they met some veteran soldiers at the war graves and spent a long time talking to them about their experiences.
i was lucky as a child to have lots of school holidays etc and have always tried to encourage my kids to take up whatever opportunities come their way if there is any way we can afford it.
Have cracked open the £2 savings, (would have already been spent by now if our malta holiday hadn't been cancelled anyway;) ) sat on the bed and counted and bagged it all.



Grand total £520 :j :j :j

So after negotiations DD will be going on both trips, but has to find the £50 shortfall and all her spending money, plus London trip is her birthday and most of xmas present.
Once again mse savings pots/challenges etc save the day:D

mumzyof2

sophiesmum wrote: »

DD went to Ypres last year with her high school to visit the trenches and war museums and the war graves etc. It had a big effect on her especially when they met some veteran soldiers at the war graves and spent a long time talking to them about their experiences.
i was lucky as a child to have lots of school holidays etc and have always tried to encourage my kids to take up whatever opportunities come their way if there is any way we can afford it.
Have cracked open the £2 savings, (would have already been spent by now if our malta holiday hadn't been cancelled anyway;) ) sat on the bed and counted and bagged it all.



Grand total £520 :j :j :j

So after negotiations DD will be going on both trips, but has to find the £50 shortfall and all her spending money, plus London trip is her birthday and most of xmas present.
Once again mse savings pots/challenges etc save the day:D

OH MY GOD! How many months is that over? Well done you!! :T :T

How is everyone doing there next year budgets, how do u all no how much will be spent on bills etc? Does anyone know how much tv licence is next year?