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

trex170104

2009 Budget for 2 adults and a toddler

Essentials
Buildings and Contents Insurance: £227 (maybe I can get cashback on this next year but i've just renewed it with my original supplier and knocked them down by £163 so can't complain)
Gas: £348
Electricity: £600
Home phone, virgin media and broadband: £432 (Fixed rate on the contract but this does include free calls 24/7 so I just have to make sure I don't dial any mobiles or 0870/0845 numbers - have been using saynoto0870.com)
TV Licence: £145 (have changed this to next years rates)
Two mobiles on contract: £240
Food shopping: £1200
Dentistry: £48
Contact lenses and check-ups: £250.80
Christmas: £200
Birthdays: £200
Total: £3890.80 [£109.20 remaining]

Baby extras covered by CB and CTC [£1500]
DS Trust Fund: £180
Baby extras: £250
New clothes for DS: £100
Money to take DS out in the week: £400
Money for family days out: £400
Total: £1330 [£170 remaining]

Other extras
New clothes for OH and I: £200
Cash for any extras/treats: £1440
Total: £1640 [£279.20 carried over from the other two sections, but still £1360.80 to find]

Therefore if I work with this budget the total is £6860 so £5360 plus £1500 cb and ctc.

This is far closer to the £4000 mark so I am a happy bunny - just ahve to stick to it and keep up the extra money making too - no pressure!!

Skint_Lynne

Just off to bed,

I've had a busy night cooking in preperation for my veggi eating plan on Monday, but also made a white choc cheesecake for my mum for tomorrow.
.


Made Hm veggi soup, a bit of a concoction, savoy cabbage, green beans, carrots, tin tomatoes, onions, cauliflower, a handful of lentils, veg stock cubes and water. Just boil/simmer until ready. Then liquidise. It is gorgeous. I also made a veg curry, potatoes, onion, cauliflower, cayenne
pepper, tumeric, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, just mix all together, put in some water and simmer, throw in some peas and that's it, easy. I eat loads and the weight falls off, an easy plan to follow.

then I crave meat and cheese and put it all back on :rotfl: .

Speak tomorrow,

SL x

looby-loo_2

My internet is playing up, on and off for the past 2 days. We were treated to lunch at a carvery today £3.50 pp and we ate mountains of food but really I filled up on veg and can honestly say I wouldn't miss the meat.

So that is it - I'm going to try veggie for the next two weeks. Like Skint Lynne above. I'll get up early and make soup.

I shall also go swimming with the Kellogg's swim Vouchers if found in the drewer today. That might get me kick started too.

Off to read the posts I missed, good night

Janey51

If this disappears I am finishing the bottle of Baileys :mad:

Spent more than I should have at Lakeland but what I have sold on Ebay and Amazon this week has virtually covered the full cost. I think I will have to pay £10.
I did invest in new baking tins. I have had mine for about 35 yrs and they are embarassingly rusty so I have bought good quality ones which were Buy 3 and get the cheapest one free.
I also bought a simmer mat because I find the Rayburn too hot for low simmering of soups and stews which means I then switch on the electric hotplate for these jobs. The Rayburn is on all the time and I would obviously prefer to use it as much as I can
I bought a washable door mat to put near the cat flap as the cats make such a mess in wet weather. Hopefully I can train them to wipe their paws when they come in :rotfl:

And it was a lovely day out driving through the Lake District even though it was pouring down. My SIL was driving so I bought food but I think I got the better deal

She then fed me at tea time :T

Got home to discover an old cookbook had sold on Amazon for £10 :eek:

Called in to see Mum on the way home and it was awful again. She screamed and cried and I was actually frightened of her It's a living nightmare especially when the staff say she is only like that with me.
I am starting to feel I don't want to go back.

When I got home there was a message from the Cat Protection League to say they have a 13 yr old cat needing a home near to me so I am going to see her today :j

Mum's Memory of the Day
Mum used to make fabulous party dresses when I was young. They would be fairytale creations with layers of net and glittery braids. She once made me a Queen of Hearts dress for a fancy dress party. It was green with white fur around the neck and sleeves. I had a red cloak to wear and a plate of jam tarts to carry. Didn't win but felt fantastic.

whitewing

Janey,

I love your mum's memory. My favourite ladybird book when I was learning to read was Cinderella because of the beautiful princess ballgowns.

While mums (and dads) adjust to nursing home life - especially with conditions that affect the working of the brain - they often seem to display their worse behaviour to their loved ones. Some family friends of ours used to see their mum holding hands with another resident, calling him her husband. It hurt them tremendously but they came to accept the situation for being the illness that it was.

Although it's horrible for you to have your mum having tantrums, she must feel safe that she can do so with you and that you will still stick with her. Is there a psychologist or doctor or someone in the home who can give you some tips on how to handle the situation? Even though it would probably kill you to do so, could you assertively tell her that you do not expect to witness this kind of behaviour from her (much as I tell off DS)?

Maybe also worth getting in touch with Help The Aged for advice?

DH is at work again today, and DS has gone to help his Uncle with some work in a garden of a very big house. So I shall be pottering round the house, peeling the rest of the apples and cooking (may do soup after all the comments on here yesterday).

Need to sort out funds and try to replan from now to Xmas. Luckily most of the Xmas shopping is done. Thanks for the tip about JSA - I will look into that. Nyk, I am still self employed but was working part time for an employer too. DH works for me but also for another employer. I am hopeful that we can manage. This challenge does at least mean that I have some savings. (Stopped overpaying the mortgage after the wedding to give me time to sort out cash flow).

I expect I'll pop in and out of here all day so see you later.

Janey51

Hi whitewing. Thank you for your support.
I am going to speak to the owner of the home again when I can pluck up courage to visit again.
I have tried reasoning with Mum but her brain obviously just can't process the information.
Having lost my darling husband such a short time ago, I feel I have lost my lovely Mum as well and there is nothing I can do about it.
I think I had better go and find something to cheer myself up because I am feeling seriously sorry for myself today.
I feel like stamping my feet and saying "It's not fair" when I know other people have experienced much worse.

cw18

Janey -- you've had a rough year of things, so don't beat yourself up about feeling sorry for yourself.


I saw a quote in a card making magazine a couple of months ago that tickled me.....

"This world sucks...... but if it didn't we'd all fall off !!"


I'd been having a bad morning that day, but this certainly made me chuckle

Skint_Lynne

Hi Janey,

It must be really difficult to see this happening to your mum. I watched a programme on this once and it was a journalist and her mum, it was on eariler this year. She used to get really frustrated with the situation, but she said something like this: She knew her mum was still in there, but her personality was locked away, and 'someone else was in her body'.

I think it might comfort you a bit to think like this. It would be a good idea to speak to someone in the home as whitewing says, like a doctor or something.

My SIL is a nursing sister in a home. Next time I see her, I'll ask about what she thinks about this. People often say when this happens to a person, they vent all their anger onto the one they love the most.

Take care and try and have a nice day,

SL x

Brighton_belle

sophiesmum wrote: »

BB
If the lodgers have a good broadband service could you not set up a wireless network and share costs with them??quote]
Sophiesmum . I feel such a fooool. This never ever occured to me. So I ambled downstairs to check with the techno whizzkid who lodges here and said, is there a technical reason we don't share the same broadband and split the cost (OH & I already have a wireless router) ( I have always understood they got their's 'through the telly' or something). He said no, we just thought you prefered it that way!!!
So thanks to posting my conundrum on here I have just set in motion the process that will slash my internet by half and save me £120 next year (and £20 this)

Janet - this is such a wretched situation for you I have only to imagine my own mum and myself in this situation to grasp a hint of the awfulness of it: this smilie has no relevance other than it makes me go soft and gooey and feel good: is for you and anyone else having a hard day (makes me want to rush out and get a dog NOW).
Well done on the lakeland restraint. I may be in the vacinity of one tomorrow but will have to hold off til November if I am to keep to Oct financial targets.

Had a good day of decluttering yesterday and a few things being collected by freecyclers today. Nearly finished listing another 3 things on ebay today.

Oh and sophiesmum -we have the same flapjack experience with the remoska too

sophiesmum_2

Good result on the broadband situation BB:j :j , It is good to talk things over on here as often things which can seem glaringly obvious to someone else just don't register with yourself.
One thing i picked up on the small dfw thread was to use up small change in the self service tills at asda/tesco if you only wanted a single item, or wanted to get rid of change but didn't have enough to bag and bank. Also saved losing 7% to the change machine:D It had never entered my head to do that:o