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

trex170104

Good evening all
Just a quick message as I haven't been feeling very well today - maybe I have ebayitis after all the listing!!
Just want to say good on all of you semi-vegetarians [even if it is only for a short time before xmas!!] I am a pescatarian [basically a vege who eats fish] and I agree it is a very healthy diet although try telling that to my meat-loving auzzie OH!!
This weekend has been quite successful in a money-saving way. NSD yesterday. Little bit of food shopping spending today but all on very very reduced items - I love end of the day shopping, and a mystery shopping trip in Tesco to boot. Also a garage have offered to buy our car - they have offered less than we really wanted but it is still a good price and in today's mad money climate I think we just have to go for it. My BF had her house valued last week and it is worth 10 grand less than last year now!! So when we sell the car this week that will be a nice addition to our moving fund, and the sonner we sell ti and put the money in our ISA the sooner we start making some decent interest and stop paying car insurance etc - the day OH got a company car was the best day ever!
Also my BF has offered to lend me her slow cooker this week to see if I like it - still woudl love a remoska but they are expensive and I'm wondering whether I could get away with just getting a slow cooker instead - anyone got any ideas about this - are they very different?

Frugaldom

Marru, if you go to the Utilities section here and scroll down to the part about new phone lines, it explains the new line/installation offer. There isn't anything obvious showing up on BT website but I've read the new link. I missed the £24.99 offer as it ended last month, but £95 discount is still brilliant. I also found out on same page that I can pay the TV licence using a cashback credit card! If only the Council Tax would let me do the same thing!

Trex, hope you are feeling better soon - I gave up on the listing after getting to 4, there's no one even been to look at them yet.

lingojingo

My Eon bill has appeared online today.......

Dual fuel total is £118.29 (was £104.96 last year)
I'm quite pleased with the overall cost, given how much prices have gone up, but a bit disappointed that my electricity useage doesn't seem to have gone down anywhere near as much as I'd hoped.

Electricity - 715kWh (last year 754) think my new slot in oven is less efficient than the old stand alone cooker
Gas - 645kWh (last year 1032:eek:)

Main reason for the gas reduction is that we haven't had the heating on at all yet:j DD and I have been sitting in sleeping bags as we watch TV in the evening, and DD said how useful it would be if the sleeping bags had arm and leg sections for when we go to get a drink or something. Imagine how we laughed when we saw this in a leaflet with a magazine :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/selk-...FRSO1QodECMbLg

looby-loo_2

Janie51 - Sorry to hear of the troubles with your mum. It must be very hard.
cw18 - I'm investigating a new chest freezer now having read your posts on the other thread.

I sold two items on Gumtree today - no listing fees or Paypal!! Great!!
I think our meters will be read this week for the November bill. I have lost the August bill so can't check it myself. I was put up from £58 to £105 in the spring so I'm hoping I will be in credit.

I made a fruit loaf, scones and then stewed a load of apple today so that should sort 'after' out for the week.

Has everyone come to the end of the garden produce? Perhaps you have if living further up North? There hasn't been much gardening talk lately. I hope eveyone hasn't given up. I have enough runner beans for this week and 2 more marrows which will keep a while. They came late. There are a few small beetroot and then that's it.
If I can do a bit of digging this week I shall plant Japanese onions and broard beans for an easy early crop. Then I should sort out/replant/tie up the strawberries and raspberries but I have to priorotise and jobs need doing in the house.

Off to investigate freezers

thriftylass

Good evening all.

Just back from a weekend at friends. Had loads of fun but unfortunately my restraint went overboard and I ruined my stop smoking challange big time :mad:, so I updated my signature and will try again from now. Plus I found another personal incentive which will definitely help this time.

Off to read through the posts I missed.

tryingtodobetter

lingojingo wrote: »

DD and I have been sitting in sleeping bags as we watch TV in the evening, and DD said how useful it would be if the sleeping bags had arm and leg sections for when we go to get a drink or something. Imagine how we laughed when we saw this in a leaflet with a magazine :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/selk-...FRSO1QodECMbLg

OMG I want one of those :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

andromache_2

:wave: Hope everyone's ready to start the week again.

Good luck to all the short-term vegetarians! I'm permanently veggie and find it really healthy... though I probably eat a bit more cheese than I should do just cos it's tasty I find that it makes you think a lot more about eating a balanced diet as well. And it's cheap!

Went on a bit of a shopping spree this weekend... they were all bargains, honest I got a new inflatable double mattress for when OH comes down as my new single bed is a *bit* too cosy... on clearance and with the cost split with him only £9.99... a new USB stick for £5... a coach down to London for my mum's birthday in November for £8.50... £5.58 on dinner out with friends... clear nail varnish (+ free eyeshadow!) for £2.79... a couple of other bits... all small things but they add up so quickly! I definitely would never really have considered how quickly all these little things add up without this challenge.

Sooo I'm now massively overbudget; but if you subtracted the amount spent on textbooks and the amount spent joining the gym then I'd be OK so it should all balance out - only 2 weeks into the year, after all!

Haven't done much (any) work this weekend so off to do a couple of hours now before bed!

A xxx

Brighton_belle

Nyk, I tend not to offerto 1st to reply, as that doesn't given any opportunity to those who go out to work, or don't have regular access to internet (but no crit to those that do). I tend to like it when someone posts in a friendly and enthusisatic manner too. But if it is a popular item, I do find it torture to select one and reject the rest!
Had a nice experience with freecycle today - reponded to a request for folding dining room chairs. We've got 4 in the attic and decided today to acknowledge we will never be dinner party entertainers so won't be using them. So the young couple (titchy flat and no room to sit at a table to eat)picked them up and were so sweet and grateful I've had a nice warm feeling all day:o .A Nd they triggered more attic clutter clearing too:j .
A frugal afternoon - walked along seafront to meet friend and didn't need the bus home either, so that's £2.60 saving. And I found 5p and a red bucket in someones rubbish outside their house And I took HM flapjack to share and so friend bought the teas (£2.40 for 2:eek: ).

sophiesmum_2

I just did a long post with piccies and it disappeared into the ether:mad: :mad: all sorts of strange things happening on the site tonight I will try again:rolleyes:

redglass_2

Freecycle - it depends. If I get a request from a person who's given me stuff in the past, it's nice to return the favour. Otherwise it's a combination of 'early bird getting the worm' and 'I want doesn't get'. When somebody bangs off an email which is the equivalent of a greedy grunt - I've had responses that said, 'Yeah' and 'I'll have it' :mad: - well, they don't get it! Manners cost nothing (she says, sounding very Victorian, but it's true). I post at lots of different times, not just times that favour stay-at-homes, but usually pick a recipient early on. If you've got a popular item you get lots of requests that you can't distinguish between...so you might as well just take the first (polite!) request. One of my local Freecycle groups recently put out a message stressing that you can give stuff to anyone you like, for any reason you like. I think there had been bad feeling, some Freecyclers insisting that they were more 'worthy' than other members who had received stuff. I like to think my items have gone to someone deserving but it's not a case of being entitled and I'm glad the group acted to put an end to these claims. Freecycle items are gifts, after all; people don't have to give things away and having to defend themselves over their choice of recipient won't encourage them to go on using the system.