Live on £4000 for a Year, 2009 Challenge, part 1

bails

I'm so sorry to hear you lost your little girl Wornoutmum :grouphug: and SM too - losing a child is an horrendous experience.

I agree it is down to the individual and the chemistry between the two people. :rotfl:at you only having to look at your husband, do you wear blinkers?:D

I'm very excited as I've just registered for my Masters so I am now officially about to become a student again :jInterestingly, when I spoke to the GTC about something, they don't have me down as having QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) :eek: I do of course but considering I've been teaching for 10 years now on and off... Hopefully the admin error will be sorted soon because I need it to be exempt from my course fees (£1325!!).
It's cold but sunny and blue skies here today - I've had to put the heating on so I can take a shower without getting hypothermia Willing myself to get better asap so I can get on with things...
Have a good day everyone x

whitewing

mumzy,

It may be worth keeping the dryer for a little bit longer while you research how to sell it if you're going to focus on keeping DS dry. It's there if you need it then. Maybe try an advert in your local post office with just your mobile number on. Then if someone rings, you can arrange an appointment for later and see if you can get someone to be with you. And if you don't like the sound of the person on the phone, just say politely that's it is no longer for sale. You don't have to have anyone to your home that you don't want to.

I have been out for a 'jog' (well, walk, actually with 300 yards of jogging, but if I call it a 'jog' hopefully I will be jogging by the end of the year. Good excuse to buy a new tracksuit too). Third day running. Oops, third day consecutively, lol! I'm sickeningly pleased with myself despite a cold!

Babies: I had DS accidentally when I was 24. Married last year. Have been trying for nearly a year to have a second. There is no right time. We have decided against tests or IVF. DH would adopt, I don't feel the need to do so at the moment. We are lucky as we have DS already although he is not biologically DH's. Would love to have the second before DS leaves home! (He's 12).

Janey51

Good afternoon from my corner of Frozen Frugal Land
I know I have been conspicuous by my absence but sometimes I need a little corner to crawl into and rest a bit.

But I am still flying the Frugal Flag :j

Today (after a session with my Bereavement Consellor)., I deided to give "me" a treat. I visited Mr T and bought a CD for £3. When I had gone through the checkout, I looked at the receipt and realised it had gone through at £4.
Marched round to Customer Service and got a double refund so I made a £1 profit.
It's gone straight into my Holiday Terramundi which is getting pretty rotund now :T

Still wanting to cook but freezer is full again. I have had a few people round for meals and everyone loves the Spicy Carrot Soup recipe I got off here. Mr M has 1KG bags of carrots for 50p at the moment so this is a really Frugal Feast.

I have taken up a new hobby....metal detecting
Acquired a second hand detector and went out for the first time on Sunday with a friend who knows what he is doing.

Now, I don't do mud,worms, climbing or anything remotely physical. But there I was in waterproof trousers, 4 fleeces, a hat, wellies, hiking socks and thick gloves being hauled up the side of a hill by friend while carrying a spade and detector.
We then spent nearly 3 hours trudging back and forth across a field knee deep in mud in heavy sleet showers.
And what did I find....lots of silver paper :rolleyes: He found a couple of Victorian coins.
I had a brilliant time and laughed myself stupid for the first time since DH died
And it's a cheap hobby after the initial purchase :T
But....next time...a treasure chest stuffed with gold bars and jewels.

My friends on the challenge will of course be invited to the ensuing party

fizzel81

bite the bullet so to speak

good afternoon hugs to all

well i decided to ring the dmc and find out if i can pay the 2 via card (saveing bus fair, recorded postage etc) and they were honestly very very nice (not like the company who put me off and were dead nastly back in 2006) anyway
i told her i can pay the 2 of them when money hits account next tuesday but the biggest one i simply did not have enough to pay it

she is away next tuesday so is ringing me wednesday to take payment for 2, a small payment for 3rd one, then a payment in feb, once the second payment is taken there is a chance i will be able to get remaining balance at 50% like the other 2 so the big one will be paid by march, if not i will just plod along at it throwing any extra money onto the debt card account and ringing each month with whatever is there and paying off of it so to speak

so the update is thats alot of my mind or getting off my mind, 2 are now on payment plans for the next 8 months till feb, 2 will be sorted next week and 1 to sort

will be so nice when the letters dont come and the phone rings for the right reasons not just someone wanting blood

im rambleing on again sorry but right now my thanks go to everyone contributing on this thread as its keeping me going (cause this challenge can be hard work when you fancy a splurge) its keeping me going with it cause by the end of it i will be debt free

nsd so far today took boys to pre school/ school, though sadly have to go to po to post 2 more ebay parcels im not counting ebay postage into challenge money as the postage is st in paypal iykwim

jacket potatoes for dinner tonight with ham, cheese and beans, and an apple crumble after, the little 2 got there 5 today in there pack upsand joel will get at least 3 in school today

and fineally i think i am going to part with th wii, selling it will be 1/20th of the big debt paid and with what i have in paypal and that combined its 1/8th of that debt paid

nickynoo08

hiya everyone,
What a day i had yesterday. Both good and bad. Good because i managed to get a load of stuff from boots yesterday and it only cost me 52p. Found £15 worth of vouchers so v pleased with that. DS needed some new shoes, managed to get a pair reduced down to £10 from clarks, should of been £30 so again v pleased. Then i got a few xmas pressies reduced - funky knee high totes for my sis and my friend.
Bad because i had to rush my mum to hospital yestarday afternoon. At first they thought it might have been meningitis, but thankfully it wasnt. She's just been given the all clear from hospital and can now come home, just has to take it easy. Was apparently a mixture of virtigo and flu! I also have virtigo so i know how horrible the attacks can be but i've never seen one that severe.
Hugs to everyone else thats needs them:grouphug:
So as you can imagine i've not had chance to do much the last 2 days, so i will once again try and catch up on any missed posts, and try and get my house back in some sort of order. Left OH in charge yesterday, he only made pizza and chips and the house was upside down:rolleyes: .

Plan for rest of day....
Finish tidying kitchen
Make lasagne for tea and 2 extra portions to freeze
Write inventory of freezers and cupboards
Go on wii fit
Check budget for the rest of the month

sophiesmum_2

Skint_Lynne wrote: »

Sophiesmum,

That is the very fridge that I am talking about. It is fantastic!! Everything is fresh for ages. I secretly hope that my cousin does not want it, I will be waiting in the wings. I am already getting the tumble drier, the vax machine and the steam cleaner, so am collecting all my mum's stuff up at an alarming rate.:D

With the size of that fridge, it makes me understand exactly how much food you have stockpiled - it is a lot:eek:

:rotfl: :rotfl: Mmm won't mention the chest freezer we also have then, and the fact that both are completely stuffed so much so that I left some whoopsied steaks in asda last time I went:eek: as couldn't fit another thing in even with a shoe horn :whistle: :whistle: :whistle:

Snow_White_5

:hello:Hello everyone! Just thought I'd pop in and let you know I'm still doing the chellenge. I'm a complete newbie to this but it's going ok so far and I'm amazed at how I've got my grocery budget down. My spends have been pretty modest up until now apart from entrtainment, where I've gone a bit over budget . It's funny, I was reading the posts about how in week three you want to spend, and I thought, nah not me... an hour later I was online buying books and arranging expensive nights out!

I have a look at this thread most days for inspirartion (good thing it's calmed down a little) and hope to contribute more when I get a bit more time - am really busy at work at the moment.

bails - that's exciting about your Masters! Now you can get more discounts
whitewing - you deserve to be proud of yourself with the jogging, it takes a lot of motivation. Can you give the rest of us any tips?
fizzel - I've enjoyed reading your posts, you always cook such lovely meals for your children.
nickynoo - hope your mum is ok. Mine has vertigo attacks too and they can be awful.
Janey - never considered metal detecting as a hobby but it sounds fab. Would it pick up modern money as well as Victorian coins

Hugs to everyone else. I'm really happy to be part of this community :j

bails

Lovely to see you Janey and totally understandable that you want to rest sometimes. We do miss you though and it's always nice to see your posts. Great result on the CD :rotfl:I love it when people pay you to buy things New hobby sounds great too and so lovely to think of you laughing again xx
Nickynoo, sorry to hear about your mum, glad she's okay.
Fantastic news about the debt Fizzel :T There will be some real celebrations on here this year with all the debtbusting!
Great news about the jogging Whitewing - the best way to get yourself running is to walk/jog your route, this is how some people complete marathons so you're in good company. Remember rest days are important so your body can repair and improve more quickly.
Nice to see you Snowwhite, glad you're enjoying being part of it all!

Frugaldom

Good morning frugal lifers

Welcome back Janey! I am pleased to hear that you have managed to get a little bit of laughter back into your life

Weather here is awful, so won't be venturing very far which, in turn, means not spending any money. :j However, I've just read the latest updates and a further fall in interest rates is looking more and more likely with my feared 0% looming ever closer! Fantastic news for those in debt if the creditors/lenders reduce their rates but bad, bad, bad for anyone trying to save! :eek: The biggest change I have had to make is in trying to save enough to live off the interest! It has brought home the fact that this was a really, really stupid idea because it is impossible. Worse still, if the banks all started charging for administering our funds then that could more than negate any low interest rates. We are going backwards instead of forwards! It could mean the real threat is the loss of actual cash in favour of microchip technology! :mad: The sci-fi mumbo jumbo could become reality! It begs the question, should we be going with the natural progressive flow and throwing our money into hi-tech research and development? OOPS! Sorry, this has gone way off topic, must get back on track - how can I live on £4,000 for a year? Umm... by earning £4,000 and by spending less than I earn. :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Never forget - Every company out there is wanting your money. It is their job to do whatever it takes to get as much of your money as they can. It doesn't matter to them that you may not be able to afford it; that is your job - to know what you can and cannot afford. Simple, really. I wish I'd [STRIKE]known[/STRIKE] understood that 30 years ago.

Skint_Lynne

sophiesmum wrote: »

:rotfl: :rotfl: Mmm won't mention the chest freezer we also have then, and the fact that both are completely stuffed so much so that I left some whoopsied steaks in asda last time I went:eek: as couldn't fit another thing in even with a shoe horn :whistle: :whistle: :whistle:

Oh, don't think you got off with that one, I know all about the chest freezer, you must have enough food for about a year!!!:p

I was thinking about the chest freezer myself as this would defo fit into my kitchen, but if I got the big fridge, I would not need the chest one.