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

mumzyof2

Janey51 wrote: »

Regrettably no bushes...just open fields. Good for the pelvic floor muscles though

Mumzy do you mind telling what percentage of your debts you managed to settle for?

Heya,

I dont wor in percentage but I just rang capital one as i made them a offer of £375 yesterday and they have now said they will accept £410 as a full and fnal settlement. My balance at moment is £494. So im going to be getting rid of that debt on saturday.

This means i have £240 left to pay another debt. It will be the electric and gas account that i pay off .. so that will be 3 debts gone!

All im left with then is Littlewoods, Next (£5 a month) and Nationwide £759 balance but they want £50 a month. And to pay back my mum for the £650 she gave me to pay 3 debts off she wants £40 a month. Oh and a old overdrat which stands at about £70. Which hoping to do at £10 a week also.

Hopefully this all makes sense..Not good with working "money" stuff out. Does everyone think how i have worked it out sounds any good? That i done everything right. I have no intrest on any accounts except Capital one and thats why i have decided to pay that one off and not my Nationwide account.

Anyways... Today I have been to my DS first ever assembly. My DD made all of junior 6 (year 6) laugh because i told her we was going as she was shouting for her brother and no one could hear... so she shouted bye bye children see you later
She then ran right into the middle of the hall and i had to chase after her!!
Bit gutted as all my son did was wave a peice of material up and down with another little boy..pretending to be rain. They did a noah asembly.
before the production from the children they were showing pictures on a screen of hw they put the assembly together.and the last picture was my son smiling... I nearly cried!!! LOL. His first night of his xmas play i nearly cried..because im so proud!
Then went chemist and got some cough med for DD as she has one of those coughs whereshe cant stop coughing. Got some eyedrops for her conjunctivtus too Much better now.
Then rushed to my food heygiene course and then went young mums.

Hope everyone is ok i will catch up with posts in a min

Frugaldom

Good afternoon frunchkin frugaloonies

It's blowing a gale here again! :rolleyes: I've had horizontal washing on the line and have just caught up with work. Today has been fairly productive! I now have a lovely pine book case fitted into the 'new' larder, the tumble drier has been collected, so no longer takes up space in the middle of the kitchen floor, and my other Freecycle item should be collected by the weekend. Some spare bits of wood will also make ideal shelves, so the larder project is beginning to look good.

I'm currently putting £30 per week into the electricity meter, so have topped that up today, plus my DD for National Trust went out, so I have had a very expensive month so far. I just wish my TCB cash back would become payable so I could recoup a little bit of the spending.

Bails, I can't believe you have 6 rooms for 2 of you and a second house in the pipeline. :eek: Mind you, I could have been in the situation of having no house but 70 acres of woodlands or part of a house across a river that had no bridge if any of those plans had gone accordingly :rotfl: . I'll sit tight in my rental until something unusual but affordable comes along, as I'd still like a fixy up as a longterm project to help with the pension plan. Are you home yet? Desperate to hear about the house viewing

Sophiesmum, what size tubs did you use for your leeks? I have some planters that I didn't think were deep enough for anything other than lettuce, peas, beans or strawberries but now that you say leeks, that might work. :T

Janey, After reading about everyone's pressie stashes, bargains and points for freebies, I might follow suit and apply for a Boots Advantage card too. (The chemist in nearest town to us has changed from Lloyds to Boots.) Is there a cashback option anywhere for signing up to this?

Skint-chic I really like ducks too - would love a couple of those little call ducks to let them waddle around the garden and down to the stream. Love the mosaic for the pan stand! I'm sure your mum will be delighted with her gift. On the job front, I would say follow your heart and the finances will take care of themselves if you're a frugalite. Stressed to breaking point just isn't worth it.

BB - I hope you are well enough to 'play' in your new kitchen very, very soon. Like you, I'm juggling things about and trying as many space-saving techniques as I can so I can make mine feel more like a farmhouse kitchen, although it's nowhere near the size of one of those. (Did you SEE the kitchens on the property programme last night with the couple wanting to move to the country so they could buy Alpacas? :eek: )

Angelatgraceland, my DS was at home fulltime for a few months between finishing school and starting a training course plus 2 of us work from home fulltime, so it tok a bit of adjustment. However, in that time, his cooking and laundry skills improved no end, as did his decorating and DIY skills. :rotfl:

Garrydh - feel free to join in the chatter, oops, I mean on topic posting, anytime you like. Everyone's welcome here so long as they are frugal, want to be frugal, used to be frugal or even just to see how frugal others can be.

FrankieM - I lack motivation constantly I'm a bit lazy, to be honest, and after years of frugalising my budget and since following all the helpful hints and tips on here, I am still completely useless at meal planning and can't get it together to earn a few pounds extra. I KNOW what I want to do but then I feel like it's such a chore that I don't NEED to do that I sweep it under the carpet (again) until the next time I get a reminder. Happily, I don't need reminders when it comes to the bills, if they get paid, I'm happy to be just solvent, without being rich. Come to think of it, I'm happy to be just solvent even when I'm otherwise poor! :rotfl:

As for frugal [STRIKE]child[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]partner[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]pet[/STRIKE] any life form training - bribery usually works best :cool:

Off to get my rubber chicken meal now, can't decide between Chinese style stir fry, sweet & sour or curry. Hmm.... I am hopeless at making decisions, I guess that's why meal planning is beyond me.

bails

FrankieM, I feel your pain, as do lots and lots of other people Don't worry though, there's already been lots of great advice and no doubt more to come. Here's my humble input:

I also keep a master list as I cannot keep things in my head or they swim round endlessly fighting for attention So keep writing everything down and then have a daily list where you pick off 5 of the most important things. You may want to keep your list on the PC so it's easy to transfer to the daily list/shuffle around etc or you may be a paper and pen girl (like me). Even if you don't manage all 5 things every day (and there will always be days when you don't) then achieving some is still doing really well as Angel says.

The most important thing I see from what you say is that you feel overwhelmed by all the things you ought to be doing. I have real trouble with this too. What about if you picked 3 or 4 things that need doing and then make sure the rest of your daily list is fun things? And even more radically, what about dropping some things off your master list completely? This might sound a bit :eek: but try going back through it with a different outlook - so what if I didn't do x, would the world end? type thing - and see if your list gets lighter? And if you really can't bear to not have these things written down, store them on another list that you put away somewhere. You may be surprised how long it is til you come across that list again...;)
I think limiting time on the PC is also useful (I have varying degrees of success with this, partially because I am quite isolated so like the 'company', and it directly correlates to how productive I am ). Balance between the two is a good, if lofty, aim to strive for here
The old setting the alarm for 15 mintues time is still a great tool so maybe use that again too?
Good luck with it all and above all, know that you're not the only one struggling like this
*pokes herself to take her own advice soon*
Just before I pop off though...the house was pretty exciting, uptogether so immediately rentable etc. OH will start seriously looking into the financial side of things and if it's doable, we may put in a silly offer to start the ball rolling:j
When I was at the Dogs Home [strike]on the pretext of[/strike] buying cat milk, I found out the dog I'm in love with still has no reserve and is good with cats She's a very nervy little thing, barks a lot as a result but I think would make a gorgeous addition to our family Can I, can I, can I? :rotfl:

the_cat

FM - I sympathise. I often feel that I havn't achieved enough too. I set the oven timer to 'allow' myself some guilt free surfing time. When the timer goes off, so does the computer! I also find that I get more accomplished by only putting one 'extra' job on my list. Yesterday was sorting out the broadband contract, today was doing a set of ebay listings etc. That way I feel I have achieved something and don't get too stressed about it

Had a nice surprise today. Before Christmas I sent off for a free cut and blowdry offer from a magazine. Got phonecall from local hairdressers today out of the blue to book me an appointment:beer: Another £27 saved as have booked it instead of regular appointment at another place:T :T Kids have gone out for tea so I am sitting here with a 9p whoopsie pasta dish catching up

Cat

FrankieM

I've just been looking at another site...(I'm always surfing on something!!) and one thing that they mention is doing your most disliked job first...a bit like grandma247 suggested...now I just need to figure out my most disliked job....I was also thinking perhaps if I spent the morning doing housework/ dog/ work etc, I could then do the things I enjoy more in the afternoon, like visiting, going into town, reading, surfing the net etc?
I also try to get everything done between school hours so about 8:30-4ish but perhaps its ok to be 'doing stuff' when the children get home?

cw18

sophiesmum wrote: »

Marru/Nyk/Cw any dog tips?????

Ooooo..... tough one, given my dalmatian will pull if he can :rolleyes2

I have one of those extending leads (which I know a lot of people don't like), but I find it works for me. When he's pulling I have it reeled right in, and when he pulls I yank him back with a 'heel' and make him wait for a count of 3 (or 5 depending on how long I have) before moving off again. When he's not pulling too much I give him a bit more on the lead (though never a lot when on pavements), and he does seem to realise that there's a connection between how much he pulls and how far from me he can wander. When we're on an open footpath (bridleways etc., not next to roads) and there's no-one else (and no other dogs) around I let him have the full run of the lead.


But I also have a Canny Collar, and that seems to help -- I really need the size down though, so may have to order one shortly. (Started off with a Halti, but I find the Canny much better).

cw18

nykmedia wrote: »

Bails, I can't believe you have 6 rooms for 2 of you and a second house in the pipeline. :eek:

I don't have a second house in the offing, but I do have 7 rooms (plus bathroom, en-suite and cloakroom - so does that count as 10 ) for 2 of us. Mind, there were 4 of us when we moved in, and at one point there were 7 of us here (when DD moved back in with elder GD and didn't move back out until she'd had younger GD).

Marru

I got the job!!!!

Will be back soon with a very good harnes for dog that is pulling... Ok here it is:

And it can be bought from HERE You don't have the double ended lead, it works with one lead attached on the back but for training purposes the double ended lead is great.

Have been turning my budget upside down today and I am glad I did as I am starting my new job on Monday. So have allocated income now differently. Will explain it all when coming clean about my January over the weekend. One spend is going to go there and that is an Indian takeaway tomorrow with bottle of cider to celebrate my new job. What a relief. Eeek! This means that I have to find my iron and iron a shirt for Monday....

Back later as DD is after her snack now...

the_cat

:T :T :T :T Well done Marru:T :T :T

angelatgraceland

Well done Marru!!!!!!!!