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

slowlyfading

Skint_Lynne wrote: »

Oh my,

This is serious, getting introduced to mum and being allowed to stay in the spare room as well, he must be really nice for that to be allowed!!:p

You will be married by the end of the year at this rate, perhaps an engagement ring over dessert next week? (I know, I am getting ahead of myself)!!!:rotfl: :rotfl:

Whaaaat?! Lol you are getting ahead of yourself! :rotfl: but yes, being introduced to my mum was a scary prospect anyway, as she's not the easiest person to get on with, and then she was like "If you're going out, Dave can stay over, so he can drink too" and I was like :eek::eek: Nearly fell off the chair with shock when she said that!
We're going out for Valentine's Day, so I'll keep you posted

slowlyfading

:hello: purplevamp, well done on paying down your overdraft

cha97michelle

I'm liking blairweechs menu plan. I am thinking of doing similar myself, as we have a freezer that is quite chocka with meat, and i want to try and buy as little as possible between now and my first pay packet in April, and then i might treat myself on that day to a takeaway.

It would need to cover breakfast, lunch and evening meal for me and the 2 kids, and DH takes pack-up, so maybe also take that into account a bit but not really as he likes to have different things, although he has been good and used up some pate and ham from our holidays in the past couple of weeks even when i personally wouldn't have eaten it as i thought it was a bit dubious. 23 days in Feb, 31 in March, 14 in April. I think i need to do a freezer inventory this weekend, and i bet i could do it.

I've spent my evening fairly productively. I managed to get both boys in bed asleep for 7:30, and then i came downstairs, made a valentines day card for DH, then spent about 11/2 hours on the wii fit. I then had to do all the washing up which DH would normally do for me, but tomorrow should be a lot easier as i have soup to reheat for lunch, and cowboy hash with mash from today, so certainly less prepping and less washing up.

Kids were entertained today by a tray of play fruit, a cake tin and a wooden spoon, and a plate. DS1 apparently made me a cake. DS2 was happy just shuffling about and investigating. I'd moved the toy boxes around so it looked different. I definitely need to find the babygate out for the kitchen over the weekend though, as he is starting to get very quick, and he is into the cat food before i can get to him.

Enough blabber. Tomorrow i think i will risk taking them to my mum and dads for a bit, and i think i will pull the toy garage and cars out, and they can throw ball pool balls into my waste paper bin. Simple things. I also saw a great idea on telly to make hedgehog bread buns by making a tear drop shape, then using raisins for the eyes and using scissors to cut into the dough for the spikes. I think DS2 would find the kneading and making fun, so i might do it with him on Sunday when DH is around.

Night frugal gang. Sleep tight. x

Skint_Lynne

slowlyfading wrote: »

Whaaaat?! Lol you are getting ahead of yourself! :rotfl: but yes, being introduced to my mum was a scary prospect anyway, as she's not the easiest person to get on with, and then she was like "If you're going out, Dave can stay over, so he can drink too" and I was like :eek::eek: Nearly fell off the chair with shock when she said that!
We're going out for Valentine's Day, so I'll keep you posted

he he, thought that would make you go :eek: :eek: :eek: . xx

slowlyfading

Skint_Lynne wrote: »

he he, thought that would make you go :eek: :eek: :eek: . xx

Lol :rotfl:

Right I'm off to bed, night everyone xx

Skint_Lynne

nykmedia wrote: »

Hi Ddraig, I brought some willow with me when we moved, cut from previous garden where I had planted my fedge and, once dried, it is fantastic for burning as it produces a lot of heat quickly (IMHO). Not quite sure where the new supply will be dried yet, but it's a new start to one of my favourite projects. I'd love to have the space to grow it on a larger scale to help with the self-sufficientish scheme of things.

Extra income suggestion - if you have plenty of willow, perhaps you could harvest it into bundles of foot-long cuttings and offer it for sale to anyone who wants to grow their own? As hedging, it doesn't need much space.

What's a fedge nyk, is it the same as a hedge. (sorry for my dimness).:o

Kittikins

Michelle - my DD made hedgehog rolls earlier in the week with my mum and they were deeelish, we were so proud of her talents

Well....I got a refund on some ill-fitting PJs this evening and invested the £2 in some sparkly water, whoopsied loaf of bread and.....some Mr T equivalent of Magnum icecreams. Then came home and opened the world's worst bottle of wine, it's so bad, I can't imagine even being able to cook with it! But the icecream took the taste away thankfully.

Maybe I could turn my garden into a willow plantation, thanks for the idea NYK

SuffolkSilver_2

There were older people trying to work out how to increase their income and what do the advisers suggest :
Gold !!!
Property !!
Spread betting !!
More ISA's at 3.5% ?
Invest in the stock market !
These are the people who got us into this mess with their advice.
How come they have not all been given the push ?

What the people wanted was staid, sensible advice. They haven't got years ahead of them to wait until the gambles that were suggested MIGHT come up with a profit.

So what is wrong with suggesting that they take out an Immediate Vesting Personal Pension e.g. Standard life, paying 6 to 11% ? They would invest £2880 each and immediately get back a tax free lump sum of £900. The government would add £720, so for a couple, the investment would be £1980 each and the return for a couple each aged 65 would be around £160 a year. So for £3960 they would get an annual return of £320. I realise that when the 'go' that would be the end of their investment but that is not what is worrying them right now.

In April they would be able to get another, so for less than £8000 they would be getting £620 a year or £12 a week. And your advisers were telling them to consider gold or spread betting on something they don't have a clue about.

Give me strength

Masomnia

I think I've seen Martin on TV once in my whole life, and that was months after I'd started posting here :rotfl:

I'm really not doing well at the moment! Went out for drinks today with housemates and other friends, but I managed not to spend too much, fortunately. I checked my current student loan balance and it's now a whopping £10,495! So I'm feeling pretty motivated to save as much as possible right now.

Speaking of relationships/valentines, I think I joked on this thread that my future finances depended on how things went with a girl I'd be meeting. Well it doesn't look like it will be She sent me a facebook message on Monday asking when I'd be free to meet this week, I told her Friday would be good, and got no response until today when she just asks me how my week was. So I'm starting to feel a little messed around. I feel like I really put myself out there, made an effort with her, so now I'm feeling rather hurt and angry. But on the plus side I won't be having a girlfriend to fork out for for the forseeable future

Anyways, semester starts on Monday so I should be able to cut back a fair amount on my spending and sort out my budget deficit haha.

Hope you're all very well!

sophiesmum_2

(((hugs))) Masomnia , a bit insensitive of her to not even reply to your message after asking the question:mad: , can understand you feeling hurt.Her loss xx