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

Lesley_Gaye

savingfortravel wrote: »

Hi Everyone!

I think it will cost about 5k to do our house up to a similar standard. So it should be worth doing unless someone wants to take it as it is...
Do people like that exist?



SFT

Like most things in life, there are several things to consider. In my experience, a property that can just be moved into is always the one that will sell easiest and quickest, especially if it's presented well on the furnishings front - you know, neutral colours, bedrooms with beds in, not desks etc. People can be really silly, like not buying the property because they don't like your sofa. We even bought one where they were having trouble selling because the tenant dried his underpants in the conservatory on a clothes hanger and it put people off

But in the current climate, where borrowing is such an issue, there will probably be more people looking for something that bit cheaper. You can always sell anything, IF you get the price right. Even more of an issue right now

If you want to sell it without doing the work, it will probably cost you more ie the amount you need to drop the price will be more than it will cost you to have it done.

Horses for Courses - like everything in life - best of luck with it all

bails

savingfortravel wrote: »

Had to laugh as when I saw my father earlier he started talking about what happens if you live on a country lane and it snows....??Answers on a postcard

Uh, you'll have loads of fun in the snow? Teachers still get paid on snow days so what's he worried about? (unless you omitted to tell us the cottage is in the Himalayas ). Dads eh? Mine told me he disapproves of the dog idea (we actually agree on all his points) and then today brought round bowls, harness, collar etc and sat for half an hour gassing about the best way to train her He's going to love it almost as much as me!
I gave her her first shower today so that was a good chance to bond before she comes home. The other puppy went home this morning so now she's all on her own, bless. If the work gets done we may get her tomorrow after all
Great that we have property experts on here :TI agree with Lesley about your house SFT, and I guess the decision comes down to what you're prepared to do not to lose the cottage ie price and work wise. IMO there are definitely people out there willing to do the work. Also I guess there's the option of accepting an offer on the cndition you do the work before completion. I'm so happy you're being true to yourself :T
Enjoy the house without your mum there SF, got anything nice planned?

shaz_mum_of__2

Hi all

Did anyone watch the amish programme on bbc2 last night


Really interesting i bet nyk could manage


Shaz

DdraigGoch

Oh, such a lot going on since I last logged in, and it was only a couple of days ago at the most!! Congratulations to everyone, including SFT in particular - gosh! You don't hang around, do you?!

Today is a Head In The Net day, so not quite an NSD as I sent DH out shopping for me, but nearly. I've decided to make March my Plastic Diet - no, not eating plastic, avoiding it where possible - see my thread in green living on here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1492805 - so am getting stocked up with stuff to make meals ahead to ensure that I can spend as much time as neccessary substituting for the plastic. Some times this takes a while, e.g. using baskets instead of plastic bags - might even get the trusty Sh*lley trolley out "ROTFL", making time to go to the butcher and convincing his assistant to use just paper instead of plastic wrap, etc. I found last time that inordinate amounts of time were just eaten up chatting to folk about it as I did my shopping! So, this time I'm going to be prepared with lots of OAMC and MaM [Once A Month Cooking and Make-A-Mix [an American book, good ideas, wierd recipes!]] foods.

Wish me luck, off I jolly well go to prep some more MaMs

DG

slowlyfading

bails wrote: »

Enjoy the house without your mum there SF, got anything nice planned?

Well, there's ER on More4 later, and then Skins on E4 and I'm going to have a bath and then I've got chocolate to munch whilst i watch my programmes! Bliss xx

purplevamp

Hi everyone, thought I'd poke my head round the door just to say hi. I won't get too close as I've got some sort of lurgy . This does have it's plus points as I haven't been out to spend any money, other than dd's and online shop from Mr S (another £100 ).

Just spent the day on the sofa in my jimjams with DD watching HSM3, and not really eating, unless you count popping into the kitchen for a few mouthfuls of maltesers - bearing in mind I can fit quite a few in when I want to . (Bails and BB - don't tell the others over at Lose Weight 24 :shhh:)

DH was in the kitchen cupboard yesterday whilst cooking dinner when the contents fell out and my lovely jar of S&S sauce fell and smashed :mad: . It was only a basic one but I'm still very sad about it. I noticed my Sky dd was about £1 lower this month, not sure if it's because February has less days, but I'm not complaining.

No more news, so I'm off for a cup of tea and a little snooze.

slowlyfading

Hope you feel better soon purplevamp xx

bails

Sounds like a plan SF I'm having a nice long soak tonight too, and I may even dig out some chocolate too :T
Hope you feel better soon Purplevamp, did you not know Maltesers are medicinal?
I'm getting ahead of myself here and getting all excited about plans for next year - work, garden, ethical stuff etc. Don't worry, I intend to enjoy this year first :rotfl:
Currently researching puppy training...Marru if you're lurking, there was a TTouch talk here in November, would've been good :rolleyes:

Sarah147

Greetings frunchkins! :T have not managed to get on the net much this week. I would love to say I have been really busy with life but, basically I have been having a lazy patch and doing very little at all (knackered from work), but hey ho... did manage to get two big bags of stuff out for the charity collection on Wednesday though. Speaking of which, anyone find it a little frustrating that when you leave bags outside your door for the charities to collect that they don't put something through your door to say thanks? I don't want a medal or a certificate or anything but just a little printed note saying thanks for your donation would be nice, you never know whether they took it or a cowboy in a van otherwise? Or is that just me?

As for the money saving, I am getting there. Have managed to resist the lure of the newsagents next door to work all week and have bought no pop/crisps/sweets (saving a lot of money, it all adds up), and I have brought all my lunches from home.

I don't really want to spend money anymore and when I do I want to spend it on beautiful things or things for other people, not on pointless, useless tat or rubbish food that is going to rot my insides. This challenge has made me realise what is important in life and its certainly not "stuff".

I was walking along the seafront the other night at about eight o'clock and I saw two orange lights low in the sky over the sea. I thought it was a plane at first but then noticed more and more of them. of course, my next reaction was to think we were being invaded by aliens :rotfl: seriously! I walked over to the edge to have a look and there was a crowd of people on the beach releasing huge paper lanterns with candles in them into the sky. They floated up magestically, and were swept slowly over the sea. It was the most beautful thing I have ever seen! That's what I take joy in now. It sounds remarkably soppy, but the smell of dew soaked leaves in the morning, the sound of the sea, the glimmer of water off a tree... not a bag of tat made by exploted workers overseas.

All hail this challenge and nyk our challenge creator!

skint_chick

SF - I think you stole my plan for the evening! I got a big bar of Dairy Milk from the Co-op earlier - with £1 I found on the street on the way to work:D

purplevamp - It's a scientific fact Maltesers have negative calories as the malty middle bit melts in your mouth. Just don't try them in USA - they're soooo malty -like eating hot choc powder with no water:eek:

Today's frugal activities (stolen from BB)

• Bag prototype with one of OH's old work shirts worked out well so making final version at weekend
• I've got a chicken, lentil and split pea soup in slow cooker for lunch tomorrow. I used half of a skinless chicken breast from Mr T value pack (£2 for 2) =50p plus 20p of lentils, and 10p of split peas - 2portions for 40p each!
• New Vodafone sim only deal arrived - phone bills will be reducing by £25 a month from next month.
• Final wages from old work arrived plus bonus I wasn't due because I was off sick but don't want to trouble them to redo my P45
• Storecupboard dinner - wholewheat pasta with tomatoes and mushrooms

Tomorrow's frugal plans

• ebay nail polish that came with magazine months ago
• ebay perfume gift set I won't use
• take diamond and sapphire ring from ex to second hand jewellers
• mystery shop x2
• storecupboard dinner - bulgar wheat, spinach and carrot salad