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

DdraigGoch

Hello everyone [I hope I've got the font size right!] It's been ages since I've been on and please accept my apologies/congratulations/hugs/best wishes and commiserations/condolences - you've been so busy I can't keep up :cool::D

I'm still on my No Plastic For A Month effort, and it's going reasonably well - mainly due to the fact that I'm not buying stuff :rolleyes::j:j

I have a query for you clever people - if you were faced with my dilemma, which way would you jump, and why? I'm living in a house without a bath. I miss having a bath [I DO wash, we have a shower!!], and I could spend a lot of money installing a log fired boiler to heat up enough water for a bath - enough for central heating, but that's another debate - but it'll be a lot of money, plus a lot of work and a lot of work to keep it fed .... or, and here's the dilemma, or I could install a modern version of those old "over the bath" water heaters, only it'd have to be electric not gas as I live in the country. What do you think? I'm still musing and just can't decide, so I thought I'd better come back and ask your advice/opinion.

My budget is slowly floating back into the credible again, from where it's been wandering perilously close to utterly unbelievable, so I have no right whatsoever to still be on here - count me as a fellow traveller, rather than a fullyfledged £4ker, please :rotfl: but without your help and inspiration I'd be further off the track than I am now!

Thanks again to Nyk and all of you

[back to lurking again:rolleyes:]

angelatgraceland

How about you get a couple of quotes then think it over? Sounds tempting if you really need the baths-do you still want a bath in summer? Or is it just in the winter that you prefer a long hot soak?
How much are the running costs? Investigate.

angela110660

Good luck with the weigh in today - I have chucked the scales but am back at the gym

sophiesmum_2

Good morning frunchkins:D Hope everyone is well.

Haven't posted much this week but still slogging away in the background. Have managed :
5 no spend days:D ,
5 a day each day:D
lots of recycling:D

Off to town with my friend this morning - need some veggies and 10 cartons of UHT milk. Hopefully will find time later to do some work on veggie plot and sow some more seeds. Then tonight want to finish chest of drawers when OH goes to work out the way:rolleyes:

Good luck with the weigh in angel - I've dropped to 30 net carbs starting yesterday so should give the weightloss a nudge - will keep you posted:D
Have a good day everyone - see you later.

sophiesmum_2

Woo Hoo - postman has just delivered my £50 virgin voucher from last months qype thingy Just need to decide what to do with it now:D


The sun has also decided to make an appearance here so looks like it is turning into a good day

redglass_2

Hello to everybody,
Lovely to hear so much good news from Frugaltons. What with baby boys, baby birds, wedding dresses, big cheques, lettuce sprouts...does anyone else remember the old front page of the 'News of the World'? It used to say, 'all human life is here' and that goes for this thread too...only we're a bit better behaved.

My money is still racing away from me, I'm afraid. It's not that I've given up, more that I keep coming up against the unexpected (latest is a broken freezer). :mad: But I'm going to persist because even coming in well over target is better than not trying. Last year it left me with more in hand than I'd have thought possible, and I wasn't even a proper challenger then. Last 2 days have been NSD, so there's a start...

Some greenhouse questions for all you garden/allotment people:

I've inherited a full-size plastic greenhouse with my lotty, but it's very overgrown and the walls are a dirty algae green. So far it's had to wait while I battled couch grass and docks, but in about a week or so I can start cleaning it. The thing is, the allotments don't have a tap - instead we have a horse trough that we fill buckets from, or have water butts (and I am just realising I should have got that bit organised months ago :eek:). Obviously the trough water isn't sterile and I thought washing the greenhouse with it might just make the walls go greener. Is there a spray-on product anyone can recommend? Oh, and there's a second question! Some idiot has cut slits in a small area of the plastic, can I mend this by just sticking sellotape or clear fablon over it? I really don't want to have to re-cover the lot, not this year anyway! (This is where an OH would come in handy - another pair of hands.) I am such a beginner! Many thanks in advance for your help!



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Frugaldom

Good morning to all - I'm hoping to see no signs of LoopyLou today after pencilling her delivery date in from Midnight.

Ddraig, now I see the problem. Personally, I would research the logburner route as the long term benefits, especially if you could do any willow planting. Get a quote for the whole lot (it'll be extortionate) and then have a look here to see what grants are availalble, then start looking for one you qualify for within your own area. Call the council, call the energy advisors, call anyone who will speak to you about it, even if it means having men in suits visit to discuss quotations and jostle for you business, even if they've no chance of getting the order. As long as you have the shower for summer use, there's no need to keep the logburner going all day every day and it only takes about 3 years to establish a willow plantation for your own free biofuel in the future. There - that's my position on the subject. Now you just need the X thousands to implement it. In the meantime, I'd get started outdoors by planting more willows asap. You mentioned there already was some - think FREE CUTTINGS! FREE FUEL!:rotfl:

Sophiesmum, good news about your receiving the £50 voucher, well done on that!

Redglass - If there's enough water in the troughs, I'd take a bucket, a soft scrubbing brush, cloths, old towel and a roll of heavy duty tape (for mending the holes) along with some milk containers with well diluted washing up liquid. It doesn't seem to harm anything, I used it several times on various plants to get rid of greenfly last year. The algae shouldn't come back much once the greenhouse is in use and aired to prevent dampness. Do you know if it's south facing? Good luck, sounds like you've found yourself an excellent passtime for this year, I hope you have as much fun as we do with a 'frugal alfresco project'.

Buzzbox

sophiesmum wrote: »

Woo Hoo - postman has just delivered my £50 virgin voucher from last months qype thingy Just need to decide what to do with it now:D


The sun has also decided to make an appearance here so looks like it is turning into a good day

:T I got two vouchers this morning.... so I'm doing the honest thing and already sent them an email about it! I have to admit, it was tempting to keep quiet!

Brighton_belle

a quiet day for me after a long and busy day yesterday visiting old friends from where I grew up. Took home made cakes as gifts and people's faces just lit up: people really do appreciate the personal touch of the time and care taken and I get to be frugal:j . One of my older friends insisted on paying for our petrol which was a loving gesture and greatly appreciated and slipped into my bag so I didn't know about it til it was to late to refuse.

Ordered a book through the library I really really want to read and resisting buying/paying for: I shall just have to wait for the reservation to come in.

Todays simplifying/frugal list:

1. saw wooden shelves for kitchen & varnish.
2. tidy storeroom/pantry formally known as the dining room
3. make cake for OH
4. 1 hr at least of 'creative me' time
5. freeze butchers chicken into meal portions
6. have kip

sophiesmum_2

Buzzbox wrote: »

:T I got two vouchers this morning.... so I'm doing the honest thing and already sent them an email about it! I have to admit, it was tempting to keep quiet!

You will get rewarded in another way for your honesty:A , I am a great believer in Karma xxx