the daydream fund challenge thread

lostinrates

alfie_1 wrote: »

this is for LIR 007.... mission acomplished...:T. tho i think target is still somewhere in the clouds !!;)

Hurrah. Alfie, I'm so VERY happy for all concerned. I think you're fab to have sorted it, so kind! Thanks for letting me be in on the surprise:)

Rummer

CTC This thread is a daily inspiration and I love it.

I hope that everything works out for you x

lostinrates

The weekend involved a lot of mesisng wih the pump. Its at the sort of level its getting very quickly clogged at. Its off for the week as I'll forget about checking it I think.

Nothing planned for today...might get some more seeds in if I can though.:)

Lotus-eater

CTC, I think you'll find most people who post on here are fruit cakes, at least to 99% of the rest of the population, it's just here that we make each other look normal.
Best of luck with the land.

rhiwfield

Davesnave, dont need to know your pm to CTC, but it was obviously well said. You're a bit of a star!

CTC, any help you need from down the M4, give me a shout

Anyhow, back to the downshift. As you know, our strategy has been to keep the family home but economically downshift (give up well paying, but weekly commute, job in favour of a mix of self sufficiency and local work)

Key to this working is cutting spend while keeping a good quality of life. The easy wins were things like SKY, cancelling this saved over £500 a year and was replaced by Freesat.

A useful technique for cutting costs is zero based budgetting. You dont start from where you are now e.g. saying I need my clothes budget to go up from £50pm to £60 pm. You start with nil budgets across the board, then sit down with OH, work out what you absolutely have to spend and budget at those levels. And add some contingencies/replacement money which gets put into a sealed pot.

And after all that boring financial stuff, dont forget your treats allowance

Davesnave

rhiwfield wrote: »

Davesnave, dont need to know your pm to CTC, but it was obviously well said. You're a bit of a star!

CTC, any help you need from down the M4, give me a shout

Basically, it said CTC's thread has helped more people than she may realise.

Anyway, it looks like we're not the only ones who've been PMing! :rotfl:

lostinrates

Rummer wrote: »

CTC This thread is a daily inspiration and I love it.

I think for those of us gardening/smallholding and often alone it replaces the sense of ''keeping up'' and motivation that you get working in a group environment. Reporting in, having people to ask for advice, to share the triumphs and disasters with.....its nice. It fits in with the odd hours people like us often keep and I'm awed at the knowledge a lot of you have and share. Me, I look at the edgar allen poe tree and realise I'm just stumbling alone entering another year we won't feed ourselves yet, but hopefully getting closer.

oh, and a classic from the small holding here....the pond has to be emptied, the sewage had to go in.....why oh why didn't we think to buy a pipe to take the temporary diversion of clean water from the sewage treatment centre from the pond:wall::wall::o:rotfl:. we're refilling very quickly before starting emptying this year.


Speaking of the pond, the natural swimming pond firms seem to be suggesting a self build pond will cost intr of £25k :eek::eek:. Now that is impossible to justify.....but wining it is a scary idea too. The hardest part should be building retaining walls in the pond base....I think it a clay base...but you need to make beds inside it for planting to filter and clean the beds (and warm the water a bit). we have a pump sufficient in there (the one we inherited and have spend fortunes on repairing, not the small one we are using for dirty water), we have the hole......I'm wondering if this is something we can do on the cheap. we don't need it 100% clear....we used to swim in Hampstead ponds....so are up for a bit of gunk, but would like pretty and safe if possible. Undercutting the pond builders while creating a reservoir for watering gardens seems a growing market with potential with those sort of margins to undercut by. (incidentally the ''big'' original company doing it have been going for 25 years and done 3000 ponds. I thought...''is that all'' doesn't seem that many in the scheme of things and the number of countries in which they operate)

rhiwfield

Lir, pond creation for wildlife purposes e.g. shallow margins, reed edges, no fish, may attract grants and it may even be that your local volunteer groups could help construct.

POND CONSERVATION

ARG groups

It probably doesnt have to be only for wildlife, just that its also designed to benefit wildlife.

Davesnave

rhiwfield wrote: »

.
A useful technique for cutting costs is zero based budgetting. You dont start from where you are now e.g. saying I need my clothes budget to go up from £50pm to £60 pm. You start with nil budgets across the board, then sit down with OH, work out what you absolutely have to spend and budget at those levels.

I can manage with a clothes budget of £20 a month, but this month our hedging budget is £350! Mind you, if we can have the hedges, in a few years time our clothing budget could be as small as it is for these guys::rotfl:



http://www.abbeyhousegardens.co.uk/events/clothes-optional-days

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

I can manage with a clothes budget of £20 a month, but this month our hedging budget is £350! Mind you, if we can have the hedges, in a few years time our clothing budget could be as small as it is for these guys::rotfl:



http://www.abbeyhousegardens.co.uk/events/clothes-optional-days

I think its the way t be. I can't wait till our garden is screened again! The only thing is I'll have to walk through our commercial operation bit to get to the other part of the garden....people might think they are getting more than free range eggs when they pull in:eek: