Live on £4000 for a Year, 2009 Challenge, part 2

Brighton_belle

Photo of bike will be forthcoming Nyk: I've just the last few bits to fix on it - mudguards and dynamo lamp. Then tomorrow I'm hoping to take it to a local free workshop to learn from those that know about bikes how to check it over so that it is safe. Maiden voyage sometime after that, possibly over the weekend: a busy few days coming up. Then I'll take a photo:D

Just caught up with my May accounts - and thank goodness - got a bit careless and have just reigned myself in in time so haven't got into trouble, but it is easy to see how I could go down a bad slippery slope, so yet again I am so grateful to this forum for teaching me to keep records and accounts and budget:T. Still got to fill in all my little columns, and cash spends record not kept as well as they could have been, but I otherwise am totally on top of things. June needs to have lots of NSD! But that knowledge means I keep control.

Buzzbox

I almost thought that someone deleted this thread but it was not listed in the top 2 pages, wow.... very quiet on here... everyone enjoying the weather I suppose.

slowlyfading

Morning all

I've been doing work experience in a primary school all week, and this is my last day i had to do it as part of the conditions of my place in september, but i've enjoyed it more than i thought i would i've been doing singing with the yr 5/6 class, and they looked like they were enjoying it, which helps

I'm going to try and aim for another NSD today, which would take this month's total to 4 already I'm trying really hard not to spend anything at the moment, as I have to save for part of my tuition fees for september (£3325 :eek:) and for the holiday to Greece in July, and try to have a life at the same time - its sometimes hard to get the balance right!

Hope everyone has a good day

sf xx

Frugaldom

Good morning to all,

Sun is shining, clear blue skies and a trip to the garden centre later on with SM, I think. I need to deliver some eggs en route, but every penny helps with my cash neutral challenge.

Freezer is full again despite trying to empty it to defrost it. SM grabbed us both some spectacular bargains before her eventful journey here, plus I've made 2 pots of soup this week and the rhubarb crumbles. I'll get my 'caulis' blanched and frozen at some point today. Thanks, SM.

Looking forward to seeing the bike, BB, I wish you health to cycle it for many years to come. You can be the little eccentric lady with the bike to my 'mad wummin wae the ducks'. :rotfl:

Glad you enjoyed work experience at the school, SF, maybe you've found your vocation. Is it next month you're going to Greece?

Whitewing, maybe you'll manage a trip to Frugaldom one day but it's not so cozy when the wind's blowing a gale. I keep trying to convince Shaz that she'd like to renovate the strange fixy up not far from us but the offer is open to anyone who can afford the 125k + to buy it. An acre of garden could grow a lot of veggies, hold several chickens and I believe there's even a duck pond. It's also right next to the main road, so not remote in the least.

Lynda, don't forget to show us a photo of your new cat It might prompt Bails to show us her 'pup', too.

shaz_mum_of__2

Not posted much recently but still on budget (ish) still had surplus money left at the end of month so am happy isa nearly full for this year which is even better plus hubby has been accepted for a new credit card with a long 0% deal so stoozing can continue, at much lower rates but at least theres no transfer fee

Just as a rough guide since following this challenge since last summer and joining in proper in January we have managed to save £8,000 plus we have spent quite a bit on home improvements and the garden . we don't feel deprived either...........the opposite if anything

Thanks to Nyk and everyone else for all the ideas

Shaz

Frugaldom

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

...Just as a rough guide since following this challenge since last summer and joining in proper in January we have managed to save £8,000 plus we have spent quite a bit on home improvements and the garden . we don't feel deprived either...........the opposite if anything ...

Shaz, that is BRILLIANT! Well done! :T I also need to ask about the stoozing, as I thought it was finished for me with the balance transfers, can you let us into the secret of the no transfer fee 0%, or was it a personally negotiated deal?

lyndasharp

I suspect the 'no transfer fee' was the Abbey Zero card? That was the only one we could find when transferring H2B's card debt. Only 6 months interest free, but the good news is he'll be able to pay it all off by then, we're not planning to try stoozing it when the 0% runs out.

Did some wedding sums last night, and we're probably going to be spending around £6500 on the day. Didn't include honeymoon as we are going to ask for donations towards the cost of it for our wedding present. Scary how expensive it all is - we could get a nice camper van for that!

New cat should be arriving early next week, after she has a vet check. I've found out that she's a tabby, but don't know anything else about her apart from her name (which I suspect will have to be changed, as everyone we tell keeps laughing about it).

cw18

nykmedia wrote: »

I keep trying to convince Shaz that she'd like to renovate the strange fixy up not far from us but the offer is open to anyone who can afford the 125k + to buy it. An acre of garden could grow a lot of veggies, hold several chickens and I believe there's even a duck pond. It's also right next to the main road, so not remote in the least.

Now that I could be tempted by......

Our local freebie recently had a piece where a chap who lives on a small island off the coast of Ireland was wanting to swap his property (including 4 wheel drive and boat) for a property in our area -- he came from around here and wants to move back near his elderly Mum, but no-one can get a mortgage on his place. DS spotted it, and said he'd be happy to live on an island - but then he read the full article and realised just how remote and basic it was, and said "not that remote an island".

Only problem is, he'd kill me if I moved somewhere without decent Internet access :rolleyes2



Apart from the specifics on each type of veg, I finished reading my 'square gardening' book last night. It's fantastic :T First gardening book I've ever managed to read right through, and normally by the end of the second or third chapter I'm in a flap that I'll never cope with growing food-stuffs. My only complaint is that there doesn't appear to be anything in it about fruits, and I want to include strawberries, raspberries (or loganberries) and a cooking apple tree at a minimum - plus possibly other fruit trees (debating a couple like plums and cherries in the front gardens), and fruits like blackberries and blueberries. There's a section on making this style of gardening available to wheel-chair users (and others with limited mobility) by putting plywood bottoms on the boxes and then putting them on 'tables' to lift them - and I'm actually intrigued by this as it would make them easier for me to work and keep them out of reach of the larger dog Only problem would be mowing under them unless I still change those areas of the garden to flagging of some sort

patchwork_cat

Would you not need to have substantial depth of soil if the boxes were raised, Cheryl, how deep were they saying? How old is your Dalmation?

cw18

The book recommends 6" of soil for each box, and says if you need to build one 12" deep you put nothing but sand in the bottom 6" as the plants don't need the soil that far down

But if you raise boxes with bottoms onto tables, then your boxes are still only 6" deep. This system would probably work well for me, as I have back problems - and if flares up again (to the extent it did in 2006 for almost 18 months!) I have days where I can hardly move, let alone kneel down and bend over

The dalmatian is just turned 6, so very bouncy - plus he eats as much fruit and veg as is offered (food allergies mean no "normal" dog treats) so is likely to harvest the crops for me given half a chance. But my main concern if I stick to anything below about 2 feet is his personal watering schedule of the crops :rolleyes2