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

savingfortravel

Thanks Redglass/Mooloo
and Nyk-WHY move to the country?-Well I want to live simply. I've never been materialistic and always crave experiences over possessions. I only shop out of neccessity-food shopping mostly, which could be done one evening after school. DH and I love the country and most weekends are in some rural area walking and exploring nature. My current house is in an ideal location for everything-a 10 minute walk from school and 15 mins from town centre. I am surrounded by surburbia but have been going mad, feeling that my world has shrunk to the size of a postage stamp.
My previous house was in a village and DH loved going for walks in the area and I felt I had a proper break from school every weekend (some evenings we went for a walk and took a picnic salad with us). Those are the kind of experiences where we find true contentment. He loves his garden here but is looking forward to the challenge of a new one. DH loves the sound of skylarks and is hoping the field at the bottom of the garden might provide that sound as well as a lovely view.
For this I am prepared to put in 100% to embrace country life and its challenges. I think the cottage has the wood burner as its main source of heating so we might have to improve that if nec.
SFT

Brighton_belle

SFT - I don't know anything about the upkeep of 200+ yr old cottages, but this all sounds wonderful to me. As long as you get the full structural survey done,not the basic. I think a property of that age holds holds memories that will connect you to our surrounding in the way you long for. So I would switch of the voices of doom and go for it (but do get the full structural survey though). It's thrilling to read of someone else following their dream, and so much sooner than hey thought they would.

Good to hear from you redglass.

Just been for a wonderful 4 mile walk along the foot of the chalk cliffs:A.

savingfortravel

BB-Thanks. Your walk sounds wonderful!! SFT X

andan

Hi guys just popping in to say hi. I have been keeping up with the challenge and my spends are currently at £1200 for the year so far which is great considering i have paid for my mot, car insurance and four new tyres out of it, so am hoping spends may be lower yet!

Have still been making free money but have decided to keep that seperate from the challenge and use it for things like my trips to London and my trip away this Easter, so at least it won't affect my budget, although am not looking forward to spending money anyway!

Have had a gas bill for the months so far and been informed they are lowering our payments as we are using a lot less, which means less money paid out now for my gas ane elec, which will also help with this challenge.

Have done quite a few food mystery shops recently so have managed to get plenty of food in for next to nothing, which helps with the store cupboard.

Feel like there is very little else i can cut down on at the moment, but will keep plodding away and keep those spends low!

System

hellooooooo! missed youuuuuu!

i must be more frunchkinly
i must be more frunchkinly
i must be more frunchkinly
i must be more frunchkinly
i must be more frunchkinly
i must be more frunchkinly

my course is finishing at the end of may so i will be unemployed and

i must be more frunchkinly!

forgive me frunchkins, for i have sinned.... I have been BUYING COFFEE at uni!

but i have still been jumbling/selling a few bits on amazon/having practicaly no heating on all winter

so i've not been toooo naughty have I? will you have me back?

ooooh i have been learning to drive with FREE lessons too! may need to get a frugalmobile if/when i get a job!

i also reaaaaly want a frugalpup.... which i could drop off at frugalmums in the frugalmobile for her to look after if i am at work...she already has a dog so i think it would be no trouble but she disagrees still i will work on her

think thats all my gossip...
how have you all been?

cw18

Jumble-Bee wrote: »

i also reaaaaly want a frugalpup.... which i could drop off at frugalmums in the frugalmobile for her to look after if i am at work...she already has a dog so i think it would be no trouble but she disagrees still i will work on her

Having taken in a second (older and smaller) dog, I'm actually with your Mum on this one I'm afraid -- two dogs (especially as ours are vastly different sizes and ages) are definitely more work than one..... and then there are potentially issues with her dog accepting a new one into his/her territory. For 12 months I could have my two in the garden together and walk them together, but not leave them alone in the same area of the house. We've now have the second one for just over 2 years, and they will now spend short stints together inside the house, but I couldn't go out and leave them together.....

I certainly don't think I'd have two dogs again, and I wouldn't look after one for my children any more than I'd have expected my parents to look after mine.




That said, well done on getting free driving lessons - and on the continual raising on additional income :T

Frugaldom

Welcome back Andan and Jumble-Bee! Great to see you both again Frugaldom is a one way ticket, once you join us, there's no getting away from it, so no need to ask if we'll have you back.

SFT - Thanks for answering your own question. I'm please to inform you that I detect absolutely no wobbles or quibbles about your move to the country. Assuming the main structure of the building is fine then everything else is fixable on a budget. The previous house we were renting was a 3-storey terrace with 1785 carved into the stone and the walls were about 3 feet thick! Very solid!

I managed to get out into the garden tonight and fill a few more boxes in my square foot garden. New arrivals to my frugaldom food production project are onions, parsley, beetroot and beans. Shoots are through on all of them. Indoors, I can now see 3 'Big Jim' pepper seedlings! :j These are growing from seeds taken from last year's crop and 'Big Jim' is still with us, now living in the greenhouse. I have loads of other peppers and tomatoes sprouted through and am now going to try sprouting tubs of wheat & barley as extra green food for the hens. (Got the idea when I spotted a couple of grains sprouting in my potato tub next to the hen run. :cool: )

purplevamp

[QUOTE=Brighton_belle;20469499Forget the HA - I'd threaten them with a flying visit from 'is it a bird, is it a plane, no it's frugalwoman' aka Nyk - throwing good fruit away:eek:. In fact, thinkning about it why wasn't your other half delighted to get the freeby and turn them into a crumble:rotfl:

Hope the rest of jury service goes well.

A beautiful sunny day here but feel a bit too washed out at the mo to do anything with it.[/QUOTE]
Hee hee! That would be fun to watch.

Re jury service: Today we had to deliberate (I think that's what it's called). We let him of with a lesser offence, he looked relieved and mouthed "thank you" to us. It was all very unfortunate on his part, can't go into details obviously, but he wasn't as in the wrong as the police said he was. We could see he wasn't a "wrong 'un" and really think he has learnt from this. I'm off now until Tuesday, so time to do the housework :rolleyes:.

So after the delights of being in court today, I took the kids to see Mickey Mouse! They loved it, I thought it was OK but not as good as their last show we saw. To save myself some pennies on refreshments, (which were candy floss and popcorn with Mickey Mosue hats on costing £8 each :eek:) we went to the 99p store and bought drinks and sweets. The drinks were called Boo Bees :rotfl:, I kid you not and they tasted foul.

I'm off for my dinner now, prepared with love by my DH!!

skint_chick

SFT - if it's been standing for hundreds of years it's obviously a well built house. Definitely get a full structural survey done - and don't be afraid to ask the surveyor questions afterwards. Damp and timber issues are usually the main problems older houses suffer from -a bit of movement in the past is nothing to be worried about as long as its not current/progressive. If there has been any movement fixed- underpinning etc find out from the current owner who their insurance company is/how much they pay.

Full structural survey should cover the roof - condition of timbers and tiles - make sure the owners are aware that the surveyor needs easy access to the roofspace. Damp readings are usually higher in older buildings - not usually anything to worry about although dampproofing is more expensive if traditional plasters have to be used to replaster.

I personally prefer a period home and think that the extra upkeep costs are well worth it - and not much more than having to add extra touches to new builds to give them a little character:D No point in worrying til you see what you're dealing with!

MrDT

Long time no see Jumble Bee, welcome back!

Congrats on wangling free driving lessons (how the hell did you manage that!?), having a license will definitely stand you in good stead when applying for jobs. Lessons can cost an arm and a leg so you've done seriously well there, it's like you never left!