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

Frugaldom

Good morning

Just repeating what has already been said about the OU. The course I did (many years ago) was backed up by lectures held in a local college plus summer school on a local (ish) university campus. Tutors were always just a phone call away. I also did courses with both the Open College and ICS (International Correspondence School), for whom I later worked, in their Glasgow office. That was my ONLY city based job, ever. I love home study, it's quite addictive once you get started.

Another dry day here, got some work for this morning then I'm going to work a bit more outdoors so I can keep up the momentum of creating a self-sufficientish Frugaldom garden. One of the hens is broody again and another has been disappearing to go lay eggs in the field somewhere. No chance of going looking for them with a huge bull in there, though. :eek:

Went to Aldi yesterday and I'm growing to hate the place more with every visit - it is completely useless if you cook from scratch! Ours doesn't even sell rice and the biggest tub of margarine they sell id 500g of their own brand at about 30p more than St0rk! :mad: SM - maybe you could pick me up some big tubs of cheap marg for baking whilst on your travels?

Congratulations on getting your flights booked, Bails. Where are you off to? (You know it's just to get you really excited by making you type the destination again )

We rounded the day off, yesterday, with the neighbours round for a frugal BBQ

cha97michelle

Morning everyone

Pay day for me today - not a lot as i had to pay back the overpay from the last 2 months, but about £100 more than i expected which i guess will be a tax rebate. DS's are at nursery today, so i have been moving money about so a small overpayment of the mortgage, then some into savings if leaving the job is going to be possible.

I can see it being an expensive week. My car needs to be looked at by the garage as it is playing up. It is over-revving all the time which it has been doing for ages, but it was struggling to start. I don't think it helps not using it much.:rolleyes:

DH needs a set of tyres. He has been putting it off for a while, but we knew it was coming.

Both kids need new shoes.:eek:

I am going to costco today with my nextdoor neighbour. She wanted to see what it was like and i need a few bits. I thought the company would be good, and if we go this morning it might give me a bit of structure to my day and make me do something else with the day other than sit maudling.

It's supposed to rain here today. DH set up our 2nd water butt at the weekend so at least that will fill up and save us some pennies for watering the veg patch.

Right - off to have a quick bath and get dressed before the neighbour comes round and i am still not dressed.

Have a great one everyone x

lyndasharp

sft - great news about the house! Sorry I missed the online party ;-)

Bails - congrats on booking the flights! Very exciting!

Bessie (as cat has now been renamed) was very hairy as she doesn't seem to have been grooming herself at the vets. She's had lots of brushing, and we're taken out enough hair to make a new cat! She's started washing herself again now, which is a good sign. We took her to Cambridge for the weekend, and she travelled amazingly well, though did insist we put the air con on for her... Next plan is to train her to walk on a lead - I'm wondering if we're completely insane, but she walks to heel well without a lead, and it'd be good to be able to take her round the garden.

whitewing

TTDB - I'd be so excited if I were that close to mortgage pay-off day that I would stop using gas/electricity, stop eating and walk around naked so I didn't have to buy clothes. (Might be in touch with lyndasharp to use some of Bessie's fur to keep my mmodesty, lol).

I'm even more excited today than yesterday as it looks as though we may qualify for financial support for DH's OU degree. (It's sobering to think that I so assumed that a degree was unaffordable for DH that we nearly didn't look into it at all. I'm amazed, tbh, that the opportunities are there).

Hello everyone, I am reading all the posts and raising glasses, giving hugs and kicks up the backside etc as required, so please don't think I am ignoring anybody.

Brighton_belle

Today sees the ongoing work to declutter and & switch rooms - I think this may take another couple of months as I am working quite slowly. But it is slowly slowly getting done. Today i hope to continue painting the smaller room which is to become our bedroom. Decided to do the same sage green as our living space as choosing colours can tie me up in knots of indecision and I had some left over so is being frugal too. Apart from a 3 year spell 12 yrs ago, this will be only the second time in my adult life that I have had a separate bedroom to my living area so feels a big change.

At the S of E show on Saturday I got a great freeby - a book ( and a real book not a pamphlet) on using up leftovers. So we had leftovers curry yesterday and it was quite good, and wonderfully frugal of course so big pat on the back there.
Had a great time at the show - I ever get over the size of some of those bulls, so not suprised you don't fancy egg hunting in the same field Nyk.
Enjoyed watching the working horses competition in one of the smaller rings and adored the small working wagons comp too - might try and upload a photo of my fave later.
Saw some beautiful restored shephards huts (on wheels) that I greatly covet. I just love small spaces I think and utilising clever storage ideas. Really fancy a book i saw called 'shedchic;' just for the joy of looking at it. Can't justisfy it but if I still am hankering by the end of aug might spend last years birthday book token from friends on it in time for this years birthday. It's not available through our local library. I like to keep tokens til I come across something I really really can't justify buying or can't get out of the library. I very rarely buy new books.

Here's my '101 list' blog if anyone wants to have a gander: it is not connected to frugal living off the land so not really pertinent to this forum, but does focus on me striving to live the life i want, which this forum continues to help me attain:
http://smallfishgoingplaces.blogspot.com/

I've been reminded again by sft's move, that I am very fortunate to be already living where i want to: not that it happened by chance - I upped sticks 10 yrs ago on my own and moved here barely knowing anyone and with no job to restart my life and it's the best thing I ever did.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

cha97michelle wrote: »

Morning everyone

Pay day for me today - not a lot as i had to pay back the overpay from the last 2 months, but about £100 more than i expected which i guess will be a tax rebate. DS's are at nursery today, so i have been moving money about so a small overpayment of the mortgage, then some into savings if leaving the job is going to be possible.

I can see it being an expensive week. My car needs to be looked at by the garage as it is playing up. It is over-revving all the time which it has been doing for ages, but it was struggling to start. I don't think it helps not using it much.:rolleyes:

DH needs a set of tyres. He has been putting it off for a while, but we knew it was coming.

Both kids need new shoes.:eek:

I am going to costco today with my nextdoor neighbour. She wanted to see what it was like and i need a few bits. I thought the company would be good, and if we go this morning it might give me a bit of structure to my day and make me do something else with the day other than sit maudling.

It's supposed to rain here today. DH set up our 2nd water butt at the weekend so at least that will fill up and save us some pennies for watering the veg patch.

Right - off to have a quick bath and get dressed before the neighbour comes round and i am still not dressed.

Have a great one everyone x

If I knew how, I would probably make the shoes from the old tyres

cha97michelle

Thanks for making me giggle Paul. Much needed.

Haven't gone to costco as the neighbour had other plans and it didn't feel worth it for a few bits - just mooching around at home not really doing much and waiting for the threatened rain.

lynda bessie is a much nicer name than hellcat Glad she is settling well and in better health

Savvy_sewing

Due to the huge amount of driving I am doing, my gas guzzling car is breaking the bank. I really cant see how I can manage to live frugally when the car eats £60 of petrol in a week.!!
I am in EEK mode at the moment.

bails

Here is a good place to go EEK Mooloo. Why are you drving so much at the mo (sorry if I've missed this)? If it's for work is there any way to claim expenses? Remember that even if the car is eating lots of pennies you are still saving them elsewhere x

Michelle, sorry your neighbour didn't come round in the end, I know how important it can be to have other people to help you 'shape' your day. Have you got anything planned in for tomorrow?
:rotfl:Paul!
BB, that is a massive thing that you are in your dream space already, and now you are working towards making it work even better for you :T Perfection takes time

Wonderful news about the OU funding Whitewing, really happy for you and DH :T

Aah, glad Bessie is settling in nicely Lynda.

For [STRIKE]my[/STRIKE] your benefit Nyk, we're going to Nepal for 5 months and then travelling home through Tibet, China, Mongolia, Russia (I'd love to go to Kyrzgystan but dont think we'll be able to fit it in this trip). We're going to work out a budget for the trip soon - there are quite a few visas with extensions and the Trans Siberian to account for so will need to be very creative with our money- good job we've been in such good training here

There is a very long to do list to prepare for upping sticks - we've been sharing out the jobs this lunchtime - and it doens't quite seem real at the mo. I'm sure it will when we get on the plane with our one-way ticket....:j:j:D

Vixstar

Its funny I was getting really good at recording all my spends, join in officially and I keep losing receipts

I will try and be and active poster on here but at the moment I'm feeling a bit snowed under work wise - it seems to come in waves some weeks I'm surfing along easily and others I'm in a trough getting repeatedly bashed. Trough at the moment but the end is in sight (I hope!)

I hope no one minds but I have been having a peek at the 101 in 1001 blogs and I've been inspired...I didn't think I had any tasks appropriate for a list but now I'm considering at least trying to make a 101 list. Thanks