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

cw18

angela110660 wrote: »

This made me smile - my MIL always has loads of tinned fruit and Tip Top in her cupboards for some reason.

Funny you should mention Tip Top..... guess what's lurking in one of my App Foods boxes (bought in an attempt to get me eating the tinned fruit that's taking up precious cupboard space) :rotfl:

Actually, I guess I should lob a couple of tins of that into my fridge while I think about it :rolleyes:

shaz_mum_of__2

Jamiedodger my heart goes out to you something similair happened to my eldest son i hope the school is supportive ................ours wasn't the bully was a special needs kid and the school were more worried about his welfare than his victims.....................we alo got compensated for my sons injuries(fractured elbow) i went to a solicitor asap but it took 3 years to finish but kids get legal aid so cost nothing ......he now has a small deposit for his first home


shaz

angela110660

mmmmm.....cold tinned pears and cold Tip top.

andromache_2

Hi everyone! I haven't posted in aages but I have just spent a pleasant half-hour going over what I have missed; it's nice to see how everyone's doing. Hugs, congratulations and welcomes as appropriate In particular, hope your son is feeling OK, jamiedodger; hope your friend is bearing up and I'm glad your bf is supporting you so well, sf; nice to see you back, 1274; and it's great to hear about all the different frugaldom plans

I've had a hectic few weeks of it with the end of exams and the relationship mess I posted about a while ago. Thank you to those of you on here who (gently ) admonished me about getting my act together and focussing on exams before worrying about other things; I definitely performed worse than I could have but I still got a First plus one of the prizes so I'm happy as it bodes very well for my finals next year when I will hopefully be on top form and not distracted by anything! I was anticipating a 2.ii so that was a pleasant surprise. So I'm glad that's out the way. As for the break-up, well, that was painful and horrible and made me feel awful but then it was always going to. Even if it is unpleasant in the short term I know in the long term it's the right thing for both of us. And things are going brilliantly with new OH

Money-wise I have been running through a ridiculous amount in the past couple of weeks. I've spent a lot of money on travel to work experience, buying a new suit and some new shirts; probably about £400 all told :eek: but that's my travel to work for the next 6 weeks just about covered, though I'll probably be putting some bus journeys etc on my Oyster card. Anyway, that's not coming out of the challenge as it's work-related, but it's making me feel poor! I've also spent another £200ish in relationship-associated travel costs; I said at the beginning of the challenge that I would be excluding these from my challenge budget for various reasons but it feels a bit like cheating! I'll keep a note of them and leave them out of the challenge for now since I don't have much left in the budget and it would be nice to try and get to the end of the summer within budget without setting myself up for failure IYSWIM. I'm owed another £200ish in expenses so my bank balance has taken something of a battering I'll update my signature in a mo.

I was talking to a friend about postgrad fees and scholarships; she is a brilliant candidate but still didn't get a scholarship for her master's course, which is the same one I want to do, so my blind confidence that someone would give me money at some point appears somewhat misplaced; I get the impression that there's less scholarship money sloshing around due to the recession :rolleyes: It's costing her about £18k for the year including tuition fees and rent but excluding day-to-day living costs :eek: and then I need to do another year's study for my professional qualification on top of that where the tuition fees alone will be £12k+ :eek: so I am now feeling very motivated to earn money this summer and I will be participating in this challenge for quite a while yet! Sitting down and looking at those figures has definitely focussed my mind. It's not the end of the world if I need to get a graduate loan but I don't want to have to rely on that too much and I doubt that I will be able to get a loan for all of it so I will need a fair amount of savings.

New OH owns a house but is a bit lackadaisical with his finances; he has already observed my thrifty ways and told me that I should sit down and sort out his finances as I'd be much better at it than he is :rotfl: so this thread is rubbing off on me well methinks

Have a nice Sunday afternoon everyone :j

Frugaldom

Hi guys and gals,

Jamie, sorry to hear about your DS, I hope he is alright.

CW, I like fruit & custard, can't see anything wrong with it, would help you eat it if you were closer, except I may add sponge, jelly and cream to make it into a trifle. LOL

Lynda, I'm a bit like you where your boiler is concerned; I'm a, 'if it ain't broken, don't fix it' type of person, but it's probably just a frugality thing conserving every penny until I really need to spend it

9 days until the end of the second quarter (or first half) - where has the time gone? I'm still assessing the finances but seem to be on target for all of my savings pots except my 2009/10 ISA, which has had not a penny added. I need £500 elsewhere before I can start on the ISA, but have been asking myself what my ISA is for, as it will never, ever have enough in it to buy a house?! Answers on a postcard please.

I'll start the new thread on/for 1st July. Hoping to have on or over £2000 remaining and that's looking quite likely, assuming I don't have a splurge of online shopping and dash into town to spend on groceries. :rotfl:

Ahem, I just saw this, Andromache

andromache wrote: »

And things are going brilliantly with new OH

:rotfl::T:beer: and congratulations on exam results, as well

cw18

nykmedia wrote: »

CW, I like fruit & custard, can't see anything wrong with it, would help you eat it if you were closer, except I may add sponge, jelly and cream to make it into a trifle. LOL

Stewed fruit and custard is fine, but I really don't like tinned (or fresh raw) fruit and custard. And as to trifle...... least said the better, but probably enough to say I really can't stomach the texture of cold custard :eek: (I don't much like 'soggy sponge' either).

My Mum always made trifle for Christmas Day, but after years of worrying about me not eating pudding ( ) she finally twigged that if she offered me the alternative of tinned fruit and cream I would be coming back for seconds :rolleyes2



First freezer now defrosted, catalogued (much to the amusement of DS) and repacked. Made space for 3 garlic baguettes and some mini naan breads (from Thursday's shop) by moving 8 kievs and 3 breaded chicken steaks out of the original plastic packaging into freezer bags :T Still need to make space for 4 large naan and some 'sub' rolls I bought last night, but I think I may squeeze at least some of them into this freezer if I'm lucky Should just about have space for the rest in the other before defrosting/rejigging it at some point this next week, especially as I'll be taking some veg out of there for tea tonight......

Made myself have cereal for breakfast this morning, Just about to go and grab lunch (before heading out to entertain elder GD for the afternoon, while DD takes the younger one to a birthday party at a swimming pool), so will be making an effort to have some tinned fruit after my soup and sandwich

Frugaldom

Now I want trifle! What a boring life I lead when trifle seems exciting

lingojingo

So what's wrong with taking pleasure from the simple things in life Nyk?

Just popped on for a quick catch up between tidying the garden and tidying the house, then going to relax in the garden with yesterday's paper as the sun has finally come out (last full day for DDs Spanish exchange student and the only day it hasn't rained!)

Glad things are working out Andromache, hugs for the DS who was bullied (sorry forgot whose)

patchwork_cat

We also have an IGT that we weren't told about, but I believe it is standard practice in new houses - extra cost though adn at first not all suppliers could supply us, not an issue now.

As for dog food have you tried Gusto anyone, our dog loves it. Really cheap, but no VAT as it is classed as a working dog food and I believe not as bad quality as some other cheapies.

Tinned beef slices? Never seen them. Jamie - what happened? Sounds awful I hope he wasn't too badly hurt. A couple of years ago a kid at my son's school took a knife in which he pulled out and ahowed around on the football pitches at lunchtime, no one was hurt, thankfully and I haven't heard of any other incidents. Although the grammar school that my DD is going to in Sept. hit the headlines last year as there was a gang fight on the attached park area ( bit of an odd set up with the parks- very old school with ancient covenants etc I think).

Looking at buying a second car for me for when I go back to work soon (after possible operation etc to sort out my health problems) and I hate it as it is a minefield of getting the best price- I don't like haggling as I always feel could I have done better? We always seem to want more car for our money than the garage!, but for once prices seem more like fitting my way of thinking - still could I barter them down a bit more (lack of confidence I think).

boring_beige

Jamiedodger - i hope everything works out okay for your son.

Had a interesting week at work, with sickness and holidays. Everyone seems to have many complaints to share. I don't know who said it but it's true - we tend to judge others by their actions and ourselves by our ideals.

I just got on and done what i thought needed to be done, i realised at home i don't bother so much, if i did I might get somewhere.

I sent a e-mail and found my cross stitch kit isn't being made anymore, i already included the full amount into my spends. so i can take this off, that makes it look a bit better.