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

cw18

You'll probably find a bigger difference in your tax (for at least this month) due to the way PAYE works based on average earnings. The difference due to a drop in gross pay will become less apparent each month, and next tax year you would then be taxed consistently each month again (assuming your pay slip doesn't include overtime, bonuses or other taxable extras)


Second freezer is defrosted and 'catalogued'. I need 35 main meals to the end of July, and without batting an eyelid (and with only a casserole mix, fish fingers, sausages, mixed veg and chips added to my shopping list) I'm up to 27 already :rolleyes2 Should be a cheap grocery month for me in July - although DS turns 18 on 16th, and I'm thinking I ought to be paying for a celebratory meal out for it. However that means him, me, DD, both GDs and my parents at a minimum :eek: And I'm not sure whether that should come from my food budget or my 'anything else'

sophiesmum_2

Good morning frunchkins:D

Not a lot to report here, totally fed up as garage have lost my car's paperwork and can't release the car so looking like no work will be done at cottage this weekend - although I live in hope of a last minute reprieve:rolleyes:

Last night ws jam making as I turned the rhubarb and bargain plums into 9 jars of jam. 8 for my stores and a big one for Nyk as a thankyou for keeping my seedlings watered this week:D


Going to do more with the blackcurrants and gooseberries later.
Recycling is continuing with the oldies collecting lots of newspapers, jam jars, toilet roll inners, and foil for me.The garden is doing well with lots of veggies flourishing and everything looking very green, tomatoes are at the flowering stage and I had to tie them all up yesterday as they had grown lots the past few weeks.

Hope you all have a great weekend xxx

cw18

What a bummer about the car :mad: Guess you'll just have to continue getting stuff ready for the actual move instead

When do you actually move there full time? I know you said you were waiting for your DDs college course to finish, but my DS broke up a week ago so I'm guessing it can't be long now

sophiesmum_2

cw -It's a bit up in the air at the moment as we are also dealing with my dad in the last stages of widespread secondary cancer - lymph, lung, liver, bowel, and bones so things may take a while. In the meantime we are there as much as possible preparing stuff and getting the garden going whilst my brothers do their bit here. Another reason I haven't been posting much -as after work and dealing with that I am just about spent and it isn't something you really want to discuss:o No need to tell you how difficult it is though.xx

Brighton_belle

LS - I get your reasoning in wanting to pay off your mtg 1st before thinking about pensions more, but I thought I ought to point out that the later you up your pension contributions, the less you'll have at the end IYSWIM. Pension contributions have a snow ball effect and the earlier you start the better.(I work for an IFA and have at least picked this up).

SFT - sorry I didn't get back to you re wild flowers - been laid low for 2 days with tummy bug. I think you have probably left now so too late...

cw - I think sm's dd has another year to go

EDIT - missed your post SM - sending love and hugs; not suprised you haven't the spare energy to post as much.xx

cw18

((hugs))

Have to confess that when your move first got mentioned I did wonder about your Dad (and whether I'd missed something).

So for now you've got a 'holiday home' of your very own (even if it is rented you still have exclusive use of it) - lucky you

cw18

Brighton_belle wrote: »

LS - I get your reasoning in wanting to pay off your mtg 1st before thinking about pensions more, but I thought I ought to point out that the later you up your pension contributions, the less you'll have at the end IYSWIM. Pension contributions have a snow ball effect and the earlier you start the better.(I work for an IFA and have at least picked this up).

I second this. Plus now's probably actually the best time to be throwing money at a money purchase scheme. Whilst people who've been in one for a while are seeing the value bottom, if you're actually paying in now you'll get a lot of shares for your money.

[strike]If[/strike] When the market recovers the value will suddenly shoot up, and at least if the market bottoms again you won't lose out like those who've only bought when prices have been high.

slowlyfading

Just a quick message to say sorry i havent posted but yesterday I badly burnt my right hand on a plate which was sat on the side which i picked up but which had just been taken out of the oven which i didn't know so its full of blisters, bandaged up and is very uncomfortable. no piano playing for me for a while i'll do a proper update in a day or so when hopefully I'll be able to move my hand a bit more.

Sending love and (((HUGS))) to everyone

sf xx

cw18

((hugs)) SF - sounds nasty :eek:

Frugaldom

Hope your hand heals soon, SF. Also meant to ask how your arm was doing, SL?

SM - Yum! Thank you for including us in the jam making stakes - will pass on message to H, as he's the big jam-muncher in this house Don't worry about the garden, I treat it like an extension of my own - but don't tell the new tenants. I promise not to eat your veggies if they grows too quickly. :rotfl:

All these 'S' names, someone correct me if I mix up any - SFT, during our evening forest walks we've been taking pictures of the wild plants - we have some beautiful wild orchids flowering at the moment in various shades of lilac, violet, purple. Their speckled leaves make them very pretty.

I never thought to try these forums this morning, as I thought they were read only. Seems they must have completed whatever work much earlier, jusding by the times of posts.

Janey sends a 'hello' to everyone and will try her best to get posting again soon. Things are really tough for her at the moment and some overseas therapy has been booked to see if this can help aleviate some of the problems. Spare a few positive thoughts her way whenever you can.

I sun burned the backs of both shoulders yesterday, as I was gardening almost all day and right through until 9.30pm then still went out for the evening walk. No light pollution here, so it's light until gone 11 and still doesn't get that pitch dark when there are clear skies. Great for forgetting the time, not so great for remembering to go to bed early enough for being woken before 6am, though. :rotfl: Poor chickens didn't get out until gone 7 this morning. Oops!

Off a-watering the shady parts of garden again, It is intensely warm here. Factor 50 and baseball cap at the ready. Have a good day, everyone.