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

bails

Haven't caught up with everything but some lovely caring posts to read which is wonderful! :T Hope you feel better soon to all those who are under the weather for whatever reason. I'll catch up properly in a bit but for now just wanted to say I'm back - had a lovely time with my best friend and we made real progress with her finances which is brilliant! I love that I can help her sort out her situation thanks to all the great skills I have learnt on this site, and she is dedicated to improving her situation so it's very constructive. I feel so excited knowing together we can sort out her situation and open her life up to lots more opportunities; how lovely to be able to help such an old friend :j As a completely unexpected bonus, she has given me a guitar and is going to teach me how to play, something I've wanted to do for a long time :T
Will chat more tomorrow, hope you all have a lovely Easter Sunday x
ps I love that your new hubby looks like fluffy chick SFT, that's hysterical! Care to do a comparison photo?

[Deleted User]

Morning everyone!
Don't know why I'm in such a good mood.... maybe cos we're going to MIL's for dinner and I KNOW she's bought me a BIG easter egg AND a big chocolate hare!

Michelle - Sorry to hear about car episode. Cars are a nightmare... a necessary evil here as well. I agree with what Cheryl and Lynn said - with taking photos and contacting local council. You have got nothing to lose.

Hope everyone has a good day and doesnt eat too much chocolate! :EasterBun:easter: xx

Buzzbox

cha97michelle, here is a website I used the report a hole in the pavement the other day... http://www.fixmystreet.com/ ! You can see if someone reported it on there. This website is advertised on DirectGov's website.

bails

Morning all, is everyone too busy munching chocolate to post? Happy Easter everyone! No eggs here (I may see if I can get myself one reduced next week ). Off out for a long walk with the dog and some friends soon, then hopefully meeting another friend later before OH gets back tonight :j Weather not as beautiful as yesterday but will still be lovely.
Ooh, I won a fiver on a scratchcard yesterday :T Most of my moneysaving efforts are currently going into dreaming about the extension I want to build next year - what I want and how I can finance it. Let's just say there's [STRIKE]obsessing[/STRIKE] a lot of focus on the utility part :rotfl:Anyone who's got one or wants one, what features do you think are really important to have? I'm going to make a Dream Book a la Nyk so I make sure it works really well and I don't think 'oh, I wish I'd put that in'....

Later on today I'm going to look into transferring the balance of my friend's credit card to 0% as she's currently on 24.9% :eek:- obviously I'll have a good look on here but if anyone knows the best deal off the top of their head I'd appreciate it, thanks.

Have a lovely day everyone x

savingfortravel

Michelle-You are such a lovely person and I really admire the way you look on the positive, even in trying situations. Hope you have a really lovely day today. Its just wonderful how all your financial management is paying off for your family's present/future.
Lynne-Can't wait to read how you got on at the Boot Sale. Is the money going towards anything special?


The weather is still looking grim. So DH and I have been on musicmagpie.co.uk to sell some of his dodgy complilation CDs (Now that's what I call music 1980 etc.) and he's earnt £27! Money is going towards a new TV for us (we are going to get a flat screen at long last and need £180 more to get it). My wedding dress (which I bought for £111) is at £40 and finishes on ebay at 6.15pm. If I get £50 I will be delighted.
Off to my mums later for Easter dinner and tea/my niece is also having a mini party. So should be a nice family day.
Enjoy your Easter everyone!
SFT

Bails-DH is going all shy about the comparison..I on the other hand think its a brilliant idea..Spot the difference competition.

Music Magie Money: Up to £47
Wedding Dress: £44

purplevamp

Happy Easter everyone :icotbaske:easter::easter_ba


cha97michelle - how awful! I agree with everyone as well about contacting the council. Buzzboz - did you have any luck when you reported your street?

bails - I think it's brilliant that you can use your skills picked up from MSE to help your friend, that's what this site is all about :T. Also I too have [STRIKE]an obsession[/STRIKE] a dream about utility rooms, well more the whole house with one attached...

I've got the chicken in the oven, the pots par-boiling, and hopefully in a couple of hours we'll have a lovely roast dinner! The children have loads of eggs and have started on them already! DH got one from me and he gave me one as well, so everyone's happy. My seeds are really taking off now, I think they're the tomatoes and carrots. But the chillis haven't even emerged, so may have to give up on them. I've got some pepper seeds to sow next week. Hopefully I'll have better luck with them.

Brighton_belle

Ooh, I like the music magpie idea: will explore my very small CD collection later and see if there is any likely candidates.
Off to try out my 'new' camera today:j. Thanks for all the support/lovely replies re my purchases and purchases to be. Very excited now about bike - will go and try some out this week. And if this works out, maybe it will be time to sell the older touring bike and recoup some cash.

No easter eggs here -I'm not a huge choclate fan but I may make OH a chocky cake later.

Enjoy your utility room focus bails: look forward to hearing about its progress as you make it happen:D.

Michelle - you are doing so well with two small children and juggling work & finances. I think life is just difficult sometimes and it's how we react to those difficults that makes life what it is: and you are really good at foucussing on the positives and knowing what really matters.
SM - I think your private little nook is a great idea. You give a lot to your oldies, but you definitely need to beable to claim a bit of space to yourselves to recharge your batteries.
Hope you are having a good time car booting SL: did DH make it...

lilac_lady

redglass wrote: »

lilac_lady wrote: »

I threw out all my old containers for dried goods and bought new ones - half price at Morrisons last week. I know it's not very MSE but when I open kitchen cupboards, there they are, all new and matching instead of 30 year old containers. How sad is that?

lilac_lady wrote: »

Lilac_Lady, I've bought loads of these too! In fact I bought a few more today. The old ones I had were all different shapes and sizes and jumbled higgledy-piggledy in the freezer,:mad: but these are solidly made and stack neatly, plus some of the little ones are exactly half the size of the big ones (again, good for freezer stacking). So they are more economical as regards space. I think they are a sensible purchase and we are clever girls.

The old containers were Tupperware. Still servicable (guilty blush) but looked very dull and depressing. I was in a spending mood so I did'nt do too badly buying £10 of new containers for £5. (tries to justify unnecessary spending).

As Redglass says, the new ones are so much handier for the freezer.

sophiesmum_2

Spent a lovely day in the garden wth OH doing bits and pieces and setting up the new garden furniture. The sun has been shining all day so we have made the most of it. Did some recycling with plants, pots,troughs and compost and did some rearranging to use stuff we already had so quite a good frugal day overall, and a no spend day which was welcome after yesterdays splurge.

Hope everyone has had a great day.

Buzzbox

purplevamp, I reported my problem. A week later Morrisons decided that they need to renew the victoria water mains..... arghhhh, digging up the whole road so I can not see if it has been done. FixMyStreet did send me a follow-up email yesterday to see if it has been resolved....