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

slowlyfading

congratulations sophiesmum, that's great news xx

cw18

lyndasharp wrote: »

I just paid our first water bill - it's working out at just under £5 a week. How does that compare to everyone elses?

Currently on £25 a calendar month - but I was slightly in debt with them when I got my last bill but one, so phoned to increase it from £21.80 to £25 then. They were going to leave it until the 'annual review', which was my latest bill, but I was worried I'd be even further in debt and see an even steeper increase then. My doing that - plus a drop in use due to now being a person down in the household - actually proved enough to not get a further increase which I was really pleased about

looby-loo_2

£25 for water seems a bargain to me. Mine is £84 x 8 months. I keep wondering if I should have meter but then worry we would probably have a dry summer and I do need to water my alottment as the soil is so sandy and dry. I have 5 wter butts but they don't last long.

Nyk - do you buy special eggs for hatching, where do you get them from?

Frugal plans for the weekend:-
eat from the freezer
list kittens on gumtree (to cover cost of having mum speyed)
pick rhubarb, preserve but not sure how yet
plant more veg
take 3 bags to charity shop
make and freeze spag bog and portion into freezer

Can anyone suggest flower seeds I could plant now which would be ready to pick by about 14th July? Or alternatively, plug plants or similar which I could plant which would be ready.
I usually grow sweet williams but I didn't plant them last year so I hardly have any.
I need enough for 11 bunches of flowers to give as an extra leaving present. It has become a bit of a tradition so all the leavers are [STRIKE]expecting[/STRIKE] looking forward to them.

tryingtodobetter

lyndasharp wrote: »

I just paid our first water bill - it's working out at just under £5 a week. How does that compare to everyone elses?

That is sooooooooooo cheap I pay just under £62 a month for 12 months I think it's about £730 ish per year :mad::mad::mad:

On a positive note I won £5 on free scratchcard today :T:T and I only have 2 more assignments to do until the end of my Degree:j:j

Hope everyone is well

TTDB

Skint_Lynne

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

BB thats lovely i am really enjioying the Kirstie Alsopp programme and would love to do stained glass and pottery


and also you cannot move next to nyk as i am next in line...lol

re georaphy i am relatively in the middle of the country but my BIL lives in w sussex and insists we "live up north in a country yokel voice"

Just got me thinking of all the lovely places in this country why do people want to go abroad we are having a frugal weekend in the peak disrict with pack up and walking and twitching i would hate to be laid out on a beach somewhere


Shaz

edited in got a great deal in mr a on cheese lake district extra mature and other varieties 400g packs 2 for £3 (or £2.89 each)i got 12 packs and may go back for more as all got long dates thats only 3.75kg

I looked at that cheese Shaz, is it strong, because I don't like mild stuff, it tastes like plastic, the stronger the better.:D One of my sisters said that I have tastebuds like an old man, cause everything has to be strong, like cheese and coffee.

Frugaldom

Hi fruguys and gals

BB, love the mosaic, I was just downloading photos of friend's horse named 'The Jester', as I read through this thread and saw your photo!

Looby - I have a lovely friend who keeps sending me home with hens and bucket loads of eggs, both hen and duck, but believe it or not, I have bought the purebreeds via eBay LOL Just search for 'hatching eggs' and you will be goggle-eyed at just how many different types there are available. You can buy a dozen eggs and get them delivered for less than it costs to buy one single hen. That's why mine are frugalchicks

Pips Mum, thank you for the tip about Sony! :T I hadn't even thought of complaining directly to them about it. It's on my 'to do' list now. Hope Pip's doing well, what weight is he now? I wonder what weight daisy is now, too?

My 'babies' are gaining weight at an alarming rate LOL Captain Beaky hatched out weighing 50g five weeks ago, but now weighs 610g He/she's putting on twice its 'birth' weight per week now! :rotfl:Imagine in human babies did that? :eek:

I live so far south in Scotland that it's classed by some as 'redneck country' :rotfl:but I'm up north from everyone in England. I refer to 'up north' as anything north of Aberdeenshire, 'cos I lived there and never thought of it as being 'up north'. However, when I worked in East Anglia, I always laughed at how anyone from the south called Manchester, Birmingham etc 'up north' and I can't repeat what was said of those as far north as Yorkshire. North of the border was just a bunch of mean foreigners, apparently. :rolleyes: Funnier still, when I was on Shapinsay, 'over on the mainland' meant Orkney! :rotfl:

cha97michelle

Happy 1st of May everyone. I haven't managed to work out my figures for last month yet as i have lost the plot a bit with recording things with being back at work. I need to pin DH down for a couple of spends he made and then get it sorted over the weekend.

sophiesmum i am so happy for you. When would the move take place?

brighton belle the mosaic is lovely, really fun and colourful. I like the unusualness of it. Where do you get your ideas from?



This weekend is going to be a busy one. I have already had a bit of a week.

• I managed to reverse my car into a wire fence at work today and scratch it - luckily not too severe
• child tax credits wrote to us, and have made a total hash of what we were paid in each year, but i reckon they owe us about 4-5000 for our income last year. Shocking really that i have been so stressed about cash while off work and i didn't get the help when we needed it.
• also found out today that my friend at work's cancer has come back and she needs treatment for it. Fingers crossed it is easy to beat for her as she is the most lovely caring person i know.

I've also had a weird thing going on with my vision, i keep getting white floaty bits appearing. I think that is tiredness though, and wearing my new glasses all day today seemed to help although i only should wear them for close up stuff.

It's likely to be an expensive weekend but for a good cause - DS2's 1st birthday party. We decided to have a BBQ. Not too bad, but it cost £160 to buy a BBQ and gas, and then we are catering for 19 adults plus 7 kids. Plenty of jacket spuds me thinks and a trip to costco for meat/breadbuns/cake/booze and whatever else we think of.

We are looking forward to a big party with our family as they have been so good to us while the kids have been so young and it will be lovely to get them all together. The ILs are stopping over for it, and we are all going on a day trip instead of them buying DS a present as we thought memories are better than plastic, and also less likely to trip me up/cause a big mess.

So i am going to also have to slog my guts out to get myself organised for work on wednesday as i will not get much time once sat/sun is gone.

Have a good weekend everyone, and i really hope nyk is right about the good weather.

Michelle x

enjoyfinancialchallenges

Its simple really, 'Ooop north' is any part of the UK that is north of Watford.

savingfortravel

Hi Everyone!
Well woke up this morning feeling delicate after too much wine last night but am slowly getting myself organised.
SM's started a bank holiday thread ? on the DFW board. Everyone lists DF intentions for BH. What an excellent idea. So I've made a list there including starting to pack.
Yesterday I found out we will be moving on the 21st May. :eek:
My main worry concerning this is that we still haven't had our structural survey done. Got messed around by company so Mr SFT (who is normally a very gentle person) gave them hell and now we are priority. I am not sure what that means but I am not signing a contract until it is done.
So my feelings of excitement are still surpressed by worries that this move, if the survey reveals serious worries, might not happen.

Nyk-Please can you forgive me for not posting my 4k accounts. Truthfully I've been so distracted that I had let things drift although I need this thread to keep us on the straight and narrow. Could I rejoin after move for the remainder of year? I still plan to post regularly...Thanks

SFT


Does anyone know what I can do with a cheap old mobile phone. Thanks

lingojingo

tryingtodobetter wrote: »

That is sooooooooooo cheap I pay just under £62 a month for 12 months I think it's about £730 ish per year :mad::mad::mad:

OMG that's huge :eek:

I pay just over £39 for 8 months, so about £313 for the year!
that's about £6 a week, so Lyndasharpe's seems spot on to me

SFT - fingers crossed for the survey - if it all goes well I'll raise a glass to you as you move, it's DS's 21st on the 22nd!