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

taka

Blairweech wrote: »

Here is a conundrum - why are my interest payments going UP when my overdraft is going DOWN? It has not been about £200 since last month, yet I paid £8.75 interest? Whereas if it was at £750 (where it usually would be just before payday) I would only be paying £5?????

Did they change the interest rate or fees/charges structure? Does this relate to last month's interest (I think they need to give 28days warning for fees/charges etc??)

One of my work friends has left work today for the last time. She is now officially unemployed. Pooh...

A sizable chunk on my work for the past couple of years (or work supervising students) has quite possibly been scooped by our competitors. :mad: We are trying to get a paper together ASAP to limit the damage but who knows if it will work. To top it all off I seem to be being ignored by my boss concerning assisting in the writing the work up. So much for our chat a couple of weeks ago about this sort of thing. :mad: Oh yes and the senior postdoc in our group talked to me for the 1st time in weeks about something work related - Joy - I get to label his f***ing tubes/slides while he !!!!!!ed off to have another extended coffee break :mad: !!!!!!????

Not... a... good... day...

Anyone got a spare rock I can hide under?? Roll on next week - we have 2 random days Uni holidays (Mon and Tues )...

*off to perform voodoo stylee torture of the nearest stress toy then do some calming breathing exercises...* :rotfl:

enjoyfinancialchallenges

Oh dear taka today definately doesnt seem a good day, maybe you need to be the first to go up to nykmedias garage for a spot of tlc. I'm not sure she will have a spare rock for you but maybe a mountain will be an alternative?

Keep strong frugal mate the day will soon be over!

Frugaldom

Hi all,

Taka, take deep breaths, think of a future in a Frugaldom haven with nothing better to do than tie down everything that moves, chase chickens, scare hares and attempt to grow food on a scrap of land that you have to call your garden - if that doesn't work, then try the voodoothingumyjiggerypokery Hope you have abetter day tomorrow and can get through to the holiday with sanity intact.

Blairweech, my chickens all have little houses inside runs, so I started them off shut in their house then just give them access to the run for a day or so. I only ever feed them in the runs so, once they get let out, they know where bed and food are and automatically return towards sunset. They do come and beg for food when we're sitting out on the step having coffee, though! Mr White is especially good at that, he'd even pinch a biscuit or bite of a sandwich if it was available. :rolleyes:

savingfortravel

PV-Love your anniversary ideas. Hope you had a lovely day.
BB-Well done on getting started with your 101 list.
Taka-You poor thing!!

Our news-Well the survey was completed today and there are no major problems with the cottage. Yipee! :jSo relieved.
Now Mr SFT has got to check with mortgage company/solicitors/estate agents that we are still on track to move next Thursday. OMG!! Have organised a day off school for it so keep your fingers crossed for us.

Take care all and keep up good work.

Promise to post photo of our little cottage once/when we've moved in.

SFT

Skint_Lynne

Hi everyone,

I'm still alive and kicking, albeit with a sore arm -ouch!!! I was at the doctors again today and the nurse said that I will need to go for at least another 4 weeks.:rolleyes:

Not to worry, it could have been worse. I'm still counting my spends, but i've decided to start properly again from 1st July to make it an even 6 months, so I'm back in training just now.

I didn't get to my night out on Sunday, as I suspected, DH was too hung over to go out, so I gave the tickets to my brother, he said that it was fantastic. We went to Asda tonight and met my brother and his girlfriend in there, so they told DH in person what he had missed out on, so he felt quite bad, again.:D

I didn't speak to him on Sunday night cause I was so angry, he said that he will make it up to me, so we'll see what happens.

I've been doing well with my using up the contents of my freezer, I had a lot of meals ready, so I'll empty it out and start from scratch again. It is so convenient just bringing something out to heat up and the best thing is that it is not a dodgy ready meal, I would recommend batch cooking to anyone, just don't set your blouse on fire when you are heating your dinner up.:o

Speak soon, xx

Frugaldom

Good morning

SF that is fanntastic news about your cottage! You must be so relieved and excited knowing you'll be living your dream in just over a week's time! Will you be having some chickens?

SL, sorry you didn't make it to the concert, I hope your bro made DH feel REALLY guilty about it. (Am I wicked, or what? )

It's a bit calmer here today but it's also damp and drizzly. I might 'play' in the kitchen once work's up to date, that way I can watch what's happening out back with chickens & lambs. Much better than the view from kitchen in our last house (a wall), that's for sure!

Have a good day, everyone. Lynne, take care of yourself and I hope the arm mends soon. Then you'll can pay us all a visit in Frugaldom this summer

taka

* rant alert... feel free to skip to the smiley face paragraphs*

Well yesterday got better and better... I finally got my hands on the latest version of the paper and the aforementioned postdoc (shortened to PD) has somehow become 1st joint author along with PhD student 1! :mad: Normally the person (or people ) who does a significant amount of the research work towards it / person still working on this project in the lab would be the person to write the work up and be 1st Author. The research in the paper was carried out by Honours students 1 + 2, PhD student 1 and myself...not PD, in fact he was not even working in our group at the time 70% of the work was done. He did, however, assist PhD student 1 in the writing (including copying and pasting bits of Hons student 1 's thesis along with its glaring, multitude of mistakes and an upside down figure :rotfl:) :mad:. I was ready to blow my stack yesterday... I think it was rather fortune that my boss left when he did! :rolleyes:

Fast forwards to today... I went through my comments, thoughts, and the corrections needing to be done with my boss this morning and gave him a version of the figure the right way up! :rotfl:

I even managed to discuss the 1st authorship, calmly, without crying (a 1st for me ), succinctly pointing out why I didn't "understand the criteria that had been used" to decide who would be listed as joint first author. My boss's response was PD "coordinated" the project and writing and it was important to those listed as 1st author that they get 1st authorship to aid their career - at which point I (politely ) pointed out that PD was not a member of the group when most of the work was done, I (with my bosses help and support ) did or supervised the honours students for 3/4 of the experimental results shown in the paper and that it was important to everyone to get 1st author papers!

My boss has now agreed to me being listed as a 1st equal author (there are 3 of us now :rolleyes: and I've not seen the corrected author list yet :rolleyes:) . :j I am so proud of myself - 6 months ago I would have gone and cried in a corner and said nothing. :T I will not allow myself to be walked all over again. :T I just hope the paper actually gets accepted after all this! :eek: :rotfl:

Unfortunately emergency junkfood/choc last night may just have nudged me over my Grocery budget for the month... :rolleyes:

SFT - :T Yeahhhhhhh! Finally! I hope it is still go on operation move on Thursday. :j

SL - ((((hugs))))

BB - the open art houses thing sounds good! Lots of time to make lots more stunning mosaics :T which will hopefully make you some profit (or at least be cost neutral)! :T

Frugaldom

Well done on standing up for yourself, Taka, that's real progress, by the sounds of it. I think once you manage to take control of the little things in life that the big things look less daunting when we're faced with a challenge. I reckon nudging the grocery budget slightly over was well worth it and can be neutralised further down the line. Afterall, we still have another 231 days of 2009 left - LOADS can happen in that time, especially when you conside just how much has happened within the group over the past few months. I reckon you deserve a pat on the back for standing your ground and remaining calm in the face of adversity. :beer:

Just finished cleaning out the mucky duckys, topping up feeders and collecting more eggs. I'm thinking that we really need to start eating more eggs as part of a main meal rather than just on toast or in baking. I've also done a page on my website for listing items I have available for sale through out LETS group and will, hopefully, soon have some offers of exchange; it would be really handy being able to get a nice piece of lamb/pork/beef now and again or some cheese, as we eat loads of that.

It was so chilly and damp this morning that I had to light the fire again. This is not a very frugal exercise as the log pile is going down and down, plus I have used about half my coal. It'll now cost me around £75 to replace all the extra fuel I've used. :mad:

cw18

taka - I'm in total agreement with Nyk on this one. Well done on standing up for yourself :T And blow the splurge on the emergency 'groceries' this time

Skint_Lynne

Good for you Taka,

There are too many people around who take the credit for other people's hard work. I am proud that you 'exposed' their laziness and stood up for yourself. I think that you are :cool:.

I've been good today, have spent the grand total of 37p on a baguette from Mr M to go along with dinner.

Will check in later. xx