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

sophiesmum_2

BB with the lavender if you cut it right down to a few inches at the end of each year it stays lovely and healthy and still bushes up with the new growth.

bails

Hi all, back up for now at least! Will try catching up with posts, hope you've all had a great weekend.

Your new garden space is looking good SM
What DID you buy SF?
Hope you feel better soon Purplevamp, and that you had fun!
Hope the work isn't too painful Andromache.
Well done on digging up the lavender BB, great achievement! And thanks for the advice on lavender SM, just bought two (less than half price ) last weekend so good to know. Oh, I so can't wait to get my garden sorted!

I have to confess to erm , being a little bored today The only things I can think of I want to do all involve lots of exercise...and I'm trying to be sensible Went for a walk/ run, a swim and another dog walk yesterday so meant to be a quieter day Almost time for another dog walk though :j I was meant to be decluttering in my parents garage but can't get hold of the neighbours with the key :rolleyes: (really must get myself another one).
Hope you're all having fun in the sun; clouding over here now but washing still out on the line Hope the forums stay up now.
Oh, spent yesterday helping my best friend from school with her finances. She was at the bury her head in the sand stage but now we're facing it together she already feels much better :T She's asked for an Action Plan for this week which I've emailed her and then I'm going down to see her on Thursday for Stage 2.
Other frugal news I forgot to mention: I didn't manage to find any tennis balls in a charity shop so ended up hiring them for a £1. While we played though we found 4 brand new (really, like hit once) balls :T I love people who are' too posh to pick up' :rotfl:I also found a good source for cheap free range eggs - I get to watch the ducks and chickens on my walks
Itching to know where we're going travelling now so we can start planning - I need to do something with all this energy :j:rotfl::j

Brighton_belle

sophiesmum wrote: »

BB with the lavender if you cut it right down to a few inches at the end of each year it stays lovely and healthy and still bushes up with the new growth.

Thanks SM - I had always understood lavenders didn't do 'regrowth' so there was no point in pruning.Obviously not the case so very helopful advice. My tiny front garden is paving except for this one bit where the lavender grew in soil (all like this when I bought the house) I have visciously pruned thinking I would have to start over with a new plant in a pot. Perhaps I shall leave the remains and see what happens and just plant a new one in a pot beside it: the lavender is always popular with passers by which has been part of my reluctance to get rid, but it had fallen over with its own weight and was very woody.


How the decluttering coming along bails? EDIT: Just seen your post.

Have you noticed we have lost our 'thanks quote - i.e. we no longer know how many times people have been thanked.

savingfortravel

Hi Everyone!!
Wow we are onto our 2nd part..Caught up a little whilst on honeymoon-local library near Lands End had Internet but it wasn't the same as I couldn't post or thank anyone. So will re-read everything later.

The Wedding: Was just perfect, loved wearing my monsoon (via ebay) dress and OH looked lovely in a dark blue open necked shirt. The drawing room of the country house was stunning, very light yet intimate for our party of 16. Everyone loved the music (although Mum didn't like the Proclaimers 500 miles at the end which we bounced out to)
Then off to the best restaurant in our area for their lunch menu (which was so reasonable and even the pro chefs in our party were just raving about the food) and the bill with a generous tip came to under £600. By spending in the right areas (venue and food) we had our perfect day.
OH was very naughty when he told me we were staying in a little hotel..it turned out to be a suite in a 5 star Spa with 2 milchelin (sp) stars!!. Yet it didn't feel snobby (sometimes those kind of places can be..in my limited experience).When they saw us in our wedding attire they sent up complementary champagne. The chocolates were hand made by the restaurant and the toiletries (yes I do get excited by such things) smelt beautiful (and the remainder taken with me). The next morning the breakfast in our room was stunning.
We were back down to reality the next day on our frugal honeymoon-tesco vouchers helped pay for part of our accomodiation. We used M and S vouchers from Christmas to pay for alot of our SC food. And we spend whole days walking along the coastal paths (which is of course free). The weather was as good as summer and we drank wine as we watched the sun sets together.

The House: On one of our walks (around the Lizard Pennisula (sp)) OH's mobile rings..we had an offer on our house! A cash buyer who wants to move over the next month. Although lower than we wanted the prospect of such a short chain gave us the power to put in a sneaky offer in on our dream cottage (20k) less which they accepted! Of the 2 houses on our short list this was the more expensive but costs roughly what we are getting for our bungalow so our mortgage will remain the same from the sale.
OMG I just can't believe all this has happened. Still holding back a little because things can/do go wrong. Told my parents. Mum just beamed. Dad (who doesn't like to rush into anything) was not positive but said we've got to do what makes us happy. Exactly.
So the country here we come and I'll be asking Nyk and others for lots of advice. We have quite a large area of agricultural land at the back (which backs onto fields) which I think we could keep chickens on. Is that correct?
Hope you are all ok and I'm off to unpack between catching up on posts.
Hugs all round.
SFT

bails

Oh SFT, your wedding and honeymoon sounds beautiful, had a tear in my eye! And what a fantastic wedding present to get your dream house!! :T:j Isn't life wonderful?! xx

Brighton_belle

All sounds fantastic SFT - the perfect simple wedding day and now the house move coming together:j:j.

taka

Awwwww!! Your wedding sounded fabulous SFT and you seem really happy! Congratulations on the dream house front too - what a lovely wedding pressie! :T :j

Blairweech

SFT - Oh my goodness, how exciting! I am so pleased for you!

Sophies Mum - Concrete corner is coming along nicely, thanks for the update

Andromache - What a lovely idea for a present

Bails - So glad to hear things are going well for you. I love posts like that, reminds me of all the simple pleasure in life (aren't they just the best?)


Okay, in my news...I have a new beau (one month on Wednesday, actually, but did not want to get excited too soon )

In frugal news I am failing badly. I have switched over to a cash budget, taking out as much as I need for the month for each category (apart from DD's obviously). The grocery budget is pretty much blown already, I have spent almost £70 out of £80 :mad:. This has included 2 days worth of lunch at work, plus a big months shop from Mr T, plus dinner out last night. However, I forgot loads of stuff from the month shop, so will have to go shopping again :rolleyes: Will leave it as long as I can though.

I am currently overspending by about £100 a month. So annoyed.

Brighton_belle

Blairweech wrote: »

I am currently overspending by about £100 a month. So annoyed.

this is quite a big regular overspend BW - would it be helpful to re evaluate your budget and increase it? Obviously I don't know if you have debts that you need to address or you ar 'just' try to minimise spending where you can to focus on saving for specific projects. If the latter, perhaps if you re jigged your budget and allowed yourself more, then you wouldn't feel this constant failure. And you could learn to gradually reduce your budget again at your own pace back down to 4k?
Good news on the new beau:smileyhea

Skint_Lynne

Hi everyone,

I'm glad we are back online. I've had a really busy week, I was working in my job yesterday and done the first car boot of the year today - I got £120 which I will offset from my present budget.

The wedding sounds as if it was great SFT, I'm glad all went to plan.

Sophiesmum, your alleyway looks good already, I can't wait until it is all in 'bloom'. I just don't have time for growing anything this year because of these 2 jobs.:(

The girls didn't manage out with me on Thursday or Friday as they are in the shop, they are off on a Wednesday, so they can come along then. It's good company if you are travelling a long way.

This week, it is Dumfries, Perth, Stirling and Oban. I am certainly getting about!! I am just hoping that the time passes fast so that I can move on to something with better wages.;)

I'm going to get dressed now (just out of the bath after coming back from the dusty and dirty car boot), and I am going for my dinner. DH is not back yet, it will be tomorrow now, but that just gives me a wee bit more time to myself.:D

Will check in later. xx

P.S. I don't see anything different, do any of you notice anything?