Live on £4,000 for a year - 2009, Part 3

Frugaldom

Hello all, especially Bails and SFT from your far-flung places, it's great that you can keep us up to date from almost anywhere in the world. Many thanks for sharing your travel experiences with us, it's greatly appreciated by us non-travellers. It's like being on virtual holiday.

SM, glad you got some of the pantry done, they are such great spaces for all sorts of stuff and you've done exactly the same as I did - I think I posted about my experience with the expandable foam a few months back. :rotfl: Then it got changed to a brooding room for chicks and right now it's like a janitor's cupboard with the addition of the spare logs that are being used for my fuel costs experiments. It'll return to a pantry for winter when it'll be cooler in there. (Mine gets warm because of the window in the back door.)

Going out for our evening walk as soon as the tractors finish carting in the silage bales. Looks like the cattle-moving has finished for the day, so no risk of being stuck in the lane with a bull and herd of cows coming straight at us - I'd panic and end up falling down a ditch or get myself tangled in barbed wire or brambles if that happened. :eek::rotfl:

Catch up with everyone again later

SFT_2

Hi Everyone!

More good news from home. Mr SFT's parents have put some roof insulation in for us as a present. Really pleased. Apparently the roof looks really good now. What a relief.

Hi Bails-So glad you got to Katmandu ok. Can't wait to read all your news.

Day 15
We explored a little more of Granada today. Treated ourselves to homemade lemonade in a little internet cafe. Now I'm not prudish but still couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted an American tourist sufing the internet for !!!!!!.
Later that day we went on a boat ride around the Las Isletes, a large group of volcanic islands in Lake Nicaragua. Saw fantastic birdlife including Neotropic Comorants diving for fish. Also a Bare throated Tiger Heron, Green Heron, Black-Crowned Night-Heron, Yellow-Crowned Night-Heron perching on posts and in trees. A Turkey Vulture glided menacingly in the sky. Northern Jacanas jumped across lilly pads. Mangrove swallows darted close by. On a telephone wire we saw a Ringed Kingfisher and a Belted Kingfisher. Boat-Billed Flycatchers soared up into the sky to feast on flies. A white-throated Magpie Jay sat at the top of a tree. We spotted the amazing nest built by the Montezuma Oropendula and then the bird itself. To finish off I saw a Turquoise-Browed Motmot-a beautiful bird and the nation bird of Nicaragua! On one island were a group of curious Central American Squirrel Monkeys and White faced Capuchins.
The city is getting ready for the bull festival today (where male volunteers get chased by the animals around the square). Sadly we have to leave tomorrow morning as we would to have loved to have seen this. The atmosphere the evening before was electric. The streets were alive with people. Street permormers everyway. We ate in the open air although my dinner was horrible! We visited a venue for live salsa music but Mr SFT got violent diahorrea just before the band began! Poor thing.

Day 16
We left Granada today and travelled to the Capital Managua. A strange place, destroyed by the earthquake in 1972. Infact Nicaragua is prone to volcanic erruptions, earthquakes, mudslides and hurricanes! We saw the old cathedral and independence square, surrounded by billboards showing the leaders of the revolution. We left Managua and travelled to the old colonial city of Leon. We saw the cathedral, the biggest in Central America, the old ruins and univeristy. Children were out playing football and a game which reminded me of a whip and top.
Tonight we are eating at the best restaurant in Leon. Hope its ok.

Tomorrow we are leaving Leon at 5am! We are heading to the only open border of Honduras ( I'm not sure if you have received reports of the recent military coup there, we weren't even sure if it was safe to go). We will head to the capital's airport and fly out to Roatan the biggest of the Bay Islands. If you google it you will see why we are determined to get there.

Hope everyone is well. Not saved any more towards MS grocery budget but still pleased with our total so far.

Take Care

SFT

tryingtodobetter

Morning Everyone

Haven't been on here much as there has been a lot going on here. It looks lke we are going to have to move due to these problems (neighbour causing problems and doing things I don't want my children to witness) I'm going to get the details on a rental property later today. When we do move it will really mess up our future plans for owning our own home outright, but I have come to the conclusion that money and property are not that important in the grand scheme of things.

When we do move I will need to post a revised budget and let you all look over it, as it will really affect our outgoings.

Really feeling down about the whole situation and wish that we had more options :mad::mad::mad:

TTDB

andromache_2

Hi all! I haven't posted on here in ages but I have been reading and keeping up with what's going on. Seems like everyone is really busy and getting lots of interesting things done this summer Especially exciting to hear from bails and SFT on their travels! They both sound like amazing trips. I'm going to join my parents on holiday this week, but in England, so not quite so exciting :rotfl: Should be nice to spend some time with the folks, though. I have a couple of trips abroad planned for September too (one with the OH, which I'm really looking forward to ).

I've been really bad about writing down my spends I need to sit down sometime with online banking and sort it out. Suffice to say that I don't have nearly as much left as my sig says I do! I've earned about £700 more this summer than I had thought I would, though, so it's going OK overall. I've now finished my summer placements so until uni starts again I am master of my time, though I still have quite a lot to get done in preparation for next year so I won't be lazing around unfortunately!

£4K love to all :happyhear

PS Well done for taking the decision to move, TTDB; you're doing the best thing for your family and that's what's important. Good luck

Frugaldom

Good morning,

SFT, Roatan Bay Island looks fanbulous! I just G00gled itand one site says, "Approximately 96% of all species of Caribbean marine life, have been observed in the waters neighboring Roatan", so that sounds tropical enough for me. It's hard to imagine trouble anywhere near places like that. Ooh! You need to go to the West End and ride on the glass bottom boat and go in the mini-submarine. I'm reading this site about it all and it says there are 2-for-1 offers on stuff!

TTDB, sorry to hear that you'll need to move house, it's such an upheaval. With such bad neighbours, it's probably for the best. Apart from anything else, you wouldn't want to own property outright if it had such awful neighbours. Renting is fine and much easier to move on in such situations. I hope you like the property you're going to view and that you get things sorted soon. Budget will stretch if it has to, just try to avoid debts that could have longterm, lasting effects and feed everyone on beans & toast for a while if you have to cut corners. Good luck with the viewing.

Andromache, looks like you'll be doing OK judging by the extra income and holidays. Just think longterm and how every penny saved now will help in the future when you'll be out there earning a fortune and never needing to worry about debt, even if the fortune takes a bit of time to amass. It's all good practice and you should be making the most of life and living. Our hindsight can be your foresight - have fun and prosper.

Herewegoagain

nykmedia wrote: »

Very quiet in here today, so I'll just chat away to myself. Hope everyone is alright.

The attempt at stockpiling frugal tinned fruit for 'get fitter not fatter' challenge has fallen at the first hurdle. We went into town only to discover that nowhere sells cheap tins of fruit! Even the brand new (rubbish) $a!nsbury's was short on selection in that department. I picked up a few cans of peach slices, as it was the only affordable 'Basics' tinned fruit item on the shelf. I'd probably have been cheaper buying a load of Ald!'s fresh Mangos for 29p each. Sigh.... I guess I'll need to just half my portion sizes and fail on the fruit eating part. MOST annoying!

The supermarkets are a pain arn't they either have too much to tempt you or nothing that's on your list.:mad: Can't you get the cheap fresh fruit from Ald!'s and freeze as sorbett/blizt drinks/puddings (with no added cals you have to use your imagination here, and I've heard that yours is good ):cool: instead of the tinned fruit.

Just a thought hon

HWGA xx

shaz_mum_of__2

Look what happens when you go away for a week !!

Justabout caught up with thread (wish the washing was as easy)

AEB i just want to give you a big hug:grouphug:

Cw have you heard of a turbo sim? its a special holder you put a new sim in that tricks your phone into thinking it has its network sim in avoiding the need for unlocking.....................i haven't got one but am considering one as my M0to0la v3 phone is apparently unlockable and i want to switch networks

SFT loving the updates (I am a twitcher so especially exciting to hear about all the birds)

Grandma i am so excited for you looking forward to hearing your exploits

SM loving the pantry..... off shopping today to fill some gaps in mine also

edited in later £land have sticky back lino tiles that may do for your floor

Nyk does no-one on the lets gorup have fruit?Approved food have the tropical fruit in cartons 2 for a £1 i noticed but i understand what you mean about delivery and choice luckily we have several market stalls that sell their stuff so i just buy what appeals rather than enough to make it worthwhile

also forgot who asked but they sell swing top bottles here http://www.homebrewcentregy.com/botcapcapper.html

however i did make flavoured stuff last year and bottled in wine vinegar bottles with corks then added a shrink wrap wine "foil" top and they looked nice the grolsch bottles with the special tops are available if you buy individually at a shop but the multipack slabs have caps on the bottle with beer at our @sd@ is £1.59 so almost the same as buying new bottles

thank you to whover posted the Pattersons glass link thats just rouind the corner from me and i din't know it was there!!

Shaz

Ps SKint lynne guess where i live............................Sunny scunny (well just outside..):rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

lyndasharp

Carport plans have been delayed due to the company still not delivering part of the roof... they didn't even apologise when I sent them a message, just said 'we have dispatched your order in two parts'. Personally I'd have preferred a 'sorry we made a mistake' email. Shaz - could you throw something across the Humber Bridge at them if the missing parts don't arrive? :rotfl: We have at least got the wooden frame painted a very nice shade of green, and the water butt is all connected up.

Good news is I sold our pond yesterday (emptied of water and frogs), bad news is we're going to put a greenhouse there instead so more expense... but I'm not getting it this month, I have £120 left in my budget to eat, pay bills etc for the rest of August. I'm going to have a mini challenge to se if I can manage to keep within budget, though if a gas / electric bill arrives I don't think I will! :eek:

Herewegoagain

tryingtodobetter wrote: »

Morning Everyone

Haven't been on here much as there has been a lot going on here. It looks lke we are going to have to move due to these problems (neighbour causing problems and doing things I don't want my children to witness) I'm going to get the details on a rental property later today. When we do move it will really mess up our future plans for owning our own home outright, but I have come to the conclusion that money and property are not that important in the grand scheme of things.

When we do move I will need to post a revised budget and let you all look over it, as it will really affect our outgoings.

Really feeling down about the whole situation and wish that we had more options :mad::mad::mad:

TTDB

Oh megga (((((((((((((Hugs)))))))))))) hon



Hope things work out, some times things don't work out how we want, but there maybe something wonderful around the next corner:cool:

HWGA xx

Mollymop5

I have the tiles from Poundland in my utility and downstairs toile.I've had them down 4 years and they are fab.Peel and stick so easy.If your not bothered about warmth and just want a cheep covering then they are great.Cost me £15 to do both floors and they're not small spaces.You could prob do your floor for less than a fiver