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

shaz_mum_of__2

this is what i did last night ,its a cotton dishcloth(the first of many more to come as its addictive and there are so many patterns out there)

bails

Sophiesmum, heartfelt hugs for you and your family at this very sad time. We're both thinking of you lots and are here whenever you feel up to posting. Lots love xxx

bails

Lynda, sorry to hear about the accident, really glad you're okay.

Mooloo, Nyk is right, you have come a long way and things will keep getting better from here - how good does that feel?! :T

Everest flight cancelled due to bad weather on the mountain, hopefully heading up there tomorrow but if not I'll see you back here... No need to feel humbled Nyk, everything we're all doing is fantastic I think! Great to see you got your passport renewed

Hope school is okay SFT x

We still on for a 4k meet next year you think?

Skint_Lynne

SM, I'm so sorry to hear your news. Please take care of yourself and I am thinking about you and your family. xx

taka

Well I'm finally caught up after my holidays... its taken days! ((((hugs)))) :grouphug::wall::hello::whistle:_pale_:bdaycake::mad::eek: etc as appropriate - sorry I can't remember who was doing what now... I hope everyone is as ok as they can be at the moment, especially SM, Lynda and SFT. :undecided


London was fab and made me feel alive again... There is nothing like walking purposefully down a strange street (with your shoulders back, head up) looking as if you know what you are doing to cheer me up! I haven't felt like that since 2000 in Melbourne (its a feeling of confidence that has been missing in recent years). I loved it, especially the British Museum and the V and A! I also kept getting asked for directions so it must have looked to others that I knew what I was doing! :rotfl: I did spend a bit but less than it could have been and I had it saved so I'm not too upset. I also spent a fortune at the Jewellery fair I was at... :eek: Its fair to say my 101 in 1001 pledge to half my semiprecious bead/stone stash has gone drastically the wrong way! I think I more than doubled it in a day instead! :eek: I'm definitely going to have to start selling my jewellery properly if only to get some space back... :eek: Actually I need to start making jewellery again in the 1st place as I haven't had the confidence to do much in the last few years. I kinda miss it but am feeling inspired at the mo...

Also just before I left, Virgin have switched off their analogue TV signal in my area (which was free) so I now have no means of getting TV! :mad: The neighbours I've spoken to about this all seem to have Virgin (digital) so don't have the problem. I've bought an indoor aerial and tried it out but its not that great. BBC 1, ITV, Ch4 and 5 are watchable but with varying degrees of snow. BBC2 is hopeless. I borrowed my parents wee digibox to try that but I only get one of the multiplexes (Mux1 - loads of BBC channels) and thats while pointing at a completely different transmitter to the best one for analogue signal! More tweeking will be done over the weekend but its looking very likely that I'll have to get an external aerial or freesat installed. Bet that won't be easy or cheap to a 1st floor flat in a 4 story tenement at the bottom of a hill! Must find out exactly how I access the roof too as I have no idea!

slowlyfading

SM, I'm sorry to hear about your dad, thinking about you all xxx

Frugaldom

Hi guys,

SM, still sending lots of virtual support hugs and thanks for taking the time out to post on the forum. We're all thinking of you and hope to see you back really soon, as it's very quiet here without you and your storyboard style photos. See you soon.

Lynda, look after yourself and be careful the whiplash doesn't kick in after a couple of days. That's when I discovered I had it after making my statement saying all was OK with me and the car. Turned out the car had been shunted worse that I thought and the exhaust had been concertina-ed at the manifold or some other such thing.

Bails, I haven't got the passport renewed yet, I've just managed to get the online application to go through. Because we're planning to fly four weeks tomorrow, it falls one day outwith the 'speed it up' category and I don't want to risk waiting until next week. I've had to submit it as a brand new passport application with an uncancelled one from many years ago, so here's hoping. If I need to travel up to Glasgow to speed things up a bit then I'll get that organised asap. That was my next bit of news, yer giving away my secrets here. :rotfl:

I have a dilemma - I had set aside £2000 to pay for wedding stuff for DD but had it in savings. But I couldn't bring myself to keep dipping in to pay deposits and small items, so I handmade invites, place cards etc and paid little stuff like favours, tiara, underskirts using savings I was making elsewhere, so it has resulted in a little bit extra leftover - and you know that we all must make the most of leftovers on here!! :T:j. I was supposed to celebrate my 40th but cancelled on accounts of DD expecting (DGD was born that week). I postponed all plans thinking I'd do all the 40 stuff for my [STRIKE]41st[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]42nd[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]43rd[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]44th[/STRIKE] 45th. But that was last week, same week as DD's wedding, so nothing was planned. Anyhow, I was thinking go spend some time catching up with cousin (the one at the wedding, for those who know me) and she suggested somewhere more exciting than staying home, so... if we can manage on a tiny budget, we'll just grab ourselves a cancellation and some cheap accommodation and go wherever the cheap flight or sail takes us. It'll be the first time I'll have left the UK in over 25 years even although I worked on US soil between 2002 and 2004. :rotfl: Not sure how far we'll get on a couple of hundred pounds as the buses, trains and taxis on home turf will probably cost more than the holiday, but we can make it a frugal holiday challenge. :jWe're hoping to go between 10th and 18th October but it's 'tattie howkin' week / school break here (she teaches) so the bargains may be a little thin on the ground. I just HOPE I can get my passport sorted out in time - that's the first £80.50 gone from the budget already but it's been on my 'to do' list for too many years to remember.

Typical - passport prices went up last week, and the Ryanair bargains in Martin's newsletter ended last night! :rolleyes: Just my luck! I also have an open invite to visit friend in France and I know someone with a chalet in Bulgaria, so options are wide open, just finances to calculate to the penny.

cw18

Ooooooo...... Nyk's getting a holiday :T

Must admit I heard something a couple of months back about passport prices going up, but got the impression the report was that they 'went up today' rather than 'are about to go up'. Not sure how I'd renew mine (if I needed one), as my last expired on 21st August 2002........ a date I know without digging it out as it was made out in my married name to start on the day of the wedding.

Frugaldom

CW, passport renewal looks relatively simple if there are no other changes to be made, but I have several changes since my last one 25+ years ago - married, divorced, reverted to maiden name, don't have number off previous passports, don't have numbers off parents' passports (because they are away on holiday just now) and I've only ever held annual passports until they were abolished (it was a long time ago! :rotfl:) My problem is that I have used so many excuses NOT to get a new passport just in case I got the travel bug, but with the prospect of a 10 year passport, I certainly couldn't let £77.50 + £3 secure P&P go to waste! I'll want my money's worth. Mind you, the ciggie money won't get me far, as it only accrues at about £10 per week. :rotfl: Wondering if I should rake out my old 'places to see' list if it's still here. So many places to go and things to see and none of them very environmentally friendly when it involves travel. But my argument will need to shift to the theory that it's better to help fill the planes if they are going to have to fly anyway! At least it lowers the average carbon count for each passenger. I'll be helping others reduce theirs.

[Deleted User]

Hi all

I haven't posted for ages - again.

SM - So sorry to hear your news. Thinking of you and your family.

DH has still got work, its amazing he has had work every day for the last 6 months. He is sub-contracting for another company now. We have decided that I'm DEFINATELY NOT going back to work :j:j:j so really have got head screwed on now moneywise.

Had cavity wall insulation done a couple of weeks ago, hope thats makes a difference AND got new car (well new to us 2001 - newest car I've ever had) so thats it now, saving head on.

Nothing else interesting has happened, Daisy is now HUGE, she is 6 months on the 15th and she is wearing 12-18 months in alot of her clothes now

Must dash, going to read up on bulk-cooking and try to make some savings that way xx