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

sophiesmum_2

Well done on exceeding the dream pot target bails :j:j

bails

Thanks Sophiesmum x

sophiesmum_2

After a bad start today with a sick day things didn't end up too bad one way and another.
Postman brought me £60 refund cheque from dvla for crashed car's road tax:D and I got £150 bonus in salary - was expecting £75 for training someone through 2 modules at work but I had misread and it was actually £75 per module so even better:j
Then thanks to Nyk OH got the BT free installation saving £122+ . My migraine lifted by this afternoon ,still nauseous but much better than before so not a bad day overall.
Had oven on for chicken fillets so shoved some cookies in for DD (and probably OH) whilst it was on.Some people eat for comfort - I usually cook when I am stressed etc then feed everyone else :rolleyes:

Frugaldom

Cookies look yummy, SM, think I'll need to do same, as that's the last of mine gone. Still have a few meringues left, but these, I think, will disappear tonight with ice cream, as I have no cream, and some fruit. A few more rasps ripened alongside the duck run but, err... I ate them, too!

Stocked up with more peppers, bananas, tomatoes & nectarines from Ald! and have been reading through all the freecycle & freeshare ads in the hope of finding a dresser or some kitchen cupboards, but nothing available yet. It's beginning to look like I'll need to search further afield.

CW, insurance quotes are a bit of a pain to compare but well worth the bother. HS went via TCB and got the full £68 back for going via A$da, so that brought his policy down by more than a quarter, and I'm a named driver, so can borrow the car anytime. Likewise with DS, but I really don't fancy tootling into town in his zooped up noisy little car. I'd be like a granny cruising on the lookout for a toyboy! :rotfl:

Bails, when is it you leave for emm... where all are you going again? :D

bails

Mm, they look lovely SM. Glad the migraine is clearing and well done on the bonus!

Well, I managed to save myself £150 today...by forgetting to put the postal order in for the visas :rolleyes::rotfl:That's extra jobs for me tomorrow...

OH and I are getting very excited about our work plans for when we get back...fingers crossed they come off and we'll feel like millionaires!

Ha ha, we leave for Nepal on 7th August Nyk.

ps now we're up to £1238.65 in the Dream Pot, of course I've got the insane and impossible desire to make it up to £1500 Now, what can I sell?

cw18

nykmedia wrote: »

CW, insurance quotes are a bit of a pain to compare but well worth the bother. HS went via TCB and got the full £68 back for going via A$da, so that brought his policy down by more than a quarter, and I'm a named driver, so can borrow the car anytime. Likewise with DS, but I really don't fancy tootling into town in his zooped up noisy little car. I'd be like a granny cruising on the lookout for a toyboy! :rotfl:

Have had an interesting afternoon/evening with it.....

4 comparison sites, looking for a 'like for like' with my current policy, followed by 2 "we have to be dealt with directly" companies.

Renewal notice quotes £304.24

Out of the half zone cheapest others, there was only one company I've really heard of/was prepared to consider (pink convertible ladies). Cheapest anywhere with them was £268.42

While on the sites I also checked where my company came in, and cheapest was £288.64

I don't think I'm registered with TCB - have always used Qu!dco.

Cashback for my company has shrunk since last year, down from £45 to £20 Tried it anyway, and quote was £284.59 - which effectively means £264.59 and a big improvement on my renewal.

The 'other' company is also on there - and with £45 cashback. Tried that one, and premium is £284.77, which means £239.77


So I then phoned my company. Had spotted my renewal still had me as married and working, so changed those which doesn't effect premium. Also asked about increasing mileage from 4k to 5k - and no increase for that (I've not quite done 3k this year, but it would give me plenty extra to get to the frugal meet next year ). Mentioned I'd got a quote 'considerably cheaper' than my renewal notification, so she told the system to offer me the best price possible - and came back with £285.94. When she asked how that compared I told her that 'apart from being over a quid more than taking a fresh policy out on your website, it's still considerably more than the £240 figure from the competition' she put me on hold for a minute or so. The counter offer (which she says is the absolute best possible, but would still require manager approval) was £271.72

Now means I could - if I wanted - stay with the company I'm with as a straight renewal for £32.52 ess than my renewal quote !!! (equates to a 10.68% discount, and puts it within my £275 budget )

So I now have 3 choices.....

l1. accept the reduced renewal price
2. try for the cashback through the website. if I get it I save a further £7.13, but if I don't it's cost me an extra £12.87
3. switch companies, which should save me £31.95 against renewal - or £24.82 if I managed cashback on option 2

Have to confess - and I'll probably get shot down as it's not instantly obvious as the most frugal option - I'm tempted to go for option 2.

Assuming the cashback goes through, the saving by switching would then be less than 50p/week, and I'm not sure if I want to move from a company I know to a company I've only heard of to save that 'little'.

Plus I've just realised that if I do switch, I lose out on a 5% 'multiple policy' discount on my bldgs & contents insurance when it comes due in December -- and that's likely to be around £18 worth of discount, so wipes out almost all the savings from switching now!. It's not as if I realistically have the option of moving my contents insurance either I have some specific requirements/needs, and to date I'm with the only company who can do it for me (without at least trebling the premium anyway :eek: )

Skint_Lynne

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

SL just for you and free on a red day

I fried 2 sliced onions and a sliced red pepper and a green one with some garlic until soft

Seasoned with 1 tablespoon italian herbs and a teaspoon smoked paprika,a teaspoon chilli flakes ,salt and pepper then cooled and stirred into a pound of turkey mince along with a beaten egg

Put half the mix in a 2lb loaf tin add 4 hard boiled eggs along the midle and covered with the remaining mixture

arrange some sliced tomatoes on the top and bake at gas 5 until cooked (there was some juice but i tipped it out at the end ) i cooled this and had it cold with salad it was yummy

also

fat free curry sauce

6garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 tsp cardamom seeds, crushed(use seeds only)
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp ground coriander
2 tsp each ground ginger and cumin
1 tsp chilli powder
2 level tbsp tomato puree
2 onion, peeled and grated(i blend everthing in the blender)
500ml water

200g very low fat natural fromage frais
2 tbsp freshly chopped coriander
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Basically cook all but the last 3 ingredients together until the onion is cooked

Add the veg/meat etc and cook to liking then at the last minute stir in the remainig 3 ingredients

Very nice and frugal if you already have the spices( i think you could substitute with curry powder)

makes enough sauce for 3-4 people we like fish in it or potato and chick peas



Shaz

Thanks a lot Shaz,

I am drooling at the both of them! I just happen to have some turkey mince in the freezer that I got whoopsied a wee while back, so I now know what to do with it. Also, we are big curry fans here and I do make mine from scratch, but usually add butter to it when I'm making it.

I've got all the spices for the curry, so it will be frugal. I'm having chilli tomorrow, that was already made, so just brought it out of the freezer. I do need to lose a wee bit of weight, but it will do me good. I'm really going along because my wee sister does not want to go herself. It's quite interesting though, because it gets you thinking about what you eat. I've been having too many sweet things of late, something I never used to do, maybe your tooth gets sweeter as you get older, but I have been accused of having the taste buds of an old man, due to my liking of strong black coffee and smelly cheese.:rotfl:

I was bad today though in more ways than one, had a pub lunch, but made sure it was SW friendly, then had a cone because I was at the seaside. Oh well, tomorrow is another day and the cone comes in under the sins.

Will check in later guys. xx

Skint_Lynne

Cheryl,

Be careful with the insurance switching thing. I think you are sensible to consider staying with your existing company. I got fed up with paying over the odds for my boiler insurance and shopped about using comparison sites last year. I 'thought' that I got a fantastic deal with a company called c0verheat, and got this for half the price I was paying for BG cover.

I only found out a few weeks ago by accident that this company had gone under and they were still taking my premuims from the bank. So, sometimes cheaper is not always best. xx

lyndasharp

Hi all, not been checking this for the last few days so will try and catch up later.

I'm finding this week very hard. Nan went for another heart op on Monday. It should have been as routine as heart ops get, but she hadn't told anyone about her urine infection. It's now spread to the rest of her and she can't have treatment yet as it would clash with her other meds. I'm really worried about her as my Aunt said she is going downhill very quickly. There are specialists coming from another hospital today to see her, so I'm hoping they will have some ideas. I just feel constantly on edge waiting for news, and H2B being away all week isn't helping.

Savvy_sewing

Fingers crossed for your Nan, Lyndasharp.