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

Kittikins

Thanks CW18, think Arbroath is off the list then, I really need to look at a map before half forming looney ideas!!

Good luck with the interview Skint Lynne, sure you'll knock 'em dead today

bails

Hope the interview goes well today SL, thinking of you x

Thanks so much for that Lilo. I was hoping that having a guarantor meant I would be a safer risk and therefore be able to get a better rate? We have a 12.5 % deposit if the cottage is valued at 250k but we were told yesterday that, although 10% mortgages are back, they have an interest rate of 7.5% :eek: There's no way we could manage monthly payments like that, unless fresh air becomes highly nutritious (Hope your spends aren't too bad by the way).

I was laughing at Nyk's being halfway too! It's an 8 hour drive from me, let alone the Brighton gang. Manchester way is a more realistic mid way point but TBH I'd rather drive the extra 4 hours (no offence to any Mancunians, I was looking to live there a little while ago) or even to the Orkneys - thanks v much for the kind offer, frugal lurker!:T Have you introduced yourself before? If I was back, BB et al could come to mine and we could have a road trip up :T athough that might be a hefty diversion too far. Train is the answer I think. Ah, I'll be so gutted if you get to have a meet before I'm back.

EDIT: ooh yes, hello Fay! :hello:And welcome to Maslowe too! :hello:

OH is still asleep, he's poorly, so I'm off out in the rain with the dog and another longing look at the cottage before getting on with all the jobs. Have a good one everyone!

Savvy_sewing

Currently I am unable to even get out of my village, never mind to scotland! Ah well, I can dream!.
Found out that there is a bus to Banbury once a week? But no more information as yet!.

cw18

bails wrote: »

I was laughing at Nyk's being halfway too! It's an 8 hour drive from me, let alone the Brighton gang. Manchester way is a more realistic mid way point

Oooooo.... never thought of myself as being 'mid-way'

but TBH I'd rather drive the extra 4 hours (no offence to any Mancunians, I was looking to live there a little while ago)

No offence taken - especially as I doubt we'd find enough open space to set up camp here...... (and I'm not originally a Mancunian anyway )

I could possibly blag the use of a scout and guide hall (know the Brownie Guider and go to Scrapbooking crops there several times a year), but even though that's a reasonable size for such a venue it's still not huge if we want somewhere to crash for the night

jtb2412

Morning everyone,

Good luck for today Skint Lynne ! :T

Bails, we've never managed to get on the mortgage ladder, we simply don't earn enough and only started out in life (meaning living together lol) when house prices rose very steeply. I can't see it getting any easier for us to get on the ladder either so I think we've totally missed the boat and we can only hope to help the kids with their first time buys when they're older. I hope you're dream doesn't slip away from you but it would be no fun living somewhere fantastic if you didn't have some sort of quality of life to go with it. Am a great believer in fate and you never know, something better might just be round the corner .

Frugal meet sounds like fun however another Brightonian here so would have a fair way to travel (that's if I was invited of course, I don't like to presume ! :D)

I got my phone bill in yesterday and it's a bit :eek:. I think it's because I've been phoning my mum during the day and not making the most of my free calls so back to ringing after 7pm now. In defence though, both mum and dad have been poorly lately so I've wanted to keep tabs on them and make sure they're looking after themselves .

Made a huge batch of squash soup yesterday and need to pop down the allotment later to see if anything else is ready (probably tonnes of runner beans :rolleyes:). I've got 5 cucumbers ready too so will probably end up pickling them rather than wasting them. I'm hoping to do enough pickles/jams/chutneys for Xmas (sorry !) hampers again this year. Everyone loved them last year and all said they preferred them to 'bought' presents so that's sorted .

Need to do a food shop tonight but will make a list later. I intend to use my SC as much as possible this/next week so that I can get on with other things.

Maslowe, can reiterate what grandma says, the greenfingered board is a wealth of info on growing your own. Shops will probably be selling their seeds cheaply soon - it's a good time to buy next year's seed !

Right, I'm off to make that shopping list and to work out spends for signature. Have a good day everyone.

Hardup_Hester

Hester shuffles in, the knuckles of left hand dragging along the floor.
The good news is I emptied my penny jar counted the money & paid it into the bank, £34 woohoo, it took me ages as each bank will only take a few bags of coins, but it's done. The bad news is I may need to pay for therapy on my arm to get it back to it's original length.
hester

DdraigGoch

Hello from Swine Flu Central :rotfl: Luckily DS is getting much better.

Haven't got a great deal to report. Officially I should have had a whole week of NSDs, but eB*y struck ... only stuff for doing up the house, but all the same...

Best hope beaming its way to you, Bails

hugs and congrats/commiserations to all fellow Frugonians



:j UDI FOR THE DUCHY OF FRUGONIA! :j

:j NYK FOR DUCHESS! :j



:T DEAL WITH YOUR DEBT AND FLOURISH IN FRUGONIA :T






If SecondLife can take off, so can Frugonia! :rotfl: Do we have any web designers who'd like the [unpaid!] job of designing Frugonia, the online game?! :rotfl: All rights reserved.

Frugaldom

Hello, been busy today, so didn't get around to posting earlier. Hope the interview is going well, SL

Frugal meets will not need passports, this is Scotland, we're part of The UK. I've never even been asked for ID for a ferry trip. Orkney is too far for me to venture nowadays as organising livestock care etc isn't the easiest thing to do, especially when it also entails running my business whilst I'm not here. Mind you, I do have friends in the Orkneys and they do all have farms. I use the Scrabster/Stromness crossing, then there's a drive to Kirkwall and then onto another ferry for Shapinsay. They call Orkney island the mainland, it gets very confusing. I milked my first goat on Shapinsay and that's also where I learned how to make both rhubarb and red clover wine whilst staying there.

Sorry to put the dampers on any thought of frugatherings, but rural frugality doesn't lend itself to affording holidays. I do have island hopping on my list of things to do, but planning ahead is something I'm rubbish at as most times the plans get scuppered by money being needed elsewhere. :rolleyes:

SM - Hope you got my other message - HS made a video of the sheep this time, but I'm afraid we didn't spot them until it was too late to rescue what's been scoffed. You need eyes on the back of your head practically 24/7 as far as livestock is concerned. We were only gone about an hour, so missed them going in!

Ddraig, hope DS is feeling better and you're getting loads of bargains for the house.

Hi Maslowe, long time no see Good luck with veggie growing, will watch out for you in the greenfinger forums. If in doubt, I just G00gle. My belief is that as long as it's edible and tastes good, forget what it looks like. :rotfl:

Wild camping sounds fun, except we keep hearing about big cats in the area. They have been reporting a horse attack in Ayrshire recently, but I'm a bit dubious of their sources. Galloway Forest could well be home to an assortment of exotic wildlife, but no human has ever been attacked, to my knowledge. I wouldn't risk taking a small dog with me, though, or fresh meat products. :eek::rotfl:

PS: Wouldn't it be awesome to get the first really good photo of a panther or a lynx? I think I'd be too rooted to the spot in fear to move the camera!

cw18

Just phoned CB to check they're processing the extension I applied for on-line on Monday of last week. Apologised to the chap for not being more patient, but explained that CT were threatening to remove my single person discount without a form from them - and that I've also had a letter stating my WPA is being stopped from 7th Sept due to CB stopping then.

He checked the system and said it's been processed - with the extension being applied to 6th Sept 2010. He's flagged the system to send out the letter I need for CT, and says I should have that by early next week - so in plenty of time to stop them increasing my monthly payment in September :T

Am now trying to get through to WPA to see what (if anything) they need to extend payments of that one for a further 12 months........ but am stuck in a queue, having been disconnected without even getting to the queue on my first attempt !!!


ETA: Just spoken to a lady at WPA. She's put a note on my records to say I've phoned (with the date my CB has been extended to), and removed the payment stop off the account (if I understood her properly). But she did say they'd get notification from CB directly, so there must be a link in the systems somewhere - if it's working properly

liloandstitch

BAILS have just seen your reply, yes risk is usually priced according to the % on debt against value, so you would be looking for an 87 1/2 % mortgage. Your best bet is to get equal or below 75% for access to the best rates - Can you borrow the extra from the guarantor to bring the rates down? Even paying it back (unofficially) will be a better deal for you , particularly if said kind person gives you 0% IR. I bought my first house on a mortgage and 2 personal loans !!!!! (dont ask) cos that was the only way I could do it. I got very fond of baked beans on toast for a while!! This other guarantor thingy may also work if said kind person had the money but didnt want to lend. I am not up on the ins and outs and what it would mean re interest rates, but basically they deposit the money as security with the mortgage company - it remains theirs and is untouched by anyone (even them) for a fixed period of time. They still get interest, but in the event of you not paying, then the money can be accessed by the mortgage company in whatever the circumstances are (not sure you would have to check what would allow them to touch it - it may be to make up payments, or only in the event of them making a loss if they have to take possession.)

Hope that helps - and I am really not confessing the extent of my sins cos they are really awful. I am drawing a line under the whole thing and moving on! Sadly it has disrupted my financial plans for at least the next 2 months!!!!

Lilo