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

Savvy_sewing

liloandstitch wrote: »

Nothing is worth jeopardising your health Mooloo, BF is right.

When I was given the DLA forms, I was told to complete them using the worst case scenario, IE what you are like on your worst day. And if you are declined - appeal. It would seem that getting approved for this is more about persistence than disability!

Lilo

I have asked for another person to assess my case. Waiting time approximately 11 weeks they said. If its still negative I will appeal in writing. Meanwhile I better chase the Welfare Rights before I run out of time.
Lilo thanks for giving me the push and reminding me to persist.

Skint_Lynne

Go down to the welfare rights place in person, the least they will do at that time is give you an appointment.;)

Good luck with it and I'll look forward to getting an update. xx

bails

Mooloo, sounds like you're having an uncertain time so hugs from me. The system is incredibly difficult to negotiate so definitely get some help to ease the burden, it will be worth it. Hang in there! x

Vixstar

Whitewing congratulations!!!

Vixstar

Now I remember what else I wanted to say...

Nyk Thanks for the tip about the HMV sale will check them out, for your information there is an article on the Savings board about instant access acounts interest rates rising so maybe your ISA interest rate rise is due to this.

Start my 101 in 1001 tomorrow as this means I will finish on my sister's 15th birthday - yikes shes can't be that old in 2012!

Savvy_sewing

EEk its taken me an hour to read my emails, and have a quick look at Flights on the Cheap offers. (Not booked anything just wishful thinking the way money is these days!) Back to the real world. Jobs to do around the house. Plan staying at home today, for a rest, and also am awaiting a parcel delivery of the cushion pads I ordered. Want to make some cushion covers with some of the odds and ends I have around here. BF thinks I could sell them.

Frugaldom

Good morning to all

It's overcast here this morning, but very warm and humid. I've been out to feed & water the livestock, let everything out for the day, watered the gardens and guess what? It has just started to rain! :rolleyes: It's just another very light shower, but this one's enough to water the spuds, so there'll be no excuses for a bad crop.

Vix, I read through the ISA thread updates last night and several comments have been made about the sudden increase. Apparently, Halifax are also passing the increase on to their credit card holders, too and there are some disgruntled people about at the moment. I think I'll just blame it on the weather. :rotfl:

We've now got past the halfway stage of 2009. With 183 days behind us, we now have 182 days left to complete what we set out to do. Having checked out the ISA interest rate increase was genuine, I have now transferred the first £500 of this year's £3,600 and that's it gone. My ISA is my longterm housefund, so it cannot be touched for extra wedding spending, holidays, livestock, special occasions etc. I now have until October 5th to find the other £1,300 to make it to the halfway stage of that. (Another challenge!)

Has anyone seen anything about the EU fruit & veg quality control legislation changing? Boring as this may seem, it could have a major impact on our shopping bills. For those who are completely unaware of this, all fruit and vegetables (and even eggs) are graded for shape. If the shape is wrong then the item fails to make it onto the shelves of the fresh produce section unless it is marked as such, but the bulk of it is graded down to whatever level it can be utilised as an ingredient in other manufactured or processed products. Now the EU wants to relax those rules and allow what was previously deemed sub-standard to be sold in shops. That's my understanding of what I have read. Being a true skeptic, cynic, conspiratorialist, over thinkier, I suspect this will have a huge impact on future prices. For a start, it opens the flood gates to more grades, so our cheap bananas will suddenly become top grade because they have the correct curve, our cheap carrots will become premium grade because they are straight etc, etc, etc. As we gradually accept the misshapes, these will become the 'norm'. The price of fresh, raw produce for manufacturers is going to soar. They'll be competing with the consumer as well as each other for best price.
A. It could mean that the quality of everything processed or manufactured from fresh fruit & veg drops whilst the price increases.
B. It could mean there will be a huge increase in the amount of fresh produce made available to the consumer, causing a glut in the market if they still can't tempt more people to eat more fruit & veg and slashing the prices or
C. Something is happening to the fruit & veg supplies within the EU, they are having to pass lower grades in order to meet demand and prices will rise.
IMO, it's still going to affect the price of all products made from fruit & veg at the lower end of the scale.

Sorry to have waffled on about this but fruit & veg are the mainstay of any healthy diet and if the time comes that the EU cannot produce enough to feed all those countries then it's going to become very expensive to eat healthily unless you grow your own. Meanwhile, the more demand in the west needs to be met, the less they tell us of the plight of the starving millions in the 'less developed' countries. It makes me a bit mad. :mad:

bails

Ineresting stuff Nyk, sounds like even more incentive to grow your own - good job we're ahead of the game on this thread

It was a beautiful day here this morning, clouding over a bit now but still so warm! I'm still recovering from my 5 days at Glastonbury so trying to be productive with the 'Countdown to Kathmandu' list whilst also taking it easy. Trying anyway!

The house is now online - photos are okay but not great (especially the attic bedroom which looks dark and doesn't do it justice at all) so when I can manage to give the whole house a proper tidy she's coming back round for more photos. It also goes in as Property of the Week in the property paper today so we'll see what happens.

Right, off to wake up properly and make a start on the list ...:rolleyes: Have a lovely day everyone!

Frugaldom

Mooloo wrote: »

I will still have only £89.80 a week to live on. If the council tax and housing benefit are not part of the spending, and DS gives me the £10. :T

£4,000 for a year is actually only £76.71, so you're rich! :rotfl:

slowlyfading

I'm off shopping today

have a good day everyone xx