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

Brighton_belle

loving the updates sft
I'm a bit behind on the forum, so apologies for not responding to all news but I am reading and enjoying all news.

kittikins - lovely idea to share driving for any potential frugal trip oop north. Sadly I just can't drive any length of time - I did a 2 hr stint 2 weeks ago and it wiped me out really. Putting it in perspective, 18 months ago i didn't knw if I would ever drive again so I am doing really well. And I had some not so good news re my meds last week so have no idea if I'll be mobile enough to drive at all next year either, so can't commit to planning with anyone else. But thanks for the thought.

SL - really sorry you didn't get the job - it is frustrating and my OH can only get p/t very very low paid jobs with no employee benfits or protention and it's been like that for 5 yrs so I do understand.
I personally don't believe in karma at all - that one disappointment means something better is round the corner. I believe that life is random and difficult, (but with many unexpected joys too) but the more proactive we are to pursue our goals/hopes/dreams, the more likely it is we will find them because there are a million variables in the path we might take and if the 1st choice doesn't work out the 2nd choice can work out just as well by how we throw ourselves in to it and can therefore seem 'meant to be' when either option ( or the 20 million other variables:D) would have brought unexpected pay offs and good experiences.

I have finally been out on my bike ,so very pleased with myself and planningdoing my own little 'get fitter not fatter' project:D
I nearly lost my frugal status :eek:- in repainting old drawers raspberry pink for new bedroom, I decided I wanted new handles as the brass knobs no longer went well. I so nearly spent £16 on funky purple glass ones... but just couldn't do it when I went to DIY store to buy. So came home and cutomised the brass into something else: photo in due course:D. Phew a close shave!

Have been the beneficiary of other's allotment efforts this week and the fridge is crammed with food. I think I need to do some bulk cooking today.
But first, I have bails comeing round in 1/2 an hr:j

PS great work with the figures cw: I've been juggling mine a bit too now I have a better idea of how I spend and where

thriftylass

nykmedia wrote: »

But the thing I don't understand is how carbon is wrecking the planet. I thought everything on our planet was more or less carbon based and all lifeforms need oxygen, so any interaction between anything and our atmosphere is going to result in the production of carbon dioxide.

Here's a link that explains the effect of CO2 not carbon (I guess carbon footprint sounds more fetching than carbon dioxide footprint). But I agree although everyone can do their little thing and should it's the big players I'm more worried about like the car industry. The technology is there to produce totally environmentally friendly CO2 neutral cars but it's not done for obvious reasons (money making from oil etc). Not much the we can do about that though.

cw18

thriftylass wrote: »

But I agree although everyone can do their little thing and should it's the big players I'm more worried about like the car industry. The technology is there to produce totally environmentally friendly CO2 neutral cars but it's not done for obvious reasons (money making from oil etc). Not much the we can do about that though.

Totally in agreement with this - especially in thinking that industry could do a lot more than they currently do, even after allowing for the fact that they may need time and money to invest in new processes in order to do this.

I know they're being hit by the credit crunch, but it's not as if the governments have only just started nagging us all to make reductions

Frugaldom

FRUGAL LEARNING - IT'S NOT OFF TOPIC

If CO2 makes up only 26% of troublesome greenhouse gases, what makes up the other 74%?

Capturing the carbon dioxide and filling the gaps made by drilling for oil or mining for coal sounds interesting, but it still seems extreme. Couldn't someone just work out how to split the C from the O2 somehow and then plant the carbon in the hope it grows into diamonds? :rotfl:I'd like to be able to cultivate some of them!

thriftylass

nykmedia wrote: »

FRUGAL LEARNING - IT'S NOT OFF TOPIC

If CO2 makes up only 26% of troublesome greenhouse gases, what makes up the other 74%?

Other ones are methane (from cows, rice fields and landfills), nitrous oxide (whipping cream canisters, cooking fat sprays) and ozone (desinfectant). But they also have many natural sources.
I don't think it's off topic either because frugallity goes partially hand in hand with being also environmentally friendly

Frugaldom

thriftylass wrote: »

Other ones are methane (from cows, rice fields and landfills), nitrous oxide (whipping cream canisters, cooking fat sprays) and ozone (desinfectant). But they also have many natural sources.
I don't think it's off topic either because frugallity goes partially hand in hand with being also environmentally friendly

OK, familiar with all of those from school chemistry & biology lessons but wasn't aware of laughing gas being used in food aerosols. (I can't work out why anyone needs food of any description in an aerosol :rotfl:). So ... greenhouse gases are basically made up of combinations of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen. These greenhouse gases are essential to the planet, but we are now accruing too much of the stuff for our own good. I think I've got that part. But if the carbon dioxide accounts for only 26% or thereabouts of these greenhouse gases, am I right in thinking, then, that the main culprit is, in fact, WATER?

Methinks I'll just agree to aim for as close to carbon neutrality as is possible within my limited knowledge, but I can't find a calculator to work out how much I'm neutralising by homegrowing my veg, not owning a car and growing trees.

grandma247

nykmedia wrote: »

I am just not convinced that individuals and their household C02 emissions can be such a huge problem.

Nyk I have always had strong suspicions about this and water shortages too. Gardeners are always blamed but no one ever tells us how much industry uses so It is more likely to be them that are the ones who waste most.

ram_murdock

Hey everyone!

I'm still here...i'm a few pages back but hoping to catch up tonight!

Loving all the talk of travels - good luck bails and SFT!

Started the new job today - was good! Will fill you all in later when i get caught up!

Blairweech

Hi all,

Have not sorted out my totals yets and will not be able to do it for a bit - I have been put on a funny shift this week - 10-8 today and Wednesday, 6-6 Tuesday and Thursday, 10-6 Friday. Plus maybe Saturday Going to see Bill Bailey tomorrow, so that will be a LONG day

Soapbox: I did the carboon footprint thing, mine was 10.02 tonnes. Until the Government start investing properly in public tranport, I HAVE to have a car - we have NO public transport where I am (because I have chosen to live in the country), so if I want to continue to go to work and help keep the wheels of the economy turning, the car is staying. Have looked into car sharing to no avail.
And I completely agree with Thrifty about the car technology - if we can invent a bomb that can wipe out an entire continent whilst keeping its wealth in tact...I think we can make a non polluting car!

So, basically between the carbon tax and the increase in council tax for people with a nice view etc, I am never going to be able to afford to actually buy a house :mad: :mad: :mad:

Anyway...I have to go to bed now to be up at 4.30 in the am!! Night xx

ETA: We had a fire at work on Saturday. Had to stand outside in the p!$$ing rain for an hour and a half (which then meant we were really behind schedule and had to work out butts off to make up). Reason for the fire - someone thought it would be hilarious to put a banana in the microwave for half an hour. Yes, these are the kinds of people I work with :rolleyes: Thankfully no one was hurt. Anyway, the upshot is that we have now lost our microwave which won't be replaced, so leftovers, or soup are no longer an option for work lunches. The person who did it is a total troublemaker and really deserves the sack (actually deserved it a long time ago), but I bet they won't even get a written warning. It just makes me so angry because there are hundreds of people who desperately want a job and would be a hundred times better at it

Ok, I have had two rants in the same post, am definantly going to bed now. Sorry all!

grandma247

Phew I finally caught up on the last few days.
Sft great to see your post.
Our Aussie friends are now headed home via a few days in Dubai. I did not see a whole lot of them because they went on a long jaunt across the uk and seemingly most of europe. They did 20,000 miles:eek:. The car we got them held up well except the brake pads which fell off because they were shot to pieces.
They did not get out of the car a lot by the sound of it, only at places of interest they specially wanted to see. Not my idea of a holiday but each to his own. Hopefully they will come back soon and take things a bit slower.
We are planning to save to go out to see them but not sure when yet. probably a couple of years unless I get really frugal with everything or the price drop a lot.
They left us the car so we now have a car with a towball so we can use our trailer again for manure collection and camping (not at the same time):rotfl:
Also it is a frugal car as it does 700 miles on a tankful.