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

thriftylass

Bails, glad your interview went well.

Frankie, I can relate to the OH situation too. Mine still has boxes of stuff sitting on top of our wardrobe, in a cupboard and some other places :mad: that his parents dumped on him when they moved house and downsized. I've been living at his now for 5 years and all the hints I gave had no effect. I definitely need them sorted before we move cause I'm not taking them with me . I'm a really tidy person so sometimes that really bugs me.

Also sometimes feel I could do so much better in this challenge if it weren't for BF (want to keep him though because it's love ). Luckily I'm in control of the grocery budget (and at least he doesn't throw things out of the fridge unasked, don't remember now whos OH got rid of the veg) and leccy, but I have no control over mortgage (which I'd like to overpay but it's his, another reason why I want to move and get one together), utility bills etc. Also he's the reason (well, I guess that's my excuse?!) for loads of unnecessary spending because I have no willpower to say no :eek: to for instance going out and meeting friends in the pub (and I can only so many time get rounds off other people before appearing to be rude by not getting on in myself :rolleyes:). Some things I don't even need to try to explain or get across to him because it's hopeless (e.g. he knows he should be saving and he mentioned a few times now what he should save for, rainy day, holiday etc but he doesn't :mad:)

Sorry for the rambling on. BF is getting better at some things (like knowing what food we hav in the house and making use of it rather than going to the shops) related to this challenge, but it's a painstakingly slow process. Ah bless him

grandma247

Bails if you want I will post the websites that I have they have great tutorials and I even found one that shows you how to make a leakproof (supposedly) cuff like on disposables. They can be made out of flannelette sheets/pyjamas, Cotton tshirts and other cotton fabrics, microfibre towels or wipe cloths can be used for inner soak areas too,Mr A had some a few weeks ago I think 5 or 6 for £3. Also soft cotton tshirts can be used to make wipes.

I am glad your interwiew went well.

BigMummaF

XSpender wrote: »

Thank you Grandma247 and Kittikins for your suggestions. You have got me thinking now. I think I need to look into the cotton nappy versus disposable nappy debate and make a decision before I can work out costs.

Went to the fridge this afternoon to discover DH had chucked out 2 packs of trimmed leeks I had got a while ago on special offer and half a large swede. I think he was in a bad mood:rolleyes: He will be receiving a firm talking to as there was nothing wrong with the swede though the leeks might have been a bit dodgy. In fact he has eaten the swede in soup for the last 2 days! He has also left the light on in the garage all night with the door wide open. He is a work in progress when it comes to frugal matters:rolleyes:

Have a look on Weezl's thread as she did a lot of background into cloth vs disposables. My eldest two were fine in cloth & rarely had disps, but my baby had a reaction to them & had nothing but disps
And for 'OH', read 'Offspring' in this house--all three of 'em :mad: but things are slowly getting better. They ask me to consult the Oracle-that-is-MSE before making any significant spends, so we are getting there --snail pace maybe, but I just re-read 'The Hare & the Tortoise' to help keep me sane

cw18 wrote: »

...
But because I now have a job I've bought : -
a new pair of shoes £53 (and coppers).........
2 pairs of trousers @ £5 each.......
Only other real news from me is that I did my Food Safety Level 2 on Saturday, which you need to get 20/30 on to pass. Saw the personnel manager as I was leaving (late again!) today, and she gave me a certificate for passing - and then informed me I'd managed to not only scrape through (I had been unsure about a couple of them), but had manged to attain 100% :T
.........have to have this due to working in the bakery.......

Congrats on the clean sweep cw & I'm sure you'll do as well on Level 3.
My attention was grabbed by the shoes especially; if you wear these while actually working, the Store needs to provide safety shoes in accordance with Health & Safety legislation. And the trousers would be covered by uniform requirements too I think, as you are working with 'open foodstuffs'--might be worth asking the pm, although I realise you've already bought them for now it will be there for future reference. Have they said any more about your son getting a place?

FrankieM wrote: »

Morning
........
DH is a horder. If he thinks he could use something in his lifetime he'll keep it! Every bit of tat seems to have sentimental value! ....
I'm trying to get my cartax onlne but thats not happening. I may have to go into the post office......
Does anyone have a 'baking day' or do you just do it as and when? I can't decide whether I should plan it in or not.
Doing liver, bacon & onions for tea. Not sure I like liver but its good to give these things a go........

*Hangs head in shame* I have to admit that I am the biggest culprit for keeping things that 'may come in handy one day' in our house. As our house isn't exactly large--No1 has the smaller bedroom but there's only just room for a 3'divan + a chest of drawers & no chance of a wardrobe--& the walls are nothing more than papier mache, storage is at an absolute premium without my excesses
Is it just getting into the site for your road tax or something else, cuz we've used it several times & they are very good, usually the disc is here within the week. I do feel a little guilty tho, as I want to support the PO too, but our closest that does road tax is a balooga to get to :cool:
I don't designate a specific day to--anything--really! Think that's a big contributing factor to the mess that is my Life, so things like menu planning are hard work for me. What I do try to do now is list as many main meals as there are days in the month, jiggle them around so as not to have one week of chicken, one of cheese etc & high-light the days I need to have 'quick' meals. Then when I shop, I look to see what we have or haven't had & it still retains some flexibility & spontaneity for bargains & moods.
Strange you should mention the liver..me muvva had some yesterday & I :drool:...I'm the only one who likes it--even Pup is not keen--so I don't do it for myself. S'pose I could but it seems like too much effort to cook yet another separate dish
Fingers X Bails!

BigMummaF

Meant to say I started to read the article in the Times but got side-tracked by another about lying to children. It was linked on the right hand side & what reading it is!
I have been known to..:rolleyes:.."embellish"..but nothing like the author admits to! For a start, I would NEVER use 'the policeman' to warn children to behave or most of the others she mentions. Mine were more of the "that's a present for X" if they spotted something I had forgotten to hide, particularly at this time of year; my cousin has been a potentially lucky person with everything that was supposedly going to them
And guess whose found a site for new smilies

cw18

BigMummaF wrote: »

My attention was grabbed by the shoes especially; if you wear these while actually working, the Store needs to provide safety shoes in accordance with Health & Safety legislation. And the trousers would be covered by uniform requirements too I think, as you are working with 'open foodstuffs'--might be worth asking the pm, although I realise you've already bought them for now it will be there for future reference. Have they said any more about your son getting a place?

They provide blouses, aprons, hairnets and caps. The bakers themselves (I'm a glorified packer) get full whites which are also laundered by the company to ensure they are cleaned properly. Trousers and footwear are my own responsibility, but I can purchase safety shoes through them should I wish too (heavily discounted to under £10), but can't try before ordering, and with my back problems plus slightly wide feet and 'odd shaped' toes I'm not prepared to risk that

No news on further intake yet. Will leave it another week or so before asking (if I get chance to ask casually)

taka

Glad your interview went well Bails! :T

Sorry... I can't remember what everyone else was saying... I think I'm coming down with a lurgy so have mush-brain with added sneezing! :rotfl:

lyndasharp

Fingers crossed Bails! Well done on the interview!

Taka, I also have lurgy, so am off work today. I was supposed to be taking part in a fake emergency, but I really couldn't face a 2 hour drive there to spend the day carrying heavy furniture around. Hope your lurgy goes away soon We had the first part of the training yesterday but it was just the theory. I wasn't feeling right then, as I ran into the gatepost when I got home :mad: (or possibly 'not feeling well' is a convenient excuse for bad driving ). Poor car now has a scraped section on the bottom of the passenger door, H2B sprayed it with primer last night so now need to get the right colour paint to make it look nice.

I wonder what the neighbours will think if I bubblewrap the wall...???

I have to pay my car insurance in a few days, so I will be a bit over budget this month. Should still have over £1000 for the last month of the challenge though, and only one present left to buy, so it shouldn't be an expensive Christmas!

Kerfuffle

Hi savingfortravel,

savingfortravel wrote: »

Where are you from Kerfuffle? Just noticed $ in your sig. SFT

I'm a Yorkshire lass living in Canada, moved here permanently Sept 2008.

Hi FrankieM

FrankieM wrote: »

Morning *Snip

Does anyone have a 'baking day' or do you just do it as and when? I can't decide whether I should plan it in or not. Snip*

I try to do a bit of baking most days, one day I do bread in the breadmaker, then the second day I do cookies, and then keep repeating, HTH

Skint_Lynne

Good evening everyone,

I am currently sat in a hotel in Hull, just had my dinner, got room service steak and chips, it was quite nice. I went and done a bit of shopping here, I got a new shirt and boots, but I had a voucher from last christmas so it didn't cost very much.

I hope the interview went well bails.

I did not realise that Hull was near where you are Shaz, I remember where you told me you live. If I had have known beforehand, I would have seen if it was convenient for you to meet up with me for a coffee. I just clicked when I was watching the local news and it mentioned your area. I was at an open day in Wakefield today, then drove on to here to do another tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to the drive back home, I reckon it will be nearly 5 hours.:rolleyes:

I am knackered tonight, left home at 5.30 so it has been a long day. I have got a later start tomorrow, so that's something. At least I get the chance to browse on here tonight, I am anjoying myself so far.:D

Will check in later. xx

slowlyfading

Evening everyone.

As per usual, this is a quick visit for me. I'm sorry for the lack of updates - I am reading most days though.

Today is NSD number 15 for me, so I have met November's target. I think I'm going to make my December target 15 as well, and we'll see how it goes. Its my birthday on the 6th, so I'm travelling home that weekend so that'll be quite expensive, but obviously worth it. And then there's the even more obvious christmas that I need to get more ready for! I've got half of my presents sorted, but still need to get a few more. I'm going shopping on sat with a couple of friends so I hope to get a couple more then.

Uni is so so so hectic at the moment. I'm so tired after today - I'm on a paired placement this placement, and the other girl rang me at 7:15am this morning so say she wasn't coming in. Firstly, she drives us to school, and second, she was meant to be teaching first two lessons! So, I had to walk the 45 mins to school, which I'm not that bothered about, but then I ended teaching her two lessons as well, as I knew what she was doing with them, and I'd also done the same thing already with my classes, but I wasn't prepared as much as I would have liked. So today I had no time to myself at all, as I was in all 5 lessons of the day, and there was choir at lunch so I had time to grab a banana and that's it. I've also got an essay due on monday, which isn't going well, and then on tuesday I've got my Mentor from uni coming to do his official observation with a year 9 class, so I'm really worried about that :S I'm looking forward to the christmas hols now, because even though I have mountains of work to do over them, I'll be at home with my family, and where its nice and quiet and I'll have my nice comfy bed back.

Sorry for not commenting on people's posts, hope you're all okay this evening.

sf x x