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

grandma247

Frankie my youngest dd stayed out till 3am when she was 16 and I told her I had been sat planning her funeral because I was convinced she was dead. She never did that again.

On a funny note my oldest grandson when about 3 years old packed a little bag and headed for the door,I think he had been told off. His mother asked him where he was going and he said "I am going to live at grandmas."
He got nearly to the top of the street and turned round and said "I'll go tomorrow"
It is nice to see so many newbies and some who have not posted for a while.

I am looking forward to next year. I can hardly believe the progress we have made. Not quite reached expected goals in some things but surpassed them in others. We have paid a lot more off the mortgage than I thought we would and I give oh a visual of it by doing the sum on the morgage statement so he can see the progress in black and white. He is very good with almost everything moneysaving now except petrol. I still can not get him to see that lots of little journeys add up and cost more than one thought out one. But it is a small price to pay because he is on board with everything else. He even nips to Mr T just to look for bargains and he comes back with loads sometimes.

poorbutrich

hi there
sorry to interrupt - wondered if I could join in for 2010! I have been egging you on from the sidelines thoroughout 2009 (sadly not with eggs from my own hens though....)

Never got around to posting, but have been lurking with interest and gleaning advice - has been quite life changing!

Thanks everyone!

bails

Yae, it's wonderful to see so many people, old and new, signing up for next year :T and it's even more wonderful my name now gets automatically added to the list :j

Nyk, I was going to mention the 4k bit may still be important as if old people come looking for us and search for 4k it won't appear, but the new thread is started now so ignore me I'll still think of us as 4kers though, hope that's okay.

Of course, no idea about my budget yet with so many variables - homeless on return from travels, possible new house, wedding, new jobs for both of us etc etc - but I'll be starting from mid-April and will of course pop in to the new thread to say Hello whilst on the road. Be aware though, from Jan 4th for approx 6 weeks I'll be in communication blackout thanks to the supreme Red powers

Frankie, so glad your DD is home safe but what a night it must've been! I am DREADING all that :eek:

Blairweech

Bails - I though you had rented your house out whilst gone? I must be getting confused...

Savvy_sewing

Are we supposed to be posting on here, or a new thread? I get confused.
I had to buy some clothes for DGD yesterday, as there was nothing suitable in the bag, and alas at mums one of the problems appears to be the washing not getting done.
I have no idea what the day will bring, but at least DGD slept most of the night. Think it was around 2.30 she wanted tea, but I said no, until about 4, then she had a little bit of milk, as I needed to go downstairs to the loo anyway. Then she went back until 8.30 this morning. So a lie in.

BigMummaF

thriftylass wrote: »

Well done. Can you sent me some of your determination and patients How did you do it? Mine doesn't have major issues (yours sounds bit more serious) but there's a few things I want him to get his head around and change/sort out. I often find it hard to approach this topic as it's his money and we're not married (might never change) but he just doesn't think of the future in financial terms as he lives more for now. I've only been 5 years at it though :rolleyes:

Oh me too, for the offspring..even tho I've been trying since they were hatched Two of them are car owners & whilst one is pretty good with money, the other is a total nightmare & the third can be OK providing you give them warning of imminent pay-outs! As much as I love them, they do drive me to distraction as they are not good at thinking ahead, such as when Pup had to have all that vet treatment recently :doh:And I am fully supportive of grandma's sentiment re:short car journeys. When I leave the house, I want to accomplish all that I can before returning, cuz I can't be doing with all the to & fro It means I'm out for most of the day but then usually only twice a week, as opposed to having to put on my public persona every day

Brighton_belle wrote: »

.....now I find every tiny action and inching forward over the years has been an act of tunnelling and now the whole mountain has collapsed.
....well first of all, I too find it a very difficult subject to approach, ... it is about his (their) finances, though the longer we have been together the more that has badly impacted me and certainly (all our) our future.
......there has always been a straightforward solution but my OH (offspring) has been unable to take that step.....but *it came down to the basic quality of my OH being really sound, lovely and definitely a keeper so I just hung on in there,* taking opportunities to make tiny tiny breakthroughs and inching forward, ensuring he adjusted and felt safe with each change.......
In an ideal world, if we are in a trusting and good relationship, we should be able to broach this subject shouldn't we, but life is not always do simple& every relationship dynamic different.... But how our OH's (& adult children) deal with their finance does impact 'our' future doesn't it so we are entitled to express our needs and hopes. My OH can only think 5 mins ahead as well.

I think small steps in the answer that don't feel too radical or draconian and can be built on when positive results can be seen from those steps. And keep any discussion you start unemotional/strees free so the two things don't get connected in his mid (i.e money talk = ear bashing) while still finding a positive way to express how much this matters to you. (My 'talks' are prone to end in a slanging match, even tho I don't intend them too )

*What a lovely thing to say! You've also high-lighted the real reason I want to help my children to better understand their finances in this sentiment & I thank you so very much for taking the time for this post.
I must make my brood sound awful at times but I am so, so lucky too that I have the most decent, caring & loving of relationships with all three. It is only the money [& painfully scant sharing of house-keeping duties!] that cause friction in our house, but I guess it is such a biggie that it can dwarf almost anything else
For this reason, please add BigMummaF to the guest list for 2010.

FrankieM

Morning everyone,
So many new people.
Am I right in thinking that we will still be posting on this thread until the New Year? Or will it be both??

I'm most definately hoping for a no spend today. DH got paid but everything gets shuffled about on the !st so will have to wait till then for my account to look organised.

I think I'm going to go for a 12k budget next year. It won't include mortgage/payment protection/personal loan cause I'm hoping to sell the house early next year and rent and hopefully that will also pay off the loan.
I'm also not including water and council tax and I will have a slush fund for vehicles cause we have a 72 beetle, 73 campervan and 76 campervan(microbus). While classic insurance is quite cheap, upkeep can be expensive.
Anyway thats the plan at the moment. I will be saving the 'excess' cause to get the house on the market, we'll need to spend at least £5k and we've got a 0% credit card as well. Gosh what a mess! Hopefully it'll be all sorted out next year.

So, after that monologue...I'm pottering around the house and doing some reading today. It's sunny at the moment, though, so if I can squeeze anything else into my brown bin, I may pop into the garden.

Have a good day

BigMummaF

In case you're up for a giggle, the December NSD thread is up & running now Must admit that joining the nsd challenge has made a noticable impact on my spending habits & I hold on to my dosh for as long as possible now, where I would have popped to the shop for x without a minute's thought
It has also helped to concentrate my mind for organising my Challenge with yooze guys so if you fancy dropping by, we'd be pleased to have ya I can remember SF & I think Mooloo has had a go too, but meds for a chest infection have fuddled the noggin to recall any further so sincere apologies & no intention to offend intended.

I wanted to say too, that I had a very interesting chat with No3 yesterday evening. Mum is an octogenarian of several years standing but still lives totally independent of any help other than I or the offspring doing odd bits & pieces. She is a diabetic & as such her confusion is at times very noticable to us in particular, so I spend a few hours now considering what options I may have to face in an ever--approaching future.
One--& probably the best for her--would be for me to move in as she has enough room but then what would happen to my home? There would be no time scale to work with & obviously things like council tax & carers allowance would mean I have to declare my permanent address. The tenancy is in my sole name as we had it changed when the hub-bub decided it was more fun to be single again so I don't think I could sign it over to the kids. No3 asked why not as they are my children, so I explained that for the:-
a/ Benefits Agency, they are relatives who should be supported financially by those still living in the household
b/ Benefits Agency, are considered financial providers when it's someone else making the claim &
c/ Council, they are my lodgers!
Whatever happens with mum, I have to get this challenge sorted to give me any hope of crawling through the other stuff that may--hopefully may not--be heading my way.

As you can see I'm in a vaguely similar situation myself so Mooloo, my sincere sympathies & very best wishes on finding a solution to your current predicament Just a flash of inspiration maybe, but have you considered contacting someone like Action for Children or Barnados, to see if they can help you with where to go next? I hasten to add that I meant go to them purely for advice & nothing more. Good Luck m'dear & soz folks if I've mixed the Tough Now thread with this one.

Frugaldom

PLEASE keep posting here if it has anything to do with the current challenge. The new thread is just so I have enough time to make the transition from DFW to OS and to get everything in place for all the newcomers so it's as easy as possioble for them to follow the challenge. We now have two full years' worth of posts relating to this, so the next 5 weeks should be sufficient (I hope) for new 'frecruits' to make themselves familiar with what this challenge is about... fingers crossed.

Don't forget to add your name here inBIG BOLD COLOURED text so I know you want to join us for next year too. Thanks.

Welcome newbies

bails

Blairweech wrote: »

Bails - I though you had rented your house out whilst gone? I must be getting confused...

Blair, I have but it's rented out for a couple of months once we're back too, hence the 'homeless'. My parents have offered us their house while they went to South America for that time period and we had the animals but with the wedding they seem to be changing their minds about going (which I'm hoping to sort) and OH isn't altogether happy about sharing their house for that long, as we live very different lifestyles shall we say

Anyway I was thinking, with everyone looking at their 2010 budgets, what do people think of starting a new challenge to raise money to get us to the Meet next year? Of course we don't know exactly how much we'd need but it could be a good incentive to start saving towards it?

And I also thought it might be a nice idea to think about how the challenge has brought us closer to our dreams this year..we could post them on here or perhaps on the tnew thread to inspire others and show that real change is possible? What do you think Nyk, amd everyone?