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

taka

CW - :eek: Thats really scary...:eek:

Bails - I hope you can work it all out. Some thoughts...
1) Does the school have another payscale instead? Where would you be on this?
2) What is more important to you... the job or the level of pay? (I know its not that simple but...)
3) Is the experiance you gain worth the lesser pay? What about viewing it as a stepping stone (of a relatively short time frame?) to something on the proper payscale - Is it worth it?
4) How likely is a similarly challenging/rewarding job to be available at the right time in the right place for you?

Good luck!

slowlyfading wrote: »

good morning, and happy december everyone! got my official observation today so I'm really nervous! shall update later, have a good day x x

Good luck SF I hope it goes/went well.

snoppydog

Mooloo wrote: »

Morning, Childrens TV has taken over!.
DGD slept until 6.15 this morning, but sat in her cot with a bottle of milk, and playing with her teddy until 7am. I did try to get her to go back to sleep telling her it was night time still,but she said the cars were up!! True the cars were going through the village at breakneck speed!.
We have both got dressed and had breakfast. I managed a shower with her colouring in her book, on the bathroom floor. Forgot that privacy goes right out the window with littleones!.
Its taken me ages to get the fire going, and I had to go out to get more logs. Very icey and slippery out there.
Mr A text me telling me to call or I wouldnt get my delivery. When I rang they said the bank card had been rejected. Panic stations. But I had given them the other card details when I had added the nappies etc yesterday. So when I gave them the correct card all was well. But it just shows that I am working without any buffer zone anymore.
We are going to go for a cup of tea and some cake, in about an hour, at the church hall. Then be back for the delivery between 12 and 2pm. So my afternoon will be busy trying to put shopping away with a pair of tiny hands in the way.
Now I remember why I had a play pen when the twins were little.!
Defrosted a Mr T, £2 chicken, so will roast that today, and see what I can get out of it for meals for us all. Need to think about what DS can take to work with him. Will need to get him a lunchbox suitable for a working "man". But it will have to wait.
Least we have enough logs for a few weeks, and the delivery will mean most of our food and toiletries etc for the rest of december and into the new year. When the challenge starts properly for us all.
Christmas presents will be a little sparse, but the family will just have to understand.
If I get any energy I will be back at the sewing machine, but at the moment, I am too tired.
DGD is into everything. So I will really have to childproof the cottage better.
Thank god I had a fire guard to keep her off of the woodburner!.
Think Biggest of Mooloo's is going to take her to MK to see the display on Friday, so I will have some time to myself on Friday. Not quite counting the hours yet!!
Tomorrow the Social Worker is going to see my Daughter, so I will take DGD and go there too. See if we can get the battle of the do's and don'ts done. So will have to use the car then. Clocking my mileage for now. The car did 357 miles to the tank, so as the cost of the petrol has gone up, I will have to work out the cst again. Think its abit more then 13p a mile now.

Hi Mooloo,

Im in a similar situation as you, I took on my 2 month old niece three years ago, after Social Service removed her from my sister and her boyfriend. There is funding as I have received it from Social Services for the last three years. I get an allowance from SS each week, it's £60 a week, and I also got a cot, highchair, fireguard etc, most recently a new bed for my niece. Social Services paid for my driving lessons so I could transport my niece around. Please ask Social Services again for help, because there is funding.

Hope this helps.

thriftylass

nykmedia wrote: »

It isn't cheating if you make the adjustments within the same budget, it's only cheating if you increase the overall amount, as it then means it wasn't a real budget to start off with. I've had to rejig mine several times as the cost of foodstuffs and stockpiling took me over my £1200 but with careful monitoring of the electricity, the £1200 allowed for that is coming in at just over £1000, so I reduced the electricity budget and used that to increase the groceries budget. If I only have £4,000 to play with, I can't spend any more without incurring debt and, as we all know, we all want to be debt free and then maintain that status at all times.

That's exactly what I meant . This year was my first and I started off overeager with an unrealistic budget that I adjusted upwards, a lot. This is what I want to avoid next year and I should have learnt enough this year to make a budget that works. I'm lucky not to have to stick to a budget necessarily but I'd like to as training for harder times and to save for a deposit.

BigMummaF

nykmedia wrote: »

Good morning
Monday is meter reading day for me, .....
Looking for suggestions/help now. We don't have a 3 piece suite, only a bed settee, but it's of the heavy wooden futon style. It's great for sleeping on but it's useless for sitting on as a couch because it's so uncomfortable. I was thinking that if I could somehow adapt it to make it more user friendly, then we'd have a couch for sitting on whilst veggie out in front of the fire to watch a film. Has anyone any ideas where I could get thick foam for making cushions or any other ideas about how I could upholster a pine fouton without affecting its use as a bed? It doesn't have to look good, as I'll be using a thick throw or duvet over the top. Oh, and it needs to fit in with my budget.

Morning :santa2:..tis noticably chilly here too now. The Offspring told their father SIZE=1]who popped in to see them[/SIZE that 'Mum won't less us put the heat on" but considering they've inherited his annoying habit of walking around in shorts & tee expecting the heat to be cranked up to furnace level, wudda-they expect me to say :mad: Actually I am seriously considering signing up to BGa$ scheme, where you take your own reading every month & pay it as if it were a quarterly bill. At least I think that's how it works as I've kept forgetting to look. SIZE=1]damnation of a chest infection-addled brain[/SIZE] [img]http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/fragend/confused-smiley-016.gif[/img I figure--if it looks ok & there's no increase of tariff--it will be a lot less painful psychologically to pay 3x£30 than take one hit of £90 SIZE=1]eg[/SIZE.
I've realised this has come a bit too late, but initial reaction was to suggest storing the spare bedding for the futon under the mattress, to bolster the cushioning. Had visions of a pretty curtain stitched along three sides to make a 'bag' & the off-cuts to cover scatter cushions & everything No1 has a cabin bed arrangement in their bedroom [as it's soooooo smal]l with the bottom being a futon so can sympathsise with the comfort issues.

Mooloo forgive me, but I thought I had posted about contacting agencies such as Action for Children think it's called, Barnado, NSPCC, etc. They have extensive knowledge & library of resources & I'm confident they can offer you very good advice if nothing else. I hadn't realised that these types of charities do this kind of thing until we heard about Help the Aged & now I will try the relevant organisation first if I don't know where to look for information. You wouldn't lose anything by taking a peek at their websites....Good Luck.

xnatalie81x

SNAP - i could up my budget quite a bit but last yr i managed to save 3255 in addition to living quite comfortably on 13,500!!!! (not including rent, childcare, water and debt payments) so this yr going to save 3000 and live on 12,500 - income is not actually lower but i work on base amounts although i do get to do a LOT of swimming teaching cover throughout the yr. My actual working days are tue,wed and sat and only 3-4hrs a day (admin for my swim school takes hrs! lol) so i am available to cover lots of sessions and do most of the cover for school swimming lessons (at £16hr and min 1.5hrs this soon adds up) so will add cover onto 'additional income' sheet i keep and hope to save that under my pillow or somewhere else lol.

Good morn so far - have checked pups and let mum out to the toilet - she also had a lil fuss before she went back to them (mums need hugs too lol) also popped to MR T for a few bits that were desperate (nappies, loo roll, kitchen roll, squash, milk, cheese, butter - total 12.01!) - have now got enough to keep us going until about mid next week although may need a loaf for son's packed lunches on sunday (use the £1 in my purse) also popped to lottie and picked 2 leeks for the pork shoulder tomorrow, a very large turmip and a cabbage. Brussels, cauli and purple sprouting broccoli looking good and healthy plus another couple cabbages sprouting. Whilst in MR T i did browse for friends sons pressie. Wooden spoons (Mini one) - set of 3 £1.25 so going to get him a wooden spoon (save other 2 for similar b'day pressies throughout year), cake cases and a home made ready mix for cakes plus one of our hens eggs all wrapped in a basket. He is 4 so should love it! Total cost is under £2 and it is lovely! We don't spend a lot on each other's kids - a selection box usually but i am feeling creative lol

Ok off to make snowflake decorations, biscuits (other half ate the lot last night 'mmmmm these are quite nice actually') and cakes

Frugaldom

Good morning to all

It is freezing here, I'd to break the ice on all the water drinkers and the ducks are now dabbling in the little bit of water that's available over their frozen bath. I turned the heaters up a bit last night but the thermometers in the house are all reading 12 or 13 degrees WITH the heaters on and it's cost me £5 + coal and logs since yesterday just to get it to that! Hmph!

Good luck SF, hope everything goes well for you today.

Snoppydog, I'd just like to say thanks to you for taking the time to come onto our thread and post some helpful info for MooLoo, I'm sure she'll be delighted to see a little light at the end of the tunnel.

Bails, still on the horns of a dilemma, I see. Prioritising isn't always easy but it has to be done, especially as you seem to be planning ahead and anticipating starting a family, so if the salary really does matter that much then you should consider all the alternatives, especially if the employer you are interviewing with is going to have to hold the position open for you for any length of time to allow you to complete your trip of a lifetime. Anything could happen, and you don't know for sure that your wedding plans will fit in with the holiday schedule. I don't mean this to be in any way negative, I'm just trying to think of it from an employer's point of view as well as any prospective employee.

CW - Has your financial planning taken into account that you now have the job with salary and that you won't be looking after your grandchildren as per your original plan? Also, when your DS is working, he'll be paying 'digs' and the other one must surely ralise that you're in a very tight situation and be in a position to pay you whatever it costs to collect him from the airport. I remember before we all had our driving licenses, when parents were running 'kids' anywhere, we'd all to cover costs. Pets and vets, have you a pet insurance policy that will cover those costs? Sorry for all the questions and suggestions if they aren't in keeping with your budget.

I'm now a bit annoyed, to say the least, as I've just opened a letter from credit card company informing me that they have increased my credit limit and that it is already available to use! :mad: Now whilst they also offer the option to change this back to it's original, it's still a little bit irresponsible to make it available automatically because I am SURE there are plenty out there that would be jumping for joy at this and instantly rush out on a spending spree. I KNOW that's the soryt of people these companies rely on and that without them, we wouldn't be able to get cashback on all our spends but it's still a bit annoying. It isn't even as though the increase is a couple of hundred pounds, either, they've increased my limit it by over £1,500! :eek: I could have a lovely new leather suite for that rather, than attempt to renovate my futon and still have my original credit amount available to me for something urgent, like umm... fly out to Nepal and visit Bails to help her solve her dilemma! :rotfl:

Breadmaker is on with ciabatta, first time I've tried making it, so it had better be good! I'm still on a use it up, eat from store cupboards & freezer challenge so I can keep the grocery spends down. Not sure how the budget will cope next year if prices keep escalating but I'll be back soon with some more figures for you: I found some of my 1999 challenge and was reading out the prices to SM last week over coffee. They were rather surprising figures!

mama67

Don't know if anyone else has mentioned this; or if it is Nationwide.

But my T€sco has the 500g packs of value British beef mince on a shelf ticket of 50p, the packs are unpriced.

There doesn't seem to be a limit on purchase either.

Hope that helps someone

xnatalie81x

I have been looking at bg energy save but you have to change tariff............ i am currently on websaver. Will it work out more expensive in the long run???????????

thriftylass

xnatalie81x wrote: »

... i managed to save 3255 in addition to living quite comfortably on 13,500!!!! (not including rent, childcare, water and debt payments) so this yr going to save 3000 and live on 12,500 - income is not actually lower but i work on base amounts ...

Just wondering, I see in your signature that you're dealing with your debt already, but do you use your savings then to pay off more?

xnatalie81x

Well as it was my first year i wasn't even sure if i would be able to save any money so i take my debt payments into my essential income. Now that i know i am capable of saving i will use it towards paying off my debts. I have invested some into my business but this will be paid back over next year.

I officially start my swimming lessons in Jan next year and i am just 8 bookings away from running at optimum (pay me, pool, other teachers, loan etc) so am doing extremely well! I do have to be careful tho as i cannot pay extra onto my debts and then if something goes wrong with car i will not be able to work! Or if an emergency happens i will need to call on this (my son got toxic shock last year b4 xmas and we needed extra money for car park etc so am very wary of having NOTHING to draw on) So, it will be a case of saving and then at the end of 2010 using half of total to pay off debts.(maybe in full and finals.....)