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

Skint_Lynne

Hi folks,

I'm not long in, have done a wee bit of christmas shopping tonight, so I am getting there. I'll need to put everything into the hampers for the folk that are getting these to make sure that I don't need to buy too much of anything else, then it will be just the home made stuff to go into them.

I've still to get a couple of things, me and sister 1 are halfing for the other sisters prezzie. It's better to get her something she wants instead of random stuff for the sake of it I guess, and I could not afford it on my own, so this is a better solution.

I'm so tired tonight, not slept well for the last couple so hoping for a good one tonight. My appointment to Manchester tomorrow has been cancelled, so am working from home, I am so sad.:D

Cheryl and Blairweech, I hope you are both feeling okay after your accidents, what a shame.

Will check in later guys, sorry for lack of posts, normal service will resume after the hectic festive season. xx

bails

Hope you're okay today CW x Blair, sounds dangerous at your work right now! :eek: There seem to be lot of accidents at the mo, take care everyone!

Puppy doing well, sat on my lap chewing her foot while I type; FAR too cute We are trying everything to find a home for her;people don't think of animals in the same way here.

We've booked the venue for our wedding so we can now send out Save the Dates (by email where possible of course ). Suit and waistcoats being ordered on Saturday. Getting there with it all

OH is worried about money- this is a good thing in one sense, but if we're not careful will mean we get home in about a week instead of 3 months as he'll be too worried to spend anything :rolleyes: Always extremes eh? I have a contingency plan up my sleeve, of course...;)

Just to declare now, 2010 and 2011 will be the years I have some (considered - thanks BB) debt to pay back. Fortunately I am not worried about this as I know I can manage just fine thanks to you guys xx

Oh, and the school are offering me a job this week - just need to see what theT&Cs are as to whether I accept or keep looking when I get back

cw18

bails wrote: »

Oh, and the school are offering me a job this week - just need to see what theT&Cs are as to whether I accept or keep looking when I get back

See..... told you they had to be impressed with you to undertake the long-distance interviews :j

Congratulations, and I hope the T&Cs are suitable :T

Frugaldom

Morning guys,

Congratulations, Bails!

CW and Blairweech, hope you're each recovering well and I also hope BB is still OK after her car accident.

Off out soon as it's monthly LETS meeting and trading session in town then I'm off to see DD's new house. All's quiet here as nobody else is up yet! DS is on late shifts and HS just doesn't do early mornings. :rolleyes: Maybe it's true about not teaching old dogs new tricks!

Catch up with everyone later this afternoon - wonder what goodies I'll come home with from LETS?

Savvy_sewing

Not had time to read up, DGD is taking it all up. When I had my MrA order the other day they substituted my pork chops and I got two very thick ones, so last night I cut them in half so that I had something for me for yesterday, and some to surve up tonight when DD and DS are home!! Previously I would have just eaten a thicker chop!. Had homemade soup for lunch too. From veg from the garden. Had to buy Nappies, £8.99 in C)(p,!! So I will be going else where to get them in future.!
Going to see what the Mums and Tots group is like today. Wont know a soul but there you go.!
Still nothing from SS about funding for DGD.

Brighton_belle

Yes thanks Nyk - I am fine after the accident. Just glad I was able to see him coming and prevent whiplash. I'm just very busy with sorting OH affairs at the mo and fitting in work and a few family committments.

Just dropped OH at work: he's really poorly but wouldn't take the day off.

Don't have the spare energy to comment on everyones posts which is why I am not posting much, but definitely reading. Bit alarmed at speed and number of newbies on next years thread: can't imaging keeping up with that!
Think I am going to be spending last years xmas gift ofM^rk& 5pen vouchers on some foody xmas pressies for rellies and a birthday book token ditto. That is the rest of xmas presents taken care of and I don't have to spend any 'money.

thriftylass

Blairweech wrote: »

Am having my works Christmas dinner tomorrow - we get paid time and a half to eat it , so not having to worry about dinner tomorrow.

cw18 wrote: »

Enjoy your dinner tomorrow Blair - mine's Thursday...No 1.5x for us, but we do get a 'christmas present' - and reading between the lines it sounds like it could be a small hamper of some sorts

Our christmas dinner is on Friday. We have the 'privilege' to sit through 8 hours of talks of our dept group heads (that are usually the same every year AND we hear them throughout the year on a weekly basis :eek:) before we get our free christmas dinner (this year we'll bring our own wine though because theirs is undrinkable - only took us 4 years to come up with that idea ). Could be worse, at least it's free

A big hug and "Get well soon" to all those who had accidents recently, unfortunately there seem to be a lot

FrankieM

Morning,
Another day of getting on top of things planned for me.
I'm amazed at how many dishes there are to wash considering its a 'children's job!
Washing bedlinen and towels and tablecloth and teatowels. Also going to go through the cds etc to see if any can be sold on musicmagpie.
I'm going to try to do my uni course without having to get any student loans, which means I'm going to have to get a part time evening job cause I've got other debts to pay off too. Unfortunately there is nothing on the jobcentre plus site in my area at the moment but I'll keep looking. I was wondering whether agencies were any good at that kind of thing, does anyone have any experience?

bailsWell done on the job

mooloo Hope extra finance finds its way to you to help you out. Enjoy mums and tots

bails

Frankie, it may be worth taking out the student loans and sticking them somewhere to earn yourself some interest I don't know what current interest rates are to know if this is worth your while, some of the others will though. Every penny helps! This is most definitely going to be my motto when I get back At the moment I am waiting to find out if I can save £5 on the ceremony part of the wedding - only £5 but will go a long way It's these smaller amounts that really add up, and is essentially how I funded this trip

Thanks for the congrats about the job peeps - I was actually offered this last week at the same time as coming second for the other job. They're hoping to retain my skills for future expansion, but the job I'd be doing is quite different (and much less well paid) in the interim. I would still like to work there so if the conditions are right...

I was going to say I'd kill for a Christmas dinner, but actually I wouldn't :rotfl:

thriftylass

Good afternoon,

Had some time to fiddle with my numbers for 2010 and thought I already put them up (although it's another 3 weeks to go) so I can't chicken out and adjust them . Sorry haven't figured out yet how to post excel tables

month year my part or for both of us

towards mortgage and insurances 500.00 6000.00 me
electricity 50.00 600.00 us
cat insurance 8.30 99.60 us
storage 26.38 316.56 me
mobile top-up 10.00 120.00 me

food 140.00 1680.00 us
household 40.00 480.00 us
cat food 24.00 288.00 us
misc. (pressies, clothes, treats, petrol etc.) 101.32 1215.84 me
going out 100.00 1200.00 me

budget 500.00 6000.00

NSD Target 15d/month

Savings Target ~40-45% of my income towards a deposit, rainy day and holidays (well one of us has to save, as for BF it’s still just talk, Grrrrr) This year I spent more than "budgeted" but was still able to save 30-35% of my income.

So next year my budget will be 12k all in or 6k without my share of the bills (mortgage) that goes to BF. This will be 2k more than my overeager starting budget from 2009 but still 1,5k less than I probably spent this year. We contribute both roughly the same to bills etc because: BF is paying the various insurances as they're connected to his mortgage
He also pays for the car as it's his and only he uses it. Whenever we go to Glasgow or else I give him petrol money that is covered in misc. The landline/internet/TV is also paid by BF and in total the insurance and phone etc are roughly the same to what I pay in groceries, hh, cat insurance, leccy and a percentage of my mortgage/ins. contributions. That was on of my little breakthroughs to have him sit down last year and work out an even split of these things because I didn't want to underpay.

Storage is unavoidable til we move (hopefully next year), as we still don't have the space for my stuff (don't want to think what I paid for that over the last 4 years).
Going out seems high but we like meeting friends for a drink in the pub or taking a bottle to someone’s house, I don't want to change that much unless I have to. But I'll try to be more frugal about it i.e. drink less or buy rather in advance than in the corner shop etc. But that's definitely the one I have to watch most.

I also think I'll have different accounts next year for things like one for hh, food and catfood as I mainly order that online. And I'll take out my monthly allowance for going out.

All in all I have great hopes that my second year here will work out better and I stick to my guns.

Sorry for the long post