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

lilac_lady

Congratulations to all of you who managed to stick to your budget this year and to those who tried.

I've not been able to post till recently so didn't complete the challenge. I'll never be able to catch up with all the posts (my PC went awol for a while) but I see that you're all still here and posting to encourage us.

Wishing everyone a healthy, happy and prosperous 2010.

Frugaldom

sophiesmum wrote: »

...I still need to transplant all my fruit bushes, rhubarb crowns and strawberry plant to frugaldom once the frosts clear too

That should be about mid-May 2010, if this year was anything to go by - we had frost until 2nd week in May and then gales and then a heatwave the 3rd week! :rotfl:But I think the fruit bushes and rhubarb crowns can go into frozen ground - I'm hoping Aldi get their ultra-cheap fruit trees back in this coming January so I can plant a couple more trees rather than risk veggies being scoffed by chickens, ducks and marauding sheep. :rolleyes: My raspberry bushes were a complete disaster last year, so I think it will be spuds, broccolli, cauliflower, onions, beetroot, peas, lettuce and just a couple of tomato amd pepper plants this year, plus my strawberries. I've also got my herbs to grow on for drying.

Can anyone remember who it was that tried growing rice in a paddling pool earlier this year? JTB, I think they posted about it on your lottie thread. Speaking of lotties, HS got a book about allotment keeping for his Christmas, so he's no excuse for not getting stuck into veggie growing. He was put in charge of composting last year, so let's hope that's working out alright, despite there being a mouse that appears to live in one of his compost bins! :rotfl:

mah_jong

Its been a while since I have posted and I have not got access to MSmoney to update my spending.

However I did pay off my mortgage this year and saving is just so much easier. It really does change your outlook. Most of my income is MINE.

I did some gardening, growing fruit and veg BUT there is an on going family situation that means I have not the time any longer to commit to this. Fingers crossed for an early resolution. I think potatoes in bags will be the only thing I will grow next year

Do I think I have spent less than 4K ....OH yes. Update to follow

BigMummaF

sophiesmum wrote: »

Lol - think DD could do with one of thse notebooks Nyk :rotfl:
....Now I am impatient to get the snow away and be able to start planting early seedlings:o
I still need to transplant all my fruit bushes, rhubarb crowns and strawberry plant to frugaldom once the frosts clear too

Perhaps you could begin a notebook for DD's birthday or something :rolleyes:
When do you actually emigrate to Frugaldonia SM? And have you worked on your speech for the lovely residents you care for so well; they will surely miss you! I'm dreading a day if ever my cousin's primary key-worker ever decides to move on ...

grandma247

sophiesmum wrote: »

BMF - At work just before the snow we were issued with instructions for our path/snow clearing. Previous years we have just gone out and chucked grit on our footpath/car park without any incidents whatsoever. This year we were forbidden to do this, we now have to get a contractor with £2,000000 insurance to do it :rolleyes:OR leave it untouched but advise residents by a sign or by word of mouth that the area is slippy - after that it is their own choice to use the path or not.:rolleyes:
Apparently if I grit the path and then someone falls they could sue me personally as I would have contributed to the state of the path

I heard someone say that last week and I didn't believe them. Another example of the lunatics running the assylum. In some countries you can be fined if you do not clear your path.

sophiesmum_2

BigMummaF wrote: »

Perhaps you could begin a notebook for DD's birthday or something :rolleyes:
When do you actually emigrate to Frugaldonia SM? And have you worked on your speech for the lovely residents you care for so well; they will surely miss you! I'm dreading a day if ever my cousin's primary key-worker ever decides to move on ...

We're hoping for the end of June once DD finishes her exams at college, so i think about 6 months,26 and 1/2 weeks or 187 days - Out of which there will be 26 weekends ,8 days leave carried forward from 2009 and 25 days leave for 2010 plus 2 days Easter bank Hols, and 2 days May bank hols so just 98 days left to work :j:j:j(not that I'm counting or anything :rotfl:)

Re the oldies - difficult one, I have started dropping a few hints in readiness to lessen the shock, and have started to try and make them take ownership of some of the activities I currently do with them.It will be hard when the time comes as I do love my job BUT I want to move to frugaldom more
At the moment I have a foot in both places but I know where my heart lies and it helps that the neighbour is as barking mad as me lol :rotfl:

shaz_mum_of__2

grandma247 wrote: »

I heard someone say that last week and I didn't believe them. Another example of the lunatics running the assylum. In some countries you can be fined if you do not clear your path.

Just a quickie . i listened to a radio show with a solicitor on once and he said if you had a letterbox thyen you are inviting the postie in and if he has an accident on your property then you are liable

drying mango pineapple and a berry.apple fruit leather today nor spent a penny since last monday(21st) i think thats a record for me!!

Done a spreadsheet ready for 2010 i have done a monthly totals on one page and 12 pages of breakdowns ....................i plan to keep a more itemised track of expenditure this time rather than just "grocery" or "utility" not great with excel but have done something that will work for us (i think:o)

cw18

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

Just a quickie . i listened to a radio show with a solicitor on once and he said if you had a letterbox thyen you are inviting the postie in and if he has an accident on your property then you are liable

But it's actually illegal to NOT have a letterbox (or mail box), as the RM can then be accused of withholding your mail - which is an offence in itself

jtb2412

Hi everyone, hope you've all had a lovely Xmas xx

We had a wonderful pre-christmas 4 days at mum and dad's and got to see lots of family members - always a special time for us . I hit middle age too but managed to suppress that fact with a few glasses of wine/bubbly (hic !) Now having a lovely quiet few days here at home, DH on holiday too so we're just chillaxing, not doing much and enjoying the festive food and drink (back on the diets with a vengeance in a few days :rotfl:).

Bails, sorry to hear about your OHs loss, sending love and thoughts your way xx

NYK I know who it was with the rice but can't remember her name on here (she's on FB so will give her a shout ).

I've been skim reading (as usual ) so apologies for not keeping entirely up to date with everything.

Looking forward to starting the new year with a fresh spreadsheet for spending/saving and we'll be starting a new garden project seeing as it's more than likely we'll lose the allotment sometime next year (not likely to get another one for a couple of years :mad:). We have dug a good third of the allotment though and have some things in already (onions, garlic, rhubarb, gooseberries, strawbs and potatoes will be going in too) so it'll be kept on for the meantime, but no real effort will be going into it as it will be a complete waste of time. We'll just keep it ticking over until such time comes that we have to vacate. Hopefully the garden will be ready by then and everything will be grown here at home which will reduce food miles even more ! I shall have to use the space very efficiently to ensure we can grow as much as we did last year :rolleyes:.

Work-wise, my notice will be handed in on 4th January so my last working day will be 28th (if memory serves me right). Just in time to start seedlings etc off . I know they're going to protest and if I'm honest, I don't think they'll be able to get anyone in quick enough for me to train up before I go, but I can't think of that otherwise I'll never leave .

Popped out today to get a new WM (programmer has been going on our old one for quite some time now and instead of it getting a bit muddled occasionally, now none of the programmes work correctly :rolleyes:). Got a very good deal in Curr** and by shopping around managed to save £40 on what we were originally going to pay by buying from another retailer, plus about a fiver in petrol :T. Need a new dishwasher too but that'll have to wait until end Jan :rolleyes:.

I think that's all our news (bit boring really ) so all that remains is for me to wish every one of you a happy and prosperous 2010 (just in case I don't get on here before the New Year celebrations) .......... see you all over on the other thread !

Lastly a huge thanks to NYK for doing this challenge and keeping most of us on the straight and narrow (I promise I'll do better next year ). Well done to all of you who have succeeded with the challenge and big thanks from me for all the motivational messages and posts this thread has given everyone over the last year ......... it's fantastic !! :j

Frugaldom

mah_jong wrote: »

Its been a while since I have posted and I have not got access to MSmoney to update my spending.

However I did pay off my mortgage this year and saving is just so much easier. It really does change your outlook. Most of my income is MINE.

:T:j:beer: Well done! Hope to see you back in our midst for 2010, although we'll then be located in a rorlorn little corner of MSE forums called 'How Much have You Saved?'. It's about the second from last thread in the entire MSE forum but I'm sure we can creat e a rumble in that jungle and bring it all to life.