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

cw18

Brighton_belle wrote: »

er... "multi quote button":o

If you click on that on one post and then the "Quote" button on another, your reply box will be populated with the text in BOTH the posts you selected.......

bails

SFT, I feel differently actually. It was a perfectly reasonable request and the response suggests an issue on the part of the owners, not anything you should feel embarrassed or worried about. Perhaps they get asked this a lot (and understandably so) and for whatever reason, haven't done anything about it. An enquiry of what items are available to you during your break is a simple request for information not a comment on your lifestyle. And if you were a couch potato, which you're not in the slightest, that would be fine too as you are after all paying to hire their place to do whatever you like there. (I'm aware this may sound arsey which is not how I'm writing it, just explaining my thoughts). I hope you have a wonderful time!

Your sister is on the mortgage-free path too :T My brother has continued to pay his mortgage at the same rate despite it dropping loads, which is what I would've done too had I been in work :rolleyes:, and he also has a lump sum offset against it which makes a big difference. All these things are distant dreams for me right now but are definitely on the list to start as soon as we're settled into jobs and budget :j

cheerfulness4

bails wrote: »

SFT, I feel differently actually. It was a perfectly reasonable request and the response suggests an issue on the part of the owners, not anything you should feel embarrassed or worried about. Perhaps they get asked this a lot (and understandably so) and for whatever reason, haven't done anything about it. An enquiry of what items are available to you during your break is a simple request for information not a comment on your lifestyle. And if you were a couch potato, which you're not in the slightest, that would be fine too as you are after all paying to hire their place to do whatever you like there.

I was thinking exactly the same. Nothing wrong with a bit of tv when you've had a tiring day exploring, after all.

whitewing

I am another fan of 'cinema nights in' on holiday after a day out. If you can't chill out on holiday, when can you. On our weddingmoon last year, DH and DS must have watched 'Mr Bean's holiday' about three times. When we do finally get all our passports and the budget sorted, DH wants to take DS (and me!) to recreate the route that Mr Bean took. We probably will do this at some point, but even if we don't, we have had such fun dreaming about it, because we've had the time and space on holiday to consider it.

Good morning, all!

Frugaldom

Good morning

Re the fleeces, bubblwrap and all the other winter preparations, I've just been helping myself to ideas off the 'preparing for winter' thread, I think I've linked it to first page now (post 3), but will double check. We can't get such wonderful bargains like £2 fleeces (or 2 for £3 I believe they have come down to now!) but I have a neighbour who can, so I asked SM nicely if she'd pick me up some from her local A$da and bring them up here when she was coming. Rather than sew into curtains, I used stickyback velcro on the windowframes and on the fleeces, so mine are hung more like blinds than curtain linings. They make a HUGE difference in the temperature for a house like ours, as do the curtains and draught excluders at the doors and the bubblewrap 'double glazing' over the skylight windows. I'm hoping that it'll save me a bit on electricity as, despite it being cold and frosty outside, I still haven't needed to switch on the main storage heater yet.

Yesterday's bargain buy from my trip to Ald! was cereal - double sized boxes at 1kg for 99p, so I now have 2 kgs cornflakes and 2 kg crunchy nut cornflakes. This is the trouble with my budget! I am buying stuff now that will last for months, well into next year or even all of next year, in the case of pasta. Trading is also having a big impact as I'm making and baking much more and 'selling' about £10 worth of food most weeks as well as trading for other stuff. I can see that it's balancing out overall with grocery spends - If I gain £10 of meat products but 'sell' the equivalent in egg based products, I'm still gaining, because what I am 'selling' isn't costing me £10, iyswim. Despite struggling with my grocery budget this year, I might actually be able to reduce it next year, as more and more people begin trading through LETS.

SFT - I agree with the others who find your question re DVD perfectly reasonable, I would have asked the exact same question and assumed they had a problem judging by their response. Of course, we can't overlook the possibility that their religion forbids TV, I have several friend like that. And funnily enough, the first person who springs to mind has no religious grounds for not having had a TV/DVD but she does now live in France. :rotfl:

Postman just brought letter from Intelligent Finance (my crumby ISA) announcing another interest rate cut! :mad: It also says that from November 1st, any future increases will be announced in 3 national papers - Daily Mail, The Times and The Telegraph (I don't read any of them) but they'll continue to send letters notifying of any reductions! I guess 3 little ads in those nationals could now cost less than letter contact, which could mean HalifaxBOS (who own IF) could have got a really good deal for their advertising, which means the newspapers could be really struggling, which probably means best not to invest in printed media but could also mean HalifaxBoS NEEDS to drastically cut their costs AND points towards their having very little faith in the current postal system... could this mean the beginning of the end for the Royal Mail? Hmm...
Sorry, just the way my brain functions, please don't quote me on any of that... :rotfl:

bails

Nyk, you do make me laugh!

So, any thoughts on the meet? BB and I were talking about it last night and would love for it to happen...anyone else still game?

Blairweech

Thanks for the info nyk, [STRIKE]when[/STRIKE] if I get time I will make sure to check out the thread and do my winterizing.

Work is so so so so busy this week. I am now on 12 hour shifts for the rest the week, and probably Sunday too.

My project for the week is to sort out my kitchen, have broken the list down into several tasks and so far have cleaned out one drawer. Oh well, Rome was not built in a day!

savingfortravel

Thanks everyone for those lovely messages of support. Not religious folk but apparently educated and not ones for TV!
Today has been very bizarre..had a few dramas with children and heard an interesting revelation which might influence my own future (but in a good way). My classroom was absolutely freezing today so I'm wrapping up warm tomorrow.
Had a good session at the gym to get the school day out of my system. Just finished 140 pieces of marking and about to go to bed for a read.
Roll on half term!!

A meet?


I've got another star!!!!!!!!!!!! I am a serious money saving fan!!!!!!!!!!! (Can anyone tell me why its happened at 758 posts? I'm not complaining, just a little confused?)


SFT

Skint_Lynne

Maybe the powers that be thought you were a special person who deserved a star, I think it usually happens at 900 posts for that reward.

You do deserve it anyway. xx

Not a lot going on here, just a working day, I did not spend anything myself, just newspapers for mum this morning and allegedly, I'll get the money back for these.:rolleyes:

Will check in later. xx

Brighton_belle

ooh, sounds intreging sft "revelations...". You should have got a star on 750 posts I think. Congrats anyway. I was thrilled when I went up to 4 star staus recently. As for a meet - perhaps you were travelling when this was originally discussed but there is talk of a frugal gathering in scotland next year near nyk/sm's.
Blair - you're right, rome wasn't built in a day but if you slowly chip away at jobs it all mounts up. I'm amazed what i have achieved this year by doing a little job at a time: I've altered our kitchen, with a little help from builders and reorganised and decorated there and now every room in the house. Created a lovely bedroom from a junk room come study and streamlined so much. Still got to tackle the attic which i started and has now got out of control again but I know I will get there. I wouldn't have believed I would get this all done this year. Sometimes I just 10 mins a day on some of the tasks, chipping away.

Todays frugal achievement is to ring ntl and manage to get an upgrade of our internet speed for a £5 reduction per month on what we pay now:D.
On the down side, I've had the boiler serviced and I hadn't accounted for that. But it could be potentially money saving in the end as the boiler is nearly 3 yrs old and I want to look after it and not have emergency call outs. I also had my haircut again in the shop which is a 3rd of the price of where I used to have it done.
Thanks very much cw for putting me on the right road for the multiquote button: must try it out.