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

andromache_2

Helloooo lovely 4k'ers

I've been catching up on the thread and its so lovely to see everyone progressing with their projects! Good luck to all in all your endeavours :T and sorry I don't have time to comment on everyone.

I've been very very busy and have been spending lots of money on travel and so on so the budget has been hammered :rolleyes: but I've got lots of time to make it even out so I'm not worried yet! Need to update my signature when I have my spending diary to hand. Am hopefully spending the weekend holed up with my textbooks which should mean both that I will get back on top of things and I won't be spending :cool: Things are all going well though! Oh, and I got selected to represent my uni at the world championships for my hobby over Christmas which will be AMAZING :j

Off to do some work! Love to you all xxx

sophiesmum_2

Congratulations on your selection Andromache :T (is it a secret what activity you do?)

slowlyfading

I've been doing some sums this morning, and to fill this year's allowance in my ISA, I need to find another £3,228 to go in there! :eek: Now, I know realistically that I'm not going to fill it, but I'm going to try a lot harder to not spend money on stupid things, like takeaways and to aim to get at least £1,228 in there by the end of 09/10 financial year. Is this possible?

My bursary is £1000 a month, and my rent is £428 a month. The rest has to go on food, travel expenses, general entertainment and clothes etc. Now, the last month a lot more than it should have has gone on food and going out - when the BF comes over we normally go out for a meal at some point, and obviously I have to feed him "proper" meals when he's here - he likes meat in his meals whereas I'm happy with some soup! So, where £572 a month sounds like an awful lot, I don't quite know where its gone this last month :think: I have made a start on christmas presents, and there has been two birthdays in Oct, and I have a bit left in my current account, but maybe not as much as there should be!

So, the point of that ramble is I'm going to take a closer look at my expenses, and pull in the reigns even more if possible. Food is a big issue I think - I need to stop buying junk food and general crap which might help my diet too!

Right, now I've typed that down, I have to put it into action! :rotfl: it doesn't matter that I'm going shopping tomorrow....

Andromache -congrats! Am intrigued too
Nyk - that is true! I'm always in envy of people who can go out for meals all the time to nice restaurants! I should probably learn how to cook better

sf x x

cheerfulness4

Congratulations Andromache! :T I'm as intrigued as SM about your hobby, too.


Grandma247 - I'm determined to master crochet but still battling to learn. Mum treated me to the 'Happy Hooker' book, a crochet hook and wool, (I've a lovely mum ) so I've been hunched over the computer of late with the book on my lap and trying to follow it with the help of you.tube.
I 'got' knitting easily when I was a mere 4 years old but blowed if I can get my head round crochet at 46! I love crochet things, too.

I definitely agree that it will be relaxing (once I get it) and find knitting, x-stitch and scrapbooking are all brilliant at letting me wander off into my own little world for a time to relax.
Mum just treated me to some lovely old embroidery transfers off ebay (told you she was lovely) so I'm going to pretty up some pillowcases and hankerchieves over the winter months round the fire.

lyndasharp

Congratulations Andromache, I'm also intrigued about what you'll be doing...

Collected the new car yesterday H2B paid so it doesn't count from my budget - even though it was my fault that we bought it really. H2B's modern car has been sold and should be collected on Sunday, and it sold for more than the new car has cost, so slightly in profit! I drove Gertrude (the new car - it's H2B's name choice) back from Cheshire last night, and it was lovely I'd always like the older 'boxy' shaped mercs when I was growing up and so now we've got one :j Scary on diesel consumption, but the plan is to run it on vegetable oil. I am now very definitely a fan of automatics! It was just so comfortable and easy to drive. Just need to get the radio fixed, make sure there's something noisy to keep us awake when driving!

Bridesmaids dresses have arrived and they are fantastic!!!!

andromache_2

Thank you for the congratulations! I'm really excited It's a fairly insular activity where everyone who does it seriously knows everyone else so I didn't put it down initially for privacy/anonymity reasons. Since you're all so curious though it's debating... quite geeky I know but fun! I spend a lot of time competing/judging/teaching/organising competitions for it. The world championships are in Turkey so we'll be spending a few days in Istanbul once the competition's over; I'll have to work paying for that into my budget but the flights will be covered as part of the competition :cool: It's going to keep me very busy over the next couple of months preparing for it but it's all good stuff!

sf - I'm with you on the food, normally my food bills are really low but this term I've spent lots on not particularly healthy food just from stress/disorganisation. Hope you find a way of being more disciplined; it's not easy!

cheerfulness - 'Happy Hooker'?? :eek: lol! I love cross-stitching too; it's so relaxing. Good luck with learning crochet!

sophiesmum_2

Thanks for letting us know sounds like a lot of preparation work involved in it too,I can imagine that you would learn some really useful skills debating which would particularly benefit a career in law, which is what you are studying if I remember right.

grandma247

[QUOTE=cheerfulness4;


I 'got' knitting easily when I was a mere 4 years old but blowed if I can get my head round crochet at 46! I love crochet things, too.

I definitely agree that it will be relaxing (once I get it) and find knitting, x-stitch and scrapbooking are all brilliant at letting me wander off into my own little world for a time to relax.
Mum just treated me to some lovely old embroidery transfers off ebay (told you she was lovely) so I'm going to pretty up some pillowcases and hankerchieves over the winter months round the fire. [/QUOTE]


Cheerfulness are you trying to follow the way they hold the hook? I could never do that because like you I have knitted since I was very young (5 in my case) but did not learn to crochet until my first child was due. I hold the hook just like a knitting needle and the work becomes the other needle if that makes sense. I found the work comes out exactly the same without the contortions of the hands. I had some good graphics online a while ago I will try to find them.

Edited to say I forgot that I hold the yarn in my right hand just the way I knit. I am right handed and I found It too slow to put the yarn in my left hand like they show on the instructions, it leaves me feeling i need another hand.

Darnit_2

Hello folks. Haven't ever posted on this thread, but I did think about joining you at the start of the year, but it sounded too hard .

Anyway, things got worse for us over the year, but now feel a little better. I have decided to start limbering up for the new year challenge. Probably sounds a bit odd, but it is a bit like a diet, you have to get your cupboards sorted and your head into gear! I want to start my veg patch and do more cooking in new year, so I am going to start collecting recipies, sign up fo freecycle, gather things to sell, and all that sort of stuff now, ready for new year.

You are all such an inspiration! Good luck with thre rest of the year, and I bet most of you carry on!;)

Brighton_belle

Darnit - many of us started with a practise run and gradually built up to what we do now. So it's a great idea and consider you self part of the gang.
Thanks Lynne and everyone re lodgers thingy - the great news is that we have got someone very quickly who moves in the day the other leaves (next Monday). So financially very good news. And their deposit can be handed over to the one leaving, so all good. Gone for someone completely different this time.
Nyk - I don't know how you do all that with one turkey leg:T. Trouble is, meat is my weakness and i find it really hard to portion control that.

Andromache - how wonderful to get a trip to Turkey from your 'hobby'. A great skill to hone though.

SF - I agree with others, it is great that you are focussed on saving money, but don't get into feeling guilty - it is ok to value yourself and have treats like a night off from cooking. I think you are doing amazingly as a PGCE student to keep on top of your finances as you are.

Cheerfulness - I love your avatar, makes me laugh.