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

bails

I was definitely in tears too 2TR, it is WONDERFUL news! I am so glad we and especially Sophiesmum were able to help you a little over this time. Wishing you all the best of luck for the future ahead and sending love and best wishes to your mum. It is so incredible that she could hear you and that's what made her fight - I am never going to forget that.

It certainly makes you think doesn't it? Especially when I am so far away from home... Luckily I can speak to my family regularly from here as it's so cheap (still haven't quite got Skype to work yet :rolleyes:).

SM, really hope your worries ease soon xx

It's so lovely to read how this thread is helping everyone to cope and make the most of their situations. Well done to all of us for being so wonderful :T:rotfl:

So, the [STRIKE]daylight robbery[/STRIKE] wedding quote... I've managed to shave £1,312.34 off (or for Nyk's eyes £1310 ) - those pennies are important to me right now :eek: Yes, that does mean the cost is MASSIVE!! I'm also working on a discount, plus intend to use a cashback credit card, check they're not on a cashback site, pay early to avoid 17.5% tax next year and any other MS scheme you can possibly remind me of! I cannot quite believe I am considering shelling out such large amounts of money...:eek::rolleyes:

Depressingly, I had another look at the lightning budget I cobbled together soon after OH proposed, and it's way out on most things (where's the baby chucking its toys out its pram smiley when you need it?) A few things have been reduced with research - phew! - but basically a marquee wedding is so not the MS way to go. To add to the pressure, I've just found out we're almost certainly getting a lot less than anticipated from the inlaws - approx 10% of what my parents are giving us. Please don't get me wrong, I am very grateful for anything, honestly, it's just a little blow. So the honest situation is that I am currently £5055 short of the current budget - yes, I know, it's completely ludicrous how much these things cost!!! :eek: *insert fainting smiley here* And no, this doesn't include some amazing honeymoon (or any honeymoon actually). But fear not, the Wedding Monster hasn't won yet...

thriftylass

bails wrote: »

...... So the honest situation is that I am currently £5055 short of the current budget - yes, I know, it's completely ludicrous how much these things cost!!! :eek: *insert fainting smiley here* And no, this doesn't include some amazing honeymoon (or any honeymoon actually). But fear not, the Wedding Monster hasn't won yet...

Just out of curiosity what do you have in mind for your wedding (with dinner and reception ?, how many people ? etc.) and how much is the total budget? If you don't want to post this here just PM me. Just interested for personal reason (not that anything is imminent )

lyndasharp

bails wrote: »

So the honest situation is that I am currently £5055 short of the current budget - yes, I know, it's completely ludicrous how much these things cost!!! :eek: *insert fainting smiley here* And no, this doesn't include some amazing honeymoon (or any honeymoon actually). But fear not, the Wedding Monster hasn't won yet...

Yikes! You could nearly pay for our entire wedding with the amount you are short by! :eek: Well, OK, maybe the wedding without the band and the drinks I think it's coming in at around £7500 for the whole thing, with hopefully £2k from my Dad (under discussion!) and £500 from my Nan it leaves us £5k to pay for.

I'm also hoping to pay before the VAT increase...

taka

2ndTR - I'm so glad to read your post. Thanks for letting us know. I hope your mum's recovery continues as well as possible... she is obviously a very strong person. Your post brought tears to my eyes.

SM - I hope you get through whatever your personal stuff is ok. (((Hugs))) if thats any help...

cw18 wrote: »

Nyk - I was going to say that if you're not on much more than the State Pension you'd be entitled to Pension Credit and Housing/Council Tax Benefit. BUT they'd count your savings against you, so anything about £6k that you've squirreled away would have to be used instead!!

Its now £10k apparently!

Bails - :eek: Wow! Getting married is expensive isn't it? :eek: What sort of thing are you looking at? Is it the venue of choice, the number of people or something else that is making it more than you had hoped or is it all the smaller costs just adding up rather scarily?

slowlyfading

2TR - so glad to hear from you, and pleased about your mum i hope she continues to improve, and she's so lucky to have you around x x

cheerfulness4

Flippin heck Bails - glad I'm not getting married these days.
In honesty we had a very MS wedding (before I even knew about MS!) and it was delightful.
We had 65 guests and everyone pitched in and shared out the catering, making the dresses, bouquets, flowers etc. I think it was so magical just because it was full of real friends and family in a really relaxed little hall which was made beautiful for us by our friends.
Loved my wedding day and was best decision I ever made to marry my lovely hubby, even if he is a soppy socks that follows happily in all my madcap adventures to save the pence.

SM - wish I was as organised as you with all my toiletries sorted, just soap for now. Loo rolls are a real pain to buy as they fly out the door here with the men folk in my house, as does deodorant.

I reckon I spend more on keeping us clean then on keeping us full. :rolleyes:

Vixstar

2TR glad to hear your news.

Frugaldom

CW - Do they count in ISA savings when assessing eligibility for state pension top ups? I can't understand all the jargon relating to tax relief, percentages and compounding interest etc, all I really want to know is if I am better off saving what I can in ISAs in the hope of affording a place to live one day or saving into ISAs so I can afford to pay rent when I retire. It seems such a stupid question to ask on the other boards, they are a bit intimidating when it comes to a non-tax-payer asking question. Seems most responses are to change my lifestyle and get a better paid job so I can afford to umm... retire from it and live the way I do now?? I just want an easy answer - I like the way I live now and don't want to change it, I earn very little, I spend very little, what do I save anything extra for in the longterm? (I've already considered the 'blow it all on a world cruise' option. :rotfl:)

HH62

2TR - best wishes to you and your family.


Did my food shop today (yesterday was NS :j).
Went to M & S and my actual spend was £11 because I had quite a lot of vouchers. I need to go to the farm shop tomorrow but I've got the basics for my meals for the rest of the week. I'm going to do some serious menu planning over the next few days and start to cook a lot more myself.
I made up a big chilli con carne this afternoon, should get about 6 servings out of it, with a base of 200g of mince.

So, £11 is my only spend today and I'll aim to spend no more than £10 at the farm shop tomorrow. They have fantastic home grown root veg, love the sprouts and celeriac, and also they sell very good local bacon and cream and butter (this is dairy cow country!).

Skint_Lynne

Good afternoon/evening all,

I had an unexpected day at home today, I was meant to be going to Newcastle, but when I went out to the car, I discovered a flat tyre.:mad:

I drove carefully to the nearest filling station, pumped it up and drove to the nearest tyre fitting place. They wanted £80 for a basic tyre ad £90 for a better one. I made my excuses and left.

Then went to another place, £45 for basic and £63 for a g00dyear. After consulting the money man at work, I went for the g00dyear as this was better value in the long run. I ended up needing 2 and a wheel balance, so it was expensive for my work, but not for me, (although initially, I needed to pay and will claim back).

It's a good job the tyre was flat, cause there were 2 nails in it, so a nasty blow out on the motorway was avoided.:eek:

Re: the wedding costs, why not be like me and have a regy office doo and then a meal. Saves a lot of hassle, (and cash).:D Only kidding, I hope you have a wonderful day, bails, I'm sure it will be fantastic. We opted for this type of day because we had lived together for 10 years and I have never been into big weddings. I love going to other people's weddngs but have never been into being the centre of attention myself.

Glad mum is on the mend 2TR.

Will check in later guys. xx