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

Savvy_sewing

Sophies Mum, I can see where you are coming from. I doubt that I will ever be able to own my own property since I went bankrupt.
I am living on 1/4 of what I used to live on. And I am happier. I just wish that it would be possible for BF and I to actually combine our lives togther properly. We are apart due to families really. I would like to be able to share more time with him then I do. But alas I cannot see the future changing any time soon.
(Thats why I am taking time off tonight and stopping with him for a few days extra this week. We take it in turns to stop at each others but it really is not the same, and Christmas we are seperated! which I hate. )

Skint_Lynne

Bails, I am thinking outside of the box here and this might be a totally off the wall idea: some country people hold barn dances. This is an outdoors type of venue, and if you were lucky enough to have a lovely day, it would be fab if the 'barn' was decorated properly. It would be cosy on a rainy day if it were a watertight barn. Could it be a cheaper option than a marquee? Could it work at all? I really don't know if is less expensive or practical or both?:o

Sophiesmum, you are right enough about the savings re: quality of life thing. It seems as if the government penalise you if you save up in some respects, so enjoy life with your savings now and as you have paid into the system, you are entitled to help in your old age.

Vixstar

Mooloo I did wonder if you'd want to keep the books. And I appreciate the difficulty of getting craft books. I don't think there is much else you can do to keep the prices down. I really miss the mill shop I used to live near they sold material by weight and in the sales there were amazing bargains. Got red velvet for some curtains and it ended up costing £3, bought 50cm of red velour for my brothers Xmas present the other days and it was around £4

sophiesmum_2

Mooloo - sometimes you just have to be a bit selfish and think of yourself first. Kids grow up, make their own lives and move on , and if you haven't made the effort to put time into your relationship with OH it might suffer along the way. Good on you for making time for yourselves amongst everyone elses needs.

Savvy_sewing

Vixstar, I used to send away for material years ago, when I was making the childrens clothes etc. Had masses of fabric from Croft Mills, butthey are gone. Used to buy from tiny swatches or just a picture. But when I went off into the last Pub in 2005 I gave it all away to Northampton College!.
Ah well, daughter has just arrived so I better go. Catch you all up later. xx

Kittikins

Bails - I second the M&S wedding cake idea, it's what I had, one layer of fruit and one of sponge and was deeelish, I think we just put one on top of the other without pillars, and we had it as pudding with lots of lovely berries and cream so it saved on having that course as a big fancy pud and then everyone trying to stuff in cake or taking a piece home (never see the point of that myself, I'd rather eat it fresh! same with the parties DD goes to, why get a piece of cake wrapped in a napkin, why not eat it there and then?!)

slowlyfading

Evening everyone.

Suppose I should do some sort of update! Today is my 4th NSD out of 4 days for November, so I'm pretty pleased with that I even walked to school this morning in torrential rain to avoid forking out for a taxi to take me lol :rotfl: that's probably quite sad, but it takes me 40 mins to walk to the school, and a taxi would charge me at least £5 so it isn't worth it really. Although, by the time I got to school this morning I was actually dripping, my trousers were sticking to me and I might as well not bothered with make up or anything! :rotfl:

Yesterday was my first full lesson which actually didn't go as planned, but had my second today with a really difficult low ability class, and it went really really well :j they all behaved well, which is surprising as 2 of them in there are notorious for really bad behaviour, they all did the work, and i had every single one of them out to the board to write answers, and then we did some singing along to a Lion King clip to end with which they all really enjoyed. I'm so happy! I really really like being in front of a class, which, to be honest, surprises me a bit. I'm not the most outgoing of people, but I really do like it.

My aims for November are to just keep spends as low as possible, but also to try and get most of the Christmas shopping out of the way, which may make the first aim a bit tricky! I have a few deadlines and the mountain of lesson planning/evaluations/observations to keep on top of as well, plus being in school, so i really shouldn't have that much time to spend anyway.

On the savings re: the quality of life - i think that you have to treasure the time you have, but getting the balance of that right is hard. After having a family member die in June from cancer, another close friend of ours is going through treatment, and my friend's bf's dad has just been diagnosed with bone cancer, it really has shown me even more that time is SO precious, and you never ever know how long you've got here. My BF comes on the weekend, so I work doubly hard during the week so I can spend as much time with him as possible. I think that having financial security is important, but it shouldn't be THE most important thing, iyswim? I know what i mean anyway

Bails - I think considering an M&S cake is a good idea - I've had a couple of birthday cakes from there, and I know its not quite the same but they were lovely and well worth the price!

Hope everyone is having a good evening x x

lyndasharp

Hooray, I've figured out how to post a picture of a spreadsheet. Here's our wedding budget - slight changes to make as cake should be 0 (present from friends) and welcome drinks are much cheaper - but the booze for the guests at the meal is much more expensive!

the_cat

Hi guys I have a question - I know that there is a garden forum and have asked there but I suspect you guys will appreciate where I am coming from and I would value your opinions

I have recently reached the top of the list and am going to view my prospective allotment on Sunday

Full of enthusiasm I have been reading a couple of books from the library and also some gardening forums. Worryingly there seems to be a lot of talk of buying this and that and I am concerned that it seems pretty expensive. I am expecting to pay out a bit in set up costs obviously but although I will probably enjoy it, I would primarily be doing it as a cost cutting exercise.

So the million dollar question is........ will an allotment save me money?
I have over the past year fairly consistently had a decent supply of whoopsies which makes the sums even more tricky. There is no guarantee that these would still be available though.........

looby-loo_2

the_cat wrote: »

Hi guys I have a question - I know that there is a garden forum and have asked there but I suspect you guys will appreciate where I am coming from and I would value your opinions

I have recently reached the top of the list and am going to view my prospective allotment on Sunday

Full of enthusiasm I have been reading a couple of books from the library and also some gardening forums. Worryingly there seems to be a lot of talk of buying this and that and I am concerned that it seems pretty expensive. I am expecting to pay out a bit in set up costs obviously but although I will probably enjoy it, I would primarily be doing it as a cost cutting exercise.

So the million dollar question is........ will an allotment save me money?
I have over the past year fairly consistently had a decent supply of whoopsies which makes the sums even more tricky. There is no guarantee that these would still be available though.........

I only pay £10 a year for mine. Some years I have more time so I grow more. It certainly saves me money by growing and freezing or jamming soft fruit. By the time the tomatoes are ready they are quite cheap in the shops but the taste is just so good. And I hardly buy any veg from July to Oct even when I don't do more than have a quick hour here and there - runner beans, carrots, beetroot, french beans, leeks, onions all grow on their own once planted.

As for buying a lot of fancy tools and equipment, well just don't. Ask around. Lots of people wil have an old tool or two which they have replace but haven't thrown away yet. Also, try car boot sales, they will only be 50p - £2 or so.

If I were starting from scratch right now I would buy:
Digging spade
Digging fork
Hand trowel
Rake
Tie a piece of string between two short sticks to make a straight line for planting seeds
Canes for runner beans - or prunings from shrubs if you have them
Netting for crop protection held down with
tent pegs
Watering can

May be a hoe (but I like hoeing)

I'm off to think, might add more later, most other things can be improvesed. (compost bin = pallets)

And the best bit is whilst you are on the garden you wont be in the shops!