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

FrankieM

Evening,
I got out into the garden today. Found some carrots and potatoes...yay! Just got the blackberries to cut back and then to tidy up the front garden.
Went into town and watched the Christmas Lights get turned on and some fireworks...in the rain!
Sausages cooking which may or may not end up being tea....DH not feeling like them so I may have to rethink.
Had to spend my emergency £20 on some fuel, bummer! Oh well, that's what it's for.

savingfortravel

bails wrote: »

Budgets are looking impressive Nyk and SFT, I've saved them to help me next year.

Not so much to report - possible wedding savings but will mention these when a certainty - except that I am incredibly happy with life

Love to you all xx

Hi Bails
Glad you're feeling so happy and contented.

Thank you for the m*llets advice. Got myself a new pair of walking trainers-Christmas present from my parents-at a great price.

have a good evening all.

sft

looby-loo_2

Hello, I been reading not posting, just following all the news but nothing really to say.

sophiesmum - are you moving permanently to the new house? Realising your dream! wow!
nyk - I think you could fit a goat into all that garden and then you would have free milk to add to the chickens and vegetables. My DS2 is shouting over that you could get a ferret and go rabbiting, or keep rabbits.

I'm doing my best with budget but DH just doesn't get it. He is retired but has been teaching for just two hours a week since August. He hasn't been paid yet because the school can't decide on how to pay him (contract, casual, supply) so he told me yesterday he really didn't care because he gets his pension and it's just a hobby now! He also keeps popping into the shops on his travels which I'm sure costs more.

DD1 has returned home, DD2 at uni, DD2 waiting to go to uni so we have a way to go yet before we can start our new life.

Leaf sweeping tomorrow. Here's hoping they wont be too wet.
good night

and DS1 says via MSN you could keep guinea pigs and have a mexican takeaway!

DdraigGoch

lol - to the mexican takeaway! rotfl

I'm still lurking [and failing miserably] on this thread. It's very inspiring and I do hope that everyone's lives are a] not as dire as it feels when it's being typed and b] that the good times are even better than are typed about.

Wishing you all a very early happy whatever seasonal holiday you're looking forward to [as I can't promise when I'll be back on here!]
DG

ps read my sig!!! Woohoo!

grandma247

I have been busy sewing this evening. I've been wondering what to do with the spare quilts and pillows my grandchildren use when they stay. I wanted them out of sight but handy. Then it came to me,make cushion covers and stuff them with the quilts and pillows So I have made four large cushions with overlapping ends so I did not need zips( a bit like an envelope) They are now lined up on the bottom bunk and look much neater than just folded in a pile or thrown all over the place by ds3 and anyone else who plays in there.
I already had the material in the loft so I did not spend any money.

I hope everyone has had a good day.

bails

Welcome aboard Ches! Come and practise for the rest of this year and then remind Nyk to add you to next year's when she shouts for names

Draig, lovely to see you and thanks so much for the PM, really touched x Well done on the wins!

Sorry OH still doesn't 'get' it Looby; has anything sunk in?

Great result with the walking shoes SFT, HTH.

What a fab idea Grandma, love it! :T

Today is to be spent planning for the week's lessons so that I can be free to prepare for my interview. It's on Wednesday :eek: - pleased it'll be happening soon so I can get it out the way but nervous too!

Frugaldom

Good morning

Welcome Ches, feel free to hang about here and practice for the last few weeks before we leap into the next year of the challenge. My brain just isn't absorning enough any more to remember who is and who isn't taking part, hence the roll call in a few weeks' time.

We had another wild, stormy night but the rain has stopped again, ao all the hens & ducks are out at the front gate waiting for the postman - feathered friends just don't understand about Sundays! :rotfl:

Baked a birthday cake & decorated it for friend visiting today, just hope the weather behaves enough to let her travel the few miles, she'd to cancel yesterday as it was absoultely torrential and far to awful to venture out just for a social call. If she doesn't make it today, we're having birthday cake for tea. :rotfl:

SFT, my budget item named 'extras' is for any little things I may need like cards, wrapping paper, materials needed for making gifts etc, whilst my 'misc' will probably all get spent on the hen/duck feeding and the garden. I'm hoping most of the major purchases have already been made for starting a new garden from scratch and I'm also hoping to use groups like LETS and Freecycle much more than I have been.

Ddraig :beer::j:T to your competition win!

Grandma, what a great idea for the spare pillows etc!

Looby-Loo, I used to have goats but we aren't allowed them here, plus the changes in legislation mean it's illegal to keep a pet goat without registering your property to obtain the relevant licenses and a CPH number. I do have a guinea pig but he's just run off with a pick axe and shovel to dig himself an underground bunker for protection from potential attack from a BBQ skewer. :rotfl: Plenty of rabbits running around here, though, and deer, pheasant and partridge. I guess the biggest problem with the hunter-gatherer scenario is that I'm a gatherer with no hunter to hand. :rotfl:

I'm off out to play with my little axe that turns small logs into smaller kindling sticks now.

Savvy_sewing

Gosh I have been reading for about 2 hours now, just to catch up on the last 3 days! Maybe I am a slow reader? Or there is just so much goingon. Have posted on my thread, about the goings on so I wont repeat it all. Bore you all. But one thing that I have just found out in the last few days is that DS has been offered the apprenticeship at DAF and is accepting it. (He was pipped at the post for it in September by someone else). So now I am worried I loose out on the Childbenefit, tax credit and Maintenance from his Father. So I am trying to reduce my budget even further, and am trying not to panic about it all. It doesnt help that I am paying off the debt of the fuel bills from living with all the family earlier in the year!.
I will have to do EVERYTHING on £4669.60 including paying the debt, paying the old Oxford council debt, run the car, and of course the rest of the normal stuff. So I will not be able to play at being frugal, I will have to be frugal!.
Off to search for the information about my rent. As I am worried that I will not get enough Housing Beneft for the cottage to stay? Please dont tell me I have to downsize again. I dont want to loose the cottage. I am hoping to develop the garden properly next year. Cant have chickens, as the garden has no boundaries, as such, and theywould be killed on the road in seconds. If only because the slope is such that you practically run down into the road without being able to stop!!! Eek. I thought downsizing from around £25,000 to £10,800 was bad enough. But to have even less then half again, is very very scary. Thank god for you guys on here! I know that it is going to be hard, but possible. If you can do it, then so can I. DS will have to help out, and be self sufficient too. (That will be interesting!).

Frugaldom

Good luck MooLoo! Is the £4669.60 what you'll have for the year after the rent and council tax gets paid and is DS getting a proper minimum wage or is he being put onto the pre-work payments?

Your debt payments should, I'd have thought, reflect your current situation, so if you have a huge drop in income, then let your cerditors know as soon as possible so they can reduce their payments accordingly. There's nothing to stop you dropping in a few pounds extra any time you have it available, as long as you can maintain the bottom line. Hopefully, your DS will be offered an actual wage rather than training allowance, then can pay you a percentage towards his keep to compensate for the loss of child benefit. Has he looked into getting a grant for driving lessons, since he lives in a rural location that dictates his need for more than just public transport? I didn't hear about this grant until DS learned to drive and applied for his test but several of his pals qualified for it. Driving gave DS a bit of an incentive to get extra work to afford to keep a car on the road, despite the insurance being extortionate, and it's very handy for helping out with a run into town or to collect DGD etc.

£4000 as an annual budget seems to work OK for me, although I could probably reduce that by as much as a quarter if I really needed to, by cutting out the non-essentials. We're all here to help support frugalers regardless of our personal budgets.

Savvy_sewing

nykmedia wrote: »

Good luck MooLoo! Is the £4669.60 what you'll have for the year after the rent and council tax gets paid and is DS getting a proper minimum wage or is he being put onto the pre-work payments?

Your debt payments should, I'd have thought, reflect your current situation, so if you have a huge drop in income, then let your cerditors know as soon as possible so they can reduce their payments accordingly. There's nothing to stop you dropping in a few pounds extra any time you have it available, as long as you can maintain the bottom line. Hopefully, your DS will be offered an actual wage rather than training allowance, then can pay you a percentage towards his keep to compensate for the loss of child benefit. Has he looked into getting a grant for driving lessons, since he lives in a rural location that dictates his need for more than just public transport? I didn't hear about this grant until DS learned to drive and applied for his test but several of his pals qualified for it. Driving gave DS a bit of an incentive to get extra work to afford to keep a car on the road, despite the insurance being extortionate, and it's very handy for helping out with a run into town or to collect DGD etc.

£4000 as an annual budget seems to work OK for me, although I could probably reduce that by as much as a quarter if I really needed to, by cutting out the non-essentials. We're all here to help support frugalers regardless of our personal budgets.

Yes the money is after the council tax and rent have been paid. It is my ESA, £179.60 a fortnight.
Until DS comes back home, I dont actually know the terms of the work he has been offered. And he is the type of laid back person who would not have even thought about asking!.
I know that DAF have a good apprenticeship system, and that they send thier apprentices away on courses around the country. Which they pay for.
DS is only 16 until January, and so to start with a driving licence is not possible. I am sure he will be chasing for one as soon as he can. He currently only has the moped license. He is already talking about a bigger better type of bike in the new year. But of course I will not be in a situation to help there.
I think that I really need to find out about anything that will help grant wise. When it comes to what we are entitled to or not, I am terrible at.
The payments that I am currently paying to the utilities is the lowest they will accept as the debt is so high!. So they tell me anyway. I did try to get it reduced a few weeks ago. I shall now have to rethink the electric uses I have here. The storage heaters, and the washing.
I just wish that the water heater was not just an on/off switch. If it was on a timer I could put it on when the economy 7 was on. I am also terrible at forgetting to switch it off when I do put it on.
I hate not having hot water on tap.! Especially when I am forever washing my hands.! Brr the cold water here seems to be stored in the freezer!
I must admit that I use the oven badly. I am not using the space to cook othrthings. So the batch baking, and the similar methods of cooking need to be encouraged again.!
I know how to do these things. I think I have just become a bit lazy.
I fear loosing the car, and being stuck in the village.

I cannot imagine being able to live off of £3,000!!! I think I am too much of an impulse buyer, and a charity shop aholic!.
I really need to be focused, and to makesure that I do not live beyond my means. Well I cannot as I have no credit facilities, and no way of getting any.

Time to make a move. Clear out the grate and set the fire ready for tonight. (Unless I am on my own, and have an early night, with the TV up here).
See how the beef is doing in the slow cooker. I put it in when I made my breakfast earlier.
Think that I may just have to look at the budget now, and see if I can afford to stockpile a few things, so that the money I do have, goes on food, and toiletries etc, and maybe more logs? and then I cannot spend it in the charity shops.!
My Mum has made me half a dozen christmas cards. That will save me some money.
Sorry I am rambling on. Oops:rotfl: