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

bails

This thread never fails to inspire me - I think I've learned a lot and then someone comes along and offers up another gem :T Thanks Looby, what a great idea :T Currently checking out the OzAquasaver to find out more too Grandma...

SFT, hugs x As someone who also takes on other people's stuff in an attempt to help them and working in EBD, I learnt a technique where you 'zip yourself up' before work (or any situation) to prevent taking it all onboard. If you're interested I can try and explain how to do it! Hope you feel better soon, and that your dream of retiring can come as soon as possible x

Sorry you don't feel so well Frankie, hope it goes soon.

Well done to SL and Ches, good things happening with you two :T

Blair, will PM you soon, not sure I have the best ideas but will see what I can do x

Had a less than great school day today, despite trying to plan well in advance to make the week easier with the interview looming... The power cuts really do make life difficult here :rolleyes: and meant I couldn't create the resources I needed for what I had planned. TBH, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at the mo but am going to take shower while the water's warm and then simplify simplify simplify. I'll do what I can for the next 2 days lessons and then once the interview is out the way I can throw myself wholeheartedly into it all.

Have a great day everyone, and please don't apologise for sharing your thoughts/concerns/worries/ feelings on here - if you're struggling to justify its relevance, just consider this frugal therapy xx

jtb2412

Morning everyone

It's awful out there ! Really nasty ...... thoughts are with anyone affected by the flooding xxx

I've just emailed DH as I've been number crunching over the last few days and it looks like I might be giving up work to be a SAHM. This is something I've been thinking about for a while now. We obviously need to discuss it at length but the figures do add up without taking into account any kind of payrise that DH might get (not banking on it!) and a small increase in working tax credit (again not counting my chickens on this one).

I've also not been very happy lately as I know deep down, my heart lies with being a SAHM and doing all the lovely things like baking/batch cooking/gardening etc and I think I will be a lot happier in myself too. I do only work part-time (12 hours per week) so it's not a huge amount to be losing money-wise but when you've been used to the money, you know how it is :rolleyes:.

But I must just say a massive thank you to everyone who contributes on this thread as I'd have never even got half-way to making a decision without all the advice, ideas, encouragement etc on here. I've had a good year at this challenge, even though I've strayed off track a good few times so I know I can do what needs to be done.

My only reservation is the 'decorating fund' as we really really do need to decorate the rest of the house but I think we might just be able to do that too on the figures I've worked. It will mean cutting back on a few things but that's what this challenge is all about .

Right I've rambled enough going to make myself a nice cup of coffee and have a biscuit to celebrate :rotfl: (only one though, I have my weigh-in tonight ! haha)

Thanks again guys, you're all fabulous !!!! :beer:

Frugaldom

Hello

I've spent this morning as constructively as possible and am feeling vert pleased with myself now, as I've done several small and frugal deeds.

1. First of all, I followed a link to see if I could claim a free electricity monitor from British Gas, even although I'm not a British Gas customer and the application said yes! :j I found it via this MSE forum and even although I have no social security reference number it lists Working Tax Credits as a qualifying benefit. :j I'll need to wait 6 weeks to see if my electricity monitor arrives but I did get a confirmation on screen that it would be despatched. :T
2. Next up was home contents insurance - I can hardly believe that's a full year gone since I moved house again! I shopped around, TCB offers 50p for a new comparison on one site and £1 from another, so I did both of those first (£1.50 cashback, I hope) and then compared on the ones listed with cashback. The best I could find was C0-0p, offering £40 so I did their quote and it came in at..... £40.28! That means, if the cashback clears, the policy will have cost me 28p, except it won't, because I should already be £1.50 up on getting quotes via comparison sites plus 1% cashback (40p) for paying in full with credit card. I was on a roll!
3. Spoke to mum about what my gran would like for Christmas and had to go online shopping to M&$ but am glad that I dragged myself there today! Went via TCB who are offering 10% casback, there's a sale on site with some 3 for 2s and some half price items and, better still, they have a 1p delivery promotion running! :j I have just managed to get gifts for 5 people for under £30 including P&P but if the cashback all tracks, it'll bring it down to less than £25. :T

Love the cistern water saver idea! I keep meaning to add something bulky to mine so it reduces the volume of water used. Might do that today now that I've been reminded, thanks.

Baked a loaf this morning using some malty additive from pack that pal gave me, so I'm off to try a slice of that for lunch.

Before I go, I have to add for JTB - becoming a SAHM seems like it is what you really, really want and, as a slightly anti-feminist, I salute you! Well done. :T:beer: (No offense meant to any feminists out there. )

PS - Don't you just LOVE this website? :money: I think Martin must be one of my all time heroes for making it such a fabulous place for bringing so many like-minded people together and allowing us to do all of this for FREE! :T

Savvy_sewing

Thanks everyone for the water ideas.The water isnt really overly hot,but I will have a look to see if I can find the thermostat anyway. The water heater is wired directly into the switch, so it is an on or off situation. So I think that the first solution must be the kitchen timer. The pity is having economy 7, and remembering to get up early enough to turn it on in the right time slot. I find early mornings more difficult as the winter advances.
I have spent the last 24hours doing absolutely nothing of use what so ever!.Curled up in my bedroom, trying to keep warm. Spending my time surfing the internet, reading and reading!.I have just finished off a beef curry I made out of last weeks casserole when Biggest of Mooloo's came to tea and didnt eat much.

I am just so very tired, I don't have any energy at all! I hope I am not sickening for anything!.
I know there are lots of jobs I should be tackling, but I think looking after the toddlers last week, really took it out of me.
I am sitting with the laptop on my knee with fleece blanket. Trying not to light the woodburner until it starts to get abit darker. But I am not sure that I will be able to last out much longer, my feet are freezing! Socks,and slippers on!Even used my neck heat pad on my feet earlier, but its gone cold now.Next time I get up and venture out into the depths of the kitchen/bathroom I will reheat it.!
Really must find some get up and go!

slowlyfading

Afternoon everyone

We've got directed task this afternoon so I'm taking a bit of time to myself just to catch up on little bits and pieces, then get on with writing an essay that's due in next week and more lesson plans.

I've had a really nice weekend with the BF. He arrived about midnight on friday night after being at work, so we had a lazy morning on saturday, had a wander round town on saturday afternoon and then we went to see N3w Mo0n in the evening which was good I didn't think it was as good as Tw1l1ght but still, it was nice to go to the cinema and just do something together for a change. Normally we just watch a DVD or something on iP1ayer in the evenings, so it was nice to go out together. The tickets were £6.60 each though :eek: eeesh its not cheap going to the cinema! we'd bought some sweets from A$da to take with us though, so didn't buy any food there.

Today is my 13th NSD which is good I only need 2 more to meet this month's target. I need to plan when I'm going to get christmas pressies so that I can achieve it next month as well. Its my birthday on the 6th Dec, and I'm going home for the weekend so that'll be some spending, but in a good way

hope everyone has a good afternoon.

sf x x

andan

Hi guys, haven't been on here for a while but i have been plodding away with the challenge. Not really anything to report. I still have £500 to last me till the end of the year and have all but one present bought which is costing £50.

I am continuing with the usual of cutting down on gas and elec and on buying bargains and using up food. I plan to get my haircut soon, but will do that at the college so it will only cost me £5!

My biggest expense this year has been food and gas and elec. I tend to only use my car for my business which has meant very little petrol costs.

Next year i will try and aim for £4k instead of £4.5k, to spice it up a little and make it more of a challenge.

Sounds like people are doing well and enjoying the challenge.

Savvy_sewing

Nyk, I have just used your link, and requested the monitor too! Thankyou. That should show DS what he is leaving on, if nothingelse!.
Had a free waterhypo when I was in the house in Oxford, and didnt get a chance to put it into the cystern. Wonder If I still have it lurking. I am not on a water meter here, but would like to do it for saving water, in general. I shall have to rack my brain and see if I can remember where it went. (It was in the old house bedroom, on the table.....but did I pack it?).

jtb2412

Thanks nyk Will be waiting until after Xmas to hand in my notice as I don't want to leave them in the lurch and it's not ideal having to advertise over the Xmas break. Probable finish date will be mid-Feb which will just be in time for getting everything started down the allotment and in the garden .

I grabbed a few of those M&* pressies (half price and 342) the other day - will need lots more offers like this in the future :money:. Glad you managed to get some too, I think they must be near selling out ! :eek:

Mooloo I'm now a great believer in listening to your body and if it's telling you to sit on your bum and do nothing, then do so (I've had to learn that fast with that blasted virus I had!) Sounds like you need a 'time out' after looking after your little ones. Sorry, I have no idea about the heating or hot water, struggling with that here too, my gas/elec bills are horrendous ! We have a 'cold' house, if that makes sense. It's even cool in the height of summer, which is quite nice, but very, very hard to heat and keep warm in the winter . This is our first winter with our new condenser boiler so we'll see what the difference is - they're supposed to be more efficient but I still can't get the temperature right. Thermostats on each rad plus a wall thermo just confuses me ! :rotfl:

I just got my water bill in and it's only £3 more than last winter's one which is great news ! I was expecting it to be a lot more as I thought our usage would increase in the summer months. That means the water butts are doing their job (watering the garden) and converting DH to take more showers than baths must be helping too. I'm sure we can save more though so will be looking into ways to do that very soon!

Ohhh I can see blue sky which is fab as it's nearly school run time - you watch, it'll cloud over again just before 3pm :rolleyes:.

Frugaldom

Hi Mooloo, I don't know why it took me so long to spot that electricity monitor, but glad you've been able to make use of it. I'm not on a water meter either, as we are rural here and don't have a mains connection, however, any reductions in water useage postpones having to organise getting the septic tank emptied, which is a shared one with next door, from what I can work out. Landlord has bever said about what arrangements are in place for maintenance of it, must ask!

Spoke to someone from the forestry commission yesterday and they said it is still possible to buy a day ticket to go and collect all the firewood you can from local forest as long as you don't use a chainsaw. This would be great for us if we had any way of actually hauling it home again, especially as there are several LETS members who would willingly chainsaw and then chop the wood for us then we could stack it for next year.

Savvy_sewing

I have noticed quite a few van/trailers parked up on the side of the roads near me, loading logs! Wondered if they were legitamite or gatherer hunters!

Cup of tea, heatpads reheated. And I have decided to stop kicking myself about having a lazy time. At least I am not spending much while I am not doing much!.