2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

Marru

Yes, but not intentionally. I had shower leaking into the fuse box and soaking my main switch hence no electricity. It wasn't fun being in the cold house (all the controls to the boiler works on electricity) in the dark with 3 year old who wanted me to put lights on and to give her food. No means of cooking/heating food. We ended up huddling under blanket doing puzzles in torch light. This was in December and it was FREEZING!

Marru

PS LL has now fixed my bathroom so after being without shower for couple of months I have truly enjoyed my new bathroom with new ELECTRIC shower. Dreadfull, I know.

Frugaldom

Just opened my BT letter: From April, line rental is going up 75p to £11.75 per month, but the paperfree billing discount is being increased by 75p per month to off-set it (that's fine, I'm paper free). My call package is being reduced by £2 per month to £5.75 and I've skipped the £4.50 admin fee by opting for direct debit. Does that mean I'll save an extra £18 (a year's supply of corned beef?) between April and December or is that too simple?

sophiesmum_2

Hi Nyk

12 x £2 = £24
less jan , feb, march, £6 leaves £18 saved over year:rolleyes:

Calcs look okay to me as other is offset with paperfree billing:rolleyes:

OOOo Year's free supply of corned beef:T

This morning i received another free sample of typhoo fruit tea and 20p voucher courtesy of OH pigsback account, and free sample of aussie conditioner, which DD will probably snaffle. First official day of challenge today for me and hoping for a no spend day.
Yesterday I used some xmas vouchers to buy a gold bracelet for mum for mothers day and had it gift wrapped for free,so saved cost of paper, bow etc and pressie money neutral.

whitewing

It's good to read all your posts. It's making me try to be so careful so I have good things to report too!

Phantom pregnancy - last Nov, I decided I could feel 'things' moving around in my tummy region. But this usually coincided with the evening meal so could have just been a potato (or two if I'm having twins!) I had no other symptoms at all.

Then I went blood doning as I do regularly, and found I couldn't donate as I was severely anaemic. The blood nurse asked if I felt tired or ill etc, but actually I felt extremely marvellous...

I did a home pregnancy test and it was negative.

So I had blood tests at the doctors and was anaemic (prob due to heavy periods). When I went for the blood tests at the doctor's I nearly asked for a prgnancy test but wimped out as my tummy region felt 'empty' and I felt ridiculous without symptoms. I also (wrongly) assumed that the blood test results would tell me anyway.

Phoned NHS Direct to see if could be pregnant whilst still having periods and the nurse burped down the phone; in case, I had missed that, she then apologised for her 'burp'. Pathetic as I felt this upset me nearly to tears (further 'proof' that I could be pregnant). Then I decided to get on with my own life as I wasn't prepared to go and explain to a doctor.

Did another home pregnancy test in Jan (to use up the packet) but still negative. And of course looked it all up on the internet.

Anyway, both grandparents died last summer and I wonder if it is a bizarre reaction to that ie if I was pregnant, it would have meant that I'd conceived while they were still alive. Anyway, you can imagine that I was driving OH nuts by this point, especially since I was still getting bad period pains.

So anyway, we have decided that the time is never right(!) so we started trying for a real baby last week. You will of course be the first to be told as soon as the first symptom is displayed, aside from close family. But don't hold your breath as it could take a long time (esp if MIL doesn't get the job as there's always someone around! And I'm too old for outdoors, by my own reckoning, been there, done that and prefer comfort to gearsticks and grass )

Mollymop5

Thanks for explaining whitewing and good luck with the practicing.There's 8 1/2 years between my 2 kids.I was told I couldn't have any but we never gave up.The practicing is the best bit so enjoy.I look forward to your updates

grandma247

Whitewing.
the feelings you are getting could well be related to the anemia. I have had those same feelings and have often been very anemic although I have had a pregnancy where i had periods for four months but they were not normal. I saw the doctor after the third month thinking I had something really nasty and he said no you are just pregnant. I had the feelings again last year but I was anemic again so maybe that is the explanation.
And yes I am a grandma of soon to be eight grandchildren but i could still have another of my own. ( I married very young).

fizzel81

afternoon all

ive crossed the line hehe

went to collect ds from playschool just now and walked past a removel van, on the way back it had gone BUT there was a roll of parcel tape on the floor discarded so i urm picked it up

i needed some more tape for my box's.

hope everyone is good today, this time next week my house will hopefully be in a van to the new house

MRSMCAWBER

Afternoon all :wave:

Still trying to keep up with all the goings on, on this thread and im loving it :T
I can see me joining in next years challenge ..so for the rest of this year im going to focus on getting everything in place ready

I have the food shopping down to a fine art , so far in Jan and Feb i have spent €191.12 to feed us 2..and have a freezer full of mainly meat -mostly purchased out of this months money so My March budget is set at €50 :rotfl: as i will pretty much just need to buy fruit, veg and yoghurts :T
extra butter, cream cheese etc was got whilst on offer :j so that should mean i can put at least €350 straight into my savings account:dance:

Im just sooooo thrilled with hubby...

I think hubby has finally got it :T ,he has clicked that just by cutting back on the "tat and rubbish" we can have a much better life style... we are still eating brilliantly -and healthier etc but by little things like getting his fave beer at what works out at 19p a 1/2 litre bottle insted of cans from the NAFFI he can easily afford to be a member of the golf club here (about €500 a year)and pay to enter competitions etc :T i have caught him rinsing out the milk carton (we dilute it into a bottle) i thought he was rinsing it out to recycle... NO -he was getting the last of the milk out :rotfl: -something i had never thought of :eek:
He does work in his breaks (he is a mechanic) and gets paid in the armys standard method -ALCOHOL ... had accumulated 2 X 20 1/2 litre bottles of beer and a litre of Glenfiddich whiskey in the last couple of weeks...and for every 2 crates of empties we return he only has to add another €2 to get another crate..the deposits pay for the rest;)

and to top it all of, rather than going to the cash point -which charege €4 a time :eek: , he asks me for a bit of change -he would never take less than €20 out at a time and it would get wasted on rubbish (his words not mine).. we keep track of the change and then when he gets paid and gets out my house keeping for me he gets the amount he borrowed too

Oh and he is going away for a couple of days soon and declared the other day that "he would be very happy if i was to pack him some food to take with him" ....i always pack him up for his journeys anyway..but he is taking a cool bag with hm bread -into sandwiches, hm sausages into sausage rolls and scotch eggs a casserole in his big flask for the 1st day (with hm bread)....plus any other bits i think of -he doesn't have much of a sweet tooth but i will think of something
This he reckons will save him and us about €70 :eek: as he won't be tempted by a take away etc ... and bless him -he has noticed that when ever he eats food away from home -even in the cook house he gets an upset stomach :rotfl:

So i reckon by January next year..we should both be set to take this challenge on...and by which time i should have lost enough weight to be able to take advantage of all those lovely "small" clothes in the sales....:T heck im excited that i can now buy clothes without going into the "big shops" can you imagine the hysteria when i can buy 12/14s :eek: ... only another 6st to shift :rotfl:

god i waffle don't i

Keep up the great work everyone..you are inspirational...and entertaining of course

Janey51

Thank the Gods, a NSD :j :j

I will have to work very hard to redeem myself after the big spend on Saturday.

Today was my first day in my new job and I loved it.

The weather is awful here at the moment and I have been out at work since 5.45 am:eek:

I have lit the fire and it will take a while to warm the living room so am off for a soak in a hot bath with a good book as I am chilled to the bone.

andromache_2

elantan wrote: »

the thai's eat alot of vegetarian food they even have a 9 day vegetarian festival so it will be no problem at all to adapt ...i cant recommend it enough to be truthful as i said its kinda a basic's but if you learn that you can easily adapt it to suit yourself ...we even make a delicious curry with pineapple and grapes and until recently thought fruit had no place in curries..if i can help anyone in anyway with either chinese or thai stuff ( i am not the best but i know the basics) please feel free to ask either by pm or on the thread...which part are you going to ?

Sounds great! We'll defo try a cookery course then... as long as it's good value! :cool: sounds delicious. Ummm, not sure where we're going exactly! The plan is to fly into Bangkok then travel around the region (Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma? etc) as we're there for quite a while but I confess I haven't been that involved with planning the itinerary! When were you there?

Nyk, I think you've given me financial OCD! It's contagious! :eek: I added up my bingo winnings and they came to £199.61, so of course I had to trawl through the £1 sites until I broke the £200 mark :rotfl:

Anyway... back to the essay...