Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

Prudent

What lovely reading about the gardens and pets.

I am on to ask a question about my cats (I have two). I have just found fleas on the female. I usually use the stuff that goes on the back of their necks from the vets. I tend to buy enough in the spring to last the year, but haven't got this year's yet. I do find it lasts 2 months rather than 1 usually. Is this the best way to treat fleas on our budget?

fizzel81

hmm so much for my no spend day

walked the boys to swanley park, nice afternoon walk took about 20 mins but ended up spending money! we havent been there before but i ended up spending £8.50 on ice cream, drinks and the train that is there, will go back again but a bit more prepared so next time i dont end up buying drinks (rest i dont mind, gets them out for a while)

but did make up for it by cooking a really cheap meal (1.20 ish for us all) it went down well and 3 clean plates from the little men, asda packet bolognase (meat free) cut up a corgette (on offer) a leak carrot and an onion and with smart price pasta (which was rather good) will be a repeat meal(without the added veg it would have only cost 70p tops for the 4 of us)

im rambleing, bath and bed time for the boys, tonight for me i have some ebay listing to crack on with, washing to fold (its been outside all day) and hmm ironing (but think that will be tomorrow)

nice idea about the campervan, how simple life would be (but alas for me i cannot even drive)

sophiesmum_2

nykmedia wrote: »

I have just spent some time reading about campervan life and it is VERY interesting! They even have a website where you can compare notes and leave news about where you can park up overnight for free! Mr T's 24 hour car parks are mentioned for an overnight!! Now we know where the freegans live! No wonder they get all the best bargains! :rotfl: :rotfl:

And I have just been researching the cost of second hand narrow boats and have even found one for sale nearby, with a mooring etc for the bargain price of £51,000:D . However there are boats for sale from around £19,000 around the country. If i had a spare £100,000 this is definately something I would consider investing in.

DdraigGoch

I've got the weekend to myself - :jso I've been out planting up the £20 worth of tomatoes [3], pepers [2], butternut squash [1], herbs [4] and busy lizzies [70] into whatever salvaged containers I could find. I lined the various containers with newspaper, so we'll see if the busy lizzies spread their roots faster than 3 layers of newspaper takes to rot :eek: :rotfl: I also trimmed the bay tree [9' tall and same wide] severely last weekend, so wove assorted lengths of leafy bay around bottom of one basket to make a holder for the aforementioned newspaper - then discovered I'd run out of busy lizzies so now shall have to sow some unmarked seeds in it and hope that what comes up is suitable for a standard basket :rolleyes:

I'm living out of the freezer currently, seeing how far I can go without having to buy anything and shall put the money aside as the Interest Beater Challenge Fund. I'm allowing myself fresh veg, milk and .... well, that's it really. OH buys his own beer out of his pocket money and sometimes I even get bought some cider - :beer:

Will this be ok as the IBCF?

bails

Ha ha, forgot all about the '£100,000' chat - the campervan for me! As you know we already plan to do up a van and travel round Africa at some point: van for £3000ish hopefully plus a couple of grand doing it up, spending money for the trip - what shall I do with the other £90,000? :rotfl:
Also saw a boat for sale for 3k recently, I was tempted by that too! Not a narrowboat I might add. Our friend bought his boat for £25,000. Would like to do it for a while but not long-term, need more space!
Thanks re the false nails (in pink :eek:) and garlic growing Nyk, I was planning on doing exactly the same ie not reading any more and just experimenting :rotfl:

lingojingo

nykmedia wrote: »

Still on the subject of giant jaffa cakes and frugal birthdays, .......... Wonder what's on offer by way of chocolate at the moment... will certainly be finding out before Wednesday (DS birthday).

Nyk, I think I'll make this for my DS birthday, 22nd May. When he used to do competitive swimming he nearly lived on jaffa cakes on gala days, ever since a nutritionist once told him they were a good source of easily digestable energy (think she meant the odd one shortly before a race, not the packets and packets he consumed!):rotfl:

lingojingo

fizzel81 wrote: »

nice idea about the campervan, how simple life would be (but alas for me i cannot even drive)

Nor can I Frizzel, perhaps we could both try thumbing a lift with Nyk?:rotfl:

I'm sure we have some useful skills that would come in handy on such a trip (can't think what at the moment though:rotfl: )

DdraigGoch

It depends on how big Nyk's Camper Van is! I suspect that there'll be a Portable Jumble-Bee bidding for the space too.

Funnily enough, I have often wondered if this would be a possible lifestyle. I've mused that if I sold my house and bought a van, got OH to resign and we travelled around the UK could we a] survive, b] would our marriage survive! and c] what about the cost of living/petrol, d] what would we do when we got old [er]? Anyone got any experience of this sort of life? Really very curious.

sophiesmum_2

lingojingo wrote: »

Nor can I Frizzel, perhaps we could both try thumbing a lift with Nyk?:rotfl:

I'm sure we have some useful skills that would come in handy on such a trip (can't think what at the moment though:rotfl: )

We could always swap the camper for a converted double decker bus and travel en masse, a la portable communal living type thingy:rotfl:

sophiesmum_2

DdraigGoch wrote: »

It depends on how big Nyk's Camper Van is! I suspect that there'll be a Portable Jumble-Bee bidding for the space too.

Funnily enough, I have often wondered if this would be a possible lifestyle. I've mused that if I sold my house and bought a van, got OH to resign and we travelled around the UK could we a] survive, b] would our marriage survive! and c] what about the cost of living/petrol, d] what would we do when we got old [er]? Anyone got any experience of this sort of life? Really very curious.

a) Sure you would survive.
b) Living in close quarters daily might put a strain on the relationship, but then again the adventure aspect of travelling and seeing different places could liven up a boring and predictable lifestyle.I think it would totally depend on the people involved and their relationship.
c) Petrol would only be used when you were actually on the move, you could have bikes for using when you were parked up, I have even seen a camper with a smart car hooked up behind it. Road tax is cheaper than council tax:D
No utilities etc to pay except site fees where necessary.
Maintenance costs would need to be covered, insurance, breakdown,mot etc but must be cheaper than housing:rolleyes:
d) When you get older put your name down for sheltered housing, our waiting list criteria is date order of application - nothing else - and then use your camper for holidays.

It would be nice to travel around the British Isles and have time to stop when and where you wanted:D