Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

lingojingo

whitewing - big hugs from me too ((((((())))))))))

I agree you should check out cultural and legal situation before the wedding. a friend of mine married a portugese man about 20 years ago. Her portugese MIL died recently and they've been sorting out her effects, making new wills as she had a fair bit of property. then they found out their marriage isn't recognised in portugal for inheritence, so have had to undergo a portugese ceremony (at the embassy in london) so she can benefit from his will - he is quite a lot older than she is.

Frugaldom

It isn't often you have the chance for your name to go down in history, so get your dad's name down for the NASA mission :rotfl: My dad's (unknowingly) already joined the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter "send your name to the moon" project, the certificate's printed and it's completely free. Link is here

Beautiful evening here, sun shining, warm, tomato plants flowering, tiny strawberries ripening and potato plants, although not quite flowering yet, semi-recovering from their collapsed state. DGD had a great time out in the garden this afternoon, playing with the hose to water all the plants; she found it really funny trying to water the baby apples up the tree and getting soaked because she was, 'making it rain' all over us! :rolleyes: When her mum came to collect her, DGD was soaked and had a mucky face, so we told DD it was raindrops from the apple tree that did it. :rotfl:

Does anyone use Euroffice for your printing/office supplies? If so, it's double points all this week! I was placing a stationery order (via cashback site, naturally) when I spotted the offer and also had enough points to get another £10 voucher, so I chose Asda (thinking party, pasta & rice) so I will have £10 Asda, £15 Iceland, £10 M&S and £10 Woolworths, plus I am only 3 piggy points off a £10 voucher there too, which I could make M&S. I could get loads of nibbles and savoury snacks for the party with that lot! I feel a day trip into town coming on - wonder if I could double it up with anything else? :rotfl:

System

gooooooooooooooooooooooooood evening frunchkins

I have been paid for nothing for 2 days in a row, yay! i deserve some easy money for once, what with my slavery, i mean volunteering. I have been doing a couple of hours in the evenings for drop in youthwork, and no-one dropped in the money will be going towards IB/UC when i get it

bails

Whitewing, I echo what the others have said, some kind of family session would be great. It must be so hard with the language and cultural barriers and yet so important that you all have a clear understanding of expectations and cultural differences. Thinking of you.
Marru, why would anyone have a go for using the thanks button?! V bizarre!
I've been wanting to join a skills share for ages so thanks for giving me a kick up the proverbial peeps!
Janey, I'm so glad you found your cat, I too had my heart in my mouth.
Sucked into the Apprentice final so back tomorrow!
MrDT, thanks for that link, interesting stuff. Can't believe you're only 24, nice one!

redglass_2

[quote=nykmedia;
Does anyone use Euroffice for your printing/office supplies?

Well, I did once....hope your stuff is OK, Nyk, as my photocopying paper was appallingly packaged and arrived with every single ream burst open and damaged. When I complained Euroffice 'dealt with it' by ignoring my emails. Perhaps you will have more luck, but frankly you couldn't pay me to use them. Sorry to be such a misery, but you did ask! Fingers X'd that they've got their act together by now.

fizzel81

evening all

well hmm a not so frugel day in my house today

went to buy my tumble dryer and after some reserch on the internet and with a recomendation by which i didnt just buy a tumble dryer

hmmm i brought a miele washing machine, its there recomended one at £600 it was far from cheap BUT and here is the but it averages a 20 year life which for a washing machine is pretty good, managed to knock the shop down when i got a hoover condenser tumble dryer (combined price for both should have been 850)

so there is my not so frugel day but i have only done this with the recent help of the dla for my 2 boys otherwise i would have carried on with my washing machine and the hope it didnt break down on me, but al;so my dads is on the way out so he can now have mine

otherwise an ok day back at the hospital 12th august

went to dads afterwards so free dinner nsd for hmm the next week i think

Night all im mega knackered

Marru

HI,

I have been a complete idiot today. After starting my matched betting yesterday by shakingly making my first bet I was today lured by £40 cash back offer to this betting site that proved to be a spread betting site :eek:. So today I have been learning about spread betting. After making a mistake that cost me £6.- (only as it would've been a lot more hadn't I been able to rectify it) I have finally cracked one of the markets. I still need to crack other four to get my reward which if I can do it will be at least £340.- including the cash back (plus another £100 if Germany wins the Euro 2008). So - I hope I don't make a mess of it as in that market mistakes are very very costly. If someone had told me year ago what a gambler I become I would've laughed.

Despite putting money to betting it has been NSD to me today. :T

Nothing else to report from here so wishing good night to everybody and see you again at the bingo halls. (There you go - gambling again! - might as well turn professional )

Marru

Brassic

Evening all :j I have been bearing this challenge in mind for the last day or so, and have managed a no spend day today. Whoo hoo! Am planning the menu for next week, and should be a very low cost, main cost being the dreaded f&v, some nappies, and some wine. :rolleyes: Have decided to see if we have the space to brew our own, but can't afford the set up costs this month as child care has come in at a whopping £455 for June :eek:

Have chased work and found that someone 'forgot' my forms for childcare vouchers for the last couple of months, but that it'll definitely be in place for July :T

I figure I'll go over budget this month, mainly as I'd already spent a fair bit of it by the time I found about it. I'm keeping it as low as possible, but am going to definitely go for the £2000 + child benefit for the last 6 months July - December.

I have a fair few flowers on Tomatos and cucumbers, and a few ripe strawberries so hopefully that'll start to cut the cost of groceries soon!

Whitewing, sounds like you have a difficult situation (I can't read back the entire thread, do you mind me asking which nationality your H2B and mil are?) but don't stop talking about it with them - it sounds like you have the patience of a saint :A

Cheers,
Brassic

shaz_mum_of__2

Brassic wrote: »

Evening all :j wine. :rolleyes: Have decided to see if we have the space to brew our own, but can't afford the set up costs this month as child care has come in at a whopping £455 for June :eek:

We got most of our kit off freecycle for free
and we buy these kits
http://www.easybrew.co.uk/products.php?id=122
works out 50p a bottle the aussie red was the best we have had yet ,we also recycled all our neighbours empties one dark morning in winter :rotfl: :rotfl:
Have you seen how much "empty" bottles cost

Enjoy
Shaz

bails

Morning all! Damn, who mentioned bingo...Marru!! Watch out for that spread betting lark hun. (Need to talk to you about your cleaner too, forgot the other day).
Went to the vets with the brood yesterday, Tilly (stray mum) was incredibly good about it all. Kittens are very healthy,overweight in fact, so no worries there except their snotty eyes - nice! Tilly isn't pregnant as far as they can tell, which is good, but how we're going to keep her in for the next 3 weeks I don't know... The good thing is that the Home are paying for all the treatment for the kittens and the mum, so that's a big saving for us.
We've decided to go on holiday! After much deliberating, we've managed to find a friend to house sit for us and look after all the animals :T so now we just have to decide where to go...did I mention I'm addicted to travelling?
Have a great day everyone x