Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

System

nyk - as :money: would say, 'ditch and switch' your landlord!

ok, does anyone know what i can use a hand held electric whisk thingy for (apart from butter making ) i got one because a jumble sale i was at went to 'fill a bag for £1' aka steal everything (oh how i love it when that happens!)

can i use it for mixing up bread ingredients? i may have to start making some soon as my lidd-elles free bread stash is getting very low

....off to cancel a bond to begin my 'keep everything in the super top accounts' mini-mission....

Marru

Nyk, this is just for you to let go of the house you are living in so that a new one can take place. Not nice in the meanwhile but just hang in there.

Janey51

sophiesmum great tip about the sponge for hairs. DH and me are always removing cat hairs from ourselves before we face the public:rolleyes:
nyk commiserations over your utilities. Thats why I couldn't include our oil bill in the challenge as we are paying £200 a month. I hope we have a hot spring and summer so that we can switch the Rayburn off for a while. I do utilise it as much as I can but I think that using the immersion once a day and boiling kettles is going to be cheaper. I will have to monitor our electric usage though. Any thoughts?

Good news this week. Found out that Homecarers are to get a payrise..my pay will go up from £6.61 to £9/hr + mileage from 30p/mile to 40p/mile + we are to get paid our full hourly rate for travel time and not half as we do now. It will start in October, backdated until April 1:T
I was lying in bed last night happily counting ££££s before drifting off

Have to decide what to do with the windfall when it arrives What a lovely position to be in :j

sophiesmum_2

Great news about the pay rise Janey:j . Caring is one of the most undervalued and underpaid jobs, and its time carers were paid decent levels of pay.

Frugaldom

DAY 100!

Today is declared a holiday! Frugalitis should ensure that you don't blow the budget to smithereens but please, take a few pence or pounds from your budgets and treat yourself. It doesn't matter how small the 'treat' is, just make sure you do it. Some may find this difficult, in which case you should place the pennies or pounds for your treat into your Billy Can and then MAKE yourself spend them. If Billy Can then YOU can.

I feel much more positive this morning, despite LL's dad coming to visit at 10. I focussed on the future instead of how to get there, which meant I was already in the fixy-up instructing workmen on the lay out of the kitchen (I have very specific wants in my longterm plans.) So, this morning, I am counting as being back to Day 1 of my longterm business plan and need to fit the paying stuff around about it.

Janey, WOW! at the pay rise, that is fantastic news for you.

Jumble_Bee, we have spoken about it at great lengths and we have all agreed that it's time to 'ditch and switch'. DS says it's only on condition we don't leave this immediate area but he has a car, so can drive to work if we need to move a few miles further out just to get the right place. As for my houseshare, he may well become OH yet! He seems to be catching frugalitis!!

Off to set up my new empire now, and I'm treating myself to some lemonade so I can have a celebratory drink tonight whilst glued to the telly. Wednesday is telly night all the way through from Martin to Desperate Housewives. :rotfl:

Marru

CONGRATULATIONS for all of you who have 100 day celebration today.

It is only my 40th day but despite that I will go and get a magazine as a treat but it doesn't come from my budget as (you guessed it) it is essential professional reading .

Enjoy the celebration,

Marru

whitewing

Happy 100 Day! I am going to spend 100 pennies to celebrate (probably on sweeties or icecream). Actually may make it a minichallenge for DS - here's a £1 - go and get something we can share!

MIL is going to need to send a small amount of money back abroad regularly (I won't specify where exactly, if you don't mind) as partpayment of the grandparents' nursing home fees. Now, I've looked around the main site and I think the best option is to open a Nationwide Flex account. This would mean letting SIL be a second cardholder to withdraw cash. (SIL is trusted to do so).

I have made an account-opening appointment. Do any challengees or lurkers know if I can ask nationwide to have a second cardholder who resides abroad? Do we just give the name and say nothing? I assume they don't care who the second cardholder is as MIL would be liable for the account anyway? What's the best way to go about this? (Alternative would be for OH to be second cardholder).

shaz_mum_of__2

Whitewing

I have recently asked to be a cardholder on my hubbys bank account (i am a bankrupt and don't want the hassle of all the questions) i normally just use his card but got refused at a supermarket recently and they confiscated the card...

Anyway i needed to take in loads of ID just to be added to his account even though he will still be liable for any spending,and I had to take it he couldn't which was very difficult as we only have one car he uses for work and live in a village with rubbish public transport

This was Natwest dont know if all banks the same


Shaz

FrankieM

Morning everyone,
I haven't been on for a while.
I see its Day 100 of the challenge.
I still have to update my totals. Don't think I'm doing too well. It all helps to work out what my budget for next year should be...
I've just had a £5 voucher to use at Jackpotjoy sent through. I don't usually win anything, but its worth a go....

Will spend some time later adding up what I've spent....

lilac_lady

Reading about planting seeds and growing your own vegetables has finally got me convinced that I could try a few seeds in containers. It'll be a bonus if they turn into edible plants but I'll give it a try. I was brought up on home grown vegetables and still remember the taste of them. I'll be retiring soon so could start this as a hobby.
I feel a bit of a fraud giving myself a 100 day treat because I haven't committed myself to the challenge but I'm going to overcome my hesitation and buy a good bar of chocolate. Will think about you all when I'm munching tonight.