Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

redglass_2

frugal holidays - some suggestions for singletons (though romance is not part of the package, or not supposed to be). If you're the city type, you might like WOOF -ing (working on organic farms) . You go and stay in some lovely places for weekends or longer and work for your keep, but it's nice work, usually very friendly and you get very fit! A friend of mine does a lot of tree planting in Scotland but I'm not sure who for and she usually has a good time, comes back with lots of photos and full of enthusiasm. (She usually manages to meet men, too, but then she's a glamorous blonde, ie NOT like me...!) . I don't know if families can also do this, maybe they can. Obviously if you've already got a smallholding it wouldn't be much of a holiday for you!

Then there's house-swapping and couch-surfing. (There are sites for both but i haven't looked for a while.)

There are also lots of voluntary communities in the UK and elsewhere that welcome visitors on a short term basis, either paying or working for keep. I've done this in the past and met some very interesting people. A good place to look is the DIggers and Dreamers site, where you can find everything from wild'n'woolly communities to serene religious foundations. They are all different.

Some French friends of mine got into a glamorous seaside hotel by the bloke offering his skills as a masseur for guests (he's fully qualified) for so long each day. In return he and his girlfriend got a room for the week. Possibilities there...

I know these suggestions won't suit everybody but in comparison to most holidays they are very frugal!

bails

What great ideas Redglass, thankyou! :T My SiL went WOOFing, ended up meeting her partner and they now live up a mountain (literally) in the Pyrenees with their newborn! I'm liking the 'offer your services for a room idea' too - no, not those kind of services I can rent OH out giving shiatsus.
We're on couchsurfing too, and will gladly offer our sofa to a 4Ker!

taka

I ended up staying somewhere that was part of WOOF(or its equivalent) in NZ. Absolutely nothing to do with farming tho :rotfl: ... people were hand polishing jade pendants instead for their accom and food Good fun tho!! Hmmmmm I might look into that!

Marru

:j Hi All,

I have been quiet lately and feeling very tired. So I shall go to health food shop to get some tonic to boost my iron levels hoping that it will do the trick. Also something that will definitely perk me up is that I am planning a trip to pet shop so get loooovely things to I am ready when my rats arrive.

Thank you for all who have signed the petition. I was afraid I might get banned for posting it but thought it was improtant enough to risk it.

Well done mini-huny-money for keeping your dog going. Very respectable age.

Whitewing: I hope your OH gets the job. Have you heard of site that you can sell your photos through. It is www.istockphoto.com. That might provide few extra pennies.

Nevadagirl: Hope you enjoyed your weekend.

Redglass: Can you babysit any of the dogs of your neighbours/friends? I am sure there are people wanting to go for a weekend break and would need someone to look after their pooches. (This might provide you income for your interested beater )

Janey: Please send you hubby for a national tour around all the £4k:ers. I would love to have him for awhile. Might get a freezer from freecycle to put in the garage if I had someone to fill it with nice food. And please put some rhubarb with him as I loooooove rhubarb pie.

Mah_jong: I cooked some pasta and cauliflower bake for lunch on Saturday. Really easy as the sauce was from the jar (bogof) Lots of cauliflorwer added and DD loved it. (It was supposed to be enough for supper as well but it sort of disappeared before supper time )

Bails: Glad the kitten is on the mend. I hope you made loads of money from eBay over the weekend.

Sophiesmum: My mum used to get couple of huge pumpkins from my great aunt and make pickled pumpkins in the jars. It was yummy. Especially served with meatloaf. If you want the recipe I can hunt one for you and try to translate it. Talking about recipe, how do you make your youghurt. That is a major expense in my household and I would be grateful if I could do it myself.

Nyk: I was going to go and do a top up shop but inspired by you I restricted myself to only get the itmes that I really can't live without. There was more items on the shopping list but I shall hold myself back untill the next "can't live without" item runs out. So far I have learned that I can't live without: eggs, cheese and bananas. By the way, can't you fit the days in if you abbreviate the grocery challenge to GC?

Amazon challenge: I did a search and couldn't find a list for Amazon challenge. I know there is a eBay one.

FFM: Oh do tell, I have lots of books that I don't think I can sell in Amazon and would love to be able to shift them. Can't go and do car booty as I have nobody to look after DD. I was wondering if Ebid would be good place to try to sell them. What is your experience?

Lynda and Bails: HOW LOVELY!!!

Dangerous things? I can't think other than climbing high up in trees and surprisingly not falling down but for Mum's annoyance ripping clothes on branches. And when I was 13 I spent a summer in stables handling big horses and sometimes driving a horse on the road who went ballistic for the sight of a rubbish lorry (I wonder I am still in one piece after that experience!)

Ok I think that was six pages worth of posts answered.

I am not going to have a holiday frugal or other kind. Can't leave my animals. I shall have a weekend in Lake District when I go for the animal communication course in June (and my DD goes to London :j ). I will take my old dog with me and my foster boy has to go back to the rescue for the weekend if he hasn't found a home by then. Neighbour's girl is coming to feed all the cavies.

Something totally terrible happened to DD on Saturday. I heard her shouting from the kitchen that "It is stucked!! - Fridge is stucked!!!" Ah result. My fridge lock is working. Perhaps my groceries have a better chance of going for human consumpton instead of being given to very gullible labrador also affectionately known as "dust bin".

Better update signature as my resent furniture and plate shop has hit my bank account. Table is deducted from my Olympic challenge earnings but plates unfortunately will come out from this challenge.

Have a great week. I shall go and spend some money in the pet shop. I normally hate shopping with the exception of pet and book shops.

Marru

redglass_2

Marru wrote: »

:j Hi All,

Redglass: Can you babysit any of the dogs of your neighbours/friends?

Whew, that was a marathon post, Marru! I've got my eye on next door's lurcher pup :smileyheaand have asked to be her walker when she's big enough. I don't think there's any money in it but she is sooooooooo cute...
Also very happy as i have discovered a heap of pallets dumped not far from my house. They take a bit of breaking up but it's all exercise and they go like a bomb in my stove. If I can keep this up I'll have next winter's wood by the time i need it - for free -:D and it's all seasoned, which is more than you can say for some 'seasoned' firewood that's sold round here. The sap runs out of it - I don't know how they have the nerve! :mad:

Brilliant about the fridge door, it may be the saving of your budget and your labrador's figure...

Burlesque_Babe

hi all. The money for my teaching course left my account today (£127) so it was a bit 'ouch' to see I'm now overdrawn, but it's a much better situation than the last few months and next month, I'm going to be determined not to go overdrawn as I'll have a full months salary to play with - the first time since the late Autumn really!

System

:j :j :j :j :j :j

i was having a bit of a 'slow day' at work so was checking up on my student loan etc etc for my post grad, and called up to check that the 'standard maintenance grant' works in the same way as my undergraduate loan (i wanted to check that i would still get some bursary, and that it wasnt ALL loan, cos it was explained a bit murkily)

and apparently it is all free money!!!! and no loan at all!

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

i know, i know the word 'grant' should maybe have given it away sooner but i thought there was no such thing these days!

AND they have updated the amount since the last time i looked it up :j

if i get the full amount (which i am pretty sure i will) that is £3675

plus about £215 towards travel costs....

so if i complete the interest beater/university challenge i will be rich! rich i tells' ya!

so thanks to all of you for keeping me on the path to riches and number-crunching enlightenment :T

taka

Yep Post grad stipends are "free money" and tax free too!! :j :j :T :T Some of the PhD students where I work are on stipends that are quite generous especially as they are tax free and they pay no council tax and still get discounts for loads of stuff!!

bails

Good to hear from you Marru, sorry you've been so tired - don't want to sound like a scaremonger but maybe Nyk is right to suggest checking your appliances just in case; probably nothing but better to be safe. Or perhaps go to your doctor if it carries on for a while - I certainly wish I had. Hope it's nothing at all and just all those late nights gaming!
Interesting stuff about the postgrad grants/loans - I had one of these for my PGCE and thought part of it was a grant ie didn't have to pay it back, but the full amount is outstanding. In m pre-MSE days I just figured that's the way it was but perhaps I could challenge it? If anyone knows any more I'd be very grateful.

Prudent

Bails -I am really sure the amount for the PGCE is a non re- payable grant.