Getting to know you........

kal25

Just thought I'd say hi. I am 27yrs old married for 8yrs and have 3 wonderful children (or should that be devils?). I have 2 boys one 6yrs and one 3yrs also a daughter aged 7mnths. I work part time as a morning cleaner, so I don't have to find childcare in the holidays. I have saved quite a bit since finding MSE. The best was probably the cheap gamecube that we brought eldest son for xmas last year down to a post on mse. I have found some really useful tips on moneysaving old style and know that there is always somewhere to go if I need help(mostly stain removals lol).

spendaholic

It's been a while, but I may be back ... I've been getting even deeper into debt since the last time I visited as I had to leave my husband and marital home into a place of safety as a matter of urgency. My rented home will be my mortgaged home on Monday. My marital home should be sold by the end of September. I'm looking forward to getting back into better money management old style as soon as possible. It's lovely to see so many familiar faces still here.

Tiff_2

Ok - I admit it - I've been lurking too! I have been inspired by the variety of posts & answers & almost felt too scared to post. People are really friendly and it's great to find such a gold mine of information, especially from "in the old days" because families are scattered, there are people who travel so far from home and are not in regular touch with family and of course sadly, those of us who are without the wisdom of grandparents. I'm on a mission to find dairy free recipes as someone somewhere decided it would be great fun to make me allergic to milk!:eek: :rolleyes:
Seriously I think this is an amazing site - well done folks!:A

I am a surviving mother of a 16 year old:eek: - no he's a good person really, especially when I'm not watching. I'm very new to MSE & to this board & it's been really interesting to see the variety of posters there are.
I've just realised that I've only described myself as being a mother - now that's scary!!! When did that happen?! - I know I had a life somewhere but it seems like I mislaid it.;)
Apart from that, I have travelled Europe and the USA (due to working & marriage to military & not from a trust fund left to me!), where I worked with The American Red Cross for a while as well as Customer Service Manager (no boos please!) when we moved to New York. I am now writing, doing genealogy (there has to be an inheritance somewhere!), newly disabled, and watching Big Brother...there may be a link there...lol. Had to give up my cats & dog due to becoming allergic (broke my heart) divorced my OH 5 years ago (would rather have the cats back):rolleyes:
Thank you all for posting your invaluable advice - I'm learning something new everyday
Best wishes

PabloNeruda

36-year-old widowed father of 2 girls (12 and 8), also a full-time student at University of London and part-time shift-worker to try to keep my head afloat until I (hopefully) graduate next year. Life's pretty tough at the moment.

pigeonpie

Hello, I've been posting a while and the advice and kindness of strangers really helps. I am 47 and have long term M.E. and sadly have no kids. OH works f-t but I've been living abroad for years and would like to work p-t when we get settled. We are in London and don't know anyone as have been away a long time. My friends are abroad. We have 2 elderly and very loving cats that keep me sane/insane .
I don't really know how to go about finding work as my health and globe trotting have meant my CVs about as impressive as a hamster's!
I ran a campaign group in animal welfare for 4 years abroad but must do something once I have a home to meet people and get life back on track. Can you cold-call NGOs as a volunteer, do you know? Does anyone know of IT retraining courses that aren't expensive? My 'skills' are v rudimentary.

Bon courage and good luck to everyone. Life's tough except for a very lucky few imho. I think with the good weather here recently everyone was so much more friendly than normal. In France, you pass someone and they say bonjour - it doesn't mean they're friends, but it still makes a difference.
I go to Meetup.com groups and people in London seem to be to be lonely.
We all seem to communicate online (as I'm doing right now) rather than face-to-face. Having said that, this IS an amazing site which helps so many people and big thanks to Martin and co for running it.
and thanks to all of you too.

redballoon_2

hello . I am not a newbie to this forum but thought i would post here for a bit of fun.

I am 25, married to my lovely hubby for nealry a year now.

we have had some rough times and some very rough times but we are a strong couple and will get through all of it.

hubby recently lost his job so i have been saving money in every possible way.

I love being creative and enjoy making my own laundry gloop as it's good for my pocket and the enviroment too.

i have two cats who are very naughty

i have recently got a bread maker which is fab! and i love growing my own veggies and herbs in the garden. hoping to grow more stuff next year.

we love camping, great cheap holidays!

I cook everything from scratch and organise my meals on a monthly basis. My food budget for the month is about £95.00 and we are usually just under. Can't seem to lower it but always trying.

Going to find out if my butcher will sell me odd scraps of meat so i can make my own cat food - will they eat it?? who knows......

think thats it about me!

mossstar

Hello! :hello:

I'm Steph, I'm 33 and I now live in New Zealand with my dp and our two boys (5 and 2.5). I used these forums when we were in the UK and my dp was a student and then a NQT (newly qualified teacher) and we had a HUGE mortgage and two babies.

It took me a while to find my money-saving feet here in NZ (no lidls! eek!) but slowly i'm getting back on top of things and have my freezer full to bursting with home cooked goodies and lunch-box staples (and I never had the space for a chest freezer in the tiny houses we had in the UK!). I'm also feeling a bit overwhelmed at the HUGE crop of lemons, grapefruits and oranges I have outside on my trees, but i doubt anyone is going to feel very sympathetic towards me over that little problem!!

At first i worried about missing the UK and missing these forums and the wisdom and help that i'd always relied on (more as a lurker, than a poster, i must admit) but then i started to use them again and realised that i didn't have to turn my back on MSE, and that in fact the OS board, by it's very nature, is international - that's the beauty of making everything from scratch, using up and making do, and leaving the brands etc. behind.

We also live without TV here, which is something we'd always wanted to do but it took the quality of NZ tv to give us the final shove (sorry to any Kiwis reading this!).

So as I start to post a little more, i thought it would be polite to say 'hi' and to tell you all how much I enjoy and appreciate your writings and your advice. Long may it continue!

Steph x

tra_2

Hi. I have been posting on a couple of the threads but thought I should introduce myself formally!

I'm 38, happily married with a two year old son, a honeymoon baby. I gave up working in London after I had Thomas. The thought of leaving him for even a minute was unbearable. I have been childminding but gave that up last week as I was still missing out on Thomas.

I now need to find myself some sort of work, evenings I suppose. I'm sure something will come up to suit me - always an optimist.

Anyway, its a pleasure to meet you all.

trigger2

Hi

I've just joined MSE & its great ! I'm addicted already. Tra - I'm similar to you, got 2 kids 6 & 4, & at Christmas went back to work after a gap of 6 years. I decided to go retrain in childcare as I didn't really want to be away from mine for too long. So I got a job (dunno how !) in a local playgroup here, working a couple of sessions a week which is ideal just fitting round school & nursery. I also went back to college to do childcare. So after 6 years desperately needing something like MSE, now I'm back at work I've found it now !!!! lol ! I especially like the Old Style Money Saving Thread. So far I've been introduced to vinegar, borax, soapnuts, etc etc !! I'm now trying to cut down my grocery spending by making more homemade things. The only problem is as soon as I make anything it disappears - my kids seem to have hollow legs ! (Wish I did). Anyway, nice to meet you all !

SeeWeed

Hi

I am SeeWeed, wife, mother, cook, cleaner etc etc!
I am married and have a 3 year old son. I work full time and enjoy cooking which is good seeing as I do all of it as my DH is a bit 'can't cook won't cook' :rolleyes: Though he has his uses sometimes
Looking forward to joining in this board and using the OS ways.

SW