50p a day til christmas, healthily?!-Weezl's next challenge (part 2)

Plum_Pie

Thanks, Becca, I LOVE potatos and am always looking for new ways to cook them.

cw18

patchwork_cat wrote: »

Our council give us bin bags doesn't anybody elses? Just wondered on a bit of straw pole what sort of age everyone is . Start the ball rolling 42 and a very grumpy old git as opposed to the slightly younger grumpy git I used to be!

No bin bags given here -- nor the area we used to live in even before the days of wheelie bins.

I'm 42 as well (for another 4 months and 6 days), and I have seriously grumpy days as well

walmerstores

:T :T :T Made runner bean chutney a couple of weeks ago and is delish used 1/2 cider vinegar and 1/2 malt vinegar as that was what was in cupboard gave some to customers to test they asked if I am going to start making to sell:D
last night had to use some chicken up so made a concoction of 1 jar cheap curry sauce 5p 1 jar cheap sweet and sour sauce 26p brown chicken add sauces stir simmer for 30 mins lovely:D only problem they loved it sooo much none left to freeze

whats going on with messages posted this then it wasn't here so did again now it is magic

patchwork_cat

Well now I would have put everyone older although thinking Mrsm you do mention your mum is in her 70's which does put you in the 30/40 age bracket! CW18 is your DH about the same age? Very sorry to hear about his illness - are his bad days only after chemo or other times, too?

We don't have wheelies, yet. Coming soon to a drive near me! Do they stop bin bags then? No wonder there was a market for people who wash out bins then ! I will have to really up my purchase of bin bags, particularly if they faze out carrier bags ( that isn't a bad thing as even using them for pedal bin bags we still have a glut)

Maxjessdru

Lurker coming out of the woodwork ..... I'm 38 and another person for the Essex posse (Basildon) area

cw18

patchwork_cat wrote: »

CW18 is your DH about the same age? Very sorry to hear about his illness - are his bad days only after chemo or other times, too?

Nah! He's a "bit" older than me (52 a month ago). His parents were 'getting on' when they had their kids, so they were closer in age to my grand-parents than my parents :eek:

His bad days aren't as bad this year as the early part of last year -- but the chemo isn't as strong. Last year he was in for a couple of days chemo, home for about 36-48 hours before collapsing, 2-3 weeks in the general hospital, a couple of days at home, then back in for the next round of chemo. No pattern to his bad days this time around (yet), but he has days where he spends almost 36 hours in bed, and days when he can hardly be bothered/find the strength to get dressed. I'm actually finding that "feeding" him is the hardest work, as his tastes change from one week to the next, although there are some things (like pizza) that he's definitely gone off completely for the duration.

patchwork_cat wrote: »

We don't have wheelies, yet. Coming soon to a drive near me!We don't have wheelies, yet. Coming soon to a drive near me!

we have THREE!

The green bin takes grass cuttings and general garden waste (no foods, and no wood other than thin twigs) and clean brown (and unprinted) cardboard such as toilet roll inners.

The brown one (the latest to arrive) takes yoghurt/marge pots, glass jars and bottles, plastic bottles (milk type), and tins and cans -- all to be cleaned first.

The black one takes everything else except rubble.

And we have the 'starch' sacks for newspaper and magazines. Takes catalogues, but no phone books with yellow pages

I also keep all my cardboard (other than what goes into the green bin) in sacks, and then drop that off at the recycling point at the local tip from time-to-time. They now have collection there for the tetrapacks as well, but we don't use enough to bother setting up a home collection point for them

I have a compost bin in the back garden, but what I've put into doesn't seem to want to compost down for me so I've just about given up on that :mad:

Allegra

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

Good for you for seeing the positive side

Childminding your own grandkids has other benefits too your DD can claim childcare element of tax credit/childcare vouchers dependant on circumstances because you would be registered.


Shaz

Sadly, I don't think that is the case. I remember from claiming my own tax credits that the form states that no tax credits can be claimed towards the childcare element if the person looking after a child is a relative, even if they are a registered childcare professional; also, a former colleague (a couple of years back) was in that exact situation - she had her mum, who was a registered childminder, looking after her daughter, and she was not able to claim any tax credits towards her childcare costs because the person doing the childminding was a relative...

So, unless things have changed in the last couple of years (and to my mind they should, and soon, because that rule is blatantly ridiculous), cw's daughter would actually be worse off financially if she took her kids from nursery and put them into her mum's care.

Sucks, doesn't it ?

cw18

Allegra wrote: »

Sadly, I don't think that is the case. I remember from claiming my own tax credits that the form states that no tax credits can be claimed towards the childcare element if the person looking after a child is a relative, even if they are a registered childcare professional; also, a former colleague (a couple of years back) was in that exact situation - she had her mum, who was a registered childminder, looking after her daughter, and she was not able to claim any tax credits towards her childcare costs because the person doing the childminding was a relative...

So, unless things have changed in the last couple of years (and to my mind they should, and soon, because that rule is blatantly ridiculous), cw's daughter would actually be worse off financially if she took her kids from nursery and put them into her mum's care.

Sucks, doesn't it ?

Argh! Will have to check that one out! Haven't seen anything about it, so thanks for the heads up.

The only thing I knew was that you can't pay a relative unless they ARE registered..... and that was a change that came in 5-10 years back.

cw18

Just checked my 'how to complete your tax credits claim form' booklet, and it appears she CAN get Tax Credits towards the cost as long as I have at least one other child who isn't a relative..... I guess they then see it as my job rather than me doing it as a favour for her

Will need to get in touch to find out how it works if they do different hours/numbers of days/take different holidays though!

phizzimum

ZoeGirl wrote: »

My son gets orange juice, premium stuff (I get whichever is on special still lol) when he has a cold, probably be one of those strange things you remember, we were always allowed lemonade when we had sore tummies, and it was the only time we had it...;)

when we were really ill, mum would buy Lucozade - do you remember the proper old fashioned one, it came in a clear glass bottle with orange cellophane wrapped round it?

I hated the taste of it, and for many years I thought it was some kind of medicine. If only I'd known it was just a sugary fizzy drink I would have asked for Tango!

phizzimum (aged 35)