It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

nannaC

mardatha wrote: »

Am wondering something here... watching the news about the Russians turning off the gas through Ukraine. Why did we let ourtselves get into a position where our gas comes from europe, our coal comes from Poland, our oil (in the north sea !!) comes from the arabs... why???
''Why cant they go back to town gas and make it cheaper? why cant they open the pits and use the 700 years of coal still here? why can't they keep our oil for us?? all this fuss about clean energy and carbon footprints isn't helping the planet as much as it's helping line somebody's pockets a hell of a lot .

Spot on Totally agree 100%.

I for one have made up my mind that this year 2009 I am going to stop wishing things were different and start trying to do something about getting them changed.

I know I am only one small voice but if enough small voices all shout together then you have a whopping BIG NOISE.

Grumpy Grandad and I are both on our local Parish Council and are fed up of just being ignored by both county and MPs.

Anyone with sense could have told the government that pouring OUR money into the banks was not going to solve the problem [apart from making sure they all had nice little directorships waiting for them post MP]. Much better to have propped up manufacturing [whats left], helped firms to remain in Britain instead of out-sourcing to the far east.

To put it plainly a BUY BRITISH CAMPAIGN, like I remember used to happen.

Surely it must be a lot better for the country if we could become a bit more self sufficient. It does not need rocket science to work out that it is better to invest in growing/making/rearing our own goods than keep importing them at the mercy of the global markets.

A lot of it is just logical but them I have yet to meet a logical MP.

So it looks like it is up to us OS'rs to blaze a trail for commonsense and logic.

savingmore

hi everyone, just spent the last few days reading through all the threads on this one and have enjoyed getting to know you all...so i will subscribe and keep up with your good ideas....

i think 2009 is going to be an interesting year and i think a great learning time for us all...getting back to basics and probably happier and more contented with that....

one thing i don't understand is how is it that this government is trying to encourage us to spend more money to get ourselves out of a big black hole that came about by everyone spending money they didn't have? makes no sense to me at all.....i am watching every penny i have and trying to make savings where i can...so all ideas gratefully welcome....

happy new year to us all:beer:

nannaC

Savingmore
A great big hello and welcome from NannaC
you are so right, thats what I am getting at there is just no logic in the powers that be [beam them all up Mr Spock:rotfl: ].

If Nanna's can knit Shreddies then they can surely unravel the mess the governments got us into no problem.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

nannaC ....i am totally behind in in buying british.... well whats left that is made in britain...

i am def feeling the pinch day by day now....

today new years day..lol... i have just made another curtain out of two single sheets to go across the front door.

we have a parkray coal fire that does the central heating too.. which is really a coal burner, but over the last fortnight we have been burning loads of wood, to keep the house warm...as the price of coal has gone up sooo much.

when we first moved in just under 14 years ago... we done loads of work to the house, and were going to put gas in, but we run out of money..... sooooooooo glad we didnt now....

meanmarie

Nanna C...thoroughly agree that if we all make an effort to buy local things have to improve...so I will be buying Irish first and then British to keep things as local as possible...no more beans from Kenya ( no offence to Kenyans intended) although will have to stay with bananas, mangoes etc coming from further afield, but will then be buying Fair Trade.

Was scared by a friend who reckons that we are due for a pension cut here...she reckons 10% so am going to try and cut outgoings now, just in case

Marie

Charis

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

nannaC ....i am totally behind in in buying british.... well whats left that is made in britain...

I'm racking my brains trying to think of one thing that is still manufactured in Britain. Insurance and banking are the only things we seem to do now and there has just been an admirable demonstration of how gormless bankers can be. How did no one realise that Iceland had no money to lend? According to a web page I read last week, one of those Icelandic banks had its head office over a fast food shop. :eek: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article5329762.ece

If someone, this time last year, had written a novel with that plot, it would have been rejected as ridiculous.

Funny how it was US borrowing that initiated the crash and they have still come up smelling like roses, while everything with a monetary value in the UK is now worth 25% less than it was this time last year. At least.

The problem is that even if we were to close the doors and stop importing, where would we get our raw materials to make the things needed to keep 60 million people happy?

pagangirl

A very happy OS New Year to everybody - hope its a good MSE one :beer:

COOLTRIKERCHICK

what i can make out the us are smelling of roses because they sold their bad debt to us:eek: well british banks... just be3fore the bubble burst out there...

as for things made in britain... you still got to watch even if it says made in britain, as my mother went to a famous retailer, and bought a writting beauru a few years back which they said was made in britain, but it wasnt it was put together and finished in britain, so it could be then classed as made in britain..:eek: and it wasnt cheap either..

best palce to start really is buy british proudce and try and buy it from local shops owned by local people..

about 2 years ago i starte a challenge not to buy from supermarkets... and to be honest it did open my eyes to what i could buy cheaply without going to a supermarket..

ok there were things that were alot more expensive too, but it was swings and roundabouts.. so overall i stayed in budget.. and my money was spent with local people and not going into multi-national/global companies who dont really give a toss about locals

mummysaver

A happy new year to you all!

Loving the high kicks nannac!

I have had complaints about the food from the children, eek! It appears that they are not happy with being served so much rich delectable treat type food and want to get back to "the lentils and oats nice stuff" as they put it! So the roast beef that I cooked has been served in hm rolls with roasties and green beans in garlic and toms on the side! No more roast dinners wanted apparently! Will be slicing and freezing the rest ready for when they do fancy a roast lol!

I giggled earlier, was flicking through one of their dad's mags, Men's Health I think, and there was a recipe for meat loaf, it included an awful lot of oats and wheatgerm and tom sauce! Very OS! Will have to investigate wheatgerm as I don't currently use it - D&DD any tips?

There was also a mealplan for veggie instead of meat meals, apparently a bowl of porridge with seeds, nuts and berries has more protein that 3 lamb chops! Perhaps the kids should thank me for my sneaky addition of linseeds into things!

Anyway, it's back to streeeeeeetched out meals here now, as it appears that everyone prefers them!

As for a buying british campaign, sounds good to me, wonder how long it'll take for the government to cotton on to it?

Something interesting I've noticed recently, Mr T's has been decidedly empty compared to Asda, could this be people power protesting at the price increases and disappearance of value lines, and their replacement with the market value stuff?

pagangirl

I think Mr T's are making things up as they go along. Being Lactose intolerant I usually buy soya milk/cream. A while ago Alp** Soya brought out a new version of their soya cream (found in supermarkets in the chiller).
The only local one I can get it in is Mr S' @79p. A few days ago in local Mr T , I saw a sign saying 'discontinued line' (exactly the same soya cream) on offer at £1.00 each (This branch have never stocked it before - I know because I've been asking for it)