It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

mardatha

Fletch, am sure brambles would freeze well and make jam. I know a spot near my daughters where there's loads of them but nobody would take me up there to pick them. ( need a car & I don't drive )..

canidothis

Can I give up my OH!! I could then get on with this OS lifestyle in peace and save a whole lot of money.....bless his cottons!!:o

sarymclary

I noticed the escalating prices about a year ago, and made a point of comparing prices in different shops. I have a fairly good memory for them, and if I see something at a much higher price in one s/mkt, I'll buy it in another. I've had my family on value beans, spaghetti, tomatoes, pasta, sauces, stuffing, etc. for ages now. I have to feed 6/7 each night, so doing that on a tight budget takes some doing. I prefer to get 5kg of potatoes for under £2, than pay up to £1.99 for 2kg.

I noticed that Superdrug were selling 9 packs of toilet tissue (kleenex ones) for £2.99, so rather than pay nearly £5 in Sainsburys, I walk over there for them.

My OH pops into Farm Foods in a nearby town on his way back from work to buy frozen chicken breasts for £3.95 p/kg, and they aren't bad quality (we tried some from Sainsburys but they were 'rubbery' and not nice). I change what we buy according to what might be on offer. Our local Co-op often has a leaflet with their BOGOF offers, including a £x off coupon for your total bill. I use this to stock up on items like the cereals, pasta sauces, frozen items, butter, etc., then get £4 off a £30 bill.

We don't have takeaways anymore. I have a group of girlfriends, and there's invariably a birthday coming up with one of us, so we will still go out for a meal there, but I'll not have a starter, just a main course.

I am baking my own bread more often, at just a few pence per loaf, rather than an extortionate £1.30!!

I'm fortunate that my younger children's school has just invested in a new kitchen for hot meals, and they qualify for hot lunches, so now I don't have to buy pack-up foods either!

I buy value (or best value) tinned items, today I chose to buy a frozen chicken @ £1.48 p/kg rather than a value chilled chicken @ £1.89 p/kg. That suits me fine, as I'd already got a joint of beef out the freezer that I'd cut a joint from a larger piece before Christmas and frozen, so it's gone in the freezer anyway.

I won't buy anything other than free range eggs, and I buy olive oil, but it's been on special offer anyway.

I am not doing mid-week top-up shops either. Just the one a week. We only buy milk inbetween shops.

KittyBoo_2

canidothis wrote: »

Can I give up my OH!! I could then get on with this OS lifestyle in peace and save a whole lot of money.....bless his cottons!!:o

i'd be alot better off if my 22 year old son would move in with his girlfriend.
I am quite happy sitting in candlelight watching the tele and goodness knows how much water he uses in the shower.
He doesn't like home made soup or bread and I could live on this.
I'm sure I'll miss him once he's gone but there's no sign of that happening yet.

tattoed_bum

being one of the unlucky ones to whom the crunch has hit hard dh has had his wages halved and is now on a 3 day week we have had to rethink loads ,
we have had to give up the one important thing to me and that is visiting my parents who live 400 miles away ,it's my dads birthday today and we couldnt go to visit as we usually do .

my aunt died last month and we didnt have the money to go to the funeral .

so the credit crunch has hit us hard as we are only just meeting our bills every week ,
the one thing i am thankful for is that we have no debt other than our mortgage ,so i suppose in that aspect we are one of the lucky ones

fletch3163

mardatha wrote: »

Fletch, am sure brambles would freeze well and make jam. I know a spot near my daughters where there's loads of them but nobody would take me up there to pick them. ( need a car & I don't drive )..

I tell you, if you'd have seen how many I shifted you'd understand my reluctance to be alone with them ever again:p . My MIL on the other hand used to make a ton of bramble and apply jelly. She did it old fashioned style too, a mop handle with a jeely bag, dripping into a big bucket. I remember visiting when dating DH and thought a massacre had happened in the kitchen, had never seen such a sight.

Sunflower76 with me you're absolutely NOT preaching to the converted (more talking to a lost cause). I love the lot of it you know, this self sufficiency malarky, I truly do but it takes a lot of time. One year in my wee back garden I grew carrots, tatties, peas and lettuce. I was SO proud of myself. The pease gave me such pleasure. People thought me awfully clever when I shared too (my head was yon size):rotfl:

My DH could actually be very good at this lot. He's from farming stock. He was lamenting the loss of basic skills only this afternoon on the way to Asda. There was a field that was half ploughed. He thought the lines were so squinty the farmer should have been ashamed of his efforts and how his grandad would be reeling at the awful attempt.

If anyone can direct me to foolproof (I don't use this word lightly), yet fruitful plants I'd be grateful for guidance.

Plum_Pie

TB, I am so sorry - you really are having a tough time. *hugs*

nuttyrockeress

tattoed_bum wrote: »

being one of the unlucky ones to whom the crunch has hit hard dh has had his wages halved and is now on a 3 day week we have had to rethink loads ,
we have had to give up the one important thing to me and that is visiting my parents who live 400 miles away ,it's my dads birthday today and we couldnt go to visit as we usually do .

my aunt died last month and we didnt have the money to go to the funeral .

so the credit crunch has hit us hard as we are only just meeting our bills every week ,
the one thing i am thankful for is that we have no debt other than our mortgage ,so i suppose in that aspect we are one of the lucky ones

Thats awful TB, really sad. I couldn't even begin to think what life would be like if my mum didn't live 3 miles away and that I couldn't visit every day if I needed too......

I was threatened with redundancy just before Christmas but luckily I managed to get a 3 month temporary role internal to keep me going, fingers crossed they will make me permenant before the 3 month ends.

I hope things get better for you both x

We are lucky so far not to give up anything - we are cutting out red meat and I am doing sandwiches/wraps for lunch - DH salad as DH has been told he has a high BP. We will be growing more veggies this year but this isn't due to the CC, more a concious decision to do more for ourselves in the garden of a night/weekend

Degenerate

beautiful_ravens wrote: »

It always confusues me - Organic veg: Veg the way it should be = luxury expensive items.
GM veg - unnatural = cheap.
WHY?!!

It's perfectly logical:

Organic veg = only "natural" fertilizers (eg manure) and pest control (eg predator species) = low yields.
Non-organic veg = the most effective fertilizer and pesticides modern science can produce = much, much higher yields.
GM veg = as non-organic + species that have actually been scientifically tweaked to maximise yield and pest resistance = even higher yields.

When the farmer gets only half or a third as much crop from their land, of course it's going to cost more. Why else did you think modern fertilizers, pesticides and GM crops were created?

Cornball

I'd started cutting back last year, wanting to end the nasty habit of using credit and pay off my debt. I invested in a breadmaker, cancelled sky, started dying my own hair, starting making lunches for work and cut socialising waaay down. I've reduced takeway to once a week (less than a fiver as I'm single) and I've also decided 2009 will be a no Holiday year, especially considering how much I just spent on my last one.

If I want a 'luxury' I cull it from another budget, i.e. i cut back on my travel expenses by £40/month so I decided to get sky reinstated. I got a raise this year so I let myself join the gym. If I want a new book, no takeaway that week. I don't feel as guilty that way.

I agree with the other posters in that I cannot believe how much the cost of food has gone up. Used to spend £25/week and that same order costs me £40 now! For one person! Have had to stop having groceries delivered as it's too easy to chuck it on the credit card. I need to feel the money going through my fingers to really *get* how much it's costing me, and as I don't like that feeling I spend less.