It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

pagangirl

Sorry Sunflower, Frugalista and Moggins about your bad news

Beki - hope things went well at the council

Mummysaver - glad you are still with us - your guardian angel was certainly looking down on you !!!
Sending good wishes that things start to look up for us all..

Been to Mr A today - no £1.00 mince left :sad: but did find washing up liquid (PERsil) - usually 93p, was 2 for £1. Don't usually buy this brand but at 50p, wasn't leaving them behind. Also got 2 x 500g parsnips on whoopsie for 26p each bag, 6 kiwi fruit x 37p, bag Charlotte potatoes x 37p :j

Has SOMerf' still got mince for £1 - does anyone know????

Has anyone else tried Mr S@insb's basics range - I never used to get much in there, now starting to use them more, having priced some of the range it's working out cheaper than HOme/B@rgains and I thought they were cheap !

Saw the bit about the recession on the news, apparently its going to last around two years ? So glad I found OS and this thread in particular, so many hints and tips learnt - realising how much money wasted over the years!:o

rosieben

I can't stand the way the media are revelling in this, and working up things to a frenzy. I remember the recession in the 80's, and a couple of others too, and I'm sure we were all much better off without the media doom merchants

.... actually I stopped believing the media when they worked the Y2K thing up out of absolutely nothing

I'm not saying we don't have problems, we only need to read a few threads on here to see just how bad things are, but the dooming and glooming is really not helping. Wouldn't it be great if they had some useful stuff on tv about how to cope, how to look for jobs, how to cook more cheaply. But I think they're enjoying their role too much and wont give it up until they absolutely have to. Good news doesnt sell newspapers

Caterina

Hi all

I was away from this thread for a while so I did not manage to read all the news, but I feel really sorry for the financial troubles that Beki, Frugalista and Sunflower are having. I am also amazed at how you are all so brave, inventive and enterprising in the face of adversity.

I am sure we will all manage and take up the challenge of these harsh times. I know it is going to be hard but I feel that there is a terrific amount of courage here and support that can be tapped into by those of us who have the hardest time.

Welcome, dottybird, it is good to see that your first post is in this thread, well done for "coming out"!

When I read all the hard time posts I feel a bit embarrassed, as I am in a fairly safe position, so far (thanks God) DH's job seems safe (although other people in his firm had to go, unfortunately), my job is safe until end March and then byebye (unless we get more funding from some big trust). It would make things harder, but not impossible, I probably would have to pick up doulaing again, or maybe just a bit of odd jobbing here and there (I think that if it happened I would apply for a job as a lollipop lady, there are always vacancies in my area).

Mummysaver I am so glad that you are well and came out of your accident unscathed! When you texted me I was really worried for you, but I am really relieved that you are safe. It made me remember something that I had forgotten about my day, though.

Today I nearly died - car accident too, but not as in a crash. I was in a friend's car and she did not see someone coming at some speed from the left (she was in a secondary road and coming into a main road). I was sitting in the front passenger seat and, if the man driving the other car hadn't swerved quite dramatically, I would have been crushed. I thank God and my guardian angel a million times for having allowed me to survive - it was touch and go for a moment.

BTW I am always scared to be in this friend's car because she is very distracted and this is not the first time she drives in a very dangerous way. I think that from now on I shall avoid car trips with her. I hope she does not get offended but this was one near-miss too many!

Love to all and hugs to all who need a hug!

mardatha

I'm deep in this book about life here during ww2. It doesn't half put things in perspective when you read about women having babies in air raid shelters in back gardens while bombs are dropping around them !
As mummysaver says, staying calm and cheerful is the way to go

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

What book is that Mardatha?.

Gigervamp

Caterina wrote: »

I am always scared to be in this friend's car because she is very distracted and this is not the first time she drives in a very dangerous way. I think that from now on I shall avoid car trips with her. I hope she does not get offended but this was one near-miss too many!

Yes, don't go back in that friends car. She sounds like a friend of mine. I was scared shi**less the first and only time I went in her car! I can't remember exactly what it was, (brain blocking out a traumatising time I suspect!) but it was at a roundabout and cars were beeping at us and she just moaned about them doing that!

Gigervamp

mardatha wrote: »

As mummysaver says, staying calm and cheerful is the way to go

Have you all seen the posters/t-shirts/mugs with the Keep Calm and Carry On logo?

http://www.keepcalmgallery.com/

pennystretcher

...and inside. I have had the heating on only few days this winter. I got a lovely fake fur blanket from eBay, so I cosy up on the sofa in the evenings.
Fleeces have been handy, but I have noticed that I don't feel the cold so much now.

I also bought an electric underblanket, so rather than having the heating on, I just switch the blanket on an hour before I go to bed...what a luxury - I have always hated cold bed anyway and the hot water bottle just didn't do the trick.

..and my hot water tank is on timer, so it comes on between 4am and 6am - enough hot water for a day easily

I switch off everything from the wall plug when I'm not using the gadgets - surprisingly: leaving your computer switched off but still plugged on the wall uses electricity... :mad:

But the best thing I found this winter - battery operated Xmas lights! I have now them on in my living room, hall and the bathroom and they normally give enough background light, so I don't have to have the lights on. (And the batteries have lasted already for six weeks!!!)

...the less money for the power company, the better... Maybe we should all start buying shares with them, since they claim they can't absorb the rising costs and still somehow they make massive profits year after year!

ceridwen

Kittie - I would be interested to know how on earth you managed to live without gas and electricity - my mind boggles. I feel ever so prepared that I could manage - just - for say 12 hours or so without them. But 2 years....:eek: I just wouldnt even try to manage in those circumstances....so you're a lot pluckier than I am to have done so.

There seem to be a lot of us around that have been saved from death one way or the other across the course of our lives - but if I were you Caterina....think you would be very wise not to get in your friends car again. I know that that was part of the reason a friendship finished in the past - as the person concerned drove in such a haphazard way (and that was when sober! - when drunk:eek: ) that it was one of the reasons I decided not to bother anymore.....as I realised it meant that they werent concerned for my welfare and what was the point of having a friend who put my welfare at risk?

On to how another country is coping right now - the Icelanders had upped rioting in the streets (literally) to a daily occurrence I gather and now their Government is about to "up sticks" and have an election (2 years earlier than due) as a result. I have very mixed feelings here - on the one hand for Brown to say he didnt see this coming is incredible - gawd: some of us saw this coming literally years ago...so how come he couldnt? On the other hand...I fear for the National Minimum Wage if the Tories come to power. So - I'm swinging round like a shuttlecock on this:
- get rid of a "blind as a bat" P.M. versus
- preserve the NMW versus
- maybe things would become a bit fairer re money given out for having children (its got to the stage where even a mother I know told me how sorry she is for childless people - because people with children get so much financial help and we get so very little)....people with up to £66k approx income p.a. being able to get Tax Credit:eek: :mad: if they have children is something that badly needs sorting out. Perhaps a start could be made by restricting Tax Credit help for those with children to a maximum income of £30k per household.


.......dont know whether to get out a good solid saucepan and something heavy to hit it with (for the purpose of making a loud noise - a la what the Icelanders are doing) or to use said saucepan for even more homecooking...

[Deleted User]

lol lol Ceridwen, I couldn`t do without energy. It was water that was very poor. I had a brilliant aga and electricity, so primitive in some ways but not in others. Anyway I was young and came from a make do and mend family so just took it all in my stride.

wish us luck now as dh has quietly gone next door to see our new neighbour re boom boom music from his bedroom which is next to our bedhead. Went on until 2 am. Not incredibly loud just very irritating as we are not owls. He`s been gone 20 minutes so I`m hoping they are having a cosy chat. I have already started to be helpful ie looking after his brothers dog, while he was being helped to move in. Offering car space use to make offloading easier. Poor man is suffering the proceeds of protracted divorce and has come down to a 3 bed terrace from a 6 bed expensive detached, which his wife got.

He is planning a music room:eek: so we`ve got to get in early re noise. The community works very well here but there is a certain etiquette in order to live well as neighbours

edit: I wish we had an obama here, I really liked the man