It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

catznine

tru wrote: »

If there's lots of weeds, then STOP! Right now! We have an area of about 20ft x 30ft on loan to us from next door, it was full of weeds and hadn't been dug over for ages. We borrowed a rotovator, thinking it was the best way to sort it out. It was great for the digging bit but it spread weed seeds everywhere and it's now worse than when we started :rotfl: I have to laugh or I'll cry

In the next couple of weeks, we're going to weed first, then rotovate

Thanks Tru! Poor you, sounds like a nightmare! It was just grass and the top has been taken off and used elsewhere! There were some tree roots that I couldn't have managed but the rotovator has got through most of those. I'm hoping this time of year with everything fairly dormant and with no noticable seed around to spread, we will be ok. We will have to dig in lots of compost next to get the soil back to it's previous glory - It was once a huge allotment garden but that was 30 odd years ago!:D

oystercatcher

ceridwen wrote: »

I have a strong feeling that I will continue to do my own somehow:
- put 50 grammes of organic jumbo oats in container
- pour sufficient milk over top to cover it (being M.S.E. - that means full-fat milk diluted a bit with water;) )
- put in fridge overnight to soften up a bit (and think thats supposed to make the nutrients in it more "available" or summat as well)
- plonk in saucepan in morning, adding however much extra milk seems like a good idea
- heat till thickened enough - takes about 2 minutes.

Bingo! How difficult is that:cool: ?

If I fancied some raisins with it - I'd plonk a few of them in at the "soak" stage overnight too. Sorted!

Next pick up spoon and eat.....errr...think I can manage that:D

My version is even quicker......

Boil kettle for coffee, with two cups extra water.

Plonk 1 cup value porrige oats in saucepan,
Add two teaspoons value dried skimmed milk (optional)
Add sweetener (or sugar or salt or raisins or nothing!)

Pour water on coffee.

Add two cups boiling water to porrige mix,
stir porrige until thick and smooth.

Plonk porrige in bowl add more sweetener, sugar or whatever.

The difficult bit is carrying a cup of coffee AND a very large bowl of porrige AND a spoon over to the table at the same time.

Oystercatcher

Yategirl

oystercatcher wrote: »

My version is even quicker......

Boil kettle for coffee, with two cups extra water.

Plonk 1 cup value porrige oats in saucepan,
Add two teaspoons value dried skimmed milk (optional)
Add sweetener (or sugar or salt or raisins or nothing!)

Pour water on coffee.

Add two cups boiling water to porrige mix,
stir porrige until thick and smooth.

Plonk porrige in bowl add more sweetener, sugar or whatever.

The difficult bit is carrying a cup of coffee AND a very large bowl of porrige AND a spoon over to the table at the same time.

Oystercatcher

query: when you add the boiling water to the pan with the oats (etc).. do you put heat underneath??? if not... why not do it all in a bowl and save on the washing up?!

jennet1

I put porrige i a pan with raisins before going to bed covering it with equal quantity of water, in the morning add same quantity of milk and heat, saves heating up from fridge cold iyswim

rosemarym_2

I read in Moneyweek that there is a global shortage of pork coming up, and as the Chinese are importing more of it, the price will go up. Apparently there was a bad year in some pork-producing countries because of weather and disease. As I don't fancy trying to dabble in pork futures as they advised I will buy some pork for the feeezer (as soon as I get some room in it).

I too have been stocking up on tinned toms (to the dismay of DH, who tries to find places to put them) - I get Napolina when it's half price in Mr T's. Also Branston beans when half price.

Gigervamp

rosemarym wrote: »

I read in Moneyweek that there is a global shortage of pork coming up, and as the Chinese are importing more of it, the price will go up. Apparently there was a bad year in some pork-producing countries because of weather and disease. As I don't fancy trying to dabble in pork futures as they advised I will buy some pork for the feeezer (as soon as I get some room in it).

Check out Bigbarn for local pork producers in your area.

elizabunny

oystercatcher wrote: »

My version is even quicker......

Boil kettle for coffee, with two cups extra water.

Plonk 1 cup value porrige oats in saucepan,
Add two teaspoons value dried skimmed milk (optional)
Add sweetener (or sugar or salt or raisins or nothing!)

Pour water on coffee.

Add two cups boiling water to porrige mix,
stir porrige until thick and smooth.

Plonk porrige in bowl add more sweetener, sugar or whatever.

The difficult bit is carrying a cup of coffee AND a very large bowl of porrige AND a spoon over to the table at the same time.

Oystercatcher

Oystercatcher -I love your 'plonk' method, it's much like mine, although you are far more accurate than me:o .

I usually plonk some water in a milk pan -I guess this but it comes about a third of the way up the pan.
Then I plonk in the oats -another guess, but it looks right.
Stir it all up on a high heat(only takes a minute or two) until it's thick.
Then the porridge gets plonked in the bowl -along with whatever I fancy, sugar, honey, raisins or golden syrup and a splash of cold milk.

My problem is, I usually make too much for me -so the rest ends up in the dogs -apart from raisins -because they would spit those out:p .

Don't think I'll be bothering buying any fancy made up pots though, because mine tastes Yum and costs a fraction of the price.

rosieben

Hardup_Hester wrote: »

My DD works for a bank, she's not very well paid but works hard, meets her targets & her quarterly bonus means she gets a better wage yearly, she was told earlier this month that the bonuses will not be paid, despite the fact that they are written into her contract. The bank are blaming 'the government' but the big bosses are still getting their bonuses as they are 'written in to their contract'.
It's a good job she realises that lifes not fair.
Hugs Hester

it's totally wrong that the big bosses get any bonus at all, and I think there's such a groundswell of anger that I think they might have to rethink writing out their big fat cheques. Wherever I've worked with a bonus scheme, the rule is if the company doesn't perform well, no one gets a bonus. The rule should apply all across the board, and the same % all across the board for a payout too.

[Deleted User]

bleep bleep bleep
my posting vanished. Flippin heck, a long one too. I`ll have to re do it later

ceridwen

Hi Kittie

Maybe there's a Bermuda Triangle for posts going on today on MSE - I just put a short post on an O.S. Thread - I physically saw it sitting there in the thread - and it vanished

On a different note - an article from todays papers:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/minister-i-couldnt-live-on-benefits-1607237.html

Well - I guess that might be a start - now we have that admission. I've been keeping a record of all expenditure so far this year to see how much I am using to live on - I've counted out one-off expenses (ie anything I wont need to buy again for years - if ever) and then discounted things I could manage without if I had to (newspapers, wine, etc) and not allowed any money at all for the exercise classes I'd take up if I had more time (figuring I'm not doing them anyway at present - though for a different reason) - but my conclusion was inescapably that I literally couldnt manage even a "bare bones" lifestyle - as there wouldnt be enough money left to pay my (pretty modest) set of bills after living very modestly indeed week to week.

Conclusion - I'd have to go to my savings (errr...havent got any yet) or get help from my family (I'm an adult now - blow that anyway!) or do a bit of "work on the side". Those would be the 3 options. Well - I guess people on benefits have managed previously by some sort of combination of those 3 options to "boost up" benefit money to be able to manage - but, with the increasing rate at which "hits" are coming it will very soon be the case that many people will be on benefits and none of those 3 options will be available to them:
- their savings (if they have any) will have gone
- even little "work on the side" jobs might be difficult to get
- families might not be in a position to help out if they wanted to (having been hit themselves)

Then what??? I think personally the Government has no option but to increase benefits to a realistic level - at a minimum put them back to the level they were before all those numerous little cuts (which, taken together added up to a sizeable amount) were imposed on them. So - for starters - they could put them back to what they were 25 years ago (adjusted for inflation).

I know, I know that there are "career claimants" out there....which would bring us onto a whole new ballgame discussion (centred round benefits being awarded per child however many children someone has) - so I'm not going to go down that road of discussion. So - I think the best way to handle this - ie help out genuine claimants, whilst not giving anything extra to deliberate "career claimants" would be to increase the standard level of help given to a household (ie bring back the fuel allowance, bring back the water allowance, bring back homeowners' maintenance and house insurance allowance, bring back grants for unexpected household expenses, increase the adult personal allowance).

I think there will be social unrest on a scale we havent seen for a LONG time if the Government doesnt do this - as its a recipe for disaster to have lots of able-bodied genuine jobseeking claimants sitting there on the dole furiously angry at literally not having enough money to pay their bills and eat and knowing its not their choice or fault. I am already noticing a lot of people asking for jobs that are nowhere near "good enough for them" - and I know there will be a lot of anger in people just from having to do that (a lot of people cant live very easily with being humiliated and underpaid on a regular basis).