It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

Charis

MRSTITTLEMOUSE wrote: »

mardatha wrote: »

Salt and cream !![/quote

I'm with you here.My grandfather was Scottish and a dentist and he would of never allowed sugar on our porridge.Not just bad for our teeth but sacrilege against the porridge.You just would'nt dare.

I was wondering as I simmered my porridge for 6 mins this morning (Cordon Mardatha) instead of bunging it in the microwave, is there a connection between Scottish salty porridge and high blood pressure? Or do the Scots fiercely defend sugarless porridge but eat something else for breakfast?

evie451

well i hope things get better for you too butterfly brain but it sounds like you are well organised anyway.
yeah its the waiting around to hear the worst that is doing my head in!! all of us at my level in the firm are in the same boat but one of the girls has just heard her husband may be having problems he works at an airport that is making a loss...........Well i am going out to hunt around for cheap compost as i want to start my beans and peppers off soon!!

Primrose

I can't help thinking that with rising numbers of unemployed, the "green shoots" which will help to revive our economy will come from redundant individuals who start realising they have some valuable skills and talents and start working for themselves. If anybody redundant is thinkinking of doing this, there is some useful information on http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/ and local library staff can be helpful in locating books and other reference sources on working for yourself.

Violetta_2

Evie-it depends on your area but some Lidls are selling a £29 sewing machine just basic but maybe a more experienced sewer could advise if this is worth getting?

Spendless

So far we had changed very little. Far more likely to take food/drink with us on trips but that was about it.

I finish college at Easter and have been job-hunting without success since beginning of year. I am not even getting thru to interview stage. Wasn't too worried till we got yesterdays news that hubby will be taking a 5% pay-cut from next month till at least summer next year.

It has been suggested to him that he could suspend his payments into his company pension which would be 4% so his take home pay is not much less. I am not keen on doing this, yes we'll feel the pinch now as a 1 income family of 4 but we can make cut-backs, but leaving us less to live on as pensioners-I'd rather not thanks.

So....... I've rung about about a voluntary job and they are sending me an application form, that would give me job experience and a reference and hopefully will help me long term in my job search.

The kids are due to finish at the asc (they were in due to my college hours). DD wants to pack in her after school activity and I was reluctant to keep ds in his junior football team next season anyway- so all these are going. Normally as the children stop doing 1 activity I see if they fancy doing another but I'm not this time, so I'll postpone plans for dd to join beavers. DS can keep cubs, he will swim for free at school after easter and he gets free violin lessons thru school.

I definately need to be more on the ball when it comes to hubby taking packed lunch as I'm very hit and miss.

Thankfully a friend talked me into paying off a cc debt with a recent bonus cheque instead of booking a hol which I was itching to do.

Penelope_Penguin

evie451 wrote: »

yeah its the waiting around to hear the worst that is doing my head in!! all of us at my level in the firm are in the same boat but one of the girls has just heard her husband may be having problems he works at an airport that is making a loss...........Well i am going out to hunt around for cheap compost as i want to start my beans and peppers off soon!!

I'm sorry to hear of your threatened redundancy - having been there myself, IME, the waiting was the worst bit

I'll add this to the existing thread about how tough things are.

Penny. x

ceridwen

I've been there too Evie - the axe hanging over the head and it does feel sometimes like "Get on with it then and at least I'll know exactly where I stand". A hard one I know and I've been in the position before now where not only did I know I was going to be made redundant by the firm concerned - but no-one else believed me when I told them - there were a few sharp comments from me along the lines of "I told you so" when I told them some weeks later that I had been.:cool:

cw18

Violetta wrote: »

It depends on your area but some Lidls are selling a £29 sewing machine just basic but maybe a more experienced sewer could advise if this is worth getting?

hard to tell from the info on the site - ie. no info on number/types of stitches

but if you want it for basics (eg. making curtains and cushion covers) then I can't see you going far wrong with it.

I have one that I got from Mr T a few years back for about £45, and that has a variety of stitches. But I used my Mum's old Singer (very basic) to make the bridesmaids dresses and pageboy outfits for my wedding, as well as curtains and quilt covers/pillow cases for the house we bought a year before the wedding -- so you don't NEED a fancy machine to be able to make things

(It's not available at our store, so I can't check when I'm in. Had to change to 'Dundee' to be able to see it on-line)

kidcat

Mt DH announced that another round of cuts were taking place and another 50or so jobs are going, he has missed this round but with each cut the knife gets closer as it were to his job,
I however am staying pretty positive, we have a small amount of savings, that he knows nothing about, which will see us through the weeks till benefits kick in and after that I plan on looking for work myself, fortunately it should be relatively easy to find me a job whereas it will be almost impossible to find him one.
Have cut all costs to bare bones and am stretching food etc, this means that if he does lose his job, nothing should come as a big shock to the kids.
Buying presents for the birthdays now, and planning ahead. Have made it known to people that I am available for a variety of stuff from catering to cake decorating, so hoping that I may pick up some extra cash there while he still has job.

All in all, we are lucky, no mortgage ( renting) and on fairly low income, benefit rates wont be that much less than we currently live on. Added to being debt free and I feel blessed. I spend loads of time talking to friends about their debt and spending, trying to help them adapt to the uncertain future. Many are still being ostriches though.

[Deleted User]

the primeval urge to grow food when times are hard is very strong. That is when I first started growing veg and we went camping in west wales in august. My dh had a little company car with petrol paid by the company and he came all the way back, half way through our holiday so that he could pick the tomatoes and beans. Those were the days when a standard meal for us was home grown broad beans and parsley sauce

We were so so skint but the veg helped us survive, so carry on digging as though your life depended on it. It is very worth it

Good luck to everyone and stay strong