It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

Charis

Cinny91 wrote: »

On the brightside this afternoon I read a book of my mothers on self-sufficiency. I am now fully read up on how to chop up a whole pig, roll a fleece, sheer sheep, kill rabbits and make butter :rolleyes:

All you need now is a pig, a cow (for the butter), a rabbit or two (and a net to catch them), a freezer, plus electricity for same, some sheep and a spinning loom. And rather a lot of time. Good thing you're not a vegetarian. :rotfl:

Softstuff

Cinny91 wrote: »

I had to give up dying my hair earlier this year too, I spent about £10 on home dye kits to get it back to it's ginger roots, and I'm actually liking being ginger this time around! Saved myself about £100 so far

Hair dye for me went a while back..... it was as much about moneysaving as about taking a stand. What the heck is wrong with grey hair anyway??? I found that as my grey grew in I got more and more comments on how nice it looked. Most probably because it's darned unusual to see a 30 year old with grey hair :rotfl:

Embrace your roots!

pagangirl

[I am fuming that I shall be worse off by £147 by earning my modest part time salary and NOT drinking nor smoking nor driving nor taking any flights (the real situation), then as an experiment I repeated the exercise by putting loads of booze, fags and premium flights and at the same salary I would be better off by £376.

This is really the world gone upside down and Mrs Tittlemouse's comment about the lunatics taking over the asylum has never been more apt ]

Hi - Caterina I just did the calculation as well, told me I will be £48.56 WORSE off next year :mad: so coz live by meself, no children, no car, non smoker, not much of a drinker, can't afford to go away - so no flights - you would think we would be better off - can anyone explain to me how this can be coz totally confusticated.

citroennut

Westywoodpecker wrote: »

My DS is an apprentice & has been told that redundancies are highly likely. As there are 4 of them, we don't know how they are to make their decision, but he was last in.

Would my husband & I be able to "pay" him instead, in return for his completed aprentaship We find out on Thu who will go

Never in my wildest dreams did I envisage this when he started 18mts ago :eek:

Re central heating, we have a rule that it's allowed on for two hours only! (so it's normally in the evening)

Hi Westywoodpecker. Long time lurker and first time shy poster. Perhaps your DS could offer to work for nothing as he needs a sponsor, ie his employer as far as I know, to keep his apprenticeship. You could then pay him yourself. Hope it doesn't come to that though. HTH

Westywoodpecker

That's just what we were wondering citroennut. We would support him financially by means of extra shifts, if he could just complete his apprenticeship.

He's come home today with a letter, informing him redundancies are now the only option A meeting's being held tomorrow so they each have a chance to tell the boss why they should stay Their training has cost £10,00 a year. He's only 17, & has gone to bed so upset.

Thank you for your reply. Westy

Hardup_Hester

I used the calculator too & I'll be £50 worse off, it's a joke isn't. I struggle to make ends meet as it is & now this.

ceridwen

Me - I'm so useless at maths that I didnt even try to use that calculator to see whether I would be better or worse off. I just gathered that if one earns less than £18k per annum one isnt worse off - so my bit of thinking on that went as far as "As long as the newspaper is right - no problem (as my little salary IS less than £18k). If it isnt - my maths isnt up to working this out anyway - so I aint a gonna try to:rolleyes: ".

Cinny91

Softstuff wrote: »

Hair dye for me went a while back..... it was as much about moneysaving as about taking a stand. What the heck is wrong with grey hair anyway??? I found that as my grey grew in I got more and more comments on how nice it looked. Most probably because it's darned unusual to see a 30 year old with grey hair :rotfl:

Embrace your roots!

I was bullied at school for my ginger hair (the bullies weren't very imaginative!) So I've been dying my hair loads of colours since I was 13. I got sick of constantly having to dye my hair and so I decided to take a stand too i suppose and go back to ginger. The only comments I've had are nice ones, and my grandad gave me £20 for 'stopping with the silly colours' :rolleyes:

The great thing is, being able to have a bath without all the bath water turning the colour of my hair

Cinny91

Charis wrote: »

All you need now is a pig, a cow (for the butter), a rabbit or two (and a net to catch them), a freezer, plus electricity for same, some sheep and a spinning loom. And rather a lot of time. Good thing you're not a vegetarian. :rotfl:

Hey, I'll be set. I'll be a pig chopping, fleece rolling, cow milking sensation and you can all come around for rabbit stew with bread and butter.

Talking of butter, I'm actually going to try my hand at making some tomorrow. Got to work very early this morning (7 ish) so i can print some sheets off.

taplady

ceridwen wrote: »

(p.s. Caterina - glad to see you posting a lot more again these days! Hope your O.S. meet-up goes well - sorry I don't live near enough to make it or to come with you to cosmetic-making classes you mentioned.)

me too! would have been great to go to the get together!

Yategirl and Westy - so sorry about the redundancies - my DS who is 18 has been made redundant too - the nearest IT jobs to us are over 30 miles away - too far for him to drive and no public transport - nothing else going round here ATM. At least he has no debt and his only responsibility is his car but that will have to go if he doesn't find a job as it costs the earth to insure. We are keeping him for nothing as he hasn't had any benefits yet.
My job is reasonably safe - as safe I suppose as any can be - I support adults with learning disabilities and visual impairments. DH is a milkman which isn't safe at the moment because its so much cheaper at the supermarkets.
Its nice to know I can get support and useful tips and advice from all you lovely people!:T