It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

HariboJunkie

Sammy Kaye, I know somemone who had a corneal transplant and they were back to work in a month so hopefully your BF will be the same.

That is a shockingly low income for 2 working people to have to survive on. Are you claiming your full entitlement of tax credits and free school meals?

sammy_kaye18

We do claim tax credits and child benefit

And because we receive working tax credit we are not entitled to free school meals for Ben. so he has packed lunch (OS style) 3 times a week and then 2 days a week he has school meals (although in winter he has dinners more often) but at the minute he has one on Tuesday - Mash Day (this is usually meat of some sort/veg and mash) and something on Friday - Chip Day (which is the same but accompanied with chips).

jollymummy

Hi Everyone
What a fantastic thread, I'm going to keep popping back so I can catch up on all the messages. Very inspiring. We've been on a huge economy drive for a while now. I gave up my full time job to care for my son when he was born in 2005. My DH is on a decent but not great wage. We moved out into the countryside in 2005 and had two cars, we have got rid of one to save money, DS now catches 2 buses and a train to work when we need the car. I shop online and spend less as I'm not tempted as I would be in store. We are charity shop addicts and I've bought lots of bargainous books and toys for my boy and he loves them. We grow our own salad and toms and cucumber in our tiny greenhouse. I accept all hand me down clothes offered for DS ,I never really buy clothes for me. We offer and receive a lot of stuff on Freecycle. I also do a lot of swaps with my friends I've made in blogland so they might make me a bracelet and I'll make them a headscarf or a set of cards. I plant swap with my Mum and we buy seeds and plants and share them out. I use Scrapstore for my crafting stuff. I make and sell things on etsy and folksy. My DS starts school in September and I'm sooooo glad I've had this time with him, financially it's been very tough, but SO very worth it. I will look for a job when he's at school, I've managed to find weekend and casual work while I've been at home with him and we are JUST scraping through. The strange thing is we're so used to living frugally it's become almost a hobby and I get a real buzz finding a bargain in a charity shop. Anyway enough of my rambling, great thread.
x

dubgirl

Hi, I have always tried to dip in and out of this thread and in some ways I am glad it has continued, as it has so many great ideas. I didnt think that a comment I posted ages ago would re-surface now, so I'm impressed!! My heart goes out to anyone with the threat of redundancy or who have lost their jobs, my BIL will hear by the end of the month, if he has lost his - he has already put his motorbike up for sale in anticipation - its his prized possession. Sammy Kaye, I am always inspired to hear how well you manage on what most would consider very little. Well I did tweak my budget and have had to tweak it again and still it seems that the cost of shopping is running away with us. I think that the current expenses scandal is keeping news like increasing petrol and food prices out of the headlines - certainly here it seems that both are going up comparitively rapidly almost daily in some cases and when is it going to end?

cheerfulness4

jollymummy wrote: »

The strange thing is we're so used to living frugally it's become almost a hobby and I get a real buzz finding a bargain in a charity shop.

Ah, a kindred soul! I was saying exactly that to my husband yesterday when we came back from doing a charity shop crawl with my mum.

Later, surrounded by fantastic bargains and gleefully telling step-MIL how much we'd paid for each item (to her gasps of surprise) we felt mighty proud of ourselves!

My list for winter is now getting smaller - have finally crossed off those winter door curtains (9 foot long, lovely cream coloured and heavily lined. Yay!) and a bargain at £4.50. :j

Prudent

I would agree I love living frugally.

andan

I am on a low income but don't really notice, as like others on this thread, i am so used to living frugally that its my normal way of life. I was brought up that way and so i know no different. I earn £5k a year from my part time job and run a small business on top of this and do mystery shops and surveys etc and make around another £5k - £7k from that. Despite being on a low income i manage to save a fair bit each month especially now business is picking up, as previously i was only earning around £7k a year.

I love living frugally and enjoy saving for things and doing things on the cheap and finding bargains!

someone asked me the other day where i shopped for clothes and i realised that most of my clothes come from charity shops, mystery shops or on occassions from ebay. They were rather shocked!

kingshir

We too, live fairly frugally EXCEPT for the food bill. Hubby and I changed our eating regime to a relatively low carb one about 2 years ago ( he's lost 3 1/2 stone and I've lost 1 1/2 st). We have lots of veg, salad,fruit, fish & meat in our diet but very little of the (much cheaper) padding (rice, pasta, pots etc). I do use the cheaper fish types and meat cuts (and to some extent pulses and lentils) but will never have a very low bill. I do love to read how everyone else manages though. Well done everyone!

Yategirl

kingshir wrote: »

We too, live fairly frugally EXCEPT for the food bill. Hubby and I changed our eating regime to a relatively low carb one about 2 years ago ( he's lost 3 1/2 stone and I've lost 1 1/2 st). We have lots of veg, salad,fruit, fish & meat in our diet but very little of the (much cheaper) padding (rice, pasta, pots etc). I do use the cheaper fish types and meat cuts (and to some extent pulses and lentils) but will never have a very low bill. I do love to read how everyone else manages though. Well done everyone!

Grow as much of your own veg as possible and eat seasonally - that will help. Eat more of the cheaper meat cuts and I have been told that frozen fish is cheaper than fresh. It is hard on a low carb diet though - I found I ate really well and lost weight.

shelley1977

im starting to get worried about how much my regular shopping bill has gone up, soda crystals are now 80p this time last year they were 36p.even the basic ranges seem to have gone up.what are we suppose to do when even the basic ranges are getting more expensive.