It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

Swampmonster

BigMummaF wrote: »

I can sympathsise Charlie as I have the prospect of replacing my gas cooker before too long All the annual bills are due between end of Jan & end of March too, with No2's birthday towards the end just for good measure :cool:
Thankfully Victoria only needed two new tyres & the tracking done to get her thru the MOT last week, but higher-than-expected gas & lekkie bills have thrown a mahoosiff spanner into the works too I do try to budget throughout the year but rather like your shed roof, the theory springs a leak & all that careful accounting drips thru the cracks
I've seen a couple of cookers that are appealing, but it's the cost of installing that is It looks to be around £100 dependent of whether the bayonet is facing up or down & if the fitter includes a chain & new hose in that price. Why--if the LAW demands a chain & obviously you don't buy a new cooker every year so connections will need replacing--are the damned things NOT included in the cost you pay in the shop :mad:

I had a cooker from cannon and they sent their fitter out costing I think £109. He wouldn't attach a bayonet fitting to the gas pipe on the wall, so had to get the housing association to do it. He then came back fitted hose but with no chain so has obviously broken the law and he was a miserable so and so too!

I fitted a carbon monoxide alarm after he'd gone as I was so worried about the quality of his work.



Don't touch them with a barge pole! :mad:

BigMummaF

taplady wrote: »

....I think eventually he'll end up back at home if things dont improve.

No1 Offspring tried independent living a couple of years ago, altho it wasn't connected to any kind of relationship; it was a case of two people the landlord knew sharing his house! Anyhooz; six weeks into the 6mth contract & No1's depot lost the regular over-time, which meant either keeping the car on the road to physically get to work OR staying in a place without any income at all.
I was quietly pleased it had happened tho, to give the opportunity to learn that Life doesn't always follow The Plan we may have for it, before any real damage could be done. Out of 5 consecutive neighbours two others also have adult children at home & older than mine so that has helped to soften the blow, particularly as one chap has returned home after a marriage breakdown & he has little ones who live with their mum

kidcat wrote: »

My problem is I worry about my parents, they dont have a huge income and my mum retires soon. She willonly receive a state pension. Their shopping bills are enormous, nothing cooked from scratch, ready roasted potatoes and ready meals are considered to be her cooking dinner!! And all brands, and will only shop at Asda and Tesco. I tried to persuade them to pop into Lidl and Aldi for some stuff and even Home Bargains for cleaning stuff, toilet rolls etc. But they will not listen. really worried they wont cope and I know we are really stretched and not sure how much we would be able to help them,

Hold fast Kidcat, as things can change! Me muvva was a dyed-in-the-wool MrS supporter who wouldn't dream of buying anything reduced to clear, let alone a value alternative :doh:But now she wants to go to L!dl for their bacon & frozen veg, buys MrS value tinned fruit as it's in juice & scours the whoopsies along with the best of them :rotfl:Altho well into her eighties she still looks after herself & the home, cooks every day from scratch & I just take her shopping & things--I've even got her on to adding lentils & pearl barley to make her mince go further

Thanks for the warning Swampmonster--you'd have thought that a 'brand' would be at least reliable, but then again..Guess it's on par with any other kind of 'shopping', in that you can find something just as good, if not better than a 'name'.

mardatha

Mine was a cannon, from 123electricals.com (or something like that) Service was great and one the potrests was buckled so they got Cannon to send out another full set free within 2 days. Once you get sorted BMF yull be fine

Primrose

I always feel better when I can get going sowing vegetables again as a positive contribution to our household economy. Over the week-end I sowed peppers and chillis which will germinate on our lounge window sill. It has one of those deep bay window shelves, which over the next couple of months will gradually become crammed as I add tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, celeriac, leeks & climbing beans. I do have a mini plastic greenhouse which I re-erect around the middle of March to take the overspill and when I look at the price of buying vegetable seedlings from garden centres, growing from seed saves us a large sum of money. Once year I actually costed this exercise out, "charging myself" the shop price for everything I picked and by the end of the growing season, it was a tidy sum, even for a moderately small garden. For anybody who has some spare space in their garden in a sunny spot, I really recommend this. Quite apart from the satisfaction of saving money, it's really exciting watching everything grow and anticipating the eventual picking & eating.

Winged_one

We are unsure if we will be heading abroad later this year, and my alotment contract is due for renewal this month. I think I will renew it anyway as it is €50 for the year, and even if we do go, we'll get a few bits out before we go (even if it's only the leeks that are growing still - we're locked out for Feb every year for legal reasons). And if we don't go, I'd never get it back again the waiting list is so long the LA closed it 2 years ago! (I have relatives living close enough that they would use anything I grew this year that I couldn't get).

But I will be concentrating on fast growing crops early on, just in case. Peas, french and broad beans, salads, spring onions and radishes. But I will put in onions as usual, as everyone would use those and they wouldn't need much work once they get going.

Things are after tightening up for us too. We are not in any kind of trouble, but DH's job is looking more and more uncertain and both of us have taken paycuts. So we will be slowing the savings rate shortly, once we re-do the budgets properly (probably this weekend). But we have been OS for a long time, so although some bad habits had crept in when we were really flush, we have the good habits to fall back to and we also have a good cushion of savings if things do get really bad.

But a lot of the discretionary spending is gone. Like clothes, and going out. And buying wine from Lidl at €5 a bottle rather than €10 bottles from regular off-licence/supermarket. Although, the Lidl wines are very nice too. And I am more careful with the grocery budget than I had been for a good while. The stores cupboard is getting used up - all the exotic "must try out" tins etc are getting a use now rather than sitting there looking pretty!

elizabunny

charlies-aunt wrote: »

Elizabunny - what part of the country do you live in? I really envy you being able to get a good start on the growing season

I live near the Humber Bridge and its been cold, wet and miserable here for months

Spring must be on its way soon though - we saw a couple of squirrels out playing this morning ... I know that they are classed as 'vermin' but they are sweet little things and it was so lovely to see them happily scampering about amongst the trees.

We're East Midlands and the weather has been cold and wet here as well, but I am lucky enough to have a greenhouse and I invested in a soil warmer about 8 years ago.......if I remember rightly it cost about £30 and it's just brilliant for getting my seeds off to an early and strong start, I wouldn't be without it. I don't heat the greenhouse apart from this (too expensive) and just rely on sunshine if there is any;) We seemed to do well last year and had Tomatoes, Poatoes, Leeks, Onions, Carrot, Parsnips etc. etc and loads of salad leaves and herbs. I really don't know how we would have managed without the supplement. So roll on the warmer weather.

kidcat

I picked some tomato seeds up last week and some strawberry seeds too, I already have some carrot and lettuce seeds and successfully grew all our own lettuce last year. This year I cannot plant much as we are due to move as soon as we can buy a house so am thinking I will only plant what I can grow in containers and take with me. Am hoping I can grow the tomatoes in a couple of hanging baskets and the strawberries the same. Lettuce in some spare tubs I have in the garage. Not sure about the carrots as I think they will probably need loads of depth so may have to leave them till another year.

grandma247

Kidcat you can grow the short variety of carrots on deep trays such as those that mushrooms are in at the supermarket but anything at least 8inches deep will do

kidcat

grandma247 wrote: »

Kidcat you can grow the short variety of carrots on deep trays such as those that mushrooms are in at the supermarket but anything at least 8inches deep will do

Thanks, I will see how deep the containers in the garage are. Thinking of trying spring greens too, as we use two a week just on the bunny, so if I can grow some of them myself it would be a big help.

charlies-aunt

I tried growing carrots in containers last year - I had a seed coupon for £5 so went for the the expensive Patio Carrot seeds - Loving tended, watered etc - they produced beautiful thick ferny foilage but were a big disappointment when we pulled them as although they did put out long roots, the roots were the thickness of a piece of thread and the main part of the carrots were miniscule

Had much more success with the cheap and cheerful Wilko and Aldi seeds than any that I got from the seed catalogue.

Going to get plantlets off the market this year as any seedtrays on window sills are a magnet for our cat - she sat on & squished most of my seedlings last year!