It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

sammy_kaye18

Well I truly have had a happy day and believe that living with the concept of karma has returned me a bit of good luck.

Firstly, ben had the all clear from the dentist earlier. So glad now that hes better - it was horrible seeing him in pain. For those who don't know he damaged his tooth in school which they didn't tell me about - fell against a wall - and chipped his back tooth, so when i brushed his teeth i saw it damaged, took him to the dentist the next day and they put a coating on it to protect it but the tooth was fine. Two weeks ago he was hysterical in school so went and collected him, got him home and he fell asleep, woke up and his cheek had swollen, rushed him to prime care who examined him and gave him antibiotics, took him to dentist the next day to find out the knock he had had had killed the nerve of the tooth which had caused an infection:eek::eek::eek::eek: but the top of the tooth was still perfectly healthy bar the chip. They made a small hole to help pressure release and sent him home - so he's been on antibiotics 3 times a day, painkillers 4 times a day and anti inflammatory 4 times a day for the last two weeks!!!!! So needless to say when he went back today they said it was perfectly fine, put a little bit of that putty stuff in his tooth and then she mentioned that it looks like the back of his gum was swollen adn that he possibly has his first adult teeth coming in :eek: good lord give me strength! but he has a 100% clean bill of health and she said his teeth are perfectly aligned, all healthy (bar that horrid nerve!) and he needs no more treatment on it because its a baby tooth so back in 6 months for a check up.

Then, I was really down at the beginning of the week, I was arguing with Owen, he stayed at his friends house it got so bad, he had underpaid me so I couldn't cover the rent and was generally feeling really upset and felt like giving up, then this morning I had a letter from my mum turn up with money from my grandparents in that was meant for Xmas - not sure they know its May! - so had £150 (£50 each for me, ben and holly) which was super helpful at the minute with Owen not paying me enough to cover rent etc -so got enough for the rent now and a £50 food shop to last me until Tuesday /Wednesday next week!

Then yesterday a friend stopped over and I asked a favour, that if I gave him £80 could I use his debit card to make the same payment to take some money off my electric bill because it was £311 and he said ok - so accessed my account, left him to give card details etc whilst I got Ben dressed, came back and checked balance and he had paid off £80 but had paid another £100 on top! so he paid £180 in total and now my electric is only £135 to pay! I was shocked and a bit upset as I hate things like that happening to me as I feel really guilty and like I cant accept things. I asked why he did it and he said to think of it as a thank you gift because he was out of work for the last 6 months and every time he came here I made sure he had food here with us (granted it was all reduced stuff or like shepherds pie with bread and butter etc), and made sure he left with a bag of bits and pieces even if it was a couple of discounted bags of rolls, discounted ham, pies etc from the freezer that I grabbed cheap in work. He said i never ask for anything or want handouts (like other family members), and always struggle through things so he wanted to say thank you and thought that seemed like a nice idea but he knew if he tried to give me cash I'd feel uncomfortable and not take it.

Have to say I did breathe a huge sigh of relief afterwards though. Nearly had heart failure at the gas/electric bills - I messed up my payments over Xmas and paid on the wrong account so my gas bill is like £500+ so they are putting me on a prepayment meter again now but its £40 a month I have to pay back plus my usage but I was paying £100 a month so will save me a bit of money in the long run and no more bills to keep accumulating! We did have a meter before but ben was so small and it was at Christmas when Owen went blind overnight so i panicked about not having gas/electric to keep us warm/feed us etc and ben was only 18 months so i took them out but think a gas meter will be handy because im not likely to use it a lot in the summer. Plus I use our shower which is electric so it will literally be cooking and bathing for ben and owen.

So I have had a bit of help, sat down and made myself a home management file - with bills, amounts to pay, when/what and where to pay it, how often etc and what debts i have/ what i owe etc so hoping it will help me to keep track of what I'm paying and who to and I will be able to see debts coming down. Even got a section for savings and Xmas in it too! Hoping to hear from maternity allowance soon and should hear back form my tax credit renewal thing soon too hopefully and I'll have a better idea about what my income will eventually be.

Either way I hope some others are having good days too. Have been looking at money saving things today too and Ben has asked if we can make apple pies this summer again - so he wants to save jars etc, has asked if he can do the recyclign to earn his pocket money! :eek:Im not a slave driver honest! (his chore is to get the dogs bowl in the morning and then give it to the dog once ive dished it up - and before its said i have a jack russell terrier, ben is supervised doing it and bens own pant elastic is probably more dangerous!) and try doing jam/chutney etc too. 6 years old and set to be the new hugh fernley what's his do dar!

ceridwen

Aw Sammy - glad that friend paid you back a bit for your kindness towards him:D. At least he appreciates you by the sound of it. :mad:grr at Owen for not paying his whack towards the rent - and why didnt he? ...darn man...whats his excuse for not doing so?:mad: Can I come and give him a kick up the backside (only a small one honest....)? You're hardworking and pretty (having seen your photo a whiles back)....a bit of appreciation from him would be in order I think...

snoop2008

What a great place to be, lots of money saving ideas. I do live a frugal life. I remember when I was younger, there were seven of us and we never went without a hot meal. sometimes good habits do rub off. I know back in my time, we all had chores to do, and I remember my parents saying that budgeting and keeping a home is possible on small amounts of money. My mum made all my childhood dresses and I loved them. We learnt how to support each other and appreciated all we had. There were no benefits in their time but they still survived like many and I am glad to have had this experience.

I also had to learn to cook and from the age of 12 I was cooking for the whole family and doing the weekly ironing!! so many shirts, I am the only girl. But what I learnt then has helped me to budget and not be in debt. I never saw my parents struggle and had everything that was needed and they never borrowed a penny from anyone. Many families were like that and my mum says that this generation has too much of everything and many find it very hard when hard times strike. Their is a sense of pride when we can make things instead of buying. Cooking was essential to healthy living and I am very creative, a sewing machine does wonders. I make my own curtains, and things like that and many people on here I have read have some fantastic creative abilities. I wish I had a garden. My father had green fingers and a well kept garden. He took pride in what he did and what he grew like many greenfingers on here and others benefited from his produce.

This a lovely thread and many people can learn much from others!!

Genuisscuffy

Oh Sammy that makes me smile and a belief that there are still good people around. I think you are doing wonderfully - and I must thank you because I really need to sit down with my two sons (18 and 19) and work out a proper budget, so we are going to copy your household management idea. |I'm going to lose eldest boys child tax credit and child benefit and although he works 14 hours a week he really needs to help pay some keep now hes finishing college and trying to get a full time job (he thinks he doesnt eat much - yeah hollow legs!!!) and now youngest has also got a part time job (and going to college next year) he also needs to understand budgets and why when hes earning almost as much as me he needs to help out too!!!

Charis

mardatha wrote: »

O SUPERB ! ta very much Primrose. I love reading, don't mind how big the book is . These sound great, many thanks !
I am also looking for books on "how we did things"..but am not sure what to search under online. I wanted to know skills the Victorians (and up to WW2) had that we might have lost. Just to know how to live without electricity if we ever had powercuts, how to cook on an open fire without a dutch oven, etc etc -just to know tricks that they knew and we forgot. But I dont know what to look under. I dont really know what I mean either. LOL !:rotfl:

My Nan and Aunt didn't have electricity, they had gas mantles (which broke if you touched them with a match as you lit them) they did have a gas cooker but previous occupants did their cooking on the range, a thing made of black iron in which you lit a fire and cooked in an 'oven' either side, a bit like an Iron Age Aga, lacking any thermostat. Irons were heated on the fire and a chrome plated 'shoe' slid onto the thing to stop it sticking to your clothes. Again, no thermostat. The radio was battery operated and my dad converted it to run on a much larger battery. My aunt worked in a factory making cardboard boxes (the posh kind for toiletries) and she made all her own clothes using a treadle sewing machine or two knitting needles. I don't know how, because it was so dark with only two gas mantles that you couldn't read a paper. This continued from 1941, when they were bombed out of their previous home and lost everything, until 1963. Auntie is still alive, at 83, but almost blind and deaf. They hardly ever ate fresh fruit and vegetables and my Aunt's health has never been brilliant. There was a factory just yards from their home, pumping out chemical smells, that wouldn't be tolerated on a housing estate these days. It was on the very edge of what is now the new Olympic Games area, and the house was demolished years ago.

mardatha

At least you know all this Charis, your nan & aunt got to pass on their memories. V ery very interesting thank you !! So often they are lost. It's highly possible that we will all need to learn again how to cook on the fire & how to make our own clothes.. I find the food getting dearer every single week & you have to make the same money go further & further.
I bet people of their generation would think we are terrible for the stuff we waste now. I wish I had had a mum who passed on her memories.

grandmasam

Hello all,
I found this thread whilst darting round on the site at the weekend, and it's so interesting and informative.
Mardatha thanks for the link to the 1p book, mine arrived this morning and i have just finished it,:D
I was married to a farmer in the 60's and my MIL taught me a lot about frugality and making meals from scratch, which i still do today[ except beating the fag ash into the cake mix as it dropped off the end :eek:] she said no one would notice! and they didn't! my slices of her cakes were always very small after that
I learnt how to pickle cow tongue, make brawn and faggots,at Christmas i still do this and give to my DS's and their families.My DFiL was a butcher prior to becoming a farmer and we sold meat from farm to freezer, i still have my set of boning out knives and use them.
I am in my 60's and my 3 DDiL's often ask for recipes and household hints and tips, especially the one in germany who is fascinated by any thing to do with frugality !
Thanks again for a great thread,
Caz

taplady

Sammy - glad you had some good news re your finances :j- You deserve a break!:T

spike7451

Well,the other day I was in my local CoOp,I got two bags of carrots for 50p & a big bag of mushrooms for 10p (they were starting to go that crinkley way but still dry & OK) then I went over to Tesco for Saisy's cat food,on offer for £2.50 a box,I also got a reduced pack of value mince for £1.10.
When I got home,I chopped & fried the beef,carrots & m'rooms & added some left-over frozen peas,tin of chopped tomatoes,again value pack & a stock cube,washing out the nearly empty jar of Bovril & Marmite to add to the stock,finally some diced spuds.

So for tea last night,I had a bowl of it....lush! Today I added a spoonful of curry paste,boiled some rice & had a curry from it!
Not only those two meals,I also filled three of those plastic tubs you get at the Chinese with some as well & bunged in the freezer!!

Total cost for the lot....just over £2.00!!!!

charlies-aunt

spike7451 wrote: »

Well,the other day I was in my local CoOp,I got two bags of carrots for 50p & a big bag of mushrooms for 10p....a reduced pack of value mince for £1.10.... added some left-over frozen peas,tin of chopped tomatoes,again value pack & a stock cube,washing out the nearly empty jar of Bovril & Marmite to add to the stock,finally some diced spuds.

So for tea last night,I had a bowl of it....lush! Today I added a spoonful of curry paste,boiled some rice & had a curry from it!
Not only those two meals,I also filled three of those plastic tubs you get at the Chinese with some as well & bunged in the freezer!!

Total cost for the lot....just over £2.00!!!!

5 tasty meals for £2 - now thats thrifty!

I often think that its all the leftover bits and bobs that get chucked in that give these concoctions the extra bit of oomph

I bulk minced beef out with whatever is starting to look sad or lonely - the last few spoonfuls of cereal crumbs out the bottom of the box, leftover cooked rice/noodles/spagetti/veg/beans, rolled oats, the last drops out of ketchup/sauce bottles. A few hours in the slow cooker and it always comes out tasty.