It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

jediteacher

Primrose wrote: »

jediteacher - your grandmother sounds a wonderful lady and I'm sure you can learn a lot from her. When you hear the stories that people like her can tell (and I also knew a lady who suffered similar circumstances) it makes us realise that however hard things may seem to us now, they are quite easy by comparison. One of my grandmothers bought up 6 children single handed with a husband away in the first World war, and even when he returned, he suffered long periods of unemployment. She learnt every trick in the book of necessity, to survive and those habits never left her. When she died and her house was cleared out, every single spent match since World War 2 had been saved in jars for future possible kindling to light fires, even though she had long since had automatic ignition gas fires installed! Frugality like this is a habit difficult to shake off, and I often think of my grandmother, and even my parents in WW2 when I find myself hoarding short lengths of string and elastic bands.

Thank you. She is truly remarkable. My sister and I went to Poland with her last year for the 65th commemorations of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. It was truly a humbling experience. One of the amazing things was we met my grandfathers best friend from the war who told us many stories about him - my precious grandfather died just over a year ago. It is amazing what they went through and survived and it does make me quite cross as to how people do not understand just how bad it was for them and what they went through. This older generation will not be with us for much longer and they have such a wealth of knowledge and ideas which we should treasure.

Anyway, I'm about to list some stuff on ebay to make some extra money as my daughter is asleep and I get a few hours of peace!

ceridwen

juliethemuse wrote: »

we are really tightening our belts, no more takeaways in this house, i love fish and chips but to feed us all it costs over £20 a time, which is way OTT,
however i'm not mean , and i have over 70 pounds in the penny jar which goes towards the kids and grandsons christmas prezzies,
my eldest son is certainly learning the value of money he charged me a tenner to get a lift to the vets and its only a few miles,
i know the diesel needs buying but honestly! we looked after his huge rottweiler for nothing when he went on a course, and it ate us out of house and home, i ask for a lift and i get charged!
and my other 3 who still live at home are always hungry! my 21 year old must have a hollow leg, he constantly eats but never gets any fatter, ooh the injustice!!:)

Ooh dear...to son charging for lift to the vets - if you looked after his dog then its quid pro quo - or to put it another way "tit for tat". Personally - I think its wrong to charge family for anything - it should be a free gift both ways if something "changes hands" between family members.

Don't know if this is just my own personal take on things - ie family members and very close friends go "free of charge" for anything exchanged between us -and I expect that to go both ways. I wouldnt dream of "charging" my mother for anything - and I'd soon get a verbal "clip round the ear" from her if I even tried to....a VERY quick reminder that I'm her daughter would be forthcoming:rotfl:. My mother has also made it very plain that she expects "first dibs" on anything I am chucking out....so always gets offered anything going first if its something I think she might like...before I look for any other "good homes" for it..

ceridwen

Primrose wrote: »

I started the belt tightening exercise a while back when we were having all the panics with the banks nearly going bust although to be fair, we already live within our income and try to manage our money as effectively as possible. I guess that this household is not terribly high maintenance in terms of having expensive hobbies, regular takeaways, lots of meals out and similar kinds of expenditure which can make a hole in your budget very quickly. If we have to, there are probably a few more savings we could make like giving up our daily newspaper, but having slogged away all our working lives leaving home early every morning, a leisurely breakfast with a quality paper is one of our indulgences. I also tell myself that it's essential to be knowledgeable about what's happening in the wider economy so that that we can hopefully be 'one step ahead of the game' if things start to go even more pear shaped than they are already.
I think that even people who do have savings behind them are becoming more thoughtful about their expenditures now. With the risk of inflation and loss of taxable benefits, lower allowances, etc. salaries and savings will just not be stretching as far as they used to and it doesn't take long, if you're not keeping a strict eye on your finances, to find that you're suddenly exceeding your income.

Personally - there were many years where I didnt buy a daily newspaper - but I think it is money well spent (if one possibly can) to buy a suitable daily newspaper - in order to help with studying what is going on in the "wider society" and working out how to "duck and dive" financially accordingly.

(and I'm not even going to admit which one it is that I buy - I'm too embarrassed...but I scan a variety of newspapers through from the "Morning Star" to "The Times" to get a good look at whats going on from a variety of viewpoints...)

Lindy_-_Loo

ceridwen wrote: »

Don't know if this is just my own personal take on things - ie family members and very close friends go "free of charge" for anything exchanged between us -and I expect that to go both ways. I wouldnt dream of "charging" my mother for anything - and I'd soon get a verbal "clip round the ear" from her if I even tried to....a VERY quick reminder that I'm her daughter would be forthcoming:rotfl:. My mother has also made it very plain that she expects "first dibs" on anything I am chucking out....so always gets offered anything going first...before I look for any other "good homes" for it...

I agree, I give things to my family and friends (without charge!), I want to help if I can and I expect the same in return. my sister came to mine on monday after work to help oH put the boys bunk beds up as it was his day off, I made tea for her and my neices to say thankyou. She took the boys old beds for her 2 friends. My friend has to pay her sister for their old toys her son as grown out of as she says that she would have sold them at a car boot - yet she happily takes them off us for her son for free!

ceridwen

mardatha wrote: »

is it not time to start to support the english farmers as best we can.
********************
Ooooooh ! wot about Scottish farmers then ?? poor wee souls, are they not worth supporting ? LOL !
DS, I totally agree with you. We cannot understand why this whole country is not in an uproar at the cost of fuel. Maybe it's because most people live in towns & dont have too far to travel ?... when we both worked at different jobs, we did a 100 miles a day. (He worked days, I worked nights) We used to do 30,000 mls a year. When we both got made redundant we had to find work together to make it worthwhile.
This is one of the many horrible unfairnesses that is going to catch people out in the new benefit crackdown. If there is a job going in a town 30 miles away - which is common in rural areas - they are going to make you take that job, even if busfares/petrol will take a huge chunk of your wage. Then HB/CT etc will work on the actual wage you get - not taking into account that it might cost you a LOT to actually get to work. And it's ok smartasses saying "get on yer bike"... it is not possible to cycle to work in the kind of winters we have. Not physically possible.
My OH goes on & on & ON about petrol and I get fedup listening to him. But I wish people would get together and do something about it !

I have long thought (ie for decades now...) that public transport needs to be free and frequent. It's a viewpoint I decided on 40 years ago - and it seems even more valid to me now. It would reduce the amount of private transport busily polluting the atmosphere with noise and fumes - and it would ensure that people can maintain the high rate of mobility that has come to be regarded as normal within our society. Win/win.

I was one very upset lady all those years back when they started privatising the bus and rail companies - sitting there sobbing "HOW HOW HOW - are they going to cater for keeping people mobile some years down the line and keeping pollution/traffic on the roads down if they do that?". But - they were shortsighted - VERY:mad::eek: - and they did it...and I hope they are b****y well regretting it now bigtime:mad:

ceridwen

jediteacher wrote: »

Lurker here!

I've been reading this thread for a while and have finally thought that I must join in.

The budget has effected us as I'm in the public sector - primary school teacher. I work part time since having my little girl. The budget has really stuffed us. My wages are frozen and I know people think I get paid a lot but we honestly don't. The hours are tough despite what people think about holidays. Even though I work three days officially I still actually work the other two days unpaid! I could go on for ever about the wrongs that are said about teachers but will probably only offend people.

Anyway, I really need to join this frugal living as we do have debts to clear and with the cost of living going up (we barely cope now!) we really need to tighten our belts. We have no holidays, rarely go out and if we do it's to friends and don't drink.

Will sit down today and meal plan and sort out our income and outgoings. We did not benefit from the drop in mortgage rates and had to renew our mortgage during the high rates and are now locked in for 5 years.

My grandmother is Polish and survived the war. She was imprisoned in a concentration camps but with the help of a priest she escaped and fled to England. As a result of this she is excellent at making things stretch so will have to ask her for some more tips. The downside to this is that she still has the same mentality that she had in the camp and will throw nothing away even if (food) is well past eating. She's 82 and a real gem. Infact she's my hero and can never truly appreciate what she went through. :A

Anyway, if it's ok with you guys I would love to join this little community.

26 "Thanks" to your post at this moment says "You are very welcome to join our little community - the kettle is on. Do you want tea or coffee?":)

ginnyknit

welcome Jediteacher, great post!

Mardatha Im afraid I go on about petrol too. Although ours is only for pleasure now we don't work thank goodness its still hard. it now costs 10.00 to go to my Mums so we cannot go and check on her quite so often. She has just asked me to get her a solar phone charger( through topcash of course) as ours arrived today and is fab. once we have covered the cost we will be charging for free :T:T
And of course we all support UK farmers lol, im going to check where my stuff actually comes from now. I have noticed on Countryfile the coments made about how little they get for their animals and crops no wonder they have to diversify - last year on the Scottish islands they were getting a fiver for a sheep! and a bloomin leg of lamb is about 20 quid!!! Gosh Mr T must have an amazing standard of living and he gets first dibs on the whoopsies too...

Oh no 4 day weeks, I remember those well, its not enough to feed a budgie on is it? Whats next powercuts, rationing?

ceridwen

Primrose wrote: »

I find it terribly sad that so many people are now having to put their lives on hold, waiting for an axe to fall on the employment of one or both members of their working household, and other who do not deserve it, are struggling to get by financially when none of this enormous national deficit is their fault.

For many years this situation has been building up and I truly wonder about the competence of some of those we elected to govern us that they did not eventually realise that it would come to this eventually when the money, and the ability to borrow more money would run out. I am glad I'm not a politician in government at the moment. I realise they have no choice but to impose these horrendous cuts but I think it's now up to us as voters to sit up take more interest in politics and those we elected to ensure that they act in a competent and responsible manner going forward. It's mot much of an excuse to say "I'm not interested in politics or what the government does - I elected them to get on with it" but would any of us hand over our personal finances to people who have pushed the economy to such dire straits and feel that our savings were in safe hands?

From now on we should be demanding a lot more personal responsibility and accountability from our politicians, and if they don't deliver, they should walk the plank instead of taking golden handshakes.

You are well on the spot when you say that this situation has been building up for years - many years in fact. The Thrilla made the point that - in this country - people have a tendency to wait for THEM to do something/sort the problem out. He is perfectly accurate and it drives me bananas to watch this sort of thing. I have watched this supposedly all-knowing/all-wise THEM for many years now - and they seriously know little more than Joe and Jane Bloggs in the street when it comes down to it. The fact that people have more money and/or power than Joe and Jane Bloggs means b*****r all at the end of the day. There are people who dont give a m****s at any point. There are people who know b****r all at any point.

.....and the reverse....people who CAN see what is happening and CAN work out the best way to deal with it

...so...yep....back to my point...."personal accountability" is indeed key. WE are the people we have been waiting for - to quote a recent book I read...and its time we started taking that personal responsibility into our hands.

katholicos

juliethemuse wrote: »

we are really tightening our belts, no more takeaways in this house, i love fish and chips but to feed us all it costs over £20 a time, which is way OTT,
however i'm not mean , and i have over 70 pounds in the penny jar which goes towards the kids and grandsons christmas prezzies,
my eldest son is certainly learning the value of money he charged me a tenner to get a lift to the vets and its only a few miles,
i know the diesel needs buying but honestly! we looked after his huge rottweiler for nothing when he went on a course, and it ate us out of house and home, i ask for a lift and i get charged!
and my other 3 who still live at home are always hungry! my 21 year old must have a hollow leg, he constantly eats but never gets any fatter, ooh the injustice!!:)

There's no way that it costs £10 to drive you to and from a vet just a few miles away. You could probably get a taxi for less. Frankly I find it shocking that your son expects you to pay. Have you asked him to pay back all the money it cost to raise him, clothe him, feed him, take him where he needed to go etc?

It's one thing for a passenger, family member or not, to offer a contribution or good will payment, but it's quite another to request it. If the shoe were on the other foot, would you charge him? Of course not....and as for looking after his dog at any point in the future I wouldn't hesitate to say 'no!' in a very loud and clear voice.

ceridwen

The_Thrilla wrote: »

Sorry, I thought it was obvious that anyone nicknamed The Thrilla would come from the Philippines.

The Thrilla from Manila

:rotfl::rotfl: ummmm...errr...you're NOT that penpal I sorta somewhat unceremoniously "dumped" many many years ago now (ie as a teenager) are you - when he sent me a photograph of himself and I didnt fancy him?:o:o Oh...shallow was I....but in my defence...I WAS a teenager at the time......