It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

Gigervamp

I want to grow some winter veg, but I'm the only one that eats it! Hubby likes parsnips, but he hates cabbage, sprouts and swede and possibly turnips too (although he'd probably eat those if they were in a pie or something). As I'm the only one who eats them, I only cook them if somebody is coming to dinner who also likes them.

ralloctiger

annie123 wrote: »

Sorry to go back to shopping prices, but when did Stardrops goes up?
Popped to MrS to get some this morning as I forgot it the other day and it said £1.34 :eek:on the shelf but scanned at £1.13 :eek:
it's not the larger bottle either still the 600ml one.
Now I know it lasts ages, but I'm sure I only paid 60-70p last time, I remember when I first discovered it many years ago it was 15p a bottle:D
Have I just paid way over for it? or is this the cost now?

paid £1 for mine in Iceland.

ginnyknit

silvercharming wrote: »

I'll be honest, I never use a hosepipe anyway as using treated water on my veggies seems a little wasteful. Do you have a water butt? There are plenty of other ways to minimise watering, too! What kind of veggies are you growing / how are you growing them (in the ground/raised beds/pots etc)? A little work now can save lots of watering cans lugged around later

I appear to be a tad 'finger dyslexic' today so excuse the bad spelling!

I have a water butt but am looking for another one - discarded dustbin- and we are hoping to divert the bath water asap but its the far end of the garden where my pumpkins, squashes and courgettes are, they seem to need a lot of water. The stuff near the house in 30 or 40 pots get the benefit of washing up water etc so thats not too bad. I also have 3 buckets collecting rain out there too. Hopefully we will be converting to raised beds next year - free pallets arrived this week, as I cannot kneel due to wonky knee well i can, I just can't get up again

smileyt_2

eandjsmum wrote: »

Down her in Kent one excecutive on the County Council was paid a salary of £170000. He commuted from Yorkshire to Kent every week, However after just one year he left and was give a years pay-off. Every time this is brought up on local radio the Chief Excec clams up and says he has a confidendlality agreement,and it was cheeper to pay him rather than go through performence reviews. It makes me mad at a time when we all have to cut back this is allowed to go on. Just think he has a salary equivalent to 170 band D properties and gets a pay off of another 170.:mad:

H*lls bells! I could live for 30 years on that!

ceridwen

kidcat wrote: »

Just wanted to say that while internet is not absolutely necessary, its is an important tool for money saving, most energy providers best products are internet only based and the savings that can be made on energy bills alone will provide the cash to pay for the internet. Added to the advantages from a shopping around point of view and the internet more than pays for itself. I worked out last year that our internet had cost us £100 for the year but we saved £500 on energy bills alone. When added to the discounts from phone providers for internet billing and all the other discounts (insurance etc) I was stunned to realise that the £100 spent had saved us thousands.
So in that respect if someone on a very low income was able to have internet access it would probably make a very large difference to the lifestyle they were able to lead. In effect they could get alot more for their money.

Some very good points there.

I too would dispute the necessity to buy a new computer every year. I've just paid out for bits and pieces to refurb the old one as I go - new keyboard, etc, when I accidentally "threw" coffee over it and a "repair" because the manufacturers deliberately made the first ones in this "generation" of computers with an inadequate amount of memory (the cheaper ones anyway...) and this one "blew a gasket" and required a new "hard disc" (?) - or whatever the technical term is. That hasnt come to as much as £400pa.

The computer itself cost £400 originally and I've had to spend about £200 roughly on "keeping it up to scratch" since - so I need to recoup £600 to make it "cover its costs".

I saved about £100 alone when I had to replace my washing machine (because I found a better deal on the Net). I save the cost of a tv licence - as I watch so few tv programmes that I just see them "after the event" on Iplayer and the like. I look up the "say no to 0870" website whenever a firm is trying to make me cover the cost of an 0870/0845 phone number to phone them and can usually find an alternative number. I sometimes send emails, rather than letters.

...and, of course, the biggest saving of the lot has to be all the handy hints I pick up the O.S. Board:D

So - in actual fact - my computer has already "paid for itself" and is now saving me money....so I rather tend to agree that a computer is necessary (based on the fact that I would be spending more money overall if I didnt have it).

katieclampet

ceridwen wrote: »

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. QUOTE]

That is exactly what we do. Any furniture, clothes, electrical stuff, household goods, books etc get offered to family members first, then friends. If no one wants them, then they quite often go to a "friend of a friend" or a work colleague. Then they go to CS or CB sale.

This has worked well over the years, since when I was younger and very poor, I often got things given. Now I am older and (a bit) richer :rotfl:I can pass things on.

katiex

smileyt_2

Thanks oldstylers - I was feeling a bit low but you have made me count my blessings, of which I have many. Feeling low because the house I was really interested in on homeswapper (mahoosive garden!) has gone, and because JSA are only going to pay me half the normal amount because they are taking into account the money I get for having a vulnerable young person with me in supported lodgings. I think this is a bit rich because the money I am saving the state by having him here instead of in care or in a hostel far outweighs the money I would be getting on JSA.

However, I have a roof over my head, covering for my bum :rotfl:, food on the table and clean water out of a tap, plus some money in the bank. And I have been educated and have access to free healthcare. So I am rich in all the ways that really matter.

So it's chin up and carry on!

Primrose

I hope for us as a nation the next few difficult years of austerity will help us all reassess our values. It seems to me that in recent years they have become massively out of kilter, with genuine needs and wishes becoming massively confused. There's one of those chain e-mail doings the rounds saying that if you have a roof over your head, food in your stomach, good health, a free education and live in a democratic society you are among the world's richest 10% of population. Perhaps we all need to remind ourselves of that when we're in grumbling mode.

katholicos

ceridwen wrote: »

£9.40 for a taxi to go 3.8 miles the other day - so I made that £10 - if anyone wants a price comparison....(distance checked on Googlemaps in advance).

I think it largely depends on which area we each reside in, amongst other things.

AnnieG

Hiya
With regards to internet access, I'm looking for a job at the moment and would find it much, much harder without computer facilities at home. A lot of employers only accept online applications, and the majority of jobs are advertised on the internet too.I could go to a library, but it would cost me to get the bus to town, then £1 for every half an hour - and it takes a lot longer than that to complete some of the application forms you're asked to submit these days! Then 80p for each page you want to print - a copy of said 10 page application form for example, as well as letters to the bank, creditors etc.
Also, DS goes to secondary school soon and I understand that computer and internet access is pretty much mandatory for homework etc nowadays.
So, for me, the internet is more or less essential. Sky TV on the other hand.... I've never seen the attraction myself!