It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

Rowan9

Glad you are feeling more upbeat Thats Me. What an inspirational post. I love making soup and always add bits from the freezer - I keep brocolli stalks and cauli leaves - just bung them into the freezer them chop them up when I'm making soup. I've posted this on the Daily and Grocery but Lidl have pointy cabbages for 29p - small but hey ho I'm not complaining.
W

pagangirl

:grouphug: for That's me - great way to look at things, thats what I'm doing, looking at it as a challenge, pricing everything I need in different shops to get cheapest - just started a price notebook, so thanks to whoever mentioned that (not sure if this thread). Like Mardatha says - they will not beat me They're trying tho :mad:

Water rates should come down when next read, as finished work last Dec - now wearing mostly casual clothes, not work clothes so washing machine not on as much, also having wash downs (and baths twice a week) instead of bath every day (no shower) so waiting hopefully for a reduction !

Hugs to all

Tregemred

Really appreciating all I have learnt through this forum today. We are faced with no money until 21st and I was panicking. But went through freezer and cupboards, made a meal plan and all the frugal tips (e.g. batch cooking, stretching, freezing leftovers, buying whoopsies, etc) I have applied over the last 6 months and the veg in the garden are going to feed us more than adequately.

Thank you all for sharing so generously.

TGR :beer:

iris

We live in Lincolnshire and have a septic tank (bottle). We are on a meter and pay £6 pm DD (£3 pppm) and we are in credit by £9 so far this year. To have our septic tank emptied costs £35 by a local farmer, but it hasn't needed emptying for the last 3 years (my DH tells me if it is 'working' properly it shouldn't need emptying very often). We have a water butt for watering our small vegetable garden, unfortunately due to the dry weather it is now empty and I am having to use washing up water etc for our veg at the moment. We only take showers.

Can anyone beat this?

Iris

Hippeechiq

annie123 wrote: »

£10.47pp pm, that makes you one of the cheaper ones if done that way:)
and for The_cat it's £12.91pp pm which sounds better too.

Does it? oh, ok, I feel slightly calmer now then thank you

Thats_me wrote: »

Hi All, after my little rant of a few days ago (thanks for the kind comments) I am now feeling more upbeat. Me and OH had a long talk and look at finances and I am now more confident that we will be OK for a while. OH is on a small pension (he stopped work due to serious stress, 2 breakdowns, not a pretty sight!) so I have been the sole breadwinner for 7 years. The strange thing I have realised is that we could save an awful lot more money if I were at home, doing the things OH does not have time to do on his own. For example, after picking veg for dinner at the weekend, we grow most of our own, instead of all the peelings and trimmings going into the compost bin, I made soup, enough for 2 good meals each. So that is 4 dinners for nothing! Add that up during thw week and we certainly won't go hungry. Also, picking up fallen wood in the park for the burner. Now I am looking at it like a challenge, not a problem! These threads are an absolute life line. Thanks to all for contributing.

Gald you're feeling brighter That's me, I think we all have days where everything overwhelms us

I love this forum, and the way people rally round to help or lift the spirits of complete strangers - kind of restores your faith in human nature, doesn't it :T

mardatha

and for The_cat it's £12.91pp pm which sounds better too.
************

Am I the only eejit who was thinking (briefly) that somebody pays council tax for her cat ? :rotfl:

kidcat

mardatha wrote: »

and for The_cat it's £12.91pp pm which sounds better too.
************

Am I the only eejit who was thinking (briefly) that somebody pays council tax for her cat ? :rotfl:

I thought that at first glance too. :o

Primrose

I hate food waste and have learnt to make some excellent "compost" soups, i.e. using veggie bits which would otherwise go into the kitchen compost crock pot.

When we treat ourselves to some asparagus, the woody ends which are removed are sauteed in butter until soft and the water in which the asparagus is cooked separately is saved (it's got excellent flavour) and added to the cooked down stalk ends. Cool a little, whizz in a blender and strain the pulpy fibres through a sieve. This makes an excellent asparagus soup.

Pea pod soup can be made in a similar way if you grow your own peas, and this is delicious served chilled in wine glasses as an unusual summer starter. Save a nice looking empty pod to hook over the glass rim as a garnish (and to prove you've made it from your own peas .)

Cauliflower outer leaves & ribs, and the main stalk can also be cooked down to make a cauliflower soup.

charlies-aunt

Gigervamp wrote: »

We don't have a water meter and we have a cess pit so we don't pay the water board for sewerage, but have to pay to get it emptied.

We pay just over £16 a month for the water but the cess pit costs £165 a time to be emptied. Fortunately this year with it being so dry, we haven't needed to empty it yet, but last year with all the rain, (and even though we have a water butt on one of the drain pipes) we had to get it emptied several times. At one point we had so much rain, it was only 6 weeks between emptyings! :eek:

We have a cesspit too...keeping it happy and cooking is essential to saving on tank emptying.

Hope I'm not trying to teach Granny how to suck eggs on this but a few little things make a big difference

First and foremost - use as little bleach, antibacterial wash powder/washing up liquid as possible ...and chuck away the loo-bloo...they kill the natural bacteria that eats the contents of your tank.

Use cheapo recycled loo roll and use the minimum - the coloured, thick stuff is hard for said bacteria to digest and breakdown.

We have used a commercial additive that puts lots of friendly bacteria into the tank - worked brilliantly and lasts for years. If you do homebrew- flush all the old yeast residue down the loo as it will feed the stuff in the tank

If you lift the lid and it just smells a bit musty - its working ...if it smells 'orrible, it need TLC :A

Chipps

Hi

We have 2 water bills. Essex & Suffolk water deliver the clean stuff for £23.23/month (10 months) and Anglian Water take the other stuff away for £28.51/month (also over 10 months) - maybe they need to get paid more because of the smell????

Some ups & downs today: Down - put navy shorts in with fairly new yellow blouse & other light coloured stuff in the washing machine....:o

Up: filled up with petrol this morning & got £5 M*rrisons miles voucher, stopped off in said supermarket on way home from work this evening & bought some colour run stuff to rescue my poor blouse & DS's socks (price more than covered by the voucher) and also bought 4 nectarines for 25p and a swede for 5p.