If things get tougher?

laughing_cow

I'm in a flat too, but luckily I have a small balcony so was able to grow lettuce, rocket and some cherry tomatoes last summer. The lettuce and rocket is soooo easy and I didn't need to buy any salad leaves all summer. Do you have space for a window box? - they'd grow just as well in there.

MinnieSpender

laughing_cow wrote:

I'm in a flat too, but luckily I have a small balcony so was able to grow lettuce, rocket and some cherry tomatoes last summer. The lettuce and rocket is soooo easy and I didn't need to buy any salad leaves all summer. Do you have space for a window box? - they'd grow just as well in there.

No balcony and no room for window boxes sadly. I do manage to sprout seeds and grow herbs in plant pots though. It's a start I suppose!

laughing_cow

I'm a bit rubbish with sprouting seeds - I forget to do the daily rinsing thing! I did do a cos lettuce in a pot last year - you just pick the leaves off as you need them - that might work ok on a windowsill.

chardonnay_2

[QUOTE=Ember999)


Try value products rather that assuming they taste awful when they obviously don't etc.

Stop spending £60 a week on Nicorette Nasal Sprays (but that stops me spending £70 a week on cigarettes!)
QUOTE]

ember, have you tried lidl & aldi - a lot of their products are similar to the cost of value products, and sometimes better quality. saying that we use lots of value products and find them brill. asda have a 200% own brand guarantee - so try them if you don't like it take it back and you will get a double refund. (even take back the empty packaging)


make a doctors appt - in scotland there is a big push to encourage non smoking and smokers can get all their nicorette stuff on prescription.

janjan

I have heard that glucose tablets help when giving up smoking.....might be worth a try.

I think we should give up heating the house and just heat the room we are in. And then get hot water bottles for the bed room.
My fluffly bedsocks and winceyette PJ's will get lots of use!

apple_mint

When we moved (into a much older house with sash windows etc.) we bought a hot water bottle each. Wish I'd done it years ago ... it's absolute bliss having a hot water bottle to warm your tootsies on OH used to complain like mad when I warmed my feet up on him :rolleyes:

My hot water bottle also does double duty by being cuddled on my lap when I'm doing my early morning surfing on OS

JAMIEDODGER

this thread has worried me! i do live a pretty os kinda way already, at a level that suits me and my young family without feeling too deprived.

i guess if our bills are going to rocket, i should start thinking about it now. next winter is set to be quite financially hard for us all then esp those with debt.

i would not go without my pc or broadband connection as a single parent it is my lifeline and my social life too! i would keep sky as my little boy is obsessed with it (he is autistic) although if i lived on my own and had no children the tv would be the first thing to go as i never watch it.

last month i had to declare my car SORN. this didnt hurt anywhere near as much as i thought it would! so i guess in times of real hardship the car would have to go, and use a taxi for that essental journey once a month to take my son to his respite care, that would be a tenner a month as opposed to cartax, mot, insurance, petrol, maintenance costs associated with running a car.

i dont have a dishwasher (thats me) i have a tumble dryer which i dont use at all, as i hang all my laundry. at the moment all my spare money goes towards hammering my debt.

this has really made me think harder at where i can save more money!!!!!

marsha8

I would try to incorporate several stop-offs on a single car journey instead of going to just one place & then going back home again e.g. go straight on to the Gym after shopping instead of shopping then returning home & then going off again to Gym.

grex9101

This thread is all a bit depressing, and i would like to point out that things aren't necessarily going to get worse:

-The general cost of most things is going DOWN: When before could be get new cds for seven quid?
-Supermarkets are popping up everywhere-if you want something, check a few before buying, one of them will have a BOGOF on it
-Shops like Matalan and TK Maxx are everywhere also, when in the past could you get new diesel jeans for £30-£40?!
-If you ned to make money/space, you no longer need a car boot-Ebay it!
-New sources of new energy are just around the corner, and we all know the likes of BP etc have solutions for transport when the oil runs out...
-The world is getting smaller-something too expensive in the UK? Buy it from overseas via the internet!
-And for everything else, there are forums like this, coupons and deals. Price comparison engines and cashback sites!

I just want to point out that yes, prices of certain things will always go up, but so do wages, and the effects of competition ensure that we will always be OK in the long run.

Just make sure that mega companies like tesco don't get too big and kill off the competitors-that's in NO-ONEs interests

katieowl_2

Grex 9101 I hate to dissillusion you but in this house wages are NOT going up. Infact my DH is only a few years off retiring and I can only see the cash flow going DOWN.

Also it is true that many of the things that you suggest are cheap but they are not sustainable or environmentally/socially friendly. I'm afraid when I see a t-shirt for three quid (Matalan) I do stop to wonder, after the profit of the seller has been taken off, the cost of transporting it from China, and the Business Rates of the high street seller, how much the poor !!!!!! that made it got out of a days work.

I just don't agree that in the 'long run' it's going to be OK. We cannot possibly carry on squandering and exploiting the rest of the world for our benefit for the rest of time. CD's. internationally shipped goods (and especially FOOD!) having you own transport etc are oil based luxuries IMHO that one day we will pay dearly for.

Regards

Kate