If things get tougher?

HOLsale

it's very unfortunate isn't it that we are so dependant on vehicles these days... i do understand, believe you me trying to get groceries home in a rucksack, hoping a bus would come by but more often then not hitchhiking home (it was skye, everyone knows you!) in the rain, no fun!

i just wonder what it will be like for people like you moggins that have arthritis and no good bus service if the petrol crisis gets bad...

actually we'll all sufer because getting the food to the shops will become an ordeal as well...

BWZN93

RE: Cars

Id hate to give up my car because to me its my independance, the one thing I saved hard for whilst I was living on nothing but student loans (cost £1.5k - all cash) and I love it. It would be one of the last things to go for me.

Granted - I get the bus to work at a cost of £65 per month (monthly bus pass) wheras the car would cost me around £130 a month in car parking fees so that does make sense, and therefore only use my car for my own journeys. Working full time, and two weekends in a month a saturday too, my free time is limited and I use that time for my pleasure - cooking. To go to places like the chinese supermarket, I need the car or it would take me over an hour in bus travel just to get there. Going to lidl etc is practical on the bus - but I dont want to spend my sunday waiting around for it - I want to do it in the least time possible.

When I first got my car it allowed me to go to the places I wanted to and public transport doesnt give that same kind of freedom. Hence my car being my little piece of independance. It would cost me more in public transport costs to visit my freinds too - as well as being limited to returning at the hour set by the train services. Absolutley no way will I give up my car, even though I dont use it much. I can live without it - but would not want to.

Jo xx

ceegee

Right, so that's the fuel rises out in the open. Council tax anyone.... :mad: :mad: :mad: ??

tootles_2

The council have said ours will go up by slightly less 0.01% than inflation ( confirmation 20th March), but again, pension rises will not cover all the rises in the pipe line..........we do get a small amount of relief, £1.58 per week this year........it might go up to £1.60 I suppose????? Our housing benefit goes up slightly too....... may be up to £4.50 a week, we live in a two bedroom house, so get penalised, as we are a pensioner couple we are only allowed one bedroom under the CT rules, the fact that my husband snores badly and I often have to resort to the back bedroom to get any sleep does not count....... thats 'bad luck'.

To those of you who have a good slice of your working life in front of you......MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GOOD PENSION PROVISION..... my husband worked for the Civil Service, and his branch opted out of the government pension scheme, so we loose approx £20 a week from his pension because of that..... his CS pension does not, of course, take this into account.

I know there are many pensioners who are in a worse position than we are........I am grateful that we have what we do and that I was brought up to be frugal...... the 'do I want it? yes do I need it', no! is a good rule to live by.

squiggles

tootles wrote:

The council have said ours will go up by slightly less 0.01% than inflation ( confirmation 20th March), but again, pension rises will not cover all the rises in the pipe line..........we do get a small amount of relief, £1.58 per week this year........it might go up to £1.60 I suppose????? Our housing benefit goes up slightly too....... may be up to £4.50 a week

ours is going up 1.5% above inflation :eek:

[Deleted User]

I was a very busy bee this morning, doing my inventory, so I did a quick cooked meal. We were going to have cooked chicken and veg. The chicken was breastmeat and I had cooled it quickly and got it into the fridge asap ie it was fine to serve cold or warmed.

Breastmeat sliced and wrapped up in foil. Cooked, cold red cabbage in a container and covered in foil. Potatoes and carrots. All in one steamer for the same amount of time. Result=no hasstle for me +one pan to wash + one source of heat

ie money saving without sacrifice

re council tax. Ours is going up nearly 6%!!!

Tootles you are so right about the pension. There must be many a person nearing retirement now wishing they had forgone those foreign holidays they had to have

[Deleted User]

Katgodess posted this on another thread but maybe more people will see it if I post it here too. Thank you Katgodess

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/index.htm

There are only a few things we can try to cut down on:
energy
travelling
food
clothes
pleasures like cinema

Maybe this site will help with the food aspect from time to time

lynzpower

just to say i live in a flat without gas at all ( electric storage heaters and economy seven only) the heaters are pretty nifty - heat fast, then turn them off. Keep curtains closed when heaters are on.

My bills are fairly predictable, and unless someone forgets and leaves the "top-up" water on then. Just to save a bit I changed to ecotricity, from the figures i saw they were cheaper than what I already had. I only but green electricity, im a fairly environmental person.

So what would have to go if the electricity rises affect me?
Well I guess I could stop buying the odd tin of pop, or bag of crisps. Non essential food probably about a fiver a week.
"New" clothes usually bought off ebay could go
and the smokes too i reckon.

Although Id rather move to somewhere like the carribbean where id never need heating again and could bbq my food, litre of rum is a couple of quid and Id never have to pay £85 a month just to get to work!

Ember999

kittie wrote:

Katgodess posted this on another thread but maybe more people will see it if I post it here too. Thank you Katgodess

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/index.htm

There are only a few things we can try to cut down on:
energy
travelling
food
clothes
pleasures like cinema

Maybe this site will help with the food aspect from time to time

What a great site Kitty, thanks for posting it. I love it!

[Deleted User]

I think things are getting tougher for a lot of people. Energy costs spiralling and sneaky price rises in many essentials. Real inflation is here and I believe that we are paying about 7% more than last year