If things get tougher?

moanymoany

mumoftwo wrote: »

Fiat punto, the main mot repair is the shock absorber brushes are cracked my front windscreen washers don't work properly and my horn is not working, which I told them to fix before the MOT and they didn't do. And it was Arnold Clark. Any help will be greatly received! :T Thank you. Could I have it retested somewhere else?

There is a Government agency who test for a basic fee. I can't remember the nuts and bolts details, but I'm sure five minutes research on Martin's will point you in the right direction.

If the garage have lied - go to the trading standards and tell them.

sammy_kaye18

wow that back to the dark ages article is pretty freaky.

I will definately be stocking up on my candles and gas lighter today as i cook with gas at least i knwo i have some form of heating during the day - even if its a pan of water to fill a hot water bottle with.

We did have the small person in bed with us this morning (he woke up at 5am and refused to go back in his own bed) but it was nice and snuggly.:rolleyes: not that it will become habit.

Still no heating here but im happy now ive found two small hot water bottles i had lurkign in the cupboard so that will be one each for the boys and i have my own hot water bottle called 'BF' which keeps me snuggly - hes always boiling when hes asleep.

Now just need to find some jumpers etc and get cracking on my flat preperations. Ive £25 to go shoppign with today (more a top up shop than a main one) but im really not expecting it to buy alot.

[Deleted User]

moany moany, you just put what I feel into a nutshell. There is a kind of peace and calmness descended and maybe it is called `living in the moment`.

My frugality was dug out of my deep psyche when I was told that my dh had to go onto half salary. It was very sudden and I wondered how on earth we would manage but we did. It has been going on for years now and enabled us to survive very well today, on no salary and just my little pension and savings

I started the ski-er thread on the silver board because just for a while I had a thought that maybe we should be spending and not saving, but thank goodness I hit reality and we haven`t had any holiday this year and just one last year. We have booked a few days sc in a cottage but we will be foraging for fungi, which I will dry. I love it, walking in the rain looking for fungi and the excitement when we find a good one. Ah the little things in life

[Deleted User]

ceridwen
http://www.emfuk.co.uk/buy.html

the 3rd one down is an elf meter ie low frequency emf, also find them on ebay. Mine measures radiation but I don`t think that is necessary.

anguk

moanymoany wrote: »

There is a Government agency who test for a basic fee. I can't remember the nuts and bolts details, but I'm sure five minutes research on Martin's will point you in the right direction.

If the garage have lied - go to the trading standards and tell them.

I think all the council MOT centres are listed here:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-mot

As it says in the article they're only MOT centres and don't do repairs so they don't have a vested interest to fail you.

dorry_2

Morning :wave:

Haven't caught up on the rest of this thread from yesterday yet, but thought I would mention my oh reaction to the recent crisis. I told him this morning that bank may call in overdrafts etc, he just laughed and said that I was begining to sound like Chris Ryan!!!!:mad: (you know the man who does all those crisis based documentries!!! )

I hope he is right and it is all just scaremongering but after what i read yesterday and the similarity to the wall street crash on 1929, I have got a feeling there is going to be a crash, however in the meantime, I am going to begin to stash some money, away regardless to oh's views on life and money!

meanmarie

DD4 and I have been very frugal since OH has been in hospital...no tv on....silence is wonderful and in bed by 10pm, so no all night lights because OH fell asleep and forgot to turn them off when he came to bed! All new kitchen appliances are A rating so they are not costing as much.

Kittie...was just finishing yesterday's soup for my breakfast as I read your post about soups...will make another pot to-day I think although tiler is allegedly coming to do kitchen and hall ( where is he, its 9.30??) so my access to the kitchen may be limited, but we will definitely be eating more soups and stews this winter.

We haven't been threatened with power cuts, but our units ( I use over 20 per day at last count) have gone up by two and a half eurocents since August, with more to come I think...have just spent €220 pm two cylinders of gas for new hob...hopefully we will get more than a year out of them.

Marie

MRSMCAWBER

Thanks for making me feel better Marie

I have just had left over sliced potatoes n onions for my brekkie I did them in the oven yesterday and did some extra on purpose again ...
I love them anyway, and they make me feel warm inside .... can't see much difference between having potatoes, bread or porridge for brekkie ..all lots of carbs

Hubby took a flask of HM cream of tomato soup n hm bread yesterday, and today is leek n potato..
I have no freezer space (jam packed )so I make big batches and wedge it in the fridge then he just has to nuke as much as he wants each morning .. keeps him warm and full all day -plus he gets loads of veggies in him :T

Ohhh and I mentioned to hubby about getting a wind up alarm clock and unplugging the radio alarm and lamp... went to bed and hubby had pulled the plug out.. and set his watch alarm :eek: ..I expected resistance ....

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

kittie wrote: »

and I have just read this

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/3081611/Gas-and-electricity-bills-could-climb-yet-higher-this-winter-report-warns.html

it is not about scaring people but forewarning. One of the best ways to cut back on energy is to cook a big all-in-one pot meal, enough for 3 days. You can`t beat a lovely thick soup (with pulses) and big hunks of hm bread. Very cheap and good for us. My dd still remembers the ones I made in the 80s (and which I have gone back to in the past few months)

re hm bread, ovens and breadmakers. You can cook hm bread as flatbread in a frying pan. Just roll it fairly thin. Tastes lovely. Just wipe the pan with a thin smear of oil

we have 1 x 25watt biobulb on in the lounge, all evening and I often sit and knit with the wind up radio on, or tv if the radio is rubbish. It is very cosy and calming

Then to bed: no clock or bedside light except the wind up lanterns and yet again I have slept through, since turning off the emf under the bed

The upside for me is that life is becoming simpler and cosier

I'm now in the frame of mind that no matter what they throw at us I can cope.The older ladies on here will have been through all this before and probably with young children in tow so this time should be a doddle.
I've cut down my gas and electric usage hugely and have realised in the process that I was wasting loads.
All in all,I like everybody else have found the recent events very sobering and I'm quite glad.My life is becoming simpler and I realy think before I buy or do anything making me notice things more in the process.
It's made me as the old saying goes "wake up and smell the coffee", and I'm actually quite pleased about it.I'm just as guilty as anybody else of over-indulging myself and spending too much and it takes something like this to make you realise,there are more important things that make life more meaningful.
One thing I would like to add is that this board has been such an inspiration.I feel that everyone is so supportive and so full of sensible advice and good ideas.Thanks.

bellybabe_2

kittie wrote: »

and I have just read this

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/3081611/Gas-and-electricity-bills-could-climb-yet-higher-this-winter-report-warns.html

"The public are revolting" :rotfl:

Nowhere near as revolting as the energy companies!!!:mad:

BB