If things get tougher?

sammy_kaye18

mardatha wrote: »

Anyone else find Earth a very scarey place to be?
********
nah Ceridwen. Earth is ok. It's what's living on it thats the problem !
It's easier picturing yourself as a column of white light that gets taller and taller and heads for the stars..But I dont think it will solve the bank crisis. just make it go away for a bit ! LOL

That line reminded me of a billy connelly quote when hes talking about graveyards, and he says 'its not the dead that are scary, its the living you want to worry about' - so true. so true.

I too have a small cupboard where I have been putting things aside that will help us out, pasta, rice, bread flour etc but even know when there is the slightest worry about a 'food shortage' we get panic buying in the local coop shop where i work but on ridiculous things - like coke, crisps etc. !!!!!!????? I dont think I have ever panic brought - bar white distilled vinegar which was set to be 'discontinued' in Mr T adn that was 3 years ago and even then i only had 4 bottles, and its still on the shelf.

If things do get much tougher I think we will definately be going vegetarian for a large portion of the week (possibly with the exception of a roast on sunday that is stretched all week), although my friends have a totally different attitude - they would give up work as living on benefits is 'easier'.:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: oh well at least i have a small pay rise soon - form £5.52 to £5.72 (think thats right) an hour.

ceridwen

Hi sammy kaye

£5.67 per hour methinks? By your reference to £5.52 at present I assume you are on N.M.W. - so £5.67 I'm afraid.

The good news is that come April 2009 you have to be given at least 4 weeks per year paid holiday plus all bank holidays (at present employers are allowed to deduct 4 of the Bank Holiday days from the legal 4 weeks "ration"). So at least that malarkey will stop - 4 weeks will mean 4 weeks.

whatatwit

MRSMCAWBER wrote: »

I know..im like a cat on hot bricks.. this is the 1st thing I have ever had a problem with and Lakeland said they send to BFPO all the time -thats why we think some thieving little toe rag is waylaying them :eek:
Can't fault Lakeland..how many companies would send out about £100 worth of stuff 3 times on the customers word .. they have said that if they all turn up they will arrange to get 2 collected but heck knows how out here :eek:
I have the standard and the half pan coming and in the 1st was 6 bottles of eco washing up liquid @ 67p..but they had to refund that as it had sold out by the 2nd parcel :rolleyes:
I WILL get one and im going to use it to within an inch of its life

Maybe that's why 'new' ones keep appearing on Ebay

moanymoany

kittie wrote: »

We have all written a massive amount about money saving.

Money saving alone is not good enough, we need strategies for coping mentally too. This period of time may very well be the worst we have ever lived through and I personally believe that we `aint seen anything yet` and it is up to all of us to support each other.

No-one can money save until they are mentally ready, just look at the debt free threads. Thing is, our ms lightbulb moments started 2 1/2 years ago and maybe it is time to move on from this thread to a blog somewhere. We have turned into a cheerful group of friends, who will get through this TOGETHER with or without mse

We started money saving through necessity. Our endowments weren't enough and we could pay £500 a month over the top on our mortgage. Dh didn't see how we could do it, but I said let's do it and live on what is left - not a lot!

We discovered Martin Lewis and did a money makeover. I then found Old Style and my frugal life took off. When it stopped being a necessity we went back to a few things - sky being one, but overall kept to the frugal life - because we liked it and found it satisfying. However, it took some time to mentally adjust to not running to the shops or buying something that took our fancy. It is a new way of living and like any life changes it takes some adjustment.

I read this morning that in America some companies are going to stop the credit on credit cards. If that spreads to us - and it probably will - a lot of people are going to have to have their lbm pretty smartish!

I do wish more of them could come over here and read inspirational threads where young families live on a frugal budget and although it is hard it is better than debt! Sammy_kaye is one who regularly shares the stories of her successes and difficulties, it isn't easy for her - but she does what she has to do and she does it with spirit. Mbaz who has just fed her family for a month on just £20 - an almost unbelievably amazing thread. It certainly wasn't a walk in the park - but she did it! I think so many of the people who say 'it's all right for you' don't want to have to live the frugal life, to live within their means, but they no longer have any choice. I am not saying all DFW's are like this because there are many who really struggle to do what they have to do and succeed, but there are those who are.

I have seen posters on DFW say to people who try to give advice 'it's all right for you!' That is such a shame, they ignore the advice given because they don't like it. There seems to be a feeling that they 'deserve' more than they can afford.

When I had my babies I had a second hand tub washing machine with a wringer. We could have got a new washer on credit, but we lived within our means. Many women of my generation made do, lived within our means and we had our hard times. We know what it's like to regularly have only a few pounds to last till the next wage packet.

We now accept cheap food, but until 1997 the cost of food and groceries generally was much higher than now. People did trips to Calais to buy not wine but household items like washing powder, shampoo etc. because it was a third cheaper than here. There were no value brands, all insurance was expensive - in fact nearly everything was dearer than now given how much we earned - we called our country 'rip off Britain'.

That is not to say that many people didn't get in over their heads, just as now, but not in the massive numbers we see now.

We ran old cars. We were looking at photos yesterday before our son went back to Australia. There was a pic of dh and kids in the car and dh made the comment that it was the first car quiet enough to be able to speak easily to each other. We had then been married 10 years! That car was the most expensive we had ever had and it was about six years old.

One of the reasons for the rise in obesity during the last 20 years is not because before that we were so good and only ate with restraint. It was because food was expensive - now cheap biscuits, cakes, fast food, calorie filled ready meals and junk food is very cheap. The rise in these things came with the rise in spare money and cheaper food.

I seem to have gone off on one don't I? I do think what kittie said about mentally embracing - I don't want to say frugality because it is really simply living within our means - is very important. Many people have been living a life they cannot keep up for much longer. I remember on 'Spendaholics' a young man being told that if he had to earn the money to finance his spending he would need to have a gross salary of £80,000 a year. He nearly fainted with shock! It certainly puts things in perspective.

Finished now - :rotfl:

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

kittie wrote: »

We have all written a massive amount about money saving.

Money saving alone is not good enough, we need strategies for coping mentally too. This period of time may very well be the worst we have ever lived through and I personally believe that we `aint seen anything yet` and it is up to all of us to support each other.

No-one can money save until they are mentally ready, just look at the debt free threads. Thing is, our ms lightbulb moments started 2 1/2 years ago and maybe it is time to move on from this thread to a blog somewhere. We have turned into a cheerful group of friends, who will get through this TOGETHER with or without mse

I have to agree,I'm just getting OH to take moneysaving seriously.He just did'nt get it before.
I realy do believe it's all in the attitude and know through my own experiences that at times like this you need to accept that what you want is'nt important anymore.Instead of feeling sorry for the fact you can't have this or that you need to adopt the attitude of being grateful for what you have and just concentrate on holding on to that.
But who am I to say that on here,I'm preaching to the converted.

MRSMCAWBER

Morning all

MoanyMoany -your post made me think of my parents ... My dad had his first 2 strokes in his 20s, at the time they had the eldest 2 of us (not me im the baby:D ) So things were sooo tight but they made it through..
At the time it was when the man came round "means testing".. he arrived at mums door one day to find her baking and looked around at all the food before eyeing up my mum suspisiously :eek: -obviously wondering where the money was coming from.. he did ask -whilst sitting down with a cuppa and a wedge of cake "how do you do it?" mum explained was going to the 1 shop at the other end of town that sold flour and you got a pack of lard free -and on the pack of lard was a coupon for 6 free eggs :T . "so thats pastry for the price of flour and eggs for a cake or to make a flan etc" he was most impressed and told mum that he wished more people were like her :T
When dad was working he used to come home to a dinner and pudding every day and his dad and brother who lived 2 doors away used to appear quite often too as his mum wasn't a very good cook :rotfl:

By the time I was born -im the youngest of 5 -things were easier.. I remember asking what was for tea etc -but never remember "but i don't want that" being said -we sat down and ate a cooked meal every day -and we all ate the same thing.. the only thing we ever had from tins were peas -everything else was made from scratch :T mum was and still is one of the best cooks i know :j -mind dad was good too we had a week in a caravan every year (our headmistress knew us all and let my parents take us during term time as it was cheaper and she was just thrilled that they made sure we got a break every year)..taking most of our food with us..cakes, pies the works ..and had a dinner cooked in the caravan every day -the nice man at the chippy used to let mum have his ready rumbled potatoes to save her work and she even used to cook chips in the caravan wrap them up in bags and put under my pushchair when money was really tight -so we could still have chips going along the sea front :j

I guess im now adopting a lot of things my mum did.... savoury meat roll, cornedbeef hash, breast of lamb stew etc -mainly because I love them -but also because it stretches the money -so i can save more:D

Mum at the age of 69 now has 3 big raised beds for veggies 2 green houses and a shed -so she grows most of her own veg, and has a good supply of staple foods stashed for winter -I actually encouraged her to do this -mainly so she doesn't have to go out in bad weather

Heck im giving my life story ..I guess what i was getting to, was that we had very few "things" but we were clean, warm, well fed, looked after and loved..and really happy ......
I think thats why im now begining to slip back in time with meals and not "wanting everything" -just because...
right i will shuffle off now I have put you all to sleep :rotfl:

bellaquidsin

The great thing for me in a more frugal money saving life style is that you start to appreciate the little things in life and once you do that you realise you have SOOOO much.

Last night I fed my visiting family a chicken pie I made in the Remoska using 10oz of chicken saved from the roast chicken I given them on a previous visit.

Yes, they had liked the roast chicken but they LOVED the chicken pie.

Just a small example of the less is better than the more and I am finding that life is fully of such instances these days since I sharpened up on my OS ways. To be honest, I've always been that way but with times getting tougher and DH's retirement about to happen I really am going for the burn.

Bella

HariboJunkie

sammyjig wrote: »

I have to agree Kittie.
I was feeling really scared about what was going to happen, but now I just come on this thread for a read and a sense of calm comes over me. I now feel safe (I was going to say warm but maybe not! lol) in my own home.
I think it's the feeling that "we are not alone"

Really? Well I'm the opposite.
I happily stumble along, keeping abreast of the world financial situation and how it will affect my family. I buy the usual storecupboard items, no more, no less. I prpare the house for winter in the same way as always. I adjust my housekeeping to take account of price rises. And I'm happy enough. recessions have been and gone and people survive.
And then..... I look at this thread and, if I didn't have my head screwed on, I would panic. There's an awful lot of talk here of things being really, really bad. Almost Armageddon like. I just don't get it. There has not been a revolution, there is no war. Our food is not being rationed and nor is anything else.
I'm all for being prepared but be careful not to panic people eh?

Sorry if I've spoken out of turn but I can't help thinking that some people WANT disaster to befall us all just so they can say "I told you so" or "Well I'll be all right with my 76 bags of lentils"

And sorry for keeping this off topic Pink and Penny. I'll delete it later.

Comerscroft

Couldn't agree more with the 'not alone' sentiments expressed above.

Things ARE going to get a lot tougher--just watching the news today leaves no doubt about that--but personally speaking, I have health, home, food, clothes--sompared with even my home-help lady, I have all I need.

No room for complacency though, and yesterday the shoe-lace on my navy sneakers broke. Had a pair of black laces in the drawer which do perfectly well, and no-one notices anyway. Saved a couple of quid.

ALIBOBSY

I have been getting more and more OS recently (loving this board more and more), but it all came home to me and OH this week.
OH is in IT and has talked about leaving his current job (he has had problems with a manager and her bullying-long story short she was "warned" and apologised to each member of staff, but still left in situ) to go go contracting instead. He has done alot of research and has a few friends who contract. In fact we are going to see a local accountant recommended by one friend on thursday to discuss things. But there was always a feeling this was a choice on his part and he could go when everything was in place and we decided the time was right.

On friday last week the secretary of the cheif exec (OH works in local gov) mentioned to OH that she was sorry for them having to go through another restructsure (5th time in 4 yrs and another reason OH is sick of the place), she showed OH a quick look at a memo she had showing the new "structure". They are cutting 8 staff accross the whole department. So it looks like Oh may be pushed rather than get to go when he chooses.

They got emails yesterday to say they will be having individual meetings today with the head of the dept, head of finance, and head of HR, surely not just to chat.

Think OH must be physic at least we have a plan of attack should he be made redundant, still its worrying this close to christmas. Need to go OS even more.

Loving this thread BTW. Can I join?

ali x