If things get tougher?

brila

trying-very-trying wrote: »

farmfoods milk is only £1.00 for 2 litres. Well, I say only, but it's thebest I can find anyway, unless I'm lucky enough to get rtc.

Sounds good, but unfortunately nearest store is 3 hours there and back on the bus, and I can't freeze lots of milk as no space. One of my neighbours spends her boots points on milk, but they only have semi-skim.

Someone gave DS some clothes from M&S recently and I was going to take them back as he has more than enough clothing in his current and next two sizes. Maybe I will use the vouchers to buy milk! It sounds a bit tragic though! Do WH Smiths sell milk? I've got a £5 voucher coming from coke zone (I write down the numbers on coke bottles I take to the bottle bank for people...). I need to compile a big list of places I can get milk from and exchange all the unnecessary christmas presents we will undoubtedly get for milk! Will look good on the thank you letters - "thank you for my christmas toys, which mummy swapped for milk...".

anniewoo

My hairdresser is my one luxury that I couldn't give up I have my hair coloured ( I'm probably quite grey underneath ) and for a cut,blow dry and my roots done,I pay £28,that's with an ' over sixties ' discount.

She is a great hairdresser and I often get compliments on my hair.I have tried colouring it myself in the past,but I was never happy with it.I go every 6 weeks and I look forward to sitting in the salon for 1½ hours reading the latest magazines and having a coffee,it is my treat.

carriebradshaw

I cut my OH's hair and he does mine.My hair is just in a straight bob these days as I like it that way and it's easy to manage.I dye my own hair but only mix up half the dye mixture at a time it's enough to use on a bob,it means nothing is wasted & it cuts the cost in half.You can't save it once it's mixed up as it can explode or something I think :eek:

painted_lady

Its my treat too, about £50 every 3 months is money well spent in my opinion. I never fail to get a comment and it makes me feel great. There is no other time I can completely chill out and relax. Ny hairdresser is great, he makes me laugh. Just the tonic I need at the moment.
I get at least cut/colour/blow dry/straighten. He nearly always puts layers in and often I have foils, he often tries his new colurs out on me and the price should be around £80, a bargain if you ask me.

Uniscots97

Thought I'd give you all a laugh on the subject of things getting tougher.

An acquaintance (formerly a friend but thats a very long story funnily enough related to her perception of money!), asked for some advice recently about trying to get a part time job to help pay her bills. I said to her to try various websites (AQA etc) and we chatted some more. Below is the conversation.

Unix: I know you're looking at getting a part time job but have you done everything you can around your house to save you money?
Friend: What do you mean?
Unix: Well, like turning the thermostat down, changing lightbulbs for energy saving ones or using candles, putting an extra layer on, switching utilities, not leaving things on standby, cooking from scratch and going down a brand level.
Friend: No way do I want to cook from scratch.
Unix: Its easy trust me, batch cook at the weekend and then freeze portions. Kind of like having your own home made ready meals except you know exactly what goes into them. Also switch down a brand level. What brand level do you buy at the moment?
Friend: I buy Mr T's Finest or M&S.
Unix: Whats your top three items every month?
Friend: I buy a cooked chicken every few days (this is for her dog by the way), Comfort fabric softener and butter mash prepacked.
Unix: (after checking prices) if you made the switch to these (shows her alternatives) you'd save 9.60 a month just on 3 items.
Friend: Wow, thats amazing! But I don't think I can, it seems like too much hassle besides I know where these items are in Mr T's.


.......it really annoys me when I see people like this unnecessarily wasting money. The conversation went on like this with her refusing to cut her Sky package even though she doesn't watch it!!!!!!

Caterina

Unix, not only you should not let her annoy you, but this sort of thing should make you secretly smug! I spend HOURS of my day smirking inside when I go shopping and see some of the stuff that people buy! Great fun, believe me!

I know that on a more serious, global matter, your friend's behaviour is really damaging to the environment and the food chain, the exploited workers etc...but really all you can do is lead by example (and smirk secretly heheehe).

After all, we are the ones who pay our mortgages/debts early, do not need to get extra jobs to pay for luxuries, and have a lot of fun working and defeating the system, not them!

Caterina

Primrose

Unix - I think we all know people like this who are sleepwalking to financial disaster. She may have been lucky in the past but her extravagance may catch up with her this time, with unemployment now at 1.79 million and forecast to hit 2 million by Christmas. Just steer well clear if she ever tries to touch you for a loan, because with these exravagant habits, she'd never be able to pay you back. Perhaps she's always relied on her husband to bring home the bacon? She may be a little faster turning the thermostat down if he soon comes home with his P45.

Bargain_Rzl

unixgirluk wrote: »

Unix: I know you're looking at getting a part time job but have you done everything you can around your house to save you money?

...

Friend: No way do I want to cook from scratch.

I know it's none of your business or mine, but how dense would somebody have to be, when their finances are so tight they're looking at a SECOND JOB (less time with partner/family, being tired all the time, losing free time when she might be relaxing or enjoying a hobby) and yet won't consider making the easy cuts? She's actually choosing (what Martin called on Make Me Rich) the "painful" cutbacks over the "pain-free" ones.



I don't understand some people's priorities, I really don't...

Uniscots97

The friend is single (has one dog), was made redundant and got a very tidy sum which paid off her debt and she had some left over. Because she then had cash she wanted to go out to fancy restaurants etc which I didn't have the money for. She found a new set of friends away from all of us. The others said she'd be back once her money ran out and she'd ran up more debt. Looks like she is........

sassypie

sparrer wrote: »

I can understand shorter styles needing someone else to cut them but longer hair is easy to keep trimmed and tidy yourself. I even get complements and asked where I get it done - but I'm not telling .

I actually find my short spiky/ruffled/layered cut is fine to cut myself - leastways, no one's stopped me in the street to tell me how ghastly I look!! (or to ask where I get it cut, come to that...... :rolleyes:

I cut it when its dry, make sure I've got my usual waxy gunky stuff on it (so it stays where I want it) then let those scissors fly! Can't stand being fussed with, much easier this way.