If things get tougher?

D&DD

hellooo still trying to catch up kids are totally hyper this week and I've been engrossed in E4's Dead Set every night :j I do love a good Zombie film
Hope everyone is keeping well normal service to be resumed on Tuesday when both are back at school and its just me and DS2 :cool:
D XX

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

elona wrote: »

anniebooklover

I am glad that you got your guttering sorted out. We are waiting for someone to have a look at our chimney as our new neighbour thinks we are causing a leak in her property becausethe cement around the chimney has worn away.

Have stayed in most of the day and the person did not turn up!!!

We're the same,tried to get someone to do a bit of pointing near the roof.Nobody turns up.You'd think these people would be glad of the work.For goodness sakes they charge us enough.

cake21

brila wrote: »

I have pretty much given up trying to organise communal bulk orders for things. Tried to order disposable nappies in bulk (I use washables but need disposables for hospital & travelling) with other playgroup members and mums I know and was generally regarded with suspiscion and even hostility. They didn't seem to realise it was less then half the price in bulk, or didn't care! Tried a similar thing for ecover stuff with people from church - was met with incomprehension and disinterest.

We have learnt (sadly) that round here we largely need to plough our own furrow.

If you're anywhere near me brila (I'm in Swansea) I'd love to share a bulk order for ecover! Would prefer to buy in bulk as it works out so much cheaper, but I can't quite get the money together for a proper bulk order

brila

cake21 wrote: »

If you're anywhere near me brila (I'm in Swansea) I'd love to share a bulk order for ecover! Would prefer to buy in bulk as it works out so much cheaper, but I can't quite get the money together for a proper bulk order

Thanks - but I'm in the Southeast. I did consider asking on our local freecycle, but I've had some real nutters from there recently so am put off from using it anymore. But it might be worth you trying if you live in a saner area! Another thought I've had is to make a bulk order and then to sell part through the local free-ads paper or something. Not much help if you don't have the money to hand for an order in the first place, but a thought anyway. Good luck!

elona

For people who are trying to order in bulk - are there any "official" places like schools, employers etc where people get together that might make this easier?

We are still waiting for someone to look at our roof again but hate the thought of always paying out.

Gremlins seem to hear me even think of saving money and conspire to make me spend it!!!!:rolleyes:

parsonswife8

brila wrote: »

Thanks - but I'm in the Southeast. I did consider asking on our local freecycle, but I've had some real nutters from there recently so am put off from using it anymore. But it might be worth you trying if you live in a saner area! Another thought I've had is to make a bulk order and then to sell part through the local free-ads paper or something. Not much help if you don't have the money to hand for an order in the first place, but a thought anyway. Good luck!

____________________________________________

I'm also in the South East but I'm not a nutter.
Our area is quite sane too.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

brila

I mean more the freecycle than the area. I get rude emails, stalkers and once went to collect something from (I thought a woman, but turned out to be) three blokes who wanted me to come into the house and leave my son outside to collect the small item they had offered. In these circumstances I choose not to use our freecycle group, but understand that other groups are better policed/moderated or just full of more pleasant people. I don't live in a bad area at all, and most people are just fine. But freecycle is not a goer and people are slow to cooperate in a community fashion - partly because the media is always telling us we are about to get fleeced by hoodies and scamsters, and partly because there are a lot of people here who think or like other people to think that they are well-off. Fear and pride kills community spirit in my humble opinion.

[Deleted User]

I started doing an expenditure book last week, not energy or council tax etc, just day to day stuff a week at a time. I am horrified :eek: :eek: at how quickly items add up so that £14 + £27 + xyz quickly becomes hundreds. I know I bought curtain making materials for patio door curtains and there was the bird seed and diesel and the heater when we had the leak and the joiner and carpet re-fitting but flipping heck!!!! it is back to cash only this week. Doing this is a pretty good way of keeping the brakes on

I have to mention as well that I do `i measure` and am horrified again :eek: :eek: at the increase in gas and electricity usage. Electricity from using a heater when I was without ch and gas from the 5 days since the leak was fixed. I calculate that ch was costing £2.50 a day and we were cosy but no way hot. It is off now and staying off for the next week at least, as metcheck says it will be reasonable until next monday (ish)

tbh to have the knowledge is a good thing and stops sand getting in the nose when the head is buried

Caterina

I am in the South East, a freecycler and a nutter too (but courteous and non-violent) hehe

I know what you mean by rude people on freecycle, unfortunately anything that offers free things attracts a variety of people and some of them might not be genuine in need and use the service with the wrong attitude.

I had a friend (who no longer is my friend), who once asked me to put something on freecycle on her behalf, under my name, but giving her mobile number - she was not on email. Someone rang her and because this person was foreign and their English not very clear my (ex)friend was very rude to them. As a consequence they sent ME an email pointing out the rudeness and how unnecessary it was to treat someone like this just because their English was not so good.

I felt very sad for them and very angry with the woman, and had to apologise (on her behalf). She complained to me that after all she was doing these people a favour by giving them something for nothing - she did not see that she would have had to pay someone for removal and that whoever wanted the item was also doing her a favour. She had totally the wrong attitude - there are many people like this around.

Caterina

FairyElephant_2

kittie wrote: »

2 full hours work plus travel and he wanted to charge me only £30. I gave him £60 and the spiced fruit loaf that was baking.

What has been really nice is the feel -good feeling that I have now got and maybe this young man and his family will have found a way to survive the tough times ahead. Brings it home that no man is an island.
my mood

Hi Kittie,
So nice to hear that you have found an honest tradesman. My DH is an electrician and he used to do mobile work & callouts and was always horrified at the tales people told him of how they had been ripped-off in the past, or the outrageous quotes they had been given for what were really simple little jobs. He's a real softie though and was always doing extra little 'DIY' jobs for people while he was there!

I always thought it would be a great idea to get a group of tradesmen together to work co-operatively, and we started to investigate doing that when DH was made redundant, but happily he got another job fairly quickly!

It is so wonderful (and money-saving!) to have a DH who is 'handy' with jobs about the house - my ex-H couldn't even hold a screwdriver the right way round! - problem is that everyone knows how good he is and we get lots of friends and aquaintances asking for him to 'help' with stuff all the time....so I have to wait ages for MY stuff to get done!