If things get tougher?

moanymoany

Sammy_Kaye, you are always an inspiration. I love your posts and what you do in life.

Also, I do not think that using your son's savings in time of need is in anyway wrong. It is hardly that you are taking it to buy a bottle of gin! Even then I don't think it would be such a bad thing! I think it is family money and when the old chips are down you do what you have to do.

mary43

Growing up just after the war I remember Mum darning the elbows of jumpers, undoing some and re-knitting smaller ones for me and my brother, darning socks (my friend still does that), making something out of nothing, stretching meals as far as they would go plus working part time to bring extra money in.
They were hard times but we never went without the important things. A car and telephone would have been unheard of (certainly until my mid teens)and central heating ? No way could Mum and Dad have afforded it. Even a fitted carpet was a luxury.............large rugs and stained floorboards we had.
There's a lot to be learned from how our parents and grandparents lived I think and we could all benefit from it, particularly now

Nomad25

I have an OH who is just beginning to realise that WHEN things get tougher, maybe some of my sneaky existing belt tightening exercises and contingency plans, may be quite a good idea. It's a bl**dy uphill struggle though.

Flagged up [even though I've done it for ages] the measuring of water for electric kettle to make two cups of coffee this week and got a distinctly lukewarm response! Sort of 'one flew over the cuckoo's nest' reaction.

Does anyone else encounter this attitude?

mardatha

I've gone a wee bit over the top this week I will lose my DLA in sept, and unless & until I get it again (took me 6 months last time) - we will be £30 a week worse off just when the weather starts to get colder. So I bought a camping gaz stove , a "bistro" posh one, with a pack of spare gas canisters. This is to make tea on, since I drink tea non-stop and the kettle is never off for long.
Then I bought a Remoska, which together with the crockpot will take care of all cooking and I wont have to use the big elect cooker at all.
And last I bought a clothes airer, to dry stuff in the livingroom at the fire overnight. But all I'm getting is smart comments about how much money we've spent so that we can save !!

ceridwen

moanymoany wrote: »

Are things going to get tougher/ These people think so.

http://www.peakoilassociates.com/POAnalysis.html

Well - put like that - any minute now America will be off to invade some other poor country (dragging Britain behind it in its wake) and grab their oil - "to help keep the world free from tyrants" of course...mustn't forget the justification for just plain theft in my terminology:cool:

And then we in Britain can "bear the brunt of it" and watch our civil liberties getting shot to pieces yet again.....on the excuse that we need to be "watched" in case some terrorist "has a go" (translate: "takes a look at what is happening to their own countries and decides to get their own back").


(Personally - as a pacifist - "for gawds sake leave other countries ALONE and develop alternative energy resources at warp speed purlease. It is just not possible to grab some other country's resources and expect them to sit back and say "Thats okay - no problem - take some more - and we wont do anything back"). I just dont care if that sounds "political" - I am fed up to the back teeth with these endless conflicts - and our money being spent on funding them.

katieowl_2

mary43 wrote: »

Growing up just after the war I remember Mum darning the elbows of jumpers, undoing some and re-knitting smaller ones for me and my brother, darning socks (my friend still does that), making something out of nothing, stretching meals as far as they would go plus working part time to bring extra money in.

I've got a wartime knitting pattern book, and it's got some great stuff in! Apart from the knitted underwear (imagine :rolleyes: ) there are patterns for reversable jumpers...two FRONTS that join together, shoulders and sides, so when you wear it under your suit, you've got two 'looks' for the price of one lot of wool if you KWIM to double your wardrobe....how nifty is that!

Regards

Kate.

mary43

Thats a good one..........not heard of that before and can't remember Mum knitting anything like that. I know when I had my kids and first hubby lost his job I made romper suits for them out of Dads old shirts........bit of embroidery on the front of a duck or something and no-one really knew the difference.
Mum had even kept the pattern she had for boys trousers and shirts and I remember making shirts for some boys me and first hubby used to look after every year from refugee camps abroad. They used to come over once a year for a couple of months, having only what they stood up in. Mum's sewing machine, and mine, worked overtime.........I made shirts out of ones I got from the jumble (keep the button hole part in and it saves making more.........lol). The kids were thrilled to bits, especially as what they were wearing was normally hand made by their Mum.
It really is amazing what you can do if needs must.

mardatha

Ceridwen, you are SO right pet !

jamanda

Nomad25 wrote: »

I have an OH who is just beginning to realise that WHEN things get tougher, maybe some of my sneaky existing belt tightening exercises and contingency plans, may be quite a good idea. It's a bl**dy uphill struggle though.

Flagged up [even though I've done it for ages] the measuring of water for electric kettle to make two cups of coffee this week and got a distinctly lukewarm response! Sort of 'one flew over the cuckoo's nest' reaction.

Does anyone else encounter this attitude?

Mine is just starting to cotton on too. It is very hard work though isn't it?

jamanda

And, while I'm at it, we had hot dogs for tea (onions out of the garden). I asked OH if he had enjoyed his tea before I told him he had just eaten the bread rolls his friendly shopkeeper had given him for fishing!