It's STILL tough and not getting better - so how are we coping?

taplady

Gailey - Happy Birthday:beer: I've bought lots of baking/kitchen equipment for pennies from carboots and got nearly all of my pyrex style dishes from there too.
Furniture can be got from freecycle - maybe not the latest style but at least hopefully not broken.

We rent too but luckily its a HA house and they are excellent landlords who keep the house in a very good state of repair. We've never been able to afford to buy as DH has had very poor health. I dont mind really as we're always going to have a roof over our heads and dont have the worry of the boiler breaking down etc.

I've loved reading this nice new thread and its been great to meet so many new posters.

Sammy-Kaye - hope you are ok x

mardatha

Obviously yes, we are all different in diff circumstances. But I feel so sad for the younger ones with families who feel they have failed if they havent got a house and two cars by the time they are 30... that's not the be-all and end-all of life is it ? And with renting, you can always find another house. (But remember I live in a very rural empty area, where farm cottages are easy to rent and tons of them). I have no experience of big city life-

penelopedee_2

Happy Birthday Gailey.

I too am unsure on the rent vs mortgage debate. All I know is I definitely wouldn't buy a house at the moment and am relieved we got ours years ago before all this mess started. My heart goes out to younger families now.

Hope everyone is well today - I'm off to the garage in a moment to get a tyre replaced (more money). Now my car is something I would really like to get rid of but living in the sticks I have to travel miles to find work.

mardatha

Old ratty husband here sitting moaning his head off about everything... from the weather to the govt, via the cost of living and the state of his health. O happy happy day !:rotfl:

flipperOSN

It is very hard not to compare yourself to others at times I must admit. My DHs two brothers both live in Dubai, tax free and with what looks like a fantastic lifestyle. One of them is obsessed with money though, he's forever making snide comments and trying to make out how much richer he is than the other two (think of the Harry Enfield character who's always saying "I can't help but notice I'm considerably richer than you"!). But he's never at home and barely sees his kids. He's under massive stress because he's trying to set up a business with his last redundancy payout (it was big). His wife is stuck in a big villa with nothing to do, doesn't really fit in with the local ex-pat community and frankly seems utterly miserable. So any passing jealousy I might have about living in a hot rich country is easily canceled out by the knowledge I simply wouldn't like to live that way or be married to him!
The other brother is so nice, and actually is pretty sensible with what he has, that there's never really a problem.

lauren_1

I think I may have found the cheapest dinner/supper for my 2 LO's, 88p Mr A boil in the bag kippers, scrambled egg and toast. came to about a £1 tops, luckily they both loved it (first time for kippers) I was a bit wary about the bones but a quick google later they appear to be safe to eat.

It ended up all flaked after i tried to scrap the skin and scales off so i don't think they noticed the bones.

I know its getting bad now when my surplus cash is £3 a week, I try to put it away but my love of car boot sales always gets me at the end of the month, DD got a pink scooter for £1 last time so cant complain really. OH is away for 3 weeks on Monday, he will miss the 12 week scan but i can record it happening on my phone and send it to him asap.

Tax credits have denied they received my renewal which i sent back the same day I received the letter, oh joy:eek:

mardatha

Very wise, flipper. Life should be measured in contentment, not money.

elona

Mardatha

Have a sweetie and stick a toffee in his gob - he won't be able to moan for a while!!!!!;)

Mine used to moan every birthday about being a year older until I asked him if he seriously wanted the alternative. After a puzzled silence the penny dropped and he hasn't done it since.

Gailey

Happy Birthday

:bdaycake::bdaycake:



Kath

Have you recovered from the shock of the accident? Fingers crossed there are no lasting effects.

Managed to get DH to take early retirement in January after a lot of
nag - er- persuading and it is one of the best things we have done. At least we should not have to worry about job losses and know where we stand financially. We finally got our house sold after three years and are in the process (we hope) of buying a more modern and convenient house that will take most of our savings but we think it is worth it.

I had loads of storecupboard tins etc but he is eating them up as fast as he can so we have less to move :eek: somehow I'm not that grateful.

dandy-candy

Happy birthday Gailey! I too love getting practical gifts, every Xmas/birthday I ask for household stuff or books. I'm totally not into "image" I never wear jewellery other than my wedding ring, I buy clothes at Primark or New Look and rarely bother with make-up. I know in the area I live in that we stick out as the scruffy family but tbh I couldn't careless. I always think of us as old fashioned hippy sorts anyway....

mardatha

snap ! We are all valuable, we all have strengths & good points, we are all EQUAL in life. I'm here and life will just have to deal with it LOL!
mardatha the red