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

Larumbelle

ceridwen wrote: »

...and I, of course, wonder why some of the "greenery" planted recently in my area by the Council ISN'T of the edible variety..:cool::mad:. I would have thought that, by now, Councils should all realise that any "communal" planting by them should be of a nature that is both attractive and edible..:mad: (ie dont plant trees that are purely decorative - plant fruit and nut trees instead).

To be fair on my council, they have planted a lot of cherries and soft fruits lately! I wrote to them about it and I got a fairly positive letter back - will try to find and post it later. Not perfect, but a start, they do seem to be thinking a little more about these things. What I think is fantastic though, is, they now plant up some bee-friendly wild meadow areas. This in the middle of a city, it's almost surreal. I walk past one on my way to the shops and it buzzes! Since they started doing it I have noticed a lot more honeybees in my garden as well as more butterflies and more ladybirds. And a few of the sunflowers I scattered there a few years back when it was just a patch of grass still self-seed every year too :rotfl:

dandy-candy

ceridwen wrote: »

...and I, of course, wonder why some of the "greenery" planted recently in my area by the Council ISN'T of the edible variety..:cool::mad:. I would have thought that, by now, Councils should all realise that any "communal" planting by them should be of a nature that is both attractive and edible..:mad: (ie dont plant trees that are purely decorative - plant fruit and nut trees instead).

silvercharming wrote: »

To be fair on my council, they have planted a lot of cherries and soft fruits lately!

I live in a trust area so you can't do anything in the house or garden without their consent. We had a dead tree in the front garden when we moved in so I had them around to get permission to remove it and mentioned I wanted to replace it with a plum tree. "Oh no you can't plant one of those in case the fruit drops over the hedge onto the pavement and someone slips" :mad:

Spendless

gailey wrote: »

I have tried to find part time job applied for tonnes I eiter

never hear back
they want fully flexible which I need set shifts for childcare.
im overqualified have alvels, business and legal degree and lots of managerial experience.

I went thru a similar experience (though I'm not as qualified as you are). Went to college as technology had advanced during the time I'd taken out to raise children, but job hunting as a recession bit meant that people with more experience were also job hunting and the years I'd spent getting some qualifications meant I was turned down for the basic jobs. Then on the day I was about to pack in job hunting I got a phone call from an agency, not even one I'd registered with, but I had posted details that described me on a 'holding' agency that others subscribed to and that's where this agency had found me. I'd described myself as organised, good attention to detail, I.T literate, driver and that ticked the box for a company who wanted someone to start in an admin role but who was prepared to 'muck in' and sort out boxes and piles of paperwork and so on.

I also need 'set' hours as Mr S can work from home, work in a local office 45 mins away, work 2 hours away, work the other side of the penines and be away o/night. He can do all of them in a week and there's no set pattern to this.

So don't give up. I'll find my link I posted in employment cos that gave some good advice.

Here it is

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2472221=

littleowl

mardatha wrote: »

Gobsmacked at people using wild garlic... when I was wee and we all played in the woods, we called it "stinky weed" ...The thought of eating it YEUGH !

I suppose it depends on whether you like garlic! I pick it every year from the woods where I live and use it fresh in salads and in hot dishes where I don't want the garlic to be too strong - it is a much milder taste than bulb garlic.

Prudent

Just back from Mr Ts and now off to pick some wild garlic. I don't usually go to Tesco as I find it far too expensive. However I needed something I can only buy there and had a £4 off £30 coupon. I went armed with a list and stuck to it. It came to £30.28 which I was pleased with. I am quite wary of these coupons as I usually put too much in the trolley to make sure the spend reaches £30. Last time it was £37.

Ellidee

Just saw this on the grabbit board http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=34830725&postcount=1

kezlou

Gailey: -glad you really enjoyed your birthday!
Kath, what i relief i'm glad your alright now x
Kittie: -wow, living my dream hun ! fantastic!

We all really enjoyed yesterday's outing, ended up going to visit Richmond Castle (free entry with EH cards)and it was amazing. Managed to hobble all over the place with crutches, can't wait till my knee cap is not broken, roll on the 8th August.
Took our own sandwiches,picnic stuff, a massive flask of hot chocolate and we were well away. Ended up taking a back road through the moors, the sites were amazing, waterfalls everywhere. The kids were highly amused when we went past a village called crackpot, my OH said that's where i found your mum, cheeky devil :rotfl:.

Had a quick luck for berries / garlic, but they wasn't enough for foraging, apparently its been a bad year. so we left it for the wildlife instead.
Been checking out the elderberries near me and they look quite promising so going to get loads of them and brambles this year. We literally filled the whole bottom tray of the freezer with them last year as well as five empty mayonnaise jars.

People think i'm mad as i'm only person that does it here, its a shame really, but great for me!

Oh thanks morag for posting weezl's site, i was about to do it, i was one of the testers for it, still am lol. Can vouch that the porridge is really filling and carrot cake is very very moreish. I make it at least once a week for the kids pack lunches and its gone straight away.

Chicken and mince, i hear ya, luckily me and the boys like them but OH likes his bacon, lamb,gammon and sausages. So i buy the good ones reduced and freeze them for later, same as mixed seafood.

I did that with the paint last year, i couldn't afford any, so i found half a tin of orange (from before we moved in) thats was years old, old red paint and decorated the bathroom, painted all the woodwork red. I ended up with loads of red left over so did all the doors and woodwork on the stairs. Didn't half cheer the house up, just finished making the curtains for bathroom now. I paid 50p for some material off the market so i made it into curtains. So pleased with myself OH was very impressed. So decorated my whole bathroom for a £1.00 (materials, thread + choccy bar for energy :rotfl:)

Our council has wasted loads of money this year, couldn't believe it over £100.000 on 6 benches :eek:, then put the CT up they've ran out of money. Utterly shocking.

Charis

ceridwen wrote: »

...and I, of course, wonder why some of the "greenery" planted recently in my area by the Council ISN'T of the edible variety..:cool::mad:. I would have thought that, by now, Councils should all realise that any "communal" planting by them should be of a nature that is both attractive and edible..:mad: (ie dont plant trees that are purely decorative - plant fruit and nut trees instead).

Hi Ceridwen

I imagine the reason councils don't do that is because people would sue if they went scrumping, fell out of a tree and were injured. The courts these days can't be relied upon to make judgements based on personal responsibility. I have visions, in this compensation culture, of people trying it on even more than they do now.

Also kids throw sticks into trees to get conkers down, risking injury to passers-by. It might be worse if there were more goodies to be had. You wouldn't be able to walk through a park or wooded area for fear of flying sticks and falling bodies :rotfl:

Charis

Larumbelle

kezlou wrote: »

Our council has wasted loads of money this year, couldn't believe it over £100.000 on 6 benches :eek:, then put the CT up they've ran out of money. Utterly shocking.

I know I should be annoyed by this but I just can't be. It's literally round the corner from me and I smile every time I see it. Especially when local students give them flags, haircuts (I'm sure the council leaves the back one's hair to grow deliberately, so that students can give him a mohican :rotfl:) They originally started out as runners for the International Children's Games. I've no idea what the upkeep costs, to be honest I'd rather not know!

I've got a 'proper' meat lover at home too. My strategy involves:
1) lots of reduced stuff,
2) eking things out to the extreme,
3) [STRIKE]lots of flirting with[/STRIKE] being friendly with my butcher, and
4) ignoring his whining and carrying on regardless!

Why am I suddenly jealous of all of you foraging for wild garlic? I have masses of freshly harvested homegrown wet garlic down here and suddenly I feel hard done by... And Mardatha, yeah, it's stinky, but it's worth it

kezlou

honeybun16 - i think its lovely that your friend is making her grandchildren quilts, if someone gave me or my children a hand made quilt they would thrilled. This year one of my friends knitted a pencil case for my son's 10th birthday he was thrilled. He was thought it was brilliant that someone made it just for him. For my son's 6th birthday i made him a hugs Ben 10 beanbag + cover, he's loves it. Told all his friends about it and they want to make them one too.

I haha those footballers are brill silvercharming.