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

gailey_2

narabanekeater wrote: »

Charlies Aunt- I used ot be a manager for one of the major supermarket pre DS. All staff were paid NMW. What was expected of staff was far too much
Infact I know very few retail shops that pay more than about 50p an hour more than NMW and most are NMW. My brother last year earnt £40000+ hes currebtly temping for NMW
NMP is a fantastic thing in my opinion as it at least means companies have to pay at least that. Ive worked for a lot less
Competition is strong for even the NMW jobs here and so many applicants for the job at BHS is no suprise for me. Where I am theres high unemployment. In my opinion the situation out there can only get worse. I havent worked myself since DS and im dreading it when I do go back. Im currently at Uni and college retraining. Im lucky through being thrifty and having what im told is a simple life (home cooking, not using the tumble drier if I dont need to and not having the Dominos pizza delivery man as a best mate) we can afford for me not to work.
Ive seen how being unempoyed 'got to' my brother. Its not a nice situation to be in. Wishing you luck to find the perfect job xx

We have something in coomon I used to be store manager of major supermarket was blooming hard.

When pregnant with my fisrt was working 50+hours a week sometimes 7-7 whilst being ill and unloading delivery off lorry at 8months whilst rushing round like headless chicken.
When I went back after a year they were awaful if you had kids unsypathetic if kid went ill, expected same hours mostly unpaid overtime as tore had to look good at all times was so hard combined with stressful commute , hardly seing hubby, intense pressure of job gave up.

I envy lots of mums in anteanatl lik teaching,office who have managed to go back fulltime.
one mum I know as subsidised nursury on site!

Really wish uk and working could be more childfreindly.
A lot of mums want to work.
In was niave thourght I could have it all was unprepared.

Just want to say I was in no way dissing anyone who choses not to have kids they expensive and hard work.
I appreciate theres lots of factors and reasons why.

Other week was at a summer gym class and got speaking to a mum about schools as both ours start sept.
I asked if she already had sibling at school she bit my head off that she only had 1 and whats wrong with that!
I said fully understand I felt fed up as soon as I had 1st people say whens next one?
Now its 3 they either think im careless or mad.
My mam says she often wishes she had no kids as shes quite selfish she thourght we should stop at one and spoil her with private education and other stuff.
A sibling has made eldest less bratty and more responsible neighbour commented and said seemed like she just grew up.
Bil does not ahve kids his wife dident want any and now cant his 3dogs are his babies.Plus hes welcome to borrow ours!

Was watching bbc news tonight food prices at 20year high have media only just realised mostly due to wheat which is pushing meat up by 16percent high and lamb 37percent.
It seems like costs are filtering into supermarkets in uk god forbid.
Apperently department in un constanty watch food prices.
russias had major impact but think china and india rely on exports.
They reckon dairy and any wheat products will continue to rise.
Combined with vat increases still got to work out whats on vat and stockpile.

Other news americas unemployment figures not good and and economy still not where it needs to be.
I worry how it affects uk as we so linked business wise.
Im sure next quarter growth figures be out soon and mervin king from bae looking usual stressed constipated self.
Everyones dreading the spending reveiw.
people stiill dont realise cuts or think they immune to it.

Odd ? but anyone know cheapest place for big bottle brandy?
need it for cooking.
hopefully foraging this weekend if weather well.
nitemare getting both kids tonight hoping baby stay in own bed all night.

Finally got them alseep by 10 and mr gaileys fast alsleep so much for quality time and hes working all weekend.

No news on swedish retailer other day, thourght would hear in few days will chase up monday.
He,s going for store manager jobs which is tedious lengthy process must admit I dont miss the assesment days and presentations.

EstherH

I got a bit worried reading through the recent discussions on population, planet etc., that our friendly, caring thread was turning into one of the other boards. Hope that's not going to happen.

On a more mundane note, I've made lasagne today, reminding myself in the process of why I don't do it very often - took me hours! However, made the bolognaise sauce with 1kg of turkey mince and 50gms soya mince, handful of oats and loads of veg. The lasagne did four of us with enough left over for another three portions. The rest of the bolognaise is portioned up in seven separate portions in the freezer plus another three in the fridge for tomorrow nights chilli when I add beans and chilli powder. So all in all 17 portions out of two packs of mince plus a little soya. I'm well chuffed.

Got two bottles of the Tesco value milk plus some long life. The till refused the 75p off when spend £2.00 on Tesco milk even though it was all Tesco milk. However, the nice lady on the checkout put it through for me. Also got a till spit for £4 off when spend £30 so will use that next week.

Hippeechiq

EstherH wrote: »

On a more mundane note, I've made lasagne today, reminding myself in the process of why I don't do it very often - took me hours! However, made the bolognaise sauce with 1kg of turkey mince and 50gms soya mince, handful of oats and loads of veg. The lasagne did four of us with enough left over for another three portions. The rest of the bolognaise is portioned up in seven separate portions in the freezer plus another three in the fridge for tomorrow nights chilli when I add beans and chilli powder. So all in all 17 portions out of two packs of mince plus a little soya. I'm well chuffed.

Well that impresses me well done you :T

If I could find a recipe giving exact quantities of a basic sauce that I could then turn into Chilli or whatever and precisely how much veg and how much oats and any other ingredients to add, I'd give something like that a go myself, but there aren't, I've looked, and I've never been a "chuck-it-in-and-see cook" so will just have to marvel at everyone elses abilities

EstherH

Sorry, can't help with that, I'm very much a chuck it in a see person. Hate following recipes, just get general idea and see what I have to hand. I am trying to learn though to follow some recipes as I want to try new things like making jam with some of the blackberries I've been collecting.

penelopedee_2

Hippeechiq, for spag bol I use mince or whatever mix you want to use, plus a tin of toms or a carton of passatta plus a pinch of garlic powder and a bigger pinch of italian seasoning.

For Chilli, I recycle the same mix but throw in a pinch of dried chilli flakes and a tin of kidney beans.

For lasagne white sauce, use a teaspoon of corn flour with a knob of butter and about half pint of milk. Only pour the milk in slosh at a time until it heats through and the flour and butter mix make the milk into a sauce. At that point I throw in a big handful of grated cheese (good for using up the hard stuff at the back of the fridge) and a spoonful of mustard.

Another variation we like is to do sausages with beans (any flavour) like a caserole mix with pasta or mash.

I don't measure anything properly, sorry.

penelopedee_2

Ok if you want more exact quantities and you want to water down the meat, try starting with a smaller 250g pack of meat and adding a couple of handfuls of oats/lentils/veg, whichever you are using to bulk it out. This will then make it up to about 500g of the protein part which is what we use for 3 to 4 adult portions.

As long as the meat part is fully cooked the rest can be left to whatever your taste fancies.

ceridwen

charlies-aunt wrote: »

Its high unemployment here too . . . . back in the late 80's as highly qualified professionals in managerial jobs, our combined salary was 50K+ ...now - thirty plus years on - its less than half that but as our income has dropped, bills and costs have signficantly gone up making the gap even wider.

DH was redundant last year and after nearly 6 months got a NMW job - but lost 15k in salary.

Can't and don't want to live in the past, the prsent is do-able but the future is a bit scarey!

Counting our blessings as we are rich in the things money can't buy

...no wonder Sir Philip Green is a millionaire though!

I hadnt realized how "high" a level of job you normally do CharliesAunt - though it was obviously normally at a "higher" level than the one you currently have (from how articulate your posts are always).

Its obviously depressing enough to find that you have to ask about jobs like the BHS one anyway then - but then to find that its such a low salary:eek:. You ARE in a bad employment part of the country there then - if thats 60 people after even a part-time cleaners job. In my part of the country I think they still struggle to fill cleaning jobs from what I can see - though I have noted that the way people get into those jobs (ie the ones with cleaning firms) seems to be very much "word of mouth" - ie through someone else they know who is doing it in the first place.

If you are having to even look at jobs like that - perhaps you could chat to the supervisor of the cleaning firm in your office (whilst you're still there..)?

I DO look at people like Philip Green and think "How can you take so much of the money your shops make for yourself - and pay so little to your staff? How do you deal with your conscience - knowing that your own employees might be struggling financially because of the level of salary you have decided to pay them?"

Hope you get something suitable soon - and a lot more suitable than your present job even...

sammy_kaye18

charlies-aunt wrote: »

After 9 years of trying, lots of fertility treatments, investigations, etc etc, - we were told that we had no possibility of having our own child ... so we got approved as foster carers and adopters.

At the end of February 1991, a 2 year old girl (DD1) was placed with us for adoption ...and on Christmas Eve 1991, I gave birth to DD2.

Miracles can happen

Charlies Aunt - a friend of mine has just had this happen.

She was told she would never naturally have children so she adopted two gorgeous little ones - a girl and a boy.

Then at Christmas we were both on line talking and I had just had a shock finding out I was 4 months pregnant and not even knowing it and she shocked me even more by telling me she was 4 months pregnant after 12 years of being infertile!

Her beautiful daughter was born July 10th 2010 and my little holly bump was born 4 days later on July 14th (albeit she was two weeks late and my friends little girl was two weeks early!) .

So yes Miracles do happen. x x x x x x

Also GAILEY - congratulations! have you checked out the parenting club 18 on the relationship board - they are a fantastic group of girls over there.

northwest1965

ceridwen wrote: »

Thank you for your lengthy reply. I was considering whether I should "step away" from MSE after some of the comments (as they felt like very personal ones against me and I was thinking "Why would I bother - for that?") - but yours is a reasoned post - if a different way of thinking in some respects to mine. Anyways - we will have to agree to differ on the fundamental viewpoint re population - but thank you for a civil response rather than "verbal thunderbolts" thrown at me because I have a different opinion to you.

I think thunderbolts are a bit over the top. If you make an extreme post, you have to expect people to react over it, it is a public forum after all. I think its really good to see all sides of an argument rather than we are all sheep. We are not going to all agree on any matter.:)

Ah well, the weekend is here again, what a good forecast for up North. The last of my winter woolies are hung on the line, everything feels and smells fresher now.
What ever your plans, enjoy.

northwest1965

EstherH wrote: »

On a more mundane note, I've made lasagne today, reminding myself in the process of why I don't do it very often - took me hours! However, made the bolognaise sauce with 1kg of turkey mince and 50gms soya mince, handful of oats and loads of veg. The lasagne did four of us with enough left over for another three portions. The rest of the bolognaise is portioned up in seven separate portions in the freezer plus another three in the fridge for tomorrow nights chilli when I add beans and chilli powder. So all in all 17 portions out of two packs of mince plus a little soya. I'm well chuffed.

.

Have you tried dried soya mince Esther? I've only seem it in Tescos. Its good though, you can mix half and half with normal mince. (you reconstitue it 1st with hot water).

This doesnt look good, hope no one gets a bill on the mat on Tuesday
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/tax/7981144/PAYE-tax-errors-force-1.5-million-people-to-repay-1400.html