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

ceridwen

Annie56 wrote: »

Afternoon all......

Been doing my budget all morning,blimey life on the dole isnt really fun is it...and the Govt keeps saying some folk choose it as a lifestyle:(:( though as my elderly old mom says its better than the workhouse and means test.....thought whats she on about so had an hour and a halves lecture on how my generation dont know were born,,some of her friends joined in I think I just escaped with my skin intact with the proverbial tail between my legs...one said we had all better watch out as this Govt is going to take us right back to basics and how ill equipped most folk under the age of 65 were to deal with such economic hardships....told them about this board and two said ooh I read that:D

I volunteer at a local furniture rehoming scheme and was listening to
some of the folk wandering around looking at the furniture on offer most were moaning Id not give that houseroom, well what the heck were they doing there in the first place, had to say to one real snooty piece well DFS is down the road...:p..got told off by the supervisor she said donations were drying up as folk batten down the hatches and start to take heed of the state of there finances.

Well after paying all my out goings,water rates, electric,tv licence,and bt phone line and contents insurance and rent and council tax Im left with the grand total of 36 pounds (sorry pound signs disapeared of keyboard).

I have adequate clothing to see me through this winter and next summer, plus footwear as well, its the haircuts I shall miss, and one of the old dears at my mums mentiond LETS scheme, just googled it, its a Local Exchange Trading Scheme where you exchange/barter your talents, baking gardening etc in exchange for other help..just need to find a blokie or lady that likes painting and I can exchange my cakes or sewing skills.. sounds a good idea in principle just need to see if theres a scheme in my corner of Staffordshire if not there soon will be...

Allotments looking brill have got the winter cabbage and onions in and the hoss muck on some of the well dug beds, and am going to collect 3 carrier bags of Gardeners World magazines and some Grow Your Own mags and gardening books and a potting table from a local Freecycler. Found I had lifted exOHs suitcase full of his winter woollies so put them on Freecycle, have all gone to nice folk who I hope are kept nice and warm in them...have kept some to keep me warm in this potentially really cold winter to come..

Things are looking ok..got all I need to keep me comfy warm and safe, lifes ok...now need to get to grips with meal planning.

Bye till laters

Annie56;)

In order:

- why not ask a couple of the "oldies" to come and introduce themselves here?:) We all have lessons to learn from those who have "gone before" - even those who've gone some way down the road themselves (ie middle-aged me....;))

TV licence - personally I watch so little tv (VERY little indeed) that I might just as well watch programmes "after the event" on Iplayer and the like - dont know how much you watch? Anyway - saves me buying a tv licence...

LETS - oh yes...all in favour of that I am:D. I've had much good "trading" there and also found that the people there tend to be more interesting/more involved in the community generally/I'll just say etc, etc to cover the rest of the plus points:D...but anyways...I've met some good people there ....

You obviously are well into the concept of bartering - so it is obvious it would be a good idea for you.

ceridwen

maryb wrote: »

Try saving tuna cans and cutting the bottom off as well as the top. Might be a bit small but would save buying

That sounds like a good suggestion re what to use for making crumpets in instead of the "proper" rings.

Errr.....I'm vegetarian personally - so if anyone has any suitable readily available alternatives for us veggies please shout out now...:D

A recipe for crumpets would also be good please if anyone has one...(hmmm....wonders if its possible to make them with wholemeal flour.....)...

jackieglasgow

Ceridwen I just use my scone cutters the "wrong" way round. Or you could use those one person sized tins of beans, or pasta shapes if you buy those (very un-MSe though)

ceridwen

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

well I am here and am chilling out now hoping that no pain kicks in after my tooth extraction today - don't know what I was worrying about mind as I felt fine afterwards and am still feeling ok today - although brushed teeth this morning and have managed half a cup of luke warm tea and a mouthful of pepsi. so think I will put off the tooth brushing tonight so I don't reopen it and then will gently brush teeth tomorrow and start the salt rinses. So far have only taken a precaution of 2 paracetamol but not through pain more 'just in case' but as I begrudge taking pills I think they are working really well - not taken any pain killers (bar having babe) in about 4 years. fingers crossed I'll be alright

Am planning to go for a walk into town tomorrow. Then I'll get a Tesco shop/Iceland shop done tomorrow with the money I have left over which is about £25. :eek:

Bloody NTL bill - have had to use the phone a fair bit for swapping tax credit information, setting up new bills, sorting bank accounts etc so bloody bill is bigger than normal this month. not amused.

Sammy

I bet you've been ringing a lot of 0845/0870 type numbers.:cool:

Have you checked them out on the www.saynoto0870.com website first to see if you can find a "standard" number for them? Most of the time I've found its possible to find a "standard" number for a firm. One saves money on ringing "standard" numbers anyway - rather than ringing those 0845/0870 numbers I find - even if you're on a tariff whereby you pay for every call so to say. Personally - I'm on one of those all-inclusive tariffs - my broadband and all the "standard" phonenumbers I call 24/7. That way - VERY few phonecalls show up on my bill as "extra". The vast majority of the time I manage not to use a premium type phone number - for instance I've only just today sent a firm trying to deliver something to me an email telling them that I have a policy of not calling phonenumbers like theirs (ie 0845) - so am unable to call them and they will have to deal with me by email or by phoning me:D.

Of course - there is the added advantage to insisting that "conversations" with firms are by email as far as possible that one has proof of exactly what they/you "said" and when....:D

TudorRose

ceridwen wrote: »

That sounds like a good suggestion re what to use for making crumpets in instead of the "proper" rings.

Errr.....I'm vegetarian personally - so if anyone has any suitable readily available alternatives for us veggies please shout out now...:D

A recipe for crumpets would also be good please if anyone has one...(hmmm....wonders if its possible to make them with wholemeal flour.....)...

Was watching 'The Hairy Bikers: Mum Knows Best' on BBC2 last night and they had a crumpet recipe on it. It looked really good except I don't have the time or patience.
Perhaps you could watch this on iplayer Ceridwen or perhaps someone on here has the book for this series & could put it on here for everybody?

northwest1965

ceridwen wrote: »

LETS - oh yes...all in favour of that I am:D. I've had much good "trading" there and also found that the people there tend to be more interesting/more involved in the community generally/I'll just say etc, etc to cover the rest of the plus points:D...but anyways...I've met some good people there ....

You obviously are well into the concept of bartering - so it is obvious it would be a good idea for you.

There is also http://www.swapaskill.com/
I think Martin mentioned them on a prog recently.

Kitcaboodle

Here is the Hairy Bikers recipe http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/crumpets_93122

maryb

Re my suggestion about using tuna cans - veggies could use tinned fruit cans eg the ones pineapple comes in are quite shallow and wide. I don't think it would leave sharp edges depending on your can opener. I've got two and one cuts very cleanly, the other one cuts just inside the rim which is not so good. Anyway, just an idea

mama67

Hippeechiq wrote: »

Also glad to hear you had a well deserved nice break Gailey :j

Cars do take a lot of anyone's money. My car failed it's MOT in April, on the simplest of things.....the ABS/Handbrake/Air Bag lights on the dash, wont go off. It passed on everything else and they can find no fault with the ABS/Handbrake/Air Bag. They (the garage) felt pretty sure that if they "tried this and tried that" (to the tune of £350) they could sort it......well, they tried, and they couldn't, and we didn't have £350 floating around, so it had to go on OH's cc. So we are now left paying back £350 to the cc company, but have no car and no means to get another........and all because the lights wont go off on the dash :mad:


Just a thought, how old is the car as the airbag usually needs recharging or somesuch at approx 10 yrs; the ABS light could just be a brake light switch; handbrake sorry I have no suggestions for.

bluebag

Annie56

I had a wonderful spell on the dole many years back, actually less than the dole as they underpaid me for the kids for 16 weeks!

During that time I used a mobile hairdresser, in fact she still cuts my hair many years later. Really reasonable, does what I want without all the hooha and she has become a really good friend.
bb