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

AnnieG

Hello magicmum!!

Lambanana I'd give those dryers in the laundrette a go - if there was one near me I'd definately use it for drying when the weather won't let me put it outside. I've never had a tumbledrier or a dishwasher and often daydream abougt how much easier my life woud be with one or both of them!
Letting agents can be a nightmare can't they.. the ones I'm with now are great, but hte last one I rented from were awful. They used to do a quarterly inspection and phone me up to say things like 'you haven't cleaned the oven' and 'there are fingerprints on the wall by the lightswitch'. How I managed not to completely lose my rag with them I'll never know. Well, I didn't until they didn't refund my deposit because 'they forgot' or 'was just about to write the cheque when I had to go out for an emergency' etc. I had to get my dad to phone and shout at them in theend, and that was after a solicitor's letter.

parsonswife8

Hi Magicmum and welcome!

I'm just getting DH to take down the curtains at the door between the diningroom and the hallway near the front door. Going to give them a quick wash and then attach the blackout thermal linings to them, that I used last year. They need to be cut a bit shorter first though.

When the wind blows towards our front door it can be very cold, even though we have a door curtain and a letterbox draught excluder.
:eek::eek::eek:

kidcat

Re dryers at launderette - our local launderette wont allow you to use the dryers unless you have washed the clothes there first!! I have been looking at new dryer prices today and it looks like I am going to have to tighten our belts to accomodate the purchase, what does strike me is that if you search you can find how much energy each uses and this varies quite alot, and an awful lot of retailers simply put energy efficiency level C - but the difference between the best level C and the worse is about 2kwhrs!!! Its taking some serious investigating to find the actual energy consumption.

sammy_kaye18

Am not amused.

This has been a horrible few weeks and am starting to feel the strain of OH wages being low as we are again skint. OH is paid Friday but no idea if he has gone overdrawn due to things bouncing or what so could be a hard month this month. :(

Really need to get my act together with baking etc again and firmly back on the OS wagon again as I've been a bit lapse lately.

On a plus side his dad has asked him to go and insure his motorbike for him tomorrow and then he can use that back and forth to work instead of cycling etc. Only problem is I'm not sure there is petrol in the bike to last him the week and we are down to our last £10.

Thankfully I have plenty of nappies and some milk but I have set up a 'fall back plan' with my mum that each pay day I give her £20 to put aside for me so just in case I get into a bit of bother wage wise I have money there to make sure her and Ben are ok so I know she has £10 there too.

Also Virgin Medi@ rang - apparently the last £30 of my bill is overdue, told them Im paid on Friday and will bring it up to date then and they said my internet/tv and phoen is due to be cut off midnight on thursday. over £30 bleeding quid! gggggggrrrrrrrrr:mad::mad::mad::mad: anyway boyfriend and me agreed that it wont hurt the kids to be without the internet, all the tv channels and phone for a weekend. After all we'll still have basic channels, both have mobile phones that are contract and we can do without the internet - means we will have to make our own entertainment and like boyfriend said we can go for a walk etc. so we'll see how long that lasts! but if I go on Thursday I'll be back on Tuesday when Im paid! Although I may see if they have a cheaper because we seem to spend a small fortune with them!

parsonswife8

Lord, Sammy Kaye, I hope things will get better for you.

We've got the car in the garage, they have replaced some valve and say they need to place the throttle regulator or something:mad::mad:

Going to cost in excess of £420.:mad::mad::mad::mad:

Thank God the warning light only came on when we were almost home from Norfolk.:eek::eek:

The car has been in since Saturday and will only be ready on Wednesday, if we are lucky. Did I say lucky?????:rotfl::rotfl:

magicmum_3

hello everyone ,

It is still quite warm here in the south east so have not had the heating on yet. The clothes are also still drying nicely outside which i am thankful for as I seem to have a magic laundry basket that becomes full again as soon as I empty it.

This month has been so expensive for us with all the subs to pay for my dds clubs and all the trip letters that keep coming home from school. She has just handed me one for a weekend away £150.
I already pay £30 a week school dinners, £10 each.

I guess i will just have to try and make more savings everywhere else.

kidcat

I worked out that for the two eldest it costs me over £100 for school meals and all they end up with is a sandwich small cake and a drink. So I am now giving them packed lunch most days, it means i now make four packed lunches every day but the money I am saving (tbh is money I really didnt have any more as prices have risen).

magicmum_3

lunches are a big expense for us but youngest dd has before and after school clubs (all free) so i like her to have a hot meal at lunchtimes and she loves the food.

The two eldest like to have school dinners because again they like the food and most of their friends have school dinners. Also I like them to have a hot meal especially in the colder weather and it means they usually dont eat as much when they get home.

jackieglasgow

School dinners here are £1.20, my kids only have them once or twice a month as the veggie choice isn't great and its too cheese based for my liking. DS1 likes the school fish and chips, and as I don't cook fish at all, I don't mind him having that - we rarely eat chips, either. On the whole though, I think the school meals here are fairly well balanced and good value for money if you eat meat. Its twenty years since I was at school, and they were 65p then so I think that's a fair rise.

kidcat

It costs over £2.00 for school dinner here and if they have the hot option its more!!