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

flowertotmum

O lambanana..so sorry your skint...they should let you exchange the shorts ..i have taken bits back really late and got a refund or exchange..i hope you enjoy your trip ..where are you going..being nosey now:)..i have got to watch the bank closely...i have ny nephews birthday coming up so its a small present and card this yr...i need new pj's for my girls and i need some long socks..it neverends:)..but what doesn't kill us makes us stronger..flipping eck i must be like popeye by now then;)..

AnnieG

I just went out to post a letter and thought I'd pop into the co-op for a bar of chocolate. I got to the till with my flake (60p) and the woman said 'we've got packs of 4 of these for a pound... shall I get you one?' and promptly scuttled off to the store room, as they hadn't put them on the shelves yet! Well, I couldn't say no, and am now facing a battle with my willpower. I WILL NOT eat off 4 this afternoon!!!
I also picked up the Guardian, they have a student food special today. I'm not terribly impressed, some of the meals come put at £11, and one is £22!! I know that these are to feed 4, but I really think that they could have come up with much cheaper recipes. I wouldn't even cook half of these when I was earning a good salary and didn't really watch my grocery budget, let alone now I'm on income support, and I doubt students have the means to spend this much on groceries either ,do they?
Rant over.

Kitcaboodle

Our dreams of ever owning a house are moving further away.

DH got a reasonable chunk of cash with his redundancy payout from his last job & I was hoping that, with a bit more saving over the next few years, unless we had to use the cash as a safety net due to another redundancy (his current job is at risk due to government cuts), we might be able to buy a small place.

However, the car has done over 100,000 miles now and is making noises (and is held together in places with gaffa tape!) and we had a discussion last night about replacing it. DH (not a natural moneysaver!) was considering getting a new car *shudder*! That would have wiped out the majority of what he has saved! Thankfully I have persuaded him that it is better to get one that is a little older. Not so old that it will cost us more in the long run to repair but old enough that we don't need to deal with a drop in value the moment it drives off the forecourt (at least, not until DH dings it on a kerb trying to park!) Still a huge chunk though.

I know we're very fortunate compared to many but still, I really had hoped we might be able to buy something in the not too distant future. However, this sets us back 5-10 years as we're not going to overstretch ourselves to buy something at the limit of what we can afford (not while I have any say in matters anyway!)

*Sigh* Oh well, I'm fixing the fraying on the edges of DS's terry nappies and dreaming that one day I might be able to decorate a house the way I want and plant stuff in a garden. I know the main thing is that we have a roof over our heads and food on the table and I'm very grateful for that - but - dreams are dreams and it sucks when they slip further away from us!

kezlou

well said skyelark, you couldn't have said it any better.
So happy that you and your daughter are soo happy and contented now.
Good luck with the future!

Its awful isn't it Sammy, we've been through some hard times, but this takes the biscuit. We originally had money but then we looked in the bank and quite a bit of money we paid in has been withdrawn back to tax credits etc. But i like i say ii have a plan. I'm determined not to be in this situation again. It too depressing and i'm not as strong as i used to be.
Lambana hugs love know its feels.
Oh hear that kitcaboodle ((hugs)))#

Right i'm off to get cracking on the washing, been sitting around for far too long now.

skyelark

kezlou wrote: »

well said skyelark, you couldn't have said it any better.
So happy that you and your daughter are soo happy and contented now.
Good luck with theQUOTE]

Thanks, it was tough for a while, but so are we! My main concern now is budgeting, so keep coming up with the great tips folks!

lambanana

oh Kitcaboodle it's always something isn't it? Our car died last year and rather messed up our saving plans as well.

I tried taking the shorts back, the woman said I didn't have the right receipt for her to scan, I said I didn't have another receipt, I tried crying (well I didn't have to try, there were genuine tears of frustration) I've still got the shorts they have the tags on and everything so I may ebay them.

flowertotmum we're going to Rhodes for our holidays, I know we should be saving for other things BUT we worked it into our saving plans to make sure we could have a proper holiday this year as we haven't had one for some time and so many things seem to have gone wrong this year that it seemed the right time to escape for a week.

mustbemad68

We must be really lucky with our school run Dof E as it only cost us the original registration which was around £15 and then about £15 - 25 for the expeditions which covered the cost of the petrol etc for the school minibus. Their expeditions were quite a bit away from us - in the cairngorms and seem challenging as they had to do river crossings etc but this is for silver as DD1 completed bronze last year. The school supplied a lot of the equipment eg. tents etc and DD1 got her walking boots etc as a christmas present from my parents.
The school has now asked is the S5 & S6' s would like to go to Namibia next year to help teach children in the schools and she is desperate to go and willing to pay for half of it herself off her sunday job, just as well as it is to cost us £550. We are still 'thinking about it'

flowertotmum

lambanana wrote: »

oh Kitcaboodle it's always something isn't it? Our car died last year and rather messed up our saving plans as well.

I tried taking the shorts back, the woman said I didn't have the right receipt for her to scan, I said I didn't have another receipt, I tried crying (well I didn't have to try, there were genuine tears of frustration) I've still got the shorts they have the tags on and everything so I may ebay them.

flowertotmum we're going to Rhodes for our holidays, I know we should be saving for other things BUT we worked it into our saving plans to make sure we could have a proper holiday this year as we haven't had one for some time and so many things seem to have gone wrong this year that it seemed the right time to escape for a week.

Lambanana...rhodes..that sounds lovely..i hope you have a great time and relax..we going next yr not to rhodes just the seaside for a wk...thats worked into my budget too...i have lots of tins with labels on like..holiday,school uniforms trips,christmas,shoes..in my pantry and they get the contents of my purse every friday split between them not much but it all helps..sorry you didn't get the shorts swapped..hope someone buys them..:)

Primrose

kitcaboodle - if you're thinking about replacing your car, maybe a reasonable compromise would be a car dealer's demonstration model. We had the same dilemma two years ago and were able to buy a demo model with only 5000 miles on the clock for about half the new price. Maybe if you check around to see what's on offer, and register your interest with a few dealers you might be able to pick up a new enough bargain for it not to cost you much in maintenance for a few years.

bluebag

Kitcaboodle wrote: »

Our dreams of ever owning a house are moving further away.

However, the car has done over 100,000 miles now and is making noises (and is held together in places with gaffa tape!) and we had a discussion last night about replacing it. DH (not a natural moneysaver!) was considering getting a new car *shudder*!

I did an experiment eight years ago, we had a three year old car on finance. When the finance was paid off we ran the car into the ground but continued to put the same 'payment' into a savings account.
Over those years it has paid for a few replacement cars and all the repairs and is still showing enough of a balance to buy about a 7 year old family sized car.

Buying a new car may seem hassle free but the depreciation and the tax loss is awful.
I know it doesn't help your immediate situation, but is's something to think about.

Mr bb was always moaning about driving an older car 'till I showed him the savings account balance, changed his perspective altogether.
bb