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

JulieGeorgiana

pennywisepoundstupid wrote: »

i hate the whole keeping up with the neighbours and tend to keep myself to myself, especially as where i live is full of yummy mummys, with designer clothes and 4 wheel drives and i don't really fit into there little cliques.

I thought I was the only one!

Most mum's ignore me because I work and I don't have money to burn!

The other day I made a neighbour chocolates because she took me to my OH work place because i@d locked myself out of the house...

One of the mum's sniffed when I told her... and said she's just have bought them!

Yet the day before she was complaining that things were tight and she would have to set a £50 limit per head for Christmas gifts for non-immediate family!!

Agggghhh!!

wagglessmells

ceridwen: re the first aid kit: i belong to st john ambulance and they offer many free courses and or you could join your local branch to get a good understanding of first aid. a lot of the things in first aid kits will never be used or go out of date anyway! hth!

alex x

sammy_kaye18

Thanks all

I am going to try and get us ahead - even if its just a little bit.

The letter said we have 28 days to do it so think I will pay a bit more in advance.


Have looked over budget and after all bills and a fortnightly food shop (including milk/nappies for holly) I should (fingers crossed) have about £120 left over so I can put £100 to rent and keep £20 as a back up fund. Plus I have more maternity allowance coming in two weeks time and this might encourage me not to spend so much money on nik nak foody bits.

Have also changed budget to include a little extra on water - should be £38 a month but will pay £45 this month (plus its easier to find the water rates than rent!)

Will have a look at housing benefit. Only problem is that Owen has had a bad month the last two months because work was slow adn there was none available but hes on course now for a good wage on his next pay as he's been doing 50 hour weeks so I don't know if housing will take that into account.

BB1984

Morning all, another beautiful sunny day here, so i've got my first load of washing on already!

DH has been away all weekend, back tonight at about 7.30pm so I said I've have dinner waiting for him. However, I've got to do lots more work today, so I've brought out the slow cooker for the first time since about March. We've hardly anything in the fridge, but I didn't want to waste time going up to the shops, so I googled what we had, and came up with this recipe: http://www.yewtree-farm.com/heritagemeats/node/43 (still haven't worked out how to do the neat links, sorry!)

Obviously I'll make a few alterations - I'm not using a whole bottle of red wine for a start, and I've got red peppers that need using up so I'll prob use a few more of those and a bit less beef......of course!

Had a surprise this morning when I woke up to find that my heating was on! no idea how that happened, but I turned it off sharpish as I'm determined not to have it on until end of October - not sure that's going to happen though. It is very chilly this morning, but I've got leggings on under my trousers, and a vest tucked into my leggings, with a long-sleeved teeshirt and a big warm hoody (very glam, me!) - so I'll stay snug in front of the computer today

Right, I'd best be off and put the stew on, then it's back to the grindstone for me. Have a lovely day everyone, hope you have more fun than me!

BB

ceridwen

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

What's quite bizarre is Owens dad had to talk him in to taking it!

Owen doesn't want to be in debt to his family so hes struggling with the idea.


Not bloody amused either - came home to find a letter from the council abotu seeking possession of our flat.

Let me explain - Owen is paid 24th of each month, Im paid the week after that so the rent is paid the Wednesday following that pay day so rent arrears are brought up to date that day but we struggle so can never seem to get ahead with anything. Each month we get the same letter despite us telling the housing office of our circumstances and she can see that its regularly paid.

This letter says I owe £172 rent and £28.11 water which will be paid Wednesday coming in full. :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: now I'm sorry but some people owe £500+ or have never paid a months rent in their lives and yet Im harassed for £172 rent and £28 water!!!!

think if i have a few quid extra this month then ill bung it on rent or water to shut them up

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Sammy

Couldnt you persuade Owen (and his father) to use just enough of the money he is offering to get things straight and timely as regards the rent and water - but not to get a car. The Council are going to go right on "ticking the box" and following their standard procedures about this on a regular basis until you are able to "get ahead a bit" on this. So - if you got things straight and timely on this then they would stop hassling you and thats one less thing on your plate. Re the car - does Owen actually have any NEED for a car - or is it just one of those "I'm a man - men are SUPPOSED to have cars dont you know?;)" things and he's insisting on having one more to conform to the norm than out of actual need for it. Don't know what way he thinks to know what to appeal to in him to get him to change his mind?:think:. In my case the mere mention that I was doing something just to "conform to the norm" would be more than sufficient to get me to sit down and rethink whether I really wanted to do it - but then no-one has EVER accused me of doing something just to conform yet:rotfl::rotfl:(more like wishing I would conform just for the sake of it once in a while......)
. What can you appeal to in him considering the way he thinks to get him to change his mind?

lovelife_3

BB1984 wrote: »

Morning all, another beautiful sunny day here, so i've got my first load of washing on already!


Had a surprise this morning when I woke up to find that my heating was on! no idea how that happened, but I turned it off sharpish as I'm determined not to have it on until end of October - not sure that's going to happen though. It is very chilly this morning, but I've got leggings on under my trousers, and a vest tucked into my leggings, with a long-sleeved teeshirt and a big warm hoody (very glam, me!) - so I'll stay snug in front of the computer today

Right, I'd best be off and put the stew on, then it's back to the grindstone for me. Have a lovely day everyone, hope you have more fun than me!

BB

I was going to avoid the central heating too, but last night when i got into bed, it felt damp, and this morning, the house was soo cold..... I confess i have put the heating on for a couple of hours.... my excuse is i Have my sister staying this weekend, she lives in Corfu, and really feels the cold here, it is still 30 degrees in Corfu, I feel it would be rude to make her suffer... god i forgot how cold it gets, think i might have to hibernate this winter!!

mardatha

This is the thing with not using the heating - you get a damp house and you get ill. Dont risk it - cut down on the tumble dryer and use things like crockpots etc - but you must keep the house free of damp or people will start getting ill. Things like bronchitis and pneumonia can be hard to clear up.

pennywisepoundstupid

Morning, my CH had clicked on this morning, was very cold according to hubby at 4.30am when he went to work.
I have started lighting wood burning stove in an evening, but have been letting it burn out, going to have to start filling it with logs before bed so it stays in all night not having CH on when there are free logs to burn:).

Today i'm planning on making cakes/biscuits for lunch boxes, some cheese and onion pasties, more bread needs baking children seem to eating twice as much now its homemade so its not turning out to be any cheaper than buying it,but at least i know there are no nasties in it, actually it was lovely watching my two yesterday they were sat outside together in the back garden both chewy on a chunk of bread, HM jam smeared around there faces giggling together:D, wish i could be 7 again.

We were also going to go to the 95p cinema showing but its a film kids have already seen, so going to go on a walk instead as its such a beautiful day.

kezlou

Morning!

Well its cold and i've had to put the heating on, its constantly been raining here adn we've ran out of clothes:o:eek:.

The cars back whoo hooo cost £560 to do and boy can can you tell the difference. The brake lights are working now so we popped to the tip and dumped a load of rubbish. Oo what a day out lol

Its bungee jump day, we paid it when we had money, so its something we've looking forward to. so should be a good day, if its not cancelled by high winds.
OH is off for the next two weeks so going to finish his key skills at college then were going to sort the house out and maybe have a few picnics in the surrounding villages. May as well while the boys are at school.

So plan for today,make lots of bread, calzones and cakes for pack lunches /dinners for us all. Also got two lots of soup on the go ready for the freezer or for us tonight. Not sure yet.

Off to make a cuppa, have a good day all x

Hardup_Hester

I'm with you on that one Mardatha, my joints sieze up if I get too cold, so now hubby is working, the heating will go on when we need it. I found it really difficult when we only had my wage comimng in as we couldn't afford to put it on. I don't use a tumble dryer, do use a crock pot & only turn the oven on when it's full.
Hester