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

Larumbelle

ceridwen wrote: »

and, "proper gardeners" correct me if I'm wrong....but...errr....a certain waste product of the RV (Ratty Virgo - aka your dear husband:)) would, I think, be good on any compost heap to start with "activating" it......errr...the more "liquid" waste product from him...not "the other one"..:rotfl::rotfl:

Absolutely correct! Something to do with hormones that make womens' unsuitable, I think.

Anyway, it's a really good excuse why he's not to disturb you when you want a long relaxing bath as well...

penelopedee_2

My boss gave us the loveliest home grown/made tomato chutney for Christmas last year. DS has already given her an order for this year and he doesn't even like tomatoes. He would scoff it by the spoonful if he we'd let him.

lilmisskitkat

Kidcat - Thank you for the playdough recipe, i'll be trying that on a rainy a fternoon in the school hols!

Thank you for the welcomes, i wasn't sure if it'd be ok for me to post on here, like i said we haven't felt the pinch as much as some and DH's job is relativley safe but i didn't want people to think i was bragging or being smug

Tomorrow night DD is going to bake some chocolate chip cookies and put them in nice paper party bags (pretty polka dot ones in sale at Tesco, got them for DS's birthday, like a Millie's cookie bag) and make cards for her teacher and teaching assistant - you dont think this is cheap do you? I just thought that it'd be nice to receive something DD had done herself and they must get so many boxes of chocs etc and i haven't got the money to be buying anything fancy (a lot of mums turn it into a competition over who can get the best teacher present lol :rotfl:)

Kate xx

penelopedee_2

lilmisskitkat wrote: »

Kidcat - Thank you for the playdough recipe, i'll be trying that on a rainy a fternoon in the school hols!

Thank you for the welcomes, i wasn't sure if it'd be ok for me to post on here, like i said we haven't felt the pinch as much as some and DH's job is relativley safe but i didn't want people to think i was bragging or being smug

Tomorrow night DD is going to bake some chocolate chip cookies and put them in nice paper party bags (pretty polka dot ones in sale at Tesco, got them for DS's birthday, like a Millie's cookie bag) and make cards for her teacher and teaching assistant - you dont think this is cheap do you? I just thought that it'd be nice to receive something DD had done herself and they must get so many boxes of chocs etc and i haven't got the money to be buying anything fancy (a lot of mums turn it into a competition over who can get the best teacher present lol :rotfl:)

Kate xx

Sounds perfect, not cheap at all. They will love the personal touch.

floss2

lilmisskitkat wrote: »

...Tomorrow night DD is going to bake some chocolate chip cookies and put them in nice paper party bags (pretty polka dot ones in sale at Tesco, got them for DS's birthday, like a Millie's cookie bag) and make cards for her teacher and teaching assistant ...

I think that is the nicest idea, and would be very gratefully received if I were her teacher!

Re the weather & tomatoes - here on the Lancashire coast it's been cracking the flags all day, after torrential rain last night, and I have lots of green tomatoes and 1 that's started to turn

ceridwen

silvercharming wrote: »

Absolutely correct! Something to do with hormones that make womens' unsuitable, I think.

Anyway, it's a really good excuse why he's not to disturb you when you want a long relaxing bath as well...

Thereby hangs a question (careful ceridwen - its not after the Watershed time yet.....:rotfl:) - ie is there any difference in this after women have gone through the menopause? After all - there has been a rather large change on the hormone front for a woman once shes "past her prime" or just "coming into her prime" in fact..:D

littleowl

WartimeScrapingofMarmite wrote: »

:DAnother previous lurker here!

We've struggled so much with our huge mortgage over the past two years that we've had to sell our house. We will move into rented which will save us about £500 a month:eek:. I am sad that we will no longer own our own home, but I am so sick of telling my kids that we can't afford to do things, that the improvement in our quality of life will more than make up for it. (BTW we do go out and do free things, like going to the park etc, but it will be nice to be able to treat them once in a while)

Primrose - the syrup recipe sounds yummy!

Please don't feel down about renting. I sold my property when I moved to France and paid off every single debt - I owe nothing to anybody now and will never again.
I learnt when I lived in France that most people rent - fewer buy. After all - what is the gain? Something to leave to our children? They should make their own ways in life and not depend on an inheritance.
I had to return to the UK for health reasons (but am planning to go back when possible). I found that house prices had risen here alarmingly and I was well out of the market. But, taking my French experience into consideration, I don't feel that renting a property is second best. After all - you do not have to pay for repairs and that is a huge consideration.
I really think that people in the UK have been brainwashed into believing that the only way is to be a property owner - why?
Surely the best way is to be free of debt - including mortgage debt - but too many people somehow don't see mortgage as a debt - that baffles me.
Feel happy with your situation and relieved that the huge amount owed on a mortgage is no longer yours.

Winchelsea

Re "male liquid waste products" and composting - I went to a talk on composting a few years ago, and someone asked about compost activators. The man said there were a few you could buy (e.g. G*r*tta), but he said he always used "recycled cider". There was a slight pause while it sank in what he actually meant, then lots of laughter!

Haven't heard about male being best - my friend who's a widow keeps a bucket for w**ing in, and empties it on her compost heap, with good results! (She obviously moves the bucket when expecting visitors!)

Penelope_Penguin

silvercharming wrote: »

Absolutely correct! Something to do with hormones that make womens' unsuitable, I think...

AFAIK, it's not that female wee is unsuitable, it's that men have more convenient plumbing I am still to persuade the chaps in my house to pee on the compost heap, but we will have a composting toilet when we move to our smallholding :T

lilac_lady

I've come to the conclusion that the only way to stay solvent is to stay in!