Its tough, it will get better and guess what its freezing brrrrr!

MummyOfTwo

absolutely rosieben. i have spoken about the CSR with several people, and the general concensus seems to be, head in the sand, itll be right! i just cant do that, i need to be as prepared as i can be... the thing i like about coming on here is that we can air our worries and fears with people that are interested and educated enough to understand, and to provide good practical advice. I am old enough to remember my parents losing their home in the 80s, and i never forget those times. they were made so much harder by my mothers inability to budget/say no to spending, which has left me with some real issues around money.

skyelark

AnnieG wrote: »

It appears that my OS hobby of baking has been a false economy. I got my work clothes out last night, and thanks to all the cakes etc I've made and subsequntly scoffed while I've been off work, I can't do any of them up!!! So, my meal plan for the week is now a hopefully cheap Slimming World one, as I really don't want to have to buy a whole new wardrobe to accommodate my expanding tummy!
I got a beautiful Monsoon dress from ebay yesterday that I can wear to the wedding I'm going to in December, it was really cheap so I'm very pleased with myself. Just need to get a little cardigan to go over it, as it's a little strappy number and Glasgow in December isn't going to warm!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:Laughing at the cake scoffing! By the time I have finished with my breadmaker recipes, I will be squeezing into clothes too!
Glasgow in October is freezing! December may be brutal. Cardi is a good idea!:)

jackieglasgow

AnnieG you might need a bit more than a cardigan

skyelark

jackieglasgow wrote: »

AnnieG you might need a bit more than a cardigan

Yes indeed. If the weather stays the same, a snorkel may be in order!:)

mardatha

Kittie - its a balancing act I think, on forums. If you let people yakk endlessly about anything (which I am NEVER guilty of myself ) - then threads wander about all over the place. But if you have heavy moderating then it turns into a stuffy girls school and that would be horrible. I'd last a week then get expelled.:D
So if we get it in the middle, wander about a wee bit then circle back to where we were...that would be perfect !
I am a bit low just now, even savage old bats have sad days :rotfl: but trying hard to stay positive. Not helped by the constant freezing driving bl00dy rain though.
Could I just say -- re the "really old style£ thread,,,I started it just to talk about mainly Victorian frugal ways and we can just drop it because everything interesting has been said really. It could also be incorporated in this one.

AnnieG

jackieglasgow wrote: »

AnnieG you might need a bit more than a cardigan

I'll also have warm coat, hat, gloves and scarf, although I can't see my frock looking good with a big pair of boots underneath....

alec_eiffel

In the spirit of taking the thread back to how the original "if things get tougher" format, here's a bit of the list DH and I have been drawing up over the past few days. This might make it seem like we're not OS using some people's definition but that's life. I know how much debt we've paid off and what we've bankrolled since then. The most surprising thing was how much we have eased up and how many treats we have in our life just now, so a little "creative deprivation" now will serve us well should things get much worse.

Things we have started to do/plan to do in the near future -

making curtains, throws, cushion covers instead of buying
grow some of our own food
do instead of buy - make as much as possible from scratch, especially food for when we have visitors
give up drinking alcohol
reduce my mobile spending (currently spend £50 a year and would like to get it to £20)
buy only dried beans instead of tinned
taking a year off from clothes buying
take our flask/insulated mugs out all the time instead of buying a drink when we're out
DH cycles to work as much as possible

Things we have given up temporarily and would do again if need be -

took the car off the road
give up season tickets (sport)
sold everything we could
magazine buying (it's a "thing" for me, they seem like the most frivolous purchase in the world so I always feel like we have loads of spare cash when there's money for Martha Stewart Living)

Things that we gave up yonks ago and wouldn't go back to

eating meat
going on holiday
buying ready made things like houmous etc
having a bath instead of a shower

Things we could give up but would only happen if need be -

DH mobile phone
sky sports
DH magazine subscription

The last thing I would ever give up

pets

I know some of you will think our priorities are all wrong but it takes all sorts! These are just the things we eased up on when we became debt free and although they're lots of fun they are all huge luxuries.

maryb

Speaking for myself, I love following both this thread and the really old style thread and I would be very sorry if they got subsumed into the daily chat thread. I remember some fairly heated exchanges in the past from people who didn't see things from the same perspective and implied stocking up in case of hard times to come was a selfish and/or ridiculous thing to do. (Kittie, you must remember that!!!). I think the titles of these threads attracts people who largely share the same perspective on how to tackle the increasingly tough environment we find ourselves in and that keeps the thread pretty harmonious on the whole - the way we all agreed to disagree yesterday was a good example. I think we would be swamped in the general daily chat thread and people who gain from the support and advice on these threads - in among the chat - would not feel so comfortable

jackieglasgow

I read and contribute to this and the Daily thread, and feel less inclined to post on here simply because I feel my chit chat what I did today stuff is misplaced on here. But I love reading everyone else's. I do think though that the thread could easily be combined, and might actually be easier to follow if in a Daily Format.

stiltwalker

Morning all,

Got up to cold house, the small leak on the boiler yesterday has turned into a full blown conk out - rang plumber to get us moved up his job list and he's coming at 2 ish hope he can fix it or we might have a cold weekend - Good job I've got loads of baking to do as got a few people coming tomorrow to finish off a banner for our community group to advertise events on and promised baking - sometimes think people only come to our house for the food! lol If I get the preserving pan down I can use up more of the apples making apple chilli jelly to help warm the place up and if I make it good and hot we can always eat it with everything over the weekend to warm ourselves up from the inside!