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

dollydaydream07

DD had originally asked for a disney princess bike £90 so we told her we had spoke to santa and he had seen this really cool pink and white bike that he was going to get her instead as it was cheaper than the other one - she instantly asked if it meant she was going to get more presents!!
we took her to Tesco and pointed out a pink bike and she said it was cool and if it was cheaper then she wants that one so we have saved ourselves £40 by getting that one instead!!

we are quite lucky that she is a child that isn't always wanting and she knows if we say 'no' to something we mean it, she get's 50p a week pocket money but to get that she has to ensure that her bedroom is tidy and she helps to clean the living room on a Saturday and we tell her that she can go and spend it each week but once it's gone, it's gone, or she can save it up for a few weeks and once she has enough she can buy something(a magazine or usually 3 go's on the ride at Morrisons) at the minute she is saving up for the holiday we have next year!
For her birthday she had £10 to spend, so i took her to primark and she chose a pair of pj's, a cardi and a top - i spotted 2 tops that were cheaper(and nicer lol) than the one she had chose and said to her that she could have what she had picked or if she were to swap her one top for the two i found then she would have more for her money - so she opted to get more for her money!! sometimes it's hard to believe she is only 5!

shegar

shegar wrote: »

Well well, thanks for that im going to look on line in a few mins for a acupunturist near to me .. Getting sick of going to the Drs every 3 to 4 weeks for more tabs that never seem to work. thanls ras.:D

Ras ,Just would like to mention that ive got an appointment this Thursday to see a acupuncturist....:T ive had a phone consultation with him today, ive got to go 13 miles to see him , I dont mind that....I will let you know how I got on soon.....thanks for your help Ras.....:D

shegar

Ive given up spending the whole day in town , freezing cold, expensive car park rates, petrol to get there,,, buying people/family presents that they dont use or want.....:mad:I now give them gift vouchers or money its far easier for them to then go out and buy something they do NEED......everyones happy.......:D

jediteacher

I'm sure I've mentioned this before but for the last two years we've set a £5 max budget for adults and two presents for each of the kids (there are three in total). Only one set of friends now gets a christmas present and it is just a token.

However, I have to confess to going OTT with my own daughter. I love Christmas and was lucky to have such adoring grandparents who made up for everything that went on at home. Every year without fail my own mother would have a hissy fit over some trivial thing (she is a very nasty person) and would cancel Christmas. She would take our presents and bin them and then we would have to ring my grandparents to tell them we were not coming to theirs (we always had Chrsitmas there) as we had been naughty! :mad: This would then entail my uncle (the only one with a car) coming to fetch us and take us to our grandparents.

This went on for years until my grandfather had enough took my mother out into the corridor and told her that enough was enough and if she didn't start treating us kids better then she was no longer his daughter and to leave his house and never come back. In all my life I had never heard my granddad raise his voice until then. After that things did get a little better but she still tried to ruin every birthday. As a result I do go overboard with my own little girl at christmas and birthday. Anyway, enough of this rambling time to get back into cleaning the house.

My lovely in-laws have come down for the day and taking my little girl out so I can have a moments peace. I think they want to spend as much time as they can with her as my father-in-law is being tested for cancer at the moment and we will have to wait until friday for the results. Lots going round at the moment.

dollydaydream07

i have been shocked into doing something after seeing my spending for the week!!!

i have a full list of EVERYTHING we have in the cupboards/fridge/freezer and i now need to formulate some sort of meal plan so that we are not buying stuff we don't need so where do i post my list of foods for some help????

i know i am sorted for lunches all this week as i made a huge batch of soup earlier - i'd say there's easily 6 portions of soup plus i have another 6 in the freezer!

BitterAndTwisted

There was a thread on the Families board yesterday about which kids have TV, computers and game-thingys in their bedrooms and I've never heard of anything like it! Some Mums on there had kids who were only about 11 years old or even younger and had been bought endless amounts of gadgets, mobiles and laptops and quite a few of them thought it was normal and perfectly reasonable. Either I'm stuck in a previous age or part of the world really has gone mad. Thinking about the amounts of money those people had obviously spent )on what I personally belive to be non-essentials) I'm not altogether surprised that they come onto a site like this. Quite a number of them should pop by and join the Old-Stylers and get a sense of proportion.

BitterAndTwisted

dollydaydream07 wrote: »

i have been shocked into doing something after seeing my spending for the week!!!

i have a full list of EVERYTHING we have in the cupboards/fridge/freezer and i now need to formulate some sort of meal plan so that we are not buying stuff we don't need so where do i post my list of foods for some help????

i know i am sorted for lunches all this week as i made a huge batch of soup earlier - i'd say there's easily 6 portions of soup plus i have another 6 in the freezer!

Why not start a new thread? I think it might get more attention and possibly from different people than just in here.

[Deleted User]

ceridwen wrote: »

I just remember my very very rough guesstimate that if I had what would be only a pretty standard number of panels up on the roof that between my fuel savings and my money I would "earn" from this that I thought I might be £1,000 pa to the good - which would do me QUITE well....

Its the upfront cost thats a problem - I'm guesstimating I need between £10,000-£12,000 to get those panels up:( - hence wondering where to get the money from for it (and, being a bit "divided of mind" about it - because I would worry that I would spend that money and then have a chance to move to a better house....). But thats me - as in not being able to make up my mind exactly what style of house I DO want and I cant even make up my mind for sure whereabouts the house would be (other than in Britain still....).

Be very careful re the pv panels. We have 14 on the house and the max kw we have had on the inverter is 1.9kw. Today was lovely and sunny and the max was 500w because the sun is very low. They were already installed. I calculate that they will produce about half of what we use plus we will get the FIT payment so that will mean that our total energy cost, taking the wood pellets for the stove for ch and hot water, will be about zero. Bear in mind that we had to pay over the odds for this house and the normal cost on pv installation would have been about 12k. You need to do the sums and I for one would think twice about payback time for the panels.

We have 2 solar panels for hot water and they are most definitely worth getting. Today for example they brought the store temp in the tank up to just over 40 throughout and that is a lot of heat as water takes a lot to heat. We didn`t need any extra water heating all through the summer and even now we just need a top up from the pellets. I have been most surprised and pleased at the performance of the solar panels and if I had to choose one system then I would choose them

Don`t believe sales patter re pv performance. I saw posters in town the other day saying that they would cover all the electricity. That is tosh as they will cover maybe half and that is only if you are available to use the electricity when the sun is actually shining as none of it is stored for personal use. I use electrical appliances during sunny days if I can

The reason that our energy cost is low is because our house is ultra well insulated and sealed and there is even sheeps wool between the floors and we have triple glazing

littleowl

As a family we agreed years ago only to buy presents for the children. They are all now grown up so I only buy for my adult son, my sister who lives close by and a small great niece and nephew..
Even when the children were small I would never - even if I could - have spent hundreds of pounds on Christmas presents. I wanted them to grow up knowing the value of things and not to want the latest trends or be terrorised by their peer groups. They were very happy to receive lego and books plus a few winter wear things.
I really do not understand how any parent - however wealthy - could spend hundreds of pounds on gifts. And even less so those who go into debt to do so. What message is that sending to children?
The whole hysteria which now surrounds Christmas I find quite distasteful. You don't buy or give love for your family with 'things'.

UnderPressure

littleowl wrote: »

As a family we agreed years ago only to buy presents for the children. They are all now grown up so I only buy for my adult son, my sister who lives close by and a small great niece and nephew..
Even when the children were small I would never - even if I could - have spent hundreds of pounds on Christmas presents. I wanted them to grow up knowing the value of things and not to want the latest trends or be terrorised by their peer groups. They were very happy to receive lego and books plus a few winter wear things.
I really do not understand how any parent - however wealthy - could spend hundreds of pounds on gifts. And even less so those who go into debt to do so. What message is that sending to children?
The whole hysteria which now surrounds Christmas I find quite distasteful. You don't buy or give love for your family with 'things'.

I could not agree with you more

As I said earlier in the thread this is 1 of the very very many harsh lessons I have learnt over the last 2 years, you know the last 2 years for us have been our worst nightmare ever but again as said I would not change it for anything and I do believe it has given us a firm foundation to move on and make sure we are never in this position ever again