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

skyelark

lambanana wrote: »

Has anyone tried reindeer meat? I've tried venison and liked that is it similar? We don't have a lidl near us anyway so I wont be buying any but don't see how it's any more "cruel" than any other sort of meat, if anything it's probably better than having chicken because I imagine reindeer are pretty difficult to breed in cramped cages!

Our house is getting pretty cold at times now, wishing it was better insulated but as it's rented all we can do is put up thicker curtains and draught excluders and the like. STILL waiting for a date from the landlord on them double glazing the utility area and getting fed up of waiting. They also still haven't sorted out our mixer tap, I fear that's never going to be done. Really wishing that we owned our own place at the moment but hey ho, our time will come.

We had a panic yesterday morning as DH along with everyone else at his company hadn't been paid!! Fortunately it was an admin error by the bank and was sorted by 5pm so he has the money now but when he first told me I was worried it'd be a first no one gets paid and next thing you know everyone is being sent home because there are no jobs! So glad he's been paid now. Luckily for us all our bills go out a couple of days after payday but a lot of people in his work went overdrawn as their rent/mortgate and bills went out on the morning of payday but their money didn't go in. I'm hoping for them that the banks are understanding and don't put on big charges but who knows. Just glad for the way we have our payments set up.

Are Lidl actually selling reindeer meat? I imagine it would be like venison. I would cook it as if it was. I am going to look!

KittyBoo_2

lolly_896 wrote: »

It's getting cold - Energy prices are rising! Money's tight and were due a vat increase!? Anybody else frightened about what this will mean for them and there families?
Our budget has been skimmed back to the basic and were surviving with little surplus. Redundancy is a possibility for myself and i am making myself ill thinking about how i we are going to stay warm and well fed if this happens especially with all the increases!

x

Hi Lolly
It's freezing here too.
I've been making alot of thick soups to have at lunchtime with some homemade bread (got a breadmaker and a slow cooker).
I also do lots of things with mince (shepherds pie, spag. bol, chilli etc).
When I go shopping, I buy what's on offer and look for the reduced items.
I know what you mean about the cost of things. and when you are already living on a tight budget, it's hard to see where you can cut back.
The best thing I do is to buy a sack of potatoes.
Saves carrying them and we've always got something to drop back on.
Look after yourself and have a good look round this forum.
There's some great money saving tips and sometimes you find something that you've not tried.

skyelark

kidcat wrote: »

What I spend depends very much on what is needed, last year DS12 started high school and it was essential he have a laptop for school work, so he got a laptop which is more than I really wanted to spend - Dell Outlet special offer. The year DD started high school again we had to buy her a laptop. This year we will spend less as they dont need anything so expensive, but as DD laptop is getting old now I expect that next Christmas she will need a new one (this one has been rebuilt a few times - but repairman said last time it wasnt worth repairing any more).
I am also attempting to rein in my parents spending on the kids this year too, last two years they have spent way more than I have on the kids and its usually stuff that wont be used. This year they asked for ideas and I gave them a suggestion for each of the kids that was £50 each, dad has hinted at buying other stuff but I have asked him to put money in the kids accounts instead. Pointing out that moving last time was hell and I really want less stuff to move with not more.

Is anyone else feeling really low and down today? Have felt really weepy and assumed it was me, but my DD16 boyfriend has just said that there were girls in his class all crying at points during the day and that he saw a teacher sit in her car and cry after school.

I feel it at this time of year. I have come to accept it now. I was so bad a couple of years ago that I would cry at Christmas adverts. It made me sad to think there were homeless, poor and unhappy people put under huge amounts of pressure by the Christmas Machine.
I was urged to go to the doctor at the time, which I am glad I did. I still feel low and weepy at the commencement of the darker nights, but no where near as bad. Still do get a bit bubbly at times though.:(

donny-gal

Yes, Gas and Electric are very very expensive, now just for instance, we have a electricity usage meter, found one cheap in Netto, but some companies provide them free, with my fridge/freezer, freezer in the garage, cooker clock, and wireless phones plugged in, and a radio on standby which does seem to make a difference, (TV's are off at the plug) the consumption shows at £0.05 per hour, half a pence you say to yourself not bad, by times that up by 24 hours and 90 days in a quarter, and it comes out at just under £30 a month to use nothing:eek: Just think if you have the TV on all day, often playing to itself??

The Slow Cooker adds very little to the usage, and you can do lots of cooking via that, even roasting the joint, though not roast potatoes/ yorkshires. Also a Bread Maker is very easy to use, and uses minimal electricity, I tried one of the cake recipes for mine last week, and it came out fine, who cares that it is loaf shaped once sliced.

When you use your oven, fill it to the brim, have a batch baking day rather than a little each day.

Hope you manage to find some ways to help. DG

maryb

I've had elk meat which I think is like reindeer and it's lovely braised slowly on a very low heat for hours and served with rowanberry jelly. I've never seen rowanberry jelly for sale (our Swedish friend who brought the meat when she came to visit also brought the jelly) But I would think that redcurrant jelly would also be nice.

I've also had ostrich steak and it was weirdly horrible. It had the texture of really tender fillet steak but NO taste at all. It got so that it was repulsive to chew

kezlou

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

To be fair, prices have gone up a lot recently. You might not be able to afford to pay off your debts if you were on JSA now

An independant advisor from the CAB office actually said we would better off on benefits. Its depressing really, but we also claim ctc, wtc but can't claim council tax.

So yes prices have gone up but our wages still remain below the national wage.Which means were still in debt, allbiet paying it off.
So yes not evryone has the means to afford food etc on benefits, but then neither do a lot of people who work.

Its hard and right now i know certain people who live the life of riley on JSA while we had to scrimp and save for one night away. Which is extremely depressing and demoralising.

ceridwen wrote: »

do you mean those machines I saw on a programme the other day where people get job vacancies printed off for them?

Yes that's them and to top of it off most of the time they don't even work.

rosanna glad to know i'm not the only with crazy cats!
fantastic news rummer!

On the subject of technology , my eldest coddy, he's 10, has a pc in his room, but he knows fine well, we bought it and no santa. What i can say he guessed, he older, but we've told him not to tell snips there's no Santa.

Anyway's he knew that this Pc would have to last him a good few years. He only got because we thought okay oyu asked for it two years running, and results have been excellent so yes yhou can have one. One yer later, he uses his PC everyday,even shares it, shicking i know, with his younger brother. This year he's asked for very expensive things, but were going to have a chat with him about it.

Snips has asked for a lego atlantis shark, think its £12.99 off amazon. He wants Lego for xmas, but i'm doing it on the cheap. But it may be expensive because we might be getting him a bike, which will prob cost between £50 - £100 due to size we need.

Not sure how much were spending on them both as were seeing how finances work out.

Well my weekend / humph one day night away was an utter disaster. Now i feel like a huge weight has lifted off my shoulders as i have decluttered a few toxic peeps.

Got shot of more stuff and waiting for parcels to arrive off ebay, all paid for i might add with funds within my paypal account . So i'm very pleased with that.

Better get a shift on and do some baking for the eid party at school tomorrow

squeaky

Desperate_Housewife wrote: »

its hard for ordinary people at the mo, I look on my housekeeping and household as a business and try to run the accounts carefully, its hard especially when you have good ideas or see bargains but don't have the money to back it up but think of it as a ling term comitment and try to build up a reserve to call on when you do see bargains.

I think this is where you get a crucial breakthrough moment - the point where you've managed to build up a reserve so that you can take advantage of bargains and special offers when they happen - obviously of things that you are going to use NOT just "because" they are bargains - and can stock up when the price is right. As an example - a couple of years ago they were selling my favourite coffee as a "two for one". Every time I went shopping I bought four times as much as I'd normally use. By the time the offer ended I worked out that I had almost eighteen month's worth of coffee in stock at what was effectively half price. (Which meant not needing to buy coffee for a long time and so releasing a bit more cash for "the pot" as time went by.

Staples tend not to be on offer very often - it's usually the sweeties, the fizzy pop, and the "goodies" - so any time I see any of my standard cupboard staples on offer I do my best to take full advantage. It depends on what it is and how long it will keep, but every now and then I'll find myself with a three to six month store of as many as half of my most commonly used things.

It has to be said that when you first find difficulty reducing your budget (for whatever reason) It begins to look impossible to build up a "reserve".

This mostly comes with time. I'm sure that most folks when faced with having to cut down eventually begin to scan their shopping list and start making the decision between do I really NEED this, or am I just in the habit of having/eating this and in truth don't so much eed it as WANT it?
Over time I found that my "need list" just naturally began to shrink and, once I realised what was happening, I went after it on purpose because I realised the value of having a reserve and being able to take advantage of offers. So for three months I cut everything to the bone". Allowed only one "want" per shop as my treat for being a good boy.

And this is a fair point to make... by all means set yourself a target to aim at and a period of time for this stringent campaign that's as long as you think you can cope with - but don't go too far! If you make yourself thoroughly miserable you'll give up. So no matter how tightly you've pulled your belt in - undo it a single notch and allow yourself a treat, however small. You'll find that a) you appreciate them all the more and b) what constitutes "a treat" tends to get smaller and smaller ;-)

A reserve is something to aim for. It can make a huge difference and, because you can take advantage of offers, it means that your life style will actually improve over all even though your total spend is lower.

Since I did my three month "hard time" thing I've never looked back. Cupboards are always full, I don't have to count pennies or do without something because there just isn't enough money in the kitty... and I've been at the stage where I checked down the back of the sofa for small change so that I could buy a pint of milk! Not any more!

Even living on benefits, as I do, I managed to build up a cash buffer big enough to keep me free of sleepless nights. One thing that's a primary cause of the misery of being skint. Obviously I'm still being careful and frugal - but I'm not being "mean" to myself and I'm not feeling "deprived".

OH, and to the OP (Original Poster)...

..even if you are not in debt - if you pop over to the Debt-Free Wannabe board you can post your SOA (Statement Of Affairs - i.e. income and outgoings) and they might well be able to help you reduce your main budgetary commitments.


HTH :-)

ifonlyitwaseasier

maryb wrote: »

I've had elk meat which I think is like reindeer and it's lovely braised slowly on a very low heat for hours and served with rowanberry jelly. I've never seen rowanberry jelly for sale (our Swedish friend who brought the meat when she came to visit also brought the jelly) But I would think that redcurrant jelly would also be nice.

I've also had ostrich steak and it was weirdly horrible. It had the texture of really tender fillet steak but NO taste at all. It got so that it was repulsive to chew

i think rowanberry jelly is one of those elusive ikea things

also ostrich as a burger is lovely, not tried as a steak yet



well still on the hunt for work, , but staying warm with the open fire

stiltwalker

rachbc wrote: »

I'm getting a fantastic new kitchen knife and a super snuggly wool/ cashmere blanket! Useful things I will use lots but can't quite justify buying for myself - I think of it as luxury OS!

Love the idea of luxury OS! My OH always feels really guilty buying me cooking things for Christmas as he thinks I might think it's boring but I love cooking so new gadgets for the kitchen or new cook books are fab in my book. If he ever buys me an iron for Christmas he's out the door though - definately my least favourite housey task. :mad:
This year I'm hoping for one of those little deep fat fryers that looks like a proper commercial one but small so I can make even more yummy Indian and Chinese starters and snacks when we have homemade takeaway night - much better that the rubbish that comes to the door even if it does take me hours to make. Mmmm curry - might have to do one tonight! will text our friend who lives around the corner and see if he wants to come and help with the curry mountain I invariably make!

kidcat

I had to have a talk with my DD16 this morning, she is normally very good about money and understands that we have considerably less to live on than her friends. Its her friends birthday in a few weeks, (I say friend loosely as this girl gave my DD a very hard time last year, rubbing her nose in the fact that she had attended the school foreign trip when my DD couldnt afford to go. Then causing trouble because she was jealous of my DD friendships with others) and as per usual her parents are not giving her a party etc. Now for many in the group that seems strange as they have always had a party, but for this girl her parents have never put on a party at all. Both parents are in very highly paid jobs, they have good holidays abroad (which we have never been able to do), have very expensive furniture and TVs etc. So one of the group has decided that the rest of them should host a party for this girl, and has asked all the girls to pitch in £20 towards cost of food, decorations, and to pay for the birthday presents that the girl has requested. I have been very hard and said I will provide a small gift for the girl and no more. I pointed out that there is no money in my purse and when money goes in on Thurs it is all accounted for, DS12 needs new football boots and I am trying to shop for Christmas. She was upset.
I just fail t o see why I should pay towards a party for a girl whose household has five or six times our income, and only one child, while I am struggling to bring up my children. I plan carefully and budget to allow my children to have parties and presents, and I fail to see that its appropriate that I should pay towards someone elses child.
Am I being harsh because of this girls history? Am I punishing the girl for her parents attitude? To my mind they had a week in a top hotel with saunas, massages, room service etc over the summer, and a week in a cottage in the Lake District, thats on top of the two two week foreign holidays, and that is their choice of lifestyle, rather than parties etc.