It isn`t tough for us. We are OS and we COPE

GreyQueen

charlies-aunt wrote: »

Oh! The joy of acquiring a strong sturdy cardboard box - I thought it was just me that had a passion for them

Some of the most fought-over things on my Freecycle group are cardboard boxes and Jiffy bags. It's really hard to find decent cardboard boxes these days, making each acquistion a special pleasure.....

GreyQueen

Am having porridge (Mr T's Basics) with chopped up walnuts foraged from a tree last autumn by Organic Pete, an allotment neighbour who is a fabulous inspiration to me as he cycles around the city with a close eye on free food opportunties. Cheers, Pete!

Puddleglum

With regard to public toilets, I agree the libraries should probably take a higher priorty in saving but as long as the councils are prepared to allow other people to run the loos there could be some money making opportunities there. I for one would not object to paying 10p or 20p a go in some well maintained clean public convenience especially if they weren't wall to wall easy clean stainless steel.

At home with dreaded lurgy again today. The week is not turning out at all frugal as I have not been up to cooking the contents of the veg box for the past couple of days and the family has been foraging around the kitchen at will. Still double veg next week which must be good for them.

Good to hear from you again SammyKaye. Hope things improve very soon and that you are able to take care of yourself as well.

FatVonD

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

Hello! I am alive ~ just.......possibly.........sleep deprived I think is the correct terminology though!
I am about just having one of those months I think!

*Washing machine blew up
*Abby had her surgery today and isn't recovering as expected
*Mums been diagnosed with depression and hasnt been eating
*Best friend struggling with things
*Another friend has just attempted suicide and been released from
hospital so am at her beckon call at the minute
*Another friend has been paralyzed in hospital due to prolapsed discs in
her back so been looking after her two kids and dog.

NIGHTMARE!

But I am about - my poor blog has suffered too, my posts have been non existent on any boards at all. Have been arguing with Owen and to top it off money has been tight because of the bloody washing machine!

But I am me and you all know what Im like!

Washing machine replaced thanks to coop electrical store, so discount and a friend lending me £60 towards it so landed to have that back. Would have cost £240 but I had it for £160 and it would of cost £220+ to mend the old one!

Sister has literally been out of surgery for about 1.5hours and not responding as they think she should so shes in the best place at the minute and has our cousin and gentlemen 'friend' with her.

My mum - I cant do anything but listen and try not to stress her out too much and help where I can so have treated her to a pick n mix of her favorite things and have been making sure to feed her when I see her even if its a cup of tea and a sticky finger bun! plus sending a few of my BOGOF/ discount stuff home with her

Best friend and other suicidal friend - if they ring I have to answer it - whether its 3pm or 3am as the suicidal one tried to overdose by crushing sleeping pills into her tea although just how I'm meant to help I dont know but I cant not. Other one cant get past her dad passing away and the fact that I'm settled with kids and our other best friend got married so she feels left behind.

Friend with prolapsed discs is almost reliant on me at the minute - shes been released from hospital and her mum helps her with basic care - dressing/bathing etc - but Ive had to look after pup, her mum lets the dog out but refuses to touch him etc, I have to go shopping with her, school runs/ medicines etc. Phone calls and money collecting on her behalf from post office etc. Plus her son took a turn in school the other day, was stood in line, suddenly went pale and his lips turned blue but he has quite severe asthma and she ran to the school as quick as she could, although hes fine but now sh has been suffering fro the last few days.

Plus the normal day to day stuff, with my two kids, owen and dog, school runs, footy practice, football matches etc. Sammy Kaye is almost dead on her feet and in need of a full nights sleep since holly has been teething!

On top of all that Ive just taken on the 'better reading' challenge in Benjies school which is 2 hours a week to learn how to help kids improve their reading but after the first 10 weeks learning phrase you go on to do more work and training and it eventually gets you a level 3 NVQ so can only help really - just waiting for the CRB check to finish but its only 2 hours a week.

Right off to make sausage casserole with mashed tatties, then off up the hill to feed her mob. Wish she lived closer its about 3hrs total between getting there, sorting everything, and coming home and its a bloody steep hill she lives on top of!

I will be updating my blog though today

Lavandula -- I did see an advert yesterday from 'WHICH?' which was a grow your own vegetable booklet so maybe they are startign to get that idea.

:eek:

As my mum would say, 'if you want a job doing ask a busy person'! You sound like a good friend, I hope they all appreciate you!

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

FatVonD - love the name - I love Jamie too and think a good cookery class would benefit all kids. Hope your son enjoys it. Plus I love Jamie and cant wait for his new series - dream school i think ti is - and his food revolution is now in LA filming - cant wait!

Thankyou! I'm toying with the idea of buying him Jamie's 30 minute meals cookbook and letting him cook for us once a week.

I heard about a course that is partly sponsored by Waitrose at a cookery school in Bournemouth for school leavers that aren't particularly academic, it sounded great, I hope it's still there when he leaves school as I can see him going down that route.

Lavandula

Glad I hung my sheets out yesterday...foul weather today, so dark and wet!

I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for some oil lamps at boot sales and antique shops. I hate having electric lights on during the day. I'd love some Victorian oil lamps, although there are rather pricey!

kidcat

FatVonD wrote: »

:eek:




Thankyou! I'm toying with the idea of buying him Jamie's 30 minute meals cookbook and letting him cook for us once a week.

I ordered it yesterday from the book people £9.99 was the cheapest I could find. Several people on here recommended it, so am looking forward to delivery.

Greying_Pilgrim

Ceridwen you may recall that you mentioned a blogspot to us sometime ago called 'thirtyfivebyninety' - about a family urban homestyeading in New York State. I had a look and the post for Tuesday 25th January, was ironically partly about bagging 'bargain' bags of flour from the local CVS (pharmacy) store - it would appear that stockpiling knows no cultural boundaries - lol. However, if you continue reading down to paragraph 3 in that post, the topic turns to the costs of medical insurance. In addition to paying to see the GP, I was shocked at the cost of ER insurance - that presumably you have to have to even ENTER the accident and emergency department. If your health insurance costs (well, for ONE aspect of health cover) is equal to one and a half times your monthly mortgage payment (as it is for them according to the post), then I reached the conclusion I wasn't sure if I could 'cope' no matter how OS I was if such a state of affairs becomes commonplace in the UK.

On a more positive note, thanks Ceridwen for the tip about the blogspot as it's very interesting to read how other people live and the ideas they come up with.

Greying

mama67

ginnyknit wrote: »

Part of the money savers arsenal is a box isnt it? We have them everywhere with essentials and stock in. I love a good strong free box. the builders gave us some archival boxes with lids to pack our stuff in and we have re-used them.

Just been in Mr T (much against my better judgement - saving petrol) and they have the 50p bread flour in again and Mr Sugar granulated at 68p. Cat food was buy 2 get 1 free, and its still cheaper to buy the loose cans than the multi packs??? Funny thing though, after a week or so of stocking the sugar there still isnt a price on the shelf?? I of course went and scanned it last week thus finding it was a bargain. Right off to revitalise Oh's coat with 40p's worth of new velcro for the cuffs.

they aslo seem to have T & L 1kg bags at 2 for £1.30 and W/worths 2kg bag at £1.34, so if looking at price per 100g the T & L is 6.5p, w/worths 6.7p and mr sug 6.8p.

this shows just how confusing the war on prices can be for us consumers

Primrose

Charis wrote: »

Old Style solution! Line the box with a plastic bag and then use it as a portapotty.

Joking apart, the OS solution was that men used to find a convenient wall and women wore voluminous skirts under which no one could be certain what was going on.

I thought there were laws in place to make facilities more accessible to disabled people? At this rate many more of them will be unable to leave the house at all. My heart sank when I read that they were taking toilets off trains on some of the south coast services. A lot of stations have no facilities now and the rest seem to keep them locked.

.

I would like all members of local authorities who are responsible for making decisions about closing public toilets to be forced to suffer conditions like Irritable Bowel syndrome or Ulcerative Colitis. They would then know what it's like to experience that truly awful feeling of "when you've got to go, you've got to go" and it often comes with very little warning. There are an awful lot of older folk who experience weak bladders who would virtually find themselves imprisoned in their own homes if public toilet facilities were no longer available. Some bodily functions you simply just can't control to order.

alec_eiffel

Primrose wrote: »

I would like all members of local authorities who are responsible for making decisions about closing public toilets to be forced to suffer conditions like Irritable Bowel syndrome or Ulcerative Colitis. They would then know what it's like to experience that truly awful feeling of "when you've got to go, you've got to go" and it often comes with very little warning. There are an awful lot of older folk who experience weak bladders who would virtually find themselves imprisoned in their own homes if public toilet facilities were no longer available. Some bodily functions you simply just can't control to order.

My DH suffers from ulcerative colitis as does my MIL and her husband has bowel cancer, so we know all about the "when you've gotta go you've gotta go". DH also works for a local authority so is at both ends of this (literally and metaphorically), and it is awful at the minute. Most of the cuts are going to be to something someone finds essential somewhere along the line, as someone else said Local Authorities are in a no win situation.

If anyone gets a consultation paper about budget setting from their local council have a play about with it - it's a real eye opener trying to balance the budget and still serve people appropriately.