How to Get Through The Tough Times The Old Style Way.

budgetboo

There will be a stamp set for the royal wedding - gonna get one and put it aside as a deposit for DS's 1st home (he's 6) now you've said that. I'm starting to share my old land ladys mistrust of banks for saving. In 25 years they should be worth summat.

fedupfreda

Evening to all, old and new,:wave:

Budget boo - Thats an incredibly good idea - thanks.:T I had wondered along similar lines - I have a feeling the 'powers that be' are going to be a lot more interested in peoples assets in the future.:mad:

As regards the 'end of the world' scenarios, my own personal feeling is that a lot of it is media hype - don't forget that, with the advent of t'internet, news (and also rumours) spread like lightning.

I also side with elona on this one - if you prepare for the worst, Sod's Law states it will probably never happen. Like it only ever seems to break out in a real downpour on the one day you forget your umbrella 'Be prepared' seems to be the best motto to live by. We have all seen a lot worse in the past.

Pitlanepiglet

I think what some may regard as "disaster planning" is to many of us just taking sensible precautions to ensure that whatever life may throw at us we are able to stay in control.

My approach is to keep a well stocked store cupboard so that I know that I can survive two months whatever happens.

The reality is that because of various world events food costs will continue to increase. On the news today was an article saying that potatoes have doubled in price since last year and will continue to rise in price.

Energy prices were always going to rise and events in the Middle East are incredibly worrying and will almost certainly lead to price rises, in my view significant price rises and these price rises will follow through into our lives in many different ways

We have been "disaster planning" for a couple of years and are now to some extent living our disaster where up until now we have both been jobless. It wasn't the end of the world as we had planned for it.

We all live differently and some people are happy to work on the basis that they will be fine, personally I prefer to plan for the worst case scenario and then I know that what happens is unlikely to be as bad as I have planned for. Sometimes I'm wrong and it's a whole lot worse (2 car tyres in a week this week for us - damaged not worn out!) but most of the time there is always a worse option, we are happy and healthy, we may be broke but we sleep well.

shegar

Cor its been so cold here today ,cloudy , raw , windy and dull and dank really sums it up......:mad:

March the first suppose to be metrelogically speaking the first day of spring......:eek:..
Dam its needs to warm up a bit, suppose to be sunny on wednesday, but the temps this week will only be around 6 degrees...:eek:
ive had heating on all day, never mind.......

I had lovely sausages for tea the ones that come from the butchers and taste real meat, we had them with mashed taters,swede, and carrots and beans,for desert we had homemade apple pie that I made with bramley apples that my neighbour gave me last October and a tin of cheap(24p) custard from Tesco......:j....
I worked out the main meal wasnt too badly priced, 2 sausages £1.00, half of a swede 50p 4 carrots40p, 4 taters 50p, £2.40 total and they were the butchers best sausages......I havent included electricity for cooking............plus bit of butter for mash.....

I worked out the desert in a 9 inch dish with custard worked out 70 p.....:T plus theres enough left over for tomorow Tea ....

I dont think thats a bad meal for very little money:D plus weve got 4 sausages left over for another day ......

......cant get much cheaper that that for good home cooked wholesome food......I didnt take into consideration the electricity use to cook it, but wouldnt have thought it would have been so much........

Since being on the MSE ive really looked at how much everything is I use daily and its surprising how much you can cut back on , but at the same time dont realize that you are cutting back...............that custard is really so nice at that price , even if you had to feed the family and used 2 tins it would still be quite cheap to do, 48 p , I use to use ambrosia custard but find tescos is next best thing at much cheaper price ..............

We dont have desert everyday , but weve been eating alot from the freezer this past few weeks...........

catch you all later,

jackieglasgow

shegar wrote: »

I worked out the desert in a 9 inch dish with custard ,

This line jumped out at me when I opened the page; I read "I worked out in the desert with a 9inch dish in custard" :eek: :rotfl:

Mrs_Veg_Plot

Thanks for the tips and advice everyone will look into the ones we are not already doing.

katholicos sorry to hear about your dad but glad you are back on here. It will help to keep up with the gardening. I watched your video tour of your garden last year and was amazed at the amount of things you had growing.

Oh has been dropping me off at work on his way to work over the winter and I walk home. Today I walked to work rather than have a lift. OH does go out of his way to take me so this will help to improve my health and save a few pennies on petrol.

Have been paid and the change in my tax code which includes 5yrs back pay on personal tax allowances that I had not been claiming in full has left me much better off this month which should see us through this month without having to dip into the meager savings we have. Will continue to meal plan and home cook etc. Will alkso start to stock up on sugar and vinegar ready for the jammaking/preserving I plan on doing again this year.

mardatha

Lovely and sunny here again today, I thin gawd has mixed up our weather with yours. Only 6 C but nice in the garden with a coat on. We were out getting the run ready for the hens and tidying up in general.

floss2

bertiebots wrote: »

.....The only down side to my 3 going to a very good school situatated in a posher area than I live in(:o) is the uniform cost! Its discraceful and I am just going to have to start gathering bits now if I am going to kit all 3 out with new stuff for september. One blazer costs £48 in the school shop, or £39 in the uniform shop but the quality isnt as good , a rugby shirt is £18 and so it goes on:mad:..cost me over £300 last year:eek:and that was mostly just dd! (it was her first yr).....

Ask if the school have a used uniform shop / sale or ask if the PTA run one.

Pitlanepiglet wrote: »

....2 car tyres in a week this week for us - damaged not worn out....

I had to replace a tyre on my car last September after picking up a nail which worked its way back out through the side, and bought the lifetime insurance from ATS when it was fitted....boy was I pleased when it was serviced in January & the garage told me I had another nail in the same tyre, which was repaired free of charge. I think it was £6 extra, which is much better than another £96! (yes I know I've got an expensive car )

polka_purpura

Hi pitlanepiglet,

I've not read the previous posts yet so I hope I'm not duplicating things that have already been said.

Disaster planning...the middle east thing is certainly scary and so are the problems with wheat, Russia losing a lot of their's in the fires and China and Australia I think experiencing floods. I think the bit that might concern me is if more and more people can't afford our own produce. For example if the far east can afford to pay more for our food where would this leave us? I see china has expressed an interest in more salmon from the UK as they can't get it from Norway anymorel.

I've been reading up a little on the 1920's and 1930's and think we have an awful long way to go but I can't help thinking the state we'd be in if the food markets took a perfect storm. There is too much dependancy on oil, international markets and an oversized population compared with even 80 years ago. that world trade took nearly a decade I think to recover sufficiently to end war rations really makes me concerned for our present population size and the price of oil.

I've just hired a book from the library called 'good work' by a E.F Schumacher who warned in the 1950's and 1960's we were overdependent on oil. It has been in storage since the 1980's.

I really shouldn't read about these things but on the plus side we do have an awful lot of luxuries that we can learn to do without.

I could certainly do with stocking up but it is difficult to know what to stock up on and when.

I'm not sure how to balance the risks as money can lose value in the banks, food and energy can go up.

polka purpura

ceridwen

Errrmm....and re the comments about peeps who were "there" will remember the 3 day week.....errrm.....nope I dont actually:o.

I've come to the conclusion I have my own little safety cut-out device in my mind - and its called "Only remember just enough about Bad Times/People to know what to think about them - but forget absolutely all the details". Now I've realised I can be guaranteed to forget every single detail about everything bad except what I have a "concrete" need to remember for some reason - I simply have no idea at all whether I actually even got affected by the 3 day Week:o. I suspect that means that it didnt affect me personally - but for the benefit of those that werent "there" or might as well not have been (because we dont remember it anyway) could anyone who was "there" AND remembers it please "fill us in" on what it was like to "be there" in it.:)

<ahem...yes...I know this is going to sound SO daft to people who remember even the bad stuff they've been through......>