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

Winchelsea

jumblejack - where do you get your 39p a litre milk? Cheapest I get is 49p from S**nsb*rys.

jumblejack

I got my last bulk of cartons from mr Ts.

7_week_wonder

jumblejack wrote: »

Here goes.. This is soooooo easy:

........
Share your success stories or adaptations with us!

Thank you so much. That does sound easy - I'll give it a go over the weekend and report back!

MaLarkin

Thanks for sharing that method jumblejack. When yoghurt makers first came out we bought one and never managed to get anything edible. It sat in our cupboard for years, long after we had given up periodic attempts to get it to produce the goods. Failure is burned into our psyche to the extent that even now when considering the purchase of a gadget for the home one of us always says "will it be useful or is it a yogurt maker"

Will try your method at the first opportunity.

Winchelsea

Lavandula - I loved your list - and do most of them. Cosmetics - my moisturiser really works in that my skin's not bad - people never believe I'm going to be 70 :eek: this year! When I had my first babies (yes, I was greedy, had two at once the first time!) I stocked up with baby toiletries. I bought baby lotion, but then read that babies' skin doesn't actually need it. So, not wanting to waste it, I used it myself as a moisturiser, and still do, 47 years later.

I can now get it for pennies in S**nsb*rys basics range. Don't do much else in the beauty line. I used to henna my hair until I was in my mid-40s, but gave it up when the grey hairs started to appear, as they showed up bright orange under the henna! So I've gone grey gracefully - just wish it would go that lovely pure silvery white. One of our friends, who used to have very dark hair, is white now, and he looks great.

anguk

ceridwen wrote: »

A small piece of land for £2,400 - now I really AM positively bright green with envy. Will now spend rest of day - at intervals - pondering as to how big a piece of land I could buy in "my neck of the woods" for that - probably about 10 square metres of designated woodland perhaps? Top of wishlist items is - nice piece of land nearby (of ANY description). The nearest bit I've seen was a longish bus journey away from me and cost about £5,000 and that was pretty darn small and I thought it must have some major problem to cost so little for this area (I was so astonished at seeing ANY land at all on sale at a price I could manage that I nearly got on that bus anyway - just to have a look...).

I've got a book called "Away To The Woods" by Lena Kennedy, it's a biography of her life and she describes her "haven" which was a little shack and small patch of land in the woods.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Away-Woods-Lena-Kennedy/dp/0751516023/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1

It would be my dream to have something like that but I don't think they exist nowadays and certainly not at the price she paid! Sadly part of her her little patch of paradise was compulsory purchased and destroyed to build a new housing estate. :mad:

Winchelsea

Thanks jumblejack for the milk info. Don't have a "proper" Mr T here though, only the little one at the petrol station, which doesn't have bulk buys. I do the thermos yoghurt too. It is as yummy as you say.

anguk - I'm "Away to the Woods" too - just ordered a 1p copy from Amazon. Thanks for that - looking forward to it.

Charis

kitschy wrote: »

Just reading this arcticle on my lunchbreak. Is it me or does the recommended temperature sound awfully high? I think perhaps that might be taking into account the whole world and that we are a little more used to colder weather here.

It depends on the age and state of health of the occupants. Small children and older people will feel the cold more acutely than healthy, active individuals between those ages. Being hungry or going on a diet can also make a person feel colder than they otherwise would.

That average house temperature of 12ºC in 1970 that they mention includes the rooms that in those days were usually unheated, the lounge may have been as high as 24º with a coal fire as the only source of heat in the house, whereas the hall and bathroom may have been nearer zero. Before central heating no one I knew had a bath every day. Not in winter anyway.

I notice that the article says below 16ºC 'risk of respiratory disease'. I did know someone who was quite proud of 'not feeling the cold', who developed complications after having a winter virus and is no longer with us. So here it's 16º in the bedrooms and 18º in the living room, going up to 20º in the evening, which is one or two degrees below the temperatures recommended by the WHO on that site.

Notice that David Macay, who brags about turning the thermostat down to polar levels, cheats by whacking it up whenever he feels cold. I do hope he doesn't have a wife and children. Incidentally, allowing the core temperature to go right down and heating it with sudden bursts of heat is less frugal, and less comfortable, than having the heat on fairly low all the time.

Winchelsea

anguk - me again - I like your sig if it's what I think it is. My schoolgirl Latin tells me it's "while I breathe, I hope". Nice one.

purpleheather2810

If we as a family are going to make it through these tough times, we need to take a long hard look at everything we spend. We are quite frugal but there are plenty of places we could cut back if we had to. I like Lavandula's list so I have copied it below, with my own comments:

Some thoughts on things people could cut down on if necessary (unless they are homegrown/homemade of course)

• all convenience foods we can be quite good at this but do slip up occasionally and buy crisps etc when on offer
• out of season foods i.e. toms, strawberries etc...just grow your own instead we have an allotment and do try to wait until our own food is ready - we have a lot of fruit bushes on our plot because they are low maintenance and save us the most money
• alcohol/fizzy drinks etc we spend too much on wine, imho. Should cut down
• cosmetics, skincare stuff I don't buy much - I always ask for birthdays/xmas etc. Have to be careful as we all have very sensitive skin
• tv/satellite tv/broadband - comes as a package with cheapest cable tv option, phone and broadband for around 40 per month. we have no bt line so can't shop around for other deals unless we pay to have one installed. DH works from home and has to have broadband so he claims some of the cost back through his company anyway.
• magazines/newspapers - never buy
• hairdressers! ........long hair keeps you warm - the kids and i go about 4 times per year myself. My hair is a mess! I cut DH's.
• beauty treatments, sun beds etc (never had any myself, I'm far too gorgeous to need them:rotfl::rotfl:) - never have these now
• holidays (could take off season holidays in the UK) - we go to my mum's house in France to stay in the summer - I would really hate to have to stop doing this
• cigarettes - never done this, nor DH
• restaurants etc....take a picnic out to the seaside or a lovely wood.. when i go out I often offer to drive, to stop me spending too much on drinks. I go out with my friends for a dance/meal/whatever about once every 2 months on average. during the day i don't always prepare enough food when I take the kids out.
• gym membership (a good walk is just as good) - I do have a gym membership at the mo. I took it out when I couldn't go for walks because it was so icy, cold and dark. in the summer i will still use it though, for swimming. as well as a slimming class which i will use all year round.
• clothes/shoes/handbags etc....just have 1 or 2 reasonable quality items that will last years e.g. 1 winter coat, 1 summer coat, 1 pair of boots etc....be individual not a fashion victim I do have some items which have lasted for a few years and will get a couple of tops a year from somewhere like asda just to update things a bit, or when things fall apart!
• toys for kids..... buy a few good quality toys that will last (wooden ones are good, e.g. building bricks, train set) Definitely agree with this one - my kids very rarely get toys inbetween birthdays/xmas. I don't see the point of buying cheap plastic tat all year round and then scratching my head wondering what to get them for their birthdays/xmas. I know so many families like this!
• flowers...grow your own!
• petrol...walk more I could definitely improve here!