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

ceridwen

Bigsister wrote: »

Grey Queen.
What about a sorbet, that would be nice and fresh after a spicy meal and I don't think there are too many fats and calories nor dairy in it and you can get ready made store own brands or maybe individual pots, just serve up beforehand and hide the pots!

I feel for you, we have only had 2 nights of disturbed sleep since a young family with a child that doesn't seem to sleep but scream every 1.5 hours moved in next door, its so hard to come into work on 1-2 hrs sleep that was patchy at best.

I am going to look out for ear plugs tonight!

Sorry to hear you're having noisy neighbour problems too.

I guess you own your own house?

I think it would be useful if anyone on here who has found cheap/easy/effective ways to soundproof their home could share what they did to solve the problem.

GreyQueen

Bigsister wrote: »

Grey Queen.
What about a sorbet, that would be nice and fresh after a spicy meal and I don't think there are too many fats and calories nor dairy in it and you can get ready made store own brands or maybe individual pots, just serve up beforehand and hide the pots!

I feel for you, we have only had 2 nights of disturbed sleep since a young family with a child that doesn't seem to sleep but scream every 1.5 hours moved in next door, its so hard to come into work on 1-2 hrs sleep that was patchy at best.

I am going to look out for ear plugs tonight!

Result! Need something easy as am out all day Sat and Sun gardening and out Sat night round a friend's so will have to pre-cook, hurl back from the lottie on Sun afternoon and get self and flat sorted out. Cheers!

lostinrates

Grey Queen, I agree a sorbet or granita would be nice, but, as someone who has send a long time on various medical diets...you are often FREEZING if its a ''VLCD'' (very low calorie diet). As boring as it sounds I recommend a sugar free jelly....accepting the evil that is artificial sweetener. If she's allowed fruit you could put some fruit it, maybe make it layer with a fer different flavours...although that's a little time consuming.

lostinrates

JenniO wrote: »

In the last month, I think we've only had our heating on 4 times and that was only from 7 to 11 A.M. :eek: We're right blinking hard here in the North East, aren't we Kezlou?

But my good news is we've finally saved up the money and we're getting a cast iron fireplace put in our bedroom in 2 weeks. Yep, just when we won't need it but hey, the thought of never being cold again in my bedroom makes me really happy! And, ooh, love the smell of wood burning and the crackle sound!

There used to be one in the room anyway, apparently. It's funny how I seem to be turning my house back to truly OS with a larder put back in, the fireplace going in and do I dare mention we're now saving up for a wood burning stove for the summer!!! Bliss....:D

LOL, we're aiming to do a very similar thing:) We have a would burner in our sitting room that's very badly fitted and looks really wrong, so we're going to return that to an open fire we're putting another one of those in another room,restoring the ones upstairs, then putting the stove, correctly fitted in DH's study and probably getting anther stove for the dining room. And a larder! I can't wait to have a larder with proper shelves...no more losing things way at the back of over deep cupboards.

helen_jelly

Morning
I've put my tatties in and have another lot waiting to go in somewhere but not sure where - may have to offer them on Freecycle!!

My heating goes off during the day but goes back on in the evening

Houseworking today - yuck

Have a nice day everyone

Helen x

GreyQueen

:eek: Ohmigawd !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've just used a bit of floss round the back of one of my back teeth and the gold overlay has come off lowe right 7. Have got an emergency appt for 1.50pm to see if it can be glued back in again but if the tooth is rotten underneath.......wah!!!!!

:mad: Hold onto your wallets and purses in sympathy, it's gonna be a tough day for moi................ :eek:

lostinrates

re noisy neighbours.....I've got to the point at times I worry about them when they don't come in...;) One flat we loved living in was blighted only by the person whose bathroom was above our bedroom. The only thing we heard from him was his early moning piddle (at between 5:10 and 5:20am). The day he didn't piddle until quarter to seven made us late to get up.

I love not having noisy neighbours now. The problem I have ATM in this old house is I can't hear whats going on within the house, the walls are so thick...so rarely hear the dogs downstairs when I am upstairs. It took a while to get used to. I hear the milking start next door, but tbh, I find it quite comforting, part of the rhythm of my day...and a boot to tell me I'm late.

Huge;y different having a routine to the noise.


The most annoying neighbour was an older lady who had radio four on at full vlume in her amazing open plan flat, the size of a five bed house.....but it meant she needed serious volume. I also listen to radio four, but it came through half a second later....it did my head in for a bit and it wasn't particularly offensive.

squeaky

Well, my Tough Times are here. The next year is not going to be a lot of fun.

Like most people who found themselves out of work and with a drastically reduced income (benefits only) it took me a while to adjust when it happened a good few years back. I hung onto everything I could in the way of lifestyle believing that sooner or later it would all come good again. Even when I finally admitted to myself that I was never going to work again due to health problems it still took time to adjust.

When you're down to living from hand to mouth, worse if you're behind and in debt, it's really hard to get ahead of the game.

I was brought up mostly old style and I'd had the odd tough time before, so I was coping. Just.

Even when I joined mse, and in particular here on Old Style, while I had a fair bit to offer in terms of tips and help, it took about two years to shift from "hand to mouth" to "comfortable with a buffer". I soaked up advice and tips from all around the boards like a sponge and by the end of it I always had a cash buffer that meant I could stockpile special offers and whoopsies etc - which, to all intents and purposes are money in the bank. And I was "comfortable" because if my microwave died on me, for example, I could search around for a good deal and buy it on the spot. No need to worry about money, scrimp and save first, or go into debt to replace it. (I could, of course, scrimp and save at a reasonable extra level to build by buffer back up... but the important difference about doing it this way round was that I could do it in my own time. That's a pretty good place to be when you've been on benefits (or a low income) for a long time.

So when's he going to get on with it and talk about these Tough Times, I hear you ask

In a bit..

The background leading to my landing in tough times was a favour!

Some good friends had a mobility scooter available and wondered if I would like it at what was a nominal cost. I nearly bit their arms off! It was getting harder and harder to get to my village shop, and taking longer; getting to the supermarket was impossible, which meant shopping on-line, and you can't take advantage of whoopsies that way...

..having the scooter changed my life! Big time. Freedom. Want some milk? No-o-o problem, just get on the trusty steed and go get some. Nice comfy ride, there and back in a flash... pain free

The supermarket was in reach now - so the scooter was saving me money and earning its keep. Especially at the times when I had to take the cats to vets. Normally a taxi ride each way.

AND... I went for "walks" last summer. Something I'd long since stopped doing because by the time I actually got anywhere - I hurt too much to enjoy it. I remember sitting on a track at the top of a hill, trees swaying in a breeze, birds singing and chirruping like they do and suddenly realised "Blimey, I have been here for eight years!"

Then the scooter broke down on me (poor thing) and was going to cost far too much to repair and would forever be a problem. After having had so much from it, not just the material savings but the freedom too, I wasn't going to give this up. For me that meant sourcing another scooter at a realistic price and I found a truly great second hand deal locally, honestly, a brilliant buy. But the only way I could afford it was a bank loan. So here I am, for the first time in years and years owing money and having to service a loan while on benefits. And yes, I used MSE to find my best options

Obviously I want to get rid of the loan as quickly as possible so opted for the shortest repayment schedule available, one year, but that means highest monthly repayments. So... the belt tightening has begun. Because of the loan I still have my buffer, so that keeps me safe, if you see what I mean? I can be a bit low on a repayment and just shrink my buffer a little, so with careful management I can cope.

Savings to date... from the tips email I've saved on my line rental, and I've just finished canceling my minimal sky deal. It always was a "luxury" - and now it's had to go. Central heating has been creeping down and is now at 16 deg and will be going off real soon.

Obviously I'm looking at all my other bills to find a bob or two here and there.

And, tbh, while I've been living Old Style all the time because it's just part of my life... I haven't had to be dead mean with myself about it and have been a bit more relaxed without being a spendthrift.

The mean times are coming.

I spotted a signature the other day... "Treat every pound as a prisoner".

Love it.

That'll be me!

mummysaver

fedupfreda - ouch to your gallstones, hope that they are dealt with soon, and always good to look on the bright side about losing weight lol!

charliesaunt - heating went off here due to running out of gas, and has been warm since so not really needed it (nice to have gas and the choice tho!), we now have gas in the tank, but usually I turn it off 1st March, but it's been so cold and rotten this winter that it stayed on, hence why we prob ran out! Anyway ds horrified by amount of gas we used, and the cost, and has now turned into my resident energy monitor! Hopefully heating will now stay off till winter, I'm ever the optimist about the weather!

Mrswive - thanks for the recipe, looks yum, will be trying it out, always good to have new pasta sauces and I love BN squash!

Lora - thanks for your recipe too, goats cheese is another of my faves, and sweet potatoes, can feel a cookathon coming up later! BNS plants had best be productive this summer!

Greyqueen - I like the realeat soya mince, in a green pack in the frozen section of most supermarket, anything except the q one is pretty good (I find q makes my teeth squeak, and ds always insists on telling me exactly how it's made too, which makes me feel slightly icky!). Anyhoo, it cooks up to more than double it's original size and tastes okay, I use veg bouillon to hydrate it, plenty of toms and herbs and garlic and all the other chilli bits should take care of flavour as well. My frends ex hubby used to go on about how he could spot veg food at 100 yards, hmmm, he always thought I cooked specially for him when he visited lol!

Mealplanning day today, so best gain some inspiration, BNS looks like it'll be featuring though - many thanks for the recipes! It really does save so much money, and just makes life so much easier for me. Grey and gloomy here so don't think will be doing much in the garden, I don't like rain, which tends to hamper me somewhat lol! Have a good day all xx

mrsvp - lol at your dd's bulk cooking! My ds made tom soup the other day - he doesn't like the tinned stuff, but does like hm version, and he made loads of it cos as he said 'someone will eat it, or we can freeze it'!

laineyc_2

Good morning.

I am on a go slow today due to a wee hangover.Met dh for a St Patrick's day drink that ended up being several.

I will get into the garden at some point to mix my compost and to cover my bed. I just can't face clearing up the inevitable cat poo that I will find.Another chilli seedling popped out.And I do need to get a couple of things at the shops.

I am going to try ChocoClaire's chicken next week. It sounds so good.