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

dollydaydream07

alec_eiffel wrote: »

I could be way off the mark but could the overspend be a bit of a release valve? There was all the cost of the car, worrying about having to return to work and stuff like that so you've been working so hard to nail down the budget that you've kind of exploded and the little treats like a magazine here and there and the odd bottle of whatever have added up to more than usual?

Does that make sense? Everyone needs a treat here and there and I think when everything is money saving it can be easier to say "well we've saved so much this month that it won't hurt". If you can maybe loosening up the grocery budget would do you good rather than reducing it next month. Stick with what you've had and just get back on track with that rather than punishing yourself for spending too much this time round. Then when you've had a good month of sticking to the budget you can think about slicing a bit more off, it might be more sustainable than a crash diet.

All the filling flasks and wearing an extra jumper amounts to nothing if you, or your DH feels so deprived it leads to a splurge.

Thank you, it does make sense
i guess i thought as we have so much in shaving the budget by £20 wouldn't make much difference but that £20 will end up getting swallowed by something esle, so if we keep it the same and only manage to spend £80(as i want to) then that £20 can go towards the cc instead!!

BitterAndTwisted

kidcat wrote: »

Whilst I am prepared to overstay our eviction by a couple of weeks - the LL are already getting nasty and we aren't at the date yet (never mind that I haven't told them we may not meet their date). This weeks inspection went along the lines of - I assume all the kitchen appliances are staying - errr no they are all ours - can you prove it?? - err yes there are inventory photos showing empty kitchen. Its all exhausting and very upsetting that they have turned so outright nasty, last week they went berserk when I said I was taking my lightshades!!

Kidcat: if you need any advice or moral support with dealing with your landlords please pop over to the Buying, Renting & Selling Forum.

If your landlords haven't served you with a Section 21 Notice and gone to court to seek possession yet you don't have to move a muscle.

Do not be intimidated by a-holes!

bertiebots

Hugs to all who are having a very tough time at the mo!
Mardatha I haven't heard anything about the banks either but I suppose that means nothing when the news is no longer news!
Ho-hum wonder if we ever will get out of this mess? Its a bit scary isn't it. I am OK at the moment although will be a bit happier when I get my council tax benefit sorted and its on my to do list to phone tomorrow. There is no way am I giving them another week to cok something else up. But My main concern is mention of interest rate rises possibly up to 6%...and as exh is paying the mortgage in lue of maintinence it could cause us both major problems ..infact I have been burrying my head in the sand a bit on the whole mortgage issue and hope that as a result of the divorse (if it ever happens cos its going soooo slooow!) we may be put onto a standard rate which is a lot higher that we are paying now!
But there is nothing I can do about it now so I will keep calm and carry on!

Jumblejack I do the same and keep my marg tubs for the freezer..they are great because you can use them in the microwave too!

Regarding the governments attitude to housing benefit I think they have ,as with many things , got it very badly wrong! They are looking at the issue as black and white and missing the point. I think they actually believe that by cutting housing benefit they will get the workshy (their attitude not mine) back to work. What they miss is that there are lots of people in partime work at the moment who simply cannot afford full rent,with or without families to support. They are having rent cut despite having kids etc etc. Who suffers in the end? Not everyone who needs assistance from the state is a scrounger (and I am not calling anyone that btw either!!!) its that mentality of anyone who doesnt work being a lay about, its simply not true. Not to mention those with disabilities,illness etc who may for whatever reason not be able,available, or well enough to work, who have no end of struggles to contend with..its as if they dont even exist !

alec_eiffel

dollydaydream07 wrote: »

Thank you, it does make sense
i guess i thought as we have so much in shaving the budget by £20 wouldn't make much difference but that £20 will end up getting swallowed by something esle, so if we keep it the same and only manage to spend £80(as i want to) then that £20 can go towards the cc instead!!

That makes total sense.

I know you probably know this but I (still) keep an envelope stashed in a safe place with "not to be opened until 24th" written on it with £20 in. It's for those times where the budget hasn't gone as far as I thought. It's just a trick really as it comes from the normal grocery budget but feels like extra money. If we don't use it then it goes into savings or whatever we might need it for. Sometimes we do just spend it and it feels like such a splurge it's a proper treat.

Sometimes, for me at least, it's all about the psychology of things, if I know I'm going to be tempted to splurge if I feel a bit deprived then I figure I might as well build in some splurge money!

maryb

Re the banks, there are several British banks that have big exposure to Irish bank debt so if Allied Irish passes on its coupon that could cause the Brit banks some problems - but I wouldn't have thought enough to make them go belly up. Couldn't see anything on Ticker Forum which is usually a good balance between rumour and fact.

Ah well, life goes on until it doesn't. Keep b*gg*ering on (as Churchill used to say)

mardatha

Ok ta maryb. It was on a somewhat unreliable American forum - but you never know !

ceridwen

mardatha wrote: »

My "tough times" are trying to go back to normal Scottish weather after a few weeks of mild and dry. Cold grey mist today - normal service has been resumed.
Some people on other forums are saying Ireland's money crisis is getting worse and that there are rumours two more UK banks will fail. I wonder if we're just getting into troubled waters now, or if we're halfway through, or if we're nearly clear, or if it's all still to get a whole lot worse . What do you all think ?

Gut reaction? I think personally its about to get "a whole lot worse" as you put it...

I would be interested to know who the two British banks concerned are that peeps are wondering about?

I'm no financial wizard or economist (either conventional variety or New Economics variety) - but it would appear that the System, as its constituted at present, relies very very heavily indeed on "confidence":cool:. Personally - I'm one whole sight happier at seeing ANYTHING based on something a bit more "factual" than that....

I confess, at a personal level, that I've been expecting the System (as I call it) to crash from a great height for quite a few years now...as its always felt a lot like a "house of cards built on sand" to me...

....hence all my thoughts as to what we are to replace it with on the one hand and I'm as "human" as the next person (in that - like pretty much everyone else as far as I can see) I tend to think "Please please let the existing set-up last long enough until I'm totally secure and protected from whatever way things might start 'crashing around' ". I think a lot of us have gone into the "not whether...but when...and I hope its after my time" mindset realistically. The question is whether we are trying not just to protect our own personal position, but to help build up the alternative for when the S*** hits the Fan because we dont wish to see other peeps lives damaged either by the multinationals/politicians/bankers and other assorted swear words...

shegar

Pitlanepiglet wrote: »

I find the same, I save the money on the mags and don't feel hard done by that I can't buy the latest whateveritmightbethatlooksveryglossy...:D It's taken a while but I've broken the habit.

I also love a gardening paper which comes out each week its now gone to £1.99.........it creeps up by 10 p a time,:eek: but it all adds up in a month..........its now getting full of advertising, page after page, I think ive made my mind up now , after sitting down just after tea thinking I would at least have half hour read when it was all over in 15 mins......:eek::eek:...I expect that a lot of the mags sales have gone down this year, because it is a luxury really to have mags at say £3.90 each, well I say its £4 really cos £3.95 is really £4....its getting too much......

I still think we have a lot worse to come this year, fuel will never go down again,the local councils have not had a s much money given to them in the new financial year from goverment.......I do really think that we will lose our local library too.........and many services will be cut.......:mad:...

Ive not heard about the 2 banks???? but im not surprised at all if that do happen......

On to a bit happier note , we had the yellow ball this morning, and we had a little bit of drizzle this arvo, my water butts are half empty or half full.:D:D which ever way you look at it...... The ground is dry and we need a good rain, March has been a dry month here with very little rainfall.........

Need to rain cos im on a metre:eek:............

ceridwen

lostinrates wrote: »

Going cold turkey on mags is one of the best MSE things I've done. I usually bought two a month....so there is that expense gone, plus I don't feel the need to buy any of the stuff they push in editorials...another expense gone, and feel less pressure about going without....priceless! Occasionally buy one for the free gift....but find, although its taken a few years, I'm just not as interested! We bought a few house ones recently and tbh I thought wow.....how many ££££ did I waste on this over the years. The ones I miss are the ones I managed to convince my parents to stop buying....architectural digest and an American Magazine, that since folded. I get a cooking magazine when I'm away...as a flavour of where I've been. But regular mags are out an I feel LIBERATED!:o

Well - I've certainly given up on womens' magazines - as they are the best exponents I know of "recycling" - ie they recycle article ideas endlessly. One gets to the stage of thinking "Its January - so they'll have various 'new you' type articles centred round things like diets, etc". The articles inside are never as interesting as the front page headlines proclaim they are either. These days I only read womens' magazines if they are passed on to me.

I never buy "Ideal Home/Real Home" type magazines either and am trying to discipline myself not to read the ones my mother passes on to me even. Reason - I find them intensely frustrating - as my house is so far from being a "home type home" that I would much rather "close my eyes" to it and ignore it as best I can. Its "failed the test" as a "home" - so theres absolutely no point in doing anything further to it and I just throw those magazines straight in the bin and forget them.

I do still get the odd "specialist interest" (re things I'm particularly interested in) and the odd Country Life magazine (when I'm indulging in positive thinking/wishful thinking) - but I certainly spend a heck of a lot less on magazines overall than I used to....

BitterAndTwisted

You're all absolutely right about the mags. I gave up on them over a decade ago and don't miss them one jot. They're just designed to make me discontented and envious for the most part. The one I WILL NOT give up is my fortnightly dose of Private Eye. Everyone needs a good laugh and they've invariably got the inside track on scandals which I enjoy vicariously.

Poor Mardatha worrying about a rumour she's read about on some forum somewhere. Probably posted by some daft tin-hatter living in their parents' basement somewhere. I don't believe for one moment that there are two UK banks about to go down the tubes. They've already been bailed out by the rest of us once and they're back to living high on the hog thanks to you and me. Well, mostly you as I'm not earning a sou at the moment and haven't for some time, alas.