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

bertiebots

How can you prepare your children for the tougher times ahead ? I have 3 who are well aware of my domestic budgeting skills and finiancial planning. I am lucky that I have kids who do not care about branded clothes and designer labels..I will of course (and am) teaching them the skills they need for cooking etc.
But what really worries me is how are we going to afford to live when they leave school ( I am now a single parent) and there are hardly any jobs..Pay is pretty poor for the work I can do and that really worries me. The housing market is beyond crazy and renting a cheap little terrace house (like I did is) no longer an option for young people wanting to leave home.
I have no doubt that more cuts will mean less college placements and demand /competition is already fierce. I cannot afford to save up to help them out . My kids are 14,12,10 at the mo and the time is flying by.
Depressing I know but despite the fact that I know its all out of my control I cant help but worry for them. I wish there was a light at the end of that tunnel!

BTW the thanks buttons keep vanishing!

RAS

bertiebots wrote: »

How can you prepare your children for the tougher times ahead ? I have 3 who are well aware of my domestic budgeting skills and finiancial planning. I am lucky that I have kids who do not care about branded clothes and designer labels..I will of course (and am) teaching them the skills they need for cooking etc.
But what really worries me is how are we going to afford to live when they leave school ( I am now a single parent) and there are hardly any jobs..Pay is pretty poor for the work I can do and that really worries me. The housing market is beyond crazy and renting a cheap little terrace house (like I did is) no longer an option for young people wanting to leave home.
I have no doubt that more cuts will mean less college placements and demand /competition is already fierce. I cannot afford to save up to help them out . My kids are 14,12,10 at the mo and the time is flying by.
Depressing I know but despite the fact that I know its all out of my control I cant help but worry for them. I wish there was a light at the end of that tunnel!

Teach them as many practical skills as possible. Encourage them all to do any school course that teachs them to use tools, including baking and sewing as well as woodwork, metal work etc.

littlecal

redlady_1 wrote: »

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/19842

Look what I found! Going to have a bit of a read

You're a star:D have had a quick flick,my mouth is watering already,lol.

Frugalista

redlady_1 wrote: »

Also if anyone is interested Lidl have belly pork on offer. 500gms for £1.14 I think it was.

redlady_1 wrote: »

Well, LC, the only way I have done it is by roasting it with coriander and fennel stuffing in a rack. The other way I have done it is covered in mustard and dipped in brown sugar and cooked on the barbie. It is flipping lovely done that way.

Mmmm! I think a trip to Lidl might be in order today.

That sounds lovely redlady - do you think it would work in the oven or under the grill?

kitschy

RAS wrote: »

Teach them as many practical skills as possible. Encourage them all to do any school course that teachs them to use tools, including baking and sewing as well as woodwork, metal work etc.

Couldn't agree more. Just learning the basics of sewing and home management will save them loads. Each time you mend or re-use something you are effectively halving the price of it. Take them shopping with you as well.

I feel I was lucky that my parents didn't have much money to spare, as it meant everything that was spent on us had been considered, and we did wonderful free things like spend hours exploring museums and galleries instead of going to theme parks and playing electronic games. Although, I do blame this for my uncontrollable curiosity about things

Pitlanepiglet

Redlady, thanks for the belly pork info, it's something I've never cooked but it looks fairly cheap so I'll give it a try if Lidl still have some on Monday when I get there.

As for worst case scenarios we've been living ours, we knew over three years ago that we needed to prepare to be able to support my Dad when he had surgery and afterwards when we didn't know how much mobility he would have. We also knew that OH's self employed business would not work in a downturn and we knew that in a property slump my job (which supported us) was likely to disappear so we started to plan an escape route.

We moved to Dad's just over 2 years ago when he had surgery and OH cared for him whilst I commuted on Monday-Friday basis for work. My job finally disappeared in November and we became a no income household.

Now OH has work and boy it makes a difference to a man's self esteem - I'm so proud of him :heartpuls

We now all live together so our housing costs are lower than two households. We are here for Dad so he is able to live on a supported (but independent) basis and whilst money is an issue we are all a lot happier for the changes.

It wouldn't work for everyone but it is working for us and hopefully I will find a decent job within my profession or something equivalent but for now, it's going OK.

So the moral of my story is that whilst things seem awful and change is really hard to deal with, if you can hang on to a little bit of hope that something OK or even better can come out of it, then sanity is a bit easier to hold onto.

Re the thread, can I suggest we ignore those determined to stir and just get on with the thread and see where it goes. I think it meanders around the "it's tough" subject but always comes back to the root. Please don't use this post as an opportunity to name and point at those that you believe are stirring!

redlady_1

Well, Frugalista, I have tried it with lamb chops under the grill and they were lush so I dont see why not.

I also agree with teaching them skills. DIY, sewing, crotchet, knitting, patchwork, carpentry, the whole load. I lived through the 70's and 80's and it was tough then. It will get easier but not before the pain. Unfortunately, this feast and famine is the way of the world and it is cyclical so anyone who says they can end it is talking toss in my opinion.

I would also like to take this opportunity to say I am not Cerwiden...I am Spartacus!!!

bertiebots

Thanks guys..I already do the things you have suggested, have been os all my adult life ..mum used to say I was 20 going on 40 lol:rotfl:! But I learnt from her and she learnt from her mum etc..I also learnt from my dad and am quite practical round the house. I had my 10 yr old ds screwing the bottom back on the vac yesterday when my dd got string tangled round it whilst helping!
BTW Now I am a couple of years off 40 I feel like I am 40 going on 20:D;)
Its more the financial side of things I am worried about for us all and can only see struggle ahead. I wish the future didnt look so bleak:(

lauren_1

Swampmonster wrote: »

My car has died too!! it has got about fifty quids worth of petrol in it that I would like to put in OH car before I scrap mine.

How do you drain the fuel tank and transfer it?

Thanks!! :T

My step dad came round with 6ft of pipe and some petrol cans, if it helps my car was made in 1996 but newer cars might have a anti-siphon device.

ceridwen

Re petrol in cars - I found Googlemaps have added a little thing to their site recently. When I asked the site for "directions" from my house to somewhere else there was the estimated petrol cost there at the bottom of the directions. This will obviously be very useful for anyone considering whether its financially worthwhile to drive to work in any job they are considering applying for - as they just take the Googlemaps price and add the cost of oil per mile to that and multiply that figure by 2 and that will be daily "commute by car" cost.

I dont know how up-to-date this price will be - as petrol prices, I understand, are now climbing rapidly. I imagine this will be kept pretty much up-to-date though on a website like that.

This will help people work out what a car journey will cost them - well...for the petrol aspect only that is.

All the other costs arent included - so I know oil needs to be factored-in per mile as well. We won't even go there as to all the other costs - eg servicing, depreciation, insurance, carparking, etc.

Now what is needed is the public transport website to include costs as well as timetables on it - for comparison purposes. That is:

http://www.traveline.info/index.html

and that Traveline website does need some other improvements made to it as well (as I couldnt work out what the journey would be like recently - when I tried to get one organised from one end of the country to the other). Hmmm....maybe the Seat69 website would have that possibly?....

EDIT: misremembered - its seat61 website where one can plan public transport travel right across Europe.

www.seat61.com