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

jackieglasgow

Morning All,

I did well at the carboot sale yesterday, and managed to make enough that I don't need to sell the weans but the OH is still on a shoogly peg

I have been a bit lazy with the grocery challenge this year as I had set an annual budget so I am going back to a monthly budget to see if it get me back on track. I am starting to really fret about money again, and want to try and get some saving away which are more easily accessible, and top up my credit union money too, I like to spread by bits and pieces around to lessen the risk. - Get me talking as if there's thousands of pounds of my cash littering the country :rotfl: I am also out to get the garden sorted and get my seeds started today too, which should help with the food budget later in the year.

MaLarkin

Good Morning All

Didn't get on the computer yesterday as so very busy and then too tired when I finally sat down. So been catching up this morning and it's taken me ages.

I, like a lot of newbies I suspect find this issue of "on topic" a bit difficult, But it seems to me that surely a bit of over the garden fence type chat is one way we cope with the hard times. We all get a bit down at times and a friendly response helps us get past that and keep on keeping on.

Re a few comments on worrying what life holds for our children, and in my case grandchildren. I do wonder if in the future with less jobs and high house prices we will revert to generations of families sharing the family home. It's something our family have talked about and before you all tell me I'm MAD to even consider it i assure you I'm well aware of all the pitfalls. Don't know if I'll ever have the courage to do it but I can see advantages as well as disadvantages. Guess it would need lots of love, total honesty about what you could and couldn't tolerate and a damn good legal agreement in place.

alec_eiffel

bluebag wrote: »

In the deeds to my house (built 1910) is a clause my solicitor stressed to me ' the making of all and any candles is prohibited within the property boundaries'

Pretty weird huh? But it would invalidate my house insurance if I burned the place to the ground whilst making candles.

We had something similar with our old place, we weren't allowed to make bricks or sell coffee.

I am feeling everyone's pain with the petrol prices, I'm very glad we have everything we need within walking distance but it feels very constraining to feel that we have to plan every journey to get our money's worth before using the car. DH looked at getting the bus to work but it was only a couple of quid a month cheaper than driving, not to mention a 10 minute walk to the bus stop - seems hardly worth it and that was including the discount for residents!

jediteacher

We actually have some sun here so I am about to put out the laundary for the first time this year. My electricity bill has really gone up this year and I think it's mainly due to the fact that we use the tumble dryer. I'm afraid I cannot live without it now - I know it's not environmentally friendly or economical but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Other than a washing machine we have no other 'gadgets' to help with things in the kitchen. My friends cannot believe that we do not have a dishwasher!

I'm trying to convince OH to dig over the veggie patch today and really must start getting things ready. Quite difficult at the moment with the pregnancy but I do want some homegrown again this year. May have to stick to tomatoes, courgettes and if I can get there in time potatoes. Also might do some beans as my daughter loves growing them. Anything would be better than nothing.

As the sun is out my 4 year old daughter decided that it was a BBQ day and so she and hubby have gone out to get some meat! We have a disposable BBQ left over from last year so will use this. It's a little treat for her as I've not been able to do that much with her this half term.

Our car MOT and service is due this month and I have no idea how we're going to afford it. I only just managed to pay 6 months car tax this month! I did it for 6 months so that I could at least spread the cost of having the MOT, service and Tax all in one month. I know we pay the same in the long run but this gives me time to budget a bit more. I know someone once mentioned that there was a cheaper option than garages for and MOT but cannot remember what they are.

gailey_2

Not sure if this isjust sky news thinking the worst.But they say another penny on fuel end of march but with rise in petrol costs they reckon it will go up by 5p extra from now until 1st april per litre:eek:

Labour are of course critical but they were hardly motorists freind either.

Maybe im delusional and have too much faith but fully expect co-alition to announce some sort of fuel escalter they been discussing inpast.
From what transport secretary was saying its quite complex and has taken more time to do than they thourght.

Well think we do our bit.
hubby uses mostly the micra for work essential as 60miles a day,retail odd/long hours so needs a car and public transport be more expensive.He gets sometravel money per mile fromcompany but not enough tocover cost andasmentioned wear and tear to car.
His bridge costs thank fully paid thats worth over 2grand.
For work meetings he now chosing to car share something he disliked doing before.

We switching ourfamily car to cheaper more economicial one.
maybe we boring but unless we visiting my family in wales or on annual hols we dont tend to travel far.

we shop at various supermarkets but they all within 5miles of home.
school /nursury less then10minsaway.
mil15mins away.
if I go city centre we normally bus it as hubby cant be bothered with stress of parking.
I appreciate living in large city we spoilt for choice on shops and can shop around.
Hospital/docs 15mins away.
I dont currently drive and take bus on average once a week first buses very expensive though.

Not sure if helps anyoneonly something we discovered before xmas.
If your employer is paying less per mile thanthe the hrmc inland revenue quote and you dont work at fixedlocation than you can claimthe difference between the 2figures.

Hubby claimed for last 3yearand the refund was 1000 each year as he does high milage. So far hes only had 1cheque,other years inmotion and he has to todo tax assessment form to the most recent year by april online. I admit they have made it very longwinded and complicated maybe its to deter people from claiming,hubbys had to chase themup.

Think you can claim for last 3years which made it more complicated as hubby has 2employers over this time period and different companies use different tax offices so hes had to communicate with them both.

The reason hubbys eligible is typical contract for store manager or deputy in retail say you fully flexible on location so you could be inlocation x andbe told in24hours you have to transfer to location y permanatly or temporarily to cover sickness/hols ect as you expected to meet the needs of the business.
So therefore he has no fixed locations as company has several stores accross the region he would have no choice to move to if told.
Im not sure if this principle works for people who on secondment and feild type roles ie hr manager,area trainers,sales reps ect imagine it would if contract doesnt specify specific permant site.


I urge anyone who thinks they may be eligible to apply as worth a try why should taxman have all our hard earned cash.
Hope this not too off topic just thourght might help someone as lot of people having tough time and in sort of fuel poverty due to rising fuel costs.

Something made me think other day about smaller /rural communities and how got it much harder. My mam lives in small southwales town.
It has shops biggest being waitrose which is pricey and small tesco metro.
Just one independant butchers now and no green grocers.
Even the markets not what it used to be sadly.
There as few job opportunities around the town especially full time so people have to commute out.

For her to take advantage of cheaper options ie asda.tesco superstore as different prices to metro or morrisions she has to travel a few towns over about 10-15miles each way.

For clothes the town has small amount of clothes shopstakeadvantageof cheaper shops availiable she has to travel to larger towns/cities nearby.

Halfords shut down.other week oil light cameon.Hubby in his tidying the car went far too minimalist and took everything out:rotfl:.
We stopped at esso garage oneof just 3petrol garagesin the town and cost shocking 17quid for small bottle:eek:

So in terms of shopping usually mam travels but not sure if petrolcosts cancelout cost of savings.

Schools,clubs and lack of ammenities means people have totravel outof town as just 1 comprehensive. very small leisure centrenogoodif you want to dive or do swimming club.

Yet despite not having very much apart from lovley scenery Iguess.
house prices very high and council tax high too.
Add travel to that makes me glad welive outer suberbof city as love the choice and freedoms we have.

The big asda here does freebus but not sure how often and which stops. maybe everyone should look into what bus service supermarkets offer.I personally dont likefood online as like to shop around places like farmfoods dont do online and like experince of being instore getting the best dates and reductions.
Admit shopping on bus can be a pitta once had bag of food shopping stolen from bus was so mad!:mad:

Having lazy day so far,doing beef caserole for dinner with mash and veg havent cooked last few days so exited.
Also need to stocktake fridge,freezer and cupboards and start meal planning as fear taken my eye off the ball on grocery budget!:o

Hope everyones having good day so far.

GreyQueen

Thanks for that, Greying Pilgrim, I must be a bit dense because I hadn't realised. Last year was magic with the bb as had zero blackfly ( I patrol and am ready to nip out the tops and steam them rather than let the blackflies set up housekeeping). Had two batches sown a few weeks apart and the first pick on the first batch was 12 lb shelled weight. Happiness.......Plus the bumble bees were all over them ( I adore bumblers btw were having a field day AND I spotted we have now been colonised by the tree bumble bee from Europe)

Biggest laff I had this week was a call from my bank wanting to make an appointment with me to discuss investments.:rotfl:My face must have been a picture as times are indeed tougher than I thought if a pauper with my income with an itsy-bitsy savings account gets invited to discuss her investments......Tried very hard not to sound as amused as I felt to Bank Lady, but politely declined. Could have mentioned that I have invested in tinned goods and seed spuds and sweat equity for the allotment, but I don't think she'd "get it."

jackieglasgow

Jediteacher its your local council, they tend to service and MOT their own vehicles and so if they have their own MOT station, they tend to be cheaper as they are not looking for "extras" Martin has written an article about it I am sure, try looking on the tabs up the top on motoring.

EDIT here it is Jedi

jumblejack

Just cleaned out my pantry and, inspired by you lot, I am going to meal plan with the things that need using up!!

I have also made the resolution to add up all my receipts over the next month to find out my average weekly spend. I do NOT do weekly shops but bulk buy offers/whoopsies, etc so it is difficult to find out my weekly expenditure.

... Hey, I just thought of a good expression to sum up my buying method: a sh-opportunist!! Good eh!

ceridwen

GreyQueen wrote: »

Biggest laff I had this week was a call from my bank wanting to make an appointment with me to discuss investments.:rotfl:My face must have been a picture as times are indeed tougher than I thought if a pauper with my income with an itsy-bitsy savings account gets invited to discuss her investments......Tried very hard not to sound as amused as I felt to Bank Lady, but politely declined. Could have mentioned that I have invested in tinned goods and seed spuds and sweat equity for the allotment, but I don't think she'd "get it."

Well - I've not managed that:rotfl:. Come to think of it - I've not noticed all sorts of appeals to take out loans with firms recently coming my way either...:cool:

Did have a guy in my bank (okays - I dont DO banks as such - so make that my building society turned bank) saying "Ooh! £1,000 doing nothing in your account - what do you want to do with it?" recently. I think my reply was along the lines of "I expected to have £1,000 'cashflow' money sitting spare in my account 20 years ago - and have just managed to get that same amount back again in there all these years later...its staying put there...". Don't want to risk going accidentally overdrawn - something I have done by accident rather than design a couple of times:( and got charged :eek: money one of those times for it.

kidcat

Chepaer MOTs are at council run places, the idea is that they are independant as they do not do repairs so have nothing to gain by a car failing.

Rainning again here today and its making me very down, have got whole house to sort as next week the LL is visiting with the person who will be living here when we leave Still not told the youngest three that we are having to move no matter what - they know we are trying to buy. As last time the whole idea of being forced to move built up such resentment in both boys that it wasnt healthly so no matter what, I am sticking to the idea that if we dont buy we have decided its time to go home.

Havent been in much this week with so many house viewings etc yet our electricity consumption has risen dramatically?? No idea why. Worse our fixed rate energy deal ends this week and the rates have risen alot since we fixed meaning that even if we only use what we currently use our bills we be £300 more than before!!

Havent managed to plant anything yet as OH has still not got the compost from its hiding place in the garage and I cannot get to it.

Our little car is due an MOT next week and will doubtless require work - at the very least I am expecting to have to buy a CAT for it as it usually requires one every other year. Have two birthdays to do in next couple of weeks and two parties so its going to be very expensive. Am looking out for party boxes for the food as that really makes sense (thanks Gailey).