As The Workhouse Approaches....How To Do Everything To Avoid It, the Old Style Way

Mrs_Veg_Plot

Mardatha I grew leeks last winter and finished eating them in Feb. I also put in purple sprouting brocauli which we ate in the spring. I am growing parsnips and carrotts ( I always grow carrotts in tubs for christmas dinner but plan on leaving some in the ground for the winter months). I have sown sprouts as well or are they a bit close to kale. I am also planning on sowing the winter spring onion and letuce seeds I bought from Real Seeds.

7_week_wonder

Another serial lurker coming back out of the woodwork here. I last posted about a month ago when I was stressing about OH and my dad being ill. Well unfortunately things haven't worked out too well and my dear old dad passed away a week later.

Although we are sad there have been so many positives. He was only ill for a week and not in any pain; we all got to see him and say goodbye; and he was completely with it, but at peace with things the whole time. The NHS was fantastic and people have been so kind (one lovely thing - mum got a huge bunch of flowers from the gym where he was still a regular: not bad for a man in his 90's!!)

But, what with one thing and another I have fallen off the OS wagon and am struggling a bit, so I'm hoping that posting (and catching up with posts) will get me back on track. The first worry is that we are now going to be looking after mum a lot more, which will involve lots of trips up and down the road (400 mile round trip); plus when she's here we have the heating on much more so costs are going to go up, it seems hard-hearted to think about the costs, but it's a worry. The second thing is that all our OS plans seem to have gone out of the window. We are way behind with the veg growing, and cooking from scratch etc seems to have gone out of the window. Now, more than ever I could do with being organized, but I'm finding it hard to motivate myself.

Anyway, sorry for moaning, and all advice/kicks up the backside gratefully received I'm just hoping that by coming out of the wood work I'll be able to get back into the swing of things.

Charis

I have PM'd you, Mrs VP

lora

ceridwen wrote: »

Crikey!

Who are these charities concerned? Perhaps it would help if they were named?

I know its always been my fallback position that if I were unemployed then I would go and do some work of my choice instead (ie whatever voluntary work I chose to do) and I always just expected charities to say "Thank you" and tell me what they wanted from me. I have had a substantial amount of unemployment in my time and did duly turn to voluntary work of my choice.

I remember also doing some voluntary work in my spare time whilst at school and a lot of the impetus for this came from my school (as they were keen to get the message over to pupils to do this).

I think its a shame if things are changing now and any charities that expect people to pay to help them will be "cutting their own throat".
I've got the idea in mind that I might go back and do a bit of volunteering in the Oxfam Shop again when I reach retirement (as that was one thing I did as a teenager) - but wonder whether I might have to think again on that from what you say....

Just as well that I also have in mind to go and do some voluntary receptionist work at a "charitable" type complementary health centre nearby....:cool:

DH receives basic JSA--he was told if he volunteered he obviously would not be available to work. Therefore his JSA would be deducted appropriately. Can't afford to do that. Two charities wanted to make use of his considerable experience.

Charis

lora wrote: »

DH receives basic JSA--he was told if he volunteered he obviously would not be available to work. Therefore his JSA would be deducted appropriately. Can't afford to do that. Two charities wanted to make use of his considerable experience.

Your DH has been misinformed. According to the Government's own website:

Volunteering shouldn’t affect your right to benefits, as long as the only money you receive is to cover your volunteering expenses, such as travel.
There are no limits on the amount of time you can volunteer for as long as you continue to meet the conditions of the benefit or tax credit you are receiving.
For example, if you receive Jobseeker's Allowance you must:
still be actively seeking a full-time job
be able to attend job interviews at 48 hours' notice and
be available to work at one week’s notice


It helps prevent depression while job seeking and keeps the volunteer in the 'work habit'. Charities with good volunteer managers will ensure that the voluntary job is fitted around the benefits office's requirements for signing on, etc.

HTH

sammy_kaye18

prophecy_grrl wrote: »

Sammy - What's a forever home fund? Just catching up on this thread and sneaking out of lurkdom as I'm intrigued by that in your sig x

A 'forever home' is normally a term I use with animals we adopt or foster - being they find a forever home but now we are finally in a house I want to focus on making it a forever home for me and my babies not just a house we are living in.

First thing on my list to fund is a new fridge freezer. Mine is pathetically small and so have seen a nice one I like for £280 so thats my first saving goal so I can save and store my bargains.

littlecal

((((7 week wonder)))) So sorry for your loss.I don't have any useful advice but look back at your post - you've given yourself a kick up the backside:) your post is your own "to do list" sometimes just seeing it written down can help,maybe put it into order of importance and then start ticking.

Nice to have you back on board.

Kimitatsu

7_week_wonder wrote: »

Another serial lurker coming back out of the woodwork here. I last posted about a month ago when I was stressing about OH and my dad being ill. Well unfortunately things haven't worked out too well and my dear old dad passed away a week later.

Although we are sad there have been so many positives. He was only ill for a week and not in any pain; we all got to see him and say goodbye; and he was completely with it, but at peace with things the whole time. The NHS was fantastic and people have been so kind (one lovely thing - mum got a huge bunch of flowers from the gym where he was still a regular: not bad for a man in his 90's!!)

But, what with one thing and another I have fallen off the OS wagon and am struggling a bit, so I'm hoping that posting (and catching up with posts) will get me back on track. The first worry is that we are now going to be looking after mum a lot more, which will involve lots of trips up and down the road (400 mile round trip); plus when she's here we have the heating on much more so costs are going to go up, it seems hard-hearted to think about the costs, but it's a worry. The second thing is that all our OS plans seem to have gone out of the window. We are way behind with the veg growing, and cooking from scratch etc seems to have gone out of the window. Now, more than ever I could do with being organized, but I'm finding it hard to motivate myself.

Anyway, sorry for moaning, and all advice/kicks up the backside gratefully received I'm just hoping that by coming out of the wood work I'll be able to get back into the swing of things.

Sorry for your loss its always hard. Have you looked into going by train rather than road? We have this with FIL we go at least once a month to see him and its £13 return on the train or a 200 mile round trip! It makes it easier as FIL has a car there that we can use and we buy the ticket early but that is so much cheaper than the petrol.

Be kind to yourself, its a hard time at the moment so concentrate on the positives rather than beating yourself up about the negatives. Ok so you havent got on with the veg growing but then again with the little rain we have had you have saved on the water! Have you checked freecycle to see if anyone has surplus they could do with passing on? Theres always loads on ours.

Heating is always difficult with Mum but Tescos are doing fleece blankets for £1.25 at the moment (only some colours so be careful) but you could get some of those in to wrap her up in when she is sat down in the evening, save you having it on so much.

Cooking from scratch, start by doing a cupboard inventory and looking at meal plans, then at least you will feel that you have started your OS ways again

hex2

bargainhunterss wrote: »

I would say its silly to let any 18 year old who's never had more than £30/week wages before loose with a £1500 overdraft!

Totally agree. I screwed up completely first term and then lived on 21.07 a week wages for the rest of the year. Took me years to sort the mess out.

We had the last of the runner beans from the freezer last night, and the last bits of courgette will be going into chilli tomorrow. I froze and preserved a lot of stuff last year when we knew OH would be out of a job - thankfully he found a job and we never ran out of money but I have appreciated the feezer stores. Need to think hard about what I am going to do this year with a lot less time.

Need firewood too We used three times as much this winter as we did the previous one and still managed to be cold most of the time.

jackieglasgow

mamaninie wrote: »

Ah, I boycott Nestle http://www.babymilkaction.org/pages/boycott.html, but I'll have a little squint in asda when I go to see what they've got.

Nice to see a fellow supporter on the board. My husband and children have become quite the experts at checking the labels on food for Nestle. Unfortunately the main employer in the town in Switzerland some of our family live in also happen to be one and the same. It makes it very difficult to avoid their products when we visit.