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

littlecal

cat-smith,I'm 5'1" so I'd have to be Ronnie Corbett:rotfl::rotfl:

scottishminnie - I wonder if all OSers share a gene???:)

Just had fresh egg tagliatelle reduced to 30p with pasta sauce,yum. The sauce was 20p - down from 83p - just on the shelf at mr t's. Not in the whoops section.Trattatoria(?) tomato and herb,chucked in onions,garlic and sad mushrooms.:D

ChocClare

We bought a house in 1988 and had two brothers living either side of us (it was a row of terraces in London) whose families had been there since the houses were built. I think our row was built in 1908 and the older brother was born in 1918 and the (much) younger in 1928. Anyway, they each rented their house and had done for donkey's years. Our house had been sold some years previously and we bought it.

So, on the day when the mortgage rate went up to 15%, it meant we had to pay just under £1500 PER MONTH on our mortgage. As I was coming in, I met the lovely Mrs Church the Elder coming out of her (identical to my) house, looking black as pitch. "What's happened?" I said. "I'm going down the fair rent," she replied. "I've just had a letter this morning telling me they're going to put my rent up to £35 per week. Can you believe the cheek of it?!"

I didn't have the heart to tell her that I was paying 10 times what she was...:(

Anyway, the kind of good news was that the building society asked us to change from standing order to direct debit as the rates were so volatile. We cancelled our standing order and arranged a direct debit. And our bank paid BOTH to the building society. DH went ballastic; money was returned to our account, overdraft fees waived etc. The following month the same thing happened again. DH went as ballastic as a Latin can (which is pretty scary) and the bank returned our money, waived overdraft fees and paid us £50 compensation for my husband's time.

At the end of the year, we discovered that, although the bank had given us back our money, they had never taken it back from the building society, thus paying £3000 towards our mortgage. We told them their mistake. They never did anything about it.

So we did have a bit of a silver lining. BUt it was scary at the time.

catznine

:bdaycake:Happy Birthday Jedi and congrats on the birth of your little boy!

smileyt_2

:dance::bdaycake: Happy birthday Jedi and I hope you get a good night's sleep.

HariboJunkie

Happy Birthday Jedi :j:beer::D:kiss:
Broomstick, I have all my tried good in kilner jars on open shelving. I agree that the colours are fabulous and I can tell at a glance if I'm low on anything from flour or dried peas to dates or marshmallows.

Re regrets we may have, I tend to think that any dodgy decisions I have made have led me to where I am now which isn't a bad place at all. I worked hard at my education and gained a good degree. I haven't actually used it however and have worked for myself/my husband since I had children. We have taken risks, some of which have paid off and some hasn't but I certainly don't feel resentful of the fact that we may not be as rich as we hoped or live in the huge house that we hoped because I guess I feel that I am responsible for the decisions made in my life. My personal feeling, in my case, is that life is too short for regrets or resentment. Of course it would be nice to be more relaxed financially but I am happy to work my way through the hard times.

We had a lovely treat tonight as OH's family treated us to a meal in my favourite restaurant right on the pier. It was a stunning evening and we walked along the harbour after dinner watching the boats in the bay. It's still not quite dark here so I have only just come in from the garden and am heading to bed as I have another early start tomorrow.

We did get bad news today regarding a substantial sum of money owed to us by a customer but we'll just have to deal with it I'm afraid.

Take care all.

EstherH

:bdaycake::bdaycake::bdaycake:Happy Birthday Jedi. Hope your day turned out better than you expected.

7_week_wonder

Phew - finally caught up with things again.

I agree with what someone said early on today: it's times of hardship that tend to bring out the good nature in people. It was only really when we had the hard winter this year that I got to know alot of our neighbours. We all looked out for each other especially keeping an eye on the older folk, for the first time we actually felt like a community.

I am pleased with myself. I'm pretty good at not buying treat and things "cos I'm worth it", but the one time I normally crack is when I'm going on a long train journey. It must be a hangover from when I was a child when long train journeys meant treats and things. But today I was strong: I armed myself with a couple of chocolate bars from a multi-pack from the supermarket (hey a girl's got to have something!); I filled a bottle with some juice from home and in place of a magazine I had a new (to me) book that I'd got for free at a book swap and hey presto: a no spend journey!

Funny OS moment of the day: I'd assumed my mum would have toothpaste and didn't bring any with me. But I'd forgotten she's got dentures - so I was offered three different sorts of denture glue (and some steroid cream, but never mind!). In days of old I would have dashed round to the local shops and got a small very expensive tube of toothpaste. But not any more - I just asked where she keeps her bicarb - and sorted!

anguk

lizzyb1812 wrote: »

I had the Bernadine Lawrence book as well - 1st job after uni and on "apprentice" wages.

There's a book, sadly out of print, called "Round About a Pound a Week" that looks at the family lives of poorer working families in London in about 1890. Not the poorest families - these had work and earned about a pound a week which had to pay for everything. Not at all comparable to today but very interesting. For instance, a lot of income went on insurance to pay for medical bills. One woman was a kitchen assistant or something similar before her marriage and knew how to stretch her food budget - as a result her kids were less likely to be sick, ate better and thrived.

I love what I call social history - the lives of real, ordinary people are fascinating.

Lizzy

I went to have a google of this book because it sounds interesting and found that you can download it or read it online free because it's out of copyright. You can get it here:
http://www.archive.org/details/roundaboutpoundw00reevrich

jediteacher

Many, many thanks for all the birthday wishes. Hubby cheered me up when he got home - he's been hiding my present from out little girl as she cannot keep a secret for toffee! Anyway, we had a nice Chinese and he gave me a lovely bunch of yellow roses (my favourite) and he has been saving up to get me a digital camera as mine is broken. Now I can take pictures of my lovely little man.

All your warm wishes made up for the fact the no one else remembered. Thank you all very much you are a fab group. :beer::A:beer:

Right sterilising done. I reckon I can get an hours sleep before my little man wakes up. Night night all and sweet dreams.

lizzyb1812

Anguk - thank you, thank you, thank you.

I lost my copy of this years ago and have been looking for it for ages

You are a star :T