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

katiegizmo

delurking for a bit, hello all!!!

over the last year I have really changed my shopping habits. Before I would do a big shop at the supermarket every month, now I do a huge online shop every 3 months and shop around locally for top up shops. It's proved much cheaper overall with a little extra work and an obedient DH who pops to the shops at lunchtimes and after work to get whoopsies etc

I was stocking the trolley yesterday doing an online shop and DH looked over my shoulder and said well done, it's only a few quid more than April's shop. I had to tell him unfortunately I had only done the food so far.... drinks, household, bath etc were all still to come!!!! eeek! Doing it every 3 months means I can really see the rises.

I have a new BM which is my new toy, DH bought it off a colleague for a few quid brand new. I think it is a beast though, it's 2.5 in size. Is that big?? I've made 2 loaves from it from packet mixes I had hiding in the cupboard. One I guessed at the water and was yummy, the second I did properly calculating quantities and it wasn't half as nice!!! Had some very oddly shaped sandwiches as I discovered bread slicing is not one of my skills! very interested to read about jacket potatoes in there - is there anything else I can do in it that isn't bread based?

Veg is doing ok - chillies are growing nicely, as are spuds but tomatoes are disappointing this year, don't think they have had enough sun. Squash is looking good too though not very sure what I am doing with that one!!!

hugs to all who need them xx

trifles

I tend to use a rucksack when I'm out shopping as it leaves me hands free and is not such a strain on my lower back.Also,it saves me getting pushed about at the 'whoopsie' section:eek:As has been commented, it can be quite daunting-almost like a rugby scrum! I feel sorry for staff working in supermarkets particularly-I have seen a fair bit of verbal aggression aimed at them.I know times are very hard,but it's no excuse to vent stress on easy targets like staff who are just doing their job.
Have been knitting fingerless handwarmers ( free pattern copied from flyingpig58 homepage-she usually posts on Occasions board.) and for someone who is a very basic knitter,I was really pleased with results:jGives me confidence to try something else.Will be needing these soon when avoiding putting on heating:D
Have been encouraged by results from growing some herbs on my window ledges,have no garden.Think I'll have a shot at some tomatoes next year or strawberries,which I'm told can be grown inside too.Am going to speak to neighbours to see if anyone would be interested in growing some veg like tatties or carrots in the communal back court using these large growing bags-doesn't seem like a lot of effort and we could split costs.:rotfl:just because I managed to grow some window ledge plants'now I'm Charlie Dimmock!
Have 20 bags of pasta and 30 tins of baked beans in my stockpile off now to see what else I can hoard!
Hope every one has a pleasant week:A

VJsmum

I was thinking about this - it looks quite funky

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FOLD-UP-AWAY-SHOPPING-TROLLEY-BAG-LUGGAGE-WHEELS-/140576170637?pt=UK_Tickets_Travel_Luggage_CA&hash=item20bafe228d

GreyQueen

kittie wrote: »

ahhh, that is the thing re asset balancing. I have increased his pension portfolio by almost 50% since I took it over and persuaded dh to sack the financial adviser. Sometimes in cash and mostly not, in and out of shares and other assets. Cash to buy shares and gilts etc and then sell to wrap up profits. It is fluid and we aren`t talking savings accounts here in his sipp. I have a duty to be as risk free as possible as he is now drawing down his pension

Rachb, normal savings yes I agree but the pension is a different ball game

Hello Kittie, what I have been reading in reputable newspapers' financial pages have been giving me the willies, I can tell you, and I think you're bang on with this one. The Republicans are going head-to-head with Obama this week and refusing to agree an imortant settlement; if it isn't done by Friday midnight the US Govt will default on its debts. If it does, it will make the Wall Street Crash look like a sunday school outing.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/17/obama-america-economic-meltdown-murdoch

I've been lairy of shares for years as I take an educated lay-woman stance to this and read the financial books etc. If I personally owned any, I'd be selling, but I am affected as a person with a stake in pension schemes etc. Some of the smartest money went into gold some time ago and the LDS have always gone for good quality farmland, I believe.

The US government is owned by their creditors in Saudi and China and has been in a very vulnerable position for some time.

Gordon Bennett, if it isn't slugs on your courgettes it's geo-politics which threaten to ruin your summer.

Buy TOMATOES, you know it makes sense.

[Deleted User]

Yes GQ and mardatha, I have the willies too, things are just not right and this murdoch scandal is just the tip of the iceberg, worm after worm coming out of the can and I see that police, politicians, media in one huge intermeshed web. Add all the greedy dictators and fraudsters and scammers to that `soup` and we are just fodder. Things can turn in a blink of an eye and so we just have to be defensive all the time. I hate thinking like this but it is making me so sick to my stomach. Thank goodness we have this thread

ifonlyitwaseasier

kittie wrote: »

I have one, a black and white cow patterned rolser and I hardly use it because I mostly do internet shopping due to where I live. I hate it when some people who have one bang theirs into my ankles

kitte did you get it from lakeland? i have one that sounds the same and got it during one fo their sales saves my arms!!

maryb

VJsmum wrote: »

I was thinking about this - it looks quite funky

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FOLD-UP-AWAY-SHOPPING-TROLLEY-BAG-LUGGAGE-WHEELS-/140576170637?pt=UK_Tickets_Travel_Luggage_CA&hash=item20bafe228d

I don't wish to seem negative but just to say I had one of those for doing the shopping when we were on holiday. It's murder to pull when it has got much in it because it has no frame so the whole weight pulls on the arm that is dragging it. It hurt my back more than carrying bags.

Sorry

maryb

The phone hacking ramifications are extraordinary, aren't they? I'm a firm believer in never attributing to intentional malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence, but it makes you wonder....

Will Hutton has certainly got the glooms in that article. He may well be right but the chances are someone will blink in time. Obama said last week that there might not be enough money to fund social security payments (ie pensions rather than welfare) and a lot of the Tea Party supporters are not in their first youth and don't see their personal pension entitlements as a symptom of excessive government. Half of them think the contributions they have paid over the years are in real cash sitting in a trust fund somewhere.

God forbid we should ever be in a situation in this country where the government may not be able to fund pensions and/or social security. European welfare systems are so much more extensive than in the US, it would hit a much bigger proportion of the population and I hate to think what would be the result. Europe already seems to be heading for the financial wall in its own way - all much less confrontational than the US but still nothing's getting done about anything.

Keep buying the tomatoes!!

I now have 14 little green blobs on my 28 tomato plants. That's me sorted, then, ha ha.
Actually this year has been very disappointing re crops. Everything is finally growing now that the drought has finished (oh boy, has it ever finished!!) but it all seems oddly lacking in flavour this year. Anyone else found that?

[Deleted User]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/08/us-usa-debt-bondholders-idUSTRE75718320110608

this what we need to be scared of, the looming USA debt default. Get the tins in folks

I am having a cabbage v caterpillar battle at the moment, I am not bothering with cabbages from june to august any more, except red cabbages. It is so disheartening

mardatha

My neighbour is growing terrific amounts of cabbages Kittie, in raised beds lined with bent pipe hoops and covered in green netting.