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

jackieglasgow

I read something the other day about the Morecombe gas fields being shut down for maintenance and no fixed date set for reopening, as they are so expensive to run, apparently they provide something like 6% (I think) of the UK's annual gas need, but they are taxed at 81% of the income they generate; so the plan is to keep them closed until the import price of tax becomes prohibitive or the supply from abroad becomes problematic (expected to be the end of the year/beginning of winter). So in effect, its cheaper and more cost effective to import gas than it is to produce our own. Something's not right there!

jamanda

anguk wrote: »

It looks like things are going to get tougher, according to the news on the BBC British Gas are warning us of higher energy prices this winter. :mad: I struggled to afford to keep us warm this winter so goodness knows what it's going to be like especially if next winter is long again.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13331606

:eek: Last winter we managed to cut our useage a bit, which meant that we just managed to stay in credit (monthly d/d). I thought this was quite good considering prices had gone up, and have been congratulating myself since.

If prices go up appreciably again, it is unlikely that we can cut back any more. We've done all the curtain lining, warm blankets, dressing like fleecy wombles, etc. Nothing else left to try. AND our house wasn't exactly balmy.

There must be many worse off than us who are simply going to be unable to keep warm at all.

In the meantime, DH and I are wombling as much firewood as we can through the summer to help eke it out.

I feel sorry for anyone who is totally reliant on services without the benefit of "helping yourself" a bit with an open fire/wood burner. It is going to hit hard if this happens.

starsandmoon

Havnt posted on here for a while but have been lurking. I still have my 2 jobs although one is suffering a wage cut and now they have decided to shut down over the Xmas period for 4 days but no one will get paid for it. You dont have to use annual leave and they deduct a % off your wages each month so you dont get a shock in January's pay slip. Mileage has also been chopped and you have to have business class insurance so I will be getting the bus if I need to go to any meetings as I can claim bus fare via petty cash.

OS wise I have been shocked at the cost of cakes (£7 for 9 cupcakes:eek:). After the intial outlay for cake cases and baking trays/tins I now make my own cupcakes and banana loaf which feeds me and DD all week for a couple of quid (in the snack department). I also invested in a picnic blanket and fold up chairs and dug out the cool bag and take picnics out now. Have a country park 10 mins drive away so not much petrol, free parking, good outdoor play area and loads of picnic spots.

I try to budget £30 a week for food for me and DD and most weeks we do but its so hard sometimes. Havnt managed any decent meat Whoops although had a fab whoops moment the other week. BF came to visit me in work one Sunday and toddled off to local Asda, came back with 2 full bags of shopping for £1.40! 4 pinters of milk 20p, yogs 20p, various bread 5p, stir fry veg 30p!!:beer: He came in to show me and one of my colleagues sneered! I know this person is no better off than Iam, told him I will freeze most of it and its totally fine. He wasnt convinced. I on the other hand havnt bought milk or bread for nearly 2 weeks and neither has my BF.

Well Ive rambled enough now. Dont post for ages then do an A4 page:rotfl:

silvermaid

Good ideas about mint and lemon balm teas, I have both growing in the garden. Feel tempted to try them out - and the rosemary tea. I also seem to be good at growing dandelions and nettles, but not quite so tempted by them!!
Thanks x

Winged_one

I love all the ideas for infusions, must use the rosemary, mint and cardomam ones for a start. Never thought of cardomam in that context (and I have LOADs of the little green things as I buy them by the bag for curries).

We bring drinks with us for long car journeys as much as possible. I tend to buy multipacks of cans, especially in the summertime - we haven't tended to drink enough before a bottle goes flat of anything in recent years (although as DD gets bigger, we are starting back on bottles again occasionally), and they are extremely useful for car journeys and trips to the plot (I bring water too, but often need the sugar of the fizzy drink with the hard work there).

I need to get a new flask though, as the top on the old one is broken. We've been using our insulated cups as we leave the house, and cold drinks after that, but sometimes a hot drink en route would be good. I have sachets of coffee and sugar (gathered from hotel visits and other magpie opportunities), hot chocolate (those I usually ahve to buy) and tea bags for such eventualities (I have them for hotels and self-catering trips too). And we have a few plastic bottles that are regularly washed and reflled with filtered water from the fridge - which is great for drinking and when the wipers have gone kaput (well, I think it was more the windscreen washer was blocked).

I am hoping to cut costs this week once our new au pair settles in - I am going to reduce DD's hours in creche afterschool and also drop the fortnightly cleaners coming in. No cleaners will pay the AP for almost 2 weeks, and the creche drop won't quite pay the rest but come close (and I need her mostly for doing mornings, so am happy to have a little bit more expense to make sure of that working). But once everything settles down, I will need to examine the budget again and do my juggling and think about the food budget differently again too.

We got quite a lot of rain over the weekend though, which is good. My veggies are growing and the rain barrel is almost full again. So hopefully I will ease the budgets with a good harvest instead!

lostinrates

jamanda wrote: »

:eek: Last winter we managed to cut our useage a bit, which meant that we just managed to stay in credit (monthly d/d). I thought this was quite good considering prices had gone up, and have been congratulating myself since.

If prices go up appreciably again, it is unlikely that we can cut back any more. We've done all the curtain lining, warm blankets, dressing like fleecy wombles, etc. Nothing else left to try. AND our house wasn't exactly balmy.

There must be many worse off than us who are simply going to be unable to keep warm at all.

In the meantime, DH and I are wombling as much firewood as we can through the summer to help eke it out.

I feel sorry for anyone who is totally reliant on services without the benefit of "helping yourself" a bit with an open fire/wood burner. It is going to hit hard if this happens.

I'm dreading next winter. I don't mind the cold so much, but its nice to have the option of heat. we need some chimney repairs, but now they have found bats in the attic we can't go up to do it till October. we're still hoping to have the kitchen done...we might just have to live in there this winter (we're having a fireplace in there, so us the dogs and cats snuggled in front of the fire all winter...one room living. )

Triggles

Hello. Joining in, if I may. The mention of running our heater being more expensive next winter certainly got my attention!! Thankfully, our little ones are getting bigger, so it's easier to suit them up warmly at night (especially now our 4yo has figured out that using a blanket is a good thing! LOL), which means we don't have to keep the heating as high next winter. We've got an open fire in the living room, which we'll use if we have to. We've discussed putting a bit of extra money into our gas/electric bill over the summer and autumn to offset the hit we'll get at the end of February when we get what is usually our highest bill of the year. We've replaced the front door, which was really letting the cold in. I also thought about putting a floor rug in our dining room as it's tile and very cold, but still mulling that over.

I'll have to go back and browse a page or two, as I saw mention of £7 for cupcakes and I'm curious! :eek:

jediteacher

Thank you everyone for your kind words not been on as have had a hellish weekend with the unmentionable neighbours. Should be relaxing but this has been impossible due to the situation and my blood pressure has gone up - no surprise why!

We really cut back our gas and electric usage this winter - no heating overnight or when it was just me at home. Hubby complained a lot but told him to put an extra jumper on! As a result we are now in credit in both electric and gas. Also quite pleased as have had to use the tumble drier a lot and this has not really added much to the bill.

Have enough meat to last the week and will have to pre-cook and then freeze some as meals for later. Our main shopping expense is fresh fruit. I shouldn't complain really but my daughter will eat and eat fresh fruit until it is coming out of her ears. She eats all fruit but it is expensive. She is not keen on dried fruit or any of the fruit bars you get just fresh! At the moment I cannot shop around so hubby picks up on his way home most nights.

I think we have everything for the baby. Need to test the new steriliser and get some bottles ready. Have ordered some baby milk to get us started. It is very unfair in my opinion that we cannot get any discounts on baby milk before 6 months. :mad: Not everyone can or wants to breast feed and I feel very penalised because of this (I actually do not produce milk and there is nothing I can do about that!). Would love not to have this expense but have no choice. Rant over!:o

jackieglasgow

Jedi could you not get a prescription from the GP for milk if it is a medical need? Also, do they no longer do the healthy start vouchers, can those not be exchanged for milk? Sorry to hear your problems with the neighbours aren't easing up any, but please try to relax as much as possible, what about a pregnancy massage?

greenbee

Interesting programme on R4 at the moment on energy efficiency, energy use, energy costs etc...

... apparently its you & yours.. should be on iplayer