The Tougher Thread continues.....

pondskater_2

Triggles wrote: »

...........I still remember my mum's sneaky trick - she wrapped up chocolate biscuits to freeze in white butchers paper, and wrote "liver" on the package with a date. None of us ever knew there were biscuits in those packages!! You'd have thought we would have twigged onto the fact that we NEVER ate liver, so no good reason for a half dozen packs of liver in the freezer.

Bet you were just glad the liver never came out of the freezer :rotfl:

I mostly use plastic boxes of all sorts. Last year I was so shocked at our Electricity charges that I vowed to stop using the tumble drier which I had bought in a fit of pique at our terrible weather and inability to get anything dried. Anyhoo, I decided to use it to store all my plastic boxes and tubs - it works too cause it would take so long to remove the dozens of bits of plastic that I haven't used it since and my leccy bill has dropped by about £30 a month :eek:

GreyQueen

Softstuff wrote: »

Sorry to hear your difficulties SmileyT, hopefully you'll get the eejits sorted out soon.

GQ, I can only assume that your kitchen is of tardis like proportions. I had a feeling we had a similar sized teensy kitchen, but given that my larder is in my wardrobe in the bedroom, and there's no way I can fit a slow cooker anywhere, I can only assume you've found a way to circumvent space and it's relative dimensions. Unless you're now intending to do your dishes in it too, in which case I salute your ingenuity .

.

Softstuff, I hesitated so long because I don't have room in the kitchen. "Gollum" will have counter space when in use but the rest of the time will have to live in a kennel (i.e. cardboard box) on the living room floor. I'm becoming increasingly-aware of the price of gas and trying to use it more effectively esp anything which involves having the oven on, hence the move into SC-land. Many thanks to those who've given tips about recipe books- they have been noted down. The brisket will be going in with that recipe posted a few pages ago. I can live for most of the week on that.

:mad: Well, I nearly ended up shouting at Radio 4 yesterday when the outcome of this much-publicised summit between St Cameron and the utility companies was this: swop suppliers and try to keep costs down by using a bit less. I could almost hear the unspoken "dear" at the end of it.

Talk about patronising! And disappointing. I don't know why I'd hoped for anything better as have been taking an active interest in politics and economics for at least 35 years and am getting more jaundiced by the day. Mind you, I don't know what, if anything, a national government can do to control the prices of transnational utility companies. Perhaps someone reading here can advise? I do think they ought to take less tax off fuel to help both individuals and businesses get around the country.

I'm a fan of thinking around corners as thinking outside blue sky boxes (or whatever the current fad-phrase is) strikes me as too dull. There are always consequences and knock-on effects to each and every action. Fuel prices go up at a time of stagnant or shrinking incomes. Need to keep warm, to cook, to heat water, so something else doesn't get bought. If the utilities get greedy because they have the majority of us over a barrell, some other trader, who might just be the little man or woman with a small turnover, will be looking at their bottom line and thinking; "What happened?!"

I've often thought to myself that you can judge the relative prosperity of an area by looking at how many shops are selling non-essential items. I mean, items of no essentiality to anybody, but delightful, nonetheless. Poor place; lots of basic foodstores, discount clothing and housewares, c.s. and secondhand stores etc.

Rich place? Luxe clothing, knick-knacks, galleries, artisanal food stores, collectibles etc etc. Some places I've seen and thought to myself, "Hmm, not really my price bracket, around here, best not look at this stuff or I'll get afflicted by the galloping envies."

There's a particular village which my family pass thru every week or so on the way to a bootsale; we used to live nearby and know the area very well. Like a lot of villages, it is strung along it's road so you can see most of it from a moving car. What the folks noticed this weekend was that a lot of the houses are back on the market again.

There are cycles of this, which seem to co-incide with rises in petrol and diesel prices. It settles down when the economy picks up a bit. I'm sure that the fuel price must be a factor in the decision of so many people to put their houses up at the same time; it's a large village with a shop and a post office but you would have to commute to work/ school/ GP/any retail more significant than a newspaper and a sweetie bar. It's ruddy tough to be hostage to a car whose every wheeze and clang gives you anxiety attacks and whose tank is bleeding the budget.

Ah well, the high cost of rural living was why my parents left the villages for the town in 1970 and why there's no one in my family under 40 who lives in the villages where we came from- everyone's gone to the market towns or even the dazzling bright lights of Provincial City which is a market town in all but size and name.

Smileyt, that is a horrible set of circumstances with DWP and the HB and then the employer not getting your wages to you on time. Glad from your second post that you seem to be getting to the bottom of the problem. See this in work a lot; automated advisories come from DWP to the LA about the benefit and the LA puts their claim into suspension and writes out to the person concerned for clarification. And that's often the first point where the poor b*gger in the middle of it all realises there is a problem.

And yes, you are very right about keeping your correspondence esp re employment and benefits. My tag line at the CAB was: She Who Dies with the Most Paperwork Wins.:rotfl:Well, I do archive stuff, and shred some things after a certain time, but there are some things worth hanging onto. We encountered people whilst I was at the CAB being chased by DWP for alleged overpayments of income support 20 years previously.:eek: Naturally, the former-claimant didn't have the paperwork (some were now in their pensioner years) and the welfare rights advisors verbally-doubted that DWP had the records either. Challenge everything, is my advice, with help from CAB or whatever welfare rights resources exist in your area.

Well, time for some brekkie and to face the day. Has anyone seen taurusgb on the thread? Is she OK? Hope so.

Keep your peckers up, ladies and gents, we have enough wit, wisdom and sheer guts on this one thread alone to power a small country. Gird those loins, tighten those pinny-straps and brace for impact.............I've been here before and survived and I've got MSE now to help me along.

:T Go, us!

jackieglasgow

I don't think I will bother any longer. We have many incidents of you regularly taking the thread off on a tangent, Ceridwen, then complaining before it comes back to the topic on hand, which it invariably does, and now you have the audacity to take Squeaky's comment and thank it, like that naughty child in school who was always causing trouble but then went runnng to the teacher to tell tales when things didn't go their way.

We have had various discussions over the last two years about whats on topic, and what isn't, and earlier this year it all got so ridiculous, Mse Andrea had this to say
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/41322642#Comment_41322642

In my opinion the thread does meander off topic, but when you have upwards of forty people posting, it will naturally take a few pages of people mentioning a topic before it gets back to the main focus. Personally, I have seen a wee bit of money saving content in nearly every page of this thread, and learned something from it. OK, its not all about the economy, but we all need help to get through, a lot of us are having tough times of an additional kind, and need the support this thread gives too. Its no longer what I have seen someone refer to as an 'intellectual thread', whatever that is!

ceridwen

Another seconder here for "keep the paperwork" as its so often helpful.

You're right GreyQueen re shopping areas. We have both types of shopping centres within range of me - I can go to one with more "luxury" type shops being very prevalent on the one hand or one where its difficult to even buy "basics" (as its all budget shops) on the other hand. I'm rather using the number of "luxury goods" shops around as a barometer as to how many people still have spare money (that and the ones as to "how many people are still smoking?"/how is the car level on the roads going/how many people are still getting pregnant - ie have some "faith in the future"). Luxury goods shops are slowly shutting hereabouts/there are fewer people smoking/there are a bit fewer cars on the road (yay!!)/its rare to spot a pregnant woman now (mind you - its difficult to tell sometimes these days...tis true).

Round my way - I also notice in recent times that one can get a rather better house for the same money out in t'country. Reason - well our traffic congestion hereabouts (BOO! to it) is one reason in our case - as the sheer volume of cars on our road clogs things up so for everyone driving along them. It IS also the case though that peeps are very aware that its dearer to live in the country. Certainly the second I spot a particularly well-priced house there I instantly check for the words "oil-fired central heating" and the vast majority of the time find them.

This has been the trend for some time now - its now decades since I bought my house and decided "I want it to be in the country - but its going to become so expensive to live in the country. The price of petrol will shoot up, busfares will shoot up, they will cut country bus services. Damn it - I'll have to buy in an urban area to cope with all those coming price rises and cuts:mad:".

mardatha

I was interested in the post about the hard times changing attitudes. I agree with that. Greedy companies should remember that what goes around comes around - remember the one garage that hiked prices sky high in the fuel shortage? it was on tv and people were really angry. After things got back to normal nobody used the garage (and probably the oil company who supplied him found out about his wee bit of private enterprise) and he closed down.
So every time we read about huge profits & govt waste etc, it opens our eyes and changes how we think. More & more folk are seeing how life really is and are starting to fight back in their own wee quiet way to improve their family finances. I bet this site is responsible for the utility companies losing millions and that makes me :T
I've thought for a long time now that we shouldn't depend on The Powers That Be for anything apart from the real absolute basics. Always have a plan B as backup. Power can go off, water can off, food & fuel supplies can stop at anytime if the lorries stop running. Even banks can close their doors. People need to look out for themselves as far as poss, its an attitude of mind more than anything.

mardatha

Jackie hen, you keep posting or I'll come ower there an skelp ye wan!

Edinburghlass_2

I've removed my off-topic post, sorry for intruding

katieowl_2

firesidemaid wrote: »

Don't do it;) £3 each is a lot for books - use the library or a cheaper charity shop source:)

The library here won't have anything that recent, and Oxfam and Save the Children Etc both charge £2.99 for books locally. It will be a loooooong time before they hit the cheaper charity shops - in fact the cheapest shop really only has stuff more than 10 years old. Fine if you are buying the classics...but I'd like something a bit more edgy, and it gives me something to chat about. I'm still toying...I could use them to put in the B&B room for the guests...offset as a business expense. Still like the idea of a reading buddy...I might follow that up.

Kate

katieowl_2

mardatha wrote: »

I've thought for a long time now that we shouldn't depend on The Powers That Be for anything apart from the real absolute basics. Always have a plan B as backup. Power can go off, water can off, food & fuel supplies can stop at anytime if the lorries stop running. Even banks can close their doors. People need to look out for themselves as far as poss, its an attitude of mind more than anything.

I agree totally. We were looking (not terribly seriously I will confess) at buying off grid, when DS uttered some of his words of wisdom (which he does occassionally taking us all by surprise ) He said 'If you want to go off grid just buy an ordinary house and don't use the electricity' which is very sound when you think of selling on and how much it costs to get electricity into the house if it doesn't have it.

We're not intending to move, so we've attempted a belt and braces approach to the necessities. I've got the Rayburn, and electric oven (not my choice but I can't change it) but a gas hob...if all that went down, I've got my rocket stove I can use twigs in in the chimney space in the dining room. Rayburn is oil and provides some background heat, but we've a woodburner, and although we do buy in wood, we can also forage for it, we so need to get on to that though.

I've always had a ton of candles around the place, and I also bought a small paraffin lantern.

I try to keep a reasonably decent first aid kit to hand, nearest hospital being an hours drive away...and of course I have the armageddon cupboard, which I think would last us a good few weeks...we might have to eat pickle out of the jar with a spoon eventually, but a good while :rotfl:

Kate

Softstuff

GreyQueen wrote: »

Softstuff, I hesitated so long because I don't have room in the kitchen. "Gollum" will have counter space when in use but the rest of the time will have to live in a kennel (i.e. cardboard box) on the living room floor.

Ah, I was hoping for a less sensible answer involving you manipulating space with some sort of magical device. Then I could have gone and got myself one too. In any case, if it's living in the lounge in true moneysaving style you should add a cushion and removable cover, and use it as a pouffe.

In case anyone is about to do as I did today, and steam a Christmas pudding (hey GQ, you could do that in the SC), and doesn't have a trivet, so decides to use a folded tea towel in the bottom of the pan, do not, I repeat DO NOT, use a red one. The ensuing pan full of redness may not do the pudding any harm, since it's in the basin, but is a real pig to clean up afterwards. Funny thing was the tea towel was 5 years old and had been washed more times than I care to count, and had never lost dye.

I'm sorry to see trauma on the thread again. To me a good over the fence chat with tips is very much on topic and moneysaving, keeping morale up when times are tough is key to survival.