The Tougher Thread continues.....

jpscloud

scottishminnie wrote: »

Hubby hates it - he had an unfortunate incident at a buffet a while back where he mistook it for mashed potato and took a massive mouthful. I thought he was about to explode as he downed both my drink and his own before coming up for air.:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

First coffee-splurt of the day here at that! I had a similar incident with what I *thought* were yoghurt-coated peanuts. Oh no. They were WASABI coated. Here is what I looked like: :eek:

I've only lurked on this thread before too, so I'm joining the [STRIKE]thong[/STRIKE] throng of delurking newbies! (haven't read all three pages yet so I do hope no one's done that pun so far, as it would make me look really really stupid :rotfl:)

I do hope no-one carries out their threats of behaving - I'd have to relurk!

Edit: better put something about hard times in here as well, or is that a bit suggestive, ah well... times are very hard here at cloudy towers but switching to value/basics/smartprice has made a big difference. If only I could rein in the treat-spending a bit.

I've developed a taste for tesco value snowballs and have now stockpiled them in my cupboard in the hopes that will satisfy the cravings without me going out for expensive cakes and so on. I must also learn to make nice cakes at home but only have the microwave, as the halogen oven is not my friend with cakes (I didn't buy it for that, so fair enough).

Cheapskate

Only away a few hours and another thread has been born - welcome to the world!

So nice to see lots of new peeps as well as familiar names - please be yourselves, as we all inspire each other, make each other laugh and offer a virtual shoulder to cry on.

Well, according to a report by some finance group (forget the name, but was on the news a couple of days ago) we are in the poorest 2% decile for our family type - i.e. we are officially living in poverty! :rotfl: After we get the plumber's bill for the new boiler/rads put in this week we'll DEFINITELY be there. :eek:

No more negative thoughts now - have started making Christmas presents this morning and actually feeling more positive than I have for ages - these threads are a great help in the respect! :beer:

Off for another cuppa before I wake the littlies.

A xo

[Deleted User]

<<,I have been knitting and making little decorations for our C tree>>>
Where did you get the patterns from pretty please. I have lots of odd ments of wool that would be ideal for this

cleggie

Wow, you guys can talk for England!! I seriously need to catch up on this thread now that i have de-lurked! Will drop the kids at school, make a cuppa and settle down for a good read!
I am going to be on eBay a lot today as i went xmas shopping yesterday and came home empty handed due to the fact that i thought everything was SO expensive!

ceridwen

Ches wrote: »

Another lurker coming out of the woodwork. I love this thread as there is always something new and interesting being discussed. Can I ask you all a question as there has already been some mention on this new thread about savings. We (OH and I) are OAP's. How much is enough savings to have salted away do you think? I would like some decent holidays before I get too old to enjoy them so would rather spend than save. How much is enough?

That very much depends on your circumstances/how optimistic you are about the state of your health/how optimistic you are about the state of the NHS/how much money you think might be needed for maintenance on your house/whether you live in a location that means you "have" to have a car or no.

So - an absolute bare minimum of savings to have (assuming interest rates allow of it that is:cool:) is £5,000 I would say. That is apparently the average that British households have on the one hand and £1,000 less than the allowed "capital limit" for savings if one is still at risk of unemployment (ie needs a job for a while yet). That £6,000 capital limit is the maximum peeps (of working age) are allowed to have before finding benefit payable if one becomes unemployed is deducted for having "too much savings". The £6k includes money in the bank (including last salary) and even, apparently money in the purse! Hence - £1,000 under that to allow for staying under the limit even allowing for money in the bank. Thats not necessarily something that would apply to everyone to take care of that - I do because I'm single and childless - so believe its fair that I hang onto my money. As a married person and/or parent I would probably think differently (ie as I was better off and/or had been receiving benefits from the State anyway).

Re health care - the NHS seems to be starting to refuse even most basic/they absolutely HAVE to give it to the person care sometimes (rationing I guess...). Depends on what your own Health Trust is like - they will vary I guess. Guideline prices for:
- cataracts are £1,000 per eye
- for hip replacements £10,000
- for paying for a private midwife at home (I've read about what giving birth is like in some NHS hospitals these days - sharing your midwife with several others, etc..:eek:) I think is £3,000 (maybe more).

Houses - well..how many years are you likely to be living in it? Say its 50 years for the sake of argument (ie because you are in your 30s and decided not to move or cant afford to move) - then what will the house need over the next 50 years?
- what electrical work?
- will the roof need replacing?
- the kitchen will need replacing, say, twice in that time

It really really does depend on your own circumstances/age/etc - its a "how long is a piece of string?" question.

ceridwen

KITTIE - Are you out there? Did you get my PM's? Do please come back here - we should have our "founder of the thread" on here methinks.

katieowl_2

Cheapskate wrote: »

Well, according to a report by some finance group (forget the name, but was on the news a couple of days ago) we are in the poorest 2% decile for our family type - i.e. we are officially living in poverty! :rotfl: After we get the plumber's bill for the new boiler/rads put in this week we'll DEFINITELY be there. :eek:

Join the club :T the LIP Club!!! Income wise we've been at the bottom of all the lists for years but being OS I can't honestly say we've a 'poor' standard of living.

It's hard work making sure it's that way, but when you are working hard for your own benefit it's a lot more satisfying

Kate

HariboJunkie

Isn't it great that even those of us who are "officially" living in poverty can see what OS does to improve our lifestyle. It really is possible to be rich in lots of ways that the Government don't measure.
I don't have much in the way of savings I'm afraid, enough to see us out of a slow patch when clients don't pay but certainly not enough to live on for months but being SE we wouldn't claim for anything until the business actually went T*ts up so we have to see our own way through the hard times.
I would love to have oodles of savings as a safety net but unfortunately this old house eats most spare cash and our income is erratic. We haven't had a holiday for 2 years because I can't justify a the children living in a cold, damp and leaking house for the sake of a holiday. We do a load of days out and weekends' camping to try to make up for it.
If we had the spare money and the house wasn't leaking I would be off like a shot so it's not a case of meanness.
Talking of holidays I hope you have a really lovely time Rach. xx
JackieO I make miniature stockings and puddings etc for an old book I got in the charity shop but I will try to find you similar online.

The cat is driving me demented this morning, a little something like this.

Enjoy your days everyone. I'm still delighted to see so many new people joining us. :j

NualaBuala

HI everyone and welcome to all the lurkers who have blown their cover! :wave:

Hope everyone is ok and comfortably settling into our new thread!

I am a bit excited because I got a cute set of flannel sheets for €25 reduced from €70 ... can't wait to snuggle down in them when it gets colder. My friends would find this hilarious! But then they wouldn't understand the joys of tinned tomato stashes either! :rotfl:

Margaret54 wrote: »

Hi all got myself a second hand book from play.com yesterday, and was so pleased with it I thought I would mention it on here. It's called The Thrift Book Live well and spend less, and is by India Knight.
Full of tips to save money and she writes about a lot of areas. I know we all have lots of great tips and I for one have learned so much from others on here, and thank you again everyone. What I loved about it too is she has a chapter about money and gives an understanding of how money works in the world. I only paid £2.45 for it and free p&p which is good too.:) I will add it to my wee library:) take care everyone.x

Sounds great Margaret and thanks for sharing. I'm going to see if my library has it, am trying not to buy any more books! I used to always buy on play.com but recently the books I'm not supposed to be buying have come from thebookdepository.com (and I go through FatCheese to get cashback ... only a few cents but better than nowt!).That's a great price though so will start checking play again but only "window shopping", must resist the urge to buy!

JackieO wrote: »

<<,I have been knitting and making little decorations for our C tree>>>
Where did you get the patterns from pretty please. I have lots of odd ments of wool that would be ideal for this

Hi Jackie, have you seen the Christmas Pud pattern on The Knitters Thread? I thought they were cute and I might try to do some this year (you can put a sweetie in them I think). http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=39478256&postcount=3934

I'm off to make a list of things I need to do today, hope it's a short one! Have a great day everyone!

cleggie

Hi all!
Have dropped the kids at school and dont have to be in uni yet, so thought i'd catch up!
A little 'about me' ( gosh, i feel this is a bit like 'blind date' ) i am single mum with 2 lovely children, they are 11 and 7.
I am also a mature student (but i dont act mature- i prefer the term 'life educated' LOL!!) at uni, doing my degree in Psychology, and am in my final year.
I dont have tonnes of debt, but i have a very small income with which to clear it, so its taking a while!
I am now slowly becoming a tight wad- something i never saw coming! I dont like to spend money unless i have to!
I am too living in poverty, but to be honest i dont really feel like we are as of yet! I have a house to live in (rented from council), food on our plates and can pretty much afford to pay the bills, so all is reasonably OK. Like Katieowl, i have to work hard at being OS to make sure it stays that way, but we do OK!

My biggest challenge to date is Christmas- my LBM was in Feb, so have yet to 'do' an OS Christmas and am starting to panic as i need a tree and decorations, as well as presents for my kids...and i have a small budget!

Well, thats me!