A new 'tougher' thread... and so it continues

7_week_wonder

Thanks so much to Softstuff for the falafel recipe (and revealing the source!)

Had a slightly fraught afternoon trying to get mum to the station: I would have thought that, given that the bus stops right outside the station, allowing 20 minutes between the bus arriving and the train departing would be fine. But no, what with road works and other such things we arrived at the station just in time to here the whistle being blown for mum's train to depart:mad: Thankfully there was another one half an hour later.

Hope you enjoyed your Sunday lunch wmf - I waved at you from the (very slow) bus as we crawled along George St.

I have a question for all you frugal homeloving types: where do you buy your candles? I love having tea lights plus a bigger pillar candle burning in the evenings, but my current tea lights are useless and extinguish themselves when they are only 3/4 burned.

bellaquidsin

mardatha wrote: »

Silaren, that's the thing isnt it. We're learning skills to last a lifetime, enabling us to cope with whatever comes along. Doesn't matter if we moan - so what? Feel free, moan away. As long as we keep on truckin
There are rumours in the prepping community of more bank probs to come - so please if at all poss keep some cash handy, don't rely on plastic. If you're scared of burglars etc then hide it. I had a friend who was married to a compulsive gambler, and she had good hiding places. Taped to the back of mirrors, taped on undersides of tables, in the freezer in a poly bag, and tacked into curtain hems or hidden in canisters and pkts of food. Or else an inside pocket of your coat.

Oh dear, Mardatha you've just given away some good hiding place tips to would be burglars. When I was little my mother used to sew the weeks holiday money into her corsets when we went away! Beat that.

Bella.

suzybloo

Well took a step today to beat the toughness a bit next year and searched for an allotment in our area, but there is nothing, however there is a community garden looking for volunteers, as its just starting up, not sure what it means but hopefully will be a start to having a go at growing veg - i have a fair idea what to do but just need the garden to do it.

I am also going to have a plan of action for next year and will be starting sorting that out in the next few weeks.

paidinchickens

clareg These after school club have it easy don't they. You can't complain as you need them and you don't want them being funny with your babies if you don't agree with them. They cost an arm and a leg and since mine have grown up probably a kidney to :eek:

Oh dear two glasses of wine and I am moaning already

PICx

hornetgirl

So sorry to hear about your mum charliemaine1bee.

7 Week Wonder, I buy candles at boot sales and jumble sales. It's amazing how many people sell them - presumably unwanted presents. Sometimes they've been partially burned. Usually those ones only cost pennies. The most I'll pay is 50p. I have a lovely selection of various shapes, scents colours and designs. Burning a couple at this time of year makes the sitting room feel so much cosier I think.

Battleon

Hi everyone,

I'm another long-term lurker on the tough threads and I'm just delighted to see the 'tough' threads back. The OS board certainly wasn't the same without it!

I've learned so much on here and really changed how I run my house and it even seems to have rubbed off on my DH. We now compete to see who can get the best 'whoopsies' and it does amuse me greatly when he comes home boasting about how many he got or.....the deal he got on toilet rolls! He's not read a single post on here either!

Going to try and be an active poster from now on!

Battleon

clareg100

paidinchickens wrote: »

clareg These after school club have it easy don't they. You can't complain as you need them and you don't want them being funny with your babies if you don't agree with them. They cost an arm and a leg and since mine have grown up probably a kidney to :eek:

Oh dear two glasses of wine and I am moaning already

PICx

Don't you know it, although not sure my kidneys will be worth having by the time mine are all grown up as need the wine to soften the blow most days (keeping at one with dinner only). Oh well am just taking it on the chin and am still thinking what home made goodies they deserve for a crimbo pressie/thankyou.:)

prepareathome

Oh am so glad I found this thread, had heard of the 'tough' thread but not found it yet - so many threads.

mardatha I know you must think I am stalking you as most threads I find of interest ( subscribed to about 80 so far) you are already there.

We have lurched along for years robbing peter to pay paul just managing to cope and I never learnt from my mistakes I admit it ( I feel like I am standing up at an AA meeting and admitting I am an alcholic and I don't even drink, can't now with my meds but its something that I could take or leave luckily).

This year we inherited just enough to clear all our debts from dear MILs estate and if I do not change now we will soon be back in debt - I joined this site way back in 2008 yet never actually followed any of the advice and after a bit never bothered coming back. Now for past month I have been haunting the forum, a few friends from Facebook have emailed to ask if I am ok as I never go there now always on here reading, and posting.

We have to cut down as our income and expenses do not match technically we don't have enough when you look at our SOAs its only I did pay all the CT for the year off and paid BT in advance and sky ( just a one year treat for hubby, I don't watch tv so it goes in July when its a year) .

I at the grand old age of 55 have to relearn how I deal with money.

I have joined the grocery challenge and as you can see from my sig I failed miserably but in my defence most of that was spent on store cupboard, maybe I am wrong but I feel I would rather have my kitchen groaning with food than the money sitting in the bank. My family think I am nuts and that includes OH, they say I should keep the money for emergencies and if we need it later to buy food use it then. I think at moment I can get more for the money that I will even in a few months the way prices are rising. I just feel happy knowing we have the best store cupboard we have ever had, although I was reading a thread on pantries and what some have in theirs makes mine look very miserly and I have always been one for being prepared, hence my name, I always use it as my nick name as its me to a tee:). I have always tried to ensure we can survive if there is power cuts, water shortage etc by ensuring we have some alternative lighting, heating and cooking equipment as well as food. I know mad but that is me. Of course if I hadn't spent so much on them over the years we would not have had quite as much debt, not that anything I have was expensive, no generators or Cobbs ( oh how I wish).

Now I have this I must learn to give myself a budget and stick within it and for two of us that should not be that much a week. I have learned a lot during the Nov GC and written down everything I bought so I can see what I actually used aside from what I bought to store.

Our income is likely to go down as I am on Incapacity benefit but just filled in the forms for ESA and going by what I read I doubt I will get it as I certainly don't look chronically sick could see that in the eyes of the benefit advisor that came to fill in the form for me, he looked and saw a middle aged fat woman who he assumed was just to lazy to work, so I know when I have to go for medical if I get there, they will see the same, everyone does except thankfully my doctor, who knows the truth and the specialists. I spend 85-90% of my time in bed and only go out on very good days so of course that is when people see me, so cannot blame them. Anyway enough of my moaning this is not the place sorry. On same day hubby was told by work they are looking for people to volunteer for redundancy and if not enough do they will make the choice of who should go, so we will find out if he still has a job ( its just part-time now since he went back after being medically dismissed in 2005 when he was out of work 8 months thanks to slipped disc and sciatica, they took him back but as said only part-time) but its still a job and brings in money even on basic wage. If they do last in first out he will be first on the list as no-one else has joined since he went back.

So I must learn to manage money and live on far, far less. Unlearn a lifetimes mismanagement.

We usually have soup once a week as a main meal - I serve it either with bread ( OH has it in the soup, me on side) or pasta, it just depends what type of soup I make. I have lentil soup in SC just now but that will be served tonight before some lamb, so soup will last us about 3 days. I have a hand blender and always use it on the soup as we like thick soups. I actually don't mix the onions with anything before putting them in the soup as we don't like the taste, but that is just our preference.

I have got myself a few wartime recipe book and have started using them although I have found they tend to over do the pastry, but then I guess it filled you up. I cannot get to library so I buy books for Amazon for 1p plus the postage usually £2.80 and they are cheaper than buying them from the charity shops, ours always seem to want £4 for the smallest paperback these days.

I also download free kindle books - you can download the software to read them on your pc and if you look you can get some up to date books free. The other day I downloaded 31 different recipe books with food from all around the world and a lot of food is really cheap to make, and the books cost me nothing. I got a kindle for my birthday and have hundreds of books on it yet so far only paid for 4 and then only 86p each. There is a thread on here that has links to places that tell you what books are free of the kindle that day. Yes there are lots of old books but there are plenty just published this year, I very often just go to Amazon and type in free books for kindle and ok you have to wade through the books being sold telling you how to get free books for kindle but its worth ploughing through as you will find plenty of real books free. Then you can read them on your pc, very handy with money tight and you are a reader. I know not a help to feed you but at least a cheap way to be entertained, and that is as important, when things are tight you have to have something and sometimes TV can be depressing. Even if you are on pay as you go mobile dongle for internet once the book is downloaded you can read it off line and none of them use up much of your data allowance being the written word, far less than one song.

I am hoping to grow my own vegetables next year but down side is I have to pay someone to do the heavy work, ( hubby and gardening do not mix he is not a DIY person either) but am hoping once the beds are dug I will be able to manage as I plan to have them narrow ( about 18ins) and long so should be easier to keep weed free. Will see how it goes as won't be able to keep paying someone to do this. I have grown in pots up till now but just couldn't grow enough for more than a few weeks meals as my back garden is tiny and on a steep slope and side garden where I hope to grow next year only has a 3ft fence round it ( have just had hedges planted, got the hedges cheap in a sale but cost me more than them to pay to have them put in) and if I put pots there they would go walkies, am just hoping the plants in ground won't till hedges grow.

Well done enough moaning pain not to bad and energy levels ok so going to actually go and try and clear a space to bookcases in study - been wanting to do this for months so I can use them to put some of my tins as they are still sitting in carrier bags on kitchen floor and books can just be piled on floor, as kitchen is only small.

Good luck everyone I hope that things will not continue to go worse but I know doesn't look good.

We have £200 in bank and I wonder if we should take it out and hide it in house as all the savings we have, never had so much but would I be tempted to spend it if I had it to hand, I don't trust myself yet, not a real MSE yet no where near it.

suzybloo

good luck prepareathome, dont feel down about your grocery challenge going over - you have started something new and will not achieve everything first go - none of us do - look at it that you now are fully aware of all the changes you need and want to make and every step nearer to achieving them is a bonus.

mardatha

"mardatha I know you must think I am stalking you as most threads I find of interest ( subscribed to about 80 so far) you are already there."
****************
No, not at all. Is just that I'm everywhere :rotfl::rotfl: And today I need to be somewhere to stop meself from throttling the RV. God that man could win prizes for grumpy old gitness.