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

prepareathome

Oh lucky you Marie, we hopefully are going out there in two years for sons wedding in March 2013, he lives in Melbourne and I want to tour round but hubby at this moment says he doesn't, so I might end up touring on my own, but no way I am going all that way just to see one city. I want to break the journey coming back as well but not sure yet where.

Hugs to all

Oh it rained as I left for the doctors so that saved me having to go out and water the fruit bushes, now just hope its dry enough tomorrow to make a start clearing the ground where strawberries and rhurbard are to do, full with lots and lots and lots of pots, and where they are going to go plus all the compost that is in them I do not know yet.

meme30

VJsMum:- I watched Superscrimpers last night and was just horrified at the waste!. :eek:
I have not yet ventured into oil and lemon juice cleaning, I'm a Stardrops girl myself but I did find it interesting.
It was the family who only bought branded food who astonished/dismayed me. I know I tend to live in my own life bubble where DD;s and friends cook most things from scratch, and I do know that's not always the norm, but this family's dependence on jars/tins really made me sit up!:think:
Maybe it's my age?, these parents were younger than me. I know these programmes look for extreme cases to highlight too. First time ever cooking Spag Bol from scratch without a jar sauce. My DH said 'I can't cook but I and anyone can follow a recipe' and I thought... yes! I think I just peeped over the 'wall' that surrounds my life and realised I feel old fashioned and out of touch!
Don't get me wrong I do use tinned tomatoes etc, I just had not realised the lack of basic skills in the world.

Bu88er, this has turned into a rant/ramble! Sounds like my brain has turned into sawdust!

Big hugs for those that need them and I would do the kick up the backside for those that need it but my leg won't go that far!

katieowl_2

We were appalled at the standard £8.99 spag bol too Meme30 - OMG:eek:

DD and I were chatting to each other on Facebook through it (she was watching it too at uni!) We were horrified!!! How sad are we? Watching superscrimpers together in separate places.

OH passed the comment that the guy would have been eating basics brand beans for years without being any the wiser, and that I would have had the same ol' heinz tin on the side just to dupe him :rotfl: too darn right!!!

One of the girls that I work with reckons watching me cook, and my suggestions have knocked a fiver a week off her shopping bill. She was using a jar of pasta sauce, and also curry sauces. I make most of my every day currys using the Pataks pastes, which make 4 or 5 curries each, and they are what the Indian restaurants use most of the time, as they come in huge commercial jars too. They are regularly on BOGOFF offers too so I stock up! She was using curry ready sauces at knocking on for a couple of quid a pop. All her family prefer her new style of cooking too. I'm so proud of her :T she's my first convert!

Anyway the salt mines are calling... I'm in charge today and it's local food producers market day. Normally the busiest day of the week.

Kate

mardatha

Am spitting mad here reading the news, we pay more for fuel than anywhere in Europe, 60% tax - and that evil wee sod is increasing it yet again in the budget. Our rent is going up a fiver a week in April - so what if you were struggling and your tax credits were being cut in April ? Combined with the rises in food and fuel, some people will be struggling like hell from week to week. And although I've not much time for Labour, why aren't they shouting about this? That's their job in opposition! Oh please god - just gimme a guillotine !!!!

meme30

Totally agree Mardy, My Mam's pension is going up by a fiver a week and so is her rent! She will be no better off!

GreyQueen

Totally agree with you, Mar, about the fuel. I don't have a car but everything I use, as with us all, is travelling around on diesel and petrol. I buy a coach ticket over to see the folks about every 2 months and it goes up slightly each time.

I'm awaiting my rent increase letter, too. I know the percentage on the basic rent but don't know what the service charges will be until the letter gets here. No choice but to pay it all anyway, so something will have to be cut elsewhere. Gonna go into year 3 of nil pay increase at all, and the 2 years before that was 0.5% and that gave about £4 on my net a month.

Gosh, those were the days, eh?:rotfl:Shoulda invested it in tomatoes and baked beans when I had a chance........

I had a bit of a moment in T*sco a few days ago. You know, when you're bowling past a shelf of something which you've been buying regularly for years and the price has leapt sooooo much that you literally stop in your tracks and do a double-take.

My moment was about their Value Mayonnaise, suddenly hiked to £1.05.:eek: By heck, I bought several of those not that long ago and I'm sure they were 48p a jar, up from 32p a jar not long before that. 100% + inflation, unbelievable! I got several last time as I was using a £3 off £20 spend till-spit and stocked up on non-perishables. Glad I did, because my savings sure as heck aren't getting anything like that kind of return via interest.

Yesterday, I decided that as there is now room in my mini-freezer (I'm making inroads into frozen beans from the lottie last summer) I'd cook 3 FB pies together, which is the maximum that will fit on my baking sheet. One to eat in real time, on two consecutive days, the other 2 to be clingfilmed and frozen and will be warmed thru in the steamer saucepan when I need them. Gotta save a penny or two on the gas.

I'm in process of switching my landline as well as my ISP and am really looking forward to saving some quids every month there. BT were seriously taking the P and when the jacked the price up yet again last December, I hit the point where fury overcame inertia and I decided I'd move the phone when I moved the ISP. All the money that they must make and they can't even keep their call centres in the UK.......

I'm talking to that ISP/ phone company in Yorkshire (and I do love a Yorkshire accent, as well as Welsh and Scottish accents), and they're a cracking bunch of peeps, I must say. I've had a couple of enjoyable calls with the tech services and got a top tip for wrangling my bank from one of them which I shall hold to my shrivelled bosom in case of future need. I reciprocated with a top tip for wrangling a certain insurance company wot I have past knowledge of.............us little people have to stick together is my motto.

Bobbykins, when you mentioned taking the grandchilder to the seaside, I flashed on a piccie in the family album which was taken at a seaside in Blighty in my childbood. It must have been summer but there we all are, except Dad who was behind the camera, in our coats, huddled together and shivering on the shingle beach. Ahh, the early 1970s......'twasn't all beer and skittles, not by a long chalk. We 'ad proper winters back then, with proper ice on the inside of the windows. And we had them in July, too. Central Heating? Never even heard of it..........:rotfl:

Enough gibberish, I need some more tea. Nuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrssssssssseee!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope everyone has a lovely day; I shall be collecting 3 inch nails from bonfire ash after w*rk cos I is a glamourous and important person.......not.

short_bird

GreyQueen wrote: »

I was having a serious wibble about the world ending in Nov 2013, not because of any Mayan calendar or any such, but because I couldn't see any Fray Bentos tinned pies with a use-by date later than Nov 2013. Honestly, everywhere I saw them, I checked, and it was always the same date.Can't tell you how relieved I was to eventually see pies in Lidl with Feb 2014 dates.

Good thing you weren't in our local Wa!trose last week as over half the fresh stuff I intended to buy had a sell by date of 24th Feb:rotfl:

[Deleted User]

GQ - just like Elizabeth Taylor - she had 3" nails too!!!!!!!!! Doesn't get any more glamorous than that can you?

grandma247

GreyQueen wrote: »

I had a bit of a moment in T*sco a few days ago. You know, when you're bowling past a shelf of something which you've been buying regularly for years and the price has leapt sooooo much that you literally stop in your tracks and do a double-take.

I had one of those moments a couple of years ago. I had been making and using hm washing powder for over a year and out of curiosity I walked down the detergents isle. I had to stop myself from screaming out loud. I could not believe how high the prices had gone:eek:. I buy lidl non bio tabs now as the budget is not quite as tight but I will start buying stuff to make the hm powder and store it for when it gets too tight again. I only use one tab per wash instead of the two it recommends. The washing mostly comes out clean but anything that does not gets put back in the next wash.


We used to go to Morecambe in january with our older kids when they were young. It was always sunny but windy and cold. Very bracing:rotfl:we all enjoyed it especially the cafe afterwards. While I was thinking about that I remembered when we lived in Skipton N.Yorks.I used to always wash my blankets in January because although cold it was always very windy and they dried well in the back garden.

Here in sunny (not) lancs it is always wet wet wet. I am keeping myself going with the promise of moving to Lincs in the next year or two.

stiltwalker

Hey grandma247 you used to live in my neck of the woods! I Love it round here, housing costs are scary but it's so beautiful you can't beat it. We're in a small village with a great community spirit and lots of local events going on.
Having a quiet day here, letting the kids have a doss and make mess while I [STRIKE]try to do some OU work[/STRIKE] surf the net! Honest I will get on with it in a bit, who was offering that kick up the derriere?:rotfl:
DD got some funding for a break so we are off to centre parcs on Monday :j so will have a fairly lazy week this week so no one is too tired or achey when we get there. Guess that probably means a fairly quiet week the week after to recover as well. DD now has her K walker from group and she is practising with that at home at doing really well - so proud of my determined little girl.

GQ - you make me laugh as always!

That supersavers made me :eek: all those brands and to me cooked from scratch is so much nicer than out of a jar anyway, let alone the cost. Was so funny when their guests thought the cheap food properly cooked was better than the expensive packaged stuff though.

Won't join the political debate as my post would just turn into a whole lot of exclamation marks however it's safe to say that I'm not terribly impressed with the current shower, but mardy is right the other lot ought to be standing up and shouting about it and they aren't! Sack 'em all, that'd save a pretty penny!