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

mardatha

Totally agree with the last sentence meme - this is how its going to be and we need to work around it and find our own way to beat it !

elona

Mardatha

I agree with you. It can make you feel so helpless when
all the changes seem to be for the worse,later pensions, later bus pass, more tax etc.

We lose £80 a month in tax credits now but would eventually
have not got it when dd goes to uni etc so trying not to focus on
what we have not got but on sneaky ways to make more of what we have. DH is starting to grow veg and herbs and enjoying having a garden at last and I am collecting up yellow stickered stuff and freezing it and stockpiling on tins, toiletries and toilet paper etc. when there is a good offer.

Approved food has saved us a load of money and even DH has stopped groaning when there is a delivery since I pointed out that over £100 s worth of goods for around £30 was something not even he could quibble at.

Sent dd and BF back after a visit at the weekend with loads of toilet rolls, washing up liquid, detergent,shower gels, tins of tomatoes. some rice, noodles, stir fry sauces and meat from the freezer. DD a bit embarrassed by all the stuff I had in cupboards but it was a godsend when I was ill or the weather was bad and it will all get used.

Have adopted the idea that "All we can do - is all we can do!" and trying to make it a game to squeeze all we can from our pensions. We don't got state pensions till January or a bus pass for me which would save quite a bit as we try not to use the car much.

maryb

All I want for my girls is to have a Good Enough job and a happy life. I've done the high powered career, working full time with small children and I burned out.

I want for them a job that pays enough for a comfortable but not extravagant life, one they can live with for as long as they have to keep working and one with the possibility of flexibility in those exhausting years with young children and where it's not Rank and Yank (ie every year they routinely get rid of anyone in the bottom 10% deemed to be 'underperforming' - you can imagine how objective a boss who doesn't like you will be about that, can't you).

It doesn't seem as if that should be too much to ask - but I suspect very few people will attain that

mardatha

Having the mental age and outlook of Beryl the Peril - I look on TPTB as the enemy and us as guerilla fighters :D it's a constant state of war!
Anybody wants a black balaclava knitted just gimme a shout

smileyt_2

Mardatha, can I have a purple balaclava please, with purple sparkles on it? Black isn't my colour. Thank you. :rotfl:

VJsmum

maryb wrote: »

All I want for my girls is to have a Good Enough job and a happy life. I've done the high powered career, working full time with small children and I burned out.

I want for them a job that pays enough for a comfortable but not extravagant life, one they can live with for as long as they have to keep working and one with the possibility of flexibility in those exhausting years with young children and where it's not Rank and Yank (ie every year they routinely get rid of anyone in the bottom 10% deemed to be 'underperforming' - you can imagine how objective a boss who doesn't like you will be about that, can't you).

It doesn't seem as if that should be too much to ask - but I suspect very few people will attain that

This is one of the reasons that I stick with my job, despite being at screaming point with it on occasion. I teach part time in University and, as long as I don't physically have to be there to teach, I can work at home. Therefore, it has always been quite flexible - there have been few sports days or assemblies missed over the last 11 years. It is about having choices, I feel. I have tried to instill that into my 2 - keep your options open as much as possible and the better qualified you can be, the more choices you will have. Be a train driver / bin man / doctor / whatever because you want to be not because you can't do anything else.

Mind you train drivers have a cushdy time - lots of leave and a fair amount of money. Bl00dy boring job tho.

maryb

I've always told them, make sure you have a Plan B. Whatever Plan A consists of

I'm sure if it's what they want either of them could land a high paying job but once you are in a job like that and you get the lifestyle that goes with it, you can end up trapped and it's very hard to walk away.

And I see a lot of young women walk out of good jobs when they have children. I'd have loved to stay home when my two were born but DH lost his job while I was on maternity leave so back I went. And lucky I was able to. I tell them to go for a job with flexibility if they can, and work part time. Because even if husband earns a fortune, no woman knows in advance that she'll escape all the 4 Ds - Divorce, Death, Disability, Downsizing. And it's easier to ramp up an existing career that's been pootling along than to try and start again having been out of the jobs market for years

Byatt

maryb wrote: »

I've always told them, make sure you have a Plan B. Whatever Plan A consists of

I'm sure if it's what they want either of them could land a high paying job but once you are in a job like that and you get the lifestyle that goes with it, you can end up trapped and it's very hard to walk away.

And I see a lot of young women walk out of good jobs when they have children. I'd have loved to stay home when my two were born but DH lost his job while I was on maternity leave so back I went. And lucky I was able to. I tell them to go for a job with flexibility if they can, and work part time. Because even if husband earns a fortune, no woman knows in advance that she'll escape all the 4 Ds - Divorce, Death, Disability, Downsizing. And it's easier to ramp up an existing career that's been pootling along than to try and start again having been out of the jobs market for years

Absolutely! :T:T

bupster

I am in exactly that sort of situation - stuck in a job I've begun to hate, with very little flexibility, but I can't leave yet because I need to pay off debts. I am desperate to do something more flexible/part time - but don't even have time to apply!

Anyway, it could be worse, at least I have a job, and it covers my outgoings, and there's only me to worry about.

Saw today that the drought zones have been extended - this could mean food prices going up further, especially for things like spuds and peas that are quite water intensive, so if you eat a lot of them, you might want to stock up soon.

grandma247

The trouble is people will not be able to stock up on potatoes and peas unless they have a huge freezer or buy tinned.
Another alternative is to dry or pressure can them but you need equipment and know how for that.
I will probably buy frozen peas and potatoes to dry and can with a few potatoes frozen as roasties and chips.. I get mine cheap from the local Asian supermarket.
I will be doing that anyway because we are going to do the jobs needed in the house and pay off the remaining mortgage this year so we can sell next spring.

This has been a horrible year so far with deaths and serious illness among friends and now family.

We have had a fair bit of sunshine the last few days and I am trying to make the most of it even though it is cold. It makes me feel so much better.