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

ginnyknit

mardatha wrote: »

Shocking
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/286281/Starving-Britain

Thats frightening isnt it, especially the comment about foodbanks being the workhouse of this day and age!

fuddle

It's shocking but very believable too.

The temps are set to go down this week where I am, quite considerably too. Winds are hanging around which adds to the cold. Sat here feeling cold. About to go put electric rad in bathroom for 5 mins to get the children a bath.

I don't mind acting frugally but it's so much harder work... forsight and remembering to make sure living conditions are right in certain rooms at certain times. Another hour and I can think about drawing those curtains, candles on and blankets out. Feeling a little depressed and lonely today. Can't wait for DH to come in now.

One job I have to do is give the small shower room a good clean. Normally it's out of bounds over the winter as it's freezing but we figured it would be better on the gas/water consumption to get it up and running again and now we have the elect rad to put on for 5 mins to heat it up, there's no reason not to really. It's feeling and smelling very mouldy and damp in there and plus we have family staying weds-mon and they like a shower.

I do hope we get to keep this thread this time. I don't know about you all but I really feel I need it right now.

icontinuetodream

Joining too!!! Have spent this year sorting my house and garden so that it is liveable enough to not depress me and make me feel the need to go out all the time, but it has pretty much wiped out every bit of cash I had:eek:
I am absolutely determined to turn into a total [STRIKE]skinflint[/STRIKE] MSE devotee next year.... I have to really hit my mortgage as I am lucky enough to have a stable job as does my dh, but have been through many financially dire periods over the past few years and losing my house has been a real possibility before.... The fear that it instilled in me hasn't gone away and despite all my best efforts and the increase in the cost of living over the past 12 months has shocked me into realising that I have to do something NOW!!!

My fuel bills are enormous....I pay £100 per month on oil (no gas where I am) and about £80 per month on electric :eek:....I live in a rural area, so I have to do a 40 mile round trip to work every day.... as does dh.... and the petrol prices are starting to have a major effect on my budget.....:(

I am spending the next month looking very carefully at what I can do to slash my spending.... I still smoke so that will definately be stopping very, very soon and I drink far too much so will also be cutting back dramatically on that too!!:D

Oops.... I have rambled...sorry about that...I think that I just needed to give myself a severe kick up the proverbial to make me wake up and smell the coffee..... thanks for bearing with me!!:D

silaren

It was very blustery last night but it seems to have turned into a lovely Autumn day with almost clear blue skies.

I'm not looking forward to the temperatures dropping. I had some excess from my electricity bill in the summer due to overpaying on direct debit. That has motivated me to reduce my electricity usage. At the moment, I mainly stick to one room, which I keep fairly warm with a small radiator. One downstairs radiator is left on the lowest setting for the rest of the house so that the pipes are okay. I have used my hot water bottle once and it kept me nice and toasty for hours. I'm hoping that we get a mild December. Don't want the heavy snow, travel chaos and grocery shortages we had last year.

Mrs_Chip

VJsmum - aslong as are going to blend it, and make sure it is cooked until soft, yes you can leave the skin on. I had it like that once in a veg curry at an organic cafe and it was nice so I try not to waste it now. It's good left on BNS chunks when you roast them, it goes all chewy and gives it a bit of texture.

Cat501

ginnyknit wrote: »

Just been round to our little MrA as Oh is too poorly to go shopping tomorrow so making do but needed spuds - note to self - get a sack of spuds! Noticed only one till open and everyone else was being guided to self serve - is that the future, supermarkets with no till staff and us all DIY'ing it? Do the staff realise they are being slowly but surely phased out?

Oh lord I hope not, I just can't use the self service tills, I get so nervous and flustered:( I'm bad enough at a normal till:(

fuddle

Imagine the queues as we all faff on trying to get our trolley loads through the self serves :rotfl:

Maybe during quieter times and Sunday afternoons when we tend to have only bits and bobs it would make sense for them to do that but I can't get away with doing it myself. I always make a mistake and I'm so slow as every beep I have to check it's gone through correctly and at the right price. I always end up offending the carrier bags scales too "unidentified object in bagging area" there's nowt in the bag yet!

Fruball

fuddle wrote: »

Imagine the queues as we all faff on trying to get our trolley loads through the self serves :rotfl:

Maybe during quieter times and Sunday afternoons when we tend to have only bits and bobs it would make sense for them to do that but I can't get away with doing it myself. I always make a mistake and I'm so slow as every beep I have to check it's gone through correctly and at the right price. I always end up offending the carrier bags scales too "unidentified object in bagging area" there's nowt in the bag yet!

I absolutely loathe the self scans and avoid them whenever possible. I would rather queue BUT... on the rare occasions when I do use them, they always go wrong in one way or another so now, when it says stupid things like "unidentified object blah blah" I just take something out of my bag, pop it in a new bag on the floor. And by then I am so frustrated that I do not care even if it scanned or not.

Hateful machines they are.

hornetgirl

Chin up fuddle, you're among like-minded people here. If I'm feeling a bit blue, I find there's nothing better than a read of OS to put me in a more positive frame of mind.

Our biggest expense at the moment is definitely petrol. Food you can always cobble something together from what's in the cupboard, but somehow petrol doesn't seem to work like that unfortunately. We don't live in a rural area, it's more that in the past we've been guilty of making lots of little trips, which soon add up. I'm now trying at the start of each week to look at all the various things I'll be doing, and arranging them to get the best use out of the car each time I use it. Currently we have a car each, but will go down to one at some point in the future - probably sooner rather than later, the way costs are rising.

Tomorrow's big task will be to carry out a freezer audit, with a view to defrosting it in the next week or two. I will then make a mealplan to use up as much stuff that's in there as I possibly can. Usually defrosting means throwing out a couple of unidendifiable lurkers, which I don't want to do this time around if I can help it. There probably also needs to be a resolution at this point about better labelling in future...

Hope everyone's had a great weekend.

westlothianlass

Hi all, Lovely to see the thread reborn, thanks fuddle.
I can sympathise greatly with the stress of petrol prices, we live in a rural location and need the car for work so like many are horrified at the prices just now.
Luckily my OH and I are working but things are definately getting tighter, we are £100 a month for oil and around £40 for electric but at least have the option to have a fire in the bedroom if needed (no sniggering in the back:D).
I love making soup, and can be found making all sorts of combinations depending on whats around and lurking in the veg patch.
The garden was a bit hit and miss this year but we did manage to grow lots of courgette's and kale so working our way through lots of healthy green stuff at the moment.
X