make do and mend for tougher times

GreyQueen

fuddle wrote: »

Thanks pooky, it makes utter sense to me. I have heard that the grants may not be available in the future though. I'm not surprised really. I'm going to concentrate on my outdoor space pooky - the boxes were for sand and water toys (milk cartons, plastic food containers, old seive, cheap funnel, piece of hose, bit of guttering etc) I'm going to make bunting for outdoors and hunt out the waterproofs the girls had. I plan to make the outdoor space an all weather area, as best I can because there's nothing worse than sending your child to a child minder who has them holed up indoors all day - believe me I know that and felt horrible knowing that my little one was in a living room day in day out just playing with a box of toys. I'm a determined little miss and I want to be the best I can possibly be with this. I had not thought about highchairs, pushchairs etc. I think carbookts are going to be my friend.

Just read about a blog on OS. Frugal in cornwall. Going to hunt it out and then make a move to sort this birds nest I have on my head.

Kids going to have grilled sausage sandwiches on HM bread for breakfast as they need using up - I am going to have fruit and yoghurt in the hope I can loose a few pounds.

Save you a hunt; http://frugalincornwall.blogspot.co.uk/

I found it by accident 2 years ago come autumn and it's excellent. Enjoy!

Popperwell

Remember the chat the other day about avoiding a daily shower/bath and should you have sponge down at the sink and most of us admit to doing so...

Well look at this...

http://frugalincornwall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/frugal-cleanliness.html

smileyt_2

Have only just lugged my sorry carcass out of bed! Just wanted to suggest to Pops that you look into community transport/ring and ride. You might be able to get subsidised transport through them once or twice a week to go shopping or to a social group of some sort. My Dad was a busdriver for the ring and ride service locally for a while and he loved it because the old ladies used to give him chocolate :rotfl:. He also said there was a real community feel on the bus because the regulars for each day got to know each other.

Have decided to give up my allotment to the people who are running the community allotment on the site. I just can't get on top of it. I will keep a small bit for myself, about a fifth of what I have now, and the rest will be taken over by them and I will join in. It's a waste having my plot standing empty and weed-strewn if there's an army of volunteers who could make it productive and share out the produce.

They're also going to get some chickens :j.

Right, best crack on. I'll just finish my tea and then I'll be off with the dogs. At least it's not raining at the moment ..... we had torrential downpours last night.

Have a good day.

short_bird

I hear that vinegar is a weedkiller but can't back that up with personal evidence from my 9th floor vantage point...:D

sammy_kaye18

fuddle wrote: »

Also, my children have a piggy bank and save any pocket money they get in there. I'm keen to teach the girls about good money decisions and bad and thought about opening the eldest daughter a savings account for her 8th birthday. What do you think? Too young or a sensible idea?

Fuddle - both my kids have savings accounts and they are 8 and 2 and they have had them since birth. I put any birthday/pocket money they get into them and as soon as it reaches £100 then it is transfered to their trust fund.

Thankfully for me Ben is quite money concious. He asked for a new game the other day for his XBOX and I couldnt afford it but he said he would trade in old games he'd finished. What we didnt know was it was a bonus day in the game store and if you traded in 3 games they gave you an extra 10, he had 7 games in total to trade - 2 were mine that I had finished and it total he came away with £35 of store credit so he brought himself two cheap games that he wanted for £7.99 each and still has roughly £20 on his card and as soon as he finishes one game or gets bored with it he trades it in and adds to it again.

I dont think you can ever teach children too early about money.

Although I will ask about pocket money to others........Ben is 8, he gets £10 a month.....so £2.50 a week but he does chores to earn 50p extra pennies.....like feeding the dog (my dog is daft as a brush but hes still supervised) , tidying his room and I do buy him either 2 packs of football stickers as a treat for helping me with the shopping as he is my list keeper and reader. He also keeps my running tally if I accidentally reset my phone calculator! Everywhere else Ive looked though say for at his age they are giving their children almost £7 a week! Is that a bit much or am I being unfair? How much do your kids get?

Popperwell

short_bird wrote: »

I hear that vinegar is a weedkiller but can't back that up with personal evidence from my 9th floor vantage point...:D

I think you are right but I can't remember which one...might be picling vinegar as I think white is used for cleaning.

fuddle

No you're not being at all unfair sammy. Your little one gets more than mine who is 7. I don't have a weekly amount at this stage but if she does something helpful in the house, tries and does it well she'll get 50p or £1 depending on the effort (and if she's saving for something ) I wouldn't say she gets more than £5 per month and sometimes not even that amount.

She has to work for her pennies - I think I'm the cruel one lol

meme30

How the H*ll do they afford £7 a week? :eek: If you have three children thats over £80 a month!
I think you have a good system so I would stick to it. It sounds like you have a little star there!:T

Popperwell

I'm talking of older children but I see some teenagers buying say a bottle of coke and crisps in the supermarket and that's perhaps £1.50 spent on two items so easily! Is that out of pocket money. A treat when asked for. Are they getting a lot?

We know that our own money doesn't go very far so pocket money doesn't either. If you can afford £2.50 a week and he seems careful and uses his PM wisely, I think it seems ok...but again, I have no children and my contact with that side of life is practically non-existant.

littlecal

Many years ago I used to run a catalogue (does that still happen?) and DS was desperate for a computer game.It cost £19.99 and as he had £1 a week from each set of GPs,I allowed him to buy the game,explaining that it wasn't me he was paying but the company.

After about 10 weeks,he was fed up with the game and moaned for the next 10 weeks about having to hand over his £1.:D
My ExH's parents were appalled that I wouldn't pay for it!
BUT,I think he learned the difference between want and need.Like a lot of people,I've "needed" to have things weekly/monthly,especially when DS was little.

Oh dear,I'm not saying this very well am I? What I'm trying to say is that,now,he shops and cooks on a limited budget and has his accounts labelled as need and want so that IF he has money left over at the end of the month-even a pound or two-that goes into the want pot.

Hmmmm - must find his halo and give it a polish! :rotfl::rotfl: