make do and mend for tougher times

GreyQueen

prepareathome wrote: »

GQ I hope you have moved yourself into the kitchen and actually cooking something properly if not you will have me on your back (pops you as well) I am still all worked up looking to take on the world:rotfl:

Oh yes Katieowl I would happily phone TV/Papers/MPs/Housing Ombudsman etc for you, just say the word...........:mad:

Not been great at keeping up my blog but think its about time I started putting down what I think is wrong with this country and what us poor serfs can do about it..........will start a revolution that will beat the French and Russian one hands down....yes am in fighting mode now.......so long as I have my painkillers:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I'm cooking, I'm cooking! Steamed carrots and leftover pasta-thing (all veggies and tinned tommies) and will have it with coleslaw and a fresh orange for pudding.

Great idea about the revolution......can I play? Mardatha has already expressed an interest in bringing her knitting along to the guillotine. I'm afraid whenever I see the porcine self-satisfaction of Eric Pickles, I itch to reach for the carving knife.

They're lucky I'm a sane and law-abiding person.

Hark! Was that the rumble of the tumbrels across the cobblestones.......? Will there be gruel for tea...........?

OMG, it has suddenly got nearly dark.......... better be an incoming rainstorm because if it's TEOTWAWKI, I really am not in the mood and will be very cross..........:rotfl:

Popperwell

fuddle wrote: »

Yes DH is a tax payer and I intend to be one again when I can get the childminding going. It's definitely a good idea to not have all your eggs in one basket isn't it?

Here's a question. You know how savings are means tested? Would the fact you have a private pension effect whether or not you can get help from the state should you need it? I can't imagine we'll have a lot of money to retire on. I suppose nobody knows what is going to happen in the next 5 years let alone the next 40

I would say yes...they want you to save but in the next breath if you have too much(and I think the threshold is £16,000)it can affect all kinds of things you are entitled to. Of course you hope/they hope you'll get a job quickly so you don't see your savings reduce too much but it's not like that any more.

So if saving you either need very little so you can claim or a lot so you can survive without being helped. But then you have the carry on about building up NI contributions to go towards getting a state pension.

fuddle

I suppose I have time on my side pops. I know this now and will have to try my damnedest to try to stand on our own two feet when we retire. Another one would be to try to get back on the housing ladder and get the mortgage paid off before we're 68. I doubt the pension would cover the rent. I just don't know how to save any more

Possession

I'm pretty sure pensions are exempt from means-tested benefits Fuddle, as you can't get to them until you're the right age IYSWIM.
DD exhausts me, she's such a drama queen. One minute she's at death's door the next minute she's bouncing around declaring Glory Be for the Baked Potato. I can't keep up.

Popperwell

GreyQueen wrote: »

Thanks for the well-wishes, people; you really are a bunch of :A. I'm still feeling a bit out-of-it and exhausted. Wasn't helped by being too stressed to eat last night. Don't really feel like eating today TBH but can't carry on like that so will eat something with fresh greens etc in a while. When you're not too well anyway, these things really send you into a tailspin. I still can't get over the sheer unutterable incompetance of it, it really rocks your confidence. I'm lucky that I'm articulate and able and have a background in admin and can handle such things but what about some poor soul who is barely literate?

Well, gonna go start cooking a meal and I'm sure that when I've had that I will feel a lot less jangly.

Laters, GQ x

I was so sorry to read of your brown envelope moment. I had such a moment in May on my birthday and was told benefits had stopped/suspended and I was £500 in rent arrears. I panicked, cried(I admit)and it turned out to be a mistake(thankfully)

And now after those documentaries on Monday, news that the tests for the new replacement of DLA has been awarded to the same company and I have my form to return about whether I am entitled to IS I cannot rest and my appetite has disappeared.

I hope I have filled the form in ok...they want it back by Monday and I cannot get an appointment with CAB for weeks or the next date where you just turn up is Tuesday.

The was a box that asked if you or anyone you claim for is "Sick" so I have written in some of the symptoms why I get DLA...

I would not be so bad if it wasn't having to deal with the DWP and much as I miss Mum and don't like being without her, I cannot change things but this has directed my mind elsewhere and I cannot rest. It's so unlike me.

But its all the unknowns about the future. Sorry to turn it onto myself but I can understand why you feel as you do GQ.

[Deleted User]

I only just read back, pages and pages. My heart went thump for GQ, they have just no idea!!! and Kate, I wish I had a big caravan to lend you, bl**dy hell, how can any human being treat others so very badly

Fuddle, that`s a very useful pattern, I have ordered it

Popperwell

Pensions may be different as Possesion says, savings are the problem...

Popperwell

Just seen this to do with WCA...
http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/breaking-news-possible-new-wca.html

Could this affect anyone on here?

westcoastscot

GreyQueen wrote: »

:

OMG, it has suddenly got nearly dark.......... better be an incoming rainstorm because if it's TEOTWAWKI, I really am not in the mood and will be very cross..........:rotfl:

I'm too tired to come out to play this evening, so can we save TEOTWAWKI for another day please??? thanks!

WCS

HariboJunkie

Molly41 wrote: »

I am beginning to feel just a little bit more positive about my brown envelope moment of last week. I have just had an email from my physio who very kindly wrote a letter in my support to say that the decision is farcical. He will also write (along with my GP) so hoping this will help. My MP, who is conservative, has asked me what she can do to help. What does anyone suggest I say to that?

Just give her all the facts and she will pursue it for you. Good luck. x

Sorry to hear of all the worries over brown envelopes. Well done for sorting yours out GQ. :T

Hope you can get things sorted Katie. x

mardatha wrote: »

Use a spindle fuddle but prepare to go slowly mad.
I missed kittie saying that, but Windy Wilson on FB said it wouldn't make all that much difference to Scotland anyway so I wasn't expecting a heatwave Is like autumn here and last night it was dark and I had to put the lights on - usually in summer up here it's light until bedtime.

Sorry Mar but we've not had a bad summer on this side. The odd rainy day here and there but lots of lovely sunny days too. It's a beautiful evening and OH and I are about to head to the beach for a spot of foraging. :cool:

The garden is liking the weather too and the veggies are flourishing. Picked the first brocolli, sugar snap peas, purple kale and courgettes tonight. Raspberries have done brilliantly so tommorrow I will begin the jam making.

OH's business has taken a significant upturn which is fabulous and testimony to how hard he is working . Two new contracts have been agreed and I feel a bit more secure in our future. I realise that alot of you are still facing hardship and
I'm mindful of that but still very proud of my hubby . I'm helping him a lot more now and between that and having the children off school I have reduced my MSE time significantly so sorry if I've missed and news.

Take care all. x