make do and mend for tougher times

recoverydust

If it helps anyone having issues with their children and education/childcare, in a former life I wrote the book literally on the law and out of school childcare and education, I was also an education advisor for the same and a childcare quality inspector for the government.
I am happy to assist on the board, in my debt free-diary or by pm.

what i have read here is atrocious!

xx

silvasava

FuddleDon't know if its any help but Carnation tinned milk has added vitamins & minerals & can be used for babies & young children. I know its OK 'cos DS2 was 6 weeks prem & fed on it - he's now a very sturdy six footer! ( I also used it once to bottle feed 6 baby rabbits that DS1 had 'found')

prepareathome

Fuddle I give you permission NOT to feel guilty at not going to the party. If your daughters are happy staying home so there is no reason to go and certainly nothing to feel guilty about. So you have permission not to OK?

Hugs and Love xxxxx

Rosanna79

Evie
I haven't been around for a few days so have pages to catch up on. However when I saw your query about wedding gifts I HAD to reply at once!!

My cousin's youngest daughter is getting married in about 2 1/2 weeks time & I too couldn't get my head around the blatant request for money on our invitation to the EVENING do- I thought 50 quid would be the minimum one could give these days but as even her mother pointed out one can only give what one can afford...


I'd been attending a patchwork class during which I'd made a beautiful , lined tote / shopping bag which went into the learner's exhibition as well as a patchwork cushion, also in the exhibition which fits inside the bag.

Friends pointed out that having put so much time and effort into the construction of these craft pieces £25 should be more than enough in cash for this young women who spends money like water .

I went away to think about this. The facts are that I'm a pensioner- time rich but cash poor with a set of skills that enable me to make one off things for people, often from recycled materials,

Rather than put the £25 in an envelope (like everyone else) & then into the bag I took the patchwork theme a step further and constructed a crazy patchwork money wallet to hold the notes which fastens with gold ribbon. The latter item was made entirely by hand and took me several days!!...

I guess what I'm saying Evie is that despite what appears to be modern ways over weddings DO NOT let yourself be intimidated into giving what you cannot afford,

If £25 is your absolute ceiling, stick to that and think of a novel way to present it to the couple concerned.

For Example
When my cousin's three boys had their last birthdays in June OH made DVD covers with film titles about money,-' Money Train' etc....got the images off the net I think- and put money in each DVD case for each boy rather than DVDs!. They loved the joke.. Perhaps you could think of something similar with a wedding theme?

One thing is certain for my cousin's youngest, she knows OH & I are very individual so will not be too surprised that we have taken our own slant on her request!!

OH is an amazing calligrapher so writes all the cards which, in themselves are works of art.

Good luck with this - I just wanted to send support..
Cheers Rosanna

mardatha

I'm another one who raised babies on Carnation- they did fine and are not fat adults
Fuddle 4mm is too big for socks you need 3/3.25/3.5 and for rib you can do anything you like, 3 & 1 or 2 & 2 etc. As soon as you get past the first couple of rows you'll see what you're doing.
I got a load of meat at Costco today, lamb mince and stew and chicken. Now watch this space - bet the bloody freezer dies on me

prepareathome

I haven't posted but I lurk on the hoarders thread (started by JoJo) and its inspiring me.

For past months I literally have been dumping my food containers in corner of kitchen in a cardboard box as cupboards were full. The ones above and below the oven had literally got filled with junk as well as once in a while dishes.

Yesterday piled did as expected and toppled over into a heap on floor so last night inspired by the thread instead of just dumping them back in the box I cleared out the bottom cupboard and now instead of my food storage boxes in that cardboard box I have it filled with bits and bobs like dessert bowls, glass jugs and other miscellaneous stuff I know I will never use again but was holding onto just incase.

This has now been offered on freecycle as would suit someone who car boots(hubby totally refuses to do it) and if no takers will go off to charity shop as everything is usable and there are some desert sets.

Today once I am up to it I will tackle the top cupboard, although all the food storage boxes now live happily on one shelf in bottom cupboard and bottom one contains things like flasks of which I seem to have 10 of various sizes mostly of stainless steel, which have been cluttering up other cupboards or sides. I cannot quite bring myself to give them away yet, maybe one day.

The few bits I did keep from bottom cupboard are now with others of their ilk -serving dishes mainly cupboard already being used for that.

So once that is done kitchen will be back to totally tidy again with everything in its place......some flasks were even living in tin cupboard:eek: taking up valuable space.

Thanks to the hoarding thread I even did a cull of my clothes and so charity shop benefited and other week actually saw one of my dresses on sale for £15 ( the laughable thing is I bought it from same shop about 5 years ago in their fill a bag for a pound day, something they never seem to do now)

Hugs and Lovexxxxx

Byatt

This is the draft consultation document for my council and CTB changes in April 2013. From Sept this year I will be entitled to 100% because of the huge drop in my income. Then from April I will have to find 30% of any CT no matter how low my income (or my DD's income) is.

A summary of our draft local Council Tax Support scheme

The draft local Council Tax Support Scheme for working age customers in E D is, in summary, the current Council Tax Benefit scheme with the following five changes:
Change one: everyone should pay something towards their Council tax
Currently we are able to help people on the lowest incomes by paying all of their Council Tax (100 per cent). Under the new Council Tax Support scheme, everyone of working age who now gets Council Tax Benefit would pay an extra 30 per cent of their full Council Tax. This would be on top of whatever level of Council Tax they are already paying. This means the maximum amount of Council Tax Support that could be claimed is reduced from 100 per cent to 70 per cent.
Change two: limit the amount of Council tax support to a Band D charge
Currently there are no restrictions on the amount of Council Tax Benefit that can be paid. This means that a person on a low income could get all their Council Tax paid even if they live in a large house in a high Council Tax band. The lowest band is an A, with the highest being an H. Change two would limit this to the Band D charge, which is the average band. So, if you live in a Band E, F, G or H property, we would reduce your Council Tax Support to that of a Band D householder.
Change three: reduce the savings limit from £16,000 to £3,000 for working-age people
At present, a person is not entitled to Council Tax Benefit if their savings and investments are £16,000 or above. This includes savings of a partner. Under change three, working-age people with savings and investments of £3,000 and above would not be entitled to any Council Tax Support
Change four: stop second adult rebate
Currently, Second Adult Rebate can apply when there is one person in a property who should pay Council Tax but they live with someone over the age of 18 on a low income (not a partner, lodger or tenant). Council Tax Benefit of up to 25 per cent can be given without the main person’s income being taken into account. Under change four, Second Adult Rebate would be abolished and Council Tax Support would only be considered by taking both incomes into account.
Change five: additional support for exceptional cases of hardship /vulnerability
Under our draft Council Tax Support scheme, this new fund would enable E D District Council to provide a ‘safety net’ to ensure that where there is exceptional need, up to 100 per cent relief can still be given. We recognise that the circumstances of some of our working-age customers mean that further help will be necessary and this is why we want to include this proposal.

Possession

Fuddle I imagine instant mash would be good for inside a pie. I wish I liked it as for some reason I have a real dislike of making mashed potato. I'm naturally lazy and it always seems such an effort, LOL. I wonder if it would taste OK as bubble and squeak? Might have to do a little experiment when I've recovered from the gnocchi mountain.

mama67

GreyQueen wrote: »

PAH, I've had aMum and I once rescued an elderly Singer from a jumble sale where we were helpers. It hadn't sold and the organiser wanted to bin it. That didn't sit well with thrifters like us, let me tell you. It wasn't one of those gorgeous black-and-golds but a more prosaic model, probably 1960s, which had been pimped with a motor. It didn't work.

I have 2 of those black and gold hand turned machines in my loft, one was my gr nannas, and i learnt to sew on it, the other was a friend of my nannas and she gave it to my mum.

SDG31000

Hello Everyone

katieowl I am fuming on your family's behalf. I would get everyone possible involved and give them hell. I assume you are registered as a B&B, so I would give the landlord the bill for having your DD and her BF stay.

Evie DH once gave me money as a birthday present inside a helium filled balloon that was inside another balloon. Also there are pages on the interweb showing how to fold money into other shapes.

kidcat I would definitely put in a formal complaint about that *person's* behaviour. The fact that he followed your son to continue shouting at him is unexcusable.

Today I had a minor meltdown at all the chaos in the house and went upstairs to get dressed and then left to go to a sewing lesson with my friend and her Mom. Thankfully the family took notice and sorted some of the mess out.
I almost managed to make my first thing (A knitting needle case) but then the tension on the machine started playing up. My friend's son has had a play with it and says he has sorted it. So I will go and finish it tomorrow after I've painted DS2's room. It has been just too wet to do it today.
I've made pastry for the pasties and have chopped up the veg to go in them. I've also fried off some onions and cooked some diced potatoes for an experiment. I'm going to mix in garlic and herb cream cheese, grated cheese and chopped salami, put it in puff pastry and bake them off. I've got no idea if it will work, but figure it's worth a try. I still have to work out what else to make, but probably a curry and beef in red wine.

Take care everyone xxxx