make do and mend for tougher times

prepareathome

Hobsons_Choice wrote: »

Excellent news Smiley...spend it wisely on........nah, go on and treat yourself and loved ones!

When I at last woke up and came on there were 5 pages from all the chatting from when I went to sleep at 11.30am and have been reading and reading but each time I finish two pages another one appears......by golly everyone is in a chatty mood...........still got three pages to go but feel if I don't reply now I will forget what I want to reply to.....

Smileyt I am so happy for you, you deserve a lift and this couldn't have happened at a better time. Don't go spending it all on Nephew you treat yourself girl:T

Pops no one was getting at you my dear friend, that is the worst of this way of communication things can come across nasty or not very nice and they are not meant that way. You are still so fragile at the moment. You are enjoying buying your new things and why not. I do agree that maybe you should consider a new carpet or carpets. Holes are dangerous and runners can move no matter what the blurb says about them.

I use a prepayment credit card, have done for about 6 years now when we realised money was tight and we could end up in debt so cut up normal ones and changed to prepay and use it all the time. I transfer from bank to card for shopping in shops and for on-line purchases and as its one that gives me the exact same as normal ones I have no worries about using it. I don't store money on it though as never have any to do that - at the moment the balance is 7p and will remain so till hubby gets paid next week. I keep cash for shops where I will not be spending much and they like you to spend £5 or more to use card or my newsagent as he charges you £1 to use card.

WMS I hope you will come back, we just had a discussion and its over and finished......this thread is a living one where we discuss all sorts of things that affect us.

Byatt my heart goes out to you my friend, harder for you than sister in a way.....hubbys mum had it and on the whole she was happy enough living in the past, we did avoid reminding her her husband had died in 1976 and sometimes she thought hubby was her hubby and I was a woman trying to take him away from her ( every had a 76 year old very strong(due to her mania) woman go for you, took 4 nurses and social worker to get her off me) yet other times she knew who I was and was lovely.......we just had to go with the flow, on a bad day I just had to stay away from her. Just try to follow her thoughts and live with them.......so if she thinks you are both still at home and young agree and remind her of all the good times- that way you both can have the enjoyment of remembering the old days together.

I have just had a shower and when dry going to get hubby to take me up to Mr S to get some more teabags.......won't go in and buy to many at once say 10 packs today another 10 tomorrow and so on till I build up a respectable amount.

I also want some more tinned tomatoes, am down to last 3 tins, not quite sure how that happened.

Fuddle my storeroom is rather a muddle at moment - most of the AF order is still in its box when I have tidied it up I will post a photo on my blog.

Right back to reading......

Hugs and Lovexxxx

meme30

I have succumbed to feet up, Ginger cake and tea! Olympics are on and I cannot be a**sed! My biggest problem is the 'come and eat me' noises the M*lteasers in the cupboard are making!:rotfl:

fuddle

I've just had a bizarre conversation with DH while he's looking at my sewing machine.

I was talking about me wanting to make my clothes and not buy them to save some money. He said this and I was blown away "Fuddle you have two wardrobes full of cheap tat, stuff you can't sell for more than 99p on ebay, stuff that no one wants. You pay, what £5 - £10? on a pair of those legging things and then sit there after 2 weeks stitching the holes up. This frugal malarky isn't always about cheap is best you know. My grandmother didn't have much money but her wardrobe was full of expensive woollen clothes. Why don't you stop buying from Primark and save up to buy good stuff that will last for ages, fit you better and make you feel good" I swear, he is a bloke honestly. I can't believe that 1) he actually takes any notice, 2) knows what he's talking about and 3) actually has a point.

So I have his permission to buy more expensive pieces as and when I need them but I can't just buy when I fancy something, I have to need it. Is this doable... I mean in the realms of being more frugal. I'm so tuned into cheap, cheap, cheap that it is something that will be difficult to get my head around. Is it ok, as an OSer to invest in clothes or should I get stuff as cheap as I can.

I'm a bit confused, if not a bit excited too. I now need another savings pot.

meme30

I will mainly be trying to dodge the wedding photographer as I hate having my picture taken - I don't mind the formal photos so much (you can always hide behind a tall person) but I fear there will be a photographer on hand all day taking "candid" reportage-style pictures - *shudders*

Me too! I hate having my photo taken and you are right wedding photographers can be a menace!

Fuddle:- Yes he is right! A range of simple classic clothing can last years. 'You only get what you pay for' can be very true. Try and make a list and then go through the sites of more expensive shops to catch their sales. Doing what your DH suggested and being OS!

Mrs_Chip

I think it is what's called a 'capsule' wardrobe Fuddle - have a read here about how to go about it.

ETA - another site

Pooky

I'm building my capsule wardrobe out of CS's at the moment - I cant afford to buy from the shops I'd like to buy from but by being patient I'm building up a collection of decent stuff from the CS. I picked up a fab little short sleved cardi in one last week for £1.99, it looks like it was worn once, maybe twice but would have cost at least £25 new. I bagged a gorgeous bright red, floaty top in another for 50p as the buttons were broken, I didn't have enough matching buttons in the right size so dug out some odd ones and made a feature of it - again it was from a shop that would have been £30 -£40 new.

All this talk of blogs made me go find mine again - just need to remember to update it now!

[Deleted User]

We have just had a mammoth apple juicing session and this years cider is underway. Admittedly we only have one demi-john full of fermenting juice at the moment but I feel like the summer is ending before it has begun. DH turned out the sacks of maincrop potatoes on the lawn and we've had a good sort through. Mostly they are OK but a couple had gone to evil smelling mush so we have taken out all the small ones and they are now cooked and will use them for the next few days in things. Have half a sack that will not keep so we will use them over the next couple of weeks, having given them a good wash today and dried them in the sun.

I would say it is good advice from Mr FUDDLE to buy less but better quality, even from charity shops and it's amazing what does turn up in them. If you have a good market town nearby and can get there it is probably the best place to look. Try for a basic colour scheme, i.e Navy for trousers skirts and jackets, and put in some contrasting accessories and tops, even toning tights and you will look a million dollars. Always think navy with a primary red or blue is smart. Knit yourself matching hats and scarves and you will be an even classier lady!!!!!

Have a good evening all, Cheers Lyn xxx.

mardatha

God you lot talk ! (not me, I a quiet wee mouse, rarely heard)
I wouldn't have the nerve to buy 10 boxes of teabags at once PAH, I usually buy 6 - but the RV walks away and pretends he's not with me -I counted the stash today and its at 32 boxes, I found 2 hiding in another cupboard.
I can't make nice bread like that, I use a Panasonic and they always come out like bricks.
I've overpaid on my rent and asked for a refund, usually takes 2 weeks as my HA are superb. But I phoned them earier in the week and she said I was due £151 ...today I phoned to push them and she said I'm due £240. :eek: So either that money is breeding like hell or else they haven't a clue what they're doing :eek::eek: I hope I get it while the weather is still nice because I want a couple of days up north with it.

prepareathome

I just had a phone call from HA ( well two one was to say my door and shelf for kitchen cupboard had come in so when can they come out to fit them - next Wednesday) to ask exactly what it was I wanted to do with them about store cupboards.

So I explained how I wondered if they would be interested in me teaching other tenants about how to build and use a store cupboard properly.

She got all excited and said this is exactly the kind of information they want to give out to people as they are worried next year when the bedroom tax comes in and whatever our council decide over council tax cuts hit and the fact people are going to be given their own rent benefit to pay themselves to the HA(I never knew we were going back to that, I know that was done years ago and government changed it to stop people spending their rent on other things, so we really are going backwards).

She said they want to educate tenants on Money Management and how to live with in a budget and how to cook healthy meals instead of buying ready made. They hoping to start a steering group on Healthy Initiatives that covers all this so my store cupboard idea fits in well with it. She also asked me if I knew anything about preparing for emergencies at home, me I ask you so she got more info than she needed at the moment and informed my my ideas fall into to categories they are hoping to get off the group the healthy ideas and preparing for emergencies and how there were some small grants around £500 available to help tenants develop the ideas for others. So I am now waiting for someone else to get back to me about this.

So I definitely chose the right time to approach them and its right up their street and what they are looking for now, no-one had thought of storecupboarding to help people they were concentrating on helping people manage their money and cooking on a budget but she admitted they only thought of people going out each time they got their money and buying in then. She asked me if I would be able to advise on what people should store and where and told her yes........told her the number one rule for a storecupboard is never to buy what you or your family will not eat or use, even if something is 1p its still expensive as the last time you want to eat things you don't like is when things are tight and you have to live on what you had in. She said she has always kept in some tins of things they don't like but as she got them on offer she thought they would be handy to put away, I told her if they really don't like them either to swap them with someone who does for something they will eat or just pass the on to a foodbank if in date. its the mistake so many, many people make when starting a store cupboard........

So will wait and see what happens.

We popped out to Mr S and I ended up buying 20 boxes of teabags and another 9 tins of tomatoes will buy more after hubby is paid next week. I got there just as second reductions were being made and there was plenty of food still in YS area so came home with lamb steaks, beef mince, lamb mince, corn fed organic chicken breasts - original price £7( never normally by breasts as so expensive), rump steak, a beef joint in onion and red wine sauce which is cooking in Scarlet as I type - you cook the beef for 40 mins the add the sauce and cook for another 10 mins....for £2.50 instead of £5 I was quite happy to buy it, never normally buy things like this as to dear so make my own sauces. Just checked it and put it on for another 20 mins as seems still a bit tough to me. Am cooking it on the low stand as didn't want top to cook but inside stay raw.

Full price for what I bought comes to £42.22 and I paid £20.82 and got enough mains for about 2 weeks min as when I got home I portioned everything I could up. Ok some-things I would never buy but thanks to the reductions I was able to.

Hugs and Lovexxxx

kate1974

To Tink-I think you asked about ideas for SC?
There's a link to forum

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/43570

I wouldn't live without mine-it's 4 in 1(porridge-maker,rice-maker,steam-and slow-cooker) and my lifesaver!
HTH
Kate