make do and mend for tougher times

Shropshirelass

Normal September weather - what a relief!

Hope this lasts into next week, as we are having a week in Scotland - Galloway (south coast), so reasonably hopeful of warm weather still. We go self catering, and were lucky to get a reduced price as out of high season and we booked late - I think the holiday industry may be suffering in this time of tightening belts. I have some (hm) frozen meals to take with us, but hope we will find some locally-caught fish to buy, hubby loves fish and we often come back from holiday with freezerbox full! Unfortunately he's not up to catching them himself anymore!

Taking Doggins with us for the first time, I'm sure he will behave well He is well mannered in the house, but not too keen on other dogs getting very close.:eek:

I have a lot of plans for when we get back, need to smarten up the house ready for visitors in December, and will be renovating a few tatty pine pieces, and making new cushions and brightening up bedding in spare rooms.

I need a good rest first ... I'll be putting my feet up after tea and watching the Wartime Farm. Enjoy it everyone!:)

SpikyHedgehog

Possession wrote: »

Sorry your hours are going to be cut Spiky......times are really getting tough aren't they?
DH's interview didn't go that well today he thinks - that's the first time he's said that. Still waiting on the dates of the two 2nd interviews he's supposed to be having.

They are indeed... DS1 admitted he was worried about my work & that was why he seemed so grumpy. I said I could understand that, but we'll be ok (& we will. We rent a HA house, so the rent is low & I can get help with it, I know how to budget for food & keep the house warm, I've got the materials ready to make xmas presents.for family. Sure, the boys won't get the moon for DS1's birthday or for Christmas, but I wouldn't get the moon on principle.)

Maybe seeming like it didn't go well is a good sign? Unless he wouldn't want to work there? Fingers crossed for him!

prepareathome

Any type of metal container so long as suitable for food should be fine,you could pick up cheapo baking tray and use that.

I am so tired as I have just talked for nearly two hours am not used to it and was ok while girl was here but minute she went I dropped. She came at 2.15pm. and left at 4.20pm.

Told her about not only this site but this thread so she might appear here.

She told me projected loss of revenue from rents for our HA per year once bedroom tax comes in is £1 million, seems such a lot but so many are on full or partial HB.

When HAs started buying council houses they went for the better areas, the ones that had more people employed and so by time government said all social housing had to be brought up to date apart from our area, which basically was overlooked and always has been with there being so few homes,the areas left were not exactly in decent areas (as friend I have in one of them calls it mini Beirut as they have had so much trouble personally and in area). So as many decent people as possible left these areas and I think those left just gave up and thought might as well spend money on nice things rather than bills if they could afford both.

They are trying to inform people about bedroom tax as most don't know about it and basically shrug their shoulders as they are in thousands of pounds in debt with power companies and even more never pay water rates.

For many its not because they cannot afford it because the money is spent on food, its because the money is spent at Bright house and places like that on the big TVs etc. Told her same happening here now, but those houses are either privately owned or rented. She saw ours is the silver big tv that is now about 10 years old was expensive at the time but we got it as it was digital so ready from when we changed which was a few years ago now, and will not be replaced until it is unfixable.

Peoples attitude basically is well they will not cut us off because of the children so why pay, we want a big tv and have no idea how to prepare a meal for under £5 a night so why bother learning to do so just don't pay for fuel and water and we can carry on the way we are.

So certainly going to be fun making them realise a storecupboard will be useful.

Ah well I can but try and if they don't, they don't they will have no-one to blame if they find they are being evicted for non-payment of rent.


She asked me why I had not got the new door - nope I never said a word - so told her everything and she promised she would be contacting the improvements team to see about it as she said door would no way last 5 years.

So we will see what future brings .

Oh got phone call from mobility scooter engineer about my annual service, received letter about it a few weeks ago and keep forgetting to arrange it. He wanted to come tomorrow morning so I said fine, I have a sneaking suspicion that his phoning and coming tomorrow is not good service but more that mobility are worried that I might have sold the scooter with not arranging the service yet. Been a few cases of that in the papers lately......well he will come and find it piled up with all sorts in the hall unless I feel energetic enough to go and clear it, its mainly newspapers.

Oh yes girl ( for that is what she is to me, lovely but a girl even though she is a mum) told me M&S have a budget range of foodstuffs now that is very good, not been to there for a good few years so next week hubby is off so we will nip down to retail park where nearest is to have a look.

Hugs and Love to all xxx

Possession

SpikyHedgehog wrote: »

They are indeed... DS1 admitted he was worried about my work & that was why he seemed so grumpy. I said I could understand that, but we'll be ok (& we will. We rent a HA house, so the rent is low & I can get help with it, I know how to budget for food & keep the house warm, I've got the materials ready to make xmas presents.for family. Sure, the boys won't get the moon for DS1's birthday or for Christmas, but I wouldn't get the moon on principle.)

Maybe seeming like it didn't go well is a good sign? Unless he wouldn't want to work there? Fingers crossed for him!

Poor DS. I worry about the worrying (if that makes sense?). DD was so pleased I said she could do Irish dancing yesterday she gave me a huge hug and said she'd pay for the lessons herself out of the ebay money for her toys. I hope she won't have to!
Actually DH wouldn't really want that job if he had the choice, but he feels like he has to take anything that's offered at the moment and be grateful for it. I'm not sure anyone can be too choosy in this job market. On the other hand, the last thing I want is him being so stressed again and going to back to full blown panic attacks every day, so it's a vicious circle really. But a lower stress job than he had before would be appreciated.

shegar

Dont forget at 8 on BBC2 Wartime Farm tonight that will be worth a watch..................

monnagran

Hi all.

Happy Birthday Fuddle. Enjoy your day and glad you've decided to stick around. As to the Moaning Minnie, I'd decided ages ago that it wasn't a real person. I've met some self absorbed people in my time.....!

Lavenderbees: Don't come on to my patch! I've been looking for years for a 95 year-old millionaire with one foot in the grave and the other on a bar of soap. If I spot one HE'S MINE. If I spot two I'll let you know. The rest of you can form an orderly queue.

Malfiore: Was it you who wanted to know if I had any interesting books about the 40s? Someone did and I can't for the life of me remember who.

I am trying so hard to get the house up to scratch because I really don't feel justified in getting out my hobby bits and pieces until it is.
I would love to have a go at making some bags, or doing a bit of quilting but there never seems to be time. I do knit when I sit down of an evening. At the moment doing Christmas stockings and frilly scarves for the Christmas fair. I'm having a stall for the Drop-in and hoping to get enough to give them all a gift at Christmas.
At Easter I knitted little chicks with a choc creme egg in their tummies and gave all our clients one of those. One heavily tattoed, shaved head, muliply pierced young man was in tears as he tenderly stroked his, swearing that he would keep it forever. It's hard to accept that something so tiny should mean so much.

Right. Emmerdale's on. I'm off.

charlies-aunt

westcoastscot wrote: »

Charlies Aunt I asked here about discretionary housing benefit for my clients when the BT was first mentioned, most of whom will be affected. Been told its a finite pot and very small :-). We're planning to support all our clients to apply - the paperwork process is lengthy and time-consuming for councils, so if nothing else it will "highlight" the scale of the problem. We've already been told though that just because you are willing to move and a smaller house is not available does not make you eligible. Also, for us the benefit is time limited to a short period to get over a particular hurdle.
I think for us it will be a case of pointing out that taking in a tenant would be a risk, leaving us with no other option. Of course the fact that folks I work with are losing their benefits hand over fist isn't going to help that arguement.
Don't mean to be a damper, and of course well worth a try.May be different elsewhere

WCS

The 'pots' have increased for this year and are increasing a lot next year and the year after for all local authorities. If you are registered with the Landlord Information Network they have obtained the info via the Freedom of Information Act & will tell members exactly how much for last year, this year and next year for your local authority.

The key thing is that it is discretionary - so its down to one or two officers to assess the claim and make a decision.

There has to be genuine hardship and that tenants are doing their best to help themselves - its not about allowing anyone to continue to maintain a lifestyle that they can't actually afford

"We've already been told though that just because you are willing to move and a smaller house is not available does not make you eligible" - this is true, but if they are genuinely unable to afford to pay the shortfall - they can claim.. . . but the DHP Officer will expect to see that they had tried cut out all unnecessary expenditure

Time limits can be applied and our local authority looks to pay a maximum of 12 months but at the end of claim, its possible to claim again - for people who have just lost their jobs or had sudden acute illness, often just need help for a matter of weeks to tide them over until they get back on their feet

I've been through our claim forms with our local DHP Officer at the council and although the forms are pretty daunting - these payments are going to be good news for those in real need

GreyQueen

meanmarie wrote: »

Happy birthday Fuddle, have a good one....oh to be 33 again!

Marie

Seconding that one! I can remember being 33 but only if I think really really hard.:rotfl:

:bdaycake::bdaycake::bdaycake: Happy Birthday Fuddle!

Hope you had a lovely day and were spoiled rotten.


Spiky news about your hours being cut. Is it a temporary thing or permanant? We'll all end up as part-timers whether we want to be or not. The Guardian newspaper today said that there was a 1 million increase in "underemployment" since 2008 by which they mean people who want and need more hours and can't get them.

Been taking some calls at work this past week from people who've heard rumours of the so-called bedroom tax. Some aren't going to be affected as they don't claim HB but the rumour mill is cranking and people are getting the idea that they'll be forced into smaller homes if they're so-called underoccupying. I can only tell them what is proposed at the moment but can't predict what may be coming down the barrell next from Westminster, althogth the omens aren't good.

I took Jiffy the trolley into the office and was braced for a leg-pulling sesh (my colleagues are a great bunch, like them lots, but they are a very, very witty and lively bunch). I was all set to ham it up something rotten, including a fake catwalk strut complete with Paris turns, and d'you what? NOBODY NOTICED!

Fer crying out loud, it's a snazzy black and white trolley and I have to put bells on it? :rotfl:

Just had a phone call from Mum to say she'd made a boo boo at her Sainsbugs and my 12 tins of tomato soup are actually 8 tins of tomato and 4 of chicken. Told her not to worry about it; she'll be demoted in the ranks for Shopping without Due Care and Attenshun but I'll still pay for and eat them.

Wishing I had a telly tonight to share this War Time Farm programme which everyone's on about. Guess a silence will descent across the OS boards and all eyes turn to the box.

Hope everyone is having a good evening and I'm off out to husband hunt. Don't want one but if you can [STRIKE]extort[/STRIKE] ermm request gifts at up to £500 a pop, I may have to reconsider my principles.

Laters, GQ x

ETA Chubby Checker the Checquered Trolley - love it!

born_blonde

GQ - watch on iplayer

GreyQueen

born_blonde wrote: »

GQ - watch on iplayer

I'm all embarrassed. I've never done that and don't know how to do it.:o