make do and mend for tougher times

Popperwell

Thank you for thinking about me...I will hunt the videos out. My wardrobe mainly consists of liesure shirts(long and short sleeved)a few jumpers and cardigans and a couple of jerkins/anoraks and now a couple of parker type coats(most are from the CS)and only 99p each so it is a very cheap wardrobe.

I spend a lot of my time indoors using thermals, lounge trousers and if really cold a dressing gown.

I have 7 pairs of trousers for best, a shirt, tie and a black jacket. The last of these were purchased for Mum's funeral, its awful I know but I had nothing suitable.

I have two pairs of shoes and two pairs of trainers. So I guess I could probably call it a day now but some of the bargains that are now coming into the CS it's worth still looking.

Its a very basic wardrobe but enough I am sure. Very much a case of mix and match. I am told that I should learn a whip stitch so I'll hunt that out too.

Did I say, I have kept my beard?:p

Don't know for how long...but someone said it suited me yesterday, so we'll see.;)

Popperwell

I can do a whip stitch(I think):)

I was kind of doing that all along but I was doing it lengthways and you could see the same amount of thread on both sides. Now it won't be that way.

I probably could have altered my trousers and saved money...oh well.

2tonsils

Reading all your comments about the charity letters makes me think of my MIL...she gets loads of them every day and feels guilty that she can't send money. Her husband went to an Hospice for his last care and they send her a book of raffle tickets to sell. She sees very few people besides her family so just bins them and send them the money as if she sold them! So they keep on sending them...

In Greece we have two periods of the year to give a little to charity, just before Christmas and Easter. A charity is chosen each time and they get free time on tv to advertise the bank account to pay to if you want to give. All junk mail is forbidden here so we never get any through the post..its an offence to send it to someone as it clogs up the mail system.

Most of us have no address except the name of the village we live in..all mail is delivered to a local taverna or supermarket and you collect it there. It is not delivered to the door. In our case the postman brings it in his car boot and you go to the bandstand to collect it.

The way things are in Greece at the moment I don't imagine they will be collecting much for any of the charities. The local charities tend to have shops and events to raise money rather than collections.

Right, off to eat my brekkie, will update later folksxx

VJsmum

smileyt wrote: »

Sigh. Trying to tidy up a bit and working through the letters I have let pile up. I have letters asking for money from the RSPB, the Donkey Sanctuary, the Brooke (horse/donkey/developing world charity), Greenpeace, Refugee Action, the Animal Health Trust and Oxfam. All of these charities I either support now or have supported in the past. I feel so guilty about throwing the letters away but I really can't afford to be sending a tenner off to them all (one of them asks for "£50 or whatever you can afford" :eek:).

How do you all handle this? I feel bad because I know charities are suffering in the recession. I find the letters really draining and I know that's bad because the people/animals who are suffering are having a much worse time than I am.

It wouldn't be so bad if it was just one letter per year per charity, but I seem to get at least two or three per month - the ones mentioned above have all been in about the last six weeks - and with Christmas coming up it's going to be more and I find it very hard to handle the emotional side of it.

I direct debit to the Brook and Refugee Action for £3/month each which is all I can realistically afford. The Brook is my favourite because it helps animals and people at the same time.

I don't begrudge charities my money but I find it overwhelming to get so many letters through the door constantly asking for money. Sometimes I rip them up and put them in the bin without opening them, I suppose it's a sort of 'compassion fatigue'.

I'm not asking for a magic answer. Just asking for any tips on how to deal with the emotional side of it!

I get so cross with "chugging" - we DD 3 charities - cancer research, Plan and oh, I forget. Cancer research are awful - constantly ringing to see if you can donate more. It puts me off.
Ironically, I am desperately in need of a bag through the door and haven't had one in weeks

monnagran wrote: »

All this talk about the C word frightens me to death. Our Christmas is rather odd. Living within a church environment means that we start with all the Fairs and Sales. Glide seamlessly through endless C.......s dinners, (last year we clocked up 11), every Carol Service in the area, Christingles, Tree Festivals, Nativity Plays etc. Then, when the time itself hoves into view we have a crib service on C....s Eve, a midnight communion, 2 services on THE morning, cooking a C.......s dinner for the old and lonely, and as last year IT fell on a Sunday, as soon as we had waved the last elderly person off we started again with doing a Festive dinner for the Drop-in.

On Boxing day we stay in our jammies all day and eat cheese sandwiches.

You'll note that none of this includes our own card writing, present buying, fanily get togethers etc.

No, I don't look forward to this time of the year with any great eagerness.

This is Scrooge signing off.

x

Sounds like the Vicar of Dibley

I really must get up.

Pooky

Good luck today Fuddle :T

Possession

Pinch punch first day of the month!
Good luck with your new job today Fuddle.
We had a lovely weekend at my nephew's christening but DH and I are still feeling awful so 6 hours of driving wasn't very welcome. I have also just put the heating on as trying to work in a freezing cold house isn't helping me get better either. So much for holding out until November. : (

GreyQueen

:T Good luck Fuddle!

lillibet_dripping

Good luck today, Fuddle! If your weather is anything like it is in Essex you'll have the dreaded 'WET PLAY' to deal with:eek::eek::eek::eek:

PAH- thinking of you pet, stay strong.
Mar - hope you are feeling better.

(Pa and Ma:rotfl:)

I am on the mailing preference list thingy so thankfully don't get the dreaded charity requests. If, by chance, anything does get through, it goes straight into the fire-lighting basket. I donate/buy from Charity Shops and always give to the Salvation Army at Christmas. My children's step-mother is battling cancer at the moment so we always give/support fund-raising by Macmillan - they have been brilliant.

Hope you are all drier than I am:o

mardatha

Betony, I love your sig - Mae West was brilliant!
Pooky I'm jealous Bruges was magic but an 18 hour ferry trip from here and now they took the ferry off.
Sun shining here and looks like another lovely day - yesterday was great from afternoon on and the moon last night was beautiful, hangs over the hill outside my front window.. I didn't think of wolves once!

[Deleted User]

FUDDLE you'll probably have left by now but good luck with the new job today, I'll be thinking of you, have a really good day Cheers Lyn xxx.