Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

Yeah, I'm a bare handful of years younger than thriftwizard, but I can remember seeing multiple price tickets on items, each higher than the last, sometimes 3 or 4 per can/ pkt, as the prices were going up so fast.

Younger peeps will have to rely on their memories of what the prices were as barcoding makes it easy to change the prices centrally. Even so, you sometimes get lucky and they've moved the shelf-price up but the code is still going through at the previous price.

The frightening thing about that kind of inflation is when it affects the things which we buy of necessity, not luxury goods. I frankly don't give a four-ecks how much TVs or idiot phones cost, they're not in my shopping world. I do care how much tins of beans cost, and any number of other very humble things.

Governments are driving inflation in many cases. In 3.5 months, they will force my local authority landlord to apply an across-the-board percentage increase to council rents. It won't have any relation to local incomes or affordability, or the revenue needs of the landlord themselves. It is politically motivated by a desire to bring our rents into line with market rents; y'know, those ones which are so unaffordable to many.

Sooo, for every extra £ which I have to pay in rent, there will be a £ not able to be spent elsewhere. That will be part of someone's bottom line, although I'm hardly the last of the hyperconsumers, I do purchase goods and services, when I can't avoid it.

If my rent hadn't been doubled by govermet diktat in the last 8 years, I could afford to work for less money - imagine that. Or do less work and free up some hours for someone else to earn.

At the moment my hair is a little untidy and needs cutting but I've decided it can wait until 2015; a tenner saved is a more than a tenner earned, as someone never said.

Softstuff

GreyQueen wrote: »

At the moment my hair is a little untidy and needs cutting but I've decided it can wait until 2015; a tenner saved is a more than a tenner earned, as someone never said.

I've found home haircutting to be pretty liberating. I have a short (even shorter this time) haircut, with a slightly longer ruffled top. With practice I get better at it. Sometimes I'm better at it than others, but to be fair, so was the hairdresser. No longer do I have to make slightly painful small talk, nor do I have to fork over $50, so all is well. I work with hairdressing scissors and clippers (total cost about $75, 7 years ago) and was cutting my husbands for a few years before I embarked on mine. Apparently it's easier with longer hair than short.

Funny thing is, since I started cutting it myself, I've actually had compliments (I'm no Kim Kardashian) for the first time ever :rotfl:

muffin_man_7

Thanks GQ as always u make me chuckle just when needed i do remember the pricing guns from work experience at 15/16 we had to remove the old price that was a long time ago
Feeling old younest turned 18 on wed 17th and ive just had a visit from housing officer saying i have to regeister on housing to bid for a 1 bed flat due to council wont reclasify house as a 2 bed luckily youngest is going to share a flat with a friend so wont be too bad ...says me who am i kidding im dreading the packing up and removing of anything not essential yep you got it kids call me a hoarderer their word not mine if anyone got any usefull tips for downsizing please let me know, to add to the list of2015 chaos ive just been told recently ive got fibromyalgia/cfs so will be trying really hard not to do too much but enough if that makes sense

jk0

Anyone see this on zerohedge?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-22/belarus-full-blown-hyperinflation-panic-blocks-news-online-stores-bans-all-fx-tradin

By the way: Anyone else's internet sluggish this evening, or are they throttling mine due to being on it all day?

nuatha

jk0 wrote: »

Anyone see this on zerohedge?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-22/belarus-full-blown-hyperinflation-panic-blocks-news-online-stores-bans-all-fx-tradin

By the way: Anyone else's internet sluggish this evening, or are they throttling mine due to being on it all day?

Mine has been sluggish all evening, not running anything that should be throttled. Though we'll both have better access than North Korea:
http://www.infowars.com/did-u-s-take-down-north-koreas-internet/

Frugalsod

Softstuff wrote: »

I've found home haircutting to be pretty liberating. I have a short (even shorter this time) haircut, with a slightly longer ruffled top. With practice I get better at it. Sometimes I'm better at it than others, but to be fair, so was the hairdresser. No longer do I have to make slightly painful small talk, nor do I have to fork over $50, so all is well. I work with hairdressing scissors and clippers (total cost about $75, 7 years ago) and was cutting my husbands for a few years before I embarked on mine. Apparently it's easier with longer hair than short.

Funny thing is, since I started cutting it myself, I've actually had compliments (I'm no Kim Kardashian) for the first time ever :rotfl:

Many years ago I bought a set of hair clippers and cut my hair myself. I was only spending £7 a month for haircuts and my hair clippers cost say £70 but at that rate they would pay for themselves in less than a year, so the rate of return from them was more than 120% p.a. Add in no time travelling to and from hairdressers saved, and so there are additional savings that are unimaginable that have not even been considered. Also since then I must have saved even more as hair dressing costs rose over the 15 years since I bought them. It has probably been one of my better investments. Now that I am nearly bald I can dispense with the cutting guides and simply shave what appears.

Softstuff

Frugalsod wrote: »

Now that I am nearly bald I can dispense with the cutting guides and simply shave what appears.

I've had quite the urge recently just to buzz my entire head (it accompanies a very out of character urge for tattoos!). But as a woman, unless you have cheekbones you can slice bread with, it's not a generally accepted look.

Our clippers and hairdressing scissors are among our highest return for the dollar items. As you say as well, time saved travelling to and from, effort saved booking (and/or rearranging). I've also found with some of the things I do at home, that avoiding leaving the house for things like that also avoids the little incidental spends.

GreyQueen

I'll happily cut other people's hair (OK, family) with scissors and clippers, I'm a bit nervous about doing my own, because I'm not going to look like Sinead if I get a bit over-enthusiastic, it'll be more on the lines of a bruiser you'd cross the road to avoid. But I am getting tempted, will be at the parental home over Crimble and there is a tin of hairdressing equipment there, as Mum has been trimming Dad's hair since about 1970.

Oh, and there are manual versions of electric clippers which achieve the same effect but with less comfort and efficiency, which might be a useful little side job when the power is off. Hair; it's a growing industry, you know.

My internet seemed OK yesterday but I was mainly faddling about watching You Toob clips and laughing my sox off, never let it be said I don't know how to whoop it up on a workday evening.

jk0, I was reading that ZH article as well. And will be pulling some more cash from the banking system today, leaving enough for the bills and a smallish margin. It had occurred to me that the Xmas-New Year period would be an excellent time for some shenanigans...........

jk0

Thanks GQ.

Mind you, have you seen Sinead O'Connor lately? She looks like a bruiser also.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

what was the name of the other prime minister of the 70's? little guy who sounded like bugs bunny? think he smoked a pipe??


Re- hair cuts, I know have my hair cut/dyed maybe once a year, all other times I bye it myself.. I might start just trimming the dry ends myself. I don't care what I look like anymore lol..


Most of the time I go round the shops with my handknitted beanie style brown hat, with my body warmer, joggers and my walking boots, which at the moment are leaking and full of pig poo and mud... just think of 'bag ladies' on the streets, and that's me..


I think after the elections we are in for anther round of price increases, job cuts etc...


while I am crimbo shopping I am adding some bits to the stash,