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Cooking for one (Mark Three)
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I love being single.
My sister for instance, earns slightly less than I do (only slightly), yet because her partner has a well paid job, they have a huge disposable income. They have meals out twice on the weekend, and are always off for weekends away, or day trips. If I lived like that, I'd be very poor, very quickly! Personally, I do tend to have the money for things I want to do, but that's because I live very frugally in other ways, so that the money is there for when I need/want it.
You have to adapt to living in a certain way as a single person. There are perks, for sure, but also a lot of challenges!
£0/£70 August GC
£68.35/£70 July GC
January-June 2019 = £356.94/£420
You can only do what you want and be sociable if your income enables that. For many it's not an option. Bills paid .... few quid in your purse, the only "do what you want" you're able to do is which TV channel to watch
I look forward to the basic state old age pension as I'll be "pretty loaded" compared to a lot of my lifetime!
Very true. I know it helps that one of my married friends here offers help with the odd bit of DIY/take stuff to the tip/etc type favour from her husband. In return for which I pass on fruit from my garden - to "pay my way"
Another part of the "adapt to live a certain way" is you are much less likely to give up a more "secure" type job - as you are so conscious your income has to be as secure as you can make it. Hence the many years I spent working for the Civil Service (and hating it....) as the whole reason I'd taken that job was to get what security I could. I used to get so frustrated with people (yep...usually married) who would say "Why don't you just swop jobs?". They simply didnt get it that I couldnt basically...:cool:
It's only now I'm "coming out the other end" more income wise than I can see how depressing it was to make all the financial decisions I would have anyway (ie even if married) and then be unable to implement them (with only one income to pay for things). Some people simply wouldnt have made those decisions in the first place in a "singles" position - yeah..alright...maybe I'm just a stubborn wotname:rotfl: - as I was still making exactly the same decisions. Followed by getting depressed at how few of them I could actually follow through on...
But, Pastures has a point re (in her case) waiting for the extra security of being on State Pension. In my case - I had a gap to bridge between retiring and getting the State part of my pension and that was frustrating. Then a lot of "catch up spending" to do once the rest of my pension turned up.
At long long last I'm starting to be able to implement my smaller spending decisions - and eat exactly the food I decide I will/spend on exactly the social life I decide I will/will be buying exactly the clothes I decide I will.
Still can't implement the bigger spending decisions I've made - but it helps to be able to implement the smaller ones at last and depressive feelings are lifting/confidence coming back from being able to do that. I shall wince visibly I expect at the cost of the hairdresser I'm trying out tomorrow (not far off 3 times what I have been paying) - but if I get a decent haircut again at last I'll just "wince quietly and pay" and stick with them.
I've definitely got the feeling that how confident/optimistic one feels does bear a relationship to how much income is coming in - unless one is a very strong person or genuinely "doesnt give a darn".
Council/similar jobs weren't really an option because, at the time, they paid poorly and every £1 is needed when it's "just you". They also take too long to recruit. Needing a job, there was no luxury of waiting for the right one, I had to take "the first that offered" ... which were often disastrous and I ended up out of a job within a year. One month on the dole would take a year to "financially recover from", and I was on a cycle of in/out of bad jobs every year ... never quite "catching up" from the last time.
If I'd been in a couple I could've chosen, taken my time, planned more... but if you lose a job Friday, you have to try to find something/anything that "starts next week".
I was only too thankful that I had some redundancy money by me during periods of unemployment I had and the pressure to take "some job/any job" was lessened.
I can recall not being able to get three jobs that didnt agree with my conscience (to my knowledge) - but I could survive that because I had that bit of savings by me.
I wouldnt take another job because I could see there were health hazards involved and could survive that because I had that bit of savings by me.
But then I've always (unfortunately for me:cool:) had a face that is very easy to read. I've been told more than once that people can tell what I'm thinking a mile off - because I find it so difficult to hide my feelings. With a face like that - you just know you're not going to get given any jobs you're not happy about anyway:rotfl: - and so that little bit of savings was very necessary from that pov (ie so that it didnt matter what they'd just read on my face).
The plus side was I was at least able to "make the best" of those periods of unemployment and do what I wanted to do - whilst I waited for a more suitable job to come along.
Popped up the street for a pint of milk when I returned. Only 50p in my pocket, so no chance to buy anything else. While I was there, I looked to see if they had any minced beef and onion cans, but no. Tomorrow though, the car is going back to the garage and there is a Sainsburys and a Lidl virtually next door, so I'll pop my head in there while I'm waiting.
Lunch was a grilled cheese wrap (laid out flat), with some cucumber and green pepper on top that needed using up. Also had the Wispa from a multipack I bought for my weekend treat. I also randomly fancy a mug of Bovril... I'm sure I've got a jar somewhere! I usually only ever want it when I'm sickening for something... Yet I currently feel fine... Mysterious!
£0/£70 August GC
£68.35/£70 July GC
January-June 2019 = £356.94/£420
That's not cheap these days is it! Probably cheaper to buy fresh and lob it in the SC
By the time this changed I was working on my early retirement plan "A" having enough dosh squirrelled away to stop working & live off savings until OAP kicked in, plan B was slog on until 65:eek:
Plan A worked:j
Another sunny day, L's first, wanted more olive oli, BF ham and honey, plus anything YS I fancied. The YS bit failed, nothing
However luck was on my side, the volunteer kitchen was preparing chard, but was not going to use stalks, the "old folks" don't "do" stems, which is one of those things some older people have, like not eating spuds, or apples, with skin on, or eating salad rabbit food
I now have the stalks and intend roasting them to go with the last lump of my LO savoury B & B pud
I'm hydrating a limp wimpy parsnip to go in the roasting tin, along with an onion. Quite looking forward to it
Lunch was repeat Black Forest ham, with salad bits in a sandwich
Followed by a sun warmed fig right off the tree
I've got this with my fig tree, but luckily this morning found the solution, it involves oven, honey & butter.
The figs should be just right tomorrow, think I've got about 6 to do, and to keep it low calorie I'll serve with yoghurt instead of double cream:D