2022 Frugal Living Challenge

Floss

Primrose said: 

What concerns me deeply is that a housing trust which itself is a charity can have a tenant who lived alone and was discovered to have lain dead in their home for two years completely undiscovered. Surely somebody  somewhere must have been responsible for joining up the dots?

I guess if that individual had refused all previous attempts to engage then the HA may not have been in recent contact. Also if benefits / pension / rent / bills have all been paid via their bank there would be no need to contact them. 

ladyholly

Floss said:

I guess if that individual had refused all previous attempts to engage then the HA may not have been in recent contact. Also if benefits / pension / rent / bills have all been paid via their bank there would be no need to contact them. 

If that is the case i think it is the neighbours had reported a smell and expressed their concerns to the HA several times, the police attended twice but did not enter the property for whatever reason and I think I may have heard on the radio that they had made contact with the resident! Perhaps there are clairvoyant police officers.The electricity was turned off but this didnt alert anyone and the rent stopped being paid but the HA simply applied for universal credit. I am not sure how that works without forms and signatures. The HA has issued an apology and maintain this cannot happen to their tenants again. Personally I am not convinced. If not with that HA there are plenty of others. This information was on radio 4 a couple of days ago and I think I have reported what was said accurately but am open to correction.

London_1

Yes I read about the case, the poor lady lay there for almost two and a half years and nothing was done. Says a lot about our society doesn't it.
Neighbours had complained several times and apparently there was miss-information in passing on details and the police understood that she had been seen.Apparently the person resposible for the mistake now no longer worked for the police and had left.  She was only 53 I believe and had suffered poor health  

Well coming to the end of July and a brand new month ahead to budget for .So far I have £14.63 left from my July budget and that will get squirelled away into my separate Chase account. My freezer is full along with my cupboards, and my upstairs 'bookcase stash' where all my extras have been tucked away toward the coming winter. Its coffee morning tomorrow so I shall see my pals and we will compare notes on our 'winter stash' Things I think will get a bit harder the longer the european war goes on aand shortages will become a fact of life we will all have to contend with.no one will starve ,but there will probably be a lot less choice and certainly higher prices. But I'm sure all will work out in the end it usually does I have lived through boom and bust many times so a spare stash of tinned stuff is always very useful when times get difficult

Onwards and upwards chums 

JackieO xx

elbree

I've had a couple of days 'off' and what inspiring reads I come back to! 
Totally agree on the positive vibes Jackie O, it will get tough but we can contrive. 
Re: mini greenhouse I would definitely say yes please, even if it doesn't save much money (and it probably will in the long run if you get going with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs etc) just setting it up and learning about it is free entertainment. You can always grow other plants for the house, lots give away free plants on the streets or on Olio. For me boredom is the biggest money waster because it makes me want to go out and spend OR (even worse!) go online and spend. That's why I come to the forum instead! 

Sweetlittledaydreams

That's a good idea for drying clothes in the greenhouse in the winter, will try that this year. It's my year to host Christmas and my family have said they want a non-traditional Christmas dinner of lots of different curries, so that takes the pressure off. Already starting buying people's presents when I see reasonably priced things that they'd like. Will have a look at what I've got so far at the weekend so I can see what else I need to get, then buy gradually throughout the year rather than having to get everything in December. 
Still quite unhappy with my job, really not having a great year of it but I have to say just knowing that i could walk away from it all and be ok for a while really puts me in a better mindset. Anyway 4 more days to limp through then I have a week away from the place. I'll do some extra work during my leave but I'll do it at a different hospital just for a break. 
I need to spend a bit of time at the weekend and do a proper inventory of what I earn, where I can make more money, how much I can spend and where I can cut back.
I want to try and become more of a part of my community. At the minute I spend all day working with people and fine it overwhelming sometimes so I find I want to hide myself away and recharge when I'm off which isn't good. I've started going to exercise classes to get myself out of the house on my days off and I'm going to prioritise spending time with family and friends, the important things in life!

mandy47

Primrose said

i read today thwt the public  are already being urged  cut their energy use to avoid winter lackouts so a little forward meal planning now will help adaptability.  I hope all those empty offices and shops wil switch  their lights off at night when the buildings are unoccupied.  Such a waste of electricity!

I have to walk through a major shopping mall before it is open to the public to get into work at 5am. I often comment on the complete waste of energy. Shops with lights on, video screens playing even escalators running. Such a simple thing to change and save energy. I find it very frustrating.

London_1

mandy47 said:

Primrose said

i read today thwt the public  are already being urged  cut their energy use to avoid winter lackouts so a little forward meal planning now will help adaptability.  I hope all those empty offices and shops wil switch  their lights off at night when the buildings are unoccupied.  Such a waste of electricity!

I have to walk through a major shopping mall before it is open to the public to get into work at 5am. I often comment on the complete waste of energy. Shops with lights on, video screens playing even escalators running. Such a simple thing to change and save energy. I find it very frustrating.

My late brother lived in France for the last 14 years of his life and when visiting him I remarked on how dark the streets and towns were in the evening once you got out of Paris.

 He said the smaller towns were always like that, and once it was dark, quite often the little towns looked as though they were dieserted and few shop windows were lit and even few street lights.

 He lived about 40 minutes from Ruffec which was his nearest town ,and in the evening you would think everyone had deserted it and it looked permanantly closed. The lighting in france seems a lot less than in the Uk ,even in people houses their bulbs seemed a lot less brighter than ours are.

Looking around my sitting room I realised that I have 13 light bulbs. Five on my main middle light, 4 wall lights One 'salt lamp' another small table lamp, and a standard lamp with two bulbs in it on bendable arms  !!!

Luckily they are never switched on all at once
The standard lamp ,one of the arms I use as a reading light , one of the wall lights is used perhaps if I am watching Tv and the rest hardly get used at all now Don't think I could afford to light them all now  

JackieO xx

Primrose

I do think it,s up to us as customers to shame some of these wasteful energy  users at night, especially when they,re on our own doorsteps.  A simple question or email if appropriate, especially if they start coming in their hundreds can add a surprising amount of moral pressure. Sometimes I suspect it,s just a habit thwt everybody has forgotten about although hopefully now businesses are feeling the pinch too they will be looking to cut down unnecessary consumption.
 

weenancyinAmerica

I use a flashlight when I get up at night so I won't have to turn on my bedroom light. Have a night light on in the bathroom, so don't need the overhead light in there. 

Floss

weenancyinAmerica said:

I use a flashlight when I get up at night so I won't have to turn on my bedroom light. Have a night light on in the bathroom, so don't need the overhead light in there. 

I wake my phone up to light my way to the bathroom, and there is a street lamp outside my home which lights up the bathroom enough for a loo visit😉