It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

General_Grant

Rosa_Damascena said:

TheAble said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

This morning's headlines shows just how ridiculous inequalities are. Gas companies are paying minus 19% tax and raking in billions whilst our bills go through the roof! 

Shame on them.

They did lose 5.7bn last year though when you couldn't give oil away, but then that's readily forgotten. Not a crime to make a profit.

. . . 
Another small way in which I've made savings before is going to be scrapped: 
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/02/anyone-with-stacks-of-stamps-at-home-has-less-than-one-year-to-u/ .   . . .

What do you mean?
They will still have stamps marked 1st and 2nd so that you can still buy ahead of a price change.
You will be able to exchange non-bar-coded stamps later this year (ie ahead of the change to only bar-coded 1st and 2nd).

The only people losing out are those who effectively steal by re-using stamps which have already passed through the postal system but perhaps were not cancelled by franking in the sorting office.  And I'm sure you wouldn't have been doing that. 

Rosa_Damascena

General_Grant said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

TheAble said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

This morning's headlines shows just how ridiculous inequalities are. Gas companies are paying minus 19% tax and raking in billions whilst our bills go through the roof! 

Shame on them.

They did lose 5.7bn last year though when you couldn't give oil away, but then that's readily forgotten. Not a crime to make a profit.

. . . 
Another small way in which I've made savings before is going to be scrapped: 
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/02/anyone-with-stacks-of-stamps-at-home-has-less-than-one-year-to-u/ .   . . .

What do you mean?
They will still have stamps marked 1st and 2nd so that you can still buy ahead of a price change.
You will be able to exchange non-bar-coded stamps later this year (ie ahead of the change to only bar-coded 1st and 2nd).

The only people losing out are those who effectively steal by re-using stamps which have already passed through the postal system but perhaps were not cancelled by franking in the sorting office.  And I'm sure you wouldn't have been doing that. 

That's not how I read it! 

I still have books of stamps with London 2012 design, will have an amnesty and change them up as soon as the PO allows.

jimpwarsop

Rosa_Damascena said:

The cost of posting a simple greeting card these days is just ridiculous.

You cant be serious ?

My  postman delivered a thankyou card to us yesterday, it had a 66p stamp on it.

It was B. cold and raining.  

The card had been collected from a post box a hundred miles away, sorted and delivered within a day or so.

Great value.

Phantom151

Rosa_Damascena said:

General_Grant said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

TheAble said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

This morning's headlines shows just how ridiculous inequalities are. Gas companies are paying minus 19% tax and raking in billions whilst our bills go through the roof! 

Shame on them.

They did lose 5.7bn last year though when you couldn't give oil away, but then that's readily forgotten. Not a crime to make a profit.

. . . 
Another small way in which I've made savings before is going to be scrapped: 
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/02/anyone-with-stacks-of-stamps-at-home-has-less-than-one-year-to-u/ .   . . .

What do you mean?
They will still have stamps marked 1st and 2nd so that you can still buy ahead of a price change.
You will be able to exchange non-bar-coded stamps later this year (ie ahead of the change to only bar-coded 1st and 2nd).

The only people losing out are those who effectively steal by re-using stamps which have already passed through the postal system but perhaps were not cancelled by franking in the sorting office.  And I'm sure you wouldn't have been doing that. 

That's not how I read it! 

I still have books of stamps with London 2012 design, will have an amnesty and change them up as soon as the PO allows.

Why should they have an amnesty? That's very much like trying to stick a couple of hundred pounds in your gas account and insisting you should be charged at today's price until the credit is used up.

Brambling

nannygladys said:

dander - what sort of things can you cook in an air fryer, I've been thinking of buying one, but can't afford the really expensive ones and thought you would only be able to cook chips in the small ones. I live on my own and hate putting the oven on just for a couple of things.

Nannygladys if you are looking at cheap ones ensure it has a basket so you can shake rather than just a trivet.

I only have a small cheap one and it does cook a variety of things, the obvious chips, breaded fish etc. I make scotch eggs and 'fried' chicken.  You can cook most things you would bake in the oven, salmon, chicken or pork chop etc.  Mine has a basket so I can add things in a dish like meatballs or stuffed peppers. Anything with pasty cooks well, better than a microwave as it stays crisp and I have cooked small pizzas in it  

For jacket potatoes I start in the microwave and finish in the AF they taste like oven baked ones at a fraction of the cooking time.  

There are plenty of recipes online with timings to help you as they differ to the oven.  

Rosa_Damascena

jimpwarsop said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

The cost of posting a simple greeting card these days is just ridiculous.

You cant be serious ?

My  postman delivered a thankyou card to us yesterday, it had a 66p stamp on it.

It was B. cold and raining.  

The card had been collected from a post box a hundred miles away, sorted and delivered within a day or so.

Great value.

I posted a bunch of Christmas cards not so long ago, they weren't large, just slightly bigger than the PO definition of standard. They cost over £1 each to post - more than the cost of the cards themselves- which is making me think twice now. 

General_Grant

Rosa_Damascena said:

General_Grant said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

TheAble said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

This morning's headlines shows just how ridiculous inequalities are. Gas companies are paying minus 19% tax and raking in billions whilst our bills go through the roof! 

Shame on them.

They did lose 5.7bn last year though when you couldn't give oil away, but then that's readily forgotten. Not a crime to make a profit.

. . . 
Another small way in which I've made savings before is going to be scrapped: 
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/02/anyone-with-stacks-of-stamps-at-home-has-less-than-one-year-to-u/ .   . . .

What do you mean?
They will still have stamps marked 1st and 2nd so that you can still buy ahead of a price change.
You will be able to exchange non-bar-coded stamps later this year (ie ahead of the change to only bar-coded 1st and 2nd).

The only people losing out are those who effectively steal by re-using stamps which have already passed through the postal system but perhaps were not cancelled by franking in the sorting office.  And I'm sure you wouldn't have been doing that. 

That's not how I read it! 

I still have books of stamps with London 2012 design, will have an amnesty and change them up as soon as the PO allows.

In the MSE article did you look at the pictured example 1st class stamp with the barcode?
Not for the first time, an MSE article headline can be misleading.

MingVase

To leave the topic of stamps for a minute - HM soup is filling and healthy and costs pennies. Midday meal here is always soup.

Greenglockenspiel

Hello all, I have just read through the thread. We are lucky that I am on a very good income (DP is not currently earning) but I am getting concerned about the price rises. On Thursday I went to Lidl and their standard fusilli pasta was marked as 90p/kg! I am hoping it was a temporary blip and put off buying it until next week. Our energy fix comes to an end in March and from the looks of things our bill will double, and our mortgage fix comes to an end a couple of months later too so I will be keeping a close eye on interest rates but there isn’t much I can do to about that. We had wanted to start a family later this year or next year but it seems sensible to wait and see how bad things will get for the economy. Nursery fees are already so expensive that although we could afford them now we wouldn’t be able to if they went up significantly.

Someone mentioned provisional driving licences - I have a provisional which I use as my ID (I am in my 20s with a young face!) and have never not had it accepted as ID. They do expire after 10 years though and presumably wouldn’t be accepted then.

nannygladys

Brambling- thanks for the info, I was wondering if an air fryer for everyday use would be lots cheaper than putting the gas oven on, as I can't fill it up every time, the only other thing I thought of was one of those small electric ovens that stands on top of the work top.

I think the the one thing that worries me the most is that I am already really frugal and can't see where I can cut back anymore, but I suppose I can't do much about it until all the bills go up, council tax, fuel, food etc and we know what we're having to deal with.
Nannyg