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

euronorris

Debt Free Wannabe. Many of us started on that area of the forums years ago (myself included).

EssexHebridean

Mrs_Salad_Dodger said:

I believe DFW = Debt Free Wannabe 

Yep - that’s it. It has an ethos/tagline of “DFW is for help, not judgement” - in my opinion this should carry forwards to the whole of MSE! 

Onebrokelady

Rosa_Damascena said:

Spendless said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

TheAble said:

Unfortunately, for landlords there haven't been many good news stories over the past few years. Taxes have increased considerably, more eco regulations and difficulties getting their houses back from non-paying tenants. Many have thrown in the towel and sold up and you can't really blame them. Fewer rental houses available and increased rents is the consequence. 

Forgive me if I can't find much sympathy for LLs, they are making plenty of equity from their multiple properties. But equally I do wonder what the rush to go out and co-habit / rent is, why not stay in the family home and save if work is commutable.

Overall I'm very grateful to have been born in 1973.

My guess is it's due to a lot of younger folk now moving out (term time at least) at around 18 to go to Uni. I have that sort of situation with both my 2. Eldest (22) finishes his degree at the end of next week. He has met his fiancée at Uni and they have plans to wed next year. The options on the table are both come back to us (better transport links to other places, less room at our house especially if DD remains here f-time), both go back to her parents (more room but not as good commuting options for DS and relevant work) or for DS to go where more vacancies are and both move away.

DD who is 19 finds herself in a more frustrating to her situation. Since the Autumn she spent 6 months attending a drama school in Scotland. Though the accommodation is still paid for until mid July, she got a job within commuting distance of here working as an actor at an immersive experience tourist attraction. It's p-time, seasonal work but currently it's probably mid season with the customers either adult parties or school trips (it's also educational based). When she's trained (as in learnt more scripts) and it's high season she should get more hours. She's also still applying for HE courses. Having had a taste of living from parents, she doesn't fully enjoy being back here and under all our house rules but she's not earning enough or in the position where she can do anything about moving out - if she had a long term working partner, it'd be something she'd be looking at. 

Re - fares, until around the mid 80s bus fares at least where I lived were subsidised. I only ever paid 10p per journey for however long is was (change buses for another leg and you'd be required to pay another 10p). It was a huge help in the days of my first experience of working. 

Wedding young is nothing new and opportunities were far more limited in previous generations. No grown up likes living by another's rules but that was all the more incentive to prepare for the future: patience and saving were a standard approach back then. There's still an element of saving (although far less at the end of the month to save) but fewer of the younger generations who are used to having what they want in real time would pass the Marshmallow Test.

Today I have heard stories about people eating one meal a day so their kids can eat. Whilst the sacrifice is understandable, I was a bit surprised that adults expect to eat 3 times a day. Do they?

I eat three times a day. I have cereal for breakfast and usually a sandwich for lunch with a yogurt and a cooked evening meal. I don't know anyone apart from my parents who don't eat three times a day 🤷‍♀️

Kaylataste

Ah,thank you all! I must take a look, I love this board, I don’t often post but when I do everyone is lovely.

Onebrokelady

Rosa_Damascena said:

OrkneyStar said:

TheAble said:

OrkneyStar said:

poppy811 said:

Porridge two to three minutes in the microwave. 

For most of us that's fairly straightforward, unfortunately less so for those who cannot afford to use electricity.

But that electricity would cost like 1p. I know times are hard but 1p?

I was thinking of someone with a top up electric meter - if they have used all their credit, and the emergency, and have no access to money to top it up, then they will essentially be without electricity.  We don't have a normal meter and pay by d.d. so for us it would be a very nominal figure to consider, but it doesn't work like that for everyone, sadly.

Some children don't even get a hot meal at home, often eating sandwiches or something else cold for dinner, it's fortunate that some of these will be entitled to a hot school meal, but not all of them. Being able to eat hot food should not be seen as a luxury, having a hot meal has psychological benefits too, especially if you have had a long, hard, tiring day!

Again this is something that just doesn't register as being weird, what's wrong with that? It's unusual for me to eat hot food (beverages yes, not food). I might whizz some Weetabix round in the microwave for a couple of minutes but it's a rarity. 

I eat once a day, might have a sweet snack with my afternoon coffee (this is not a meal) but generally all food is cold / room temp.

Earlier on you posted that you were exhausted,do you not think that living like this is why you are exhausted. You have said you work hard so this amount of food is not going to fuel your body properly. It doesn't matter if it's cold but one meal a day is not enough for an adult to live on and have enough energy to work  

euronorris

And....just been to morries to get some eggs (I'm making meatballs and didn't have any eggs left). I booked a too good to go bag last night. It was cancelled this morning by the store, saying they didn't have enough leftover food. They weren't kidding! A very sparse shop in places, and only a handful of yellow sticker fresh stuff left. I did manage to grab a few packs of crumpets reduced to 7p though! Shoved in the freezer.

I am wondering if we will see the era of too good to go bags disappear for a while.

JinJinBlue

Happy Sunday everyone. More good advice and wise words. Thank you. I have done a few things this week to cut costs but one has made me a bit sad. I used to support 3 well known charities with a monthly donation but now I have stopped. I know that they won't collapse without me but still........ 
I'm also cutting back on car usage and using my bus pass more. Mind you, where I live buses are like fairies. You have to believe in them to see them. I'm slowly getting to grips with a very strange bus timetable.
After reading earlier posts, I realise that I'm also in a 'not bad' position. I just needed reminding. :-) 

Onebrokelady

ZsaZsa said:

freyasmum said:

Around 25 years ago, my local council ran classes that were aimed at young, single mothers to show them how to cook, budget and look after their children. 

The only people who actually turned up were my mum (a trained chef), my uncle (retired and a keen cook), his wife (hadn't worked outside the home and never liked to cook!), my aunt (former school cook), the owner of the local Chinese restaurant (elderly) and various other older people from the village. 

Years later, my daughters nursery also ran a little class for a few hours for maybe 6 or so weeks? Yet again, barely anyone turned up.

The council can run these things, but it takes people actually turning up.

Maybe the classes were empty because the “young single mothers” didn’t actually need lessons on how to look after their children? 

Exactly, I was a young single mother and I was quite capable of looking after my children which included feeding them healthy food

Rosa_Damascena

Onebrokelady said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

OrkneyStar said:

TheAble said:

OrkneyStar said:

poppy811 said:

Porridge two to three minutes in the microwave. 

For most of us that's fairly straightforward, unfortunately less so for those who cannot afford to use electricity.

But that electricity would cost like 1p. I know times are hard but 1p?

I was thinking of someone with a top up electric meter - if they have used all their credit, and the emergency, and have no access to money to top it up, then they will essentially be without electricity.  We don't have a normal meter and pay by d.d. so for us it would be a very nominal figure to consider, but it doesn't work like that for everyone, sadly.

Some children don't even get a hot meal at home, often eating sandwiches or something else cold for dinner, it's fortunate that some of these will be entitled to a hot school meal, but not all of them. Being able to eat hot food should not be seen as a luxury, having a hot meal has psychological benefits too, especially if you have had a long, hard, tiring day!

Again this is something that just doesn't register as being weird, what's wrong with that? It's unusual for me to eat hot food (beverages yes, not food). I might whizz some Weetabix round in the microwave for a couple of minutes but it's a rarity. 

I eat once a day, might have a sweet snack with my afternoon coffee (this is not a meal) but generally all food is cold / room temp.

Earlier on you posted that you were exhausted,do you not think that living like this is why you are exhausted. You have said you work hard so this amount of food is not going to fuel your body properly. It doesn't matter if it's cold but one meal a day is not enough for an adult to live on and have enough energy to work  

Do you know, you could be onto something. I am exhausted because of heavy work commitments and decided to take the weekend off, but was struggling to exercise earlier without getting puffy - just 12,000 steps carrying a medium load. I also found myself dozing off just now so wondering how I am going to manage next week. 

Auntycaz

The local college where I used to live ran classes to show how to cook basic things for students getting ready to go to university. What I thought really good about it was that when they advertised the classes they asked for the student to email them things they would like to learn how to cook. These courses were well attended as they taught them what they wanted to learn, rather than showing them how to make things that were expensive to make and which they had no interest in eating.