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

-taff

I made a picc line cover with a piece of stretchy material, soemthing lycra based, and another by cutting the holey part of a sock bottom off a long sock. Meant I didn't have to have a bit of bandage looking stuff. I thought about getting a cover to shower for it but found a piece of cling film wound round worked just as well. And I also taped down the dangly bit so it didn't flap around or move under the cover. You shouldn't be paying for any prescription meds, you need to apply for a medical exemption. And here there are volunteer drivers to take you to and from appointments for radio being as the hopsital where it's done is so far away but it's definitely not as convenient as driving or being driven. They didn't like to give out the numbers here unless you were absolutely desperate because of over subscription but they might have them, ask one of your nurses.

London_1

greent, I have fingers crossed for you my dear I went through this in 2007, and chemo ,R/Therapy and all the related expences are an extra worry on top of being worried and feeling ill as well.
But the good part is that you also get quite a 'dark' sense of humour at times.Hair loss meant a few good laughs with my DDs and grandchildren as I said it was a tough way to save on hairdressing bills and shampoo and conditioner, but a bit heavy on the Mr Sheen polish for my head
I had my youngest grandson who was then 4 sitting on my lap rubbing cream into my head to bring my hair back at one point I had three little boys piling great dollops on top of my head until I looked like a rather odd looking ice cream cornet but it does come back and might changed colour as well from blonde fair  to brown which I actually liked and preferred , and a bit on the curly side ,but it does come back pretty quickly.Plus I thought wel if it knocks my hair out then its working well on the cancer and here I am in remission almost 15 years later still alive and kicking. But do get in touch with MacMillan as they are really good and very helpful with all sorts of things its not just the nurses, they are there to help you will various stuff I had some special bras got for me as I am obviously rather lop-sided now . The NHS nurses and Doctors were fantastic and I can't praise them enough for the care and kindness I had during a very worrying 18 months 

It seems you are doing everything you can to sort things out as best you can ,but also have some fun and spalsh out on a treat or two,even if its only a big squashy cream cake .At the moment its a time in your life when you can spoil yourself and do things you normally would not dream of doing

I wrote a diary while I was having my  treatemnt and its odd looking back on it.
It does make you realise the important things in life and they are family first and foremost, bills come a looong way behind.

Cuddle your kids and OH as they are probably as scared as you are and need a cuddle to keep them reassured 

My thoughts are with you honey , I'm sure you will come through it OK and will before you know it look back on it and it will just seem like a bad dream.
But today I get up and think 'Yay I've got another day' which at one point I didn't think I'd have, and life is brilliant.

OK I no longer swim as one of my arms doesn't work as well as it did, and I just go round in circles but its not important I can float on my back and I'm not about to swim the channel anyway  
Take care and keep fighting 

JackieO xx

P.S. that little boy was 18 last Thursday and start Uni this September bless him 

Katiehound

Best wishes to everyone posting here

Have been reading through this whole thread over the last week, and boy , was it a long one! some great ideas.

Luckily for me I am not struggling to save the pennies but I have always been 'careful'.   I do think it is a generational thing but also reflects how you were brought up / circumstances in childhood. We had pretty much no spare money as my mother was a working widow (so no pension) and no child benefit for one child. We had one heated room (courtier stove) an ascot water heater in the kitchen over a chipped Belfast sink and a geyser in the bathroom. That thing scared the living daylights out of me!! Ice on the windows in pretty patterns was the norm in a cold winter. You would get undressed in the living room and then dash up the stairs to bed with those thick white or grey blankets!!
I remember watching the coronation on a neighbour's teeny television but we didn't get one until I was 13.  We walked everywhere but it was only 15 mins to the mainline station.

I think old habits die hard. The terraced house I bought had some gas fires and a multi point Ascot water heater, it was only in the mid 80s that I got central heating. Luckily I bought solar panels - not the most generous tariff- but worthwhile especially now with power prices soaring. Generally power guzzler items only go on when the panels are working and they are kind of struggling today with all the grey skies and rain.

Only a few years ago I went shopping with an old school friend who lives far away. When we went into whatever home style store and she kept looking at items, humming & haring if she would buy or not so I would pipe up 'you've already got that, it's very nice but  you don't  need it' or words to that effect and she said 'It's no fun  shopping with you!' She would no more dream of buying something from a charity shop / a carboot sale than fly to the moon ,yet another friend, brought up in 'make do and mend'  mode loves hunting for bargains with me. Our daily telephone conversation usually revolves around YS (lucky her) or my charity shop buys from the 10 pence box!!

Anyhow that's me

I have a few thoughts from the read through- sorry I don't remember exactly who said what now.

Jackie O's grandson wanting to do a masters. Would it be possible to do that with the Open University? maybe not now, but later- they have hardship funds. That applies to any students & I know some 'young ones' prefer to be in paid work and study with the OU at the same time. That is hard work but I think you can transfer credits both into & out of OU to/from a traditional university.

If you are taking antibiotics- tip from my GP- also eat some live yoghurts. Good gut flora can get wiped out. Possibly sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha would also help

If you buy anything from Mr T & have a Clubcard remember to do the customer survey once a month. You might win the gift card (ha ha) but you earn 25 cc points and as he says 'every little helps.' 

Take care folks

Kantankrus_Mare

I started reading this thread about a month ago....just a few pages at a time and Ive finally got to the end of it whilst laying on a sunbed in Kefalonia. That may sound extravagant on a money saving thread, but its what we strive for throughout the year, being careful with our money and not wasting anything. Like the previous poster said, I think money saving becomes a mind set. I get a thrill out of a bargain and love my allotment which helps us to keep our food shop low. I shall be following along and there has been some great suggestions. I also love cooking and baking and the one area I fall down on is putting the oven on to say make one cake or to cook one lasagne etc. I need to get my thinking cap on for things that can go in the oven all at the same time to make the most of the oven being on.
Jackie O....you really remind me of my Nanna who is sadly no longer with us. I think her stories of frugality through the war and then being widowed in her fifties meaning she had to go out to work full time, have stuck with me from being a child. As an older lady, she was more comfortable but refused to buy anything she didnt need or could make herself.
Anyway.....hope its ok to join in as once Im home from my hols, Ill be back to doing surveys online, growing and freezing what I can from the allotment to make our pennies stretch that little bit further, especially as Autumn looks quite depressing for general day to day cost of living.

Sayschezza

Has anyone seen the vlog of Frugal Queen in France on u tube. The post called getting ready for rationing (or something similar) is well worth a look and is funny in a sad way. Can't do links sorry.

Woolsery

Sayschezza said:

Has anyone seen the vlog of Frugal Queen in France on u tube. The post called getting ready for rationing (or something similar) is well worth a look and is funny in a sad way. Can't do links sorry.

I can:

https://www.youtube.com/c/FrugalQueeninFrance

Elle n'est pas Francais!

Living_proof

Francaise even!

Woolsery

Living_proof said:

Francaise even!

It's about 58 years since I had a French lesson and now you know why I failed the GCE.

bupster

@dreaming I usually do online shops at Sainsbury's - I find they have a really good range, their own-brand stuff is very good quality, and I absolutely love their multi-seeded Taste the Difference bread (which you can't get anywhere else). The drivers are also very good and seem less rushed than some of the others. 

In terms of delivery charges, Sainsbury's have an option of paying much less (often just £1) if you're happy for your delivery to come within a four hour range. On the day of delivery they then tell you the actual arrival time (within an hour). That suits me fine. As with most supermarkets you have to order a minimum £40 to get those cheap delivery slots. 

I do an order as soon as I think I’ll need more than £40 - sometimes it’s just once a month as I live alone but more often it’s twice (or even more - I get milk delivered with these orders and you can only really get a week’s worth at a time; it's much handier than having to top up at local shops).

TheAble

Sounds like a very good system @bupster. I like those 4 hour £1 slots - chosen for a day when you can be flexible on time they're very economical.