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

Florenceem

I really feel for people who have to buy Gluten Free food - it is so expensive and not a lot of choice. I was asked to pop into our local Asd. last week to buy cake for someone who was GF and had come along for the first time to the SA lunch.
Tonight I have had a go at baking a GF cake for tomorrow's lunch but I didn't have any GF flour - found a recipe that uses custard powder. Mr F and I will taste test before I give it to anyone else. I plan to buy some GF flour when I next shop.

Brambling

Florenceem your cakes always look good so I'm sure you're crack it.  A couple of my young family members are celiacs and I know my nieces have made them lemon or orange polenta cake usually made with ground almond and polenta.  Also coeliac.org.uk have recipes if you want ideas 

you're right buying special food for anyone gluten free is so expensive compared with 'normal' food and it is hidden everywhere.

Floss

Asda sell very good own brand GF flours for similar prices to normal flour, which are much nicer than Doves Farm. When I used to bake professionally I often used them and used them for quite a few wedding cakes, including my sons.

Blackandgold_2

@Florenceem I have a couple of friends with coeliac disease and can recommend this website for cakes: Recipe Index (glutenfreecuppatea.co.uk)
I made the chocolate crunchie cake this week and it was lovely.
Don't forget to buy Xantham Gum to add as per the recipe as it really does help.

threepenny_bit

newlywed said:

Have a stash of wool, so treated myself to some lovely looking slipper and slipper boot patterns. I did go through a load of free patterns but the patterns on Etsy just pleased me more so I went for it. £3 and £4 for patterns isn’t bad when I already have the rest of the supplies and can make multiples… and for gifts too.

I have looked at knitting my slippers but worried they will be slippery underneath on my hardwood floors - do you add anything to stop them slipping? I have seen some patterns with an attached sewn on sole but they are expensive to buy here

weenancyinAmerica

I get all of my jumpers from the men's department - better quality, cheaper. My favorite cardigan is one I inherited from my father. He wore it for forty years and I have worn it for the last 16 years. My shorts for summer came from the men's department also. 

Wednesday2000

I think I have said this on here, that I also agree that men's jumpers and cardigans are of better quality than the clothing made for women! I only wear men's sports socks now as they are far thicker, warmer and more durable. 

Spendless

ZsaZsa said:

twitcher1973 said:

I work and am at home with 4 dependent children.  

We have saved 100 kwh energy the last 6 weeks by not having the lights on in the house at all - I have turned them all off at the consumer unit.  When it gets dark the kids have a battery camping lamp each and I have candles.  It has been good because they dont get up until it gets light now, and settle down to bed earlier.

From tonight I am turning off the electric altogether at 10.30pm and putting it back on when I get up for work at 5.30.am I have sorted out the freezer so there is nothing in there that will perish. I take a electric reading every sunday and will see how much more it saves me turning this off. 

I am on oil  heating/hot water so will not be filling up this winter  at 90+ pence a litre it is not affordable for a 1200 litre tank - I have open fires and will be using them instead. I have enough oil in the tank to have the boiler on for 1 hour on a sunday for another 2 months or so, little 'un can have a bath once a week and showers the rest if needed.  The showers are on eco now so they arent really hot, the kids dont stay in them as long now. The washing up gets done with a kettle of water. All these little things will add up and hopefully help lower the bills. I use an old fashioned spin dryer and have left the tumble dryer for the scrap man.  The spin dryer is great if you have to hang up indoors because its raining outside.

I’d worry about causing damage to the freezer, they’re not designed to be constantly turned off and on. And once the electricity is restored, the freezer will be working harder than before to return to the correct temperature .

what sort of lightbulbs do you currently have? 100 units over 6 weeks sounds like an insanely high figure just on lighting, especially over the summer when it’s lighter out for longer. LED bulbs can be bought cheaply and cost fractions of pennies to run. Certainly cheaper than buying batteries/ candles. Things are bleak enough without making life harder for ourselves 

I agree with this. Having to replace your fridge freezer is likely to cost you more. Additionally you're not going to be able to take advantage of reduced grocery items to freeze for a later date.  

Have you got one of those meters that measures how much electricity you're using per hour, so you can see how much appliances cost?  We first got one years ago and I discovered it's really anything that applies heat that bumps up the cost. I found this out because I saw the monitor soar went to yell at then teenage son and his mate about whatever were they doing on the Xbox and discovered it was DH having a shower! Of course it does show you an hourly rate so even though the hourly rate looked high, he was only in there minutes.

Look into whether you can get one. It will help with monitoring what usage you can cut back on without compromising your health or other areas of your life. Meanwhile here's an article explaining running costs for the fridge freezer.

https://www.idealhome.co.uk/property-advice/how-much-does-it-cost-to-run-a-fridge-freezer-298277

arnoldy

M&S do some nice jumpers for £19.50 but again not as thick as the men's for the same price.

There is often a "Women's Price" and a "Men's price". Take roll on deodorant - same contents different bottle, women pay more. Shampoo, add something like "extract of seaweed" or other baloney to the label and charge the women 2 or 3 times the price. Very common in toiletries.

newlywed

threepenny_bit said:

newlywed said:

Have a stash of wool, so treated myself to some lovely looking slipper and slipper boot patterns. I did go through a load of free patterns but the patterns on Etsy just pleased me more so I went for it. £3 and £4 for patterns isn’t bad when I already have the rest of the supplies and can make multiples… and for gifts too.

I have looked at knitting my slippers but worried they will be slippery underneath on my hardwood floors - do you add anything to stop them slipping? I have seen some patterns with an attached sewn on sole but they are expensive to buy here

I haven’t actually tried it yet but can’t see they will be any different from my usual indoor footwear choice of socks.

I have seen some use a glue gun on the sole of socks to blob grip areas but not seen anyone do that on hand made socks.  I saw the sewn on sole and have also seen some use a suede type material sewn on as a heel patch and sole patch so if they are slippy then I plan to use some of those fake suede elbow patch pieces or get some off cut of that type material and give that a go. I guess a hessian type shopping bag or another textured fabric might work too.

Would rather not use glue if I’ve gone to the trouble of making them.