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

otb666

@spendless Your hair sounds similar to mine I also do a top knot in bed but never with elastic band I cut elastic ends off my odd socks collection and use them.  I find my hair is better when i dont wash it and can go 4 to 6 weeks without washing it, i have baby shampoo one bottle which i have just finished that lasted 2 years. i am 56 and my hair is different to when i was younger when i was always washing it.

Wednesday2000

dreaming said:

Wednesday2000 said:

dreaming said:

Wednesday2000 said:

My sister-in-law received her £150 PIP payment yesterday so just a few days after mine arrived.

She said she got a full £400 refund payment for her energy. I just checked our bank account (as I do every morning) and OVO are due to take out our normal amount. I thought they would have deducted the rebate from our monthly payment. I'm not sure when we will get the money, but I'm definitely going to keep an eye on it.

I am also with OVO and they state that if you pay by direct debit, the refund will be paid into your bank account once the DD has cleared. So I will be checking at the end of next week as my payment goes out on 1st, which is a Saturday, so I will start to look for it around Thursday/Friday.

Oh thanks. I just checked both our emails and neither of us got an email about it for some reason. I just read that we are £208 in credit with them at the moment which will come in handy when the dreaded heating switch on takes place.

 Before I retired 9 years ago (at the age of 58) I got my 2 bed semi-detached bungalow as well insulated as I could afford at the time (and with the help of a government grant), bought thick lined curtains, and also had solar panels fitted. It was done more for environmental reasons at that time but has stood me in good stead ever since.

That was a good idea to future proof your home like that. I was looking online at 2 bed bungalows a couple of days ago actually. My husband is planning on retiring in 2026 and we were thinking of swapping our 2 bed house for a 2 bed flat with a sea view, but my fibromyalgia has suddenly made an appearance again and I was thinking a bungalow might be better if my mobility does decline like it did a few years ago. The thing that puts me off bungalows is that they are often on a large plot and I am really not a gardener.

joedenise

Wednesday2000 said:

dreaming said:

Wednesday2000 said:

dreaming said:

Wednesday2000 said:

My sister-in-law received her £150 PIP payment yesterday so just a few days after mine arrived.

She said she got a full £400 refund payment for her energy. I just checked our bank account (as I do every morning) and OVO are due to take out our normal amount. I thought they would have deducted the rebate from our monthly payment. I'm not sure when we will get the money, but I'm definitely going to keep an eye on it.

I am also with OVO and they state that if you pay by direct debit, the refund will be paid into your bank account once the DD has cleared. So I will be checking at the end of next week as my payment goes out on 1st, which is a Saturday, so I will start to look for it around Thursday/Friday.

Oh thanks. I just checked both our emails and neither of us got an email about it for some reason. I just read that we are £208 in credit with them at the moment which will come in handy when the dreaded heating switch on takes place.

 Before I retired 9 years ago (at the age of 58) I got my 2 bed semi-detached bungalow as well insulated as I could afford at the time (and with the help of a government grant), bought thick lined curtains, and also had solar panels fitted. It was done more for environmental reasons at that time but has stood me in good stead ever since.

That was a good idea to future proof your home like that. I was looking online at 2 bed bungalows a couple of days ago actually. My husband is planning on retiring in 2026 and we were thinking of swapping our 2 bed house for a 2 bed flat with a sea view, but my fibromyalgia has suddenly made an appearance again and I was thinking a bungalow might be better if my mobility does decline like it did a few years ago. The thing that puts me off bungalows is that they are often on a large plot and I am really not a gardener.

Bungalows are not always on a large plot.  Our bungalow has a really small garden at the back which we paid to have slabbed and the only gardening we do is in pots which is much easier to manage; although do still need to keep on top of the weeds between the slabs!

We have a large drive at the front but that is all hard standing for cars.  Only gardening there is weeding between the slabs, same as the back.

dreaming

Wednesday2000 said:

dreaming said:

Wednesday2000 said:

dreaming said:

Wednesday2000 said:

My sister-in-law received her £150 PIP payment yesterday so just a few days after mine arrived.

She said she got a full £400 refund payment for her energy. I just checked our bank account (as I do every morning) and OVO are due to take out our normal amount. I thought they would have deducted the rebate from our monthly payment. I'm not sure when we will get the money, but I'm definitely going to keep an eye on it.

I am also with OVO and they state that if you pay by direct debit, the refund will be paid into your bank account once the DD has cleared. So I will be checking at the end of next week as my payment goes out on 1st, which is a Saturday, so I will start to look for it around Thursday/Friday.

Oh thanks. I just checked both our emails and neither of us got an email about it for some reason. I just read that we are £208 in credit with them at the moment which will come in handy when the dreaded heating switch on takes place.

 Before I retired 9 years ago (at the age of 58) I got my 2 bed semi-detached bungalow as well insulated as I could afford at the time (and with the help of a government grant), bought thick lined curtains, and also had solar panels fitted. It was done more for environmental reasons at that time but has stood me in good stead ever since.

That was a good idea to future proof your home like that. I was looking online at 2 bed bungalows a couple of days ago actually. My husband is planning on retiring in 2026 and we were thinking of swapping our 2 bed house for a 2 bed flat with a sea view, but my fibromyalgia has suddenly made an appearance again and I was thinking a bungalow might be better if my mobility does decline like it did a few years ago. The thing that puts me off bungalows is that they are often on a large plot and I am really not a gardener.

I lived in a terraced house previously but with very dodgy knees and the lack of parking decided to move to a bungalow with its own small driveway. The back garden isn't huge but not that small either and was originally all lawn. I initially put raised beds in half of it to grow vegetables, but as my arthritis worsened had remaining lawn slabbed and gravelled. The last year or two has seen a further decline in health and after the heatwave this year I realised I was not really able to continue watering the veg. enough (even with 2 water butts close by) so have decided to plant drought-tolerant shrubs in the raised beds and just continue to grow tomatoes and salad stuff in pots near the back door. I live alone so don't need that much. I had planned to retire at 60 but it was brought forward to 58 as my workplace relocated, and I decided to take redundancy as I could access my company pension, and pay the remaining mortgage off with my settlement. Due to the length of time the relocation took, it meant I had 18 months to plan for my retirement  and I spent that time getting things done to the house and reducing my outgoings so I could live on my pension until last year when state pension kicked in. I am naturally a very frugal person and have always saved and planned as much as I can - probably due to not having much money growing up. I checked OVO this morning but no figures have been updated - I guess because it is the weekend - so I will continue to keep an eye on that, I also went over my budget for the coming month, checked my store-cupboards, and made a meal plan for the next few weeks. I can't believe how much I have saved through not driving because of sight problems - no tax, insurance or fuel costs. I do miss the convenience of being able to go where, and when I want but should be able to drive again when I have an eye operation soon. I have put the saved money to one side but I will have to think hard about whether to start driving again.

dronid

Onebrokelady said:

Spendless said:

but a cone of chips, the smallest size they do was £1.50 earlier this year - it is now £1.80.  Now that's probably still cheap compared to other areas of the country, but even the town centre chippy that I guess pays higher rates was charging less than my local, at £1.10 per cone at the beginning of this year. .

My local chippy is £2.20 for a cone of chips 

Gosh! We're doing well here in Liverpool! A small portion of chips which I think most could share is £1.60 and a large which could serve two big portions is £1.80!

ladyholly

dronid said:

Onebrokelady said:

Spendless said:

but a cone of chips, the smallest size they do was £1.50 earlier this year - it is now £1.80.  Now that's probably still cheap compared to other areas of the country, but even the town centre chippy that I guess pays higher rates was charging less than my local, at £1.10 per cone at the beginning of this year. .

My local chippy is £2.20 for a cone of chips 

Gosh! We're doing well here in Liverpool! A small portion of chips which I think most could share is £1.60 and a large which could serve two big portions is £1.80!

Our local cone of chips is £2.63! Although we are a tourist town this chippy is nowhere ner the tourist trail. The one that is supposed to be the best in town is £4.

Wednesday2000

@joedenise - I would love a two bed (or even one bed) bungalow with a very low maintenance paved over garden.:) I am not sure I would even bother having plants in pots as I hate gardening so much.

Re chips and the prices - I now have a local chippy that does a huge portion of chips for about £1.50. We have experimented with a few others since we moved here but we decided the other day that they seem like the best value and great taste.  We used to have an old fashioned chippy near us in East London but the portions were tiny! The local kebab place near our old house was extremely generous, but they were the thin type of chips/fries, not the proper chip shop chips.

CKhalvashi

YorksLass said:

CKhalvashi said:

Interestingly though, Milka bars in Sainsburys a few weeks ago were actually cheaper than in Biedronka in Poland, which really surprised me. I did buy some chocolates and a few packs of coffee out there though as they definitely are cheaper.

You've just reminded me to look in Sainsburys for boxes of Mieszko Marcepan and Cherrissimo chocolates, currently £1.60 but usually on promotion for around £1 pre-Christmas.  My favourite (occasional) treats. 

Sorry Yorkslass, I meant to reply to you but didn't.

If you know anyone going to Poland, definitely ask them to bring back the different flavoured marshmallows for you (Wedel branded), as I don't like the plain ones in supermarkets here but do like particularly the lemon. The lemon ones also go down particularly well in our office

weenancyinAmerica

@joedenise - I don't know if it would help with the weeding but I just pour vinegar where the weeds are coming up and it kills them off. 

joedenise

Thanks @weenancyinAmerica will have to give that a try.