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

Auti

Nelliegrace said:

DH has put a 400g loaf in the bread maker and made the kefir for the day. They cost about 40p and 20p, saving about £1.60 a time compared to the local Sainsbury’s bakery and their cheapest kefir.

How do you make kefir please

poppy811

Longwalker said:

greyteam1959 said:

@Longwalker
I am sure that you will not be able to claim Carers Allowance if you receive a pension.
I could be wrong of course.
Can on.

attendance allowance is no means tested

Pollycat

poppy811 said:

Longwalker said:

greyteam1959 said:

@Longwalker
I am sure that you will not be able to claim Carers Allowance if you receive a pension.
I could be wrong of course.
Can on.

attendance allowance is no means tested

I'm not sure how long ago this was discussed but I'm pretty sure that Longwalker is not of state pension age.
Gov.uk says: Carer's Allowance: Eligibility - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If you get State Pension

You cannot get the full amount of both Carer’s Allowance and your State Pension at the same time.

If your pension is £69.70 a week or more, you will not get a Carer’s Allowance payment.

If your pension is less than £69.70 a week, you’ll get a Carer’s Allowance payment to make up the difference.

Nelliegrace

@Auti This gives useful information, there is plenty online including youtube films.

https://naturaler.co.uk/where-to-buy-kefir-uk/

We have made Kefir for two years now, all from the original teaspoon of kefir grains. The grains increase and need halving every few weeks. I have some as back up in the freezer.
I use a silicon spoon to help strain the grains through the plastic sieve into a glass jug. 
The kefir can separate, just give it a stir. Some days it is thinner than others, then goes back to normal, the taste changes a bit occasionally. It is all good. 
Ours went a bit “stringy” for a few days, with a different milk, but was still drinkable, and was back to normal in a few days. 
It is suggested that you start with a small amount of kefir and increase it over a few days. 

Anecdotally, a friend of ours found that her home made, live kefir, relieved her IBS.

Longwalker

Pollycat said:

poppy811 said:

Longwalker said:

greyteam1959 said:

@Longwalker
I am sure that you will not be able to claim Carers Allowance if you receive a pension.
I could be wrong of course.
Can on.

attendance allowance is no means tested

I'm not sure how long ago this was discussed but I'm pretty sure that Longwalker is not of state pension age.
Gov.uk says: Carer's Allowance: Eligibility - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If you get State Pension

You cannot get the full amount of both Carer’s Allowance and your State Pension at the same time.

If your pension is £69.70 a week or more, you will not get a Carer’s Allowance payment.

If your pension is less than £69.70 a week, you’ll get a Carer’s Allowance payment to make up the difference.

Your right, only 59

Is all moot now, Ive had to go onto ESA

And Ive instructed a solicitor to put in for a Workplace injury. I know that can take years so Im not counting on it as money to come, its just I am really injured, it is effecting my life and I am out of pocket and the place I worked had working practices that were/are dangerous 

Im not getting any better, thought I was , even started to apply for P/T work but nope, thats not going to happen for a while.

PITA, money is so tight it screams on the way out lol, but the ESA will help and being a canny shopper and not too bad a cook we wont starve 

Im bored rotten . Theres not a lot I can do tbh. The tablets I have make me completely out of it, as high as a kite. ( no jumping in the car to go visit with friends ) So I try to keep them to the bare minimum. Then not taking enough means I have throbbing pain all day which wears me out and leaves me tired all day. Its like having a toothache, always there, then now and then the pain flares to abscess  levels , down my neck and arm, around the face. The whole time my arm feel like it weighs a tonne and im dragging it around. lol. Got to laugh as Id cry otherwise. So doing the bare minimum at the moment , cooking dinner leaves me exhausted, even with Mr L prepping the veg and stacking unloading the dishwasher. However on a brighter note, Im now fit to shower myself So Im not so stinky

Oh and what I would give to be able to lie down and sleep 

But in the grand scheme of things, this is only temporary and and am getting better - if slowly.

euronorris

So sorry to hear that @Longwalker . That sounds really hard (and painful). I hope it starts to improve more quickly for you (crossing fingers).

Not much to report on my end. I expect the car boot will be called off again this weekend. It's rained so much (again).

Siebrie

@Longwalker I use magnesium oil on my painful shoulder (rub it in) and along my upper arm. It does not help with the injury/inflammation, but it does stop the muscles around it from cramping. Maybe you can check with your GP if it would help for you, too?

linz

Gosh it's one step forward one step back for me at the moment. Just when something good happens on the one hand, something else comes along and takes it away. I moved house into a smaller mid-terrace property in Autumn so bills are lower. Despite arguing with the council that I was overpaying my council tax band they insisted I wasn't. They've now realised they were wrong and have taken the overpayments off this years bill so i'm now only paying £71 pcm (Band A, single occupancy.) I also had a recent pay rise of 3.9% which works out about an extra £70 or so a month.

Octopus have just let me know my direct debit is going back up by £67 as the support scheme finished so that's more or less wiped out the pay rise and the council tax discount - sigh ! 

I think I will probably bin Peoples Postcode Lottery, It's only £10 a month but I've never won. Can't think what else I can cut back on! 

Longwalker

linz said:

Gosh it's one step forward one step back for me at the moment. Just when something good happens on the one hand, something else comes along and takes it away. I moved house into a smaller mid-terrace property in Autumn so bills are lower. Despite arguing with the council that I was overpaying my council tax band they insisted I wasn't. They've now realised they were wrong and have taken the overpayments off this years bill so i'm now only paying £71 pcm (Band A, single occupancy.) I also had a recent pay rise of 3.9% which works out about an extra £70 or so a month.

Octopus have just let me know my direct debit is going back up by £67 as the support scheme finished so that's more or less wiped out the pay rise and the council tax discount - sigh ! 

I think I will probably bin Peoples Postcode Lottery, It's only £10 a month but I've never won. Can't think what else I can cut back on! 

But then you can always be grateful that you had the extra there to be taken away, would be a lot worse if you hadn't . Which I know is absolutely no use to you at all - just trying to make you feel better  (((((HUGS)))))

With the tight budget Ive been on this year I went through everything with a fine tooth comb, cancelling subscriptions ( one I never knew I even had )  ringing up and asking for better deals, and of course, cutting the shop - drastically

Its got me through since Christmas, and I managed to pay the car tax in one hit today rather then spreading the cost and being charged for the privilege 

Not one bit of food is being binned, not one bit. Now some are going to think gross, but I made a curry tonight for 3. Using reduced chicken, one pack was too small so I got out 2 packs from the freezer , cooked, served and it seems my eyes were bigger then anyone else's bellies, and we all left some curry on out plates. I just put it all in one tub for the freezer, theres enough for a meal for one another time 

Was watching Jamie tonight and he was making minestrone and Mr L says " eww, hes putting in the cabbage stalks " so I said, of course, you cant afford to waste food nowadays. He looked at me and said but you dont, I do, he just hasn't noticed

Talking about the Jamie programme, I can say those frozen pollock he used in the pie are really very good. I buy them. You wouldn't know the difference between pollock and cod/haddock. Another cheap fish which Im now preferring over haddock is Hake. I always seem to be able to get that reduced in Lidl, seems its not a popular fish. Its very tasty

Auntycaz

I wish I couldn't tell the difference between pollock and cod and haddock. They all taste completely different to me and I can't stand pollock. We used to get fed up with eating fish when I was growing up as it was really cheap or even free as lots of my family worked on the trawlers and we got it fresh off the docks, but now I only buy it when it's on offer.
 I  also find it easy to tell the difference between lurpak and lidl or aldi spread even though lots of people say they taste the same.