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

Nelliegrace

DH still has most of his teeth in his 70s. Will future generations be able to say that? 
It saves quite a bit that he has high fluoride toothpaste on prescription.
We have a plastic gadget to get almost all the toothpaste out, and I cut the tube open to get every last bit used. Mum used to make us use salt and baking powder on our toothbrushes if the money was short and the tin of Gibbs Dentifrice was empty.
Pink Germolene  and Pink Dentifrice two of the nasty smells of the fifties. 

YorksLass

I have a Sainsbury's delivery coming tomorrow and have 19p potatoes on order but haven't bothered with the carrots or swede (have plenty already) or the parsnips (not a favourite of ours) but have opted for a bag of greens for 80p.  If they're as nice as the last lot I'll be happy.  It's a very small order and seems expensive but there is a leg of lamb (half price) on it plus a fair bit of dairy produce (milk, butter, extra mature Cheddar cheese, blue cheese for DH and eggs) that comes to just under £14 - same price as the meat.  

Back to dull and rainy today but feeling milder - and the painters haven't put in an appearance.  I wonder if we'll see hear the ice cream van today?

Head of celery has been chopped/frozen this morning and leaves frozen like giant ice cubes - lovely for flavouring soups etc.  And not "stringy" either.  Cod cakes, chips and mushy peas tonight.

I did have an NHS dentist pre-Covid but no longer as they're taking private patients only.     Heaven only knows when - or if - I'll be able to find another one.

Auntycaz

Just been to the bank and found out they are closing in August but I was told I could still do online banking. I said I would probably change to another bank as I don't like online banking and the internet is not very good where I live. She said if I do not to change to Barclays or HSBC as they are closing their branches here too. I can't understand it there are queues in all the banks whatever day I go into town. I hope they've got jobs for all the poor staff who will not be needed in branch anymore. They are going to send a banking van 1 day per week instead.

Florenceem

My building society is closing on 2 days a week from June.

YorksLass

We used to have several bank branches within walking distance of where we live (HSBC, Lloyds, TSB, Barclays, Nat West and Halifax) but now we're reduced to a Barclays that's closing later this month and a Halifax, neither of which we use

Banks continually say branches are closing because more people are using internet banking than in person visits but I can't help feeling it's the other way round i.e. people are using internet banking because branches have closed.

I know you can use the Post Office for simple banking needs but that's no use when your local PO also closes, as happened to us last year.  Thankfully, we now have a replacement.

I do use internet banking but DH flatly refuses (he's not computer literate, even struggles with a simple mobile phone and isn't likely to change at 80+ years of age) and if we need to visit in person it means going into town, something we very rarely do nowadays.  In fact, my bank (TSB) only has one branch in the whole of Leeds - hardly a small city!

CKhalvashi

Yorkslass, that's fine until you're in a town that technically has a branch but is only open on a Tuesday and Thursday morning.

I had a cheque that needed to be paid into somewhere a few weeks ago and was told they 'can't do it to protect the branch'. That's presumably the same branch that wasn't open.

Footfall may be down in many branches, but I'd also wager a bet (matched of course) that what they're dealing with is the higher value stuff (companies, mortgages etc) in general, which in theory should be enough to subsidise the service for others.

Longwalker

I got 2 bags of spuds, bag of carrots and a swede on offer. The swede was the size of a cricket ball - tiny - 80p normal price which is a joke

I was going to stock up on beef and lamb mid week joints but very slim pickings so left them and headed to the butchers. Got two huge slabs of bone in shin and a couple of pound of beef mince and hes putting an oxtail and some skirt aside to collect on Friday -( his cows were just being delivered and needed to be butchered), so batch cooking it all up for the freezer, Its still cold here in the evenings so stews and casseroles wont be a hardship 

Here in NI the dentist only sees you for that one course of treatment, He will say 6 month to 2 yearly check up - if you dont attend that - bye bye. Means everyone gets a chance of getting NHS treatment , Mr L had had to pay once for private as an emergency as he hadn't bothered with check ups so had to wait for NHS availability . He now makes sure he attends

elsien

I’d use my bank branch more if it was actually open when I wasn’t at work. But they’ve shortened the opening hours to 4pm and It doesn’t do Saturdays at all now. 

It’s not a straightforward process, paying money in. Their answer was to just use the post office instead. That’s helpful banking for you.

-taff

Every time I go into the bank I'm asked do I want to make a deposit, oh look, there's a machine there that will do it. And I always say, no thanks, I want to be served by a human. The bank makes plenty off me in using my money and getting interest on it so I think I'm good with getting something in return i.e. not having to do the work myself and helping to keep someone else in a job. And every time I go in, there's always a queue, so I'm calling bull lumps on lower footfall, I'm calling it a way to make more money and gradually get rid of all human interaction to do with cash. Has anyone else noticed the dearth of cashpoint machines now...

euronorris

I struggled to find the opening times of our local bank branch online, because almost every option points you to a script saying some variation of 'do you know that you can do x, y and z online?'. Yes, I do. But I want to use your coin counting machine and that definitely needs to be in person! I managed to get the info in the end. It is open on Saturdays, luckily, bit only 9am until 1.30pm. Still, grateful for that.

Popped into shops and got more yellow stickered bargains. A huge punnet of strawberries for 75p! And cheap as chips rocket, leeks, sugar snap peas and potato wedges. And parsnips for 5p! I've got a few in the freezer already, so I'll be making parsnip soup this weekend  😋