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

Nelliegrace

@YorksLass When I hurt my back I couldn’t cope with having my hair washed at the hairdressers. I would wash it under the shower at home and let it dry, then at the hairdressers the cutter would spray water to damp it for a good cut. I didn’t see the point of paying to have it blow dried.
Now it is long and straight, and I plait it so it just needs a quick trim.  
With no nasty chemicals it is in good condition so it gets cut twice a year. I got Sukin shampoo at TKMaxx. 
Primark is cheap for hair ties and clips. 

TheAble

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80026459#Comment_80026459

You also have to consider the cost of the money tied up the the panels. £25k laid out today on panels (or however much they cost) could earn you £1-£2k a year in interest or other growth. If a low user of electricity it may potentially grow faster than you could ever pay it back.

Toonie

I've looked at the energy report for my house and the cost of the potential improvements hugely outweigh any gain we'd see for lower energy costs. It just doesn't make sense.

Went shopping yesterday and picked up a few bits and pieces for the week ahead. Mostly fruit and veg as I'm not sure I'll get to the market this week until Friday so wanted some fresh bits to keep us going. My salad leaves are starting to grow well, so I think a couple more weeks and I can start harvesting some baby leaves which will be great alongside the pea shoots I grow most of the year. This weekend I will do a second sowing of salad so we won't have a gap. I do love it when I am able to pick my own salad.

YorksLass

Grocery order arrived on time with everything I asked for; two subs but both OK. Everything has been put away and added to inventories, although I did have to engage in some freezer tetris, but it's all gone in. 😁

I treated myself to a new toilet brush (oh, I know how to live) and the old one has been relegated to the cleaning bucket for when I clean the kitchen grate outside - it's a bit tatty but it will certainly do for that job.

Button stash has been sorted and I've grouped them according to size, colour etc in empty spice and herbs jars. Even if the CS sells them for just a few pence, someone will have benefited and I get a bit more space back.

Tomorrow looks good for dry and fine weather so I'm planning a walk to the pharmacy and, depending on how I feel, might also incorporate that with the weekly Co-op visit so I'll have the rest of the week free for some of the (many) jobs I need to get on with.

flipflopflo

I've got rid of excess jars and the like by advertising them on Freecycle in the past and they've been snapped up.

sammy_kaye18

Afternoon all

Well I finally have my garden in some kind of order so hopefully I will be able to start planting soon to help save some pennies. To be fair though it has been a fun learning curve teaching mysef how to use a recip saw and impact driver! Thankfully the weather seems to be nice so I will have to hope for some more sunshine so I can get outside and putting some seeds out!

I am busy at the moment though making the most of the nicer weather and being able to vent the house, I have found mould in one of the bedrooms (my 12 year olds) and it has gone rife in our bathroom and back porch so I brought some HG Mould spray and its worked wonders in the bedroom so I will do the bathroom and back porch tomorrow with it. I also noticed though that the tumble driers pipe had a split in it so I think I have found the culprit for that.

Our CoL payment came in today so we have used part of it to buy a new fridge. Our fridge freezer is almost 10 years old, the seal on the freezer has gone and will optionally stay shut and the fan works when and if it wants to depending on its mood apparently. We have a small chest freezer so we decided to just replace it with a fridge instead. Hopefully now that will mean I wont lose any more freezer stuff!

Ive also brought a new pipe for the tumble drier but I dont use it now unless I seriously need to and the weather is so bad but I know if I put it off Id forget about it and end up back at square one fighting mould etc again.

@YorksLass I'd love a button stash! Im sure someone will snap them up.

Another bit of news is OH has gone for a promotion at work. Fingers crossed he gets it but we will see.

Ive also switched how I do out food shop - I shop online as its easier and cheaper for us since I dont drive, but I was buying 2/3 weeks at a time and then realising that things werent getting used and wasted. So I have switched it to weekly shopping now and meal planning. My daughter sat with me and we made a list of meals we like, and we draw them out of a jar each week and thats the menu. I also found a local butcher who comes to the door, and since I got diagnosed with high cholesterol he is a much better option for meat quality over the supermarkets prices and Im helping a local business. This week we brought welsh fagots (I realise thats spelt wrong but MSE wouldnt accept the spelling) 2 ready done with peas and gravy, and a pack of 4 (they are the size of baseballs!) and the 10 jumbo butchers sausages and thick freshly sliced bacon. It cost us £15 and theres no rubbish in them.

Still looking for ways to make ends meet and me and son are having porridge every morning and his college have now started providing a free bacon and sausage bap/roll to its students every morning, so he has breakfast of porridge at 7.30 and then at 11.30 is has his roll and that tides him over until hes home about 4pm.

linz

Do you do Prolific surveys @sammy_kaye18 ? They're great for making a bit of extra pocket money.

joedenise

I've just signed up for Prolific and have had quite a few surveys already. Only small ones but already have a couple of pounds cleared and another £3 odd pending. Didn't expect to get accepted immediately but I was. Definitely worth it for a few pounds.

I'm planning on leaving it until the end of the month and then drawing it out.

euronorris

I've been on a waiting list for prolific for ages, and still no closer lol. I guess they must have plenty of people with the same demographic as me already. I do surveys with YLive though. Used to be called Populus Live. I cashed out £50 last month, and have at least £9 on account again already. You can't cash out until you hit £50 though, which is frustrating and I find there are periods where the surveys dry up.

Well, the quotes for fixing the dishwasher are best part of £100 to come out, and labour, then parts on top. Based on the part we think we need (and there could be more), we'd be looking at £150-200!! And then something else could go wrong next year, and have same costs again as the machine is already 8 years old. So, have bitten the bullet and ordered a new one which we at least get a 2 year guarantee with and I managed to get 20% discount on. And I've spread the cost, interest free over 12 months.

If the washing machine has got any plans to pop it's clogs, it's going to have to wait it's turn!

Longwalker

@euronorris , during lockdown, the dishwasher, the fridge freezer and the oven all gave up the ghost :( All three had to be replaced and tbh, with no shops open for browsing we went cheap and what was in stock and could be delivered there and then - so far fingers crossed they are holding their own

Its just so annoying that call out charges make repairing unaffordable

Im dreading the day the washing machine dies. Its given 20+ years, maybe 25, and the problem with that is you cant get the parts for it any more so it will have to be replaced :(

Ive a wet/dry epilator/ shaver , had it 15 years and it needs a new shaver foil - no longer made :(

Things are not made to last, although my 40 year old kenwood is still going stong :)