2023 Frugal Living Challenge

mumtoomany

Hi, @Cas. I'll let you know how they get on. With the cut off bits from the blackcurrants. If you just push the sticks into soil/compost in a bucket of pot. By next spring you'll have more blackcurrant plants. 

Still frugaling. We have at last been paid two more very small pensions, only taken since November to get them sorted!!! Our total joint monthly income is now £860, plus any small amounts from gate sales, lambs to market, surveys, etc. Next January when OH gets his state pension, we will seem like millionaires.

Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xxx

willow_loulou

Blimey bit of a few days here. I’m exhausted tbh and very stressed and wring out. But it dawned on me yesterday I’d stopped taking my vitamins because I ran out and hadn’t budgeted for them. 

Ridiculous to just ignore that they’re obviously making a difference so I ordered some from Amazon in my subscribe and save thing. In the mean time I grabbed a pack of branded multi-vit from £land only 7 days worth but that takes me up to the delivered date. 

@cw18 I’m sorry getting the therapy you need isn’t easy. Can I suggest the Samaritans, I know everyone thinks they’re for those in greatest need and suicidal but I rang them before going on hrt because I wasn’t coping and just needed some support. It was then that helped me realise it was probably the peri menopausal symptoms pushing me to my limits and the unaddressed grief. I felt such a sense of relief talking to them, they’re truly lovely and were very happy to chat to me. 

Cas

@cw18 oh that's rotten. Is your sciatica classed as a disability and are they using as an excuse to discriminate against you?

mumtoomany thank you for that, I didn't know you could do that with blackcurrants so I'm now kicking myself for chucking the canes I cut down before in the garden waste bin!

cw18

Cas said:

@cw18 oh that's rotten. Is your sciatica classed as a disability and are they using as an excuse to discriminate against you?

According to a Doctor they paid to speak to me (and write a report) in March 2021 - when they were looking to dismiss me due to sick leave taken in 12 months - my sciatica is covered by disability discrimination.   No discussions have ever taken place as to what this means, or how that impacts the workload I'm expected to cope with.

tooldle

@cw18, from my own experience, if you or your doctor feels an ‘adjustment’ is needed, you can ask/request via line manager and occupational health team if the employer has one. 

StrawberrySuze

tooldle said:

@cw18, from my own experience, if you or your doctor feels an ‘adjustment’ is needed, you can ask/request via line manager and occupational health team if the employer has one. 

They don't have to say yes though, there's a little clause that is basically 'dependent on service need'. I had to fight tooth and claw to reduce my hours at work; the senior managers just said that it was only reasonable adjustments if it fitted in with my department requirements and this was despite recommendations from occupational health and a letter from my doctor.

cw18

I *might* have got some good news today.....

I've been seeing loads of ads on FB for free replacement gas boilers, as long as you own you home and your current boiler and you meet certain criteria.   My boiler does, but I didn't think I would as these things all seem to only be available to those on means tested benefits - which I'm not.   But then I saw 'low income' (with a figure above my annual income) as long as your local authority operates that qualifier.

So 3 weeks ago I contacted one of the firms running the ads, to be told my area isn't

Today (while I was delivering mail) I saw a chap wandering up a street who was clearly a 'door knocker', but he looked lost.   I made a comment, and he said he was checking flues (indication of age of boiler) for this scheme.   I snorted, and said something about my boiler qualifying but I couldn't get due to to this area not doing the low income scheme.   At that point he informed me that they ARE - but only as of 2 months ago.

So he and a colleague came over this evening, confirmed that my boiler does meet the criteria, and started the ball rolling collecting the supporting documentation to prove my eligibilty.    A lot of it needed downloading from various systems - payslips (I'm paid weekly and they wanted 3 months worth!), works P60 (again on-line only), and 3 months of bank statements (which means 10!) - which couldn't be done on the spot.   So I've downloaded since they left, and emailed to their supervisor.    Still some checking to be done on my status (prove ownership of the house with Land Registry for starters), and then approval to be requested from the council - but if it goes through that will be a weight off my mind as my boiler is 21.5 years old !!    And the scheme also includes cavity wall and loft insulation (installation, or top-up if you already have but not to the levels now required - I already have, but from a previous check suspect the cavity may need topping up).   Again, that's free.   If they deem them needed (I doubt it for mine) it can also include radiator thermostatic valves and a smart control panel for no payment.

So now I have to wait and see what happens, or to hear if they need any more paperwork.    They also need to arrange a visit from a surveyor who checks the insulation and heating system controls to decide exactly what work they'll apply to have done.

I daredn't count my chickens, but I'm keeping my fingers and toes well and truly crossed......

KajiKita

@cw18, oooh, fingers and toes crossed, crossed, crossed! You deserve to catch a break! 

KK

tooldle

StrawberrySuze said:

tooldle said:

@cw18, from my own experience, if you or your doctor feels an ‘adjustment’ is needed, you can ask/request via line manager and occupational health team if the employer has one. 

They don't have to say yes though, there's a little clause that is basically 'dependent on service need'. I had to fight tooth and claw to reduce my hours at work; the senior managers just said that it was only reasonable adjustments if it fitted in with my department requirements and this was despite recommendations from occupational health and a letter from my doctor.

I have an adjustment in place myself.  I responded as I have because the OP mentioned there had been no discussion around how the disability impacts the role, or what is manageable. My intention was to hi-light the OP can initiate such a conversation if they feel it appropriate. 

Frugaldom

Cas said:

@cw18 oh that's rotten. Is your sciatica classed as a disability and are they using as an excuse to discriminate against you?

@mumtoomany thank you for that, I didn't know you could do that with blackcurrants so I'm now kicking myself for chucking the canes I cut down before in the garden waste bin!

You can cut and plant most fruit bushes this way, as well as some fruit trees. I have blackcurrants, rasps, blueberries and even a crab apple tree plus hundreds of willows etc. In this respect, money really does grow on trees and bushes (and so many other self propagating plant species). 😊