Feeling the Pinch!

greyteam1959

That's correct unfortunately.
 Thought is was worth a mention.

nannygladys

The benefits system is a mine field these days. I receive pension credit but it's not the guaranteed one so don't get the usual benefits such as free council tax etc (that's my biggest bill) and I'm sure the increase in state pension won't pay for all these increases we are seeing. I really dislike visiting the SM these days and go in and out that fast so I'm not tempted to buy anything as treat and only get necessities 🙁. I know down to the last penny how much I spend and although I'm really careful when using gas, electric and water it's still really hard, I've never been more careful with money in my life before, but I'm fighting back and living a much simpler and better life I think, that's what I kid myself with anyway.

zaxdog

Sadly our tory and lib dem controlled council has voted to up the council tax by 10% even though they have been provided with government funding to maintain  the freeze   Unfortunately this is another result of the new Highland Clearances with the demands on local services soaring (lots of retirees moving into the country as the services here are better) and also no staff as the second homes all over the region means housing is in crisis.........

For us that's over £150 more a year to find I  an already tight budget.

Mr Z will be heading out with his rod this spring and I in charge of foraging wood for the stove

Candle & soap jars under the sink to save and reuse scraps.

Going to put a card up in our local wee shop to see if anyone needs changeovers done. Any extra cash slways helps.

I have just filled one of my stone hot water bottles and retreated to bed with Barra the hound and a cuppa for an hour.

YorksLass

nannygladys said:

I really dislike visiting the SM these days and go in and out that fast so I'm not tempted to buy anything as treat and only get necessities 🙁. I know down to the last penny how much I spend and although I'm really careful when using gas, electric and water it's still really hard, I've never been more careful with money in my life before, but I'm fighting back and living a much simpler and better life I think, that's what I kid myself with anyway.

Couldn't agree more about visiting the SM - online shopping isn't much better either!  Mind you, I've never been a fan of any kind of shopping, unless it's a good browse round a CS.  Even then, it isn't often I buy anything - maybe a few paperback books now and again - even though I have a separate purse for such "treats".

The first of the next financial year's bills arrived this morning - rent up (7.7% CPI plus 1%) and also the service charge (7%) that we pay for cleaning of the communal areas.  I didn't mind the service charge too much at first as it was only £1 pw but, like everything else, it's gone up year on year and what's done is less and less.  One down, more to come.

We also got our state pension increase letters and, as usual, we had a chuckle at the age addition extra 25p pw that DH gets.  Not sure what that would buy!  Even the cheap tins of baked beans I get are 27p.  

sammy_kaye18

@Siebrie thank you for the home remedies. Husband is still ill, suffering badly with fatigue and triggering asthma attacks so I suspect hes actually had covid and now has the recouping part to get through. Thankfully the rest of us have managed to avoid it but I now have a sniffle/cold and daughter has a cough. I have been researching home remedies though and things to grow in the garden to help so I have been using ginger, lemon, and honey mixed in a cup with hot water and drinking that as well as a vitamin C tablet and paracetamol when needed and I did the honey/onion trick with my daughter and that has worked well for her. Vicks on the feet at night helps a cough too. Husband again refused all these as well as any meds so we left him to suffer through it (his own choice) so all of us are much better already.

@zaxdog £150 seems a fair bit to find. Our council are useless as well with them putting up prices but we are losing a lot of our local amenities, our main bus is down to 1 bus every 2 hours, ours main rubbish black bins are being collected every 2 weeks and they are looking to do that down to once a month now with recycling the other 3 weeks. The roads are shocking with people complaining daily about pot holes, marking, broken curbs, broken bus stops etc.
They have already cancelled the local town Christmas tree and lights about 3 years ago and the local rugby club took over funding them. 
Ill be honest Im not quite sure what our council tax pays for at this point. 
I do know though is that my water bill - I am paying nearly £400 for their services and only about £170 for the water my family actually uses!

We were using the gas/electric/fuel vouchers on our gas and were able to make the £67 last us about 3 months at a time. Literally by not having the heating on at all and using all the MSE tricks I knew. 

We were given the last £150 voucher last month and we used it to stock the cupboards and for prepping our garden so we can get a lot of our own veg grown this year and even that we did as frugally as possible. 
Hoping that will have most our veg covered and a good portion of fruit as well between strawberries, apples and blueberries. 

willow_loulou

Council tax is my biggest nightmare each year. I used to get full benefit (single, disabled b low income) then they said we had to contribute. At first it was a small percentage £30 ish a month which I could manage. Now it’s up at 50% so £63 a month. A 3rd of my wage! 

I have no issues contributing but the worst of it is they - every single year- change the amount of benefit I get at least 3 times throughout the year. I complain and they reassess, put it back down then next month lo and behold want more money. Hence I don’t have a DD set up as they took more one month and made me over drawn. 

Last year my amount changed 4 times and they threatened me with fines/court etc twice because I didn’t pay enough! 2022 I over paid by £120 because they messed it so bad - I’m mean really?