Cost of Living

[SouthernComfort]

Big bag of Jamaica's finest, still be skint but will care a little bit less about it.
People stress too much, when times are lean try the green.

[mps]

money saving tips

Just a few things that have helped us over the years:

1. Grow your own - you don't need much space (although we have an allotment) - grew peppers on the windowsill at work last year - tomatoes and lettuce and peppers in the house, my grandma used to grow tomatoes 10 floors up in a tower block! Jam and chutney make good presents - one pumpkin makes 3 jars of chutney.

2. Drive 10 mph slower - I generally do 60-65mph now

3. Buy non-perishable food in bulk

4. Cook in bulk (assuming you have a freezer) - Sunday lunch in our house does 3 days!

5. Wild food - not so much at the moment but fill yer boots and bags with wild apples, blackberries etc come August/September.

6. If you like them, liver, kidneys etc do nice in casseroles

7. Small solar chargers are cheap enough and a couple of them will keep your phone, camera and mp3 player topped up for reasonable usage.

8. Re-use, recycle - made do and mend worked 60 years ago!

9. Cycle and walk if possible, although it isn't practical for any of my journeys.

Anyway, just my thoughts and ideas, hope these help!

Michael

[oneman]

Plan your meals ahead. Cut down on waste food. But and cook in bulk and freeze. Buy in season if possible. Buy locally can often be cheaper. Cheap cuts of meat can often taste wonderful slow cooked. Eat more veggies.

[Canker_Canison]

Just to add to MPS advising to drop your speed. Nearly all cars are most economical between 55mph - 60mph in top gear. This is the magic area where fuel economy stats were always worked out.

When driving around town my car drinks like a scotsman who's gone 2 days without alcohol & finds an all you can drink bar.
But on the open road at 58mph it will do a reasonable 36mpg, not that I can stick to 58mph... more like 78mph

[barrowmanandrew]

When driving around town my car drinks like a scotsman who's gone 2 days without alcohol & finds an all you can drink bar.

well,
if we had a prize for one liner of the day, ith ink you would be winning it....

[rds60h]

Absoloutly skint, never been so bad.

I'm eating once every two days at this point, good news is im off the smokes, cant afford to eat let alone smoke... Savings are gone paying bills and fuel, getting to the point where racking up debt is the only option.
Getting from A to B is taking every penny I have and being where I am I need to travel a LOT to get places.

Never been so seriously and utterly shafted in all my days.
The majority of interviews I've been to end up offering me a job, that's not the problem, the problem is they're 30+ miles away and offering 8 to 12 hrs max. Whilst advertising full time posts, on a 60 mile round trip with fuel and parking costs id actually be worse off than I am now, and things cant really get much worse.

Another few weeks of this and im going to wind up in hospital.
Seriously considering less than legal routes to financial gain.
Sick of seeing people who've never worked a day in their puff better off than I currently am!

Know how you feel Chroma, I've been on the sick since January and only get SSP asked about Child Tax Credits but they only use last years income to assess your payment, I told them I was working then and had income so didn't need extra then but need it now. Was basically told tough. I have been employed since I was 17 and am now nearly 56 and have never claimed anything before. SHAFTED !!!!

[chroma]

Know how you feel Chroma, I've been on the sick since January and only get SSP asked about Child Tax Credits but they only use last years income to assess your payment, I told them I was working then and had income so didn't need extra then but need it now. Was basically told tough. I have been employed since I was 17 and am now nearly 56 and have never claimed anything before. SHAFTED !!!!

Seems the way of it.
I've got a neighbour just had a MARBLE staircase installed, im not even kidding, a ~~~~ing marble staircase (shit takes a lot of grinding as the workies where at it for days) the problem is the guy has never worked a day in his puff... WTF is that all about?

Thankfully my period of unemployment is over and i might actually wind up out of my overdraft in short order.
Pish though that honest decent working folks are bent over and bummed whilst workshy lazy bastards seem to get the rockstar treatment...

[Lainie]

@ chroma so pleased you are working. nice one

@rds60h they CAN do a CURRENT YEAR calculation if you ask them. prob is after you have been off sick for 28 weeks and your SSP comes to an end so does any working tax credits as you have to be working to get them. does your mrs work? how old are the kids? as she might be able to get working tax credits or child tax credits increased.

if she is not working you can claim income support top up to SSP.

pm me if i can help you.