Discussion Boards I care for...
feeling the pinch anyone?
- By loopy
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Sun 1 Jun 2008 18:23
we are really feeling the pinch at the moment. Our finances have never been as bad as they are now!! I am currently looking for more work but its hard when you have a disabled child to look after and have no one to help you. I do have qualifications but my daughter has to come first. I am fed up of having to whey all pros and cons up and decide that loosing carers allowance would be just too much. I cant work full time because of my daughter. My heads constantly in a spin trying to think about how we will survive. Does anyone else feel the same and how do you all cope? Its tescos value brand all round in our house at the moment!!! LOL
Replies
- By Tricia
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Re: feeling the pinch anyone?
Sun 1 Jun 2008 18:45same here loopy
as a carer have always felt the pinch but recently feeling it is more like a punch more than a pinch.
There is one very well known money advisor on GMTV who suggests moving down a brand to save money. We have lived on ASDA Smart Price foods for years now so am left wondering what brand we can move down to.
I have planted some potatoes which went to seed into some pots by my back door and each day they are growing higher so looks like it won't be long before we have our own home grown spuds to fill our plates.
- By EL
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Re: feeling the pinch anyone?
Sun 1 Jun 2008 19:20yep its tough alright cant seem to get my head above water no matter how well i penny pinch
- By kerry.
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Re: feeling the pinch anyone?
Sun 1 Jun 2008 20:30Hmmmm...
maybe we should just eat our kids?
- By EL
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Re: feeling the pinch anyone?
Sun 1 Jun 2008 23:23just to rub salt in my wounds.... Adam just now gave me the dvd the fox and the hound that we got from the library! it was due back at the end of April
how much is that gonna bloody cost i wonder
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By Greebo
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Re: feeling the pinch anyone?
Mon 2 Jun 2008 09:51Just about managing here, but...
No car (the cost of owning insuring and using one in London is a lot more than using bus or minicab when needed),
no eating out,
no takeaways,
no smoking,
almost no alcohol (and certainly not at a pub - far too expensive)
no days out (let alone holidays),
no new clothes except when absolutely neccessary),
no redecorating,
no ready meals,
no convenience foods (except baked beans and fish fingers),
watching phone, gas & electricity use like a hawk...
it's not so much life as existence at times.
Luxuries include loose tea and one expensive loaf (approx £1) of bread a week.Constantly running to stand still - you finish the catalogue payments for a mattress, and the washing machine goes, you pay that off and the fridge, freezer, or cooker goes etc.
FWIW I don't buy value brand stuff from Tesco and Asda because I do the main shop at Lidl, and a lot of readymade food is stuff I can't use because of a food allergy. We get a large sack of rice instead of buying small packets, and "exotic ingredients" (eg spices) get bought from ethinc places where they're sold as ingredients to use by the bucket load.
We use a chest freezer so that bulk-bought meat or food marked for quick sale can be used without waste. Some home made ready meals are kept in it too (eg a really good lentil soup with chicken stock, chili con carne, sauce for patatas bravas, burgers, pasties).
Low energy lightbulbs wherever they can be used have kept the cost of lighting down. We bulk bought the ones which are equivalent to 100W (from Screwfix) last time the DLA was renewed.
The boiler packed up last winter, and (because this is a council flat) was replaced at no cost to us with a condensing boiler. Cavity walls were filled last year (again, because this is a council flat it didn't cost us a penny).
Even so, the winter gas bill was high, but it was just about affordable to keep the flat at 18C during waking hours (has to be kept at least this warm because my husband becomes less mobile as the temperature drops).
- By loopy
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Re: feeling the pinch anyone?
Mon 2 Jun 2008 13:43trouble is, the value brands are going up in price aswell !!!
- By EL
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Re: feeling the pinch anyone?
Mon 2 Jun 2008 14:36I dont know what supermarkets you have near you but i have tesco, sainsburys and asda. I saw my daughter on mysupermarket.com compairing prices, she shopped at all three places and by doing that she managed to save £34.17. Its ok if you have all three in your area but if you dont you can only shop at what is available
- By loopy
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Re: feeling the pinch anyone?
Mon 2 Jun 2008 15:32morrisons asda and tesco round here. Asda seems to be the cheapest by miles though. Have just looked on their website and priced things up. They seem to have more value brands too. I am not a happy bunny at the moment. Just picked kids up from school and they are bickering and swearing at each other. Just belted my 12 year old for telling her brother to f*** off. Now shes upstairs having a paddy by the sound of it. I am going to kill her !!
- By graham
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Re: feeling the pinch anyone?
Mon 2 Jun 2008 17:54Oh Yes ! Everyone is feeling the pinch currently....Fuel prices up...gas, leccy, petrol...All going through the roof. Inflation on the way up. House prices going down ...A big turndown in the Economy.....+ the cost of food rapidly going up as the world food demand is starting to be greater than the supply........Times are never easy for carers or other groups on so called 'fixed incomes' but one thing's for sure ...They are about to get much worse........No amount of 'lobbying' or marching , 'early day motions' etc etc etc will make not one jot of difference now..........
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By Greebo
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Re: feeling the pinch anyone?
Mon 2 Jun 2008 17:58In order of nearness: (1 bus each way) Somerfield, Iceland, Lidl, (2 buses each way) Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Netto, Aldi. Morrisons hasn't got any branches in this bit of London at all.