Is anybody here living entirely on benefits?

[Ethel]

Is it as bad as this young couple claim? Are you going to bed hungry and eating rotting vegetables?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlan ds/7643652.stm

I am trying to understand how this can be so.

[puddicat]

I would get a sheep and knit my own at that price lol,you can get them in a thermal blanket material!!!!

[Ethel]

And of course if you are settled on your comfy chair for the evening, a light throw over your legs can be a great help at keeping warm while turning the heating down.

[B00]

Heh Ethel, I've also a spare duvet for that too!

Somehow, in my household, I seem to have aqquired alot of spare duvets, dunno how, but they are all put to use over winter.

[Ethel]

They can be so cheap nowadays, boo. Ideal for under the bottom sheet and quick cover ups on the settee.

[shaneystar2]

Ethel ..buy a slow cooker ..I have used one for over thirty years .Best bit of kitchen gear ever invented .
As to keeping warm ..I am damned if I am putting the heating on as yet ..only in the bathroom .I had to resort to my Biddy slippers today but once my feet were warm I was fine.And if you want a Dickey ....a polo neck insert ..I will knit you one :))

But ...let's be fair those two hardly looked as if they were half starved did they ?
If they were so desperate they would have scurvy and look like bags of bones !!

[sara3]

go lil75!

maybe these people think eating well means buying good convenience food, but proper cooking can be cheaper and healthier. why aren't they working? at least one of them! I'd like to know which benefits they receive and why, and I would expect they get Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefits on top of everything else. free prescriptions, free milk for under 5's.

by the way, with my dinner tonight I have naan bread.. it was reduced to 5p when I was shopping! I bought 4 (all they had left!) and froze them. we should all be sensible with our money. do a budget and see where it's really going, and only spend what you have.

[puddicat]

Wayne and Waynetta!!!

[donella]

oooo, i like the sound of those polo neck thingis, and on the sausage doge note, think ill roll up an old blanket for now and put that there, dont know why i didnt think of it before!
ive got a thick blanket on my mattress, does help, also before i go to bed i walk the dogs round the block, gets me warmed up!
i have been know to do star-jumps to warm up while waiting for my tea to cook too!

[Ethel]

Dicky! That's the word I couldn't find.

You are very kind, shaneystar, but I have three - black, grey and red.

If your bathroom has a cold floor, standing on a cork 'bathmat' will be a big help. Naturally warm.

[Ethel]

sara3 - excellent advice.

With the aid of a pc spreadsheet, keeping a budget of every penny you spend takes only a few minutes a day, and you can really see where you money goes, and where you can make big savings. I don't buy newspapers, for example - there is no need with the internet. A small saving of 40p per day and �1 on Sundays (I think) = �175 per year.

[LoftyLottie]

I still have some legwarmers from the 70/s80s. Just found them in a drawer!

I was thinking about the three day working week and the power cuts in the early 70's when we all had a time slot for electricity and had to get everything done in that time. It was great because I had just got married and all we could do to keep warm was go to bed!!

I'll stick to a woolly hat and a duvet now!!

[Ethel]

Any exercise is good, lottie. Don't be shy. :)

Those blooming power cuts - don't remind me.

[puddicat]

We should have a top tip section!!!

[LoftyLottie]

Gave up newspapers long ago Ethel. They don't deliver them where I live anyway. As you say, we have the internet for news.

[shaneystar2]

Good for you ..I knitted several last year for my sister in law ..she cannot bear to have a cold neck and I shall look into the cork bathmat ...that sounds like a good idea. I don't know ..it's a good job us old gals are around to advise these ******** youngsters :))))
We'll be having them soling and heeling their own shoes before long with Blakeys !

[donella]

i forgot to add,
last year i got one of those silver windscreen things from the pound shop, i put it under the throw on the sofa, a bit crinkly but reflected the heat back lovely!

well, must get ready for work (shame they dont have the heating on there either!!!)

[Ethel]

I will refrain from posting the obvious reply to that, shaney

*co**lers*

Sorry, couldn't resist. :)

[LoftyLottie]

I tell you what, if this recession really gets bad us old timers will survive quite well. We have had plenty of practice and making do and mend and also have the humour and stamina to cope. And most of us can knit!!

[Ethel]

Donella - I have something very similar on the wall behind all my radiators to reflect the heat. Excellent stuff.

[Bathsheba]

I'm heating naan breads as we speak, + they're wrapped in tinfoil that i have used 3 times previously and wiped clean! xx