The Journey

Enterprise

2011-01-05T00:19:00.000-08:00

Been up most of the night thinking of ways to boost my income, which is a challenge in this climate. Decided that I need a second job, so will start trawling the vacancies for evening work. The discovery of the banishment of World of War Craft has caused a mild house hurricane, a whirling dervish ran feverishly around the house looking for a technical reason for the login failure. Having swam around the goldfish bowl it was evident that the earlier discussion two days or so ago was but a distant memory or nightmare depends how you view it. Of course if they get a Saturday job (and that does require getting up) it will be reinstated. Can't say fairer than that, mind you I think I am in for a frosty few weeks!

Guinea Pigs

2011-01-04T11:44:00.000-08:00

I can't help thinking that Suffolk is a Guinea Pig for the rest of the country. The county council no longer wants to deliver services and instead are divesting, creating social enterprise or cutting it completely. We are losing bus services, lolly pop ladies, speed cameras, country parks, libraries, early years services and much, much more by April. In addition to this we have our district councils all 6 considering mergers. Babergh and Mid-Suffolk will go to a public referendum May 5th. I am wondering why we will be paying council tax?

Freezing!

2011-01-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

O my goodness, got into work and found that the heating oil had been stolen again. That is third time in the last 4 months which is a real concern for my employers and our business park. It was so cold that we had to close the office at 2.00pm. We were all shivering and anyway you just can't type with woolly gloves on! I worry that this is a situation that is likely to get worse as the financial constraints close in. Mean while I have had my Happy New Year from the gas company today along with a £179 bill and and MOT needed for my car. I am still upbeat as using my extra time to sort DVD's to go on Amazon and thinking of ways of cutting water consumption (bill) by having a bath curfew! As I am the only one it effects it should not be too hard to convince the family that showers only are the way forward. If I can shave £200 a month off our expenses we may survive this. Its going to be a tough challenge.

Tea tonight is pork belly diced in a casserole with mash potato. Supermarkets are starting to stock cheaper meat cuts this cost £2.12. I will trim off the fat, fry off the meat, season with salt and pepper and add stock. I normally use a quality stock cube to add flavour 'Kallo'. Into this I will be adding diced carrots, sweetcorn and broccoli (which is just what I have in stock). I will also be adding herby dumplings, really easy, suet, salt, pepper and what ever herbs you have in. In this case it will be parsley and dill and maybe a little drop of Tabasco for bite. I sometimes add grated cheese as well. The whole dish will cost approx £3.50 which is 87p each. Top tip is to search through the reduced shelves, I picked up the potatoes for the mash at 25p, I try and visit the supermarket at 6.45 -7.00pm they have reduced the bread and some veg just put on the shelves. Also if you are buying cheese ignore the relevant isle and head to the deli off cuts because you will get a better deal and taste here. A decent size nice mature cheddar normally cost £2.00 in the off cuts, in the isle £2.00 will buy you a very small piece of own brand mild (no taste) cheddar.

Back to work

2011-01-03T23:44:00.000-08:00

Back to the office today still trying to save petrol. I have heard that putting half a tank in instead of a full one seems to last longer so will test this theory this week. We have decided that none of us will being buying lunch at work or at school any longer. Its pack ups and left overs all round. That actually sounds worse than it is...I have soup today!! This should save us approx £30 per week.

I have passed the Kypton Challenge

2011-01-03T09:43:00.000-08:00

Oooo good news....I have passed the mind boggling timer challenge! There has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth as all electrical goodies in the kids rooms switched off at um 5.30pm. Mmmm just need to get the time right, after all it would be nice to live to tell the tale!!

Tea tonight was last nights left over veg! Carrot, swede, sweet corn, potato blended with 3/4 pint of vegetable stock into a soup. Just add pinch of salt and a little grated black pepper to season. Heat gently and serve with toast ( my 20p reduced white medium sliced bread ). Clean plates all round, total cost approx £1.50 for 4!

The Beginning

2011-01-03T09:32:00.000-08:00

The cutbacks, two years of wage freezes, increase in food and fuel cost plus VAT now hitting 20% is pushing our ability to provide for the family to the very brink. In order to survive we are starting to make significant changes to how we live, work, cook and clothe ourselves. This the start of our journey and this blog will document our failures and successes.
A bit about us, we are a family of four living in a rented house in a market town in Suffolk. I work full time 37 hours a week and in addition occasional evenings and weekends. I earn the national average wage and travel 26 miles to work, which is very common for this area. My partner and I have started a new business in the town which although in its infancy is starting to sustain itself. My partner works 48 hours a week running the business. We have two teenage children both in full time education.

First Steps

Electricity
We have just purchased plug in gadgets that turn off anything left on standby overnight. These cost £3.99 each and we are hoping that it will turn off the items that the children always forget, PC's, televisions and DVD. I was rather pleased with the purchase until I realised that it was a Kypton Factor mental exercise to set the timers. After a tussle the gadgets have now been installed. I await to see whether I have set the timer at all and if they will help save electricity.