Discontent #9 food, energy, transport, cost of living, society etc

[candyland_]

Iceland do a dairy free butter/ spread called Free and it's £1 at the minute, if there's an Iceland near you

Thank you for letting me know

 

[emmer_moans]

Do you have wilkos near you?
I'm sure they have own brand ecover ironically mine is opposite sainsbury.
I find wilkos if buy own brand quite cheap.
During winter I buy anti bacterial liquid laundry detergent to add to my washing tablet to kill germs their own brand is good.

ooh I will check Wilkos for the detergent, thank you.

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

I don't have hive but can do the upstairs and downstairs separately, I've got 2 honeywell thermostats. Wish I could turn just my girls room on upstairs though as it's freezing

It is so handy to be able to do individual rooms. One of my kids room is much colder than the other. I love it.

 

[rainbowlemon]

Yep, I'm discontented with these prats. I note You Tube have shadow banned his video. Thought there was free speech in this country, obviously only for some people...

I also posted this video in the climate thread. How dare Neil look at whose funding these groups?

 

[Jc456]

Inflation has gone up to 11.1%

 

[Burrito88]

Has anybody got one of those foot warmer things? They look ridiculous and the last thing I want is more clutter. But I'm using a hot water bottle for my feet when on the sofa and I know I'm going to stand on it and pop it sooner or later

Amazon product

Could you try some of these inside slippers?

 

[Romy]

My dad is doing more than ok financially, he is in his 80's, when I was growing up in the 70's we were as poor as mice - all our birthday and Christmas pressies were 2nd hand and dad would spend hours in the garage cleaning, oiling and painting to get them up to scratch. He refurbshed my first bike that he found in a skip and painted it red, 3 years later it was painted blue and given to my brother as his first bike. I never quistioned my train set came with the trains and carriages in a nappy liner box and track was laid out onto a board the size of our kitchen door, even though the kitchen door had been replaced with a second hand baby gate. Days out were free museums or long walks to interesting free ancient sites (still to this day I have a thing for ancient sites and hubby loves a free museum) I have never been to a theme park! I was taken many times on the footplate of a steam train as dad volunteered on a steam line, we were only able to go as dad borrowed my grandads caravan and we stayed in an area that had no facilities!

We were poor, and I once heard my grandma say to a nieghbour ' they don't have alot, but they really try to give the children days out and they seem to enjoy it'

dad was sponsered through uni by a nationalised company and kept in junior role as a result, then all of a sudden was promoted several times in quick succession and got a huge pay off and an enhanced pension for taking redundancy at 50 years old, as the company was privateised and they wanted to get rid of dead wood. Financial advice to invest well. Also the house he has lived in for 50 years is now worth a pretty penny.

My auntie on the other side (lost her husband young) brought up a child by taking on cash in hand jobs to make ends meet, so didn't even get a state pension, just housing benefit was relying on cash in the post from her siblings to survive. As the youngest child she moved in with her daughter once all her siblings were no longer as she could not afford to live independantly!

So old people vary greatly in their incomes.

Dad hopefully needs a hip replacement (I say hopefully as he saw a Dr just before lockdown but never got the referred x-rays due to lock down) hopefully 2 1/2 years down the line it's not too late as his situation has worsened. Dad initially thought he would go private but is now unsure as it is more than he expected, he thought £7000 but realistically he is looking at £20000. He could write a cheque tomorrow for that amount and still do his weekly shop before moving money from savings. Dad is worried about mine and my brother's inheritance??? As far as we are concerned it's his money to do as he whishes/needs and once he has gone whatever is left is ours.

It seems strange that if his car went kaput tomorrow he would spend £20000 on a new car to maintain his independence but is dithering about a hip replacement that will maintain his independace and should keep him driving and living at home!

Current NHS waiting lists in our area are 60 weeks for a hip replacement and he will have declined even further by that stage and may not be suitable for surgery, let alone able to drive!! He has our full support to,spend the money and go private.

60 weeks !

 

[Jc456]

At this point it’s almost cheaper to get a taxi

Possibly but most are based 10 miles away in the bigger town/city

 

[Jc456]

I get unlimted texts, calls and 10GB data with Tesco for £9.

Is that sim only contract? My daughter is tesco payg, I think she gets 10gb for £10

 

[SoManyLiars]

It's good I've been so worried about how to dry clothes etc, we don't have central heating, so no radiators, but have lit the oil burner, which cost a fortune for oil.

What is an oil burner, I am not sure what that is? Sorry if it is a stupid question.

Has anyone done this yet as recommended on Martin Lewis TV programme?
I haven't got round to it yet as I haven't switched my heating on yet and I keep getting broken off every time I plan to do it! https://moneysavingboilerchallenge.com/walkthrough/

Thanks for this, I have now done it and it will be interesting to see how well it works.

 

[Piff paff puff]

I've noticed businesses with premises only opening from midweek and noticeably less heated.

 

[Romy]

Thank you for this it’s v interesting - I wonder why none of the ppl recommending them on like mum Facebook groups ever mention this - I wonder if they even know? They must undertake a lot of additional tests to justify that price differential. Idk I can’t help but trust whatever regulatory body that exists pre EU or now would ensure sufficient product testing is legislated and anything above that isn’t necessary? It still strikes me as a brand for ppl with status anxiety soz but thank you for the info

Idk. Their factories are also mostly in Europe, although they have one in China, so it's not the same costs of production.

Nothing is built to last anymore even your loo and sink etc. I lived in a place with a very old loo and sink and even though they were very old fashion they were super white still always cleaned up beautifully same with the taps
Then housing decided to update them. within a couple of mths, everything was dull and stained and nothing would get them to sparkle. I see the same with my daughter's bathroom and that cost her a lot of money it didnt happen as fast as my cheaper one but didn't last that much longer.


Everything now has a short lifespan and it's made that way so you have to keep buying new. If governments really cared about the environment they would seek to change it. but they don't and wont

It's happening in France lol (and probably other places ?) Starts on December 15th. It's part of the "anti-waste law". Government will give "bonuses" to encourage people to make things repaired instead of binning. It's from 10 to 45€ depending on the product (which should represent 20% of the reparation cost) ??
I will try as I have a laptop which needs fixing.

 

[BaxterBillions]

Yes they can be as I know someone who went to the P.O with I.D and they gave them the cash.

Who was their energy supplier?

 

[Jc456]

Cost of living payments and the £66 energy credit will be helping some. Credit cards will be helping others and of course there will be people totally unaffected by rising prices.

Yea I had my cost of living payment this week so could use that for Christmas if I wanted

 

[Romy]

You can hate your job but love the work.

Right. I understand. It's a thin line though.

 

[rainbowlemon]

I am also on pay as you go with Tesco no data. I rarely even top up £10 a year as all calls have have always been over on Whatsapp or Skype.

 

[IfTheCapFits]

Great! Thanks all, know what I'm looking for now, looks like a useful essential to have to hand

 

[Usagisakura90]

I submit meter readings every week as my IHD doesn't work & I like to keep track real time of how much I've used.

Mine only has electricity on, no mention of gas so no idea how much I have used (with our 15 min showers only no heating on yet)

 

[IngressUK]

Most of the restaurants in my town are chains tbh. I couldn’t ever imagine jumping on a train go somewhere else just for a meal, especially the bigger cities because they’re even more expensive.
If I’m going to eat out, I’d do it locally.


None of the ones I know do, including myself (I work a railway office job though so to be clear I’m not one of the striking staff members).
my brother, partner, and my coworkers rarely travel on trains outside of commuting.
This discount is great but we can’t really afford “days out” in this economy, and to be honest for a lot of them the last thing they want is to see more trains after having spend 40 hours on them for the last week .
You mentioned one of the people you work with is an ex British rail member. They’ve clearly worked in the railways a long time. They’re probably older with more disposable income and aren’t being robbed blind by rent and mortgage costs.
It’s also worth noting that Network rail staff (a large amount of the striking staff) do not get this perk

Yes, the ex-BR man is not far off retirement.

Yes, it does seem madness that those that maintain the railways do not get the same travel perks.

However, this is down to the track and train operations being separated. Network Rail don't operate any services.

Although I do think all should be entitled to the same perks.

 

[candyland_]

Is that sim only contract? My daughter is tesco payg, I think she gets 10gb for £10

Yes it is.