In fact a recent report says 1 in 3 children live in poverty in the UK. Which I find astonishing and shocking . I have issues with payday loans and families living on the bread line....but thats another story. Brief rant: poverty is defined by the government's own idea of what the 'breadline' is. C...

Hi Gail. Two and a half years ago, my husband lost his job. I was in a panic and was sure we couldnt manage. He got another job which lasted two years, then back on the social - we didnt qualify! So we got porecisely £17, reduced to £0 after a short while. He now has two part time jobs (one 90 miles...

Hear Hear, Fleurbleue. We hope to do similar in the not too distant future, but in Scotland, not France. The plan is that every venture should be at least cost neutral and thereby everything we have will be 'free', sort of.

When I lived at home with my parents, we never went on holiday (well, I do remember two holidays as a family inall the time I was growing up). Mum used to say we were going to 'Argate', which translated to 'Our Gate' ie, staying home. We did day trips once a week or so in the summer, but that was it...

My sister in law and her husband literally earn five times as much as we did in a good year yet she still complains she cant afford things - but then she does have horses and they take safari holidays in posh tents (with upstairs and balconies? What's that all about?) in Kenya for a month at a time ...

We have always had to be frugal to some extent. When everyone else had two incomes, we chose to live on one and to home educate our children at the same time (cant really do that if both are out at work). At times, Hubby was well paid, but that was by no means all the time and now we have less comin...

Well done Perchy; that looks amazing

I'm a bit of a TV crime freak, so I'm watching a rerun of Misomer mur.ders. If I get bored, I can turn over and watch loads of CSI in its various forms.

Thanks for the response. But it isnt much different then from what women wash baby bottles in before filling them with milk and feeding them to their babies. I never did like the idea of feeding my baby bleach, aka sterilising fluid (used the boiling method when I had to use bottles, rather than ste...

It's now three weeks or so since started the 'no more shampoo' experiment and it still amazes me how much dirt just simple bicarb gets out of my hair I hadnt realised it got so dirty in the first place. There has been none of the greasy spell, and my hair hasnt gone dry and brittle either. Just supe...

I'm also in the NE and no sooner does it stop than it starts again Never mind, I am going to weed that bed today even if I almost drown doing it!

pavel131 wrote: I detest washed potatoes, only because I know how they are washed and what in.

Would you care to share?

LittleBrownFrog wrote: I've seen 'normal' and I wasn't very keen on it to be honest

Agreed

Everyone has their own hobbies. I expect they have some too. It's what makes us interesting and different - it doesnt mean we are eccentic. I confess to being a hoarder of books - I literally have thousands; more than will fit on the shelves. I dont think it makes me eccentric though, just different...

4 french hens wrote:Yet another year of rampant thistles

Mike

You're eating thistles?