Heat Or Eat?

[cressida]

5 minutes ago, hackey lad said:

Encourage away 

Would love to but  it can be noticed

Edited September 29, 2022 by cressida

[Padders]

6 minutes ago, hackey lad said:

Encourage away 

Wish I could pull em like you Hackey...

[The_DADDY]

17 minutes ago, cressida said:

Well,  I cannot reply to that for fear of someone saying I'm encouraging you🤫

Stop encouraging him cressida.

14 minutes ago, Padders said:

It's beginning to look that way..........

Ha!!

Beat me to it 😪

[FIRETHORN1]

24 minutes ago, El Cid said:

Men tend to have a work ethic, many ladies prefer not to work, but they do sometimes work in the home.

My ex-wife hasn't worked in 20 years, but gets a similar income to myself. I prefer to work, I wouldn't swap places.

When I reach retirement age, I will be richer than I am now. You will be the same.

Bit of a generalisation there  El Cid. I'm a woman and I worked for 44 years. Like you, I preferred to work rather than live off state benefits. Don't get me wrong - I think state benefits are a good thing and I have no problem at all with genuine claimants - like disabled people or  those who have to care for disabled relatives - but I don't think that people who are able to work and just choose not to work should be entitled to live off the state for a whole life-time

[FIRETHORN1]

39 minutes ago, El Cid said:

When I reach retirement age, I will be richer than I am now. You will be the same.

When I reach official retirement age I won't be the same - I'll actually be a bit richer than I am  now, because I'll then be getting my state pension on top of the workplace pension I'm already getting

[hackey lad]

35 minutes ago, cressida said:

Would love to but  it can be noticed

Not if I wear them properly 😀

[El Cid]

1 hour ago, FIRETHORN1 said:

Bit of a generalisation there  El Cid. I'm a woman and I worked for 44 years. Like you, I preferred to work rather than live off state benefits.

We get jumped on for making generalisations, but this is SF, I am not writing a book.

[zaci]

12 hours ago, FIRETHORN1 said:

 

 

 

12 hours ago, FIRETHORN1 said:

When I reach official retirement age I won't be the same - I'll actually be a bit richer than I am  now, because I'll then be getting my state pension on top of the workplace pension I'm already getting

Plus putting a bit back into the economy with the tax you'll be paying?

Edited September 30, 2022 by zaci

[hauxwell]

18 hours ago, FIRETHORN1 said:

I've never lived on benefits.,,,but many people have no choice other than to do so - ie people like The-Daddy, who have to be full time carers - thereby saving the state more money than they claim in benefits. My own circumstances are that I retired 2 years short of state pension age and am living on a workplace pension, which I paid into for 30 years. It's considerably less than minimum wage, but my mortgage is paid off now and until very recently, my small pension was enough to get by on, without having to use my savings. Now, I'm having to dip into my rapidly dwindling savings, just to cover basic bills and living expenses.

 

Some good tips have been given here. Thanks everyone, My flat is mostly electric only, but I do have a gas hob and a slow cooker. I hardly use my electric oven at all these days, so it's goodbye to  roast chicken and Yorkshire puds, but I do make lots of soups and stews in the slow cooker and  on the hob. I augment all my meat stews with lentils and beans and add tons more vegetables. I eat lots of porridge and omelettes and make lots of noodle-based stir-fried veg dishes, which are quick and cheap to cook. I wear jumpers and thick socks indoors and wrap myself in a warm blanket in the evenings.

 

It's all do-able. I pay my bills, I'm not in debt. I eat well and stay warm enough, but things that I used to enjoy, like the occasional evening in the pub with friends, or the occasional take-away meal etc,  are out of the question now.  Like I said, it's do-able, but it's a pretty miserable struggle

Hopefully Firethorn you haven't got to long before  your eligible for state pension and you are able to enjoy the simple things in life again. I'm sure with your knowledge of food you can make some cheap nutritions meals on a budget. You have given me some lovely recipes in the past. 

[El Cid]

3 hours ago, hauxwell said:

Hopefully Firethorn you haven't got to long before  your eligible for state pension and you are able to enjoy the simple things in life again. I'm sure with your knowledge of food you can make some cheap nutritions meals on a budget. You have given me some lovely recipes in the past. 

It's always good to check your pension forecast on the government web site, you can also do it by post.