Chat Thread 2: Whatever you Wanna Talk About

[Legs]

ok, on the main page, scroll all the way down to where it says "Any Question We Can Answer?" and then click that post that says :

How to Post Images on WoN, started by CBCZ


Legs

 

[Imogene]

I have a question for you all.  How much do you spend on groceries?  I am trying to spend less than 500 dollars a month and failing dismally.  I am going to be extra careful again this month, but it really is hard.  I never eat out, and I make school lunches for my daughter three times a week, so we consume almost all our food at home.  I do shop following the produce seasons, stock up on bargains when appropriate, and use nearly everything I buy.  I don't eat a lot of processed food.  I went through my Costco receipt very carefully last month to make sure I was actually saving money.  I thought I could last until February 1st, but here I am needing to do a big shopping again with only 30 dollars left to go until 500.  I'd like to be spending more in the neighborhood of 3-400, to get my toiletries, groceries, gas allotment down to 500 dollars a month.  Surely that must be possible?

[smp]

Imogene - it is so horrible that we are forced to concern ourselves with such things - but that is my life now, as it is for many in this economy. If it weren't for pigface tying up the property next door - I could have it rented out and paying for itself as I had done for many years. I am down to about $175.00 per month - but that is me, by myself. That does include all toiletries, cleaners and dog, cat, fish, and bird food. My only other expenditure is I do get good vitamins - I need them now! The amount you spend is not unusual for more than one - kids need to eat better than I do!

[RB22]

If gas would remain in a near constant price, I could do well. 

I spend about $400 on groceries... and that is for 2 adults full time.. and one 17 yo part time.  We do not eat out... well I don't. They will. They both work so most times they bring food, other times they buy... with their own money.  My gas bill per month is $200 minimum.. .. I would like to see that go down.  When I run 2 cars -( other car needs a starter so it sits till I can get the money together) My gas bill was closer to $400.  I pay for the kids to go to and from school... any other trips with the car they pay for the gas. 

I did manage to cut my water bill by $50 a month... of course that $50 a month is being used to pay off the new High Efficiency washer.  But next year it will be a savings.  YAY. 

I grow a lot of my own veggies... and I trade with neighbors.  I have loads of oranges, lemons and grapefruit from 7 trees we planted. We squeeze the juice and freeze it for use later.  It will be about september before I have to buy orange juice or lemon juice.  That saves me HUGE amounts of money. 

I recycle... I had my power company but a load management system on my meter... I get my AC/heat turned off during power drains to help keep the power grid running well.  They pay me, well they take minimum $10 off my bill each  month. 

Food will keep going up, as long as fuel prices keep rising.... and that cuts into my budget horrifically.  Actually this last year.. I gave up on a budget... I couldn't keep to it.  to many rising prices.

Hugs,...

RB

[Imogene]

I grow vegetables, too.  I do need to be a lot more disciplined about it, so that it becomes less of a hobby and more of money-saver.  I actually don't mind budgeting.  It's a challenge for me.  We are saving a lot on water and electricity with X out of the house.  I have a pre-paid phone (SO much cheaper than paying for a plan).  But I am having a hard time with groceries.  I used to spend between 800-1000 a month with X here (!).

Wow, smp--you spend nothing.  I wasn't adding the dog food, which costs an extra 30 dollars a month.

[Legs]

<<I'd like to be spending more in the neighborhood of 3-400, to get my toiletries, groceries, gas allotment down to 500 dollars a month.  Surely that must be possible?>>

um, when a loaf of bread is 5.00 and so is a jar of pickles.......I don't know what we are supposed to be eating,. but I NEVER go out unless you want to count that one chik filet sandwich I let myself get once a month. I think I must spend at least 100 a week on just me and the cats, but I don't go to the market every week. I eat a lot of fresh veggies and fruit and meat and dairy and no carbs except for nuts and olive oil.

I don't know how to cut back anymore. I have to buy paper and cleaning supplies and cat litter and food..they have not been to the vet in over two years, poor things. Good thing they are healthy. I wear clothes that are on sale for 90% off that I get at Dilards right before the rag man comes. The only thing I have to pay full price for is pants and decent shoes. I buy good shoes, but I can wear them for years cos I have several pairs I like. I cannot wear cheap bras either, but I don't buy those high dollar ones either.

Cheap cotton panties from Walmart...haven't bought any paper in years or any other art supply really except adhesives. I really wish to Dog I had pushed Lucifer off the roof or kicked the jack out from under the car while he was under it. I didn't realize I was going to end up living under a dogdamn bridge.



legs, disgusted everytime I think about it. Someone has to pay for this crap..several someones

[Imogene]

Yes, I don't know how smp does it.  If I am not buying anything to binge on, I should save some money, but probably not a hundred dollars.  I would love to be in a more self-sufficient situation generally speaking, where I can survive off part-time work and child support and spend the remaining time developing the resources to save money.  That would be great.   

[JennyWren]

Coincidentally...I was standing in a hopelessly long queue at the grocery store on Monday....and looking into my bottomless pit of stuff...it stuck me that the vast majority of stuff was kid related. I mean...sure....I eat stuff too....but the girls...both of teenish age...just eat huge amounts.

I make a lot of stuff....but you still need to buy ingredients..and everything is getting more expensive by the minute here.

Like everyone here...and everywhere else I guess...I try cutting down this way and that...but there really is only so far you can go.

[Rosemary]

I spend most of my weekly pension on keeping warm GAs and Coal  ,electric and water weekly too

i dont eat much at all as i dont feel hungry .

when my youngest son comes home from university its the only time i use a  pan.
Rest of the time i use the microwave to make porridge  /soup etc  i seem to live off  cups of tea and a lil decaff coffee .
im into bags of raw nuts at the moment and dried fruit .

[smp]

Food is so much more expensive with kids in the house - I could not do it if I had non adult kids here. I think I just need to whine - it truly isn't fair, right, nor just -

[loved2much]

I have a problem with my Granddaughter.  She has never liked me and no matter how I try, this is the way it is.
She is now 18, beautiful, has a job, goes to college, shares an apartment with 2 other girls about 200 miles near me..  I thought things were better between us: me, her baby sister, her 20 year old brother and my daughter.  My granddaughter posted a photo of herself on facebook and I thought she was beautiful and posted it on my page.  This caused my daughter to tell me off and then my Granddaughter told me remove the photo...which I did.  I told her I was proud of her and put the photo on my page because I was proud of her and to share with my friends.  Tonight I discovered that I was unfriended by my Granddaughter!

I would never treat or speak to my Grandmother the way she does to me.  I'm hurt by all this tremendously.  Unfriended by my Granddaughter!!!!  This is so vile to me.  I can't sleep.  How can they hurt me like this?  I was a good Mother ( a single mother, a widow) and I've been a good Grandmother too...I have really tried and feel so heartsick.

I was unfriended by the XNBF and now her...WTF???  And who can I talk to ?  My Daughter?  no she's saying that my Granddaughter is perfect and okay and that I'm the bad person here.  Really?  I'm the one hurting...I should just bow out of the picture and forget I have a family and Grandkids?  So far my Grandson seems to be the only one who knows how I feel.

There's no one to talk to about my feelings....I'm alone and feeling unwanted...sucks....again...

[alatariel]

I'm not sure what to say, maybe she was embarrassed to have you put the pic on your page?  Maybe a girl that age doesn't want to be "liked" by her Grandma b/c it's uncool?  Did they give you a reason?

I finally actually finished a quilt.   I still don't know what I'm going to do with it, but it's all put together now with batting, backing and border.

[Rosemary]

Thats really Beautiful Alatariel  your so creative ,i love the colour combinations too .    

[alatariel]

It makes me think of spring, and flowering crab-apple trees.

[JennyWren]

((((Loved2Much)))) Sorry to hear about your troubles with your Granddaughter.

My experience is that Facebook is very good at stirring things that are already tricky up into full scale hissy fits. Actions are misinterpretted...or thought to be strategic or meaningful in ways you will never even guess. What I mean is.....you put a photo of your granddaughter on your page because you felt proud of her. She...meanwhile....may have interpretted your actions in any number of ways. Communication is not good on Facebook. It`s often just a bunch of soundbites and posturing.

You know the situation best...but in your case...where I think maybe your granddaughter has jumped to conclusions....I might think about maybe speaking to her...or writing to her if she doesn`t want to talk...and say you really didn`t mean to offend her...and that you are sorry what you did upset her.

However...to be honest....it does rather sound as though the problem runs pretty deep. My thinking is just to be sure Facebook doesn`t do it`s favourite trick of making matter worse. 

[JennyWren]

PS Alatariel.....your patchwork is lovely. It must have taken you ages. We know who to commision for giant tapestries in the Maltese Castle.

[nomom4me]

I love the quilt, I hate facebook - turns everyone into teenagers.  I would not take it personal, Loved - my niece blocked me from seeing her posts shortly after she got a boyfriend, and I thought I was the cool aunt.  I really liked facebook as a social tool in my 20's in NYC, when I was always going out but in my 30's I have some health issues and a slower life, I also don't photograph every moment of my life but I am trying to take more pictures, going to go snap the first crocus of spring before I forget.

I forget to eat when my boyfriend isn't home, he won't be home for dinner tonight... I should set meal reminders on my phone.  Dr's visit yesterday revealed I lost some weight but I have very little muscle mass so I expect to waffle a bit before my pants really fit.  I wish I could just take a food pill, or a protein drink that isn't all carb and sugar.  I have the special K protein water for when I am sick, tastes chemical but gives the brain a little food.  Picked up Potatoes Not Prozac at goodwill, silly name but quick easy read on how sugar and carbs make the brain crash.

[nomom4me]

It seems I gotta park my pictures somewhere to post them here?  Arg, I'm trying to not take my nomom identity to far with multiple accounts, I gotta save something for facebook.

[Never again]

That's beautiful, Ala. I really love your quilting work!

[alatariel]

Thanx! 

I actually brought it to the monthly meeting of the Quilt Guild that I recently joined.  Some of the women there are amazing quilters, they enter their quilts in national and international shows.  I was almost ashamed of my simple little 9-patch thing, but some of the older ladies complimented me on it, and I could tell they actually meant it.  Everyone liked my color choices.  What only my friends know, is that I didn't have a pattern for it, I just made it up as I went. Apparently, I have an eye for colors and patterns.

[CZBZ]

Very lovely, alatariel!

I used to sew every single day of my life...for my family and my home. I'm disgustingly out of practice. Sewing is an art but it's also a skill! I did not know that until ignoring my sewing machine for years. The first thing I tried to sew took HOURS because I couldn't remember how to thread my machine. I finally shut my eyes and let my hands do it on their own. And voila, that worked!

I love sewing. It's time to make some draperies for my bedroom. I've lived here six years and still don't have draperies on my windows! I do have blinds...I'm no exhibitionist! That's what finally got me to finish my living room draperies when my backyard neighbor said she loved the new color I painted on my walls and she really liked my tapestry and paintings.  I didn't realize she could see right into my house!

CZ
 
It's Time!

[alatariel]

The first thing I tried to sew took HOURS because I couldn't remember how to thread my machine. I finally shut my eyes and let my hands do it on their own. And voila, that worked!

I knew I liked you for a reason!  You understand!  The first time I ever used a sewing machine, I felt like I'd been born running one. I taught myself to hand-sew when I was 7.  When I'm sitting here, at my sewing machine, in my living room, with the sun pouring in and a spectacular view out the window, I'm as happy as I've ever been in my life. And when I "shut my eyes", my hands remember all of it.  Crocheting, hand sewing, designing patterns, making 3D mockups of things in my head before I even trace out a pattern...  OMG!

This is a wonderful use of my talent of making order out of chaos: seeing patterns and relationships between apparently disparate things.

[Julia]

I borrowed my moms Pfaff 1222, which is the machine I know how to thread with my eyes closed. My oldest D and I made a Hobo bag for her to use as a book bag at high school. It turned out so well, and her friend is now making one over here. I'll post pictures eventually when we get it done. I am not a great seamstress, but my mom and I used to take on basic to moderate patterns together and I want to pass that on to my girls (+ cooking)

Julia

[CZBZ]

Well, Alatariel, we're still sewing....stitching little pieces together, making beautiful quilts of our lives.   

I actually retrieved my sewing machine from my closet where it's been collecting dust since my last drapery project. I have noticed my feeelings though...the emotions triggered by seeing my sewing machine. Perhaps the 'dust' is evidence of my tendency to AVOID painful memories. It's hard sometimes, to think about how trusting and innocent I was when 'creating a lovely home' was a singular goal of mine and mine alone.

I was such a sweet woman. The perfect foil for a husband's narcissism. Gosh it took a lot for me to wake up and accept the fact that 'family' meant more to me than my spouse's perception of family: convenient objects to be used and discarded as needed.

CZ
 

[talia]