Finance Friday | Priorities
Can you imagine living in a country where you don’t have any opportunities and struggle to get clean water and enough to eat? Here in the UK, most people are lucky, but there is a lot of inequality. Young people on benefits go into MacDonald’s to eat, just because it’s there.
Thrifty Thursday | Walsall again?
The Aldi super-six this week are celery, cucumbers, lemons (3), spring onions, tomatoes (6) and garlic (4). They are all 49p each. That’s the same as last week. I spend ten pounds this week in Poundland, which isn’t difficult.
Finance Friday | Supply and demand
In theory, competition and supply and demand should regulate prices in a free market. In practice that isn’t the case. There are monopolies and cartels. There can be a lack of competition. There can be government interference in the market, such as the government’s ‘help to buy scheme’; that can distort the property market. An increased money supply can also mean increased demand.
Finance Friday | Easy Money
When I was younger, there was a lot of industry in the Black Country. Working and making money was hard, but there was was also ‘easy money’. Making beer could be considered a lot easier than working in a foundry or down a mine.
Thrifty Thursday | Looking for Spring bargains
The Aldi super-six this week are salad potatoes (1Kg), green beans (220g), oranges, pineapple, large vine tomatoes (450g) and cauliflower. They are all 69p each. The same as last week.
Finance Friday | Recession–what recession?
It seems the British economy is growing and we aren’t in recession after all. GDP has increased 0.3%. Well it’s better than nothing. That means spending has increased by 0.3%, that’s combined spending, the government’s and ours. The government is spending less. Are we spending more?
Thrifty Thursday | discounts and concessions
The Aldi super-six this week are salad potatoes (1Kg), green beans (220g), oranges, pineapple, large vine tomatoes (450g) and cauliflower. They are all 69p each. Green beans are really healthy and if the weather keeps improving, I’ll be eating a few salads.
Finance Friday | The economic fiasco
Rents for social housing have gone up over the years in the UK and have been subsidised first with rent rebates and then that was changed to housing benefit. They went so high that workers couldn’t afford them.
Finance Friday | Needs and Wants
We all need water and food and we need to keep warm in winter. The divide between what we actually need and what we want is getting a little blurred. Do we really need mobile phones, cars and internet? I think we want these things and a lot more, but we don’t need them. We don’t even need television…
Thrifty Thursday | more bargains
The Aldi super-six this week are plums (400g), fun-sized apples (9), kiwi fruit (8), cocktail vine tomatoes (250g), red onions (1kg) and sweet potatoes (750g). They are all 69p each. I’ve never tried sweet potatoes…
Weekend review from the heart of England
I get a few local readers at the weekend and so I’ll explain about today’s picture. I took this at Easter at Forge Mill Farm in Sandwell Valley Country Park. From Walsall take the Birmingham Road, turn right at the Scott Arms and go up the Newton Road then left into Forge Lane. Forge Mill Farm is on the left, take the second entrance.
Finance Friday | Monetarist mayhem
The town that I live in used to be run by the town clerk from the town hall. Now we have a new civic centre, miles away; they didn’t even put it in a central location. Social Housing used to be council housing and people paid rent that included rates, water rates and sewage.
Thrifty Thursday | Surviving austerity
The Aldi super-six this week are leeks (pack), new potatoes (750g), onions (1kg), broccoli (350g), carrots (1kg) and parsnips (600g). They are all 49p, the same as last week. The Thursday special buys today include a pressure washer with a 3 year warranty. You could start a business with one of those, cleaning patios.
Finance Friday | The last Easter Egg
The government’s austerity programme really begins to hit the poorest in society next week, as benefits cuts make the poorest even poorer. This could be the last Easter that some kids will get Easter eggs.
Thrifty Thursday bargain hunt
The Aldi super-six this week are leeks (pack), new potatoes (750g), onions (1kg), broccoli (350g), carrots (1kg) and parsnips (600g). They are all 49p. That’s better, we can make some winter stews with those to keep out the cold! (more…)
More snow hits the UK
It’s nearly Easter and we have more snow! It was the first day of Spring on Wednesday and just as you thought it was safe, the snow came again. The weather here is as unpredictable as the politics, but doesn’t it make life interesting? Getting around today is a little difficult, the bus station was closed.
Living on a pound a day
I read about a Lord this week who tried to live on a pound a day for food. He tried to do it for five days. That isn’t too difficult if you’re healthy and can eat anything. It’s only five days.
More Thursday Thrifty shopping
The Aldi super-six this week are braeburn apples (6), mango, kiwis (8), plums (400g), pineapple and oranges (6). They are all 69p each. Those are all packed with useful vitamins. We all need extra vitamin C now the winter is finally coming to an end. Spring begins with the Spring equinox, next Wednesday.
A market economy?
Imagine you had to buy meat at the butchers because no one else sold it. If the prices kept going up, that could be because there was a lack of competition. If there are only two butchers on the High Street and the nearest one apart from those were 50 miles away; they might take advantage of that.
Thrifty Thursday Shopping
The Aldi super-six this week are chantenay carrots (500g), white cabbage, little gem lettuce (2), spring onions, lemons (3) and celery; the same as last week. They are all 49p each. There are lots of gardening bargains to be had in today’s special buys. I like the windowsill greenhouse for 1.99, great for starting off those seeds.
Saturday ideas and thoughts
I don’t usually do sky pictures, they’re boring, but this one is unusual and I’m a bit desperate today. If you look carefully you can see the moon breaking through the clouds. We had another week of financial bad news. Both banks that are partly owned by the tax payer posted losses. Not real losses that would send them into administration like so many High Street businesses; these are just millions and billions lost ‘on paper’.
Who has all the money?
I have money in my wallet and money in the bank. We all think that we know what money is and how to use it to buy goods and services. Do we really understand the world financial system? It does seem to have become very complicated. Governments around the world are complaining that they are not only broke, but trillions in debt. What’s going on? (more…)
Thrifty Ideas for Thursday
The Aldi super-six this week are chantenay carrots (500g), white cabbage, little gem lettuce (2), spring onions, lemons (3) and celery. They are all 49p each. If you’re making a winter soup or stew you can add the carrots, white cabbage or the celery. White cabbage and celery give a stew a nice flavour.
Easter 2013
I took this photo in March last year, the weather was warm and sunny, before the rains came. This year, my lawn is covered in snow. Is climate change to blame? That was the subject of one of my articles this week. The UK government will be cutting welfare this week too, the poor will get poorer.
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March 30, 2013 | Categories: culture, Finance, Finance Friday, Neodigital Art, photography, psychology, Reviews, Thrifty | Tags: England, photography, reviews, social comment, Spring, UK | Leave A Comment »