Originally Posted by aviva (Post 9104502)

Do they have a Netflix type of thing in UK? I just finished watching all 4 seasons of Doc Martin on the instant download on my mac. Watched all of the MI5 seasons too same way.

Originally Posted by jasper123 (Post 9103947)

Yes your right Fish, a lot of Americans do worry a lot, well they do I suppose have a lot to worry about though especially if there living from pay check to pay check like so many are, and not being able to pay for there company health insurance, and only getting a week or two paid vacation every year,
But over here people are really happy go lucky, I suppose it helps if you are getting 5 or 6 weeks of lovely paid holiday every freaking year :ohmy:

I always thought that of the Americans when I first got there and for the first say 10 years, they always seemed to me you know laid back, but gradually over the years and now it seems that it has done a compleat turn around,
OK now where can me and Mum go for our next Holiday? :D better save our pensions --- if theres anything left over :huh:
Take care Fish,
Rodney.

Originally Posted by cheers (Post 9103959)

I might ad you live on a scale different to us.
We are on medicare (we can't stay away from that subject huh) and we still have to pay out $450 for supplemental insurance and RX's per month.
While you were at Tesco I was paying $45 for one of my RX's. All in all we pay about $150 copay per month.

Originally Posted by islandwoman120 (Post 9103962)

No that won't go too far for two people. It is tough starting over, and I have had to tell myself - repeatedly - that when I first moved to the States in 1987, I had nothing either and started with one item at a time - it was horrid. One mattress for me, one for my little boy. Two plastic garden chairs (the moulded ones from Home Depot) , one plastic garden table (single) and one bookcase made from cheap pine from Home Depot. That was it. And a black and white telly from a sale. The next year I had moved to Illinois,and when I bought a larger colour TV, I used the box it came in to make the pedestal of a dining table: paid $2 for two pieces of pine shelving, glued them together lengthways, and painted the entire lot French Blue, the same colour as the plastic chairs. Of course - you could not put any weight on the ends as the boards were not connected to the pedestal, but my visitors thought I had a fabulous modern designer table, and I never told them otherwise!! So here I am again: I own one double bed, one plastic airing rack for clothes, one electric kettle, one set of three (cheap and awful) stainless steel pots from Argos, one small 15" TV, and everything else I brought with me. One thing at a time, and now I don't need to have extras for another person, I can afford to take my time and be selective. Today I went to the Market in Frome, and bought a can opener for £1.25, 6 Free Range eggs for £1.25, and some tacky stuff to put lightweight things on the wall - £1. Seek and ye shall find - cheap.

Originally Posted by islandwoman120 (Post 9104062)

Adding fuel to the fire here. Remember DDL and her husband are living with her MIL, not on their own. So they are not living as they want to, just now. I understand where you are coming from, as I posted before - I live simply, but not everyone could live as I do. It took me years to manage this:
no book or magazine subscriptions; use the public library for books only, as DVDs and CDs are rented by the public library and they cost in excess of £2 each; no cinema; no theatre; no restaurants; second hand if possible, new if not possible - only on sale as mentioned before; no landline; mobile only as needed - people here use the text facility more than the talk facility on mobiles; watch my electricity and water consumption like a zealot - no one would want to live with me at the moment!; use the oven the minimum - and I use the residual heat from the flat burners to continue to cook the food on the top, turning off the burner before the food is completely cooked through, and use the residual heat from the oven to heat the room instead of using the electric heater! I learned all this in cabin living in Minnesota, and is it engrained in me now. But still - it has cost me £60 in electricity this month. Let's see what next month brings with it - if it gets cold, then it will go up. At the moment it is mild, so no need to have the heater on for long.

And hey - I love chocolate ice cream! Oh, and would you like a shovel to dig yourself a deeper hole while we are on the topic?

Originally Posted by Beedubya (Post 9104155)

My friend in the UK and her partner have just put in for this place to rent in Wigan, check it out but don't be gazumping them!!


http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-28570117.html

Originally Posted by Fish n Chips 56 (Post 9105057)

Rosie you are thrifty and amazing, I'm sure most people wouldn't or couldn't live that way, maybe you should be giving lessons.

Texting, Im just not a fan of it, what's next Morse code? Chocolate Ice Cream, a big fan, The UK has some wonderful Ice Cream, you'll have to treat yourself this summer.

Originally Posted by cheers (Post 9104441)

From the past. Prefabs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today...00/9361586.stm

Originally Posted by trottytrue (Post 9104068)

DDL..I have heard great reviews of the film "The Kings Speech" looking forward to seeing it. I was in the supermarket today and went to buy a tin of Birds Custard. I put it back when I saw the price $5.75. Can make my own with a little effort. Very little effort.....

Originally Posted by cheers (Post 9104236)

I've seen a discussion on US vs UK chocolate and they admit that it is different and if I remember it is because of the climate and melting chocolate.
You probably know that Hershey/Cadbury have moved a lot of their production to Mexico which is another hot place.

Originally Posted by cheers (Post 9104372)

I consider myself thrifty because I have had to be. One paycheck and all. But Rosie you brought up ancestry. I have Welsh, English and Prussian ancestry and I think I get my thriftyness from the Welsh side. Other groups that are known for their thriftness are the people from Yorkshire and those from Scotland.

Rosie could you teach at college/university level as you did in MN?

About that census. I can see that now, 'I ad an American cum to me door and asked all these questions for the government' 'bloody el'

Originally Posted by Beedubya (Post 9104049)

I am going to Italy with my sister in late summer. :thumbsup:

Originally Posted by Mummy in the foothills (Post 9104476)

Boots is way overpriced for that stuff, try SuperDrugs
http://www.superdrug.com/

Originally Posted by jasper123 (Post 9105276)

Yes I have found that myself, any kind of just everyday stuff that we buy in walmart in US so cheap and in large quantities like a 100 or 500 tab bottle of aspirin or allergy tabs, or whatever ---- well in UK you just cant get big bottles of anything like that, I bought a box of allergy tabs the other day and the biggest box with one lousy sachel in with 7 tablets, ridicules, good thing though that I bought a bottle of 100 aspirin with me, --- cant take paracetamol cos Im allergic to them,
So Barb and Poppy and Don and Jackie if you need over the counter tablets buy them there before you come over, Rodney.
I got my Doctor to prescribe for me Galvastone Tabs for my heart burn 30 tabs, and also he prescribed a 30 tab bottle of allergy tabs for me too, --- so they were free, but beware if your not over 60 you will have to pay the £8 per Item on your prescription, the cost went up and I think thats what it is now, Rodney.

Originally Posted by Celticspirit (Post 9104622)

Is anyone on this list planning to return to Northern Ireland? (other than me?)