LEE BOYCE: Get correcting to conquer the price-of-living crunch

What an inspiration the Market place Harborough Fixers are.

As we report, the Sector Harborough Fixers staff of tricky-doing the job volunteers in the Leicestershire current market city give up their Saturday mornings, occur rain or glow, to mend damaged kettles, lamps and report players brought in by locals.

It actually is noble perform.

Make do and mend: The Industry Harborough Fixers give up their Saturday mornings, arrive rain or shine, to mend broken kettles, lamps and file players introduced in by locals

They are not only stopping merchandise heading for landfill and giving them a new lease of daily life, they’re saving their neighbours income at a time when just about every penny counts.

Their ingenuity reminded me of the time I was in a panic over my daughter’s birthday existing. 

Brooke was days from turning a few and following trudging all around the Significant Street for an afternoon, I’d occur absent vacant-handed.

The subsequent early morning, I was strolling to the nearby coffee store and noticed a practically new bicycle in a skip on a driveway.

On the way property, it was nonetheless there. So I knocked on the doorway and the operator disclosed he’d chucked it out in a home-relocating frenzy. 

Could I get the bike? Indeed, no issue. My prayers answered. The Princess bicycle (RRP £100) — all cleaned up, with tyres pumped and tassels included — produced the ideal birthday gift. Not only did Brooke enjoy it, she had no idea it was next-hand.

A lot more and additional, I see households in my neck of the woods in Essex placing out perfectly salvageable objects with ‘free, just take me’ indicators. 

All they will need is a bit of Tender Loving Creativeness to jazz them up. Get a seem close to your neighbourhood when you’re out and about.

If a shred of great will come from this price tag-of-living crunch, let’s hope it’s a return to aged-fashioned values of ‘make do and mend’. 

Wouldn’t it be terrific if extra children received to encounter the thrill 15-yr-old Charlie must have felt when the Industry Harborough Fixers salvaged his grandparents’ old report player?

I can just photograph young Charlie listening to the appears his grandparents read 50 a long time in the past. It’s a income-can not-acquire connection to the past. And who is aware, potentially one particular working day he’ll pass it on to his individual grandchildren.

I hope our report conjures up you to venture up to the loft, or even make your very own circle of volunteers who can switch their hand to mend perform. 

It’s a great way to preserve funds and halt our landfills inflammation — one particular sewing machine, radio and Princess bicycle at a time.

Pension tinkering

Why can not politicians just go away pensions on your own?

We’re struggling with substantial strain on our finances and however Treasury officers are claimed to be looking at a raid on retirement pots.

According to stories, new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is thinking about reducing tax aid on pensions in a drastic bid to improve the Governing administration coffers.

6 a long time ago, his predecessor George Osborne tried a little something eerily related — only to scrap the notion immediately after coming underneath hearth from a Dollars Mail marketing campaign that was fuelled by anger from our readers.

Our sights haven’t transformed: politicians have to retain their grubby fingers OFF our nest eggs.

Do not make us dig out the previous newspaper cuttings from the Mail library and send them to Downing Street, Jeremy!

Supermarket hawk

My wife has started out calling me a ‘supermarket hawk’ when we head out for groceries, which I’m not guaranteed is a time period of endearment or scorn.

You see, I insist on a forensic inspection of how objects are priced for each gram or litre, or even for each sheet of toilet roll.

As eagled-eyed audience will have found, from time to time bigger packets are even worse value for dollars than the more compact ones, which flips logic on its head. 

Illustrations I spotted at the weekend involved pasta, frozen peas and biscuits. Even some things on give have been a lot more high-priced than smaller sized packs.

Mrs B was not as impressed as I assumed she’d be. But supermarkets are there to make income. If they can offer you things you never want and baffle you with pricing, they will!

Have you noticed any grocery store price madness? Electronic mail me at the tackle under and join my (very pleased) hawks club.

l.boyce@dailymail.co.united kingdom