Cost of Living

[Lainie]

i have to be honest here and admit im struggling with all the rising living costs. its a couple of my friends birthdays this month and im having to use my visa to get something for them. like millions of others the outrageous petrol prices are really beginning to bite. ive went from around ?30 a week to ?45 a week - honest to god its hardly worth my time working anymore.

my b/f is around ?300 a month for petrol alone off a salary of less than ?18,000

think we need to do a jim mcdonald!!

hows everyone else coping??

[Snowy79]

It can be a struggle Lainie but if they're your friends just get them all together and have a friends night in with good food, a few glasses of wine and slag us mere males off. If they're your friends I'm sure they'll appreciate it more than any pressie.

[Lainie]

oh gawd i could never not get them anything. yes they would be annoyed that im using a visa card and they would tell me not to but i couldnt do that.

[Evastar]

myself and my friends decided last year to stop buying each other birthday and christmas presents, and it came as a relief to lots of them when someone suggested it, seems like everyone was thinking along the same lines :)

you could always set a price limit if people didn't want to stop altogether, ?10 or something like that?

know what you mean about the petrol, seem to be always at the garage these days :(

but on a good note, my last gas bill was estimated and was ?366 euro. i got another one in the post today and was afraid to open it, was dreading how much it was going to be, because the guy had called to read the meter since. anyway just opened it there and got ?109 credit because they had overestimated my last few bills. so that's a nice surprise! lol :) :) :)

[johnboy1974]

lainie i know how your boyfriend feels im a hackney driver in glasgow and paying 50 pounds a week more than i did this time last year- we cant just put our prices up as they are set by the council and we are already in the 20 bottom paid taxi drivers in all the uk councils.

[masur123]

On the back of that, me and the missus have been saving really hard for a deposit so we can buy a house. For a decent house round here you need ?135, 000 to ?140,000 and after speaking to a couple of banks, all they will offer is LTV of 85%, thats ?21,000. In this climate thats going take years to save.... ~~~~ing joke

[Grizz]

sucks bad everywhere at the moment, had a lot more days off work than working since start of year but at least im getting some work done to my own place, which is still difficult when your counting out change to buy a bag of cement lol. as for diesel ive had to cut out any driving except absolutlely, positively necessary.
At least the weathers nice......

[Canker_Canison]

Petrol is killing me. Now ride my bike whenever possible...that's killing me as well lol


Masur123, a friend works in the financial sector. He recently told me there is a way to buy a house without needing a deposit. I'll see him on thursday. If you want more info you can PM me & I'll hopefully remember to ask him.

[xant14]

Jebus.. just had to work mine out... costing me ?40 a day to get to work, and thats without wear and tear, just diesel alone.
And we had a ?2 an hour pay cut last year.
It wont be long before it is simply not viable going to work.

I wish I hadnt worked it out now... depressed.

[patkins]

Sorry to hear about your plights with fuel costs-I consider myself lucky that work is 10 minutes walk away and don't have transport but I did take two cuts on 1st Jan. this year-one was the new con job tax system coupled with a 5% deduction on top. I'm down about 80 euro a week.

[chroma]

Absoloutly skint, never been so bad.

I'm eating once every two days at this point, good news is im off the smokes, cant afford to eat let alone smoke... Savings are gone paying bills and fuel, getting to the point where racking up debt is the only option.
Getting from A to B is taking every penny I have and being where I am I need to travel a LOT to get places.

Never been so seriously and utterly shafted in all my days.
The majority of interviews I've been to end up offering me a job, that's not the problem, the problem is they're 30+ miles away and offering 8 to 12 hrs max. Whilst advertising full time posts, on a 60 mile round trip with fuel and parking costs id actually be worse off than I am now, and things cant really get much worse.

Another few weeks of this and im going to wind up in hospital.
Seriously considering less than legal routes to financial gain.
Sick of seeing people who've never worked a day in their puff better off than I currently am!

[oneman]

oh gawd i could never not get them anything. yes they would be annoyed that im using a visa card and they would tell me not to but i couldnt do that.

Unfortunately these are the hard choices you have to make. Once you get a bit of debt its very easy for it to spiral out of control and credit card are absolutely the worst form of debt (aside from loan sharks), with 20% plus interest rates on many cards.

Can you hand make them gifts, maybe bake them something. Have a look on good for ideas and it would be a nice personal touch rather then getting something off the shelf.

[flattopguy]

this goverment are ruining the country, petrol never been so expensive,been trying to sell my old house for a year.
no one can get a mortgage.
maybe its time we started the fuel blockades again.

[Lainie]

@ chroma i completely understand how you are feeling.there are very few full time jobs available and most of them are on a temp basis.

i hope you are getting your expenses for travelling to interviews. remember b4 you take any job to pm me re return to work credit, tax credits etc.

we went on a very rare run to largs last friday after work. now normally on a lovely day/nite it would have been mobbed however it was practically deserted. ive also noticed at the weekend how quiet the roads are.

all this doom and gloom when interest rates are at its lowest. wtf are we all going to do when they start rising.

@ xant it is getting that way re going to work. the only people that arent affected as much as those that dont work!!

[melloned]

:afraid: Mid 50's now and consider myself a bit of a victor meldrew , but reading some of the posts on this thread , consider i'm lucky .
I've no mortgage and my only dependent , my 26yr old daughter who's in a 4yr relationship, but still at home .Can't blame her i suppose , it's a cold hard world out there !
My dual fuel billing has just been increased from ?85pm to ?138pm , car insurance last year ?280 , the cheapest i can find this year ?395 , the diesel it runs on has increased by 30% in a year.
The missus says her shopping bill's increased by 50% in the last 18 months , council tax is ?120pm .
I only had 6mths work last year but we make out, for a young family+ mortgage + kids + all the bills I've got , how can they survive !!

[SouthernComfort]

Big bag of Jamaica's finest, still be skint but will care a little bit less about it.
People stress too much, when times are lean try the green.:canabis:

[mps]

Just a few things that have helped us over the years:

1. Grow your own - you don't need much space (although we have an allotment) - grew peppers on the windowsill at work last year - tomatoes and lettuce and peppers in the house, my grandma used to grow tomatoes 10 floors up in a tower block! Jam and chutney make good presents - one pumpkin makes 3 jars of chutney.

2. Drive 10 mph slower - I generally do 60-65mph now

3. Buy non-perishable food in bulk

4. Cook in bulk (assuming you have a freezer) - Sunday lunch in our house does 3 days!

5. Wild food - not so much at the moment but fill yer boots and bags with wild apples, blackberries etc come August/September.

6. If you like them, liver, kidneys etc do nice in casseroles

7. Small solar chargers are cheap enough and a couple of them will keep your phone, camera and mp3 player topped up for reasonable usage.

8. Re-use, recycle - made do and mend worked 60 years ago!

9. Cycle and walk if possible, although it isn't practical for any of my journeys.

Anyway, just my thoughts and ideas, hope these help!

Michael

[oneman]

Plan your meals ahead. Cut down on waste food. But and cook in bulk and freeze. Buy in season if possible. Buy locally can often be cheaper. Cheap cuts of meat can often taste wonderful slow cooked. Eat more veggies.

[Canker_Canison]

Just to add to MPS advising to drop your speed. Nearly all cars are most economical between 55mph - 60mph in top gear. This is the magic area where fuel economy stats were always worked out.

When driving around town my car drinks like a scotsman who's gone 2 days without alcohol & finds an all you can drink bar.
But on the open road at 58mph it will do a reasonable 36mpg, not that I can stick to 58mph... more like 78mph lol

[barrowmanandrew]

When driving around town my car drinks like a scotsman who's gone 2 days without alcohol & finds an all you can drink bar.
lol

well,
if we had a prize for one liner of the day, ith ink you would be winning it....

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h52/Ti42/Smilies/lmao.gif

[rds60h]

Absoloutly skint, never been so bad.

I'm eating once every two days at this point, good news is im off the smokes, cant afford to eat let alone smoke... Savings are gone paying bills and fuel, getting to the point where racking up debt is the only option.
Getting from A to B is taking every penny I have and being where I am I need to travel a LOT to get places.

Never been so seriously and utterly shafted in all my days.
The majority of interviews I've been to end up offering me a job, that's not the problem, the problem is they're 30+ miles away and offering 8 to 12 hrs max. Whilst advertising full time posts, on a 60 mile round trip with fuel and parking costs id actually be worse off than I am now, and things cant really get much worse.

Another few weeks of this and im going to wind up in hospital.
Seriously considering less than legal routes to financial gain.
Sick of seeing people who've never worked a day in their puff better off than I currently am!

Know how you feel Chroma, I've been on the sick since January and only get SSP asked about Child Tax Credits but they only use last years income to assess your payment, I told them I was working then and had income so didn't need extra then but need it now. Was basically told tough. I have been employed since I was 17 and am now nearly 56 and have never claimed anything before. SHAFTED !!!!

[chroma]

Know how you feel Chroma, I've been on the sick since January and only get SSP asked about Child Tax Credits but they only use last years income to assess your payment, I told them I was working then and had income so didn't need extra then but need it now. Was basically told tough. I have been employed since I was 17 and am now nearly 56 and have never claimed anything before. SHAFTED !!!!
Seems the way of it.
I've got a neighbour just had a MARBLE staircase installed, im not even kidding, a ~~~~ing marble staircase (shit takes a lot of grinding as the workies where at it for days) the problem is the guy has never worked a day in his puff... WTF is that all about?

Thankfully my period of unemployment is over and i might actually wind up out of my overdraft in short order.
Pish though that honest decent working folks are bent over and bummed whilst workshy lazy bastards seem to get the rockstar treatment...

[Lainie]

@ chroma so pleased you are working. nice one

@rds60h they CAN do a CURRENT YEAR calculation if you ask them. prob is after you have been off sick for 28 weeks and your SSP comes to an end so does any working tax credits as you have to be working to get them. does your mrs work? how old are the kids? as she might be able to get working tax credits or child tax credits increased.

if she is not working you can claim income support top up to SSP.

pm me if i can help you.