Christian and Beccy

iTrader: (14)

So, we're all hearing in the news etc about how the price of everything is rising at an insane rate. We're getting it from all angles, Interest rates are rising fast making our mortgages more expensive, fuel costs are ridiculous, energy bills are rising by 30%, now I read that water companies want to jump on that bandwagon too.

Our remortgage alone is going to hike our monthly payment by £175 and thats already on a 30-year term.

I know this isn't really hot news, but in reality what on earth are we supposed to do? Week on week, we're becoming poorer and poorer and the only relief I can see from it is to either get another part time job. Beccy's work are taking overtime away (which was a very significant part of our income) as they can't afford to pay it and are outsourcing the work abroad etc, it just seems to be all take and the moment and absolutely no give from any direction.

We have let it ride until now, but it really is starting to get tough.

badnews

yeah the uk sucks mate, my mrs worked in A&E constant abuse and shit wages always cutting wages and staff. i worked as a mobile plant fitter and although we could save money nothing like i can save over here. i got totaly pissed off with the rate of tax fook all intrest on savings it's all pay out all the time. i would of loved to stay in the uk but the goverment are intent on letting more scrounging fookers live the life of riley on the dole and benifits, it fooks me off to think if you want a decent standerd of living you have to emigrate. good luck chap it's only going to get worse.

bud-weis

we're the same...we've just ridden the storm so far, but it's getting tougher every week.

We're not poor or anything, but every bill and every single thing we pay out for is costing more, so the funds are taking a hit.

My car will probably go soon as it's a luxury i don't use much and certainly don't need!

It's gloomy times at the moment when you really start to look at it, maybe it's time to move abroad?

Christian and Beccy

iTrader: (14)

We're the same, we're not really on the breadline, or haven't been until now. We used to be able to go out for a meal when we wanted or to the cinema or whatever, but now we have to be really quite careful. I'm actually in a way dreading getting the RST back on the road as thats another car that will need taxing, insuring and fuelling.

Just makes you wonder what life is all about when you work hard, earn a half decent wage but cannot afford to live a fairly basic life. We still only have one holiday a year at the most, sometimes not even that.

Red16

Know exactly what you mean... work work work but then once the bills are paid you still dont have a great deal of money to do the things you want to do

Staffi

iTrader: (1)

Yep, it's not good at present, we're very lucky we have no mortgage else we'd not be able to alot of things we do and i don't think i'd have a 10k plus saff sat in the garage just for weekend use.

There doesn't seem to be much any signs of it getting any easier either, thye say the rest od 08 going into 09 is going to be tuff times too..

rallye news

A very apt song from the mouth of Richard Ashcroft from the Verve eleven years ago ......

'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony this life
Trying to make ends meet, you're a slave to the money then you die

Never a true word sung. The current economic climate sucks.

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Our economy has been propped up for years by ridiculously cheap labour from abroad, as those countries drag themselves out of poverty, and things get less cheap as a result, its bound to involve a correction to our over priveledged existance IMHO

I dont really think anything can be done about it for the country as a whole, its just inevitable IMHO than the world averages out a bit more in terms of wealth in each country, as companies move their labour forces to cheap countries, so they start to rise the average stand of living in each one, and hence the cost of labour.

carlo

iTrader: (4)

I sold my flat that i owed just 21 thousand pounds on for ALOT more than i owed,but just bought a big house with the missus & put a healthy deposit down but still got a big ish mortgage.Starting to wish i hadnt as i would have got by with loads spare cash staying in the flat.now if the market gets worse than i does i will be working just purley to keep the house & no money to do anything else.

carlo

iTrader: (4)

Rip off britan i wish i had the guts to leave my family here & fook off australia or something like that

zedtechs

Talking of cheap labour from abroad.....I get the feeling we are going to have an influx of Georgians very soon!!!!!!!!!!

Christian and Beccy

iTrader: (14)

The thing is, you earn your money, then get crippled for Income Tax, then you get crucified on the essentials (like energy/food etc), then with what is left you buy stuff and go out etc and get crippled again for Tax. I wonder how much of the money we earn actually goes out in tax?

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Im sure that probably 80% of your wages end ups passing through the governments hand by the time you take into account VAT and the fact that any item you buy, will have part of the price as staff wages (taxed) fuel to deliver it (taxed) and profit for the company (taxed)

Nath

Its always been the way that people and companies are pulling money out your pocket for this, that and everything. Its just more noticeable now that you have to pay more money for less than before. Will it get better? Will it fuck!

If I could sell up and go to another country, I'd be off without a second thought. Well as long as it was a warm place and I had a job to go to. The UK is turning into a bigger joke, each day. Even a lot of Polish people I know are going back home...

badnews

i spoke to a mate the other day and he said property is down 6/8 % and he's feeling the pinch now, i could not see it getting any better so made the move down under and so far it's all good compared to the uk. best move i ever did

alistairolsen

+1

makes me smile when people 'expect' to have a foreign holiday and run a second car and own a house all on average wages.

sad fact of life that the country has been enjoying itself for far too long and it needs a diet/detox for a while now

most annoying thing is that everyone suffers for a few, just because a whole bunch of people have racked up credit cards and stupid mortgages based on sack all, everyone will feel the pinch in the housing market for a while!

neilm

Yeah, but when the market turns, and it will, because it always does, you will be laughing teacakes because your new house will be worth much more than your flat.

Christian and Beccy

iTrader: (14)

It's not right to compare to how life used to be in the 'old days'. The world has changed, there are more people, more technology and so on and everyone should be better off. Had it too good? What expecting to be able to sometimes go out or buy a new TV or something? I'm not expecting 3 holidays a year, but it just seems like everyone is jumping on this bandwagon of pumping prices up beyond what is considered a reasonable amount. Inflation is natural, everyone knows that, but 30% on energy bills??

neilm

Spot on fella, when did our parents expect to get their 52" plasmas ?

My parents worked when I was growing up in the 70's and early 80's we never had a new car, I remember when we got a colour TV and that was only in about 1975 something like that.

People today just think England owes them a living and that they should have everything, but life isnt like that and some are about to get a lesson in going without.

andyt

iTrader: (1)

were all fucked

Turbosystems

iTrader: (5)

indeed chip about 80% of our income goes to the tax man with stealth taxes

neilm

30% on energy bills, you've only got lady Thatcher to thank for that.

If we still had a coal industry in this country then we wouldnt have to be buying in energy from other countries and be at their mercy

If the utility companies were still nationalised there would be no shareholders to make profits for so prices could be contained for the good of the nation.


Just proves that the free market isnt always the right way.

Christian and Beccy

iTrader: (14)

So, we're all heading for the days where we sit around indoors in jumpers and coats playing cards and Scrabble then?

Maybe I should send Rosie out sweeping Chimneys or picking pockets?

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

It is getting bad; although some/most of us have probably never been through "tough times" (me included)

To be fair something had to happen to cull the ridiculous, unsustainable rise in the property market.

At the end of the day i work to live, not live to work

neilm

Theres good money in chimney sweeping, mine charges £35, so Christian, if she can do it for £25 she's got the contract !!

rog

iTrader: (2)

Maybe becuase they weren't invented before then....
Seriously, they probably did before they had kids etc....then you cam along and fucked it all for them! I rememeber the same, but it's different now.

dojj

iTrader: (3)

just don't forget to pay the income tax on the additional earnings

if my brother decides he likes life in aus, i might just enquire about moving out there in a few years time

i'll probably have the thick end of about £3/4 of a mill so it's not like i'm going to be a strain on their economy

neilm

The only plus side of a free market economy is that consumer goods will have to get cheaper so people can afford them, the same with houses, as soon as the house prices drop back to a sensible level then people can afford them again and the market will pick up.

Look how cheap you can buy clothes now, especially things like kids stuff, its for nothing at places like Asda, Woolworths etc


As for tax if the government just had the bollocks to tax the uber rich a little bit harder then there wouldnt be the need for so many 'stealth' taxes, in fact if the generally well off just paid 1% more income tax the country would be in a lot better shape.

Plus if the Government tightened up on money leaving this country there would be more money going round in our economy keeping our businesses going and we wouldnt be supporting half the countries in eastern europe.

Chip

iTrader: (3)

People arent putting prices up for fun, its because of world economics, look at the price of scrap copper or scrap iron for example, its worth more now than at any point in history pretty much, the reason is that china has a massive thirst for it, same goes for oil / gas etc as well, more people than ever want it as more of the world comes online to (for us) late 20th century living, so its inevitable that with increased demand, and no drastic increase in supply, that prices will rise, thats how economic work.

We've been FAR more spoilt than people realise, and thats slowly coming to an end, we've been far better off than we deserved, mainly off the back of financially raping other countries, and now we're going to see a "correction" of the wealth of the average british citizen versus the wealth of the average indian or chinese citizen.

Chip

iTrader: (3)

I think you are missing the point, the rich (ie the corporations) choose where to pay their taxes, if the tax laws in this country arent in their favour, they will pay tax somewhere else instead.

For example, I know of a large car manufacturer who makes on average 1 pound on each car they sell in the UK, purely because they dont want to pay UK taxes, they transfer the profit to elsehwere, and pay tax their instead, all perfectly legal and in fact a responsibility of the directors in terms of minimising tax liability so as to maximise shareholder profits.

If the tax gets heaveir for the rich, less of them will choose to pay it here, and more will follow the example Ive just given.

Its really NOT as simple as you make out!

Jim Galbally

if we still had a coal industry in this country we would have been fucked many years ago by even worse problems than we all do now

we've all got too used to credit, and it's fallen on it's arse

Garage19

Due to the current labour government we have the highest ever tax burden!

Turbo-Beal

Totaly disagree with that. U cant compare the two as it was a totaly diffrent way of living nowadays. You think when your parents bought that TV back in 1975 it probably cost the equivilant of a 1k 52" tv in todays standards and how many average joes buys one of them? And most average ppl dont have a new car as they cant afford it. If they do they probably owe alot of money which they will have to pay back some day. I am a hard worker, have a good job with above average wage and i am now finding that my basic salery if i do no overtime is barely enough to pay my bills and put food on the table. I think that we deserve more in life other than living just for the sake of living. I dont think my country owes me a living but im dam sure i feel like im paying for it.

dunketh

Bloody hell. Don't remind me.

I've got to remortgage in a years time. Fingers crossed it doesnt go crazy then.
I already live pretty tight with most of my earnings going on the mortgage or past debt.

If you can afford a nice car, a flash telly and other such things you wont get any sympathy from me.
I've cut my espenditure pretty much to the minimum. I hardly go out, I drive a shit car, I've never bought a 'brand new' TV or stereo or computer... and certainly wont now.
What are normal folk like me expected to do?
I'm only glad I dont have gas at my house - one less bill!
In another year I should be rid of some debts so heres hoping things cancel each other out and stay pretty stable.

Jim Galbally

do you realise how f**kin well off we actually are!

you seen the state of south america, africa etc.!!!!!

badnews

your paying for the doleys and scrounging fookers how the fook can they get by without stella and spliffs i'm well out of it you can have it now it's becomes over run with every nationality but britishand all with there hands in the pot, so whats your pension gona be worth better stock up on woolie jumpers and tins of pedigree chum for your old age

RichardPON

Except that most energy companies actually make very little from consumer supply.

dunketh

The other irony is - you're probably safer on the streets of OZ, with it being a big old prison colony, than we are back in mother england!