Ok whats the secret?

Legacy_user · 10 June 2009 at 2:42PM

I'm on a day of today, and I have noticed one thing, the amount of women around here who stay at home to look after the children while there partners work.

I live in a working class area, people around here are not doctors/lawyers etc, they are builders/factory workers and the likes.

Yet they all seem to go away reguarly on little breaks, have nice cars, the best clothes, have nights out, some don't even work and go on holidays and have the best of everything. I watched people across the street move in about a month ago, a mother, daughter and grand daughter, none seem to work, yet in the space of a month we have seen new sofa's, house painted, electronic deliveries,not bad for people that don't work.

My OH works, I work yet we can't afford a night in a B&B, and its all well and good saying "Aw they are in debt to the eyes" is the entire street in debt to the eyes? I doubt it, and besides the unemployed can't get credit.

I was just wondering what the secret was, do you know? Someone obviously forgot to tell us as we both work, probably the only couple in the street that do yet we are the worst off and going no where fast.

I can't even say they are pretending to live by themselves and claim benefits for single parents or whatever as we are the only ones who rent, the rest all own, the mind boggles.

I could extend this to work and my own family and they are all not in debt and not really any better of than us salary wise but yet money is no object.

SO WHATS THE SECRET??? GO ON YOU CAN TELL ME

JOANNESAPHINE · 10 June 2009 at 3:06PM

I know what you mean. My husband works full-time and I work part-time in a school to fit in with my daughter. We do have a caravan and go on holiday in that but no flash days out, just dog walking etc. I walk my daughter to school and walk to work and on wet days the hard-up jobless people go to school by taxi. I couldn't afford to use a taxi at £5 - £6 a time and I work. I've also seen the same jobless people in the designer clothes shop in our town which I never go in, can't afford it. We often say what are we doing wrong and I know some are using credit but like you say what about the unemployed.

angelicmary85 · 10 June 2009 at 3:09PM

tax credits are a great thing!!

(Land_of)_Maz · 10 June 2009 at 3:10PM

i wish i knew the secret too nireland...

we have a decent income between 2 full time jobs, and a manageable amount of debt... but somehow the thought of a new sofa or new telly is outwith our capabilities just now... yet my sister and her hubby don't work, and seem to have faaar more disposable income than we do.

tis pants so it is!

moneymakestheworldgoround · 10 June 2009 at 3:13PM

Yipee, someone else who debates this miracle.

I work my socks off, single parent, cant seem to get out of this mess despite doing every job blumming available.

Yet my cousin, auntie, friends, all seem to have holidays and plasma tvs and Ipods and I phones and 2 cars and Xboxs and DS lites, and lots of other things I dont even understand.

We have 1 telly, and a bag of value crisps is a treat in front of the telly.

I saved for 4 years for a trip to Butlins.

I broke my heel of my shoe an hour ago but I cant afford the superglue to repair it !

My cousin is on their 3rd holiday abroad this year. They earn £13,000 a year. They have every gadget going, and a £5k car they paid cash for.

My aunty has parcels from catalogues and shopping channels delivered everyday but is on benefits.

My friend was made redundant, they are pregnant, but the first thing they did was book a holiday to the Greek Isles.

My only assumption is peoples definition of debt. My family dont think catalogues, HP, or things like that are debt. Also if they pay credit cards each month this isnt debt. So although they say they are not in debt, technically they are.

Vanquis, Provident, all lend to people on low incomes.

The DSS do loans for people on benefits - I know of a couple who used their crisis loan on new alloys for their car !

The family all admire one member who has a good job and treats her and partner to everything. However, they have negative equity now, 2 HPs on cars, HP on sofas, HP on telly, HP on white goods, huge credit card which they pay off in full at beginning of month, but then have to use to max to live on during the month etc..... I dont have admiration for that. The only difference between her and me is a good credit rating !! And it could all come crashing round her ears in 24 hours if she loses her job, or the bank withdraw credit facility.

Rant over...

angelicmary85 · 10 June 2009 at 3:17PM

As far as I know there is more cash available to people who don't work through interest free loans and grants..don't know very much about them but since I had my 1st child we've been alot better off due to child and working tax credits and child benefit. When we had the 2nd our 'income' has gone up again. I don't use the money we get to buy nice things, I use to pay our debt.

JOANNESAPHINE · 10 June 2009 at 3:19PM

My husband's work colleagues wear designer shirts (his are from Asda) and go on exotic holidays (we go away in our caravan). He is baffled!

Toto · 10 June 2009 at 3:28PM

I very much suspect that one size doesn't fit all. In one street you may have a couple of households who are racked up to the eyeballs in debt, someone else who may have substantial savings, someone else who has had an inheritance and even someone who has parents who help them out by buying them stuff.

There isn't a secret, you spend within your means or you will end up with debt. That debt needs to be paid off or you will end up insolvent. Maybe the family who have just moved in and are having new sofas and stuff delivered have downsized so have some left over from their house. I know that lots of people with interest only mortgages are feeling very flush at the moment with the low interest rates so may be spending. A friend of mine owns a beauty salon and just does botox/fillers and laser treatments. She has said that since the economic downturn her business has boomed, so much so for the first time she has over a month waiting lists. I think the majority is because of low mortgage repayments, and even some people spending their savings because they are earning nothing in interest.

But just because you don't see people go out to work doesn't mean they don't work. They could run a business from home or work nights, I don't know but unless you know these people how do you know what they do?

I think looking at what other people have or do is recipe for misery unless you know them well and have all of the facts regarding their finances.

Eupho · 10 June 2009 at 3:38PM

nirelandguy wrote: »

SO WHATS THE SECRET??? GO ON YOU CAN TELL ME

Yes!.. they have huuuuge amounts of debts.. on cards and loans.. and just haven't found moneysavingexpert.com yet..
:rotfl:

haha... errrm.. I'm joking. I know some people do manage to have those things and not be in debt.

But I BETCHA a fair few of them are.

DietCokeMad · 10 June 2009 at 3:43PM

Don't get me started on this one! People are either living beyond their means (ie CC's and loans) like I did when I first started working, and am now paying for it and one day they will too - I just hope they have their LBM early on in the game, or at least like me before their debts got too big to handle and they started missing payments etc

However others I am sure are having a nice time with all the taxes working folk pay, the majority legitimately, and I know times are tough and people are out of work through no fault of their own, and I'm not judging becuase it could easily be any of us But I get cross when people turn up at my work, 'unable' to afford to pay, or asking for discounts because they are on benefits, then leave, climb back in their 4WD/shiny little sports car and buzz off to the shops/pub/betting shop....
I work 50-60 hours a week, and take home a little over 1500 a month. A friend of a friend works 16 hours a week, minimum wage, and has 3 kids. With child maintenance, council house, tax credits and child benefit etc she gets £900 PER WEEK, with no mortgage to pay. Where is the incentive to work?

hypno06 · 10 June 2009 at 3:50PM

Different people have different priorities.

I have had some people say "its alright for you - you're rich" to my face. Its because they see me spend thousands on my childrens skiing. But do they also see me working round the clock at home, ebaying things, writing reviews, seeing clients at home, writing lesson plans to teach lessons in my days off from my full time job???? Do they see me living on pasta and beans on toast? Do they see the holes in the sole of my shoes while I try and make them last "just one more month"?

No, of course not - they just see that I "must be rich because I can afford to send my children abroad".......

The truth is, some will be financing it on credit, some will be living on handouts from family or the state, some will have squirrelled away every penny all their life and have enough now to lead a comfortable lifestyle, and some will be working their backsides off around the clock, one way or another, to fund it.

As toto says, life is not a "one size fits all" - do they know what your position is? So do you know what theirs is?.....

Ok whats the secret?

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