It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

MrsBartolozzi

shelley1977 wrote: »

im starting to get worried about how much my regular shopping bill has gone up, soda crystals are now 80p this time last year they were 36p.even the basic ranges seem to have gone up.what are we suppose to do when even the basic ranges are getting more expensive.

I agree Shelley. According to this week's MSE email:
"While average branded food prices (eg, HP sauce, Kellogg's corn flakes) are up 28% in three years, supermarket own brands have jumped less, at 17%, according to SupermarketOwnBrandGuide.com."

This does not mention the basics/value ranges, which must have gone up at a much steeper rate than the branded items. I know of several basics items which are up by 100% or more!
I think Martin should do some investigating into these unproportional rises on the no frills lines. I appreciate that supermarkets are businesses out to make money, but it doesn't seem fair that they are seen to be the good guys helping us in these troubled times by introducing "discount brands" which were brought in to replace much cheaper value brands.

lingojingo

ceridwen wrote: »

I would class it as "less than national average income" (currently about £25,000 pa I believe?).

My scale runs =
- less than national average is low income
- NMW or not much more than is "peanuts".

So I rate less than £20,000 pa as very low and less than £15,000 as "totally shocking".

There is also a bit of a subjective element to this - in that some parts of the country exacerbate any low income problems one has (ie because they are particularly dear to live in) - tell me about it...as I'm in one of them......:mad:

Also it depends what you have to do on that income - how many children, how much the mortgage/rent is etc.

My income is in your totally shocking category. That's for me and DD who is 18, plus helping out student DS just turned 21, I have a reasonably small mortgage and can manage but we don't often go on holiday except to family - although I did go to Paris for 4 days with the school I work at and DD went to Spain on an exchange trip with college (Spanish girl coming to us in June).

It isn't easy, I have to think about the budget quite a lot, but it's not impossible to live fairly well and I don't think most of my friends realise what my income is.

kidcat

Ok,, my growing stuff is not going well, kids keep messing with the stuff and nothing is growing at all. Looks like this year gonna be a write off and I will need to find a more enclosed/ kidproof way of growing stuff.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

i love reading this thread, but dont often post, i am now collecting wood ready for those cold winter nights...

my way of thinking is that as there is more and more people getting log burners etc..come the autumn time there is going to be a surge on people looking for those broken pllats etc...

we have a rayburn coal fire in the living room with a back boiler so it heats the water and heats the house.. ok the glass front as now gone a dingy colour, but i would rather heat my house for free and have a clean bit of glass on the front of my fire:rotfl:

we have even been given old bits of wood furniture with woodworm and well passed their user life to burn too...all for FREE...

saved us a fortune last winter

kidcat

I would love to consider a wood burning fire too, but as we are renting not sure we would be able to.

sammy_kaye18

Oh Id love a wood burning stove - boyfriend has grand dreams of building our own house one day - from shipping containers - dont ask

told him as long as i can have a utility room, a decent kitchen, a bay window and a wood burning stove then im happy and dont want anythgin else

the wood burner to heat the house, a decent kitchen so i can have plenty of home baking going on with some space, a utility room so i can have a pantry and a bay window to stand me Christmas tree in - i don't ask for much honestly!.

kidcat

I would love to build my own house too, not to be all fancy and modern, just to be practical, a huge kitchen to cook and have eating area would be great and also an area where kids can sit doing homework under my watchful eye while i cook. And a bathroom big enough to move in, (at the moment its got a bath that is whole length and a sink which is width,), And a proper downstairs bathroom.
My pipe dream cos we will probably never be able to afford to buy a house never mind build one!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

i would love an old stone cottage/farmhouse which hasnt been modernised, and my ideal decor would be something like the dingles totally lived in and dingle chic:rotfl: ok better sneak off now

Frugalista

kidcat wrote: »

I would love to build my own house too, not to be all fancy and modern, just to be practical, a huge kitchen to cook and have eating area would be great and also an area where kids can sit doing homework under my watchful eye while i cook. And a bathroom big enough to move in, (at the moment its got a bath that is whole length and a sink which is width,), And a proper downstairs bathroom.
My pipe dream cos we will probably never be able to afford to buy a house never mind build one!

OH and I often play the "if we could build our own house" game. For me it would be a huge farmhouse kitchen with room for armchairs and big table; a basement or cellar (like they have in American houses) the entire footprint of the house; a utility/laundry room; a "mud" room for the dogs; and (an absolute must have) a big, wide veranda. And it must be in the country with an orchard and vegetable garden. In fact, I think I want The Waltons house :rotfl::rotfl:!! Oh well! We can dream can't we .

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Frugalista,,, i dream of a samllholding etc.... and now i have my daydream fund...lol...