If things get tougher?

katieowl_2

Hell_Dans_Un_Handcart wrote: »

We both ran up debt at university so we pay off £400 a month - we really want to be debt free now (and those are minimum payments, sob).


We're looking into moving to a pub in North Wales; I think tourism is going to boom over there soon, with air ticket prices on the rise. We went to uni there and know the area well. It seems like a much nicer place to bring up our daughter.

My DD has just finished uni and as she did four years (language - year abroad) she owes about £16K....now she's finished - she can't get a job....not even minimum wage!!! Makes you wonder if this is the big con for this generation...I've spend years telling my kids they need to go to uni.... and I'm seriously having my doubts. My Middle DD is off to Nottingham in September A level results permitting, to do the same course. My Son is about to start his A levels with a view to do languages too,

Wales is lovely...if we'd sold the house this summer, we'd have been living in West Wales soon. We thought the same as you, that the tourist industry would be good there, we were going to do B&B. I'm sure it would be a better place to bring up your little girl too.

Regards

Kate

Nanaof2

knittingnelly wrote: »

We had to go searching for superglue at Christmas to fix DH's teeth,that worked pretty well :rotfl:

katieowl I don't have a 'formula' for cheapo cars I'm afraid, we just go out looking when we need one. I've made five last me about 16-17 years, we got three from local papers, one from a customer of DH's who he did some work for and got paid with the car and one from a mechanic friend. That one was a cracker, went like s*&t off a stick and cost £80! I never get to say 'I'd like X' I just get what I'm given :rolleyes: I've had a couple of auto's as they tend to be cheaper.There's a big local auction which I'd happily try, but I'd take a tame mechanic with me The most we ever paid was £1,600 and that was a long time ago. As cars generally get more reliable we've paid less and still got away with it. The little things fail, like electric windows, heaters etc and I have got used to gritting my teeth and living with the old girl's 'foibles':D

Unlike some others who have posted (sorry,names not my forte when tired:o ) we are SURROUNDED by 4x4's! We are in affluent (for some!) Cheshire and are kneedeep in yuppies who would not know themselves without their 4x4's dahling :rolleyes: There are so many women round here who have HUGE cars which never, ever see the mud and get used for the school run - sometimes in our village high street there can be a row of seven 4x4's - the entire length of the street more or less! I remember some woman telling DH how she needed a new one as her last one was a couple of years old now and when she told him how much it had depreciated it was more than we've spent on cars our whole driving lives :rotfl:

I will be interested to see how the coming times affect the local 'wealthy set'.

I live in Cheshire as well in a small town but surrounded by villages where all the women have 4x4s that have never seen mud let alone been across a field! So essential of course for taking the single child to school. I too am looking forward to seeing how the local 'wealthy set' cope in the coming months.

Zend

I live in a village and had a 4x4, I worked as an archaeologist for a while, so good in fields and driving around thick woodland. When DH became seriously ill and had to give up work, the car was sold and I gave up work. To catch a bus to my nearest town is £4.50 return, its only a 3 mile journey! The government encourages us to use public transport but the prices are ridiculous. I remember the 70's and do wonder how the "i want it now" generation are going to cope.

mary43

I think they'll have a hard job.
I was talking to my friend the other day about wedding lists and how, nowadays everything seems to be so expensive and its 'expected'........things that we had to save up for, make do until we could afford it.

katieowl_2

Zend wrote: »

I live in a village and had a 4x4, I worked as an archaeologist for a while, so good in fields and driving around thick woodland. When DH became seriously ill and had to give up work, the car was sold and I gave up work. To catch a bus to my nearest town is £4.50 return, its only a 3 mile journey! The government encourages us to use public transport but the prices are ridiculous. I remember the 70's and do wonder how the "i want it now" generation are going to cope.

London Fares are ridiculous....when my son goes back to school in September he will be in the 6th Form. He goes by train, as it's quickest. Now he's an 'adult' he will have to pay an adult full fare, as he leaves before half nine in the morning (of course) it's going to cost me about £50 every HALF TERM....
Ask me how many stops?.....THREE!!!!!!

He could go for free on the bus, but it would take at least an hour, with a change, and as he points out he's much less likely to get mugged on the train!

I can get a '16/17 oyster card' which will give a small discount, but it's still going to be more than £50...and we have to pay £5 for priveledge of the card! I can only get it when he goes back to school so the first half term I can't get a discount at all....

He's in full time education...DUH? I guess you could say that's what the EMA is for, but at £35 (? think it's just gone up) it's not exactly going to go far on fares if a kids got much further to go

Seriously if I could face the traffic it would STILL be cheaper for me to drive him in to school.

I think twice about going anywhere by public transport now, especially with the kids. You know how 'mum' always picks up the fares tab, last trip me, my daughter and son took cost me about £18! (and it was from SE London to Central London!)

Sorry to Rant.... :mad: Pressed the button!

Regards

Kate

mummytofour

I know buses round here tend to be more that the train. I am a great train user as we dont have a car big enough for all of us to go out in ( money saving in the long run!) We need good public transport int he uk not another case of rip off Britain.

hypno06

Thankfully we have a very good bus service from our village into the city where I work, and a 10 trip ticket costs £10.40.....compared with the cost of running the car, and paying to park, it is a no-brainer for me.....so much so that I have just sold our second car and will rely on the bus instead.

Having said that though, this week the service has been reduced a little due to the rising cost of fuel - they made the decision to reduce the frequency of the buses but to keep the fares down, rather than to increase the fares, yet again.

debbiemc_2

Re: bus v car - its the same for me, a 15-minute drive to work, but would take over an hour on two buses to get there, and cost more in bus fares than what I currently spend on fuel! Public transport in our area is not cheaper or more convenient, and even taking into consideration all the other costs involved in running a car its still the better option, so I will be sticking with my car for the time being! :undecided

Debbie

hypno06

It is on the news now that the true rise in the cost of living is 5 x the "official" rate - now of course statistics from governments have always been there to be manipulated and contested, but I would guess that 5 x is not that far off being wrong..........

.....so, how many of us will receive a 15-20% pay increase this year to keep us in line with the "real" rate of inflation......sadly not me for sure!

Last year, any "extra" money I made from ebay, quidco, matched betting, car booting etc was used to pay additional payments to our debts to get them down quicker. Now that same "extra" money is being used to pay the essential bills.

Thank goodness I found this site almost 2 years ago when I did.....:D

Hardup_Hester

Has anybody seen the latest information on the Joseph Rowntree site, http://www.jrf.org.uk/ it lists what people see as essentials & what are seen as luxuries. They came to the conclusion the while people need 'stuff' they don't need top of the range stuff with lables on. I have to admit that hubby & I don't have most of the stuff seen as essential even.
On the subject of teeth, I lost a bridge of 3 teeth last year the NHS will only offer full dentures & I'm not keen on having all my teeth out, privately the cost will be between £15,000 & £28000, so I have remained gappy & I hate it.