Dispatches, Christmas on Credit. Watch it on 4OD

abaxas

LydiaJ wrote: »

Abaxas, I admire you for getting yourself sorted from beginnng as homeless at 17.

You have me confused with someone else :eek:

PasturesNew

When you are a single female, repairmen take the p155. I went a whole winter without hot water/heating a few years back because the repairman said it'd be £200 and I didn't have £200... then, in the spring, I had another repairman to fix another emergency - I mentioned I had no water and he took a look and said £30 including the part... because the first was a liar/rip off merchant/chancer.

LydiaJ

Another thing is that it is much much harder to adjust to going without something you have previously had, than to manage without it if you have never had it. This is not just because you are accustomed to it, but because your life is set up on the assumption that you have it.

For example, years ago (pre-kids) I managed quite well without a car. I cycled or went on the bus, and it was OK.

Later, when I could afford it, we got a car, and then later a second car. (This was back in the days when I was part of a couple.) Then when my husband lost his job (when I was a SAHM), I needed to find work. I looked for work that I could reasonably commute to in my car, and I got a job that I couldn't realistically get to on public transport. It was fine, because I had a car. But I had got myself into a position where the car was a necessity. Then he got a job to which he had to commute in a different direction from me, and was expected to drive to meetings in other parts of the country, and there we were in a situation where two cars were a necessity.

In my life, everything worked out fine. My job (although part time) was at a professional level, and enabled me to save enough to replace my car when it died. But it does illustrate the way in which you can become reliant on something that in other circumstances you might have been quite well able to manage without.

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

When you are a single female,

rest assured, it doesn't stop when you get married.

wageslave

skcollobcat10 wrote: »

I agree, when I first got married I washed the clothes in the bath, I bought milk daily on my way home from work and just got on with it because I could not afford to buy a washing machine or a fridge, I eventually was given second hand items from relatives. In this day and age that is obviously not good enough for the poor.

You are assuming that the 17 year old single mother in a tower block has a family that gives a t*ss.

Most of them dont. They have the benefit system, a few friends in more or less the same position they are in and the nice woman from the Provident.

lostinrates

wageslave wrote: »

You are assuming that the 17 year old single mother in a tower block has a family that gives a t*ss.

And a local shop as oppose to tesco metro on the high street in the opposite direction, and no kids and two incomes.

I have lived with no fridge (I had a cold larder). At the same time I had a washing machine we used and an (inherited) dishwasher I never used. I coped fine (two adults). I would struggle with children, and modern food safety with no fridge.

ETA: actually I did have two kids staying with me at times then and it was difficult. Yogurt (something I didn't think about at that stage in my life) wasn't possible.....those little pots do not last one a day for so many days out side a fridge! Kids love little tubs of yogurt. I was also terrified to give them left overs that the man and I would eat heated up (we had a range not an oven, if the wind blew the wrong way food didn't boil. ).

wageslave

I know at least half a dozen people who, at some time or another, have swanned off to deepest Africa to do something meaningful for the third world.

They would be better employed spending a year in Springburn in Glasgow. But that doesn't sound half as glamorous or look nearly as good on a CV.

PasturesNew

wageslave wrote: »

I know at least half a dozen people who, at some time or another, have swanned off to deepest Africa to do something meaningful for the third world.

They would be better employed spending a year in Springburn in Glasgow. But that doesn't sound half as glamorous or look nearly as good on a CV.

I've never known anybody swan off anywhere to do good.

Never heard of Springburn, I assume it's some dosshole.

moggylover

Crash_Over wrote: »

There a company called QuickQuid advertising small loans on daytime TV. (Yes I'm sad enough to watch daytime telly )

APR was 2356%. Had to look closely cos I thought there must be a decimal point somewhere, but there wasn't.

Unbelievable. Not sure who to blame, those offering the loans or those who can't manage their finances without them.

A fair bit of blame absolutely HAS to go to the media who will allow this sort of advertising! Ocean having it's own TV channel has to be the most disgusting thing I have every heard of!

However, when there is nowhere else to get a loan from then loansharks will be the answer, and these are just a slightly less violent form of that really.

moggylover

lostinrates wrote: »

In some cases it would make sense.

A washing machine was raised earlier in the thread...so if a washing machine conks out, you might chose a laundrette, I have no idea what that would cost per wash I'm afraid, but assuming, that at least three washes (coloures, darks and a whites) are going on, which is a conservative estimate I think, that might well equal the interest. Then there is the time....if your working thats an issue. If you have grubster children/more than one bed to strip and wash then you're going to find at some point it is easier and possibly as cheap or cheaper to get the finance.

Last time I used the Launderette was about 10 years ago - and it was £2 per machine then! I get through about 7 or 8 washes a week (son plays rugby) so can see that one wouldn't want to be "saving up " these days.