Its tough, it will get better and guess what its freezing brrrrr!

jackieglasgow

charlies-aunt I don't know whether to feel reassured or horrified by that.

Kitcaboodle

starsandmoon wrote: »

Im glad I bought the house I needed not wanted last year. The one I wanted was a new build 3 bed detached with a big garden and was £150,000. The house I needed was a 2 bed old terrace with a yard and £63,000. I probably wouldnt have got a mortgage for the £150,000 one. I would have been stretched to breaking point. Instead I was able to put down a decent deposit and keep some money to one side for jobs like damp proofing etc. My mortgage is quite small and although gardens are lovely I dont have time to tend one. As it is a Victorian house it still has all the rooms seperate, not knocked through, very handy for keeping the heat in!

In these tough times with jobs going and costs rising Im so glad I didnt stretch myself. Im also glad I didnt get a newer car but kept the one Ive got. No wonder I get called the Thrift Guru lol :rotfl:

I envy you your house prices! Average price for even ex-council two bed terraces here are around the £180k mark! If we could save £50k for a deposit we could afford to borrow £100k but there is practically nothing we could buy at that price.

Oh well, the deposit is still several years away at this rate so I shouldn't worry too much about the house prices!

charlies-aunt

jackieglasgow wrote: »

charlies-aunt I don't know whether to feel reassured or horrified by that.

Do you mean the funeral process or that my DH has an occupation that is beyond the pale?

jackieglasgow

I meant the putting the shroud on over the clothes or cutting perfectly good clothes up! :rotfl:

ceridwen

Kitcaboodle wrote: »

I envy you your house prices! Average price for even ex-council two bed terraces here are around the £180k mark! If we could save £50k for a deposit we could afford to borrow £100k but there is practically nothing we could buy at that price.

Oh well, the deposit is still several years away at this rate so I shouldn't worry too much about the house prices!

Another one thinking "Cor...fancy being able to get a detached with a big garden for £150k - cor....". In my area - all it would be possible to buy would be a 2 bedroom ex-Council house in a sink estate for that. Still...there are obviously even dearer areas - thinking of Kitcaboodle having to pay £180k for an ex-Council house in presumably a reasonable area for that..

Charis

ceridwen wrote: »

It is very important IMHO that that particular taboo goes - NOW - and we all discuss honestly what we are paid/how we are managing it/etc - and maybe...just maybe...it might help us all to assess better how good (or otherwise:cool:) we personally are at managing our income and how to live within our income (whatever it is).

I don't think it's ever going to happen Ceridwen. Some people, myself included, will never feel comfortable about discussing their income. It's my business and no one else's what I've got in the bank and the only people who know what's in there are me, and those who are putting money into my bank account or taxing me on it. I would hate anyone to assess how good at money management I am unless I had specifically asked for help, although I would be quite prepared to help at classes showing others how to gain financial literacy, using an *imaginary* sample budget if they wanted to learn. Such classes exist, there are numeracy lessons for adults who want to learn, but there's nothing in this town.

It drives me bananas personally watching some people totally overestimating their abilities/responsibilities at managing their money responsibly on the one hand - and other people feeling they cant mention that (due to no fault/choice of their own) they simply genuinely arent being given enough to live on on the other hand.

We've been primed to borrow for decades now, because it suited the finance industry. We're also bombarded with advertising promising us a better life if we buy this or that product. It's ingrained in our culture and our way of thinking. Many of my children's generation have no idea that budgeting is necessary till they get a place of their own.

There are still a lot of people who think cable and satellite TV and multiple mobile phone contracts, several annual holidays and unlimited travel to various weddings and reunions are essential items. There is also peer and family pressure to buy presents or attend events when there is no money in the kitty. If someone leans on you to spend money you haven't got, they aren't your ally. It takes bottle to be the first one to say no. The same is true when your teenager assures you that 'everyone else' in their peer group has what they are asking for. It's amazing how frugal they become once they have an allowance and they know that once it's gone there is no more. Or you provide what you would have provided for those new trainers and they have to work for the rest. :rotfl:

On the other hand there are, as you say, those folk who are scraping by and have regular crises when they have to be supported with loans from family or friends or go without vital things, through no fault of their own.

Maybe if the government concentrated on financial literacy from the earliest years and provided lessons for those who have already slipped through the net, there might be more 'lightbulb moments' among the uninitiated. Transition Towns and LETS groups could offer Basic Financial Literacy classes. How many people have we each passed on the MSE webpage address to? Maybe we should pop it in in all our Christmas cards, there must be a tailor-made thread/deals list/mse news page for every single person we send a card to! There's a good list to start with, on the right hand side of this page.

Fruball

I'm a good girl tonight - as a previous takeaway queen I have had to change my ways... when I get that evening snacking feeling which in the past would have led to a chinese or indian delivery, I keep couscous in the cupboard - just boil a kettle and throw it in a jug with a chicken stock cube... not the same but satisfying none-the-less.

and a lot LESS money!!!

NualaBuala

Frugal wrote: »

I'm a good girl tonight - as a previous takeaway queen I have had to change my ways... when I get that evening snacking feeling which in the past would have led to a chinese or indian delivery, I keep couscous in the cupboard - just boil a kettle and throw it in a jug with a chicken stock cube... not the same but satisfying none-the-less.

and a lot LESS money!!!

Ooh you ARE good! :A I am a takeaway queen myself so I will try this.

Charis, you tallk a lot of sense. :T

jackieglasgow

Frugal, there is a recipe for onion bhaji on the GroceryChalleng which the lovely Kezlou posted, it is fantastic and very good for an impromptu snack, only takes five minutes to make, I also use the batter to make chicken pakoras for OH and I make veggie haggis once a month and freeze some of it in little balls and make pakora with it too. I don't have a deep fat fryer, but use my smallest saucepan to fry them in. HTH

ceridwen

Charis wrote: »

We've been primed to borrow for decades now, because it suited the finance industry. We're also bombarded with advertising promising us a better life if we buy this or that product. It's ingrained in our culture and our way of thinking. Many of my children's generation have no idea that budgeting is necessary till they get a place of their own.

There are still a lot of people who think cable and satellite TV and multiple mobile phone contracts, several annual holidays and unlimited travel to various weddings and reunions are essential items. There is also peer and family pressure to buy presents or attend events when there is no money in the kitty. If someone leans on you to spend money you haven't got, they aren't your ally. It takes bottle to be the first one to say no. The same is true when your teenager assures you that 'everyone else' in their peer group has what they are asking for. It's amazing how frugal they become once they have an allowance and they know that once it's gone there is no more. Or you provide what you would have provided for those new trainers and they have to work for the rest. :rotfl:

On the other hand there are, as you say, those folk who are scraping by and have regular crises when they have to be supported with loans from family or friends or go without vital things, through no fault of their own.

Maybe if the government concentrated on financial literacy from the earliest years and provided lessons for those who have already slipped through the net, there might be more 'lightbulb moments' among the uninitiated. Transition Towns and LETS groups could offer Basic Financial Literacy classes. How many people have we each passed on the MSE webpage address to? Maybe we should pop in in all our Christmas cards, there must be a tailor-made thread/deals list/mse news page for every single person we send a card to! There's a good list to start with, on the right hand side of this page.

Financial literacy classes may be the way to go...

I dont think I would see it personally as being something for Transition Towns/LETS groups to think of - but it would be a worthwhile subject to bring up at school.

It IS difficult when we have the situation that some people say they are struggling - and the next thing you know you see them lighting up a fag/going on holiday/getting pregnant again etc. On the other hand - there ARE people who are really struggling due to no fault of their own - but not breathing a word.

We all feel the effect knocking back on us of others' financial management (or otherwise). I know I personally am wondering just how many of these 3 million households that over-borrowed to buy a house overestimated their abilities - as I am one of the "savers" that is suffering right now because interest rates are being held down at virtually non-existent levels precisely in order that people with mortgages don't have to pay "normal" level interest rates on those mortgages. I understand/don't mind too much re those that are genuinely good money managers but unforeseeable things have happened to them - but don't get me started on those that have added financial responsibilities since they took on a mortgage/over-estimated their financial management abilities..:mad:.....