Ask any MSEer and they'll recommend cancelling Xmas...

amcluesent

Anyone looking at the household budget will have to conclude that Yuletide jollity must be cancelled this year as an austerity measure.

Lets look at the facts -

1) Petrol, gas and lecky going up and up, loads of peeps coming off fixed rate deals getting clobbered
2) Clothing will be going up next year after the cotton harvest failure
3) Food shooting up in price
4) Train prices up by 6% on 1st Jan for commuters, more for off-peak
5) Mortgages bound to go up in 2011 as base rate comes off 0.5%
6) Wage freezes, overtime bans still in place
7) Tax changes already announced hit on 6th April
8) Pensions only going up by CPI not RPI
9) £ has collapsed, so European breaks cost a bundle even before the hike in Ryanair tickets
10) PLUS, of course, VAT up 2.5% on 1st Jan

10 reasons why we will all be poorer in 2011 and, regrettably, the children will have to be told that Santa has died.

LilacPixie

Christmas will just have to be less commercialised and not so much keeping up with the Joneses (sp??). That isn't a bad thing IMO.

Loughton_Monkey

It was Christmas Day in the Workhouse
The Goose was getting Fat
Osborne came and stole the thing
So that's the end of that

PasturesNew

Xmas is just a big Sunday dinner (extra veggies), tin of sweets and a few gifts... £100 tops.

lostinrates

Oh amcluesent, cheer up Have you started your parterre yet?

amcluesent wrote: »

Lets look at the facts -

1) Petrol, gas and lecky going up and up, loads of peeps coming off fixed rate deals getting clobbered Hurrah, christmas for the environment, of curse we all hate it but planning fuel use is going to be increasingly important. Maybe don't gift electricals this year.
2) Clothing will be going up next year after the cotton harvest failure Don't most of us have enough? Ask LJ!
3) Food shooting up in price This is a shocker. Thank fullly it coincides with renewed interest in grow your own, which might make people less wasteful and give a little exercise too, plus wean us off a diet heavy in intensively farmed meat, bad for animal welfare and our own health
4) Train prices up by 6% on 1st Jan for commuters, more for off-peak Again horrid, but inevitable
5) Mortgages bound to go up in 2011 as base rate comes off 0.5% Well, we've had it good, mortgage payers. TBH, IMO those of us with housing debt should have planned to pay more.
6) Wage freezes, overtime bans still in place True, but not everywhere.
7) Tax changes already announced hit on 6th April Hurrah...another tackling a debt...we can't have it bot ways, I'm pleased we're tackling this as a country now.
8) Pensions only going up by CPI not RPI Pensions, aren't they one of the great things about our way of life here in the west!
9) £ has collapsed, so European breaks cost a bundle even before the hike in Ryanair tickets Now probably not the best time to gloat about our small contingency Euro fund hving 5k more than we thought in it. My guess is the euro has its own still more to cme, I'm not too excited for ur euros.
10) PLUS, of course, VAT up 2.5% on 1st Jan
and easier maths!
10 reasons why we will all be poorer in 2011 and, regrettably, the children will have to be told that Santa has died.

I wish we had something other than chrsitmas to vent seasonal commercialism. I suppose something like Thanksgiving. Christmas is a wonderful time of year to think about belief and hope and the joys of life. DH and I usually are low key at christmas, apart from the lunch, which this year we are hosting...but the best gift for me is a time when we are together and the world slows down for a moment. DH would agree but add that he feels the need for a chocolate yule log to really make it great for him.

Graham_Devon

Sod that, christmas is happening!!

Heyman_2

It's fun fun fun as usual chez amcluesent.

amersall

:xmassign:

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Sod that, christmas is happening!!

DITTO,DITTO DITTO.
:xmassign::xmastree::snow_laug:santa2:
And a bah humbug to all the scrooges.:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::xmastree:

brixham

Harah ! Blooming hate Christmas anyway. Whole day spent with family with forced smile on faces, new socks (if we can afford them) and !!!!!! on the telly.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

amcluesent wrote: »

Lets look at the facts -

Yes, lets look at the facts.

1) Petrol, gas and lecky going up and up, loads of peeps coming off fixed rate deals getting clobbered

Minimal change over the last year, on an item that is a small percentage of most people's total spending.

2) Clothing will be going up next year after the cotton harvest failure

And still massively cheaper than it was a decade or two ago.

3) Food shooting up in price

Again, still massively cheaper than it used to be.

4) Train prices up by 6% on 1st Jan for commuters, more for off-peak

I don't use the train. Many people don't. Also a small percentage of most peoples total spending.

5) Mortgages bound to go up in 2011 as base rate comes off 0.5%

Unlikely.

6) Wage freezes, overtime bans still in place

Only for 30% of companies. We've both had above inflation pay rises throughout the last few years.

7) Tax changes already announced hit on 6th April

Doesn't impact me much at all.

8) Pensions only going up by CPI not RPI

No impact for me at all.

9) £ has collapsed, so European breaks cost a bundle even before the hike in Ryanair tickets

Minimal impact for most people.

10) PLUS, of course, VAT up 2.5% on 1st Jan

A tiny change on what is already only a minority of most peoples spending.

10 reasons why we will all be poorer in 2011 and, regrettably, the children will have to be told that Santa has died.

If you're so poor that such minor changes make you cancel X-mas, then I feel sorry for you. And suggest you spend more time earning money and less time trolling websites.

:xmassign:

PasturesNew

I actually dislike Xmas... it's not Xmas itself, it's the company one's forced to keep .....

I do wish I was an orphan sometimes.