Super Scrimpers

ceridwen

A follow-up thought here is that I know I personally have recently become acutely aware that a LOT of my own personal expectations are a product of the generation I happen to be in/particular background I have come from. I dont think it does any of us any harm at all to sit down sometimes and think "Now - if I were from a different generation (be it older or younger) on the one hand or a different background (be it better-off or worse-off) on the other hand - then I might think/feel very differently to what I actually do".

If one really really sits down and thinks hard about it - very many of us have formed many of our opinions/expectations of life precisely because of the generation we are in/the background we have come from/our own personal experiences of life since coming to adulthood (and...yep...that includes me too....) but we all have to bear in mind that we have come from many different starting points here...

BitterAndTwisted

Well said, Ceridwen.

If anyone drives Lostinrates from this forum I shall be cross. Very, very cross indeed. I think she's lovely. We need more of her sort in these times, not fewer.

lostinrates

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Well said, Ceridwen.

If anyone drives Lostinrates from this forum I shall be cross. Very, very cross indeed. I think she's lovely. We need more of her sort in these times, not fewer.

Oh thank you B&T, that's very kind of you to say. I appreciate it.

And ceridwen.

I want to make it clear I don't feel personally affronted or ''driven away'' but that I just felt...I dunno, but as if people were being a little ...perhaps ''bigoted''. I would NEVER have the afforntary to say any money worries of ours are as taut or fear inducing as those wondering how to feed children on next to nothing or cope with little to know income or even with massive debts and overspend. Its just big income doesn't mean everything is a walk in the park always. The amount you'd need to NEVER think about money managing must be staggeringly huge, especially if living in an area having seen massive property inflation over the last decade. People like me, big mortgage, fisrt time home owners...its really by the grace of god (or luck, or whatever you're fortune or deity of choice) that DH got and has kept a good job. Another down turn in the market can strike any of us, and even with good plans and sensible budgeting I for one will never feel ''safe'' until our mortgage debt is within sight of payoff....and for us that's another 24 years:eek:. Lots can go worng in that time. (lir shuffles off, embarrassed but flattered and compliments and finding something wooden to touch. A lot)

Larumbelle

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Well said, Ceridwen.

If anyone drives Lostinrates from this forum I shall be cross. Very, very cross indeed. I think she's lovely. We need more of her sort in these times, not fewer.

Well said! I think lostinrates put it best herself.

"comments like some being made were as thoughtless as spending what you don't have"

ETA oops my post crossed with Lostinrate's. Anyway, shall we get back to discussing the show now?

ceridwen

Reverbe wrote: »

ceridwen wrote: »

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- here is me showing you my empty garage - I got rid of the car, as I worked out I was spending x number of hours per year working to keep the car on the road and I decided to have some extra sparetime instead (or have more money to pay the mortgage back early).

QUOTE]


Have you looked into letting your garage for extra income to someone for storage or their vehicle? I have heard of this tho dont drive/own a car/ garage myself

Hiya Reverbe:wave:

Many of the points I made on my thoughts re this sorta programme come from my own personal ITRW life. It is the case though that I dont actually have a garage/have never had a car though - believe you me...if I had a spare garage/driveway I would be very MSE about it and be renting it out for a bit of spare dosh:rotfl:.

Some years back I sat down and thought through as to whether I either needed or wanted a car personally. My conclusion was that I couldnt afford it and didnt actually even want to have one anyway. :rotfl:. But...it certainly wouldnae stop me from renting out a spare drive or garage if I had one....:D....errr....but ITRW I would likely be using that garage as a garden workshop and putting all sorts of "food" plants in containers on the drive actually:D. I dont believe in wasting available resources...

Larumbelle

That's the thing about OS - it's not what you have that counts, it's what you do with what you have!

ceridwen

TheDoolallyDilly wrote: »

I agree - the food waste was shocking. And the trays made me laugh - I have a tray (wedding present - got married 24 years ago, trays obviously have a long life ), so therefore it's not 'thrifty' to buy a cheap, scruffy old tray, and then 'renovate it' to make it look worse

Must admit - one of my thoughts about keeping products that are getting a bit old by now (but not old enough to be vintage) is "Showing my age a bit here....whoops...." and I wonder if my house will look visibly like "an OAP house" at some point (err...probably will...ahem...)...because I'm aware that one of my fires is now about 40 years old (but I've had it given a good clean/renovate - so should work for a while yet:D) and one of my side lights finally needed a new light bulb for the first time (I brought down a spare I had to stand in for it - but its gone into storage to try and find a suitable new light bulb for - even though thats about 40 years old too....:)). I'm starting to feel quite proud that I have some possessions that are that old now - even though I'm showing my age a bit having ones bought that long ago:(

lostinrates

ceridwen wrote: »

A follow-up thought here is that I know I personally have recently become acutely aware that a LOT of my own personal expectations are a product of the generation I happen to be in/particular background I have come from. I dont think it does any of us any harm at all to sit down sometimes and think "Now - if I were from a different generation (be it older or younger) on the one hand or a different background (be it better-off or worse-off) on the other hand - then I might think/feel very differently to what I actually do".

If one really really sits down and thinks hard about it - very many of us have formed many of our opinions/expectations of life precisely because of the generation we are in/the background we have come from/our own personal experiences of life since coming to adulthood (and...yep...that includes me too....) but we all have to bear in mind that we have come from many different starting points here...

I think so much of this is true. DH and I both had ''older parents'' and think that influences us in many ways/..whether its me wanting to live near enough to get to them in an emergency or both of us being a little ''over prepared'' compared to some of our peers.

We also sometimes feel conflicted by our complicated cultural influences......we are both mongrels and have different countries and continents leading us to different ''aspirations'' and expectations and inevitably sub consciously as well as consciously it impacts on choices and pressures.

SunshineBear

I think the frustration of us 'low earners' with 'high earners' is that the 'high earners' can often save or trim their spending by the very amount that the 'low earners' have to live off. That is very frustrating. By neccessity we live off very little already, and to have to trim that takes major effort.

When you hear of people going to the supermarket 17 times in a 4 day period there is a sense of disbelief, to see people throwing food away like she did is truely disstressing when, for some of us, any form of meat with a meal is quite a treat.

The scale is hard to comprehend, just like those on £140k per year would gasp at the excesses of footballers who earn that per week.

SB

lostinrates

SunshineBear wrote: »

I think the frustration of us 'low earners' with 'high earners' is that the 'high earners' can often save or trim their spending by the very amount that the 'low earners' have to live off. That is very frustrating. By neccessity we live off very little already, and to have to trim that takes major effort.

When you hear of people going to the supermarket 17 times in a 4 day period there is a sense of disbelief, to see people throwing food away like she did is truely disstressing when, for some of us, any form of meat with a meal is quite a treat.

The scale is hard to comprehend, just like those on £140k per year would gasp at the excesses of footballers who earn that per week.

SB

I do understand this, and I can assure you, its not an earnings issue to consider such food wastage ''twits''.

Its also clear most people with six figure earnings don't take six figures home with them. RIGHTLY they don't get (and this is being reduced further) many reliefs and credits which relieve nominally smaller budget for some.

I do understand frustration, and I'm trying to guard my language and tone carefully to make that clear.