Is there anyone else looking forward to the challenge of leaner times.

Going4TheDream

nearlynew wrote: »

A lower standard of living doesn't have to mean a lower quality of life.

I imagine that depends on your standard living to start with?

Some people are already really struggling, we are already hearing about pensioners that will have to choose to heat or eat......

I am sure there are other groups also on their way to the same situation.

ILW

suburbanwifey wrote: »

I actually think the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer to be honest. I am not embarassed to admit this recession has been AMAZING for me. My mortgage payments virtually halved and thus my whole mortgage is tens of thousands lower than it was.

I've been able to buy premium electrical goods, clothes, boots, all sorts of goodies at stupidly low prices. As the months go by things are getting cheaper and cheaper, I have never been richer than over the last 4 years to be honest. I'm loving this recession :j as I imagine many are but are ashamed to admit.

But there again, I didn't take on debt I couldn't pay, didn't run up thousands on credit cards I couldn't afford to pay back, didn't buy a house I couldn't afford. The recession in my opinion is hitting the low paid, those on benefits and those that 'spent spent spent' on easy credit they really shouldn't have been given. There is a reason people like me have AAA credit ratings and a reason those like me are prospering in the recession.

I'll wait to be attacked now

Apparently the 30s recession was very similar. Most of those in the south saw a pretty large increase in their standard of living which was bolstered even further by price deflation, whilst wages did keep rising. It was a diffent matter in parts of the north though.

suburbanwifey

ILW wrote: »

Apparently the 30s recession was very similar. Most of those in the south saw a pretty large increase in their standard of living which was bolstered even further by price deflation, whilst wages did keep rising. It was a diffent matter in parts of the north though.

I do live in the north by the way and you are so right.

PasturesNew

I blame the parents.

PasturesNew

suburbanwifey wrote: »

My mortgage payments virtually halved and thus my whole mortgage is tens of thousands lower than it was.

And my income from interest on my savings reduced by about 90%, making it worthless, whereas it used to have the capacity to pay rent on a cheap 1-bed flat and basic utilities, it'd now only cover the council tax.

kabayiri

suburbanwifey wrote: »

I actually think the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer to be honest. I am not embarassed to admit this recession has been AMAZING for me. My mortgage payments virtually halved and thus my whole mortgage is tens of thousands lower than it was.
...

One of my neighbours lived in quite a nice but normal house only 2 decades ago.

Then he bought a couple of underperforming elements of a major bank for token money.

He is now in the top 1000 rich list; has a great house with private tennis courts and the indoor pool building has only recently been completed. He is pretty open about business being buoyant.

His business area? Mostly debt collection and short term debt products. The kind of thing where a sad couple on a tv advert find relief in the consolidation products offered by a company. Of course, in the process they end up paying big time for this convenience.

Log book loans; payday loans; consolidation loans; IVA; bankruptcy assistance. It's the poorer in our society who need these, and it makes the rich richer.

We shouldn't be surprised.

suburbanwifey

Sadly the rich have always made their money on the backs of the poor. This is what capitalism is really all about and the recession fuels it further I think.

vigilaire

Twenty years ago I realised life isn't 'fair' as they would have us believe. The answer is self sufficiency in all possible areas which is suprisingly easy to achieve given time and determination. I shrug off the daily gloom knowing I'm in control of my situation come what may. It hasn't happened over night but its never too late to start and the feeling of well being is wonderful.

DervProf

suburbanwifey wrote: »

I actually think the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer to be honest. I am not embarassed to admit this recession has been AMAZING for me. My mortgage payments virtually halved and thus my whole mortgage is tens of thousands lower than it was.

I've been able to buy premium electrical goods, clothes, boots, all sorts of goodies at stupidly low prices. As the months go by things are getting cheaper and cheaper, I have never been richer than over the last 4 years to be honest. I'm loving this recession :j as I imagine many are but are ashamed to admit.

But there again, I didn't take on debt I couldn't pay, didn't run up thousands on credit cards I couldn't afford to pay back, didn't buy a house I couldn't afford. The recession in my opinion is hitting the low paid, those on benefits and those that 'spent spent spent' on easy credit they really shouldn't have been given. There is a reason people like me have AAA credit ratings and a reason those like me are prospering in the recession.

I'll wait to be attacked now

I won't "attack" you, but I will take issue with "I've been able to buy premium electrical goods, clothes, boots, all sorts of goodies at stupidly low prices."

I'm pretty clued up on the price of electrical (especially hi-tech consumer goods). In my experience, a lot of these goods have gone up in price over the past couple of years, or at least not dropped in price as quickly as they were doing a couple of years ago.

Davesnave

vigilaire wrote: »

Twenty years ago I realised life isn't 'fair' as they would have us believe. The answer is self sufficiency in all possible areas which is suprisingly easy to achieve given time and determination. I shrug off the daily gloom knowing I'm in control of my situation come what may. It hasn't happened over night but its never too late to start and the feeling of well being is wonderful.

Excuse me for being sceptical, but I don't believe self sufficiency in all areas is approachable, especially without the support of quite a large group, and/or an independent income.

It's possible to live quite cheaply in a more self-sufficient way, and to take satisfaction from that. However, if we take the computer you just posted on, it seems unlikely that you cobbled it togther from a few bits of wood and a stone, or that it runs on psychic energy.

While I admire anyone who tries to live more sustainably and with the intention of doing things for themself, wherever possible, I think it's dangerous to assume that one's well-being can ever be secured by singular effort. I'm sure it can be enhanced, though.

We are interdependent, and in a society where people want to have things like, say, life-saving surgery, or wide ranging educational facilities, this seems inevitable.