Some people just seem to have unlimited money

JulieGeorgiana

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

However, I don't want my rather harsh comments to mislead anyone unto believing that I'm some financially astute wizard. I've had debts in the past and have one now, albeit miniscule but it still causes me worry because I'm unemployed at present so have no way of clearing a couple of hundred quid at a stroke. I'm just not adding to it as that would be foolish in the extreme.

I agree with you, I am not a financial wizard either and have had huge debts in the past... I spent 7 years working myself out of Debt too... it's a long hard road to walk... and every penny counts towards the end result.

I wish you luck with finding employment x

KiKi

pimento wrote: »

Perhaps the OP earns £50k, she doesn't mention a husband.

I'm the sole earner in our marriage, coming in at just under £50k. My husband earns nothing.

Never presume.

I agree to never presume, but in this case the poster wasn't presuming. The OP says in her first post:

She says her DH earns 50k per year, which is similar to my DH's earnings.

KiKi

pimento

Ah, missed that. Thanks

ab.da54

Marisco wrote: »

Must agree here, £50,000 pa (I presume it's what I call "through the door money"? Can't be doing with figures gross, as it's pointless in a discussion about spending!) is nearly a grand a week!!!! Anyone who cannot manage on that ought to be ashamed of themselves!

Can you imagine if the friend was on here...

We know a couple, earn the same as us - £50k - but they don't seem to manage like we do. Don't buy designer clothes, don't really go on holiday, don't go many places.

We have to wonder why they don't seem to be managing the way we are. Where are they going wrong.

I wonder what the replies would have been and how many would say to the friends that they should be minding their own business?

Spidergirl76

ab.da54 wrote: »

Can you imagine if the friend was on here...

We know a couple, earn the same as us - £50k - but they don't seem to manage like we do. Don't buy designer clothes, don't really go on holiday, don't go many places.

We have to wonder why they don't seem to be managing the way we are. Where are they going wrong.

I wonder what the replies would have been and how many would say to the friends that they should be minding their own business?

I really can't believe that you are STILL so het up that I asked a perfectly reasonable question. :rotfl:

Desperado99

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I suspect that some people feel they are in so deep that cutting thirty quid a month on something is just a drop in the ocean and therefore not worth doing. However, what you and I know is that it was the cumulative effect of those many "trivial" thirty quids which caused all the trouble in the first place.

We started with £10 a month, and as DH got his annual pay rise would add to it.......

8 years on from that and we're now at a point where we're living well below our means and have decent savings.

elantan

determined_new_ms wrote: »

it could be that they are extremely good with their money - lots of people are able to make their money s t r e t c h far so it seems like they are living a champagne lifestyle but on a shoe string? We go on holiday 3 or 4 times a year, but do this very reasonably. When I see that people are spending £1500 on one holiday when we spend less than that on 3!

can i ask where you go on holiday? how long for? what type of holiday ? and does that include spending money? dont mean to put you on the spot but it would help me alot as we love holidays but spend a fortune ( £1500 would be a cheap one for us:o)

LondonDreamer

I knew a couple like this. They had about a 40k gross income combined (in London, so high cost of living) yet had a lavish wedding, brand new everything, designer clothes and a mountain of presents at Christmas. The husband lost his job and they had to declare bankruptcy almost immediately. Turns out that their entire wage went on paying the minimum on their credit cards and all of their other bills were in massive arrears.

I know another couple who've recently purchased their first house. DH and I wondered how they did it, as we've been making really good savings for a couple of years and still have nowhere near enough deposit. I don't know their income but suspect it's around the same as ours. But they go on at least two holidays abroad every year, plus go out socially all the time. Turns out his parents remortgaged their own home to pay the deposit for them.

If you wonder how people appear to afford things, there's a very good chance it's an illusion.

FBaby

Marisco wrote: »

TBH I stopped going on the DFW board as I was getting so annoyed! We are supposed to "be nice" to them, when all I felt like saying was "well it's your own bloody fault for spending too much"!!! On the very things you mention above, and when someone says to get rid of Sky, drop a tariff on the mobile, stop the "entertaining" etc, the come back is "but we have to have something" So I thought it best to take myself off it!!!

I feel the same. Many of these people enjoyed a lifestyle they couldn't afford, and got used to a certain comfort because of it they think they are entitled to, so when suddenly things take a turn, they expect people's sympathy as if something horrible had happened to them through no fault of theirs.

If you chose to close your eyes to the fact that you are living above your means, then accept the consequences when you are suddenly faced with them.

BitterAndTwisted

Well, often things do take a turn and that turn is a job loss or illness. That is not a fault of anyone's making. Some people never anticipated the worst-case scenario but imagined that the income they enjoyed, the life-style it provided and which enabled them to service their debt-repayments would continue indefinitely. During a booming economy, or one which looked like one (which now turns out to have been an illusion for many of us) this attitude is understandable. It must be a very rude awakening to discover that the world you built was made of sand all along.