Decline in our standard of living, when will it stop?

John_Pierpoint

ruggedtoast wrote: »

I wonder if I should have bought that two pack of bulbs, the other side will go in another year, goodness knows what Halfords will charge for it then, and whether I'll still be able to afford to run a car to put it in.

They sell much cheaper car spares from time to time in Aldi & Lidl or even large Tescos, if you are near one.

You really ought to carry a set of spare bulbs - legal requirement on much of the Continent; though popping over to France is not the money saving venture it used to be.

Mother's day could be a good excuse: Luxury lunch for half the price and a car full of booze (& fags if you must) to finance the trip.

John_Pierpoint

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Then like many other countries. Renting becomes far more the norm perhaps. As people need to be more flexible in their outlook.

Trouble is you then have to invest in a pension. Hands up anyone who thinks the government is not cynically debasing the currency - that is what quantitive easing does.
We staggered through the 1970's living like that.

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Nope, always had VW's, but after recent issues, and what I would call declining reliability and massive costs (2k plus) with a DSG box I looked for something else. (also customer service is absolutely shocking. What other service would literally apply part after part, while charging the customer for every single one, and then state....wasn't that, might be something else, computer says no). No refund will be given on any of the four seperate parts they tried, and I paid for, as I had one service outside of VW.

Saw a bargain bucket peugeot, got an excellent deal on the VW, some cash in my pocket, so took the punge.

Apart from calling the AA to inform and warn them I am leaving the house each time I set out, it's been fine. Got used to the build quality and it gets me from A-B without issue and it's got the large boot space I needed. I'm servcing it myself (Pug don't make that easy!!), but came across the FAP issue. Approx £70 a litre of oil. I came across this issue because sometimes the cooling fan will come on when I switch the car off and stay on for approx 10 mins, making a considerable amount of jet engine noise. Apparently this is an indicator to the FAP needing servicing. Was quoted £680 inc VAT.

I really pine for my old 1990's VW diesel lump. That thing never stopped. No sensors, so either it drove or it didn't. None of this fannying around with sensor problems makign the car drive eratically. Sounded like a tractor, but best car I ever had looking back.

Any use?
http://www.peugeotforums.com/forums/detailing-gadgets-29/problem-burning-out-fap-1-6hdi-pp2000-18423/

WhiteHorse

ukcarper wrote: »

I found these prices for 1980 and using measuring worth website I found what they would cost now if they had risen in line with average wage


White loaf ---- 37p-- £1.91
Eggs 1 dozen-- 72p-- £3.73
Milk 1 pint

---

17p-- £0.88
Sugar

---

36p-- £1.86

Now Milk Bread £1, Eggs £2, milk 49p and Sugar 99p

1980 petrol 28p a litre which would be £1.45 now.

Interesting, but it doesn't take into account the deterioration in quality, and the means by which these items are procured.

geoffky

I thought i would save some money and buy my windscreen wipers and do it myself..tried to do it for two hours yesterday and gave up..The old ones are still on....moneysaving fool

ukcarper

WhiteHorse wrote: »

Interesting, but it doesn't take into account the deterioration in quality, and the means by which these items are procured.

True but it shows how cheap food is compared to 1980

vivatifosi

geoffky wrote: »

I thought i would save some money and buy my windscreen wipers and do it myself..tried to do it for two hours yesterday and gave up..The old ones are still on....moneysaving fool

Is it worth mentioning at this point that you can borrow Haynes manuals from many libraries. Even if they order in the cost to borrow is far, far lower than the cost to buy. Lots of people borrow these to do their own basic servicing. Sorry you had so much trouble though geoffky.

Graham_Devon

ukcarper wrote: »

True but it shows how cheap food is compared to 1980

Is there a reason 1980 is used?

Only inflation was 18%, so the costs of those items would have been somewhat inflated.

Try a different year. 1960 for instance...

Sliced white loaf from 1960 would cost £0.34 today
Butter (proper) £1.65
Pint of milk, £0.25
Sugar (kg), £0.49
6 apples, £0.82
Dozen eggs, £1.20
Litre of petrol, £0.37

And a staggering one:

Fish and chips in todays money, cost £0.45p in 1960.

Depends which goal post you start with. But starting with a year of the highest inflation in the last 50 years will certainly show you that food has got cheaper.

ILW

vivatifosi wrote: »

Is it worth mentioning at this point that you can borrow Haynes manuals from many libraries. Even if they order in the cost to borrow is far, far lower than the cost to buy. Lots of people borrow these to do their own basic servicing. Sorry you had so much trouble though geoffky.

I think if you failed to fit a windscreen wiper, doing your own servicing may be a little ambitious.

Changed one today, took about two minutes.

sabretoothtigger

^^ depends on the car probably.

1960 is well before the real decline of the 70's
It would take alot to get that back. Since 1990 we have seen about a 50% drop in worth of the pound I think which sounds bad but it can depreciate far faster

A one pound coin from the last days of Queen Victoria was known as a sovereign. Because they cast them in gold, the price kept up with general rising costs.
It far exceeds the face value and shows the drop in value effective, its about £250 now

ukcarper

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Is there a reason 1980 is used?

Only inflation was 18%, so the costs of those items would have been somewhat inflated.

Try a different year. 1960 for instance...

Sliced white loaf from 1960 would cost £0.34 today
Butter (proper) £1.65
Pint of milk, £0.25
Sugar (kg), £0.49
6 apples, £0.82
Dozen eggs, £1.20
Litre of petrol, £0.37

And a staggering one:

Fish and chips in todays money, cost £0.45p in 1960.

Depends which goal post you start with. But starting with a year of the highest inflation in the last 50 years will certainly show you that food has got cheaper.

Where did you get your figures did you use wage inflation

1d in 1960 is equivalent 18p in now I don’t believe bread was less than 2d in 1960. In 1966 I worked part time in garage a petrol was 4s 10.5d which equates to £7.12

Since 1960 wage inflation has increased over twice as much as normal inflation (RPI)