Preparedness for when

Possession

I imagine this is going to make us feel a bit uncomfortable:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/03/20/budget-2014-hmrc-bank-account-tax_n_4999797.html?1395331705

craigywv

Morning all, lovely day over here,can't really comment on budget as I not too clued up on it till I sut down and have a read of the papers as was in attic for most of yesterday it's completely empty now, that was the plan all Christmas stuff boxed and out away in built in wardrobes. I just wanted it empty as housing association are insulating them in next few weeks.i getting the jitters again about prepping must be a spring thing same happened last spring ,have I enough things to tide my family over if shift, sometimes when I read all your posts I feel vulnerable, I know I have done the best I can,mayb it's the survival films I have watched over the winter lol. Anyway lovely and fresh here so hope will get washing dried outside. Lentil soup in sc for tonight and will make soda farl to have with melted cheese for dinner. Have a good day all.

Frugalsod

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

They didn't vote themselves a pay increase.

You maybe right. All I know is that they were granted a big pay increase.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

I am not too clued up on this year's budget either, But that link does make me think how safe is our money... what part give me the jitters was, they can take your money if they 'think' you are avoiding tax..


again everyone's gut instinct to draw out and leave just enough in your account to tick it over... for me I will be lucky to draw out a fiver lol...but then again, they will get suspicious of that!!!


why haven't this been mentioned on the news???


I am getting more and more suspicious about news channels lately..... I feel the news is being 'filtered' as wyt haven't this been mentioned on the news???, as I feel this is def news worthy,

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Just remembered..


it was on the tv, the government saying that our bank bailout was the biggest in the world!!!

Frugalsod

Possession wrote: »

I imagine this is going to make us feel a bit uncomfortable:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/03/20/budget-2014-hmrc-bank-account-tax_n_4999797.html?1395331705

I think that if you have been avoiding paying them then this gives the powers to collect it. While mistakes are possible, they cannot leave you with less than £5000 in the account. Though many will not have that anyway.

GreyQueen

CTC, I find myself increasingly frustrated with the 'news' and I listen to allegedly good quality news on BBC Radio 4. And read sensible newspapers online as well as indulge in things like the Daily Wail for giggles and ZH to keep my tin-hattery fully-charged.

I feel that there is a lot of smoke-and-mirrors going on with people being fed happy(ish) news which seems increasingly disconnected from the reality which we are experiencing.

The economy is on the up, yes? So why is everyone I speak to tightening their belts, declining holidays or capital expenditure on household goods, scrimping and saving? No one I know has had a pay increase that added up to more than a couple of quid a week in years, and my circle of acquaintance runs across private, public and third sector. I also know self-employed contractors and shopkeepers and it ain't good anywhere.

I've never seen my Hometown (market town 20,000 pop) in such a parlous state, not even in the 1980s. It's a vertitable Potemkin Town, with the empty shop fronts obscured by sticky film of attractive images to hide the fact that there's nothing behind them. At first glance, the high street there doesn't look too bad, then you count all the Potemkin Shops, and realise that the rest are chazzers, £-type stores, banks, building societies and one or two cheap clothes/ shoes retailers and that is it, barring the newsagent and Post Office.

If I go to the cinema, which I do increasingly rarely, I see about 5% seat occupancy. Because the ticket prices mostly come in circa £9 and that's too much for the economy to bear. If we were a truly market economy, they'd be down at £4 and have a b*m on every seat, as it is, they are zombies. I'm waiting for a couple of things to come out on DVD and will rent them from the library and watch them on my pooter. Not the same thrill, but much more my budget.

I've read a comment on one of the ZH threads in the past few weeks, can't even remember which one, but the guy said something which resonated; he'd looked around his home and realised that he couldn't afford to replace what he already had.

I think a lot of people on this side of the Atlantic are at, or approaching, that position themselves. Because our incomes haven't kept pace with inflation, and RL inflation is so much higher than the massaged official inflation figure. That once certain things have worn out and are beyond repair, we won't be able to replace them from new, we will replace them secondhand, or do without.

This is the harsh reality of declining personal prosperity and will come as a shock to many.

In the past 24 hours I made a consumer decison. I have a cheap-as-chips N0kia dumb-phone with a spiderweb-cracked screen. Phone was only 18 months old when some clumsy burger trapped my jacket between the arm of a seat and his considerable girth and cracked it. Investigations revealed that it would cost more to repair than replace, so I stuck a bit of clear sticky-back plastic over it and it's been fine like that since last summer.

My mobile provider HASDA is moving to a new provider EE rather than having their service provided by V'phone. So I had thought about replacing my injured phone when I replaced the SIM to get on the new service, which has to be done by 30/04. Priced up some phones and decided not to, will just have the new SIM and carry on until the phone karks it.

It's hundreds of millions of little decisions like this which see an economy fail or thrive.

Karmacat

Si_Clist wrote: »

BTW, I have this thread bookmarked, but when I go to it, it opens at page one and that vexes me greatly. Can some kind soul please tell me how might I persuade it to open at the latest page?

Hi Si Clist - when you go to your bookmarks, you'll see a downward pointing arrow at the left hand side of the thread title - if you click on that arrow, you'll go to the first post that you haven't read

jk0

Frugalsod wrote: »

I think that if you have been avoiding paying them then this gives the powers to collect it. While mistakes are possible, they cannot leave you with less than £5000 in the account. Though many will not have that anyway.

One problem I can see with this is that it makes the taxman God.

If someone has a difference of opinion with the taxman, the taxman no longer has to take him to court, he can just decide to claim the money. Then the person would have to take the taxman to court to get the money back.

(Rather like 'guilty until proved innocent'.)

jk0

GreyQueen wrote: »

CTC, I find myself increasingly frustrated with the 'news' and I listen to allegedly good quality news on BBC Radio 4. And read sensible newspapers online as well as indulge in things like the Daily Wail for giggles and ZH to keep my tin-hattery fully-charged.

I feel that there is a lot of smoke-and-mirrors going on with people being fed happy(ish) news which seems increasingly disconnected from the reality which we are experiencing.

The economy is on the up, yes? So why is everyone I speak to tightening their belts, declining holidays or capital expenditure on household goods, scrimping and saving? No one I know has had a pay increase that added up to more than a couple of quid a week in years, and my circle of acquaintance runs across private, public and third sector. I also know self-employed contractors and shopkeepers and it ain't good anywhere.

I've never seen my Hometown (market town 20,000 pop) in such a parlous state, not even in the 1980s. It's a vertitable Potemkin Town, with the empty shop fronts obscured by sticky film of attractive images to hide the fact that there's nothing behind them. At first glance, the high street there doesn't look too bad, then you count all the Potemkin Shops, and realise that the rest are chazzers, £-type stores, banks, building societies and one or two cheap clothes/ shoes retailers and that is it, barring the newsagent and Post Office.

If I go to the cinema, which I do increasingly rarely, I see about 5% seat occupancy. Because the ticket prices mostly come in circa £9 and that's too much for the economy to bear. If we were a truly market economy, they'd be down at £4 and have a b*m on every seat, as it is, they are zombies. I'm waiting for a couple of things to come out on DVD and will rent them from the library and watch them on my pooter. Not the same thrill, but much more my budget.

I've read a comment on one of the ZH threads in the past few weeks, can't even remember which one, but the guy said something which resonated; he'd looked around his home and realised that he couldn't afford to replace what he already had.

I think a lot of people on this side of the Atlantic are at, or approaching, that position themselves. Because our incomes haven't kept pace with inflation, and RL inflation is so much higher than the massaged official inflation figure. That once certain things have worn out and are beyond repair, we won't be able to replace them from new, we will replace them secondhand, or do without.

This is the harsh reality of declining personal prosperity and will come as a shock to many.

In the past 24 hours I made a consumer decison. I have a cheap-as-chips N0kia dumb-phone with a spiderweb-cracked screen. Phone was only 18 months old when some clumsy burger trapped my jacket between the arm of a seat and his considerable girth and cracked it. Investigations revealed that it would cost more to repair than replace, so I stuck a bit of clear sticky-back plastic over it and it's been fine like that since last summer.

My mobile provider HASDA is moving to a new provider EE rather than having their service provided by V'phone. So I had thought about replacing my injured phone when I replaced the SIM to get on the new service, which has to be done by 30/04. Priced up some phones and decided not to, will just have the new SIM and carry on until the phone karks it.

It's hundreds of millions of little decisions like this which see an economy fail or thrive.

Morning GQ. Interesting post as usual. My phone is the predecessor to this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/JCB-Sitemaster-Sim-Free-Handset/dp/B007TTHHZG/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1395392675&sr=8-11&keywords=toughphone

You can hammer nails in with mine. I recommend it.