Preparedness for when

daz378

fairly happy with my flat.... near all the amenities and bus stop for work is 5 min walk , and my gas is subsidised cos we have a solar set up on roof.... not bad

fuddle

It's teensy tiny Mar there's not many dwellings to be found for that bargain price. The lowest rent I have paid in the North was £450 for the damp house. The new build was £550 so the only way we could make this move happen was by DH getting a pay rise and me getting part time work. Thankfully it all worked out but it's never far from my mind 'what if?' because if either of us loses work we will have to find somewhere cheaper and where my new life is, as thriftwizard says, cheaper isn't really an option.

You do make your own luck but you need balls of steel to cope with life. In truth the South has given me and my family nothing more than freedom (financial, family pressures, people judging because of the bankruptcy) we can now live without all that but it's temporary (as in summat is bound to put a spanner in the works because that's life!) so we're lapping it up. Where we live, the house we rent isn't really a factor in it... but I do adore my new county

Frugalsod

Where I live rents are ridiculous. Only next door are two and three bed flats being built and the cheapest is £450 000 for a two bed flat, and as much as £800 000 for a three bed flat. Rents in the area are also ridiculous with what is considered a cheap rent for a two bed flat in the area being around £1000 a month.

What TPTB fail to appreciate that the cost of housing is a massive tax on people by the banks. With wages stagnant then it means that what money people do get after tax is going more and more to housing. This acts as a huge drain on the available funds that could go on savings or other spending, which will help the economy. If the money is being diverted to pay debts then it is not going into the economy. That is a huge reason why this "recovery" is so imaginary for most people.

GreyQueen

You've got that bang to rights, frugalsod.

Even though I'm fortunate enough to have a council flat these days, I didn't get it until the very end of my thirties after a decade on the list, and its rent has doubled in the past 7 years. Due to the stated intention of the grubbyment to bring social rents up to 80% of market rents, when a lot of people can barely afford the social rents.:mad:

I'm on strike next Thursday. Office telegraph reckons hardly any of us will be in. The rising cost of housing, energy, food, transport, bliddy everything, and a comedy pay offer after years of no increases at all, and we're all sliding into poverty. If I take my rent and council tax out of my net income, I'm slightly better off than someone my age on the dole, and about even-pegging with someone on ESA long term rate.

I don't know anyone who isn't hurting, including those friends with jobs in the £30-£40 grand bracket.

I am not a greedy person, I'm not even particularly materialistic, but I do have to pay the market price for Stuff and there's only so much you can do with economising, switching utility providers (had 3 in 2 years) and all sorts.

And yet, you turn on the MSM and get all this ridiculous happy talk about the economy, while I know professional people whose office shoes let in the rain because they can't replace them due to poverty.

Dunno what planet they're living on, but I think I'd like to relocate.

[Deleted User]

We're lucky enough to own our home. I say lucky but really we own it because of what we didn't do rather than what we did do. We didn't have holidays abroad, we didn't need the latest fad or fashion in any area of our lives, we didn't need a new car, kitchen, wardrobe of clothes, suite of furniture, etc. at any time in our lives. We didn't spend every penny we made by trying to keep up with the Jonses or anyone else. We've had a good life and we've had no complaints from our family about not having all the things thier peers had, we got them both through uni and they are now debt free because they have paid off any student debt and are both on the way to paying off thier mortgages early because they make sensible choices in thier own lives. It isn't easy but if we could do it, I think most other people could too, it's not out of reach if you make the right choices in life.

FUDDLE love, you've made such brave choices in life and now you are reaping the rewards of taking the chance that was offered you, grabbing it with both hands and not letting it get away from you. You may not own your own home pet but you certainly own your own path in life now, and no one can take that from you or the pride you justifiably have in what you've achieved over the last year or so, you'll do petal, you'll do!!!

RAS

fuddle wrote: »

The new build was £550 so the only way we could make this move happen was by DH getting a pay rise and me getting part time work. Thankfully it all worked out but it's never far from my mind 'what if?' because if either of us loses work we will have to find somewhere cheaper and where my new life is, as thriftwizard says, cheaper isn't really an option.

fuddle - do check out your Local Housing Allowance for a family your size. That at least will let you work out how much lee-way you would have if everything hit the fan?

GreyQueen

You'd be on the 2 bedroom rate of LHA, fuddle, as your girls are both under 16. If you look at your council's website, they should have the figure there.

thriftwizard

Fuddle, DS2 & TDiL were probably competing with you for that house! But they don't come up often, and landlords are understandably very reluctant to let to young couples with no children now, especially when neither of them is yet 25, because there's no safety-net for them; no job, no rent. Or couple split, no rent. It sometimes seems they are being penalised for being sensible; contemporaries of theirs have got into all kinds of trouble & are living at State expense, but those with steady jobs & clean records will get no support when things go wrong...

Anyhow, I'm very glad you got it! And they are lucky that we do have the room for them to stay here whilst they save up, even if it will be a bit cramped & annoying for them to have to toe the parental line again. I suspect they've learnt a big lesson in the last 6 months of house-sharing, every penny going on rent & bills... the bills were supposed to be minuscule compared to this house, as it had just been "done up" with new insulation, double-glazing etc. and it's smaller than this house. Needless to say, they weren't... maybe because no-one was going round switching everything off at night & making them wear jumpers!

P.S. Anyone else spotted this chap? He seems to be enjoying life old-style - all except for the fridge, of course!

GreyQueen

Adult life is a reality check, isn't it? I guess even intelligent and sensible offspring are unaware of the true cost of running a home and how they are being subsidised by their families whilst they continue to live with them.

Then out in the world and it's not as much fun as it looked. We sometimes get young adults, mostly young men I have to note, kicking off with us about how they can't afford to pay their rent. Sometimes their contribution to their rent is only a few quid, but they have difficulty prioritising expenditures.

I do know those of my neighbours who bemoan their poverty loudly in public aren't elbow-to-elbow with me at YS time. I suppose I should just be glad of the lack of competition. I do see them in Weatherspoons, though, as I pass by on my secret preptastic low-key lifestyle.;)

Frugalsod

GreyQueen wrote: »

I do know those of my neighbours who bemoan their poverty loudly in public aren't elbow-to-elbow with me at YS time. I suppose I should just be glad of the lack of competition. I do see them in Weatherspoons, though, as I pass by on my secret preptastic low-key lifestyle.;)

Don't knock Weatherspoons. I will happily drink there myself. It is at least cheap and a couple can have a drink and a meal out for a very reasonable sum. Everyone needs a treat sometime even if they are poor.

I hate it when you see rich people on TV knocking the fact that someone on benefits might have a bigger TV than they have. They are imagining they are all watching it on a £2000 50" high end 3D TV, when the reality is that it is more likely a £200 to £300 unknown brand with just HD and no fancy features like 3D. Which is a big standard TV down at Asda. It may also have been bought on HP or leased or even a rental. We all have different spending preferences and no one is perfect. Many people are poor but they are also trying to maintain a facade. Look at how many higher earners are also trying to keep up with the Joneses, and are probably having a hard time as well.