when you reach breaking point

Popperwell

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

GQ..... you have really put the heebeegeebees up me now:rotfl:

so this will take out anything electrical yes? but nothing else?

so what if you leave a wind up radio in the back of a van?

I think it is wise to have a stash of candles etc anyway, and even a spare car battery somewhere, my parents and grand-parents allways had them in the cupboard, but thinking about it, it was the 70's with all the strikes, and power cuts etc....as a kid I used to like it:cool::D

I should imagine the electricity price hike announced yesterday, the other suppliers will follow soon, and i have noticed fuel has crept up a penny or two a litre...

To try and cut back, I bought the @SDA basic plate/bowl set, think it cost me around £4 odd for 12 piece set... the main dinner plates are alot smaller than a normal dinner plate, I found it was all well and good cutting portion sizes, but I felt as though i was being 'robbed' with a smaller portion on a big plate.... now it still looks like a plate full, ( well it is, but just a smaller plate:rotfl:

Well I had to sign up to a duel fuel deal and now try and pay for my own gas and electric. I nearly went with EDF Blue Price Promise(prices held until late 2013)but got cold feet. Then NPower and had the account opened and DD set up. They offered me £45 by doing everything online and £100 at the end of the year but they have standing charges(I hate them)

However, British Gas offered me...£125 to come back to them, £125 for taking both gas and electric and waived the standing charges(£72 annually)the electric is 11% less expensive than NPower, the gas a bit more expensive but it evens out...

I think I have another £30 for going to DD with British Gas too(so I am £200 better off going with BG)than NPower.

If you use a certain amount of gas/electric the price per unit does become cheaper as you use more but if you are being economical anyhow by trying to reduce what you use, you are saving anyhow.

I do laugh when the experts, the politicians, even the energy companies say don't sit in a cold house and use what you have so your health doesn't suffer and you have a miserable time...hello! If your income is low and is reducing, any savings you have are being eaten into, food and energy prices are going up, rent, CT and BT increases etc...that's easier said than done.

No wonder some people go out and spend ages filling endless hours in a library(if they are open/a caf! drining endless cups of tea to save on the cost of running a home...

katieowl wrote: »

I'm worrying for your generation too

I've three kids who are young adults. Two of them have degrees which have proven to be of no use, now one of them works in Ald! and the other is working in a cafe... The youngest having seen what happened to the oldest is doing a woodwork course at a local college, but even he is struggling to find someone to take him on, as the building industry here has died the death.

My advice to you youngsters is to build your life skills, learn how to bake bread, forage for food, gain some basic medical knowledge, clean water etc... and keep your knowledge in 'dead tree format' (I like that )

I now longer think it's a case of IF the SHTF but WHEN the SHTF, you guys are going to bear the brunt of it unfortunately.

Kate

We were supposed to be ok but it's hitting us and so we worrying about the not just the future but now...and we can do less to help our children if we have them and as you say, if it's bad for us, I really would hate to be coming into this world now... Of course you do all you can to try and make yourself more desirable to an employer over someone else but I'm nit sure a Uni education means anything anymore.

Someone on the radio last night said when I want my car fixed I don't want a University Graduate with a degree I want someone skilled with his hands etc...then again the apprenticeships are not want they were nor as many as they once were. Most are not tied to a company with a guaranteed job at the end nor are jobs for life.

But we still have to try and instill in our next generation that they have t strive to be the best and that it will pay off in the long run. In reality I am not so sure.

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

I fear for my two children - young adults but with no hope of finding a decent job. DS has another year at college doing engineering and then he has to look for an apprenticeship, DD has just left college but has only been able to find a job on a four hour a week contract and that is 8 miles away, there is nothing at all around here so after bus fares she is left with £15 a week, but it is something and she won't ever go to the job centre again she described them as a bunch of Nazi T****rs not to mention that..... yes you guessed it our job centre has closed and is now 8 miles away with a return bus fare from here of £7.80 :mad::mad::mad::mad:

Well I think you have said it all BB. I saw a documentary where young girls(willing to work)did not have the money for the bis fares to go to the JC nor was the bus service reliable and they were having to walk miles to get there...

I hate where my life is at present and we were manging even when Mum was ill but if she knew what was coming when I was alone(if she is somewhere watching over me)she would've been/wil be worried but I have to hope/believe that even if things are tight I can stay warm, eat and keep a roof over my head and I am worrying un-necesarily. People keep telling me all will be well but I really don't know...too many unknowns...

If I do manage to live to a "Ripe old age!" What's to look forward to, is it just going go be an existence? I'm starting to think that the Who had something in the lyrics of My Generation "Hope I die before I get old!"

PipneyJane

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

I fear for my two children - young adults but with no hope of finding a decent job. DS has another year at college doing engineering and then he has to look for an apprenticeship.

I work in engineering and my employer has joined in a scheme with the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board to take on 80 apprentices this year. Don't know if it would help your son, but here's the details on the ECITB website.

(I only wish they'd do something similar for those who've been out of the industry a while. It's three years since my husband was made redundant - he's a design engineer who worked in manufacturing - and there has been minimal demand for people with his skill set. DH is working but not in his field.)

mardatha

Do Jobcentres not let you sign on by post if you live a long way out? They used to up here but not sure if that still applies.

WelshWoofer

I just wanted to post to say thank you to you all for your views/opinions/advice.
As a single person maintaining a mortgage and running a house on one salary (teacher) I too am concerned about the future. At the moment I can afford to live (within reason) but should anything change or disaster strike I have nobody else to rely on - the dog can hardly get a paper round!

You've inspired me to go through my finances again this afternoon and see where I can cut back further and where I am needlessly spending over the odds.
I know that I spend unnecessary money on things I don't need but having the threat of even harder times to come has made me reconsider my attitude.
Thanks again

Popperwell

WelshWoofer wrote: »

I just wanted to post to say thank you to you all for your views/opinions/advice.
As a single person maintaining a mortgage and running a house on one salary (teacher) I too am concerned about the future. At the moment I can afford to live (within reason) but should anything change or disaster strike I have nobody else to rely on - the dog can hardly get a paper round!

You've inspired me to go through my finances again this afternoon and see where I can cut back further and where I am needlessly spending over the odds.
I know that I spend unnecessary money on things I don't need but having the threat of even harder times to come has made me reconsider my attitude.
Thanks again

It's good in one way WW if it makes us careful but in this day and age it seems wrong that we are having to go as far as we are and also it is worrying and frightening what we face, I'm all for being thrifty and careful but what's that saying about all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. You have to have some joy in life...but it seems that has all but been knocked on the head for many...but how miserable it will be if the one life we have is just an existence.

lt was said elsewhere that if the population just keeps cutting back, says nothing and continues to suffer the media and our leaders will just continue as they are(they do anyhow)but they may even think that they can hurt us even more and that we can survive on even less...I must admit I cannot see a way out of the problem and I'm not sure that they can TBH...

GreyQueen

adelight wrote: »

I worry that my generation will feel this the worst. We were pushed to choose uni over apprenticeships and are now fighting for jobs (not that there are many going in trades either and leaving work to retrain is nuts and risky fir me when I've only just started) and if /when there are more jobs available in 10 years time they will go to those older than us with more experience or the fresh young graduates. If we are working we haven't been working long enough to buy a home (lack of stability and selfsufficiency) or amass much in the way of savings and every penny goes onrent bills etc. if we lose our jobs we may no longer get housing benefit, were single people without kids so are bottom of the pecking order when it comes to financial help. Our parents are approaching grim looking retirement (that younger people are paying through the nose for -my work quite bluntly tell me I pay 5% pension to make up for them paying 1) and can't afford to support us like the government expects. I can see dorms and workfare scheme becoming common place, a modern day woel house effectively. What with recent talk of the young future mps saying Britain needs to develop a work ethic and culture like China, India etc it is too likely for me to be comfortable with.
I worry I will live my whole life at breaking point

Adelight, hun, you are very far from incoherence, let me assure you of that. I'm a generation older than you which means I joined the workforce as the last lot of Tories were squeezing the lifeblood from this nation. Check this out:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/26/newsid_2506000/2506335.stm


***********1982: UK unemployment tops three million
The number of people out of work in Britain has risen above three million for the first time since the 1930s. The official jobless total, announced today, is 3,070,621. It means one in eight people is out of work. Rates of unemployment vary across the country - in Northern Ireland it is nearly 20% and 15 or 16% in most parts of Scotland the North East and North West - only in the South East does it drop below 10%.


That's over 3 million unemployed and it was almost impossible for a young person to get a job. So I got educated, the economy picked up a bit and graduated just in time for another recession. Rinse, and repeat. Several times. I just think I'm sorted and the rug gets tugged out from under me again.

Economists know that there are a large number of people who struggled in the 1980s who were marked for life and they're struggling still and they're children are young adults and it's all coming around again.

********** UK Economy in the 1980s

By Tejvan Pettinger on August 4, 2011 in economics
Readers Question. In 1980, what was the economy’s biggest risk–inflation or unemployment?

In the UK, the 1980s was a period of economic volatility.

At the start of 1980, the biggest problem facing the UK (and other countries) was cost push inflation. In the late 1970s, UK inflation reached over 20%. This was caused by:

• Rising oil prices
• Wage push inflation

UK Inflation



The UK government aggressively tackled inflation. To tackle inflation, the government

• Increased interest rates
• Reduced Budget deficit through higher taxes and spending cuts
• Pursued monetarist policy of trying to control the money supply.

However, this tightening of fiscal and monetary policy (combined with high value of Pound Sterling)
UK Unemployment in 1980s


But, in doing so caused the severe recession of 1981. Unemployment shot up to 3 million and high unemployment persisted throughout the 1980s.
This was one of great failures of the 1980s – the end of the post war period of full employment. High rates of unemployment precipitated riots in inner cities during the summer months of 1981. ************

:(Grim, isn't it? Been the story of my life and my heart goes out to the young adults, and their families, because I know what it's like because I was there, along with a few million others.

rhiwfield

While I agree with many posters that these tough times may well get tougher, placing any reliance on government to provide solutions is a highly risky gamble.

If we do see the average income decrease it seems there are three options open (or some combination of them as just cutting costs is ultimately limited)
1) Cut back spending
2) Increase income
3) Pray to your chosen deity

Things to expect re 1?:

• properties once again having 3 or more generations living in them
• make do and mend
• GYO
• DIY
• second hand purchases of furniture/clothes
• fewer/no holidays
• cut back on latest media
• live closer to work/use bikes not cars
• less meat, more veg
• less spending on must have/fashionable expensive kids toys and clothes
• less eating out
• less Uni, more correspondence school/internet tuition
• reduction in charity giving as charity begins at home

Things to expect re 2?:

• 2nd and third jobs
• self employed jobs (both as main job and top up)
• homeworking
• making money from decluttering
• holiday/home work for children (end to lie ins!!)
• working age starts sooner
• working age ends later
• barter and local sale of produce/skills (gardening, veg, ironing, cleaning, carpentry, general labour)
• workers prepared to do hard/unfashionable jobs
• people prepared to uproot (economic migration)

And of course, even when times get tougher, there will be plenty with above average incomes who will do very well, and others who do badly.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Rhiwie.....:kisses3:

You taught me to re-think and look at things in a different way, after our lovely chat... but i still panic though:D

Teg-Rem

can't possibly think how we might be able to save any more than we do. gas and leccie come to about £70 per month for a family of 5. Food is about £35-40 for same. Petrol, hubbie has to go to work so about £30 for that per week, days out are non existent as is use of caravan for the last 2 years. Dog food is about £10.50 per month. and STILL we stryggle but hubbies wages are very low, I can't get work or I would, and kids pay some towards the house. Yes indeed, things are getting bleaker. And set to get worse I believe, someone has aid it could get worse than the '30's.
But what can we do, just have to go along with the flow I suppose as more public sector workers are going to lose more jobs aswell etc. We will all be in the same boat eventually, up creak without paddle comes to mind. LOL!!

rhiwfield

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Rhiwie.....:kisses3:

You taught me to re-think and look at things in a different way, after our lovely chat... but i still panic though:D

CTC, dont blame anyone for being worried in the current economic climate!!

Still not sure whether you can conjure up a game changer, like selling an ASDA "staff property" and jumping head first into the smallholding

But I'm deffo on the list for the pork!