Living in Austerity

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Mags30 wrote: »

I explained that everybody would prefer to get presents given the choice.

I wouldn't.

I detest all this present giving and receiving cobblers.

vasseur

I know you've probably covered this before but why does toxic friend receive welfare?

beanielou

Happy new towel~enjoy

Mags30

polesalot wrote: »

I know you've probably covered this before but why does toxic friend receive welfare?

She gets disability benefit but she doesn't really have a disability. Back in the day when money was plentiful the government were generous to "the vulnerable" and it was really easy to get disability benefit for something like a bad back/depression. Anything which was difficult to prove but also a very common complaint with many genuine sufferers. They never really stopped to think that the bad back or depression might improve and include a review date so the disability benefit is pretty much forever, no questions asked. Meanwhile people who really NEED these benefits struggle and fight red tape to qualify............

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

I wouldn't.

I detest all this present giving and receiving cobblers.

Ha! I definitely agree that it can get ridiculous, excessive and way too expensive particularly where large families are concerned. Plus we all have so much "stuff" (clutter) we don't actually need any of these things.

Mags30

Today I did a big clean up of my room at my mothers, moved the bed and furniture to hoover behind everything, etc. Then decided to have a look inside the big blanket box which probably hasn't been opened in about a year I'd say (unless to shove a bit more clutter inside and out of sight)

As expected found a few things for charity shops and throwing out like old "around the house" clothes and books. But there's more Yet another selection of expensive hair products including Kerastase, a Revlon vintage style hairdryer and a Morphy Richards curling tongs set, 6 boxed items of Newbridge jewellery and an absolutely beautiful Swaravoski necklace still in the box never worn.

I saw that necklace in a glossy magazine and ordered it over the phone from the store in London. The magazine picture and the receipt are still in the box with it. It was 2006 and the necklace was £98, yes £ not my usual €. There was also a photo album of postcards from places I'd been on holidays, Berlin, Prague, Poland, London, Morocco.......

Finding these things felt like going through someone else's belongings, it feels like the person who bought these things no longer exists. Most of the receipts were from 2005/2006 and how I'd love to go back there, to actually have money to spend again. Ireland was a fun place to be back then. This was probably also the time when "toxic friend" signed up for her disability benefit. Everything was easy then pre-recession.

I don't think I can even wear the necklace at the moment, it represents a life too far removed from where I am now and I could do without the reminder.

The happy bit is that if you buy expensive things wisely they'll probably still be quite nice when they become vintage

Mags30

In Ireland now we work to pay bills and live in fear of direct debits going unpaid. Back then we worked so that we could have whatever it was we wanted, houses, cars, holidays, shopping trips, spa breaks, expensive nights out....whatever you're having yourself.

Bills obviously got paid too but that was NEVER something we worried much about. If money was tight we didn't cut back- we raised extra money. Overtime was always available. Personal loans were easily arranged, often over the phone and credit card and overdraft limits were easily increased. This applied whether you were a CEO, a nurse or a deli assistant. Didn't matter, credit was available. Everyone was happy even when they worked long hours because there was an endless supply of nice things.

It didn't last and these days we could best be described as downtrodden

Helgathehairy_2

My thing was skincare. I had bad skin (which was worse in my mind than it actually was) and I spent a fortune ordering it online, using it a few times and then just stopping. Had a clear out of the bathroom cabinet when I moved out and I was really embarrassed at myself.

Mags30

New Years Day is such a depressing day, went out for lunch with my mother but neither of us enjoyed it much. The restaurant had a serious lack of heating and the food wasn't good either. It was disappointing

Interesting conversation today with a musician friend who says he's broke. I think he has no idea what that means. He says he has lost money on the last 17 gigs he has done and has had to make up the cash shortfall from his own funds. To me broke is when there is no money to cover the losses and the bank accounts are empty :huh: Actually I hear this "I'm broke" phrase a lot from people who definitely aren't and it's really annoying.

Obviously musician friend has been loosing a lot of money and his business looks to be in serious trouble but he ended the conversation by inviting me out for dinner soon :huh: He has brought me out for dinner on a regular basis over the years and never once let me or anybody else pay for anything so this is totally normal behaviour for him.

But I really don't get this at all :huh: How can people who claim to be broke still be so extravagant in their spending? Can anybody explain this? Only thing I can come up with is that in his business money tends to be earned and spent in units of €1,000. Generally anything less than that would almost be petty cash. But will people like this ever end up watching how much they are spending at Aldi?

Buffythedebtslayer

I had a friend who used to say she was skint, that she understood what it was like to have no money, but then would be fine once she had been to the Cash machine! I'd be there saying I have no money and she thought it just meant I needed a cashpoint, er no it means I have NO money!

I have no clue how other people manage, mostly my friends are careful with their money cos they have kids and a mortgage but a few splash the cash and dont think twice about money spent.

I must say I did used to spend on toiletries and still do - cured my acne with dermologica and bare minerals in this last year, I still have a fairly serious Amazon habit too. This has resulted in more debt for me which I was annoyed with myself about. I could have saved if I had thought about it!

Mags do you ever think about leaving Ireland? it does sound grim at the moment.

xx

Mags30

Meanwhile Irish government tell us that hosting the Presidency of the EU for the next 6 months (starting today) will cost €60million. They've made it clear that this is considered to be excellent value for money. Most ordinary folk tend not to agree.

2013 is also the year of "The Gathering". Have you guys heard of that? Basically it's a tourism initiative to encourage the Irish diaspora and anybody else who feels like it to come and visit us in Ireland. To be fair it does appear that some excellent events have been planned but obviously this is costing many, many more millions of €.

All of this money is spent yet hard working self-employed people like my musician friend have failing businesses because people like me have no disposable income to spend on going out or shopping. (Note: musician friend is not loosing money because he's not very good!! He has worked full time and very successfully at this for 25 years)