OS Singlies - We Do It Our Way!

Frugalsod

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Obviously, it would be hoped that any the most "thieving" of Governments wouldn't dream of "going as low" as beneath £50,000. I would imagine there are lots of perfectly ordinary "pensioners in the street" for instance that might well have somewhere between £16,000 and £50,000 in savings, but that isn't "spare" money. Its money that they've put to one side to subsidise an inadequate income and is meant to "see them out". I know my own parents have an inadequate pension per se, as in it wouldn't cover repair and replacement of anything the house required and that, when that type of expenditure is necessary, it has to come from savings (rather than income). Therefore, those savings cannot be raided, because they would have no way of replacing them and finding the money to keep their perfectly ordinary house up to scratch or cover any major expenses of keeping their car on the road.

Actually the Cypriot government originally wanted to take 6-7% of everyones savings. In the end because of the impact on the rest of Europe they were made to take about 40% of anything above €100 000. They were worried about the panic that would spread across Europe if they were to do that. It would have caused bank runs across Europe. Next time they might do something differently.

As you said there are many pensioners who have no way of making up any shortfall but that would not stop the government if they were pushed into a similar situation as the Cypriot government. Though we have a more diverse economy would could cope better but the banks are still very heavily exposed to potential bad debts and they are so large, in fact larger than Cyprus as a proportion of the economy so you have to consider the fall out if they mess up again.

moneyistooshorttomention

Yep..I followed the news about the initial proposal to steal a small bit from everyone, followed by changing that to taking a large bit from the wealthier ones only. Since they did steal some...then it was better that way and leave the poorer ones alone entirely. Still very hard though if someone who had that much in the way of apparent savings didn't really, ie because it was, for instance, "house money" temporarily tied-up in a bank in between selling one house and buying another. That raises a question as to whether it would be possible to establish the difference as to whether it was that sort of scenario or genuine spare cash just stashed because the person concerned was a wealthy person...and I guess there is no way to do that, because a lot of wealthier people would lie.

Oh boy...

Mrs_Bones

Thanks for all the comments on the beds. I still can't make my mind up, think I'll go and have a look at a few and do some pricing up in local shops. Re the meno I'm going through that now and often end up sleeping on top of the bed. The dog does get on sometimes but I've got a brass bed with is quite high up to start with and then got a high mattress on top of that so he only tends to jump up when he's feeling energetic, most of the time he prefers to sleep under the bed.

JustKeepSwimming I've been looking at those day beds which double as seating with the railings around. I do like the look of them and can picture with lots of cushions and pillows on to sink into. My rooms quite small as well which is one of the reason I'm considering a small bed as it would give me a bit more room to move in and also maybe put a little table in to write at. I'm also not thinking I'd want to share it with anyone else now but if the erm...need arose I would have the double bed in the other room. The room at the front is bigger it's just my personal choice to sleep in the smaller room at the back. That looks out over the garden which I prefer, while bigger room at the front looks directly on the street.

Re the banks I think if they tried it in this country it would bring about a fall in government.

lostinrates

spirit wrote: »

some (married) friends of mine have a single bed each - in the same room.

I have king sized bed [STRIKE]all to myself[/STRIKE] shared with the cats. I don't think I'd like a single bed even without the cats since I like to spread out a bit.

DH and I had a single bed for ages together . For a long while I was in hospital and he'd climb in too. Then we had a four foot six and found it too big. Now the five foot seems massive. I've slept in super kings with other people that felt small. :rotfl: We could fit another spouse in easily . Though the cats do spread out in summer. I often sleep right in the edge of the bed for some reason, unless the cat wants the edge.

Dring the week I have a strange habit of filling the bed with things, DH says he can chart my week by what gets made into the bed (I do make the bed but things get missed on days I do lazy jobs. If I miss making the bed there is only room for me in it as during the night I accumulate lots of stuff in the bed......books, body cream , my pill boxes.....:o. DH says says there is nothing he'd be surprised to find in our bed at the end of the week.

SailorSam

Mrs_Bones wrote: »

As it's the singlies thread, can I ask does anyone else use a single bed?

I've got to get a new bed for the other room before my dad comes to stay in March. I'm wondering though about getting myself a single bed and putting my double in that room. The pro's I can see are that it would; be cheaper than buying another new double bed, make me a little more room to move in my bedroom, be easier for me with making up and washing/ironing etc. The only con I can see is that I'm not sure I could get use to sleeping in a single bed now and I'm trying to tell myself it would be quite cozy without a cold empty half but not convinced myself yet.

I still sleep in a single bed.When this was my Mums house i had the small single room here if i ever spent the night. After she died i moved in here but just kept what had always been my room.
The other two bedrooms have got both doubles so if i do have company i can always move for the night.

calicocat

EmilyTee wrote: »

Hi All

I'm glade I have found this thread and will subscribe!

I have a Question:

I'm trying to spend as little on food as possible a month so I wondered - how much have you allocated for food and household spending (cleaning stuff)

I've started shopping in [EMAIL="Al@i"]Al@i[/EMAIL] which is much cheaper but I wondered how much others had cut their spending down too?

Howdie emilly tee.....


I allocate £100 a month, I have it out of the bank on pay day and in a pot.

Sometimes it isn't enough, other months I have some spare, but usually I manage to keep to it even though things seem to getting more expensive.

Making a lot of things yourself helps the budget, and batch cooking in the slow cooker.

Frugalsod

EmilyTee wrote: »

Hi All

I'm glade I have found this thread and will subscribe!

I have a Question:

I'm trying to spend as little on food as possible a month so I wondered - how much have you allocated for food and household spending (cleaning stuff)

I've started shopping in [EMAIL="Al@i"]Al@i[/EMAIL] which is much cheaper but I wondered how much others had cut their spending down too?

How long is a piece of string?

You can make so many changes and really cut the bills. It all depends on what you spend your money on now. If a lot of ready meals and branded products the scope is enormous.

I switched to making everything from scratch and cut 50% off my food bill with an increase in the quality of my food. I have done similar with my cleaning products and have cut more than 75% from cleaning items budget.

Byatt

FS, but what was your food bill to start with?

I don't have ready meals, make things from scratch and I still need to cut back as money gets less each year for me.

Emily, I think it's important (for me anyway) to keep a record of spends on food, (small notebook will do), and then you can see where and when/why your spends occur. I was trying for £30 a month, but realistically now see it should be about £50-60 (again for me)...I make lists of what I need and try to stick to that, as I know it's so tempting to spend more. I also buy YS foods and foods on offer to top up store cupboard. Also menu plan, I'm not a planner really, but do find that helps, instead of thinking, oh, what can I have for dinner or lunch, and going shopping, I already know and often can stretch meals. Rubber chicken is a case in point.

As for cleaning products I buy when on offer.

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm hazarding a guess that a singlie could do food for around £100 per month myself IF they were eating in fairly conventional etc fashion.

Personally. I couldn't tell you for sure, but working on an "eat what I please" basis my feeling is that I'm coming in at around £150 per month (food only), but I'm not economising (ie I am spending what I think I will personally), that is not being economical on the one hand or going mad on the other hand.

Right....back to that weather-watching a lot of us are on at the moment. Hence gratified, for today, that others could see the potential dangers I could see and hopefully that's been averted okay:T

Weary....weary...weary...right now.....Does anyone know just when this Weather From Hell is going to finish for sure and certain....as I am feeling very tired at all that on top of everything else? Personally, I'm expecting a bit more Totally Hell-ish stuff soon yet...and oh boy.....fed-up Big Time with it all.

groatie_queen

I'm another (singlie) who accumulates stuff on my bed: a double bed - books, magazines, notepad & pen, Nexus 7 for those 4.00am games of Scrabble.... and three cats. They absolutely love the all-night electric blanket, and if I fall asleep before turning it off its high setting, they grumble when I wake up in a muck sweat and turn it down....

When I downsized, I got rid of a kingsize bed because changing the downie cover was exponentially more of a faff than the one for double bed, which was then the spare bed. The spare room here has an aerobed which is packed away. If a couple ever come to stay, they can have my bedroom and I'll sleep on the aerobed, which is a bit bigger than a single but not quite 3/4 size, and is surprisingly comfortable.