Living like rich people?

Mojisola

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

Apparently she used copious amounts of gin and tonic.

Forget the tonic - apparently she diluted the gin with Dubonnet!

iolanthe07

Like other posters, I cannot understand why people who are struggling with debt continue to have Sky TV and expensive mobile phone contracts. Freesat or Freeview have more channels than anyone could possibly need. My mobile phone cost £9.99 four years ago and costs me about £20 a year PAYG. My landline package includes free geographic calls and 30mps broadband for around £30 a month. One mantra that I have stood by all my life is never, ever, to take on any debts (mortgage and student loans excepted, though I am lucky to be a generation that didn't need a student loan).

SpekySquarehead

iolanthe07 wrote: »

Like other posters, I cannot understand why people who are struggling with debt continue to have Sky TV and expensive mobile phone contracts. Freesat or Freeview have more channels than anyone could possibly need. My mobile phone cost £9.99 four years ago and costs me about £20 a year PAYG. My landline package includes free geographic calls and 30mps broadband for around £30 a month. One mantra that I have stood by all my life is never, ever, to take on any debts (mortgage and student loans excepted, though I am lucky to be a generation that didn't need a student loan).

Forgive me for being curious. With your mantra, would that mean you wouldn't take car finance for example over a few years? You'll any insurance you have as one whole payment and not split over the year? The same for any large purchases.

The difficulty I have is saving the no doubt high amount.

Sorry to take the thread off on a tangent.

lazer-zxr

iolanthe07 wrote: »

Like other posters, I cannot understand why people who are struggling with debt continue to have Sky TV and expensive mobile phone contracts.

I'm with you on this one. I would love to have Sky TV, but don't feel I am entitled to it /earned it until I am out of debt, including mortgage debt.


A little example of living like the rich ..... four years ago, I needed a new winter jacket. My wife commented that I seemed to need a new winter jacket every winter ... yes because they fell to bits, or went out of 'fashion'. So instead of buying my usual £50 winter jacket from high turnover high street retailer, I bought a Barbour jacket, form the reduced section, for £120 It seemed like a fortune to spend on an item of clothing, but I promised my wife it would be the last jacket I would buy for a long time..... but guess what, I'm still using the jacket, and it still appears brand new. If it does me ten years (it'll probably do more), thats £12 per year. Bargain.

nkkingston

lazer-zxr wrote: »

A little example of living like the rich ..... four years ago, I needed a new winter jacket. My wife commented that I seemed to need a new winter jacket every winter ... yes because they fell to bits, or went out of 'fashion'. So instead of buying my usual £50 winter jacket from high turnover high street retailer, I bought a Barbour jacket, form the reduced section, for £120 It seemed like a fortune to spend on an item of clothing, but I promised my wife it would be the last jacket I would buy for a long time..... but guess what, I'm still using the jacket, and it still appears brand new. If it does me ten years (it'll probably do more), thats £12 per year. Bargain.

That's the rub, isn't it? It's much easier to live cheaper when you're rich. A £200 coat that lasts ten years works out cheaper than a £40 coat every year, but you have to have that £200 to hand in the first place. If you're in a rambling house with cellar and attic you can bulk buy and save hundred of pounds every year on food, but if you're in a dinky little flat you've got to do top up shops every couple of days because that's all the cupboard space you've got. The rich can shop around for energy deals, but the poor are stuck on expensive meters.

And it's also about being time poor - low paid jobs often demand longer hours and cheap housing is often further from work and shops so more time is spent commuting. If you're poor you usually have less time to do all those MSE things like cooking from scratch, DIYing solutions for household problems, shopping around for deals, walking instead of spending money on petrol/bus, or going out to do free activities instead of staying in and watching Sky. If you've only got thirty minutes to spend with the kids before bed after getting home bonetired from work, you don't want to spend fifteen of them walking them to the park and the other fifteen walking them back again, or twenty five of them cooking dinner from scratch and scoffing it down in the other five. So much of the judgement about poor people being lazy comes from an assumption that the poor have as much free time as the rich.

RuthnJasper

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

Apparently she used copious amounts of gin and tonic.

A certain Mr. William Hill also saw his profits soar at the time as well...

lazer-zxr

nkkingston wrote: »

That's the rub, isn't it?

Thanks for the link to the article.
But a couple of points I don't agree with in the article: I dont think internet access is beyond people these days though; and I dont think bad credit score should be associated with lower earners. A bad credit score might hamper your chances of the best mobile phone deal, but your credit score isn't just a measure of how rich you are? I'm sure I had a great credit score when I was stacking shelves in the supermarket 15 years ago.

iolanthe07

With your mantra, would that mean you wouldn't take car finance for example over a few years? You'll any insurance you have as one whole payment and not split over the year?

I have always paid cash for my cars except when I was working and entitled to an interest free car loan. I always pay inurance premiums in an annual lump sum as it is usually cheaper.

annandale

There are many people who buy from charity shops (myself included). I won't buy from primark or many other high street stores because if the clothes cost you pennies that's what the people making them will get, pennies and often working in unsafe conditions.

I pay 20 pounds a month for my broadband and line rental. I pay 33 pounds a month for my phone contract but that's unlimited texts and calls, I rarely use my landline. The next phone contract I get, I'll probably buy a refurbished phone. My fridge, freezer and washing machine are all second hand and most of the furniture I have in my flat is either what I bought when I moved in two decades ago or sourced from charity shops.

I always try and get the yellow stickered bargains, I use home bargains, aldi and approved food now and then. I have enough cupboard and freezer space that I dont need to do top up shops every couple of days.

I don't have a TV, I watch catch up on Iplayer. It all comes down to what's important to you. Ive always had a good credit record even in my poorest moments and have always managed to pay my fuel costs by direct debit. I do have debt, but it will be paid off in less than a year from now.

I personally wouldn't buy a 40 pound coat every year. I probably have around 15 coats or jackets in my wardrobe, all but one cost me £1 from the local charity shop (I appreciate that some folks don't live in areas where the charity shop clothes are a quid).

Ive read a few people's blogs, saw that girl called thrifty lesley, one of her recipes was in one of the national newspapers today, some people can make meals from pennies, have done it myself in times where Ive been flat broke.