Rip Off Britain Keeps People Away From Savings and Being Debt Free

seven-day-weekend

Our cost of living here in rural Spain is much cheaper than the UK which is why we can live here AND save on an income of around £10k a year. (From the UK - My husband's Teachers' Pension plus £2.5k from another source. We save most of the £2.5k).

But the average wage if you are working here is only 20,000 euros (just over £14,000) so I don't actually think you would be any better off. That's if you can get a job at all out in the sticks (Spaniards I mean - don't even THINK of an expat getting a job here unless they are very lucky).

So our miniscule income doesn't look that tiny when compared to Spanaiard's wages! And their hours are much longer than we work in the UK.

At least that's how it is in this part of Spain - may be different in the cities.

RayWolfe

Hesitant to add another post because someone (anyone) may not read it in the spirit intended ... or even read it!!
I bet you could all live in Mali much more cheaply; downside: average income 50p a day; health service, none; education, none; wood for cooking, very little.
I bet they know how to deal with welfare scroungers with babies: let then die.
Cor, sounds wonderful. Might move there except that I would probably be ripped-off on the air fare ...
Ah well, I can dream of the better life the Daily Mail faction would have us live in.

darich

TOBRUK wrote: »

I I do believe we live in a buy now and to hell with the consequences ... I want it ... I'm having it ... just use my card!

I do believe that people need to learn to budget and try to make ends meet - no matter what their income. We have to take some responsibility for our spending and not flash credit cards about ... knowing that we can't afford it!!

Complete contradiction within your post. You want it so you'll buy it using your card but people must learn to spend within their means?? No sense at all.

TOBRUK wrote: »

Am I making sense? I

No.
See above.

MickKnipfler

I think we are confusing two issues here:

1. Yes Britain does probably have one of the highest costs of living but I would imagine that salaries are also one of the higher. I wouldn't mind paying high taxes if I could see "value" in government spending instead of waste.

2. There is much confusion over things we "need" and things we "want". Things we need are going up and unfortunately the laws of supply and demand have very little impact on such things as food, energy & fuel as demand doesn't change too much. However, things we want I agree we don't have to buy especially if we don't have the money. People need to realise that half the time they aren't "spending" they're "borrowing".

How many people do you know who spend money they haven't got, on things they don't need to impress people they don't like?

Personally, I've made the most of lower interest rates to pay my mortgage off. Now I'm saving considerably that interest rates are rising. Soon I think there will be some nice cheap BTL properties, 4x4s, spanish appartments etc about. I once got told that I was living beyond my means. When I asked what he meant, he said "you save too much"!

Pitchshifter

Raveboy wrote: »

So you are telling me a free walk in the park on a cold and wet winters night is better than sitting indoors in the warmth and playing one of the greatest ever games available on XBOX 360 like Gears of War on a 50" flat screen tv and top of the range surround sound system?

okay, maybe we are not up to the eyeballs in debt but the newspapers say the level of national debt is £1.2trillion, or something like that, maybe its million. anyway, shops are offering january sales now in early decemeber because shoppers dont have the money to spend, partly because of their current cost of living. council tax has rocketed, utilites bills and petrol has, along with cost of houses.

Don't get me wrong I like my home entertainment, I've got high spec gaming PCs, nice tv, etc. Gears of War (which is an average game by the way), plenty of other games. BTW If you like FPS games play Crysis, oh sorry you can't on an XBOX. lol.
That wasn't the point I was making about the best things in life. Health, happiness, peace of mind, security.When you have those things at least under control or planned towards, then you can better enjoy the things you like (such as Xbox or walking naked in the rain) without those worries playing on your mind.

Primrose

I've stopped being ripped off. I'm mounting a one-person Consumer Strike. I buy nothing I do not genuinely need (as opposed to "want") and have long since turned a blind eye and deaf ear to the marketing pundits who try and convince me I need every imaginable new piece of fashion or technological gadgetry under the sun. Of course you're ripped off if the marketeers see you coming. They get fat annual bonuses for persuading members of the public to buy things they don't need. And juding by the stampedes happening in the Sales most of them fall for it too!

darich

Pitchshifter wrote: »

If you like FPS games play Crysis, oh sorry you can't on an XBOX. lol.

Agreed - Crysis is stunning!!

MiserlyMartin

We do get ripped off in this country. TV licence is one example. The BBC have a commercial arm. They sell many programmes like Dr Who abroad. They licence Dr Who toys etc. They sell Radio One programmes, for which we as fee payers have already funded, to Sirius satellite radio in the USA. The amount of commerical income the BBC has should enable them to halve the licence fee along with cost cutting... they have 3 employees doing the job of one commerical TV employee. Too many overpaid presenters eg Moyles's £650K and Wogans £700K etc. Cut staff and nobody will notice any decline in programmes for half the licence fee. We pay lot of money to the governments public address system.

Petrol is too expensive here due to excessive tax, among the highest in the world. Road tax also. This should mean we have the best roads in the world and the best public transport. Wrong! We have the most bumpy, pot holed excuse for a road system in Europe. And its getting worse. My local roads are in a terrible state. Public transport is too expensive and unreliable for serious use.

Council tax, again too high and every year councils deliver further cuts in services and poorer value for money due to inadequate funding from central government.

Cars, CD's, DVD's, Electronic goods eg Xbox, software as already mentioned also add to the rip off culture.

But what can we do?

pantsmachine

I think France is a very agreeable place to go for my cheap booze just a shame about the cheese eating surrender monkeys who refuse to understand the Queens english no matter how loud you shout at them, strike for the slightest excuse and always want to ban our Beef, lamb or whatever! Damned awkward squad if you ask me! [/quote]


Reading through this thread i was saddened by the quality, then i came across this gem! I LOVE my islands sense of humour, even if the majority of its population choose to live on the wrong side of the wall. For all those disheartened by the cost of living on this fair isle there are many ferries leaving from a port near you. So long and thanks for all the fish.

P.S When taking the free walk in the park in the rain you might meet the girl of your dreams, no chance of that playing the xbox!

nhp

I think that raveboy has a valid point about the price fixing in britain. It is a joke. Having had many trips to the US, we pay a pound equivalent to their dollar prices for the exact same thing - be it shampoo, computers, cars, CDs.... I could go on. Why? because we'll pay it. Begrudgingly.

I do think that his second point is totally and utterly misguided and wrong. People get themselves into debt because they cannot (or wil not) budget.
Most people haven't gotten into masive debts by purely buying only the essentials of living. They fritter the money away on unnecessary purchases, which is their own problem, not the retail institution as a whole. That, my friend, is another way of saying, "oh but it's not MY fault I got into debt, someone else is blame!" I'm sorry, but debt, if you have it, is your own doing and nobody elses - LIVE WITH IT!