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

Zebedee69

Its true, we are taxed more than other countries but to be honest its alot easier to make a few quid extra in this country than others. Its also alot easier to borrow in order to set up small things that will earn you back money.

I work in my full time job (40-50 hours a week £325 p/w) use my car for medical courier work (1/2 jobs a week £200 - £250 p/w) I also have a small flower shop on Ebay (£25 - £50 p/w) and I also run a succesful affiliate website that sells cheap deals on holidays and flights etc etc (£25 - £50 p/w).

I dont think half of this stuff would be possible in a country like Ireland, Spain or France. Yes its expensive here but there are ways to earn your money too.

As for money spent on computers, tv's and clothes thats marketing. No one tells you to buy it you just do because of some idea that you need it... No thing I own is that expensive yet iv a style all my own and you have no idea how many people have tried to copy me lmao!

Easiest way to operate in this country is:

- Use the fact its a free market to make plenty of cash for yourself. there are oportunities out there but you have to find them! The credit market is a huge one in this country, 0% cards dont exist in Ireland, France, Spain...... So use them. I borrowed to buy my car with a 0% card and iv earnt the money back via courier work. So to set up a little business cost me..............nothing realy! No outlay at all I just borrowed for free and now Iv a car I own outright and a business owned outright will insurance, memberships and stuff paid for a year.
- Dont fall for marketing! Be your own person and have your own style, its cheaper, you get more kudos and your clothes dont go out of fashion within a week!
- Dont buy the latest computer! People seem to thing you need a £1000 duo core super dupa computer to browse the internet and type letters. May I remind people we did this 10 years ago with Pentium 1,2,3's with not even a third of the ram of the lowest spec pc on the market today. My computer cost me £149.99...... It does the job too!
- Why feel you have to spend £1000 on a tv?... A flat screen Hi Def tv is useless if your watching Freeview bacause Freeview doesnt yet have the capability of supporting Hi Def, yet ask anyone down your local Comet and they will tell you otherwise. If you have freeview or normal sky just get a normal tv and leave Hi Def until Sky HD becomes more mainstream and Freeview gets upgraded (Probably in 5-10 years time) by then a Hi Def tv will be about £100

Sometimes you have to take a step back and accept that debt to pay for something you dont realy need is bad, and striving for the ultimate new fangled thing out now gets us into debt mostly. When you accept that you start to see that being comfortable, having nice stuff but not the latest stuff and not being scared of the next Visa/Mastercard/Amex bill is the best life you can possibly have.....

Good debt is good..... Bad debt is bad..... I think a certain Martin said that!

jinkssick

I was born in Colombia and comparing the peso to the pound, you do see how strong it actually is.

Not saying that things are cheap but Im trying to get the most of student credit and putting that in high savings account, no CC's. Watching your pocket here is something that is inevitable, quality of life is near-absant but what I make here in an hour, is what some people make back home make in one day.

I would say the greatest contributor, wether its the users fault or not, has to be credit cards. Most people think APR's are a connection on the back of a PC.

jinkssick

MiserlyMartin wrote: »

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.

So true. This is not seen anywhere in the world, but hell thats what the rules are here.

Freeview is a great little tool that has given us more value for money with this licence than ever before. A PVR recorder allows you to control what you watch like never before. The days are over when you watch what is shown on crappy BBC.

I have a satellite installation that lets me watch premiership football for nothing from other countries. So at least I aint gotta give £450 a year to Sky.

robp

darich wrote: »

Agreed - Crysis is stunning!!

Don't worry XBOX 360 owners.

Crytek have announced that they are working on a 360 version for future release.

The porting problem stems from Crysis being based on DirectX v10 which the 360 cannot support (or be upgraded to).

Crytek have stated that they are coding a new version specifically for the 360.

In the meantime, enjoy games like Mass Effect on your 360 (which are not available on the PC). Or go out and buy both a PC and a 360!

Nigel1

People
Wasn't it Mr Micawber who said "Income 20 shillings, expenditure 19 shillings and sixpence, result happiness. Income 20 shillings, outgoings 20 shillings and sixpence, result misery!"
So many posts above seem to miss this rather vital point.

With the exception of a house, if you can't afford it now, don't get it now!!
If we fall for the marketting bo**ocks and pay the prices demanded on non-essentials, the marketeers will happily carry on charging those high prices! If everyone boycotted the latest release of this, that or the other luxury, they would HAVE to lower the price. Doh!
Just look at the prices charged for new-release DVDs compared to waiting six months to see what happens to the price. I don't think anything sums up the "Stupid-enough-to-need-it-now" mentality better than that.

There again, we must all have an interest in lowering costs or we wouldn't be contributing to this excellent website in the first place. Carry on the good work!

ManAtHome

Nigel1 wrote: »

Income 20 shillings, outgoings 20 shillings and sixpence, result!

Is more of a quote/mantra for the "noughties"... (sorry Nigel, it's all in a good cause).

Mind you, we've removed the workhouse and invented the laser/pound printer since Dickens were a lad.

Inactive

margaretclare wrote: »

The bottom line IMHO is that there are pleasanter ways of getting rid of your money than by spending it on interest charges on cards and loans. Having the scrap of plastic in your pocket gives you an illusion of 'I can buy all the things I want - I can have the lifestyle expected nowadays - I can go and buy the things that the celebs have, because I'm worth it'. But it's an illusion, and once you realise that, it starts to make sense.

HTH



Margaret

Spot on Margaret, well said.;)

Acehole_2

I find that old people don't want to spend their money, I think they should before it's too late, go and get an x-box 360, paystation and a wii enjoy it !!!!

moanymoany

Raveboy wrote: »

Britain is such a rip off these days. We pay through the nose for everything wether its mortages, council tax, clothes (E.G Europe and USA Levi jeans £25. Britain £50) France and other parts of europe are cheaper for fags and booze, aftershave, electrical goods and other countries too.

We pay far more for computer operating systems like Windows Vista, games consoles like XBOX 360 and DVDs.

Supposedly travelling by tube at cost per mile is more expensive than flying by concorde and you dont get free booze on route.

The cost of office space in London per square metre is the most expensive in the world.


I could go on and on about how much more we are paying for our goods then other countries but want I want to know is how us the consumers can turn the tables around and get better prices for these things which are in line with other countries - if not cheaper. Has any anyone got any ideas for a consumer revolution?


If we could reduce our spending costs for the goods and services then that would leave more money for clearing debts, saving money and generally investing money into a better quality of living.

So, Raveboy, when are you going to emigrate?

Isn't there something about grass and being greener over the hill? Maybe you will learn that the hard way.

Nomad25

I'm in the 'old school' camp, but playing the save and spend game year after year can leave a body feeling somewhat deprived. Especially if you know a big chunk of what you do manage to save will be nicked back by HMG at the slightest opportunity when you reach old age. Well I'm off to read the depression support thread now!!