Can two people live on one person's wage?

Kim_kim

zagfles said:

Kim_kim said:

zagfles said:

Kim_kim said:

kimwp said:

RogerBareford said:

kimwp said:

RogerBareford said:

There is far more to life than simply "managing well" and there are many interesting things and places in this world to see and explore i can't imagine never going on holiday like some people on here have said.

Some people just go work, eat, watch TV and sleep in a contstant routing and that no life at all and think everyone should have atleast some interesting hobbies and get out and about often and have enough money to do this.

I agree that there should be more to life than simply surviving, but holidays are not necessarily the only avenue to that. Many people go on holidays where they visit pretty tourist spots, eat nice food and learn absolutely nothing (I'm not saying this is necessarily you). Others may not travel, yet enrich themselves with walking in their local countryside, volunteering and watching programmes about other cultures, politics and lives outside their own - which are much lower cost (financially and to the environment). Large sums of money are rarely required to have an interesting life, merely a high consumption one.

Well i think even visting tourist spots and eating different food in a different place is a good experience to have. Getting out and about and going somewhere different, experiencing different things and doing different activities i think is important in life. Yes you can watch programs about different places on TV but it doesn't beat actually getting there and doing something.

I think there are diminishing returns to simply visiting though. I've travelled and lived abroad in Europe, America and Asia and while it's fun to see new things, I can't imagine many people learn about the worst jobs in South America, what it's like to be LBTQ in Russia, how the new young millionaires live in China when they go on holiday, so I think TV programmes probably beat tourist travel from a mind-broadening point of view once some travel has been done. Not that I am advocating watching TV all the time, just that I don't think tourist holidays are necessary for an interesting life or a broad and educated mind.

I would agree with you.  I’ve learnt more from geography, world, travel, political programmes than I have holidays - far more.  

It’s nice to see some things in person, but my holidays aren’t really about fact finding missions.  I’ll visit the local places of interest, but I’m there for the sea & the beach, the cocktails & the nice meals.  

Depends on the type of holiday, obviously an AI holiday where you barely leave the hotel grounds except to go to the beach isn't going to broaden your horizons and teach you anything about other cultures, and of course some, or even most people don't want that from a holiday anyway.

But ones where you travel independantly and interact with local people and get into the local culture can give you a better and broader perspective than TV programmes which often have an agenda eg a particular issue they are investigating, so can give a slanted perspective from the point of view of one particular issue or group. 

As an example the thing that surprised me most in my travels is how the ex British colonies are generally positive about their colonial past and how much they love the British. After years of having being taught in school and by TV programmes how evil colonialism is I was expecting them to have a dim view of the British but that wasn't the case anywhere, and seeing so much colonial history, stuff like street names, area names, monuments etc in independant successful countries who seem to want to celebrate and preserve their colonial past, rather than see it as a period of occupation and oppression and rename everything, tear down statues etc, which ironically seems to happen more here!

Ireland doesn’t hold fond memories of hundreds of years of British occupation.

They did change the place names & tear down the statues.  

Well they still have the Wellington monument in Dublin, the "tallest obelisk in Europe"! You couldn't get a much bigger figurehead of the British colonial establishment than the Duke of Wellington, UK Tory PM, house of Lords, led campaigns in India, commander in chief of the British army.

Ireland is actually one of the places I was most surprised by - I first went there before the GFA when the IRA were still active, and I expected some level of resentment towards the British, but experienced the exact opposite from everyone we met. It was by far the friendliest country I'd ever been to. Going into a pub was joining a party, everyone was so friendly, up for a chat and laugh, wanted to know where we're from, gave us advice on what to see where to go etc. First night we stayed at a B&B in the Wicklow mountains, car wouldn't start the next morning, didn't have any breakdown cover, the B&B owner who knew a bit about cars spent about an hour fixing it. Wouldn't hear of accepting any payment. Car fine for rest of holiday.

I’m not sure what my post had to do with it being friendly.  

It’s well known for its warm hospitality to tourists.  

Kim_kim

RogerBareford said:

Kim_kim said:

RogerBareford said:

There is far more to life than simply "managing well" and there are many interesting things and places in this world to see and explore i can't imagine never going on holiday like some people on here have said.

Some people just go work, eat, watch TV and sleep in a contstant routing and that no life at all and think everyone should have atleast some interesting hobbies and get out and about often and have enough money to do this.

The past nearly two years I’ve done little other than work, watch tv & sleep.  

I’ve been working from home since march 20.  

It’s surprising how fast it has gone past.  

I won’t be rushing to book any holidays just yet.  

Well if you enjoy being at home and just watching TV then there isn't anything wrong with that and some people can live their whole life like that, but that's not for me and it's nice to get out and about.

It feels like Groundhog Day, everyday.  

The past two years have flown by.  

SingleSue

My parents lived on just dad's income for their entire marriage, dad retired at the end of 2005 and he had been earning 16k at the time. To them, it was mega money and enough for dad to pay extra into his pension and save into an ISA too, they had coach holidays abroad (each to their own, they preferred going by coach rather than flying - my idea of hell) and caravan holidays home here. 

They were mortgage free though, had been since 1975 but the tough times just after dad's accident (1972), meant that they had to live very frugally and they just never really got out of the habit when it came to consumables. A takeaway was a rare treat, things were repaired rather than replaced, they didn't go for the latest tech, didn't take out loans, finance etc. They did run a car, well two in fact but these were always second hand ones purchased for very reasonable amounts (and saved for prior).

My current income (including PIP) is less than 10k a year as I can only work very restricted hours. I purposely do not claim universal credit (long story but it is my choice) but do claim help with council tax. I run a car but as it is a Motability one, tax and insurance, repairs etc are covered by that, fuel costs me £15 a week on an average week and I only use it for essential journeys. 

For luxuries (the teabags I like, books and such like), I ask for them for Christmas and birthdays. I spend approx £20 a year on clothes (things are repaired until they cannot be repaired anymore), visit the hairdresser once a year (£60), shoes last me years although had to replace my pair a few weeks ago (last pair had been £15 four years ago, vastly reduced in a sale, current pair was £25, again vastly reduced in a sale). My current handbag was a gift almost 5 years ago, I can't see the point in having more than one.

I pay into a private pension as I don't earn enough for a work based one, it's not much but relative to my income, it sometimes feels a good whack of money to be paying out and can be a struggle at times.

I have a main two week holiday in this country, my biggest luxury, this year it cost me £200 for the accommodation (my share), I had saved my clubcard points for a food delivery (static caravan holiday) and although we do push the boat out on occasion for a meal out or a takeaway whilst away, there is also a lot of meals done at the caravan. I've actually got two holidays booked for next year, one of them is costing £79 for the three of us (Black Friday deal)!

My biggest savings come from the more social aspects of life, I would love to go out more but unfortunately my disabilities put a kibosh on it (I'm too shattered, too much in pain etc trying to keep working) and not being very materialistic when it comes to tech or gadgets. I drink only very rarely (last alcoholic drink was in June), not because I am holier than thou but because I refuse to drink on my own and after being sole carer to three children, two of whom were disabled, there was always the possibility of a late night emergency drive to the hospital and it was less stressful to just go without and the habit has just stuck. I had only really been a social drinker anyway and as my social life is pants, lack of drinking goes with it.

Would I like more money? Sure, who wouldn't. I would love to be able to afford to replace the carpets on my stairs without having a panic attack at the thought but I wouldn't say I feel my finances mean I am just existing or just surviving, I just have slightly less than some others to spend, I still have a relatively enjoyable and fulfilling life.

zagfles

Kim_kim said:

zagfles said:

Kim_kim said:

zagfles said:

Kim_kim said:

kimwp said:

RogerBareford said:

kimwp said:

RogerBareford said:

There is far more to life than simply "managing well" and there are many interesting things and places in this world to see and explore i can't imagine never going on holiday like some people on here have said.

Some people just go work, eat, watch TV and sleep in a contstant routing and that no life at all and think everyone should have atleast some interesting hobbies and get out and about often and have enough money to do this.

I agree that there should be more to life than simply surviving, but holidays are not necessarily the only avenue to that. Many people go on holidays where they visit pretty tourist spots, eat nice food and learn absolutely nothing (I'm not saying this is necessarily you). Others may not travel, yet enrich themselves with walking in their local countryside, volunteering and watching programmes about other cultures, politics and lives outside their own - which are much lower cost (financially and to the environment). Large sums of money are rarely required to have an interesting life, merely a high consumption one.

Well i think even visting tourist spots and eating different food in a different place is a good experience to have. Getting out and about and going somewhere different, experiencing different things and doing different activities i think is important in life. Yes you can watch programs about different places on TV but it doesn't beat actually getting there and doing something.

I think there are diminishing returns to simply visiting though. I've travelled and lived abroad in Europe, America and Asia and while it's fun to see new things, I can't imagine many people learn about the worst jobs in South America, what it's like to be LBTQ in Russia, how the new young millionaires live in China when they go on holiday, so I think TV programmes probably beat tourist travel from a mind-broadening point of view once some travel has been done. Not that I am advocating watching TV all the time, just that I don't think tourist holidays are necessary for an interesting life or a broad and educated mind.

I would agree with you.  I’ve learnt more from geography, world, travel, political programmes than I have holidays - far more.  

It’s nice to see some things in person, but my holidays aren’t really about fact finding missions.  I’ll visit the local places of interest, but I’m there for the sea & the beach, the cocktails & the nice meals.  

Depends on the type of holiday, obviously an AI holiday where you barely leave the hotel grounds except to go to the beach isn't going to broaden your horizons and teach you anything about other cultures, and of course some, or even most people don't want that from a holiday anyway.

But ones where you travel independantly and interact with local people and get into the local culture can give you a better and broader perspective than TV programmes which often have an agenda eg a particular issue they are investigating, so can give a slanted perspective from the point of view of one particular issue or group. 

As an example the thing that surprised me most in my travels is how the ex British colonies are generally positive about their colonial past and how much they love the British. After years of having being taught in school and by TV programmes how evil colonialism is I was expecting them to have a dim view of the British but that wasn't the case anywhere, and seeing so much colonial history, stuff like street names, area names, monuments etc in independant successful countries who seem to want to celebrate and preserve their colonial past, rather than see it as a period of occupation and oppression and rename everything, tear down statues etc, which ironically seems to happen more here!

Ireland doesn’t hold fond memories of hundreds of years of British occupation.

They did change the place names & tear down the statues.  

Well they still have the Wellington monument in Dublin, the "tallest obelisk in Europe"! You couldn't get a much bigger figurehead of the British colonial establishment than the Duke of Wellington, UK Tory PM, house of Lords, led campaigns in India, commander in chief of the British army.

Ireland is actually one of the places I was most surprised by - I first went there before the GFA when the IRA were still active, and I expected some level of resentment towards the British, but experienced the exact opposite from everyone we met. It was by far the friendliest country I'd ever been to. Going into a pub was joining a party, everyone was so friendly, up for a chat and laugh, wanted to know where we're from, gave us advice on what to see where to go etc. First night we stayed at a B&B in the Wicklow mountains, car wouldn't start the next morning, didn't have any breakdown cover, the B&B owner who knew a bit about cars spent about an hour fixing it. Wouldn't hear of accepting any payment. Car fine for rest of holiday.

I’m not sure what my post had to do with it being friendly.  

It’s well known for its warm hospitality to tourists.  

My first paragraph addressed your post. The rest was mostly an aside on the previous discussion, that you get a better insight into the rest of the world and their attitudes and opinions through travel where you interact with people and see a wide range of things, rather than TV programmes etc which will usually have an agenda or angle, or at least be bound by "political correctness" to maybe avoid certain issues or highlight/concentrate on others. I could give loads of examples, but way OT here, just to say the point is, travel does teach you stuff in a way that TV programmes etc don't.

Kim_kim

zagfles said:

Kim_kim said:

zagfles said:

Kim_kim said:

zagfles said:

Kim_kim said:

kimwp said:

RogerBareford said:

kimwp said:

RogerBareford said:

There is far more to life than simply "managing well" and there are many interesting things and places in this world to see and explore i can't imagine never going on holiday like some people on here have said.

Some people just go work, eat, watch TV and sleep in a contstant routing and that no life at all and think everyone should have atleast some interesting hobbies and get out and about often and have enough money to do this.

I agree that there should be more to life than simply surviving, but holidays are not necessarily the only avenue to that. Many people go on holidays where they visit pretty tourist spots, eat nice food and learn absolutely nothing (I'm not saying this is necessarily you). Others may not travel, yet enrich themselves with walking in their local countryside, volunteering and watching programmes about other cultures, politics and lives outside their own - which are much lower cost (financially and to the environment). Large sums of money are rarely required to have an interesting life, merely a high consumption one.

Well i think even visting tourist spots and eating different food in a different place is a good experience to have. Getting out and about and going somewhere different, experiencing different things and doing different activities i think is important in life. Yes you can watch programs about different places on TV but it doesn't beat actually getting there and doing something.

I think there are diminishing returns to simply visiting though. I've travelled and lived abroad in Europe, America and Asia and while it's fun to see new things, I can't imagine many people learn about the worst jobs in South America, what it's like to be LBTQ in Russia, how the new young millionaires live in China when they go on holiday, so I think TV programmes probably beat tourist travel from a mind-broadening point of view once some travel has been done. Not that I am advocating watching TV all the time, just that I don't think tourist holidays are necessary for an interesting life or a broad and educated mind.

I would agree with you.  I’ve learnt more from geography, world, travel, political programmes than I have holidays - far more.  

It’s nice to see some things in person, but my holidays aren’t really about fact finding missions.  I’ll visit the local places of interest, but I’m there for the sea & the beach, the cocktails & the nice meals.  

Depends on the type of holiday, obviously an AI holiday where you barely leave the hotel grounds except to go to the beach isn't going to broaden your horizons and teach you anything about other cultures, and of course some, or even most people don't want that from a holiday anyway.

But ones where you travel independantly and interact with local people and get into the local culture can give you a better and broader perspective than TV programmes which often have an agenda eg a particular issue they are investigating, so can give a slanted perspective from the point of view of one particular issue or group. 

As an example the thing that surprised me most in my travels is how the ex British colonies are generally positive about their colonial past and how much they love the British. After years of having being taught in school and by TV programmes how evil colonialism is I was expecting them to have a dim view of the British but that wasn't the case anywhere, and seeing so much colonial history, stuff like street names, area names, monuments etc in independant successful countries who seem to want to celebrate and preserve their colonial past, rather than see it as a period of occupation and oppression and rename everything, tear down statues etc, which ironically seems to happen more here!

Ireland doesn’t hold fond memories of hundreds of years of British occupation.

They did change the place names & tear down the statues.  

Well they still have the Wellington monument in Dublin, the "tallest obelisk in Europe"! You couldn't get a much bigger figurehead of the British colonial establishment than the Duke of Wellington, UK Tory PM, house of Lords, led campaigns in India, commander in chief of the British army.

Ireland is actually one of the places I was most surprised by - I first went there before the GFA when the IRA were still active, and I expected some level of resentment towards the British, but experienced the exact opposite from everyone we met. It was by far the friendliest country I'd ever been to. Going into a pub was joining a party, everyone was so friendly, up for a chat and laugh, wanted to know where we're from, gave us advice on what to see where to go etc. First night we stayed at a B&B in the Wicklow mountains, car wouldn't start the next morning, didn't have any breakdown cover, the B&B owner who knew a bit about cars spent about an hour fixing it. Wouldn't hear of accepting any payment. Car fine for rest of holiday.

I’m not sure what my post had to do with it being friendly.  

It’s well known for its warm hospitality to tourists.  

My first paragraph addressed your post. The rest was mostly an aside on the previous discussion, that you get a better insight into the rest of the world and their attitudes and opinions through travel where you interact with people and see a wide range of things, rather than TV programmes etc which will usually have an agenda or angle, or at least be bound by "political correctness" to maybe avoid certain issues or highlight/concentrate on others. I could give loads of examples, but way OT here, just to say the point is, travel does teach you stuff in a way that TV programmes etc don't.

I’ve only been locked up indoors since March 20, working from home & Covid.  

I am pretty well travelled, don’t jump to assumptions.  

strawb_shortcake

Some people seem to think you can't live and experience on one wage, I commented previously that I've bought a family up on one average-ish salary for nearly 20 years. 

As a family we have been involved in an organised youth group, either myself,my family or all of us have done so many things including scuba diving, overseas camping trips, gliding, kayaking, skiing, hiking, climbing for very reasonable prices. On top of that my children have been bought up to give something back to the community which they continue to do even as young adults.

Outside of our volunteering, we've travelled by plane, Eurostar, Ferry, we've been up volcanoes, seen dolphins in their natural habitat. We've seen landmarks, been to theatres, live music. 

We might not have always had a huge amount of cash or savings but we've enriched and filled  our lives with experience albeit on a budget.

zagfles

Kim_kim said:

zagfles said:

Kim_kim said:

zagfles said:

Kim_kim said:

zagfles said:

Kim_kim said:

kimwp said:

RogerBareford said:

kimwp said:

RogerBareford said:

There is far more to life than simply "managing well" and there are many interesting things and places in this world to see and explore i can't imagine never going on holiday like some people on here have said.

Some people just go work, eat, watch TV and sleep in a contstant routing and that no life at all and think everyone should have atleast some interesting hobbies and get out and about often and have enough money to do this.

I agree that there should be more to life than simply surviving, but holidays are not necessarily the only avenue to that. Many people go on holidays where they visit pretty tourist spots, eat nice food and learn absolutely nothing (I'm not saying this is necessarily you). Others may not travel, yet enrich themselves with walking in their local countryside, volunteering and watching programmes about other cultures, politics and lives outside their own - which are much lower cost (financially and to the environment). Large sums of money are rarely required to have an interesting life, merely a high consumption one.

Well i think even visting tourist spots and eating different food in a different place is a good experience to have. Getting out and about and going somewhere different, experiencing different things and doing different activities i think is important in life. Yes you can watch programs about different places on TV but it doesn't beat actually getting there and doing something.

I think there are diminishing returns to simply visiting though. I've travelled and lived abroad in Europe, America and Asia and while it's fun to see new things, I can't imagine many people learn about the worst jobs in South America, what it's like to be LBTQ in Russia, how the new young millionaires live in China when they go on holiday, so I think TV programmes probably beat tourist travel from a mind-broadening point of view once some travel has been done. Not that I am advocating watching TV all the time, just that I don't think tourist holidays are necessary for an interesting life or a broad and educated mind.

I would agree with you.  I’ve learnt more from geography, world, travel, political programmes than I have holidays - far more.  

It’s nice to see some things in person, but my holidays aren’t really about fact finding missions.  I’ll visit the local places of interest, but I’m there for the sea & the beach, the cocktails & the nice meals.  

Depends on the type of holiday, obviously an AI holiday where you barely leave the hotel grounds except to go to the beach isn't going to broaden your horizons and teach you anything about other cultures, and of course some, or even most people don't want that from a holiday anyway.

But ones where you travel independantly and interact with local people and get into the local culture can give you a better and broader perspective than TV programmes which often have an agenda eg a particular issue they are investigating, so can give a slanted perspective from the point of view of one particular issue or group. 

As an example the thing that surprised me most in my travels is how the ex British colonies are generally positive about their colonial past and how much they love the British. After years of having being taught in school and by TV programmes how evil colonialism is I was expecting them to have a dim view of the British but that wasn't the case anywhere, and seeing so much colonial history, stuff like street names, area names, monuments etc in independant successful countries who seem to want to celebrate and preserve their colonial past, rather than see it as a period of occupation and oppression and rename everything, tear down statues etc, which ironically seems to happen more here!

Ireland doesn’t hold fond memories of hundreds of years of British occupation.

They did change the place names & tear down the statues.  

Well they still have the Wellington monument in Dublin, the "tallest obelisk in Europe"! You couldn't get a much bigger figurehead of the British colonial establishment than the Duke of Wellington, UK Tory PM, house of Lords, led campaigns in India, commander in chief of the British army.

Ireland is actually one of the places I was most surprised by - I first went there before the GFA when the IRA were still active, and I expected some level of resentment towards the British, but experienced the exact opposite from everyone we met. It was by far the friendliest country I'd ever been to. Going into a pub was joining a party, everyone was so friendly, up for a chat and laugh, wanted to know where we're from, gave us advice on what to see where to go etc. First night we stayed at a B&B in the Wicklow mountains, car wouldn't start the next morning, didn't have any breakdown cover, the B&B owner who knew a bit about cars spent about an hour fixing it. Wouldn't hear of accepting any payment. Car fine for rest of holiday.

I’m not sure what my post had to do with it being friendly.  

It’s well known for its warm hospitality to tourists.  

My first paragraph addressed your post. The rest was mostly an aside on the previous discussion, that you get a better insight into the rest of the world and their attitudes and opinions through travel where you interact with people and see a wide range of things, rather than TV programmes etc which will usually have an agenda or angle, or at least be bound by "political correctness" to maybe avoid certain issues or highlight/concentrate on others. I could give loads of examples, but way OT here, just to say the point is, travel does teach you stuff in a way that TV programmes etc don't.

I’ve only been locked up indoors since March 20, working from home & Covid.  

I am pretty well travelled, don’t jump to assumptions.  

What assumptions?