It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

Living_proof

freyasmum said:

I cannot keep up with you all! Haha. 

£40,000 sounds like a fab income - and indeed it's definitely not small. But it works out around £2,500 a month and the thing that matters to how well off you feel is what's left after essential bills are paid. If it's on LBC, let's assume the original man was in/near London.

I live in a commuter town for London and our old house - a perfectly average-sized end of terrace 3 bed - came up for rent recently at £1,400 a month. The council tax is £164. Our utilities currently cost £177, which is roughly the same as we paid there. Water is £43.

That's £1784 before you take into account insurances, TV, phone bills, Internet, etc. Say £100. How much would home repairs/white goods replacement cost per month? It seems like there's always something to fix! 

It would take my OH 2.5 hours to get to work, and then the same back if public transport were even an option (it isn't, given that he sometimes finishes at 1:30 am). That would cost £400 a month by public transport (not including the taxi he'd take after a late shift to save a 35 minute walk at 3:30).

Now we're up to £2284. That's £216 a month to pay for everything else including food and cleaning products, school uniform (one school skirt and blazer costs £60) and shoes (we were super lucky and managed to get a pair of clarks for my 5 year old for £15; my teenagers were £55), days out (probably more travel), any travel to see family, haircuts (my sons haircut is £10 during the week or £15 at the weekend, OHs is £15 a pop).

It also doesn't take into account any medication costs, or birthday or Christmas spends. It's not the luxury life people immediately imagine, with £50 notes being flicked out everywhere. 

Now, if we were to use figures from where i used to live, rent and council tax would be about £480. And there would be an extra nearly £1,100 a month to play with - that would feel rich! 

And the elephant in the room is debt and lease payments on vehicles etc. Anyone who has been sailing close to the wind financially up to now may start their month in deficit and it’s only a matter of time before their options run out. 

marycanary

London_1 said:

Good to hear that at last something is done to recycle unwanted tents and sleeping bags I live in the supposed south east where according to the media everyone is rolling in it .

So wrong as the Medway has a large homeless population.I used to be involved in raising awareness and helping.Before age and infirmity took over.
There was a lady who slept under the Medway bridge for over a year. There were many homeless ex-soldiers, as we have the Royal Engineers stationed in Chatham. and that's apart from the dispossessed of Gillingham.

There are many rough sleepers in what is allegedly a rich area of the country , but then the media like to whip up friction between north v south.
That's before we get the poor souls who land on the beaches in Dover thinking its the land of milk and honey and it really isn't.

Housing almost anywhere is at a premium, more so in the south of the country, we may have the jobs ,but with scarcity of housing they can't be filled. a depressing circle of a Catch 22

My youngest DD is a lettings manager for a company, and has been an estate agent for over 12 years, she says she has long lists of people desperate to find accomodation and few houses available for them. Our local council struggle to cope and rents here are astronomical. There just isn't enough done to be able to accomodate the demand at the moment and I can't see it getting better. We had a chap living in a bus shelter not long ago throughout last winter in fact and the pub across the road from him used to let him use their loo when open and often would give him a hot meal. Even the local country park had folk living in tents. Its so sad that in the 21st century we are seeing things returning to the time of Dickens and poverty on a scale that is growing daily.  

I don't know what the answer is, but I can't see things improving  

Watching TV last night there was the CEO of Asda's saying folk are limiting themselves to £30.00 spends and cutting back left right and centre.The people interviwed all said that belt tightening and down labelling their groceries was the first thing they were doing. Hopefully, at least there maybe less food waste than there was. 

I try to do a bit to help with the extra bit into the food bins at the supermarkets If everyone did just one thing everytime they went to the big stores it may help a little.
Every supermarket locally to me has a food basket on the way out the door, so even if its only one thing when you get your weekend shopping think of the folk, maybe your neighbours , food poverty has no bounderies, who could benefit. 
one of my neighbours is a single Mum with two delightfull little girls and when I go away next week what's left in my fridge I will knock on the door as I usually do, and ask her if she can help me out rather than me binning food as I can't take it away with me .Bless her she's a lovely lass, and the kids are dear little souls. I would rather pass on my spare stuff than bin it and I know it will be used up. 'Every little helps' as is said by Tesco's  

JackieO xx

Housing is in short supply everywhere, there are simply not enough homes being built. As soon as any plan to build on any field is published selfish people already with a home protest and complain their view is being spoilt or the traffic will get worse. They trot out the old myth that homes should be built on brownfield land. As if there is loads of empty derelict land in every town, or that it's OK for other people to live on a contaminated ex-industrial site. You would think people could see the link between homelessness and the need to build more homes. Too many people agree more homes are needed, as long as they are not built near them. 

littlemoney

Unfortunately new homes are built without any thought of supporting infrastructure. It's just not building a GP surgery which the developer may do but the problem is finding the staff. Parts of infrastructure are completely forgotten such as water supply and sewers.

Developers have a right to connect to these at no cost but the same size pipe with more houses connected will cause capacity problems, especially with the more frequent periods of heavy rain we seem to be getting now. The end result is discharge into rivers when the volume is too great.

The wider impact of more housing isn't taken into account. We need more houses but need greater thought on how we can manage them.

pelirocco

marycanary said:

London_1 said:

Good to hear that at last something is done to recycle unwanted tents and sleeping bags I live in the supposed south east where according to the media everyone is rolling in it .

So wrong as the Medway has a large homeless population.I used to be involved in raising awareness and helping.Before age and infirmity took over.
There was a lady who slept under the Medway bridge for over a year. There were many homeless ex-soldiers, as we have the Royal Engineers stationed in Chatham. and that's apart from the dispossessed of Gillingham.

There are many rough sleepers in what is allegedly a rich area of the country , but then the media like to whip up friction between north v south.
That's before we get the poor souls who land on the beaches in Dover thinking its the land of milk and honey and it really isn't.

Housing almost anywhere is at a premium, more so in the south of the country, we may have the jobs ,but with scarcity of housing they can't be filled. a depressing circle of a Catch 22

My youngest DD is a lettings manager for a company, and has been an estate agent for over 12 years, she says she has long lists of people desperate to find accomodation and few houses available for them. Our local council struggle to cope and rents here are astronomical. There just isn't enough done to be able to accomodate the demand at the moment and I can't see it getting better. We had a chap living in a bus shelter not long ago throughout last winter in fact and the pub across the road from him used to let him use their loo when open and often would give him a hot meal. Even the local country park had folk living in tents. Its so sad that in the 21st century we are seeing things returning to the time of Dickens and poverty on a scale that is growing daily.  

I don't know what the answer is, but I can't see things improving  

Watching TV last night there was the CEO of Asda's saying folk are limiting themselves to £30.00 spends and cutting back left right and centre.The people interviwed all said that belt tightening and down labelling their groceries was the first thing they were doing. Hopefully, at least there maybe less food waste than there was. 

I try to do a bit to help with the extra bit into the food bins at the supermarkets If everyone did just one thing everytime they went to the big stores it may help a little.
Every supermarket locally to me has a food basket on the way out the door, so even if its only one thing when you get your weekend shopping think of the folk, maybe your neighbours , food poverty has no bounderies, who could benefit. 
one of my neighbours is a single Mum with two delightfull little girls and when I go away next week what's left in my fridge I will knock on the door as I usually do, and ask her if she can help me out rather than me binning food as I can't take it away with me .Bless her she's a lovely lass, and the kids are dear little souls. I would rather pass on my spare stuff than bin it and I know it will be used up. 'Every little helps' as is said by Tesco's  

JackieO xx

Housing is in short supply everywhere, there are simply not enough homes being built. As soon as any plan to build on any field is published selfish people already with a home protest and complain their view is being spoilt or the traffic will get worse. They trot out the old myth that homes should be built on brownfield land. As if there is loads of empty derelict land in every town, or that it's OK for other people to live on a contaminated ex-industrial site. You would think people could see the link between homelessness and the need to build more homes. Too many people agree more homes are needed, as long as they are not built near them. 

Affordable  homes are what is needed ,we need to go back to Council housing with Affordable rents ,and if they sell them build another with the money raised

ladyholly

pelirocco said:

Affordable  homes are what is needed ,we need to go back to Council housing with Affordable rents ,and if they sell them build another with the money raised

I agree the worst thing any government has done is to prevent councils from using the money from the sale of council housing from being used to build new homes for rent.

All developers seem to want to build is luxury homes but what the country needs is homes to rent for ordinary people. When will government of all colours realise that not everyone can or wants to buy their own home?

littlemoney

ladyholly said:

pelirocco said:

Affordable  homes are what is needed ,we need to go back to Council housing with Affordable rents ,and if they sell them build another with the money raised

I agree the worst thing any government has done is to prevent councils from using the money from the sale of council housing from being used to build new homes for rent.

All developers seem to want to build is luxury homes but what the country needs is homes to rent for ordinary people. When will government of all colours realise that not everyone can or wants to buy their own home?

The biggest profit is from luxury homes so that is what's built. Until they can't sell luxury homes they will carry on building them. The current philosophy today is  money and profit are king, people don't matter.

Woolsery

ladyholly said:

pelirocco said:

Affordable  homes are what is needed ,we need to go back to Council housing with Affordable rents ,and if they sell them build another with the money raised

I agree the worst thing any government has done is to prevent councils from using the money from the sale of council housing from being used to build new homes for rent.

All developers seem to want to build is luxury homes but what the country needs is homes to rent for ordinary people. When will government of all colours realise that not everyone can or wants to buy their own home?

In our rural locality  a housing trust was set up to build 10 affordable homes for rent. True, the plans weren't great, but in the future world our masters envisage there's be no place for the 'inefficiency' of rural living.The focus is on towns and cities. The countryside will be for the well-heeled and for nature, not plebs in subsidised houses.

Sure enough, the green light was given, but due to the 'uncertainty of the current situation and prices' no one wants to build them, so the plans have been shelved.

EssexHebridean

marycanary said:

London_1 said:

Good to hear that at last something is done to recycle unwanted tents and sleeping bags I live in the supposed south east where according to the media everyone is rolling in it .

So wrong as the Medway has a large homeless population.I used to be involved in raising awareness and helping.Before age and infirmity took over.
There was a lady who slept under the Medway bridge for over a year. There were many homeless ex-soldiers, as we have the Royal Engineers stationed in Chatham. and that's apart from the dispossessed of Gillingham.

There are many rough sleepers in what is allegedly a rich area of the country , but then the media like to whip up friction between north v south.
That's before we get the poor souls who land on the beaches in Dover thinking its the land of milk and honey and it really isn't.

Housing almost anywhere is at a premium, more so in the south of the country, we may have the jobs ,but with scarcity of housing they can't be filled. a depressing circle of a Catch 22

My youngest DD is a lettings manager for a company, and has been an estate agent for over 12 years, she says she has long lists of people desperate to find accomodation and few houses available for them. Our local council struggle to cope and rents here are astronomical. There just isn't enough done to be able to accomodate the demand at the moment and I can't see it getting better. We had a chap living in a bus shelter not long ago throughout last winter in fact and the pub across the road from him used to let him use their loo when open and often would give him a hot meal. Even the local country park had folk living in tents. Its so sad that in the 21st century we are seeing things returning to the time of Dickens and poverty on a scale that is growing daily.  

I don't know what the answer is, but I can't see things improving  

Watching TV last night there was the CEO of Asda's saying folk are limiting themselves to £30.00 spends and cutting back left right and centre.The people interviwed all said that belt tightening and down labelling their groceries was the first thing they were doing. Hopefully, at least there maybe less food waste than there was. 

I try to do a bit to help with the extra bit into the food bins at the supermarkets If everyone did just one thing everytime they went to the big stores it may help a little.
Every supermarket locally to me has a food basket on the way out the door, so even if its only one thing when you get your weekend shopping think of the folk, maybe your neighbours , food poverty has no bounderies, who could benefit. 
one of my neighbours is a single Mum with two delightfull little girls and when I go away next week what's left in my fridge I will knock on the door as I usually do, and ask her if she can help me out rather than me binning food as I can't take it away with me .Bless her she's a lovely lass, and the kids are dear little souls. I would rather pass on my spare stuff than bin it and I know it will be used up. 'Every little helps' as is said by Tesco's  

JackieO xx

Housing is in short supply everywhere, there are simply not enough homes being built. As soon as any plan to build on any field is published selfish people already with a home protest and complain their view is being spoilt or the traffic will get worse. They trot out the old myth that homes should be built on brownfield land. As if there is loads of empty derelict land in every town, or that it's OK for other people to live on a contaminated ex-industrial site. You would think people could see the link between homelessness and the need to build more homes. Too many people agree more homes are needed, as long as they are not built near them. 

And sometimes those complaints are very justified. I live just north of London - prime commuter territory. I am a Londoner myself but was forced out when I wanted to buy, rather than rent, a home - so now live just a few miles outside the M25. I am 19 miles away from the office I work in, and as previously mentioned in this thread, the only practical and cost effective way to do the commute is to drive. That 19 miles takes at least 50 minutes each morning, and can routinely be up to an hour and a half without it being classified as a particularly "bad day" - this is because the motorway I use has a width restriction as it gets closer to London - going from 3 down to 2 lanes - this causes miles of traffic every single morning, and these days, frequently in the evening rush hour also. We have recently seen a new development approved and building commenced a few miles north of us - a proposed 23,000 new homes, of which a good chunk will be doing precisely what we are re commuting - the public transport is not good at all and even if it were the costs of a rail commute from our little town are astronomical. If we assume even a third of the likely residents of this new development are going to commute, and half of those then use a car to do so, that is a further almost 10,000 cars cramming onto a road which cannot physically expand to give a suitable flow of vehicles. In real terms this will lead to me having to give up my job - it's simply not practical for me to have a public transport commute for various reasons - cost on my relatively low income is just one, and realistically a 2 hour each way car-commute for such a short distance will also not be an option. I should add that aside from a pie-in-the-sky scheme for a "light rail system" which has so many holes in it even one of the proposers has quietly admitted it was just an attention grabbing proposal there are NO realistic plans to improve the public transport infrastructure for the residents of the new homes.  The complaints aren't always down to "selfishness" - sometimes it is because the people locally can see the flaws in the plans, and can see how quality of life will be impacted not only for those living in an area already, but for those who will go on to be housed in new developments - leaving them isolated, time poor and financially punished.

*edit* - a good example of lack of absolute basic infrastructure can be seen here: http://recordingharlow.blogspot.com/2021/01/newhall.html

EssexHebridean

littlemoney said:

ladyholly said:

pelirocco said:

Affordable  homes are what is needed ,we need to go back to Council housing with Affordable rents ,and if they sell them build another with the money raised

I agree the worst thing any government has done is to prevent councils from using the money from the sale of council housing from being used to build new homes for rent.

All developers seem to want to build is luxury homes but what the country needs is homes to rent for ordinary people. When will government of all colours realise that not everyone can or wants to buy their own home?

The biggest profit is from luxury homes so that is what's built. Until they can't sell luxury homes they will carry on building them. The current philosophy today is  money and profit are king, people don't matter.

This isn't entirely true though is it - any development beyond 10 homes these days has to include a provision for social housing. That's been the case for years - no social housing = no planning permission. 

greent

EssexHebridean said:

littlemoney said:

ladyholly said:

pelirocco said:

Affordable  homes are what is needed ,we need to go back to Council housing with Affordable rents ,and if they sell them build another with the money raised

I agree the worst thing any government has done is to prevent councils from using the money from the sale of council housing from being used to build new homes for rent.

All developers seem to want to build is luxury homes but what the country needs is homes to rent for ordinary people. When will government of all colours realise that not everyone can or wants to buy their own home?

The biggest profit is from luxury homes so that is what's built. Until they can't sell luxury homes they will carry on building them. The current philosophy today is  money and profit are king, people don't matter.

This isn't entirely true though is it - any development beyond 10 homes these days has to include a provision for social housing. That's been the case for years - no social housing = no planning permission. 

^^ I was just coming to post what EH has said. New developments around here typically have 35% constructed as social housing.