Time to Batten down the hatches - everything has gone up!

backtomum

In the last 6 months

petrol
water bill came this morning - gone up
gas and electricity - gone up
council tax - gone up
rail fares to work - gone up
food - gone up and still going up!
kids' school dinners - gone up
car insurance - gone up
Kids starting secondary in September - now got bus fares to school!

MY WAGES (EARN UNDER £12,000 GOING DOWN IN APRIL - PAYING MORE TAX!! We don't get any benefits apart from Child Benefit and £10 a week TC. All I need now is for the rent to go up (private landlord)!:eek:

Where is it going to end? Me and my other half are struggling at present and I'm sure a lot of others are too. Due to this wonderful site I have cut down one hell of a lot - but got to do better. I fall down on the food shopping.

Is everyone feeling the same way?

mrsmortenharket

bump cos no replies!

Lisa x

mummytofour

I know how you feel, I am stretch beyond beleife, I have a massive mortgage but need to as I need a 4 bed, I really need a 5 bed to be honest as one of mine has special needs and at the mo I have 2 kids in their own rooms (special needs son and dd) then 9 yr old in with 3 and 1 yr old, which is proving stressful!
I am on a DMP so every penny is accounted for, the nursery run is cost £25 a week in fuel, my train pass is £24 a week, and dh looses 13k of his wages before we even see it due to tax and his £400 pcm train pass.
Batten down the hatches sure is the real answer.
I am going to Uni in sep, when dh will become MR mum, we will be better off than him working and I hope that it will mean we can ride out the economic storm, I will be studying a subject where i will hopefully be able to get a job afterwards to provide for my family than is the current case.

beemuzed

You are so right - the cost of most things seems to have risen lately. I suggest you pop across to the OS board and look for advice there on cutting back on the food shopping. Every penny saved is a small victory these days.

cuddlymarm

Hi

I agree with bemuzed about looking at the OS boards but how do I find the older ones (I know its supposed to be nearly spring but the getting ready for winter and the wartime threads seemed quite useful) and probably reading through them again might be quite useful to any newbies.

Thanks in advance if anyone can tell me how to find them:rotfl: :rotfl:

floss2

Heard on the radio today that CAB have had a 25% increase in enquiries from people struggling with money & bills........

bank_of_slate

not surprised!
I get so angry when I think about the amount of tax that I pay, the cost of living and the ever increasing bills & price of fuel.
We're just about at the end of our debt problems but we'll still have to watch the pennies!
...Linda xx

immoral_angeluk

floss2 wrote: »

Heard on the radio today that CAB have had a 25% increase in enquiries from people struggling with money & bills........

I've seen the stats from the CAB for the types of cases they get.... without going into details obviously you'd be shocked!

penguin83

We got this years water bill today - £560.00 for the year, dreading what the council tax bill will be like this year. Our biggest problem has been the fuel increase. OH is a taxi driver and the fares havent increased to cover the fuel costs. Nursery costs have risen to £600.00 a month. The cost of wheat has risen meaning the horses food has gone through the roof (I know this isnt critical but all has to come out the budget.)

And as ever wages havent risen in line so effectively means a pay cut x

jackieb

Don't you get any more child tax credits than £10 a week, if you're just bringing in £12000 a year? I thought you would be entitled to quite a bit more.

I sometimes feel like crying when I see what's taken off my dh's wages before we get them, but i'd rather that than be on a smaller wage. Like he said, if he wasn't making it then we wouldn't have to pay it.

angchris

oh and i last year "battened down the hatches" we have really streamlined our finances anything that isn`t needed or can be reduced has been dealt with. we can`t get much more frugal other than starting up a veggie patch and getting chickens. the cost of living is just spiralling upwards and when i look at some of my friends spending habits/lifestyle its all going to come crashing down around them very shortly as they are concentrating more on the luxuries of life rather than the neccessities (sp?) i have a friend who was made bankrupt late last year (50k debt)and lost his house because it was repossed and has still booked up to go abroad next month on an expensive hol for 5 of them and eat takeaways most nights, there`s something seriously wrong if people think thats the norm and its okay