MSE News: Rising rents push more into debt

Heliflyguy wrote: »

Ahh the great British dream of owning a house, I did not realise that renting in the UK meant a life cut off from the outside world on par to living in a Benedictine monastary.

Dont understand your line about the 80s either, did nobody rent in the 80s?

Clearly you don't understand otherwise you would not ask about the 80's reference.

I was highlighting the so called 'squeezed' renters and their financial pain is slightly difference to the squeeze in the early 80's recession.

The question that was being asked was not Sky or Virgin, it was "is gas or electricity being paid this month"

I am not saying things are easy, but this appears to be another shallow, ill thought out, sensationalist article about how everyone in the country is getting shafted.

It is not the case, many people, friends included, say they are skint, yet go out and by the new Iphone, or takeaway.

I am not saying live a monasatarian lifestyle, I am however saying that if you want something in life, it does not come easy, and sacrifices need to be made.

One thing many don't agree with, following on from the great quick cash, i deserve the best Labour gov.

It would be nice to see a balanced argument written by the MSE time at some stage,

I'm well aware of all those factors but to include everything that affects my outgoings would give far more away than I want to put on the internet. I'm just going to say that if you net out all the costs more vs costs less factors for me over the last year or so, I'm confident that my situation will come out pretty near average.

I'd say it's pretty easy to prioritise rent and still get into arrears. Certainly I know people who find themselves in that position at least occasionally, with other essential bills like the electricity having to go unpaid. An unpredictable cash flow (e.g. temp worker, freelancer etc.) and/or an unexpected cost is all that takes for anyone without savings.

Firefox is right.

I spend much if my time over at DFW attempting to help and council people who have difficulty differentiating between priority and non priority spending.

I remember the 80's. I remember my father being made redundant three times in a year. I remember the freezing winter and frost in the inside of the windows because the heating was off. I remember the days and days of jam sandwiches morning, noon and night because £4.50 was all we could scrape together for the week. I remember bare cupboards, potato pie with a single mashed sausage and I remember the haunted, pinched look in my parents faces. I know that they went hungry to give me food and the work was by no means a certainty. I remember watching the lady across the road standing the street crying with two suit cases and two little children as they boarded up her home.

This 'credit crunch' is nothing like the 80's. Frankly, it's a piece of pi$$ to weather. When you have sold everything of value in the house including the iPhone, turned off everything you can and spent a miserable couple of days eating nothing, then tell me you are in financial trouble and finding it difficult to live. Thanks to easy credit, we have a generation or so who have never had a tough time in their lives and can't understand why they can't have the latest must have item. Most can't fathom the idea of even skipping a single meal because they were taught that the world owes them a living.

This headline is sensationalist rubbish which once again panders to the politics of envy and pseudo class hatred.