Who's feeling the pinch?

[Magentus]

With all the financial shenanigans going on in the wider world, I'd like a grass roots idea of who is already being affected by the various crashes, austerity measures etc.

Personally, I live as sparse a lifestyle as I can, with a low-paid but (IMO) worthwhile job. I don't run a car anymore, we don't have holidays and buy as much as we can from charity shops and exchange other stuff on Freecycle, grow as much food as we can in our small garden, and keep chickens for the eggs.

Even so, with food prices going right up, we've still had to amend our spending habits.

Politics etc aside, I think we are on the brink of a massive change in our fortunes as a country, and in times of such hardship, friendly forums such as this one can provide emotion support and comradeship.

Does anyone else feel like sharing their experiences?

 

[troyka]

life is tough, ive had no pay rises for 3 years and a pay cut, increased hours (for no extra) but my work is worthwhile and i do love it. ive never run a car, cycle and public transport ect..

im not sure we can put politics aside, party lines yeah but still.... personally i think bailing out the banks was a mistake, collapse would have brought about a destruction of the failed capitalist experiment and made us more aware of what we consume and how we live..

but back to the real world... im moving soon from a flat to a house and garden, and looking forward to growing stuff, ive been waiting on the allotment waiting list for 7 years and still nothing so that will halp with food bills, and im trying to learn what grows wild near me so i can forage.. (vegetarian so no rabbit pie for me)

 

[Magentus]

Troyka - I said the bit about politics because it's a bit of a no-no on this site - quickest way to lock a thread........ I'm coming from a far far left viewpoint by the way, but the situation is what the situation is, whatever my personal politics.

You seem to have the same ideas as us (me and my family), making positive decisions to make life as simple and robust as possible. We've had increasingly many discussions (this very morning in fact, about pigeon) about what stage we would eat meat 'if we had to'.

I can recommend a site called 'self sufficientish' if you haven't already found it, with loads of like minded souls;

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/main/

 

[Suffolksteve]

I'm not feeling the pinch!

I must be one of the lucky few!

My mortgage has more than halved, my wage dipped but huge cost savings at work has allowed us to make profit again so it has returned. My work is starting to pay off, debt has started to get sorted, car repayments have stopped and we now have some disposable cash each month - something we didn't have for over 5 years. The most important aspect of this though is the fact I am one of three employees when there were nine of us so I am lucky and grateful to still have a job.

It is hard paying 100% more for fuel than when I first started driving, seeing food prices rocket makes buying food, specifically free range meat a hard choice sometimes but it is very liberating to even have the choice.

We are by no means rich or well off though, for years I worked 40+ hours in my main job, had a second job as a bar man to pay for the petrol to get me to my main job and worked on an adhoc basis for another company just to get by.

We have our allotment which I enjoy and produces some nice food though unfortunately I can no longer keep chickens due to restrictive covenants and lack of resources.

So all in all, no I am not feeling the pinch, but I am acutely aware of the impact it has, how close we all are to it and it is worrying how little I am able to do now to prepare for when my time isn't so good.

 

[troyka]

Magentus, i cant help myself sometimes with my views.... thanks for that link looks cool i will have to explore it a bit.. ive already found a foraging class in Bath spa, (not ever so far from me)

 

[Magentus]

Magentus, i cant help myself sometimes with my views.... thanks for that link looks cool i will have to explore it a bit.. ive already found a foraging class in Bath spa, (not ever so far from me)

I know what you mean - I've already had a thread closed because of my views, and it feels like I've lost my right arm sometimes on this site because I think everything is political, but there we are. I suppose it stops threads decending into chaos and mud slinging.

Where abouts are you in relation to Bath? I used to live in Frome, and worked for a while at 'Our Price' records before it shut down. I love that part of the country.

 

[rik_uk3]

My trousers are....I've put on a lot of weight.

Financially? Not really to be honest, mortgage free etc, we eat very well, usually a few quid left in the bank at the end of the month for the next holiday but its not always been that way by any means. I feel for youngsters like my children, they face some uphill crap in the next few years. I suppose we are very lucky as a family.

 

[Highfield]

Hard times?...it's only just begun. Here is a potential money making idea which the bbc and Telegraph have decided to float into the collective concious.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-14379215

Any takers?

 

[Magentus]

It would be an incentive across most income levels for those who wanted to do a kind deed and make enough money to, for instance, pay off university loans," she said

So - the less well off can sell a kidney for an education? What have we become?

I agree Highfield, I think the hard times (in this country at least) have only just begun.

 

[FGYT]

[video=youtube;aclS1pGHp8o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aclS1pGHp8o[/video]

 

[Highfield]

So - the less well off can sell a kidney for an education? What have we become?

I agree Highfield, I think the hard times (in this country at least) have only just begun.

Exactly. Gives a whole new meanig to "saving for my education"

 

[The Lord Poncho]

I too have been rather lucky- i have a tracker mortgage, so my repayments have dropped considerably, and someone offered me a new job for more money than i was on. But i do live a life generally free of glitzy expensive outgoings. I'm putting any surplus into a (modest) house purchase as a step up from our flat, and i'm not foolish enough to think that my current run of luck will last!

 

[susi]

I think the fact that so many people are "feeling the pinch" is proof that we've had it pretty good for so long. In years gone long by, large sections of the population "felt the pinch" all the time, they just called it life.

Are we in for a fall? Of course we are, and it's going to sting for a generation or two.

 

[Retired Member southey]

Hahahaha brilliant! Wonder what my left nut is worth? Word on he street is that it was the left that put our twins in the oven, gotta bump up the price a bit!,

to the OP, we have just(this month) come out the good side of feeling the pinch, but as we plan and budget a lot, we never really did without, even though I haven't worked for the last two years or so with looking after our wee ones, Its all about making payments and cracking on, now we are just looking forward to more trips to places further a field, dont get to down aout the future, you can only look after your self and your own,

 

[Magentus]

Southy - I live what I consider to be an excellent life - much much more comfortable than most of the world - and it's never been about money, possessions or other trappings for me. I'm not suggesting that's what it's about for you - we're all just trying to get by.

I don't think it's about looking after me and my own - that's why we're in this mess now. We all share a world and its' resources (finite and infinite) and IMO we need to start treating it as such.

My concern is for people who see our current way of life as non negotiable. It's going to be a massive shock to them when it suddenly disappears.

I'm aware the above sounds a bit arsey - it's not meant to be

 

[Retired Member southey]

See, now I feel that it because we as a people have become more connected through mass media, telecommunications and tv that our troubles seem so much worse, the human race has been through much more hard times than we are currently, its just that we only noticed it when it affected our little areas rather than worrying what's going on say over the pond or the other side of the globe, I am certainly not a follower kind of guy but I'm also under no illusion that things are terrible and suddenly going to change in some kind of mass upheaval, But as with all things it is good to have differing views, then when the others who Haven't prepared find the world different those who have can help there fellow brother and sister and share there stored goods and knowledge, Right?

I was also just replying to your post, not insinuating that you live in a consumer product filled Tokyo main street style neon house matey!

 

[Limaed]

We've cut back on things like takeaways, alcohol and eating out along with shopping a lot more at car boot's and charity shops. Kids days out are free visits to the park or seaside. Its no bad thing though, my waistline didn't need the takeaways or booze and we've had some great finds at the boot sales. The kids enjoy a day out whether you spend £1 or £100. I've cut back on shiny hill kit & Bushcraft gear too!

I think on the whole despite the recession most in this country are still very well off. I've been lucky enough to travel a fair bit over the years and remember an old boy in Bolivia begging and being overjoyed with a gift of a loaf of bread and a family living in the burnt out shell of an aircraft in Kabul. Do we really know the meaning of hardship in the west? Despite everything i'm not sure we do.

 

[Magentus]

I agree Southey - the world has seen much worse than this but our expectations from life have never been higher and our skill levels have never been lower. I'm not talking about anyone on this site - but I think there's been a general deskilling of society for the last couple of decades which will make what's coming harder for a lot of people to cope with.

What's going on globally in the financial world is very big news though - the US is in deep trouble, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal too, and it's too big to not have an effect here. Couple this with peak oil, climate change and population growth and you have a big deal.

Gold prices are through the roof which is always an indication of trouble etc etc etc

I hope we'll carry on as usual, but I can't see how we can

 

[Retired Member southey]

I agree with the general level of skill, for some reason watched adrien childs admit he couldn't change a plug the other day? what do you think about people being priced out of being able to learn a skill though?

 

[Magentus]

I agree with the general level of skill, for some reason watched adrien childs admit he couldn't change a plug the other day? what do you think about people being priced out of being able to learn a skill though?

Do you mean university fees?

I'm passing all the skills I can on to my daughter, as I know many people on this site do. Carpentry, cooking, sewing, repairing stuff, keeping accounts, household tasks, gardening, general building, DIY, everything I can.