The cost of living
 

Cost of living, expensive dont you think.

Rent - £350
Rates - £100
Gas - £61
Electric - £82
TV Lic - £11.95
Water - £16.14

Total = £621.09

That just the Basics most people will have to pay

Now add Car running costs, Insurance, Food, Pets, Sky, Internet, Debts (Lucky if you have none nowadays), School Clubs Ect and in the event of a emergency things like cooker ect breaking, clothes needed, Pleasure items, kids.

How do most people cope I for one stuggle and things arnt getting any cheaper.:(

How do you find it.

Re: The cost of living
 

Well you just do, it's just a matter of getting your priorities right and cutting your coat according to your cloth, as they say. If your basics are in place you may have to make choices on other things

But it's really galling when you struggle to do your best to bring up your family on a limited income, and others who don't give a poo get things thrown at them because they are so blooming useless or feckless. :(

Re: The cost of living
 

wow MR D, you only pay £16.14 a month for your water?

your lucky, mine is £30 a month, £300 a year

Re: The cost of living
 

Was just about to say ya pay less water than me too, i was paying £18.25 amonth, which i may add will go up again in April :rolleyes:

BUT, you do pay more in gas and electric....up to now!
Not much left out of a grand these days is there?....:(

Re: The cost of living
 

Are you on a meter Flashers............? they sometimes work out cheaper if you watch what you use...................................;)

Re: The cost of living
 

Well thats a loada bull, i did one of them question thingys on the water site and i was told id be worse off if i had the meter, so if they ever make em compulsary, they wont be getting in my house!:rolleyes:

Re: The cost of living
 

oh no, not water meters.....jambutty was ranting about then not long ago wasnt he?

Re: The cost of living
 

You were brought up better than to be rude about old folk. Anyway he does not rant, he moans :p ;)

Re: The cost of living
 

Sorry i mentioned them , they worked out miles cheaper for us............:tongueout

Re: The cost of living
 

Start cutting down on the luxuries. Get rid of the TV then you don't need a licence or Sky. Sell the kids off and that cuts out School clubs, and for good measure give up food, it's bad for you :D

Re: The cost of living
 

eleccy at 82 seems high for a normal household?

similarly gas.

I now pay 120/month for both in a large 3/4 bed semi dormer bungalow with non energy bulbs, a washer that I'm sure is on constantly :D and a gas fire that I'm sure is like an open pipe on fire from the gas co. !


you don't mention if you get any help with rent/council tax etc which if you are on low income you should.

I'll start another thread if we think its neccessary but I have to ask, what are your career plans? if you are sat there without looking to increase your earning potential then you need to consider it.

12 years ago I earned 20% of what I do now for 2-3x the hours. I'm lucky that I have a particular aptitude for something that happens to pay a lot of money. 11 years ago I didn't know that I did though. I made small but important steps with a view as to where I wanted to be next, 8 steps later I'm 'content' which my position and career. I know (and don't want) to be CEO or even any higher in the management chain than I am but I've got where I am by having a plan and working hard towards it.

If there is one thing that schhols don't teach in career mamagement is that change is not necessarily bad and can actualy be just what you need. It also doesn't teach you to gain whatever you can from every position you are in and to take that to teh next role. I've sold TVs from a little shop in Rishton, waited tables and run pubs round east lancashire and started in Barclays as a Trainee programmer. I'm now Technical Lead consultant for the Middleware Live support team advising on systems that deal with Billions of pounds a day. some of the skills I learned selling Tvs I use daily to sell my ideas and propsals to senior business people. In some ways its what stands me out from most other techies in that I can SELL an idea. Similarly In teh pubs you get used to dealing with a wide variety of people and gain teh ability to 'read' them and what makes them tick. Using this I can aim my sales at teh right people in teh right manner. Just because selling TVs only paid me 100 quid a week means nowt now. The skills I learned doing teh job make a massive difference in my job here and now.

I have always lived by teh mantra that only I can decide how and where I want to be and only I can make it happen through hard work, hard choices and in some cases a dose of luck.


Good luck in what you do but you need to remember that no-one s ever going to hand you a cushy job on a plate, its up to you to chase down that plate and to make sure that its got your name on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: The cost of living
 

You guys pay for water:eek: Holy faeces ... next thing is, you will be paying for the air you breathe.

Re: The cost of living
 

£30 a month.:eek:

Good advise.:D

It includes built up arrears over the years I had been on estimated readings.

The above was the new rate I was told today.

I get just over £10.00 per week from Tax Credits and only started claiming this when they sent me a bill for £1000 (Ill let them pay themselves back), due to overpayments 3 years ago, this was my mistake I should of started claiming earlier but didnt bother.

I wouldnt class myself as low income, just not great, most of it my fault as I like to have luxeries which has resulted in debts, but I see it as why not I have worked for the past 17 years (11 at my current job) I should have things I want, other wise why work at all.

My reason for the post was to see how others found it as the cost of just general living is IMO a costly thing

I feel for people on the minimum wage of £5.73ph x 39hrs, bring home around £190/£200? must think why bother working. when benefits is roughtly £160/£170? (Inc free rent & Rates).

Re: The cost of living
 

Shushhhhhhhhhhh Eric don't give Gordon ideas:D

Re: The cost of living
 

Id expect it to be Purified for that!!...:eek:

Re: The cost of living
 

when i moved into this house almost 13 years ago i paid £15 a month for it, its gone up £15 in 13 years

pipples, i use quite a lot of water, i have at least 1 / 2 baths a day myself and Reece has 1 / 2 a day depending on how he feels when he gets home from school, i've got used to budgeting for that amount now so it really doesnt bother me, i'm quite good with my money, i'm not in a penny of debt and all my bills get paid

Re: The cost of living
 

Thats more than i earnt last month, and i did nearly 40hours a week:eek:

Starting to see why so many stay on benifits rather than work, my job isnt what i would describe as difficult but i do work hard and sometimes long hours (over 60hours this week:eek:). When i do get paid (low pay £4.77ph) the tax man walks away with a HUGE chunk of what should be mine.

TBH life is too expensive, and its not as if i spend my money on luxuries, id say probably the only luxuries i pay for are my internet (£7.50 a month), and the occaisonal new outfit, I really dont understand how people can be careless with money, I currently owe about £400 which im currently paying off very quickly, but i have learnt my lesson getting into debt sucks.

I now plan to spend the rest of my life debt free:D.

Re: The cost of living
 

Speedy, just a though BUT are you not entitled to working family tax credits/ tax credits? if you are single you may be and if you are with someone you also may be entitled to them, i said may be, its just a thought, go down the tax office in accy, you have nothing to lose

Re: The cost of living
 

speedy should be able to get child tax credits cos of the little ones shouldnt he?

Re: The cost of living
 

Re: The cost of living
 

No more than anyone else.

Isn’t the thread starter a moan about the cost of living?

Re: The cost of living
 

Im not 100% sure but i think the girlfriend already gets them, we dont live together and the little ones live with her so im fairly sure she gets that....if not then i might enquire about it.

But TBH i hate claiming any sort of benefit even when im entitled to it, prefer to feel like i have earned my money (no offense to those on benifits just not my cuppa tea).

Also money isnt really something i worry about, i make enough money in my job to keep myself and the little ones with food and clean clothes so im more than happy with that.

Re: The cost of living
 

speedy you can get tax credits for yourself if you are working and on your own

Re: The cost of living
 

We all make that mistake when we first have to claim for something, (it's a pride thing).

In my case after I'd made my first claim I was given the choice of two different claims, I had no idea which suited me and said so also asking the difference between the two.

I was told that one system was for people that were fully paid up with their national insurance, the other was 'usually', (note the 'usually'), for those that either hadn't any or owed some payments. I was pleased to say my payments are up to date so went for the first choice, only to find much later that had I gone for the second choice, I would have got an extra few pounds per week and such things as prescription charges would be free on that entitlement.

If you are unfortunate to be in a position were you can claim, don't let pride get in the way, it is your entitlement, always claim for the maximum it is you'res by right.

http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:...50_280x280.jpg

Re: The cost of living
 

If they are your children and your girlfriend is claiming the relevant tax credits then indirectly ( or directly whichever way you look at it ), you are already claiming benefits. In actual fact indirectly you may be getting more than others.