How are you surviving the credit crunch?

[Laurafoster]

I have to say things are starting to affect me a lot more now than they were at the end of last year.

All of our household bills have also increased. And to compensate we ahve cut back heavily on our food shopping - switched from some big name brands to supermarkets own which actually if im honest i dont notice a difference.

We are also staying in a lot more. We used to go out 3/4 times a week whereas now we usually only go out once a week - if that.

All in all i would say we are probably about £250 a month worse off than this time last year.

But at the end of the day im still healthy (if a little over weight ) we both still have jobs and our home and have a lovely holiday to look forward to in May.

Oh and ive also stopped watching the news as its far too depressing

We have people at work who really amaze me with things they are doing to save money or earn a bit extra so i just wondered how everyone else is "coping with the credit crunch"

 

[wicket2005]

I have started buying the home brands stuff too and am turning off lights left right and centre. On a night in the lounge we have quite a few candles on which looks lovely, saves electricity and amazingly heats the room up too.

 

[oceanscape]

We've been pretty lucky actually. Our mortgage has come down significantly and that's meant we are better off than this time last year. DH was fortunate enough to get a pay rise too, so if anything it's gone in our favour. We don't have any significant savings, so the interest rate can keep on falling and we'll be happy.

 

[Claire L]

We are better off as the mortgage has gone down quite a bit and our wages are still going up, although only slightly!

Claire

 

[paulh]

have always watched prices and compaired things so nothing new there.(would say most planners on dis are)
As work in building its a nightmare the worry, i take it like a recovering alcholic one day at at time
I am a worier but thats in me all the time,have money in bank, no mortgage.
DW used to work part time but since oct has worked as many hours as posible vurtualy full time
look forward to saturday and wendsday nights(lottery) 1st of the mont (priemium bonds)

Paulh

 

[mandymouse]

Thankfully our mortgage, gas & electricity have gone down, but hubby has had to take a pay cut - not sure how that will effect us just yet, but just thankful that he still has a job (for now)

 

[Ware Bears]

We were lucky in that our tracker mortgage was finishing and I managed to get another good deal before the market crashed and we also managed to cap our electricity and gas before they rose in price. We are tending to shop more carefully with food shopping now, we are buying a lot more supermarket brands and now only the very occasional goody at M&S.

Luckily I was watching the $ rate and when it rose to 1.80 one day I quickly bought some $T/C and when we booked our cruise we paid the bulk of it off at 1.75.

I've taken on a part-time job to help with spending money for our holiday which I am not enjoying at all but I do realise in this day and age I should just consider myself jolly lucky to be employed.

 

[Netty]

Dh in construction trade, so far not affected,but probably will soon, mortgage is only £58000 now, payments gone down with the interest rates, but know that in the future the rate will go up,up up...
I'm not working at the mo, so no wages coming in.
Have a houseful living here now, ds back from uni- no job
eldest dd and baby moved back home in November, obviously she's not working
youngest dd is looking for a job and a college course.
I dread to know what our bills will be with only one wage coming in..
I have started going to Morrisons instead of Asda, have been going to Aldi as their bread is really nice, also have bought their bags of spuds-5kg for 49p!
also buy other things from there to top up the weekly shop.
so yes we have made adjustments as well!
I feel like we are living back in the 80's, high unemployment, recession etc
I too feel that the news is all doom and gloom and to be honest I am sick of hearing about the credit crunch everytime the tv is turned on

 

[paulh]

,i posted simaller tread last sept as woas stugaling for work.and there wasnt that much folks experanceing much problems.now there are lots of people finding it hard,scary that in such a short period of time its afected so many poeple
Paulh

 

[emily1982]

I'm lucky because i have no morgage (living with the mother). My mom works for a manufacutring company which makes things to do with cars so shes had to lay alot of people off and there shutting their company for odd weeks over the year due to no work.

Me im lucky as i have a secure job, but i really want to move out and although there are plenty of houses on the market i couldnt afford the bills.

 

[PoppyAnna]

It's the work situation thats our biggest worry, with only one income and DH works for (a profit making part of) Bank of New York! Says it all really!
On Tuesday they made their first cuts, no warning, the guy that sat opposite him went, and 21 others. Seems like they've used it as an excuse to get rid of some shoddy workers though DH is fairly senior and sad to say it, but we're thinking that his position is even stronger now, especially as two bosses are fighting over him. There will be no bonus this year (was going to help with a new car) and probably no pay rise We're just pleased he has a job TBH.
No mortgage/rent so no change there, this also means the house price drop doesn't worry us as no immediate plans to move (no negative equity worry). However, it does mean savings, investments and pensions have made a shocking loss but we weren't about to raid them so although it's not nice to think about how we've lost but they are long term investments.
I do feel that the Brown/Darling partnership will have to do something soon to help savers and pensioners. Many older people I know have literally taken their money from the banks as the trust has gone, and the interest too! This means even less money to lend. It's also a large group that shouldn't be forgotten, it's not fair that we suffer because the banks lending wasn't controlled, particularly pensioners who rely on the interest on their saving to top-up their monthy income, my in-laws monthy income has gone down by a shocking £300 due to the interest rate cut
I actually find my bills have gone down compared to the last quarter of 2008, petrol is cheaper and I switched energy supplier a while back which means by bills have gone down, and they'll probably go down further next month. My food buying habits haven't changed as our outgoings are fairly low anyway, and I cook from scratch and shop frequently which I think helps. On the up side a number of the clubs and activites that the girls attend (dancing, music) have froze their prices to help families (and retain business, of course ) still afford them.
We would like a new car but no rush, if we do decide to buy one I think we will benefit from the recession by being able to get a bargain from a struggling dealer
So, not a great deal of change so far for us.

 

[natalielongstaff]

we are unnafected as yet, im keeping my fingers crossed that it stays that way.

 

[mark&sue]

The biggest thing for us is the weak pound. If the exchange rate stays the same for a while this will affect us as we have a place in Spain which obviously needs to be maintained, electricity etc and annual dues to pay on our DVC points. We go to Spain quite often so our spending money is rising each time we go. Its so much more expensive to eat and drink out than it was a year ago. We now take stuff with us from the UK instead of bringing it back!

Our mortgage payments have gone down but we have doubled them whilst we can afford to try to cut the years down, so if either of us lose our jobs we can pack up and move to Spain and rent our house out.

I changed my car to a much more economic one which does 100 miles to the gallon and now walk to work so only fill up with £15.00 of petrol every five to six months. The insurance is much less too.

A lot of friends have said no birthday and Christmas presents this year, just cards.

We drink at Wetherspoon pubs mostly nowadays as they seem to be a lot cheaper.

Hopefully things will get better once the banks start lending again.


susan

 

[Lizzybear]

At the moment we're both quite lucky: I work in early years through an agency and have been getting consistent full-time work since I graduated last year (I worked part-time before that) including a recent long-term placement. I'm looking for something full-time and still finding a lot of stuff to apply for and am planning to join another agency, definitely not resting my laurels! My bf works in public sector and doing really well so his job is pretty safe.. There are a lot of slackers in his department so I can see others being laid off before him if it came down to that.
Also, see my reply to the Saving up for Disney thread, though we've been doing most of that stuff before the 'credit crunch' was even an issue

 

[higgy66]

We've not been affected as such but as we're going to WDW on Sept this in itself has made us tighten our belts.

When I booked the holiday both DH & I got annual bonuses which would have more or less paid for it but now DH not getting his and I won't find out about mine until March. Although the company I work for has had a record 12 months if we don't get one the recession will be just an excuse to hide behind!

If I get my bonus it's paid in dollers which would be great with current rate but I think if they give a bonus it will be reduced in dollers so we end up with the same as last year in stirling - if that makes sense!

Before the recession we had a major extension added to the house and the mortgage increased x 3 times so this in itself was scarey. However, with the interest rates coming down this has helped as we're putting this away to pay for the holiday. As soon as we've paid for the holiday we'll pay off the extra to the mortgage to reduce the years.

I feel very very fortunate in my job but who can tell with my DH's job - we just take it as it comes.

I'm a great believer in positive thinking so always think the best!

 

[jjpenguin]

We're healthy and can still have a biscuit with our cuppa so I keep telling myself there are lots of people worse off than us.

Only thing is our savings as I had quite a bit in ethical shares and they're not doing any better than the other ones but then they are meant for the long term. Trouble is with DH out of a job at the moment and me only working part time we will have to start dipping into our savings if this continues...

 

[hannah_montana]

We have been quite lucky so far, mortgage has gone down a lot due to interest rate drops. We are paying a lot more in gas though, we use a pre-pay meter and its shocking how often we have to top it up now compared to last winter. We try not to use the heating for too long but I get very very cold (even in the summer!) so I can't do without it! We tend to stay in more and buy a bottle of wine from Asda rather than go to the pub...if we do go out its usually to Wetherspoons! I have tried to cut back on the food shopping by getting some own brands and have stopped buying 'treats' like ice cream and crisps unless they are in a half price offer or something. The cat still gets his premium brand food though, can't let my special boy suffer! I am also sick of hearing about it on the news everyday, it really makes things so much worse for everyone.

 

[~Fisharefriends~]

we ave been pretty lucky so far and have found ourselves unaffected. OUr morgagehas gone down and having no other debts or borrowings. II work for the nhs so am pretty secure and dh's job even though in private sector his companyare still erforming well.

Our nect hliday was booked last yarwhen rates were at 1.95 and we have it all paid off, we alsoourhg our annual passes at that time as well.

I have been putting any extra money we have aside for arainy day rather than spending which i hope we wont hve to need. The news is pretty scary at the moment and i have also stopped watching it.

 

[gemmybear83]

Weve not been too badly affected, we bought our house 18 months ago, but it was a wreck and we got a good discount off it as the owner was emigrating, other similar houses sold for £15,000 more than ours, were not planning on moving for a few years and we have a low mortgage as we bought in an "up and coming area" where house prices havent risen much over the last few years.

We got a good fixed term deal which ends at the end of March next year, and if things stay the same our repayments will go down next year

Both our jobs are fairly secure although they are in the property sector, but its seems things are still moving along here and my employer has been quick to respond to the building crisis so we are working around it as best we can. Although I think there will be redundancies in the future - I would hope they would use this to get rid of some of the "dead wood" out of the office.

I recieved a pay rise and promotion late last year so this has helped to cushion the extra cost of food shopping, we have stopped shopping at the Sainsburys down the road and now got to Asda as we have foudn it a lot cheaper.

Our bills have reduced by about two thirds since last year as we had a new energy efficient boiler installed which is much cheaper to run, and I think I am lot more aware about what temp to have the heating on.

We only have one car to run, and Henrys car insurance has gone down now he is over 25, we dont use it too much as we can walk, or get the bus to Newcastle city centre in 10 mins.

The poor exchange will affect our holiday in October and our wedding next year, we are just being more smart about how we spend our money - but I am not going to let the economy or the way the media protrays the economy dictate the decisions I make (if I can help it!), you only live once after all!

 

[TraceyL]

I was made redundant just before Christmas, DH started his own business last year & work has dried up. Bills have gone up, holiday is on hold as we are living off our savings. DB has decided to get married in the South of France - DDs are devastated that we can't afford to go. Life is great