how is,or is the credit crunch affecting you?

[paulh]

just wonered how the turmoil is affecting folks.for me since we got back beginning of sept itsbeen horendous.proberly worked 7 days so far.work in the constuction industry as self-emploied joiner(carpenter for the southeners).
Paulh

 

[emily1982]

Well money seems to be going out of my account quicker and im buying the same stuff each month...petrol etc

I must say though im sick of hearing about it!

 

[paulh]

I must say though im sick of hearing about it!

A self-fulfilling prophecy
Paulh

 

[natalielongstaff]

I must be the one thats not affected...yet ! im a childminder and my work has increased a bit, my outgoings are small so we are managing ok

 

[Snowy-girls]

Same as Nat(at the moment),it has'nt affected us.I have only noticed a small increase in our weekly shopping budget.I am very careful with money,always have been,i calculate our monthly bills into 4 weekly+this amount goes away each week-so when the time comes to pay the bills-it's already there+does'nt have to come out in one lump sum.If any money is left over because a bill is lower than expected then it is spent on the girls-a new toy etc..x.

 

[Vana]

Well I know what all my bills are and when they leave our bank, after that it's food deducted and whats left is ours with some put away for emergencies.

Personally we have noticed a big change in the cost of Petrol, not looking forward to new prices in gas and electric.

We have noticed that food has gone up a lot and we are cutting back with nights out etc Not looking forward to Christmas this year.

 

[PoppyAnna]

Obviously the prices of fuel and food going up means that we save a little less every month. DH was a self-employed consultant until five months ago but now is PAYE with loads of benefits which is a huge sigh of relief as he works in IT in banking, in the City of London!
We have actually started to notice that in a few areas the credit crunch has started to benefit us ie. restaurants are running special offers to keep customers, as we eat out a bit so this is great. We are also looking at new cars and the new car market has crashed, so cash is king - this should help our negotiations too. We have also managed to negotiate good deals on our mobile phones and TV/broadband bills as these providers are scared of people leaving them at the mo. So we have offset somethings increasing by reducing others.
We are savers as we don't have a great deal of outgoings so, I'm sorry to say, although it's unlikely, we would love the interest rate to go up...
flame me now....

 

[gemmybear83]

Not really affected me too much - food has gone up but we have become smarter where we shop etc. I work in the property industry and I have seen a lot of people being made redundant. Were only a one card household so petrol doesnt affect us too much and we use public transport a lot and we only 10 mins away from Newcastle City Centre so we can walk a lot.

The media is driving me mad at the moment as its all so negative, I monitor houseprices as part of my job and "up north" they are still static or going up! Friends and family are still buying and selling houses....I don't think its as bad as the papers would like us to believe!

 

[paulh]

Obviously the prices of fuel and food going up means that we save a little less every month. DH was a self-employed consultant until five months ago but now is PAYE with loads of benefits which is a huge sigh of relief as he works in IT in banking, in the City of London!
We have actually started to notice that in a few areas the credit crunch has started to benefit us ie. restaurants are running special offers to keep customers, as we eat out a bit so this is great. We are also looking at new cars and the new car market has crashed, so cash is king - this should help our negotiations too. We have also managed to negotiate good deals on our mobile phones and TV/broadband bills as these providers are scared of people leaving them at the mo. So we have offset somethings increasing by reducing others.
We are savers as we don't have a great deal of outgoings so, I'm sorry to say, although it's unlikely, we would love the interest rate to go up...
flame me now....

One of the reasons i am looking at PAYE jobs at the moment
Paulh

 

[CHEK]

Well it's certainly affecting us!, I think my DD's are sick of hearing us talking of the Credit Crunch , we definately have less disposable income, and we're not doing anything different . My DH work's 50hrs plus, I work 30hrs, we don't smoke, drink and hardly ever go out as my DH's always at work

 

[Laurafoster]

The credit crunch is affecting us quite a lot but we'll manage.
The main thing with us is that our mortgage has gone up by over £100 a month Not fantastic news but i count myself lucky that im not one of the thousands of people facing negative equity or worse - the possibility of losing your home. I have seen a few repossession notices around here recently and i cant imagine how awful that must be for anyone.

 

[PoppyAnna]

Not sure if anybody else has noticed but I hope you'll agree, the best thing about the "CC" so far is the reduction in the junk mail you get from the likes of Capital One offering you a credit card....

 

[PoppyAnna]

One of the reasons i am looking at PAYE jobs at the moment
Paulh

Don't blame you Paul
DH can't believe his timing......what luck!

 

[BRobson]

Well up until Friday my DH worked for the last 20 years with HBOS but resigned - he has another job and with todays news he maybe got out at the right time

Didn't do our shares any favours though

 

[mushumadness]

Im a childminder like Natalie, so my outgoing are quite small too. I have noticed an increase in parents looking for places as they have to go back to work. And petrol when taking the kids out is climbing. So we do more at home / in village things.

Food had gone up, DH has stopped buying beer. We have just changed to shopping at Tesco which is closer.

The only things I am worried about is our mortgage rate ending in March as its fixed quite low and how my maternity leave will affect whats coming in.

 

[natalielongstaff]

The only things I am worried about is our mortgage rate ending in March as its fixed quite low and how my maternity leave will affect whats coming in.

I think the advice is to start shopping around early for a good deal on a mortgage these days

Ask your current lendor and a broker and also check independantly

 

[carolfoy]

mainly petrol costs for me, I put £35 in the car last friday and the same again this morning, I can remember a time when £20 would nearly fill the tank (different car, admittedly) but now £35 is a half tank!
apart from that dealing with clients at work that have been affected by the Xl collapse.
also I just seem to have no money, not spending anything greatly different, not buying clothes etc and have actually only been away once this year, the usual being 3 or 4 times, it just seems to be that moneys going in and out again.
Am finding it pretty hard to be honest, will be sending Callum up t'chimneys any minute - why did they abolish child labour??

 

[princess jackson]

I think we will be okay, changed our mortgage recently, added extra money and we paying less a month. After returning home from WDW we recieved a letter from our energy supplier informing us that our payments were reducing. Not sure how this has come about.

 

[cap'njack.]

Mine is mainly diesel costs and the costs of basic food. Also my bank appears to have just been bought out by Llyods TSB so hopefully they won't pull my overdraft when the change over happens or I'll be stuck (to put it nicely, this is a family board afterall!)

 

[~Fisharefriends~]

so far we have been pretty much uneffected, dh's company pays his fuel and i hardly use my car. I work for the NHS and have been able to get lots of extra hours so have been able to put some savings away just in case.

i have slightly changed my shopping habits so my food bill has pretty much stayed the same. we have a long term fixed morgage and got in early and capped our electric/gas etc, so we should make it through ok.