Whatever happened to "saving for a rainy day"?

Great post Dickens. Maybe the “self righteous brigade” should direct some of their anger towards the oil companies and energy providers that are making excessive profits and paying huge salaries and bonuses whilst the government does little to curb these excesses.
The rising cost of fuel in particular, food prices is not really a rainy day. The costs of my gas and electricity already takes up half on my state pension (which by the way I paid contributions for 40 plus years) and with winter consumption and the price hike I can already see it will swallow up my entire pension!

There is also the issue of if you take a second job you automatically have to pay 20% tax on that job even if you are still under that tax threshold. It's all very well saying well you claim in back off HMRC at some point but people need that money NOW not in 6 months time.

Good post Dickens.

Nanna29

I work as a carer and earn minimum wage my husband is self employed gardener. We just get by. I dont have anything like the savings shown on previous post. We are incredibly worried have no idea how we will manage my 12 year old and 21 year old still live at home im having to charge my dd more to live with us. We don't go on holidays rarely go out for a meal only on birthdays. We live in the North of England ive been looking for another job cant find one with enough hours. I applied to a local shop but the manager told me the contract is 16 hours so although I can do more hours each week if im on holiday thats all I will be paid for. I work 35 hours as a carer I walk I dont have a car I physically can't do any more hours. All this is frightening

It's people, such as yourself and your husband, doing jobs that are essential, but getting paid peanuts that make me so angry with the self-righteous brigade.
No matter how hard you work - you will be forever running faster just to stay in the same place.
The fact is, you are not paid a living wage. And you, along with many others, have probably already tightened your belt as much as you can.
It's a disgrace. And it's absolutely shameful that Truss is determined to cut taxes - which is purely aimed at keeping the party faithful happy knowing full well that it will do very little to help the low-paid. And she then has the gall to insinuate that helping people with an aid-package is a "handout" which, by the very nature of the word, implies money being given to the 'undeserving'.

I work as a carer and earn minimum wage my husband is self employed gardener. We just get by. I dont have anything like the savings shown on previous post. We are incredibly worried have no idea how we will manage my 12 year old and 21 year old still live at home im having to charge my dd more to live with us. We don't go on holidays rarely go out for a meal only on birthdays. We live in the North of England ive been looking for another job cant find one with enough hours. I applied to a local shop but the manager told me the contract is 16 hours so although I can do more hours each week if im on holiday thats all I will be paid for. I work 35 hours as a carer I walk I dont have a car I physically can't do any more hours. All this is frightening

Cor! Lovely!
Trouble is, if I buy anything like that, I won't be able to leave them alone.
I never ate anything sweet at all until I was into my 40s, too, so I have to make up for lost time!
Scones, bananas and custard, crumble.
So many desserts, so little time so much heartburn!

MissAdventure

Oh very good!
Does he ever make cheese ones, just out of interest?
With cream cheese and tomato chutney inside?

I'm going to make myself a gold blend in a minute, and use a small drop of warmed milk in it.

With cream cheese and tomato chutney inside?

... mango chutney also works with the cream cheese - absolutely delicious!

LtEve

A house for £100k? My DD and her brother have just bought a two bedroomed flat together, it cost them £264k. Neither could have bought on their own despite being amazing savers.

It depends where you live. When my daughter graduated she was offered graduate training schemes in business science in London and in Liverpool. Knowing the cost of living in London, she decided to work in Liverpool with the view of relocating later if she needed to. She has been very successful in her career as she works very hard and had had several different jobs gaining experience. I doubt that she will now move to London as her love of the outdoors in The Lake District and Lancashire is very important for her.

My daughter bought a house on her own when she was 32, she saved up the deposit while paying rent and her student loan. Her rent was low as she lived in a small room in a shared house to save money and her two bedroom terraced house cost £110 ( at todays prices). She works in Manchester mainly and chose to live in Atherton, a small town near Bolton where property is cheap. She could have paid three times that to live in a trendy suburb of Manchester or in the city centre but knew that in order to get on the housing ladder she had to look in cheaper locations. She is now buying a new house with her partner and looking to start a family - happy days!

Had she decided to work in London or some other parts of the UK I don’t think she would ever have saved the deposit.

MissAdventure, maybe your watering can will reappear soon, if there is no water with which to fill it?

Night night,xx

Not everyone who cannot save is wasting their money.

We had to support our daughter for three years. She was renting, her entry level salary after graduating from university was so low and she could barely afford anything. She even struggled to buy food.

Instead of saving, I was getting into my overdraft and was raking quite a lot of debt on my credit card which I managed to clear when I had to work from home during the lockdown.

DD is financially independent now. She has plenty of saving, no debt and she never waste food.

I'm going to sit on my back doorstep with my coffee and keep an eye out for the missing watering can borrow one off someone else's doorstep

Are you planning to sleep?
It is evading me, lately.

He has made cheese scones, but not often. Usually he makes raisin scones and buys clotted cream to go with them, plus strawberry jam of course.
Enjoy your coffee, I’m already in bed.

Oh very good!
Does he ever make cheese ones, just out of interest?
With cream cheese and tomato chutney inside?

I'm going to make myself a gold blend in a minute, and use a small drop of warmed milk in it.

What a coincidence, my husband makes wonderful scones. I make the cakes, but he does the scones, they are the best.

Well, never say never.
I may get some mobility back, and a bus pass, but I suppose there are limits.
I really enjoy a cup of strong tea, too. (With a scone!)

MissA what a pity we can’t meet up for a cup of gold blend

Same for me, maddy.
I far prefer a gold blend than real coffee.
I do sometimes change, if another is in offer, and I like it for a while, but I soon yearn for my gold blend again.

I did retrain myself onto aldi gold coffee.
It took quite a while, but was less than half price of gold blend.

Then we no longer went to aldi, so all that training was wasted!

I’m with you on the coffee MissA, gold blend Nescafé for me. My husband likes the real stuff, proper ground coffee, but not me. Gold blend every time.

By the way, we drink Tetley tea

I like yorkshire tea, gold blend coffee.
I also like ariel washing powder, but that is negotiable.
I just know a yellow label is a bargain, click, and hope for the best.
I asked an ex if he had any bread a while back.
He had 52 cans of cream soda and 7 big tubs of lurpack!

I agree absolutely, GreyKnitter. There is no reason whatsoever why DLA should be means tested in a civilised society.

The practical reason people often don’t save any longer for a ‘rainy day’ is the availability of credit, quite a lot free credit over a number years. When we bought our new sofas about five years ago we were offered free credit over four years. We could have paid outright for the sofas, but my husband said why not leave the money in our bank (despite the rubbishy rate of interest, there was at least some interest) and we’ll pay month by month. So we did. It seems to me to be the overriding reason why people no longer save; free or low interest credit. Plus intimes of inflation, the price of the goods often rises quicker than a person could save up. So buy it now at a good price and pay it off gradually, usually with free credit.
However the bank rates went up last week, so will that rise effect people’s decisions, particularly in view of the increasing price of other goods?

Thanks, MissAdventure

I'll try anything but it has to be Yorkshire tea!
Although someone gave me a pack of another brand recently and I didn't say no.

I use asda online, so have no idea about the shops themselves.

I think the yellow label denotes their basics brand.
To be honest, I click away without knowing a lot about it. Can't see properly.

May be everyday essentials?