Is the recession biting?

[Alice]

Well, interest rates are zilch and that's a few hundred off our income every month. I'm not complaining as we can live well on the income we have.
We have an endowment policy due to mature this year, but I don't think it will give us the return we expected to get.
Overall we are hit by the financial situation but not complaining as we are not in the situation of people who have lost their jobs, worried about paying their mortgages or what's happening to their businesses.
We're grateful for what we have.

[SarzWix]

Well, we were skint anyway. But, the energy prices have been a real problem for us in the last few months. The amount our bills went up by last year has eaten away the money we should be putting aside for random things like car repairs/MOT/tax, kids shoes, uniforms, vet bills, lottie rent, birthdays etc. So when these things come up, there's virtually nothing put aside to pay for them. Plus fuel for the car is almost a luxury, we don't make any unecessary trips now.
But, we have a roof, we have warmth, we have enough to eat, and we're all together. And I've managed to sow some seeds

[BrideXIII]

food shop has doubled, so yes, but there are advantages, EDF who i get the electric and gas from have a new scheme, read and reduce, my consumption has dropped by £25 over both a month, it does make you look at what you are using, things are tough, but.... they always have been, and i have to say we are luckier than most, on benefits we have a fixed income, we know where we stand and cut our cloth accordingly.
mind you, when you are right to the bone, if it gets worse, there is nothing left to cut, i am confident however we will come out of the other side.
the advantage of being blacklisted, is you cannot borrow,you have a cash economy, and thats all that is available to you.

[bubblewrap]

As we are living on benefits money is always in short supply & we have learnt to watch what we spend & are not to badly off(thanks to the allotment).
When my pension credits start we will have a little more to spend.

[Gwyndy]

We have our health and we have each other. What more could I want?

[digthatchick]

We have our health and we have each other. What more could I want?

Well said, there are a lot of people in the world that would be more than grateful for the things we throw away.

[Eyren]

It's been OK for us so far - I have a secure job and Mr E's seems to be OK for the moment, and our mortgage has gone down (after a steep hike last summer when our fixed rate deal ran out). That said, I'm a little more conscious of watching the pennies, as I recently had to fork out for my first pair of varifocals (£400!!!) plus there are dental bills on the horizon

I'm still getting a fortnightly organic veg box, since the lottie is fairly empty at this time of year - it forces us to cook proper meals instead of resorting to something ready-made from the all-too-conveniently-close supermarkets, so it actually helps us to save money. Hopefully we will have more home-grown stuff this year and will save even more!

[Stacey Steve]

I've lived and worked through several recessions so far and while it has been really hard going at times, we've made it. Only thing is though I've never built up any savings over the years, which I should have done for retirement.

I am not overly bothered provided the house is paid for, I would hate to get within a couple of years of that being paid off and then lose it.

[FROSTYFRECKLE]

Definately beginning to feel the pinch. A lot less work for me but hubby has his Occupational Pension so guaranteed an income. Savings are depreciating as I type (why did we bother) and even the odds on Premium Bonds has gone pear-shaped (sorry PW). But the aim of this year is to see how much I can grow (and store). Lottie soup all year I think

[blue411]

Just had 43 redundancies at my place of work, uckily ive escaped this round due to my length of service (12.5 years) and the lack of time being off work sick, we also had a large number of people take vol redundancy (if i were walking away with no morgage, and a £35,000 redundancy offer i would too), but i dont think thats the last of them, but im not a proud person and i will do what it takes to pay my rent, plenty of agency work out there if you dont mind days here and there, but trying to tighten belt just incase.

[allotmentlady]

Struggling here and there but this year I have instructed Gordon, my allotment buddie, NOT to buy ready grown plants for the lottie, it ALL has to be grown from seed, he is so lazy and would actually go and buy them.......got to SAVE some money.

Now I feel guilty about going and getting my hair done today......

My OH business has slowed down a bit but were ticking along for now.

[MaureenHall]

Before I retired I always "lived up" to my income. Now that's not there any more and I've only got my State Pension coming in, it's amazing just how little I can get away with spending. Ok, meals are sometimes a bit boring because I don't like leftovers that I've frozen so I have the same thing 2 or 3 days on the trot, but I must say I'm really enjoying my big pans of homemade soup and homemade bread And I think I might just be feeling a little healthier? It's the ever increasing costs of the utility bills that's the crippler for me as I pay the same for gas and electric as a family would - but without the added income to afford it. Pretend it's not there and it'll go away (one can hope can't one)

[tricky]

Me and wife are really struggling .we are bringing up an adhd child who trashes the house.Hes been alot better though this past year since going to a special school.I used to do the same job as beefy and in its hey day use to get great money ,which i placed on the morgauge.Thank the lord i did as you never know when your going to become ill.I took some advice off bride and Lynda and started ebaying and that has certainly helped .A certain bank started being s@@ts with us untill we got all s@@@@y with them and told them we was moving the morgauge somewhere else .Its surprising how they respond.We have to pay ours weekly now ,its the only way we cope and sure enough every week we get a phone call asking if we are paying this week.But we are not in any arears so thats great.
The gas and electric has shot up and in lincolnshire we pay for sewage seperate from supply.We have worked out we will be paying £50 more this year great.
Everyday around here job losses are announced .
I believe this recession is going to get alot worse before it gets better and i hope the people at the top end are really pleased with there smug little selfs .

[jackie j]

I consider myself very lucky, in the past we have stuggled but now we seem ok, we dont have any debts apart from a small mortgage which has gone down from nearly £600 to just over £400 a momth, the gas and electric is high as is everyone else's, I am dreading the water rates as we live in an area where they are one of the highest in the country, last years was £784 for the year. We no longer have more month left than money.

[piskieinboots]

We haven't noticed too much yet, mainly because SD's income is secure and the role I take as self-employed means I am more in demand now due to redudancies within Corporates.

We don't have a mortgage but we do have 'toys' to pay for, such as the car and the motorbike.

Savings interest has obviously slowed down, but that isn't much in the scheme of things considering what some people have to cope with.