AIBU?!

[prettypleasewithsugarontop]

To think that considering myself and DP both work, after the bills are paid and we have budgeted for fuel/buses/food...we are left with NOTHING to spend on little treats for ourselves and 2 DDs bastard tax credits, bastard government, bastard council pay freeze

Just a rant, can't put something like that on facebook, the bastards would have a field day with me

Feeling a tad better after that - thank you for letting me vent

BASTARDS for good luck ;)

[goodiegoodieyumyum]

Pretty having a rant makes you feel much better doesn't it, sorry to hear about your situation, one of the reasons I am glad I no longer reside in the UK.

[FelicitywasSarca]

Sorry are you being unreasonable about what? To think that you are left with nothing? No, not unreasonable if it's true.

Seriously though, if you are unhappy try and improve your situation without getting angry about it. The state doesn't owe you little treats you need to find a way of earning them.

[aldiwhore]

YANBU.

Not at all. I rant a lot too.

[Iheartpasties]

rant away - I does you good to get it out.

[prettypleasewithsugarontop]

This is our situation improved believe it or not Felicity...we were at a loss six months ago...i'm not expecting the state to buy me a treat every once in a while. It would just be nice to be able to maybe save for a deposit for a house, or have a little nest egg so we're not so worried all the time

Thanks Goodie

[aldiwhore]

She is earning them FelicitywasSarca the state is making it impossible to have anything left after all the bills are paid... the state is being grabby, not the OP!!

[prettypleasewithsugarontop]

Its always a killer when situations like last week come up - DD1 asking when she can go back to gymnastics - there is just no way we can afford it just now :( i honestly couldn't give a shit if i had to eat pasta every night for my dinner, but i'm not having my kids live like that

[aldiwhore]

A pension would be a 'treat' to us. That surely is wrong. It would be a treat to be able to having just a few savings.

I'm not expecting to be able to to go Disneyland twice a year on our wages, but you know, just a little reward for working hard??

[aldiwhore]

Oh prettypleasewithsugarontop I've had that, DS1 (8) stated the other day "We're poor aren't we Mummy?" I said "No, with zillionaires in love" he agreed but love won't get you Drama lessons.

[MrSunshine]

It depends. Are you outgoings too high? Is there anyway to increase your income?

[LucieMay]

Ditch the car? DS and I afford little treats and a holiday every year and his numerous after school activities but I refuse to spend money on learning to drive and extortionate fuel/insurance/road tax etc.

[ImSlimShadyImTheRealSlimShady]

What's wrong with pasta?

[ImSlimShadyImTheRealSlimShady]

Genuine question

[prettypleasewithsugarontop]

Pasta is fine, at tops 3 nights a week, am talking plain pasta with cheese, am not talking with sauce :| i made it better by making macaroni last week though!

No way to increase income, without increasing outgoings Mr Sunshine, DD2 is still in childcare, i only work parttime, but DH works 36hrs pw. Can't ditch the car as he works unsociable hours, including call outs for alarms etc and bus service is not existant from where we live to his work would be 3 bus changes and thats only if he was doing a certain shift, any other shifts and its a def no go. I bus to and from work, and get a flexi rider type thing which saves us lovely £2.40 a month

The kids do nothing, no after school clubs, extra curricular activities, we don't go out, don't even have lovefilm or anything like that. I suppose our luxuries are sky tv (basic package at £24 odd a month) and we both have mobile contracts (20 each pm) but seriously nothing else :(

Don't even do the lotto, so no chance of a win!

[wolvesdidit]

Move onto PAYG for at least one of your phones. I've saved a fortune by doing that. We also don't have a TV (but occasionally watch a show on iplayer). There I've saved you about £40 a month :) Not being patronising btw, we are so poor that DH's knickers fell down inside his trousers the other day :(

[BigFatLegsInWoolyTIghts]

Get on Ebay. Sell a load of stuff...I'm doing this today in order to pay for Christmas!

[prettypleasewithsugarontop]

Nothing left to sell BigFatLegs - sold it all to fund DD1's birthday in August

Wolvesdidit we have some special deal or other with Orange for both the contracts, they're up in March i think, so will be doing that then! We only have the one TV, which i would go mad without tbh! Seriously considering downgrading as we've had our box for yonks and I have heard that you can have it for nowt, with just base channels (free ones?)

[Tuttutitlookslikerain]

My friend ran Sky and told them she was going elsewhere, they knocked her basic package down to £5 a month, for about six months IIRC. That's got to be worth a try.

Have you a Home Bargains, or a Poundland, Lidl, or Aldi near you? Try shopping around, ditch the mainstream supermarkets, try Farmfoods if you've got one. Even the bread and milk are cheaper.

[prettypleasewithsugarontop]

We do Tuttu but 20 odd miles away, have a small tesco 6miles away

[chocoluvva]

I'm sure you could get a cheaper mobile phone contract - I think they've come down in price. We're with T-mobile and have 3 phone contracts - DH, me and DD for £24 a month but only after I phoned them and asked. (We already had one phone contract with them).

Oh, I've just read your post about that - sorry.
There are some great threads about cost cutting and economising in Christmas and Chat.
The constant increase in cost of food and petrol depresses me too. DH's salary has been frozen for several years now - ou family tax credit has stopped too. For several years we were getting better off, but now every year we're worse off, which isn't what you hope for obviously.
Surely the recession will end eventually. Sigh!
Have you had a call from energy-saving people - they might offer you free insulation if that's appropriate.

[prettypleasewithsugarontop]

We have relatively good insulation, we live in local authority housing (hence paying rent, and not being able save for mortgage - another bugbear of mine - feel like we'll be forever renting) so they deal with that sort of thing, had a team come round about 18mths ago to put down a couple more rolls of insulation. Energy wise is a big eeeeek! We use approx £90 worth of electricity a month so i am now in love with my slow cooker lol

Just been to Tesco and spent £40, will see how we get on with that, but i'm not hopeful!

[CaliforniaLeaving]

We should have a thrifty familes section on here, tips and bargains that we find as we go along.
OP I love my slow cooker too. I make a meatloaf in mine that feeds us for two days made with mince breadcrumbs and few other bits, add gravy and veg and it's a nice dinner for two days

[Kveta]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch

worth a look :)

[ChitchatAtHome]

We have the Sky free service (I seriously object to paying for tv!). We have loads of channels - if you want to know which ones just ask and I'll check for you.

[tazzle22]

well I think maybe its possible you are being a little U .... but that because I grew up having free school meals, had no carpet on my bedroom only newpaper on the floor, we did not have a tv till I was 14 never mind mobile phones / computers /internet etc. and I felt myself very lucky if I got more than one presssie and a stocking at xmas !

These days I think sometimes people expect / want more ( not really a bad thing) but even if the gvt is being greedy / not managing things well on our individual opinio9ns ...... there are far fewer people paying into the "pot" and expectations / outgoings far higher then they were in days gone by..