To be irritated by people on C4 news taking out payday loans

[SilverSixpence]

I am at people taking out loans to buy brand new fridge freezers and playstations from Bright House instead of buying secondhand/doing without if they can't afford it. 8 year olds are old enough to understand they cant have the latest thing if their parents can't afford it. If your kids are influenced by ads just turn them off! Isn't this basic common sense?

I absolutely disagree - in this day and age a washing machine and a fridge are necessities. Most people do not have the time to spend walking to the shops every day, to buy the ingredients for that day's meals - and doing that means you are often reliant on local shops, where the food is far more expensive.

And whilst my retired mum has the time to hand wash a few items of clothing each day, and only needs to use the machine once a week for the sheets, I doubt most people have the time to spend handwashing all the clothing for a family - and I bet they would get judged immensely if they and their children weren't clean, or if they smelled!

I think it would be hard to do without a fridge long term but short term (i.e. couple of weeks) whilst you investigate second hand or a suitable deal/ better finance option isn't totally unrealistic.

Of course in an ideal world you'd just get someone round to fix the fridge, is it not a bit odd that we're discussing people not having enough money to live on in the same breath as talking about white goods as disposable items.

msmoss That rather depends. I live in a housing association flat that gets very hot in the summer.
Storing babys milk where its 30 degrees? Same for ill or disabled ppl whose meds have to be stored in the fridge.
Im dieting at the mo and cant afford to buy all fresh fruit and veg so i buy my veg frozen.
Now if my fridge broke down i wouldnt be able to eat up fresh veg before it goes off. And i have to eat something ....and eat healthily to get my weight down.
Im another one who would LOVE to hear what a social worker would say about this. Hope one sees this thread.

Not having a fridge or a washing machine can put you at a disadvantage health and time wise, so you fall even further behind those who can afford the accoutrements of modern life.

Isn't one of the ways that people get stuck?
Not exactly in poverty but still unable to progress in life?

Some will battle on regardless but don't we all run out of fight at some point?

Lots of people do use laundrettes still, but they are expensive overall. Repairing cheap fridges can cost virtually the same as replacing one.

darkesteyes storing medicines is really important but the other examples you give are just inconveniences that sometimes you come up against in life and have to work round, besides even if you do buy a new one straight away it wouldn't turn up immediately.

Grennie in my ideal world it wouldn't because it would be the normal thing to do rather than just buying a new one

getting around the inconvenience of not having any food - because your freezer broke

is a rather large inconvenience, and largely expensive

so are we talking a diet of tinned goods - as fresh food wouldn't be cost effective - please remember the cost of transport to go shopping

or the time

I mean if you have a mum, dad, and three kids, I suspect a large part of your day would be spent hand washing clothes whilst being petrified that the school doesn't call social services

like life isn't fucking joyless enough when you have no money

no money for the little things that make life nice

that it has to be even more joyless

yes now, you must spend two hours a day, washing your families clothes in the bath - hoping to not use a lot of water because of the water meter

then after that - open up a couple of tins for your families meal.

for fucks sake, some people are unbelievable

I shared your exasperation about waste Msmoss, but the pace of technological change means that obsolescence arrives swiftly and so it's perhaps inevitable that stuff just ain't built to last?

Second hand electricals break down very quickly IME.

Brighthouse and the other ridiculous % APR places are sometimes the only places that allow credit for some people.

These silly dreadful poor people sometimes have little choice.

If you have 3 kids you'll be getting something like £50 a week child benefit as long as whatever else, a mini fridge can be bought for under £40 so how long does it really take to save £40 out of that sort of income? A couple of months if you're being generous. And unless you've had a really recent change of circumstances - ie escaping from an abusive partner with just the clothes on your back - why haven't you been saving a few quid a week anyway? If you can afford a big fuck off interest rate loan you can afford to save.

Nevertheless there are some edge cases that are debateable, and if they were the primary business of payday lenders and BrightHouse I don't think there'd be much fuss about it - or much profit to be had. But for the most part these companies make a huge amount of money out of those who can't control their financial impulses and make sensible decisions.

The companies offer a service, people can choose to use it or not. Personal responsibility goes out the window for many and its always the big bad companies fault. Bit like bank charges, quite happy to spend somebody elses money but god forbid they dare make a charge for people doing that!

Getting into debt for non essentials is idiotic. If a child wants a games console for christmas and you cant afford one, them you say no or take on extra hours or a second job etc.

As for "taking food from childrens mouths" what rubbish. Its a parents responsibility to feed their children. If they cant then social servcies need to step in. Its always someone elses fault

Yes going into debt for non essentials is idiotic...problem is we don't all agree on the criteria for 'essential'

Interestingly the cheapest fridge BrightHouse do is £20 a month - so you could by a basic mini-fridge outright with the equivalent of the first two months payments. The same fridge can also be found at less than half the basic retail price on Curry's website, and after you've paid all the finance off it's very slightly under 400% of the price of the Curry's one. I'm struggling to see any case for buying fridges from BrightHouse here.

Jesus, some people on this thread could do with some empathy in their Christmas stockings.

I personally don't use Bright House or payday loans. I'm currently on benefits. It's just me and the three kids. Ex is between jobs (until the new year) so very little coming in from him at the moment.

I can completely understand why some people would use Bright House. We were without a fridge and washing machine when we moved into our new house in September. For about a month, I think.

I was lucky about the washing machine because my parents are just up the road, so I got my washing done there and hung it on a airer to dry at home. I would have struggled otherwise, with three lots of uniform, towels, bedding, other clothes, etc.

Being without a fridge was fucking awful. It was still very mild here until well into October. I had to buy the smallest bottles of milk (I know, how dare I want milk in the house - wanting coffee or cereal for my kids - how entitled!) because it would go off very quickly. Everything had to be eaten within a day or so - and my two youngest are on packed lunches, so it was hard keeping ham/cheese spread/yoghurts etc.

A fridge is not a luxury item, not in this day and age.

I got a second-hand fridge in the end and am renting a washing machine for the moment. Where I am there are charities who rent warehouses so they can sell furniture and two others that have white goods and stuff cheap for those on benefits. Not everywhere has this.

And my local Freecycle is shit - unless you're after broken paving slabs or broken laptops that will do for spare parts.

Walk a mile in my shoes, etc - some people need to remember this.

I never said that a fridge wasn't essential, my original comment was to the suggestion that it wasn't one of life's essentials, it clearly is. Having a fridge breakdown is an unpleasant and inconvenient event for anyone but most people could probably cope without one for a week or so. I'd happily help a neighbour or friend store things whilst they sorted out a new one.

Lazysuzanne I think a pertinent question about things not being built to last is who gains from them not lasting, and generally the answer is the companies selling them. Whilst there are many benefits to technical change, improved energy efficiency for example, there is also a lot which probably isn't, the only real purpose to inventing a new mobile phone or games console is to give people something new to buy.

God these threads and the lack of empathy people show on them never fail to depress me!

Of course some people are just a bit greedy and don't bother to think about the consequences but what makes them any different from those of you who have racked up massive mortgages and credit card bills?

Having a fridge breakdown is an unpleasant and inconvenient event for anyone but most people could probably cope without one for a week or so.

well, that's just wonderful if it is only a week or so, but when you're living on a very low income and your fridge breaks down, where is the money supposed to appear from to replace it? The only reason I managed to get mine was because a) I went to one of the places for people on benefits and b) my Mum lent me £100 to buy one.

I wouldn't have just acquired that money after a week or two. Not with everything I pay out each week. And that's with no debts. You seem to be misunderstanding that even £50 is a lot of money for people on a low income, benefits or otherwise.

And also second everything MrsD says - she speaks a lot of sense, as always.

Of course some people are just a bit greedy and don't bother to think about the consequences but what makes them any different from those of you who have racked up massive mortgages and credit card bills?

Absolutely nothing. My friend and her partner have just put an offer in on a house that, in her words, 'we totally cannot afford'. Cue lots of going on about how they are not getting each other Christmas presents this year (yeah right), but its all worth it because the house is just sooooooo lovely and in such a lovely location.

and also ultimately mummy and daddy will bail them out if the shit really hits the fan