To ask if you're planning for a proper downward spiral of quality of life

[Fragmentedbrain]

I anticipate it and I'm saving up but that will be ofc no use if the financial system collapses

Should probably do something else

I feel like I've been preparing for economic constraints my whole life. I grew up with very little - clothes came in black bin bags after being worn by at least 3-4 other girls. The 1st time I was ever taken to a new clothes shop (primark) I was 10 and it was a strange experience. I had little of anything else until I could buy it for myself.

In adult life I've always spent less than what I earn. I just can't bring myself to do otherwise. It's meant I've probably not done as much as some, I've not gone on overseas holidays though I could have or liked as good as I could. But I'm now mid-40s, single parent, working and always have worked but could cope with living more frugally than I do if I had to.

What a random answer!
This sounds like a spy is posting 😄
Ah ha ah ha!! I have a picture of the Madonna with the big boobies.

We've been doing this for 15 years now. Why ask the question now?! We're all experts...!

Yes we need better control of illegal immigration - I do think its simple, by improving formal immigration routes for people who want to work and not permitting applications for assylum from specific countries eg Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. I like what China and Iceland have done, I smiled at the Spainish town's position on celebrations it doesn't mean people can't celebrate just they're not going to.
Yes we need better control of the benefits budget - those who can work should work for benefits. Not even getting PIP should get PIP but those who are disabled should not need to reapply so frequently. Also is the level of benefit right?! Surely its better to pay the benefit to NHS so they can employ more MH professionals that people can use versus give people money that they spend on stuff that isnt helping them.
Yes we need to tax the rich proportionately because they can and should contribute more.
But what financial system is going to collapse?! Is that comment tongue in cheeky? If it isnt then you may be bonkers 🤣🤣🤣 keep drinking the damson infused gin. Nothing will collapse we'll borrow more until we wake up and deal with the debt.

BTW licorice in vodka >1week creates a black liquor that you need very little of to get bombed....cheap vodka is just as good!!!

This. The downward spiral isn't coming, it's been happening for years. I honestly struggle to care now. If my water gas and electric aren't paid in full, they aren't. I'm no longer willing to work 5 days a week, just to exist. We've had a holiday every year the last three years, I've gone into debt each time for it.

I won't die happy that my utilities were up to date.

I won't die happy that my utilities were up to date.

Fair point!

Well, you’re not alone. All sorts of highly trained people will find themselves without work soon.

The world changes
it always has
there are good times and bad times

make the most of every time
and don’t worry about what you can’t control
snd don’t talk yourself into a downward spiral

I feel the same urge but the one thing worse than living through societal collapse is living through societal collapse as a foreigner (evidence from ww2 shows Jewish people were significantly more likely to survive if they were in their local area than if they fled and then things got bad in their destination country).

What are you all on about? Turn off the Internet my lovely people. Touch grass. The world is amazing. People are beautiful and kind and funny.

But if you find the distribution of wealth and social issues wrong, join a political party, become a councillor, become an MP, or campaign for what you believe in. Engage in politics. Don't despair! Get stuck in.

I mean you may not remember 2008 but the financial system very nearly collapsed then. The same could happen now (controls put in place after the credit crunch are eroding already). Or a massive cyber attack. Or a physical attack that destroys our ability to connect digitally to the 1s and 0s we think of as life savings.

The accusations of just not understanding economics or being unwilling to work hard make me cross. There used to be a fairly standard formula for achieving a decent basic standard of living after the war and into the early 2000s. Now housing costs can take half or more of a basic wage, and everyone just shrugs and says "that's the market, get a second or third job if you want to improve your circumstances". And that's maybe fine if you are a single person,

And people question why productivity is so bad free we

I mean you may not remember 2008 but the financial system very nearly collapsed then.

A huge part of the problem is we never recovered from 08 just kept kicking the can down the road.

😎

I couldn't do this as my husband would drink it as soon as I buy it

I’m actually a nurse , so it’s ironic that you name nurses as one of those who are less secure propping up the more secure. Am I privileged? I’m older so bought my first house at 20yo straight out of uni when houses were cheap. So that was lucky and I accept that.

I’ve lived a frugal lifestyle all my life. Can’t remember the last time I had a holiday which wasn’t either in a youth hostel or my own (second hand, cheap) caravan. I’ve stayed living in a smaller house when I could have bought a bigger house as I’m not interested in keeping up with the Jones. I drive a ten year old Astra. Hubby drives a 16yo Ford.

I don’t have far to fall due to my choices not because I’m some high paid executive.

Same here. It’s harder for younger people, born into a much wealthier society with far more consumption, to get used to a simpler life. That’s not meant as criticism!

Most of the activities DH and I enjoy are low-cost or free. I buy lots of veg in season and cook most days and above all spend time with friends and family.

Im assuming gradual and at some point private health care might be a necessity. Yes I am saving more but im lucky to be in a position to do so.

Id suggest you get out and touch grass though.

My reaction was because the post felt to me ‘ I will be alright regardless of anyone else’ and I’m pointing out that we are in this together, propping up each other. As a nurse any increase in poverty and need is going to directly impact your work and wellbeing and your vocation is absolutely propping up society and servicing a prime need. If there is a decline in living standards, a sharp rise in poverty, hunger, illness and medicine becomes less affordable, the impact on nurses will be extreme and although you have a personal financial safety net now and I assume a pension - is it really that safe?

Yes we have started saving.

AND we have that dangerous idiot ED Silliband whose total objective is to decrease our arable land even more by installing mega solar farms. We need to protect and laud our farmers and ensure we can feed our own.

Bloody Twatarse! The sooner he is put out to grass the better...Oh wait, there'll be no grass left.

Well of course I'm worried about society as a whole and others less fortunate. But that wasn't the question of the thread. I was answering - To ask if you're planning for a proper downward spiral of quality of life

I read that as a personal question about how as an individual are you planning for any effect on you specifically. Which is how others have also answered it.

Personally no I am not planning as I know I can maintain my current standard of living even with a lot less money. Because my standard of living is cheap. So personally I am not expecting a downward spiral in my quality of life.

If the question had been more along the lines of "how worried are you for society about a possible overall downward spiral" I would have answered differently.

I can't plan for others - therefore the question and my answer is about me.

I do think my savings are safe. I do not think there will be such a bad collapse that Barclays will run off with my money. I'd be amazed if the nhs pension scheme collapsed. I mean it's possible...if it does I will cancel my council tax so that will save me some money 😁 But I think if things have got that bad we will be in full blown Mad Max territory and yeah I can't see that happening.

I'm very worried about food security and solar panel farms. I campaign against them and think it is bonkers. Not because of any NIMBY reasons but because of being worried about global food shortages due to global warming/war.

We should have solar panels on roofs and verges, not in arable fields. You'd have thought the issues with Russia blockading the Ukranian grain ships in would have taught is a lesson but no - they are steaming ahead round here turning hundreds of acres of prime wheat fields into solar panel farms. Yes they could potentially be turned back if necessary but decades of no nutrients to the soil will affect yields massively.

I do have massive veg plots and chickens as I am a bit of a prepper!

From a big and wide perspective, the decline is already happening, and has been for many, many decades.
It is more or less global; at the very least everywhere that is part of "modern society" is affected (not so much tribal people in the Amazon etc, although even they are affected by climate change and the infringement of modern society into their world).
It will continue for a good three or four hundred years. Look into historical examples: Rome, Maya, Chinese dynasties, Ancient Greece, loads of others.
We are heading into one of histories dark ages.

But - it will not be evenly distributed in time or geographically, so during the coming centuries there will be times and places where most people are 'doing okay' for a generation or so.

Tips:
Look after your health.
Get out of debt. Downsize your accommodation and stop buying stuff in order to get out of debt.
Don't rely on savings, pensions, investments or any kind of banking. Don't hoard banknotes and gold bars either - that is worse.
Instead, spend any spare money (after getting out of debt) on skills and tools that will make you popular with family and neighbours.
Be a good neighbour. Build your community around you.
Your future security lies in your family and community, not in any kind of 'money'.

Don't expect or assume that children should always have a better life than their parents: that is not a law of nature, it is an aberration of the last few centuries of exploitation of fossil fuels and industrialisation.

I do think my savings are safe. I do not think there will be such a bad collapse that Barclays will run off with my money. I'd be amazed if the nhs pension scheme collapsed. I mean it's possible...if it does I will cancel my council tax so that will save me some money 😁 But I think if things have got that bad we will be in full blown Mad Max territory and yeah I can't see that happening.

There is a huge distance between financial crisis and 'Mad Max'.
Hyperinflation, deflation, currency collapse, bank collapses, stock market crashes, etc. etc, all happen.
Lots of people lose "everything" - meaning they lose their money and income - but society keeps on functioning and the shops stay open and HMRC and the Council still want paying, and the police and courts still (mostly) function.

Some examples in recent decades have happened in Africa and South America. It is less likely in the UK, but not impossible.