Is the 'credit crunch' affecting your life?

[LyraSilvertongue]

There's been so much in the news about the credit crunch, rising food, petrol and utility costs etc over the last few months.
But is it really affecting your life?
Personally I haven't seen much of a difference. I don't use the car that much and I buy lots of special offers in Sainsbury's the keep costs down.
Who's really been affected by the current state of the economy?

Pavlov, Guy I was the same until this year. I've saved loads by shopping at Lidl. We started going there after Xmas as have built an extension this year (needed a 3rd bedroom as have DS and DD), and money is short because of this. I expected the Lidl habbit to be a hardship and to be temporary but tbh its not a problem and now if I go to Sainsburys it feels like a 'luxury' shop not a normal supermarket lol.

Well it looks as if the credit crunch has hit us now. When DH's current job completes in about 4 weeks time there won't be any more for the forseeable future. Barring small miracles

Sophiewd - we're in the Scottish Borders. We've had a surprising number of Americans staying in the last month or so, considering the $ exchange rate. We have a big old Victorian house with rubbish insulation - I've just looked at locking in power for the next couple of years to try and mitigate increases. My DH works in Edinburgh, about a 70 mile round trip and we've noticed the fuel bill - increased by about £14 a week since start of the year.

I ususally shop at sainsbury's until this week that is. When I went to Morrison's yesterday I was pleasantly surprised.
I used to prefer sainsburys as found Morrisons full of crap and queues. But sainsburys has become a bit busy for me these days and full of clothes/toys/electrical things!

Morrison's wasmuch cheaper, AND it had wider isles so DD went charging around with knocking things over (i forgot you need a pound for trolley

Mixed peppers - 4 = £1.00 at morrisons, £1.29/£1.39 (cant remember which) at sainsburys for 3.

I actually feel recently this week that we are starting to get back a bit of control by doing this, by being tighter with our money, feel a bit empowered . I like it. For now!

We're ok at the moment but the threat of interest rate rises is a concern. The sentiment on this seems to have changed in the last 48 hours - with inflation/retail spending increases. We're both freelance and currently have enough work but could be impacted if clients pull back. Also, whilst our mortgage is not high LTV and negative equity not a worry, we still have a big mortgage on a tracker and any increases make a big difference. Just had 20% increase in nursery fees which was not expected (or appreciated!) - wishing the time away until ds starts school which is quite sad.

Once - its a shame isnt it? We live in an apartment, with a deposit to put down on a house. Our apartment is on the market, we are having to drop it to sell, which in itself is not a problem as we can get a house for less as well. However we have started to consider whether we should, rather than increase our mortgage right now, reign in out finances, put our deposit onto our current mortgage to reduce our monthly payments/LTV, it will mean less increase in fuel/council tax etc if we stay.
its a tough call as we don't know how long it will last, we could be here for another 3-4 years potentially, although we will be better off financially by doing so.

luckily my work have just become part of the busybees Salary sacrifice scheme which is saving me a lot of money each month on nursery fees.

Not convinced rent will go down unless you're moving into a flat. As a homeowner who is contemplating taking her house off the market and renting it out, where do you think those homeowners are going to? Having relocated, we are renting an unfurnished house and the rent is almost double our mortgage! We do have approx 75% equity (decreasing daily as we speak) and when we were viewing rentals back in March, there were very few 'decent' unfurnished family sized houses. Somehow, I suspect many households will not be able to afford to relocate. Fortunately, DH was in a position to negotiate a housing allowance for 12 mths which has made a huge difference to us.

we haven't really noticed it too much so far, fixed rate still running, gas/elec fixed for another year, we don't drive too much

but no way am I feeling good about what lies ahead. if dh ever lost his job we would be completely and utterly stuffed. maybe time to start getting one of those insurance policies

I am not sure it would be bad for us if it all went up the creek...it would mean moving in with the ILs...

...they live in California. Damn.

We are very fortunate in that we have cash left over every month but still noticing massive price differences.

our weekly shop used to cost about £120. Its risen recently to about £175 . For the first time ever I menu planned this week and spent £59!! V pleased with myself (although did get home and still realised I'd forgotten three things)

Things are looking bleak here in the East Mids. Most large employers announcing job cuts. I work as an employment lawyer and am swamped with redundancy and restructuring work.

I'm worried about fuel costs for the coming winter.We are planning to use the central heating far less & rely on the open fire.I've never lived in a house with central heating until recently,so a couple of extra jumpers & I probably won't notice the lack of heat.

The extended family are planning to go 'wooding' on the next nice day,so we have plenty of fuel for the winter-one of my relations is seriously considering using candles instead of electic lights,due to the cost.

Bizarrely enough,I have got loads of work & so have my friends who clean/garden/nanny ect.We all have waiting lists & are turning work down due to being swamped.I thought it would be the first economy to make-sack the staff,but apparently not.I suppose most of my customers don't have mortgages to have to worry about.Must be nice.

I am noticing the big rise in the cost of food and not looking forward to the fuel price rises either.

But TBH this period of uncertainty isn't doing us any harm at the moment. DH and I have had a big talk about saving money, because we squander it in so many places. Luckily we will be getting a lump sum soon which will pay off the credit card, then we will pay off the overdrafts. The thing is, there is no reason for us to even have these debts - it is just laziness and the easy availability of credit that has done it. I will feel much happier when we pay them off and live completely within our means. I hope other people in the same position as us do the same.

I feel very sorry for people on lower incomes/benefits, because what can you do when your income is only just adequate and is fixed, and your essential outgoings rocket? And people whose jobs are insecure. I hope this rubbish time doesn't last long.

I'm going to look into fixing our fuel prices now.
what sites are good for comparing providers? Uswitch?

I thought I was skint till I talked to my friend the other day. Her fixed rate comes to an end soon and the payments are going up BY £1800

I bought 10 years ago and though I still owe almost the same now as then (it's repayment but I remortgaged to pay off other debts 4 years ago and also have had a bit of work done since then) most rents have gone up much more than my mortgage. Hopefully that will help us withstand a fall in equity as I'd like to move out of London.

I'm more anxious about the rises in gas and electricity, especially as I'm expecting a midwinter baby.

It's making me think about what I spend more, yes. I'm definitely trying to keep my credit card bill respectably low, and as we are having major works done to our house, we are definitely being forced to think more sensibly about certain expenditures and budget more tightly as a precaution in case our mortgage suddenly hikes up or something ( a real possibility as our fixed rate ends in the new year and will have to shop around for a new deal..dreading it!). We are using the card much les because of the price of petrol, and are keeping a much tighter rein on our food shopping spend each week. We were pissing away £100 plus a week on grub, but have tried to cut that to £70 and will reduce further if possible. the rise in utility bills is really worrying for us, too.

• should say we are using the car (not card) much less!

Sorry to hear about dh, Anniemac. Hope he gets something soon.

There are an awful lot of redundancies going on at the moment, but you don't hear much about it in the media

Same here anniemac. Well, he's self-employed so not the same thing but no work lined up at all atm.

I am going to the shops 45mins before closing (locally) when they vastly reduce the food and I have also noted when the fruit gets reduced in my local fruit shop and morrisons, which is helping alot. I had a shock though with dog food of all things. Noticed in tesco it was now £1.39 a tin but knew my local supermarket had it for 71p a few days earlier. Went in today and it had gone up to £1.14 Thats 43p in a week