Are earnings too low / living costs getting too high??

rubberduck said:
You dont need to spend vast sums of money to get enjoyment out of life.... Plenty of people in 3rd world countries with no smart phones and sky TV who are much more content that you or I am... I am not saying cut modern tech off completely but is very easy to get 'good enough' tech these days while being froogle.
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So which of these things _should_ you ditch in order to have enough to put a roof over your head?

TV
Broadband
Phone
Car
Computer
Holiday
Smart clothes
Eating out/take-away
Going out

Because down here there are people with only 1 or 2 things from that list, who pay 75% of their wages on rent, and basically subsist.

A lot here on this forum have always been middle-class, and have no idea how much of a struggle earning a low wage really is.

"Oh you could just ditch Sky and have heaps of money left over then."

No. No you couldn't. Plenty down here working full time jobs just to pay the rent, with few/none of the luxuries on that list.
 
KingSimcock said:
my money has increased by a couple of quid an hour above current minimum wage.
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Compared to 10 years ago over a year the average person around here will have seen an extra £1000 from wages while paying out an extra £4000 in rent - end result they are £3000 down while most other costs of living haven't really increased dramatically.
 
Dave M said:
Alcohol is a terrible thing, I knew it didn't look right and meant to check but had quite forgotten by the end of the sentence. Until right after I posted, then the horror :eek:
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I actually just corrected it from my spell checker on my post above seconds before your edit heh - hence I noticed.
 
Rroff said:
Might have some of these wrong but from a quick google (I'm in the South West) - Average salary here (actual monthly take home after tax, etc.) is £1227.25 which has only slightly increased over the last 10 years, while average rental has increased from £492/m to £832/m with only 18% of the market under £500/m - for my immediate area the average rental is slightly over £1200/m which shocked me as that is catching up with the area I lived in London for a few years is now commanding (though with the improved transport links to Bristol and proximity to the railway station to Bristol I guess it isn't surprising).

EDIT: House prices are weird looking at the latest figures as some of the top end houses on the street have only increased about 10% in the last 10 years while some of the not so great ones have doubled in value.
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Further SW than you here in Truro, but the story is no better. Plenty of couples here paying £500pm for a single room in a shared house. We're talking 6 people in a 3-bedroom house sharing in order to pay the rent, which is over £1200pm.

A single-room "studio" flat here is £650pm. We're talking about a room with a microwave, on-suite shower, bed, and that's it.

The idea that people are spending too much on luxuries down here is crazy. "Move, then" is the inevitable response. But the only cheap places are places with no work, like some Welsh valley town somewhere.
 
FoxEye said:
The idea that people are spending too much on luxuries down here is crazy. "Move, then" is the inevitable response. But the only cheap places are places with no work, like some Welsh valley town somewhere.
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I don't like the move response as aside from its nothing like as trivial as suggesting it - its quite short sighted - many people where I am now moved to the area due to increasing cost of living elsewhere and now they are having to consider moving on again - where does the story end?
 
Rroff said:
I don't like the move response as aside from its nothing like as trivial as suggesting it - its quite short sighted - many people where I am now moved to the area due to increasing cost of living elsewhere and now they are having to consider moving on again - where does the story end?
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With everyone living in Stoke and not having a job.
 
FoxEye said:
So which of these things _should_ you ditch in order to have enough to put a roof over your head?

TV
Broadband
Phone
Car
Computer
Holiday
Smart clothes
Eating out/take-away
Going out
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All of them if required.... If not put a priority on the 2-3 you really want and ditch the rest.
 
Chris1712 said:
Next year either gonna move up north or to London.
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What industry out of interest?

Cost more than me for that when I lived in Cambridge foxeye :o.

Luckily I moved to West Midlands which is slightly more affordable...
However here's a hit for you... £140a month council tax!! (plus around 10 to 20 water).. Bills are mad.

And no I'm not one of these people with sky subscriptions /brand new phone/car etc.. Im quite the opposite. Similarly I don't think young people buying these things is an issue, it doesn't change a knackered housing market.
 
FoxEye said:
So which of these things _should_ you ditch in order to have enough to put a roof over your head?

TV
Broadband
Phone
Car
Computer
Holiday
Smart clothes
Eating out/take-away
Going out

Because down here there are people with only 1 or 2 things from that list, who pay 75% of their wages on rent, and basically subsist.

A lot here on this forum have always been middle-class, and have no idea how much of a struggle earning a low wage really is.

"Oh you could just ditch Sky and have heaps of money left over then."

No. No you couldn't. Plenty down here working full time jobs just to pay the rent, with few/none of the luxuries on that list.
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This is the reality of the situation for a lot of people now unfortunately.It's not going to improve any time soon either.
 
rubberduck said:
All of them if required.... If not put a priority on the 2-3 you really want and ditch the rest.
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The trouble is, with rents going up so often and so much, a lot of people *have* done as you've suggested, already.

What do you say to the people who don't have Sky, or a car, and buy their clothes from ASDA?

Move? Get a degree and become a banker?
 
rubberduck said:
Move to China/Idonesia/Bangladesh and work 14 hours per day in a factory... OFC your life will be so much better there than in the UK.
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So.. no real answer, then.

Why should we be happy with a 100% rise in corporate profits in the last decade, and an ever-greater share of the nation's wealth for the top 2%?

Why should we place all the blame on the poor, when in reality the rich are bleeding the country dry? Oh, sorry, I mean "the wealth creators" are bleeding the country dry...
 
Rroff said:
Compared to 10 years ago over a year the average person around here will have seen an extra £1000 from wages while paying out an extra £4000 in rent - end result they are £3000 down while most other costs of living haven't really increased dramatically.
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The proportion of income on housing is terrible, and the private rental market is wicked in every way, but we are far better off then 30 years ago, 30 years ago the only car on our street was one reliant robin, and only 1 house had a phone.

I've no hope for housing though, nobody is on the side of the people. Councils restrict planning so increase the value of land with permission, building regs put up the price of housing massively (yes, massively) with energy saving improvements - yes it's good, in the long run - but if you can't afford doubling the material cost of your build? And then there are the house builders who must choke supply to keep prices high.

You pay through the nose for housing, tradesmen who used to build an d fit new builds are out of work, container loads of expensive insulation come in form Germany and China. Good work for HGV drivers though, insulation is bulky :D
 
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