I have tended to blog about economising, living simply, de-clutter etc because it is part of a way of coping with what is happening in the world. Cut it down into bite size pieces and you perceive more control of it, or at least how it interacts with you, a bit more. Sure, we cant make food any cheaper but we can use it more sensibly.
I just wondered how else people are being effected? Is your neighbourhood full of repossessed houses or new build flats without a first time buyer. Has you letter box dried up from the endless adverts for loans and credit cards? (despite the fact that there isn't money to be lent I still get a credit card ad a week, at least). Having any trouble remortgaging or getting mortgage fixes? My eldest son works in a boat yard building catamarans. How much longer will people want catamarans or is this outside of the sphere of the depression. My husband is a swimming teacher. We have already lost quite a number of students from his classes. How many more will we lose and can he keep going?
I would be interested to hear. Now I am off to embark on my plans for the day, all very frugal, so I can collapse in a tired but cirtuous heap at bed time.
Our town's definitely full of new builds that aren't shifting and a friend of mine has had her house on the market for about 8 months now but only one person has viewed it. There are also quite a few cornerstone industries in trouble here - Bentley are on time banking, the Royal Mail sorting office is closing, and Focus have their head office here and are laying loads of people off so it's pretty certain that the town will be hit hard. My daughter works at a petrol garage though and says that's just as busy as ever.
ReplyDeleteIt was announced last week that the Ford factory here was going on to a 3 or 4 day week with a view to closing in a couple of years but there still seems to be plenty of work around at the moment. There a defintely flat unsold since development. One developer was offering half price if you buy 6 or more. My neice has her savings in Icesave. She saving to buy a little bit more of her shared ownership flat so that she can move to somewhere with garden,. She has been working 4 jobs to do this, so I hope that she can get her money out without too many problems. It does still sound considerably better than the states though, where I was reading one house in three is empty from re-possesson in some areas. Where is everyone living?
ReplyDeleteOur 1 bus a week is under threat. It seems a very short term idea to stop the community bus service, meaning that those who drive will have to use their cars to do their shopping ~ lots of extra cars, each with 1 person. Quite what they'll do to help those of us that don't/can't drive, I have no idea: will the government pick up the 60 euro taxi tab? 60 euros is what I have each week to spend on food, so will my disability go up by 60 euros to take account of the fact that I need that to get me into town & back when the bus goes; somehow I doubt it! The older people that rely on the bus have it as their only social time & only time that they can leave their homes. I wonder if the ex "t-shirt" will let me have part of his 1000's of euros golden handshake to buy a means of getting to town to do my shopping...
ReplyDeleteWhat property that's up for sale isn't shifting, but most of the empty houses are being left to decay
Thats so short sighted. I though this sort of thing was behind us now but apparently not. Houses do deteriorate quite quickly if not inhabited. Its not looking good.
ReplyDeleteHad the welfare officer up here this morning concerning trying to find a means of getting my daughter to the village to catch the bus without her turning up to school soaked through. I mentioned about my draught & how I wished I could afford what the inventor terms an organic ATV. All he wanted was a traditional trotting cart for my horsey & mentioned sulkies. I don't think he's ever seen a sulky, nor seen it driven ~ it's basically a frame attached to the horse, driven at a gallop through busy streets! Quite how he expects my daughter or shopping to cling on to this I have no idea... I did mention that I have rigs stuck in the UK & if the ferry/friend's fuel/hire of flatbed trailer is under 300 euros, they'll pay for me to bring my cart over. Mad. I had to explain that since the "accident" there's no way that I could drive a car again, but he did accept my terror, so I didn't have to query how they expect me to afford to buy a car, get it adapted, pay the road tax & insurance & pay for fuel when we already live hand to mouth. I think he was surprised that we live only on my disability & this well-educated woman had no private income
ReplyDeleteThere are tent cities springing up in the States & I have no idea what will happen to those over here that lose their houses. This 1 was unoccupied for 2 years before I bought it & all the wood & drylining was rotten. It had to be taken back to the original stone & replastered. I think it so sad everytime I pass a house collapsing & unloved, especially when I have friends desparate for a roof & 4 walls (electricity, water & sanitation would be pleasant added extras)
In our small town all new building (except one development) has been stopped for months - just left half built and the sites locked up. One bungalow round the corner from us has been on the market since January and despite having dropped the price by 60 thousand it still doesn't sell. In the larger town about 5 miles away I noticed today that two estate agents have closed in the last two weeks.
ReplyDelete