Number crunching
A couple of days ago my husband and I popped to Tesco to pick up a couple of things we were low on. We had less than 10 items and yet my eyes still widened as the cashier rang up the total. “I used to spend that on a week’s shopping when I was at Uni!” I said, probably a little too loudly.
Food prices are rocketing, and everything else seems to be following suit. Filling the car with petrol is becoming increasingly depressing as you watch the price dial soar above the litres dial, watching the television becomes a lot less relaxing when you’re thinking about those mounting electricity bills, and don’t even get me started on the state of the bank balance just before pay day. It’s no wonder more and more people are driven to debt.
Credit cards
There’s a lot of scare-mongering in the news about a so-called ‘credit crunch’ yet my husband and I are still being targeted by credit card companies to sign up with them, and encouraged by our bank to use our credit cards. We choose not to and we seem to be penalised for it – we completed an online credit check and were given a result of ‘poor’ because we had never really used credit. Something doesn’t seem fair.
Setting up house
It’s not exactly the ideal sort of climate to be buying a house in, something which we are now trying to do. And with all this talk of banks collapsing, we’re frantically spreading our savings over different accounts to protect them. But even if we do eventually manage to buy a house, the thought of keeping up the monthly payments as well as all our other outgoings is positively frightening. Add to that the possibility of us having children and I’d quite like to curl up in a dark hole with the precious little money I have!
The golden rule
It wasn’t the same for our parents – for them, buying worked out cheaper than renting and pay rises actually matched inflation – we should be so lucky! But there is help out there if you’re looking to save those pennies: start by signing up for Martin’s Money Saving Tips – a regular email newsletter full of up-to-the-minute advice. Check out the other articles in this section where you’ll find loads of useful tips…and above all, remember the golden rule of spending – don’t buy it unless you absolutely need it!
Read Care for Family's article showing how attitudes to money can put pressure on you marriage
Written by Clare Reay. Posted on 30th May.
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