Recession/Finances

[MotherofDragons]

So it's official, we are now in a recession, so I thought i'd start a thread where we can chat about finances, give each other money saving tips and advice etc.

Does anyone else struggle to tread the line between wanting to spend money to help the economy and wanting to squirrel away all your money for if the worst should happen?

 

[Pixipoppy]

It is quite daunting, I’m very lucky that my job is stable so I’m not feeling too concerned about my personal finance - but I know a lot of self employed people so they are all very worried. You should never feel obliged to spend money to help the economy if you don’t feel comfortable to - best to have some savings, maybe a months rent or mortgage at a minimum to cover you in the short term should anything major happen.

 

[Yel]

Does anyone else struggle to tread the line between wanting to spend money to help the economy and wanting to squirrel away all your money for if the worst should happen?

Is it mean to just say no?

So many tit causal dining places and other places where a bog standard coffee and cake is over a fiver, it's just not sustainable.

Having a bit of savings makes it easier to sleep at night and I don't feel the need to be a good little consumer to bring in the tax receipts. We over consume in every way as a society.

 

[TravellingPants]

I definitely flipflop between the two... I am lucky that my job is safe for now but it’s linked to the retail industry, which isn’t exactly secure in the long-term. I need customers to spend money so I’m trying not to squirrel everything away because if everyone did that it would all collapse!

That being said, I am trying to be more selective in where I spend. It won’t be the huge corporations who are worst affected. I’m continuing my lockdown habits (and actually stuff I have done for years) of living pretty frugally day-to-day rather than fritter money away.

As far as tips go, I recommend the app Dollarbird which really helped me get on top of my spending. If I have to account for every penny and see every purchase, it makes me stop and think about it. I had started batch cooking my lunches for work within a week of downloading it a few years ago because I couldn’t face seeing the cost of buying something every day!

 

[petra23]

I work in HR but in an industry that relates to hospitality/tourism. There has been talk of redundancies for a few months now (I'm particularly worried because I'm quite new to the company and one of the least qualified/experienced in the team). I decided at the weekend to sell my car, which was on finance, to we buy any car. They paid off all the outstanding finance and I used the equity and a small amount of my savings to purchase a cheaper car. I feel much safer without a £250 a month direct debit hanging over my head... I was really hoping this would be the year I could really amp up my savings for my house deposit but it's looking less and less likely

 

[MotherofDragons]

Is it mean to just say no?

So many tit causal dining places and other places where a big standard coffee and cake is over a fiver, it's just not sustainable.

Having a bit of savings makes it easier to sleep at night and I don't feel the need to be a good little consumer to bring in the tax receipts. We over consume in every way as a society.

Haha not at all mean, everyone is entitled to their opinion!

I totally agree with you re. over consumption, I've had a very low-buy few months and I want to continue this for as long as possible. I guess I need to think more carefully about where to spend my money when I do buy stuff to support small businesses - as @TravellingPants said it's not the huge corporations that will suffer!

 

[JoeBloggs]

When I was working full time (I am currently SE, so only working one day a week due to lack of business) I used to give myself £400 a month and I could spend it any which way I wanted without any guilt.

I have always been very good with money and as soon as we get paid I put the following away in individual saving accounts; Christmas, Home insurance, Car insurance and tax so each can be paid in full the next year. I then move enough into our joint for all bills (mortgage, food, sky, life insurance, phones, water, electric, council tax). Then I move my expected tax and NI over too. Any over the £800 (£400 each) fun money gets saved, pre-lockdown this was about £1,500-2000. During lockdown my husband wage has covered the bills and tax. I haven't added to the Christmas pot since March. Then the SE grant has been split, some to cover the tax due on it, and the rest went into the bank to cover any expenses going forward.

Hopefully my work should pick up to 3-4 days in September which will bring me back to a level similar to what I was on before. We are very lucky to have saved hard over the last 3 years and we have a nice amount in the back. We were going to have an extension but have decided against this now due to covid and my loss of earnings.

I have been keener to spend money on our home than going out. We've had quite a few local tradesmen over (trees, wall, tiling) etc so it has been good to know your helping someones family by giving them work. If I am completely honest, I am trying not to look at the bigger picture as it overwhelms me as at my age (30) our future wasn't great now its even worse. I am currently thinking as long as my family is ok for now. I know that's selfish but the whole thing is so depressing.

 

[Mrs McCarthy]

I don’t know what to do and what’s right and wrong. I have money for a new IPhone, and I need a new phone (I dropped my old one so there are pieces of lass falling out of the screen), but I have my husband’s old IPhone which works perfectly well.
I could afford to buy one, but what if we need the money for other things? It’s 4 months worth of our mortgage payments, so I don’t want to blow it all on a phone lol.
We normally eat out about once a month, ordered takeaways during lockdown, went for a coffee to a couple of places. We get veg from a local greengrocer, so that supports local farmers too. Got our watches fixed at a local place, masks are from a local haberdashery. Soon will need to buy new carpets, so looking at local places as well. Don’t need any clothes/shoes, so don’t know what else can we as a family do really.

 

[MotherofDragons]

I don’t know what to do and what’s right and wrong. I have money for a new IPhone, and I need a new phone (I dropped my old one so there are pieces of lass falling out of the screen), but I have my husband’s old IPhone which works perfectly well.
I could afford to buy one, but what if we need the money for other things? It’s 4 months worth of our mortgage payments, so I don’t want to blow it all on a phone lol.
We normally eat out about once a month, ordered takeaways during lockdown, went for a coffee to a couple of places. We get veg from a local greengrocer, so that supports local farmers too. Got our watches fixed at a local place, masks are from a local haberdashery. Soon will need to buy new carpets, so looking at local places as well. Don’t need any clothes/shoes, so don’t know what else can we as a family do really.

Could you look at getting a refurbished phone? The new iPhone will be out before long so you could wait until then as prices of the older models will come down. If you buy direct from Apple they do 0% interest finance so you could do that and pay it off monthly?

 

[Mrs McCarthy]

Could you look at getting a refurbished phone? The new iPhone will be out before long so you could wait until then as prices of the older models will come down. If you buy direct from Apple they do 0% interest finance so you could do that and pay it off monthly?

I have my husband’s old one that I have been using and it was meant to be my 25th birthday present to myself I was going to buy a new one in September, but I just don’t feel secure at the current moment to spend that much money on a phone that can be stolen or that I can break. I will wait and see.