thank you for the kind words. It’s nice to hear people not blaming me for every move I’ve made for once. Could I have done it better? I’m sure I could have……will it get better?? hope so. I refuse to file for bankrupcy or take a trust deed (which you can do here north of the border) because of the effect it has on your credit rating, ie completely knackers it for a good long while. I keep my crediters off my back each month and i’m not in the red with anyone at the moment so that’s something to be thankful for.

Then I see my brother in law just getting a circa. £300k mortgage and his wife *needing* a Q7 ‘in case the kids want me to drive their friends anywhere’. Yeah right. It just scares me – if their circumstances change (or if interest rates go up to early 1990s levels) they would be royally screwed.

Don’t get me wrong, it would nice to be in that situation, but one thing i’m taking away from all this is that while it’s going good, its fine, but the rug can be pulled out very VERY quickly, and none of these companies throwing money at you turn on their heels as soon as the rug is put away in the cupboard.

Absolutely – the entire family is worried about the risks they are taking every single day. It isn’t that he earns loads of money but he has just started a new job and is making reasonable money but they have no savings and (as far as I am aware) no finances/savings accounts in place to provide for their children as they grow up and go to uni etc. They just seem to be spending their money on (as an old boss once said) ‘fur coats but no knickers‘.

you go dogbert – would be so easy to chuck in the towel !

looking round me n the mrs have a few friends that we go out with regular – one lot have just done the new house , wedding,new car thing as a result of a windfall from family another couple have just done the same on tick – my mrs has spotted this and thinks we can do the same , i may seem like the grinch but im refusing , she understands now ive sat down and explained but you can see why people do it – it does seem attractive short term.

already got one friend thats went bankrupt through over indulgance in fast cars – now his mrs is complaining they cant get a car !

charity shops , gumtree and freecycle for our first house till we get on our feet !

its like everyone forgot the 80s when even the infallible oil industry sucumbed to the issues everyone else had !

charity shops , gumtree and freecycle for our first house till we get on our feet !

I think there are lots of people thinking like that these days. Due to our own tight circumstances we bought our little girls’ main Christmas present second-hand from Ebay and have just collected a great dolls house and figures from Freecycle (damned if I can put it together though). A few years ago I wouldn’t have entertained the thought but now I have come around to thinking that it makes all the sense in the world – not everything we buy needs to be brand new so why not share things we don’t need and accept other things we do need in return.

I many ways most of us are only a few bad moves away from loosing alot. Job lose or poor health can really change the course of your life.

You just have to believe its going to get better and work your way out of it.

How To Be Smart With Your Money by Duncan Bannatyne.