Discussion
Setting aside the fact that we are all going to have less disposable income once this s
t storm passes, I've been finding just how little you actually need to live on over the last 2-3 weeks.
amongst other things I've started fixing things again whereas previously I would have visited a DIY shed and bought a tatty PRC made replacement and called in at the Council tip on the way back to jetison the old one, and of course call at the filling station - I'm finding it strangely satisfying.
Beer?, well I can drink that in the house much cheaper and make nice meals for far less than eating out (a superb fillet steak from Morrison's for £7 as opposed to £28 at the pub and enjoy the cooking bit. Okay the social part is a miss but it's quite an eye opener experiencing how 'self sufficient' you can actually be when it's forced upon you.
A worry for business owners and politician's must be how to re instill the 'buying habit' back into the population, how do you think they will do this ... or will they not?
t storm passes, I've been finding just how little you actually need to live on over the last 2-3 weeks.amongst other things I've started fixing things again whereas previously I would have visited a DIY shed and bought a tatty PRC made replacement and called in at the Council tip on the way back to jetison the old one, and of course call at the filling station - I'm finding it strangely satisfying.
Beer?, well I can drink that in the house much cheaper and make nice meals for far less than eating out (a superb fillet steak from Morrison's for £7 as opposed to £28 at the pub and enjoy the cooking bit. Okay the social part is a miss but it's quite an eye opener experiencing how 'self sufficient' you can actually be when it's forced upon you.
A worry for business owners and politician's must be how to re instill the 'buying habit' back into the population, how do you think they will do this ... or will they not?
Busy working people pay for convenience
A car to get to work
Car parking near work
A cafe at lunch
Dinner on way home in a restaurant
New furniture
A decorator
Tradesmen
Half the costs can be reduced if you’re not busy
Walk or cycle to work
Park somewhere free or cheaper and walk the rest
Make your own lunch from scratch
Paint your own house
Repair things / furniture etc
Working is expensive!!!
A car to get to work
Car parking near work
A cafe at lunch
Dinner on way home in a restaurant
New furniture
A decorator
Tradesmen
Half the costs can be reduced if you’re not busy
Walk or cycle to work
Park somewhere free or cheaper and walk the rest
Make your own lunch from scratch
Paint your own house
Repair things / furniture etc
Working is expensive!!!
Lotobear said:
Setting aside the fact that we are all going to have less disposable income once this st storm passes, I've been finding just how little you actually need to live on over the last 2-3 weeks.
amongst other things I've started fixing things again whereas previously I would have visited a DIY shed and bought a tatty PRC made replacement and called in at the Council tip on the way back to jetison the old one, and of course call at the filling station - I'm finding it strangely satisfying.
Beer?, well I can drink that in the house much cheaper and make nice meals for far less than eating out (a superb fillet steak from Morrison's for £7 as opposed to £28 at the pub and enjoy the cooking bit. Okay the social part is a miss but it's quite an eye opener experiencing how 'self sufficient' you can actually be when it's forced upon you.
A worry for business owners and politician's must be how to re instill the 'buying habit' back into the population, how do you think they will do this ... or will they not?
But you have always had these options, do you really think when this is over most people will not go back to what they have always done?t storm passes, I've been finding just how little you actually need to live on over the last 2-3 weeks.amongst other things I've started fixing things again whereas previously I would have visited a DIY shed and bought a tatty PRC made replacement and called in at the Council tip on the way back to jetison the old one, and of course call at the filling station - I'm finding it strangely satisfying.
Beer?, well I can drink that in the house much cheaper and make nice meals for far less than eating out (a superb fillet steak from Morrison's for £7 as opposed to £28 at the pub and enjoy the cooking bit. Okay the social part is a miss but it's quite an eye opener experiencing how 'self sufficient' you can actually be when it's forced upon you.
A worry for business owners and politician's must be how to re instill the 'buying habit' back into the population, how do you think they will do this ... or will they not?
Agreed money will be tight for quite a few, but I think the "need" to get out will overrule that for a while.
jonah35 said:
Busy working people pay for convenience
A car to get to work
Car parking near work
A cafe at lunch
Dinner on way home in a restaurant
New furniture
A decorator
Tradesmen
Half the costs can be reduced if you’re not busy
Walk or cycle to work
Park somewhere free or cheaper and walk the rest
Make your own lunch from scratch
Paint your own house
Repair things / furniture etc
Working is expensive!!!
Pah, I've had to wash the damn car myself.A car to get to work
Car parking near work
A cafe at lunch
Dinner on way home in a restaurant
New furniture
A decorator
Tradesmen
Half the costs can be reduced if you’re not busy
Walk or cycle to work
Park somewhere free or cheaper and walk the rest
Make your own lunch from scratch
Paint your own house
Repair things / furniture etc
Working is expensive!!!
jonah35 said:
Busy working people pay for convenience
A car to get to work
Car parking near work
A cafe at lunch
Dinner on way home in a restaurant
New furniture
A decorator
Tradesmen
Half the costs can be reduced if you’re not busy
Walk or cycle to work
Park somewhere free or cheaper and walk the rest
Make your own lunch from scratch
Paint your own house
Repair things / furniture etc
Working is expensive!!!
Agree, When we sat down to look at if I had enough savings/pension to retire early. I was amazed at how much of the money I spent, was actually work related.A car to get to work
Car parking near work
A cafe at lunch
Dinner on way home in a restaurant
New furniture
A decorator
Tradesmen
Half the costs can be reduced if you’re not busy
Walk or cycle to work
Park somewhere free or cheaper and walk the rest
Make your own lunch from scratch
Paint your own house
Repair things / furniture etc
Working is expensive!!!
Food out was the big thing. (tended to be cash, so no real record)
jonah35 said:
Busy working people pay for convenience
A car to get to work
Car parking near work
A cafe at lunch
Dinner on way home in a restaurant
New furniture
A decorator
Tradesmen
Half the costs can be reduced if you’re not busy
Walk or cycle to work
Park somewhere free or cheaper and walk the rest
Make your own lunch from scratch
Paint your own house
Repair things / furniture etc
Working is expensive!!!
The problem is that the world works by the constant cycle of money.A car to get to work
Car parking near work
A cafe at lunch
Dinner on way home in a restaurant
New furniture
A decorator
Tradesmen
Half the costs can be reduced if you’re not busy
Walk or cycle to work
Park somewhere free or cheaper and walk the rest
Make your own lunch from scratch
Paint your own house
Repair things / furniture etc
Working is expensive!!!
So if you replaced everything on your first list with everything on your second list, then yes, you'd be better off. But the first part of your list creates jobs and supports other people. And they in turn spend and they support others, and so on.
It's the "multiplier effect".
For example, I used to do some work for a very large former public owned company. They used to have endless meetings all over the place and would always get a local small caterers in to do the lunches. In 2008 they decided they needed to cuts costs, so out when the lunches. Now the cost to them was tiny, but the value to those small caterers was huge.
Regarding Consumerism. I suspect you might see less people willing to take on debt so easily. So you might find car sales drop a bit, big ticket items will be less desirable for a time until the economy "feels" solid again
My thought is that post CV, a lot of businesses will realise they don't need to have a glass modern air conditioned office premises in a central location near to good public transport. When they can just conference call for meetings and have their people work from home 95% of the time. That way they don't need cleaners, or a canteen or even vending machines. They don't have to worry about gossiping in the toilets. Or potential sexual harassment cases. They'll also realise they don't need so many staff, and which staff are actually doing the work!
All they need is a decent IT department. And for those 1 in 50 times they DO need to meet in person to physically sign something or whatever, they can hire an afternoon in a hotel somewhere for a tiny percentage of their usual operational budget.
My thought is that post CV, a lot of businesses will realise they don't need to have a glass modern air conditioned office premises in a central location near to good public transport. When they can just conference call for meetings and have their people work from home 95% of the time. That way they don't need cleaners, or a canteen or even vending machines. They don't have to worry about gossiping in the toilets. Or potential sexual harassment cases. They'll also realise they don't need so many staff, and which staff are actually doing the work!
All they need is a decent IT department. And for those 1 in 50 times they DO need to meet in person to physically sign something or whatever, they can hire an afternoon in a hotel somewhere for a tiny percentage of their usual operational budget.
jonah35 said:
Busy working people pay for convenience
A car to get to work
Car parking near work
A cafe at lunch
Dinner on way home in a restaurant
New furniture
A decorator
Tradesmen
Half the costs can be reduced if you’re not busy
Walk or cycle to work
Park somewhere free or cheaper and walk the rest
Make your own lunch from scratch
Paint your own house
Repair things / furniture etc
Working is expensive!!!
I've given up most of the first list for a variety of reasons. The desire to revert to them fades surprisingly quickly.A car to get to work
Car parking near work
A cafe at lunch
Dinner on way home in a restaurant
New furniture
A decorator
Tradesmen
Half the costs can be reduced if you’re not busy
Walk or cycle to work
Park somewhere free or cheaper and walk the rest
Make your own lunch from scratch
Paint your own house
Repair things / furniture etc
Working is expensive!!!
Lotobear said:
Setting aside the fact that we are all going to have less disposable income once this st storm passes, I've been finding just how little you actually need to live on over the last 2-3 weeks.
amongst other things I've started fixing things again whereas previously I would have visited a DIY shed and bought a tatty PRC made replacement and called in at the Council tip on the way back to jetison the old one, and of course call at the filling station - I'm finding it strangely satisfying.
Beer?, well I can drink that in the house much cheaper and make nice meals for far less than eating out (a superb fillet steak from Morrison's for £7 as opposed to £28 at the pub and enjoy the cooking bit. Okay the social part is a miss but it's quite an eye opener experiencing how 'self sufficient' you can actually be when it's forced upon you.
A worry for business owners and politician's must be how to re instill the 'buying habit' back into the population, how do you think they will do this ... or will they not?
If everyone stopped consuming as we do, we would all on average be a lot poorer as overall economic activity fell. It would feed into society in lots of different ways. You might find that you are not spending as much but correspondingly you might be earning less as well. It might leave you no better off. What you really want is everyone else to keep doing what they are doing but only change your own behaviour. That way you get all of the benefits but none of the downside. t storm passes, I've been finding just how little you actually need to live on over the last 2-3 weeks.amongst other things I've started fixing things again whereas previously I would have visited a DIY shed and bought a tatty PRC made replacement and called in at the Council tip on the way back to jetison the old one, and of course call at the filling station - I'm finding it strangely satisfying.
Beer?, well I can drink that in the house much cheaper and make nice meals for far less than eating out (a superb fillet steak from Morrison's for £7 as opposed to £28 at the pub and enjoy the cooking bit. Okay the social part is a miss but it's quite an eye opener experiencing how 'self sufficient' you can actually be when it's forced upon you.
A worry for business owners and politician's must be how to re instill the 'buying habit' back into the population, how do you think they will do this ... or will they not?
S1KRR said:
Regarding Consumerism. I suspect you might see less people willing to take on debt so easily. So you might find car sales drop a bit, big ticket items will be less desirable for a time until the economy "feels" solid again
My thought is that post CV, a lot of businesses will realise they don't need to have a glass modern air conditioned office premises in a central location near to good public transport. When they can just conference call for meetings and have their people work from home 95% of the time. That way they don't need cleaners, or a canteen or even vending machines. They don't have to worry about gossiping in the toilets. Or potential sexual harassment cases. They'll also realise they don't need so many staff, and which staff are actually doing the work!
All they need is a decent IT department. And for those 1 in 50 times they DO need to meet in person to physically sign something or whatever, they can hire an afternoon in a hotel somewhere for a tiny percentage of their usual operational budget.
Some of us worked this out a while ago. Shoosh for god's sake.....My thought is that post CV, a lot of businesses will realise they don't need to have a glass modern air conditioned office premises in a central location near to good public transport. When they can just conference call for meetings and have their people work from home 95% of the time. That way they don't need cleaners, or a canteen or even vending machines. They don't have to worry about gossiping in the toilets. Or potential sexual harassment cases. They'll also realise they don't need so many staff, and which staff are actually doing the work!
All they need is a decent IT department. And for those 1 in 50 times they DO need to meet in person to physically sign something or whatever, they can hire an afternoon in a hotel somewhere for a tiny percentage of their usual operational budget.
S1KRR said:
Regarding Consumerism. I suspect you might see less people willing to take on debt so easily. So you might find car sales drop a bit, big ticket items will be less desirable for a time until the economy "feels" solid again
My thought is that post CV, a lot of businesses will realise they don't need to have a glass modern air conditioned office premises in a central location near to good public transport. When they can just conference call for meetings and have their people work from home 95% of the time. That way they don't need cleaners, or a canteen or even vending machines. They don't have to worry about gossiping in the toilets. Or potential sexual harassment cases. They'll also realise they don't need so many staff, and which staff are actually doing the work!
All they need is a decent IT department. And for those 1 in 50 times they DO need to meet in person to physically sign something or whatever, they can hire an afternoon in a hotel somewhere for a tiny percentage of their usual operational budget.
I have been saying this for years, firms need to wake up to cost savings. The barrier has been managers, people like a team around them, a team makes them feel successful, a team also gives them purpose and a team can compensate for own lack of knowledge. So they resisited loosing that control. That resistance has been smashed by Corona Virus and firms will look at cost savings.My thought is that post CV, a lot of businesses will realise they don't need to have a glass modern air conditioned office premises in a central location near to good public transport. When they can just conference call for meetings and have their people work from home 95% of the time. That way they don't need cleaners, or a canteen or even vending machines. They don't have to worry about gossiping in the toilets. Or potential sexual harassment cases. They'll also realise they don't need so many staff, and which staff are actually doing the work!
All they need is a decent IT department. And for those 1 in 50 times they DO need to meet in person to physically sign something or whatever, they can hire an afternoon in a hotel somewhere for a tiny percentage of their usual operational budget.
S1KRR said:
Regarding Consumerism. I suspect you might see less people willing to take on debt so easily. So you might find car sales drop a bit, big ticket items will be less desirable for a time until the economy "feels" solid again
My thought is that post CV, a lot of businesses will realise they don't need to have a glass modern air conditioned office premises in a central location near to good public transport. When they can just conference call for meetings and have their people work from home 95% of the time. That way they don't need cleaners, or a canteen or even vending machines. They don't have to worry about gossiping in the toilets. Or potential sexual harassment cases. They'll also realise they don't need so many staff, and which staff are actually doing the work!
All they need is a decent IT department. And for those 1 in 50 times they DO need to meet in person to physically sign something or whatever, they can hire an afternoon in a hotel somewhere for a tiny percentage of their usual operational budget.
So we should all buy Regus shares?My thought is that post CV, a lot of businesses will realise they don't need to have a glass modern air conditioned office premises in a central location near to good public transport. When they can just conference call for meetings and have their people work from home 95% of the time. That way they don't need cleaners, or a canteen or even vending machines. They don't have to worry about gossiping in the toilets. Or potential sexual harassment cases. They'll also realise they don't need so many staff, and which staff are actually doing the work!
All they need is a decent IT department. And for those 1 in 50 times they DO need to meet in person to physically sign something or whatever, they can hire an afternoon in a hotel somewhere for a tiny percentage of their usual operational budget.
jonah35 said:
Busy working people pay for convenience
A car to get to work
Car parking near work
A cafe at lunch
Dinner on way home in a restaurant
New furniture
A decorator
Tradesmen
Half the costs can be reduced if you’re not busy
Walk or cycle to work
Park somewhere free or cheaper and walk the rest
Make your own lunch from scratch
Paint your own house
Repair things / furniture etc
Working is expensive!!!
This is exactly the reason I'm beginning to think working long hours in a stressful job is a false economy. A car to get to work
Car parking near work
A cafe at lunch
Dinner on way home in a restaurant
New furniture
A decorator
Tradesmen
Half the costs can be reduced if you’re not busy
Walk or cycle to work
Park somewhere free or cheaper and walk the rest
Make your own lunch from scratch
Paint your own house
Repair things / furniture etc
Working is expensive!!!
I'm by no means at PH Director level but earn around 40k on a bad year and 50ish on a good one... and have a long commute, 42hr standard week plus OT
Best mate earns 24k with a short commute and does 37 hours per week in public sector.
Both of our OH's earn similar.
He has a similar house, car isn't much worse although he only has 1 not 2 (I could easily lose the extra car without any tears), goes on more holidays, has managed to save for a wedding and has a bucket load more spare time. He is literally no worse off really apart from eating out less and generally being more careful with money, but of course he has the time to do so.
I would happily do more things myself instead of paying someone else if I had the time.
This crisis really has made me rethink what's important.
CX53 said:
This is exactly the reason I'm beginning to think working long hours in a stressful job is a false economy.
I'm by no means at PH Director level but earn around 40k on a bad year and 50ish on a good one... and have a long commute, 42hr standard week plus OT
Best mate earns 24k with a short commute and does 37 hours per week in public sector.
Both of our OH's earn similar.
He has a similar house, car isn't much worse although he only has 1 not 2 (I could easily lose the extra car without any tears), goes on more holidays, has managed to save for a wedding and has a bucket load more spare time. He is literally no worse off really apart from eating out less and generally being more careful with money, but of course he has the time to do so.
I would happily do more things myself instead of paying someone else if I had the time.
This crisis really has made me rethink what's important.
I would hope it will make people appreciate what they have more. How many people have found taking 30 mins or an hour to exercise a really positive experience. How many people have not missed a over priced sandwich out of a packet etc.I'm by no means at PH Director level but earn around 40k on a bad year and 50ish on a good one... and have a long commute, 42hr standard week plus OT
Best mate earns 24k with a short commute and does 37 hours per week in public sector.
Both of our OH's earn similar.
He has a similar house, car isn't much worse although he only has 1 not 2 (I could easily lose the extra car without any tears), goes on more holidays, has managed to save for a wedding and has a bucket load more spare time. He is literally no worse off really apart from eating out less and generally being more careful with money, but of course he has the time to do so.
I would happily do more things myself instead of paying someone else if I had the time.
This crisis really has made me rethink what's important.
Some things will go back to normal somethings will not
CX53 said:
.....
I'm by no means at PH Director level but earn around 40k on a bad year and 50ish on a good one... and have a long commute, 42hr standard week plus OT
Best mate earns 24k with a short commute and does 37 hours per week in public sector.
Usual PH answer is to say that if you add in the value of his pension then you're not that far apart.I'm by no means at PH Director level but earn around 40k on a bad year and 50ish on a good one... and have a long commute, 42hr standard week plus OT
Best mate earns 24k with a short commute and does 37 hours per week in public sector.
CX53 said:
jonah35 said:
Busy working people pay for convenience
A car to get to work
Car parking near work
A cafe at lunch
Dinner on way home in a restaurant
New furniture
A decorator
Tradesmen
Half the costs can be reduced if you’re not busy
Walk or cycle to work
Park somewhere free or cheaper and walk the rest
Make your own lunch from scratch
Paint your own house
Repair things / furniture etc
Working is expensive!!!
This is exactly the reason I'm beginning to think working long hours in a stressful job is a false economy. A car to get to work
Car parking near work
A cafe at lunch
Dinner on way home in a restaurant
New furniture
A decorator
Tradesmen
Half the costs can be reduced if you’re not busy
Walk or cycle to work
Park somewhere free or cheaper and walk the rest
Make your own lunch from scratch
Paint your own house
Repair things / furniture etc
Working is expensive!!!
I'm by no means at PH Director level but earn around 40k on a bad year and 50ish on a good one... and have a long commute, 42hr standard week plus OT
Best mate earns 24k with a short commute and does 37 hours per week in public sector.
Both of our OH's earn similar.
He has a similar house, car isn't much worse although he only has 1 not 2 (I could easily lose the extra car without any tears), goes on more holidays, has managed to save for a wedding and has a bucket load more spare time. He is literally no worse off really apart from eating out less and generally being more careful with money, but of course he has the time to do so.
I would happily do more things myself instead of paying someone else if I had the time.
This crisis really has made me rethink what's important.
What’s important to me is a healthy body
Free time to read and play sport
Walks and exercise
Good food
The above costs naff all
Let’s say working in manchester as a solicitor instead for example. Need a nice car to keep up with the joneses, pay for work parking in the city, lunch out every day, after work beers, designer suits and ties, new shoes etc, a cleaner, gardener and all that jazz and you can’t admit your just going to Tenerife for your holiday as you have to go somewhere exotic and etc.
Mate of mine is a solicitor in London and spends maybe £4K per month on rent, car and bills before even saved a solitary penny.
I’m kind of a hybrid between spend and save but since giving up work I spend less than before
Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff