Expensive living

[beth18]

I was happy living here before, but now with 2 children, exchange rate diving weekly, losing child benefit, and daily expenses makes us over draft every month just can't take it anymore...
Cramped, loud, 1 1/2 bedroom expensive flat!

Mortgage: £1000
Agency managing fee: £400/Monthly
Send to Phils: £300/monthly
Food £100 a week
Bills, insurance...

These are only few reasons why we can't travel and have a Social life as a family of 4....

Thinking of moving....not happy anymore....

[Steve.r]

I was happy living here before, but now with 2 children, exchange rate diving weekly, losing child benefit, and daily expenses makes us over draft every month just can't take it anymore...
Cramped, loud, 1 1/2 bedroom expensive flat!

Mortgage: £1000
Agency managing fee: £400/Monthly
Send to Phils: £300/monthly
Food £100 a week
Bills, insurance...

These are only few reasons why we can't travel and have a Social life as a family of 4....

Thinking of moving....not happy anymore....

Relating this to Steve W's post about supporting family back in phils, no one there would believe you Beth. You must be a millionaire because you are in the UK.... right??? Oh... and why are you only sending £300 a month back.. blah blah blah!!!!

Life is not easy Beth, :NoNo:

[Dedworth]

Forgive me for my ignorance but what is this charge for ;-

Agency managing fee: £400/Monthly

[grahamw48]

Move to the North of England.

Most things are cheaper, salary probably the same, quality of life much better IMO, with less stress. :smile:

[grahamw48]

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37806517.html

(http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37806517.html)http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-24197577.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-19518390.html

[imagine]

aberdeen £95,000 :icon_lol::icon_lol:

[grahamw48]

aberdeen £95,000 :icon_lol::icon_lol:

Bah...extortionate ! :Giggler:

.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37916668.html

[andy222]

She has got a point. Wait until the posh boys budget. Then it will be even more expensive to live. GUARANTEED.:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Moy]

very true indeed :cwm3: :cwm3: here in the UK.. :furious3: EVERYTHING:bigcry: :Help1: cost you :yawn: :anerikke: :olddude: :action-smiley-081:

[joebloggs]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUhRKVIjJtw

I don't know what, they want from me
It's like the more money we come across The more problems we see

:cwm24:

[imagine]

Bah...extortionate ! :Giggler:

.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37916668.html

ah but can you leave the door unlocked, day or night, and know when you come back, all is just as you left it


oh the profile pic suits you to a tee :biggrin:

[stevewool]

I was happy living here before, but now with 2 children, exchange rate diving weekly, losing child benefit, and daily expenses makes us over draft every month just can't take it anymore...
Cramped, loud, 1 1/2 bedroom expensive flat!

Mortgage: £1000
Agency managing fee: £400/Monthly
Send to Phils: £300/monthly
Food £100 a week
Bills, insurance...

These are only few reasons why we can't travel and have a Social life as a family of 4....

Thinking of moving....not happy anymore....
we all have to budget, even those who have a little extra cash its becoming harder to live, shop wisely, live within your means even if this means moving house, reduced what you send to the phils and what is the £400 fee for

[grahamw48]

ah but can you leave the door unlocked, day or night, and know when you come back,all is just as you left it


oh the profile pic suits you to a tee :biggrin:

Hey...tell you what mate.

My place DID get broken into, and if it hadn't been for my next door neighbour telling me...I'd never have noticed anything out of place. :Erm:





.





.
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/567/muckyroom.jpg

[Arthur Little]

Forgive me for my ignorance but what is this charge for ;-

Agency managing fee: £400/Monthly


we all have to budget, even those who have a little extra cash its becoming harder to live, shop wisely, live within your means even if this means moving house, reduced what you send to the phils and what is the £400 fee for

No reply yet. :anerikke: ... maybe she runs/owns a small [? personnel recruitment] agency of some sort and the £400 is for the monthly rental of the property used. Just a thought! :icon_rolleyes:

[stevewool]

never now Arthur, i hope its not a charge from a agency for giving out work

[RickyR]

I was so surprised at the cost of living on my last visit to the UK, it was the final straw and made me decide definitely that we won't be returning. Life is hard in the UK, even if your earning a reasonable salary. Some friends of mine and I have come the opinion that unless your earning more than £100,000 in the UK you couldn't live a comfortable life.
We are in the process of getting an Australian visa, which we hope will offer us a better quality of life in the future, particularly when the salaries in my line of work are about 4x the UK salary offering.

[stevewool]

its all down to what you think is right for you and your family, it is hard living here in England whats the saying, work to live live to work, well it seems you will be working till you die if you stay here,
Just going on how i live and i think i am a lucky one, we both work very hard, we own our own house and dont have any debt other then the bills that come from month to month, we save and are both looking forward to a early retirement 5 years early i am planning so i am going at 60 all being well,
You dont have to earn that amount £100,000 to live well, its having no debt that you can live well

[imagine]

Hey...tell you what mate.

My place DID get broken into, and if it hadn't been for my next door neighbour telling me...I'd never have noticed anything out of place. :Erm:


:doh:icon_lol:

[beth18]

Relating this to Steve W's post about supporting family back in phils, no one there would believe you Beth. You must be a millionaire because you are in the UK.... right??? Oh... and why are you only sending £300 a month back.. blah blah blah!!!!

Life is not easy Beth, :NoNo:


Steve, £300 hat we send is apart from we are paying a second mortgage because we got them a 4 bedroom house, I know my husband is so generous I'm working hard as well so I can help around. I am Happy on my part that finally I am able to help my family but sometimes if I look into our situation here I feel sad but what can I do... I know this should stop some how I just don't know when....

But what we send and do for them is nothing compared to friends I know. My husband tells me that what making us short is really the managing Agency for the building collecting 20 grand for building works and beautification. oh well..

[beth18]

Forgive me for my ignorance but what is this charge for ;-

Agency managing fee: £400/Monthly

There was a contract agreed 3 years ago that the building have to be fixed externally so all flat ownwers have to pay certain amount for the whole project, you know fixing of the hall way carpets lighting, window cleaners, hall way cleaners, fixing of the lift, right now they are doing the external of the building window frame and so on...

[joebloggs]

Steve, £300 hat we send is apart from we are paying a second mortgage because we got them a 4 bedroom house, I know my husband is so generous I'm working hard as well so I can help around. I am Happy on my part that finally I am able to help my family but sometimes if I look into our situation here I feel sad but what can I do... I know this should stop some how I just don't know when....

But what we send and do for them is nothing compared to friends I know. My husband tells me that what making us short is really the managing Agency for the building collecting 20 grand for building works and beautification. oh well..

i think there are many people worse off than you :cwm25:

[Michael Parnham]

Beth, there are a number of members here on less than £10000 per annum, me included and we budget accordingly, our total bills incuding food and £475 rent monthly allow us to just to be able to manage. Just hoping that when wifey starts earning we can save her salary. One must try and live within one's means, you and your kids come first and I was quite shocked that you said you were using your overdraft instead of cancelling sending money to Philippines. Dont wish to offend!!:Erm:

[beth18]

Move to the North of England.

Most things are cheaper, salary probably the same, quality of life much better IMO, with less stress. :smile:

It's not possible at the moment, My H works in East London....

[beth18]

Bah...extortionate ! :Giggler:

.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37916668.html

Hahaha! anything else?

[beth18]

we all have to budget, even those who have a little extra cash its becoming harder to live, shop wisely, live within your means even if this means moving house, reduced what you send to the phils and what is the £400 fee for

Steve, It's for the managing Agency fee. looking after the building apparently

[joebloggs]

Beth, there are a number of members here on less than £10000 per annum, me included and we budget accordingly, our total bills incuding food and £475 rent monthly allow us to just to be able to manage. Just hoping that when wifey starts earning we can save her salary. One must try and live within one's means, you and your kids come first and I was quite shocked that you said you were using your overdraft instead of cancelling sending money to Philippines. Dont wish to offend!!:Erm:

you have to live within your means. no point in getting in debt here to send money to your family in the phils, soon or later everything could come tumbling down :Bricks: if any of you lose your job you could be in deep :censored:

good luck with your wife finding a job Michael :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[beth18]

No reply yet. :anerikke: ... maybe she runs/owns a small [? personnel recruitment] agency of some sort and the £400 is for the monthly rental of the property used. Just a thought! :icon_rolleyes:

Hi Arthur,
It's a monthly fee for the managing agency who do building works and maintenance in our building.

[stevewool]

wow so much, i hope it all works out for you in the end, try sending a smaller amount to the phils or sending something when you can afford it, i am sure they will understand

[imagine]

£400 managing fee, :omg: thats a mortgage

[beth18]

£400 managing fee, :omg: thats a mortgage

And it's killing us...

[fred]

I was so surprised at the cost of living on my last visit to the UK, it was the final straw and made me decide definitely that we won't be returning. Life is hard in the UK, even if your earning a reasonable salary. Some friends of mine and I have come the opinion that unless your earning more than £100,000 in the UK you couldn't live a comfortable life.
We are in the process of getting an Australian visa, which we hope will offer us a better quality of life in the future, particularly when the salaries in my line of work are about 4x the UK salary offering.


Ricky.. I have a lot of Aussie friends here in P.I that say that Australia has gone absolutely to the dogs in regards prices.
Many of them are disgusted at their Governments policy of raping the average taxpayer in recent years..
Seems the cost of beer there these days is more than the UK!!!
Thats bad!

[Steve.r]

And it's killing us...

As has been said Beth, you need to sort out your priorities. £300 a month cash cow...wow.. you are really letting the family milk you. Going into an overdraft for them is no way to live and whoever you are sending to has to realise you cannot live like that. I always think to myself that before I was around the family were able to eat, they never had me to support them. So, take it away and they will still survive like before. Sounds hard, but people have to face reality and not freeload from others.

[joebloggs]

I was so surprised at the cost of living on my last visit to the UK, it was the final straw and made me decide definitely that we won't be returning. Life is hard in the UK, even if your earning a reasonable salary. Some friends of mine and I have come the opinion that unless your earning more than £100,000 in the UK you couldn't live a comfortable life.
.

:icon_lol: where were they living SW1 :Erm:
i could live a 'very comfortable life' on a lot less than that, mind you i'm not a 'designer label' type and don't have any expensive habits apart from a wife and kids :cwm24:

Australia is so expensive, you would be working longer hours, so how is that going to be a 'better quality of life' ? surely the aim is to work less and spend more time with your family :Erm: and for me and the misses that's life in sunny Salford :biggrin: where you can live a comfortable life on a lot less than £100,000 :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[grahamw48]

100 grand...in Salford ? :Erm:

Buy a street of houses and live off the rents. :biggrin:

[stevewool]

100 grand would last me my lifetime in the phils and i am talking 20+ years , now whos got a spare 100 grand:icon_lol:

[Michael Parnham]

Thankyou Joebloggs, will let you know more as things develop. There are very many things I would love to talk about on this site, but I hold a lot back because I don't want to upset anyone!:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[stevewool]

Thankyou Joebloggs, will let you know more as things develop. There are very many things I would love to talk about on this site, but I hold a lot back because I don't want to upset anyone!:xxgrinning--00xx3:

now now Michael, its called freedom of speech, so let rip and see who gets upset or agrees

[Michael Parnham]

Probabley at a later date Steve!:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[joebloggs]

Thankyou Joebloggs, will let you know more as things develop. There are very many things I would love to talk about on this site, but I hold a lot back because I don't want to upset anyone!:xxgrinning--00xx3:


now now Michael, its called freedom of speech, so let rip and see who gets upset or agrees

:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[sars_notd_virus]

Expensive Living
I was happy living here before, but now with 2 children, exchange rate diving weekly, losing child benefit, and daily expenses makes us over draft every month just can't take it anymore...
Cramped, loud, 1 1/2 bedroom expensive flat!

Mortgage: £1000
Agency managing fee: £400/Monthly
Send to Phils: £300/monthly
Food £100 a week
Bills, insurance...

These are only few reasons why we can't travel and have a Social life as a family of 4....

Thinking of moving....not happy anymore....

We live near London and yes its quite expensive house prices , mortgage , transport etc and so on...My aunt lives in London (30years) and another aunt lives in Birmingham(20 years) they always chat about the difference of the cost of living , I am speechless :biggrin:I am happy to stay in Wiltshire for now,..stone hugger forever:icon_lol::xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Dedworth]

There was a contract agreed 3 years ago that the building have to be fixed externally so all flat ownwers have to pay certain amount for the whole project, you know fixing of the hall way carpets lighting, window cleaners, hall way cleaners, fixing of the lift, right now they are doing the external of the building window frame and so on...

Sounds like the service charge in previous years must've been way too low or mismanaged as I'd have thought they should have been making provision for replacement of communal fixtures. Did you agree to the contract 3 years ago ? or if you moved in afterwards you must have been aware that there was this monthly charge. Who owns/runs the managing company ?

[beth18]

Sounds like the service charge in previous years must've been way too low or mismanaged as I'd have thought they should have been making provision for replacement of communal fixtures. Did you agree to the contract 3 years ago ? or if you moved in afterwards you must have been aware that there was this monthly charge. Who owns/runs the managing company ?


I have to dig in with the documents, I have a client off Baker Street, and they pay £2000 per quarter for the managing agency fee, they have a porter though.

[South-east boy]

It frustrated me that at the company I used to work for, I didn't get paid a bit more than the branches that were further north where the cost of living was cheaper. You get London waiting/higher salary for working there, and even though where I live in Kent, is no way as expensive as London, it's a lot more than a lot of other areas of the country. Really, I would have thought that your salary should be slightly relative to the cost of living where you live.

Whereabouts in London do you live Beth? Have you not thought about moving to just outside London and commuting? Some of the train stations near me only take an hour's train journey to get to London, and you could get a house for less money than where you are now + without that service charge as well!

[Michael Parnham]

Beth, in derbyshire, nottinghamshire, yorkshire and the north east you can buy brand new houses three bedroom for as little as 115,000 with a small deposit your mortgage could be as little as 550 per month depending how many years your mortgage arrangement is!:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[stevewool]

rent mine if you want:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[grahamw48]

I've got a couple of spare rooms too. :smile:

...Could do with some help clearing this damned snow. :Brick:



.

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/484/castlehoward.jpg

[Terpe]

I've got a couple of spare rooms too. :smile:

...Could do with some help clearing this damned snow. :Brick:

.

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/484/castlehoward.jpg

You need to get those windows cleaned too :icon_rolleyes:

[grahamw48]

I would Peter, but by the time I've been to the front gate for the post, and back again...just haven't got the energy. :cwm3:

[Terpe]

I would Peter, but by the time I've been to the front gate for the post, and back again...just haven't got the energy. :cwm3:

:laugher::laugher:
:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[beth18]

It frustrated me that at the company I used to work for, I didn't get paid a bit more than the branches that were further north where the cost of living was cheaper. You get London waiting/higher salary for working there, and even though where I live in Kent, is no way as expensive as London, it's a lot more than a lot of other areas of the country. Really, I would have thought that your salary should be slightly relative to the cost of living where you live.












Whereabouts in London do you live Beth? Have you not thought about moving to just outside London and commuting? Some of the train stations near me only take an hour's train journey to get to London, and you could get a house for less money than where you are now + without that service charge as well!


We live at Great Portland St. No big super markets only Sainsbury's and Tesco Express...

[beth18]

Beth, in derbyshire, nottinghamshire, yorkshire and the north east you can buy brand new houses three bedroom for as little as 115,000 with a small deposit your mortgage could be as little as 550 per month depending how many years your mortgage arrangement is!:xxgrinning--00xx3:

My in-laws live in Yorkshire we visit them on special occasions...

[Dedworth]

We live at Great Portland St. No big super markets only Sainsbury's and Tesco Express...

You're living in the West End of London I'm not surprised you find it expensive

According to Zoopla average property price in Great Portland Street is £969000

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/house-prices/london/great-portland-street/

[Ako Si Jamie]

£400 per month for managing agency fee? :omg: That's more than my monthly rent on my flat.

[South-east boy]

You're living in the West End of London I'm not surprised you find it expensive

According to Zoopla average property price in Great Portland Street is £969000

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/house-prices/london/great-portland-street/

:yikes:

These detached houses are near a train station that takes 50 minutes to get to London and are around £500,000:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37126447.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-22992378.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-25152501.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34402403.html

[joebloggs]

£400 per month for managing agency fee? :omg: That's more than my monthly rent on my flat.

:yikes::yikes: and more than my rent for a 3 bed semi-detached house :doh

[andy222]

And here was me thinking you were all rich on here with houses and no mortgage.

[imagine]

god im lucky,glad i paid lumps off now less than £100 a month mortgage :Jump:

[Ako Si Jamie]

That's why I didn't get a mortgage on my place. They wanted a ludicrous amount of money per year for this maintenance nonsense and what do they do for it? Mow the lawns about twice a year and sod all else.

[jonnijon]

You need to look into that £400 fee.How many of you in the building are buying their flats? Each of you should hold a % of the freehold so you can tell these managing agents where to go. Get legal advice on this now.
Also with these apartment blocks you need to find out if the roof rain water goes to a sewer or to a soakaway if its the latter you should get a very large reduction in your water rate bill.

[Michael Parnham]

Whereabouts in yorkshire Beth?:smile:

[beth18]

Whereabouts in yorkshire Beth?:smile:

Michael, In West Knapton, Malton

[beth18]

H and I checked the bills, are you all ready to hear it? Building works Project Total cost is £31,000 plus service charge! we paid £5000 up front 2 years ago and the rest were billed from last year until 2016! Suffering.....Foxtons were around yesterday, the flat market value now is £600K!

[grahamw48]

That kind of suffering I could handle. :smile:

[South-east boy]

H and I checked the bills, are you all ready to hear it? Building works Project Total cost is £31,000 plus service charge! we paid £5000 up front 2 years ago and the rest were billed from last year until 2016! Suffering.....Foxtons were around yesterday, the flat market value now is £600K!

All of those houses I put links to were around £100k less than the value of your flat and they are detached, with 4-5 bedrooms, big rooms, your own garden, near big supermarkets, near the countryside & towns, easy reach to London and no service charge! You'd have a much getter quality of living and it would cost a fair bit less! I know which I'd choose! :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[beth18]

All of those houses I put links to were around £100k less than the value of your flat and they are detached, with 4-5 bedrooms, big rooms, your own garden, near big supermarkets, near the countryside & towns, easy reach to London and no service charge! You'd have a much getter quality of living and it would cost a fair bit less! I know which I'd choose! :xxgrinning--00xx3:

We are considering it now as an option in the next year or two, looking for places somewhere in Hemmel Hampstead...