Its all doom and gloom on the news at the moment for us Brits, food, housing, car tax, petrol yada yada.........depressing shit. And now they are talking about us going into a recession!!

I run a small business, we are flat out with work (luckily) - so the "credit crunch" isnt making much of an impact there.

Not sure if its coz we are on a single wage now - Mrs is on extended maternity leave - or the credit crunch is now effecting us. Our Asda shop is going through the roof, even though we buy just what we need.

With tax, insurance, MOT all due in the same month - and with the latest petrol rise and tax increases, car owners are being priced off the road.

Anyway, took the decision to sell my little punto at weekend - got a fair price on ebay for it. We have two cars, so it made sense to sell if we can mange with one. I'm getting a mountain bike for commuting to work, so I'll get fit & save money at the same time - thats the plan anyway!

Most people on our street have 2/3 cars per house - the punto was only a cheepo run around for when we both worked full time, but needs must.

Next on the list is the bandit - its been sorned for the last 6 months, time to go now ...............

im trying to justify our second vehicle (my old tranny van) its a handy ol tool to have but now tax mot and insurance is up im having trouble justifying it.

has anybody noticed the quality of food has gone down too. i think the wankers bankers that caused this should have to give there bonus's back. england rewards failure.

I'm just a student and even im feeling it! (not as bad as you guys though )
went to the co op the other day, trying to find something healthy as opsosed to the usual crap . . .£1.99 for a f*****g salad!!!!!! , they can bollocks!
Even Greggs & McD's have gone up a load!!, i remember the days when a cheese & onion pasty was only 68p, then the only meal i can have at McD's is chuffin £4.09p!!!! (cos im a veggie).....wtf! people are paying less for meat!! and im just having veg. . .charming!

oh and me bus & tram fares seem to go up every couple of weeks!, im just gonna end up staying at this rate!

MOT?

its a test that garages carry out on your vehicle to check that everything works ok and that its road safe.

I've noticed it too. To get decent food, you have to go to a farmers market and spend double, but you get food you can eat.

Oh, we have that here as well. Go to a resturant and pay 4-5 dollars for a salad.

not sure about the cheese and onion pasty (68 pence is not much at all) or chuffin (4 pounds for something from McD's is sickening).

I'm feeling it in everyway. In my business, the cost of everything has gone crazy from the price of gold and silver, supplies, rent, utilities, shipping etc...and daily expences. It is costing me about $6 to drive the car $8 for the jeep to and from work everyday!!!!

I'm sick of grabing my ankles.

I can't say i've noticed. I don't earn enough to get taxed (student) and my vehicles have been off the road a while. I wouldn't notice price changes in supermarkets because i don't really look that hard.

no crush here....it's a full blown smash

in other words he still lives with folks !

Hell no. As it stands today the houses i've rented for the year past and the year to come overlap, and I have two places to live

seeing you dont earn enough to get taxed i wonder how you could afford 2 places to live, please let me into your secret tom.

It's called roomates and alot of them. That's how I do it.

I'm not. But then again, I haven't pointlessly wasted my money on things I don't need. When everything is expensive you tighten up the budget.
Still, tonight, or today, depending on where you live the credit crunch has really kicked into top gear. Fannie May and Freddie Mac, the 2 biggest mortgage brokers in the USA have virtually gone bankrupt. If they go under things will get a lot worse very quickly - if the US federal reserve bails them out then things will get worse, but it will take a longer. Buy gold and oil and you'll be laughing but not all the way to the bank, because the financial system is in meltdown.

Its called debt. My student loan will be pretty big when i'm done. Fortunately engineers are very employable, my time will come

I'm the same as tom: student, living at home. I have a scholarship/loan. if I finish my education in 10 years, a big part of the loan disapears. I have a card from the government to give me free public transportation. I don't notice price differences in the supermarket *as I do buy the groceries from time to time* cause we go to a german supermarket *VERY cheap+quality is *

only thing I notice is the fuel prices. like today, I had to go to the gasstation to fill up the car. I stopped at 30,-, got in the car and that tiny little stick didn't went further than 50% of the gas-tank 30,-! ridiculous...

I know what you mean, I've been putting the same amount of money into the car every week to get me to work, it's gone up so much lately I'm now 1 day short on fuel.

OK Mr Teflon, I've got some precious metals and some gas in the lawnmower to sell ya.