cost of living

[murdock]

things like petrol...water electricity useage...food...toll roads... and all the little things which were there but not a major contibutor to the monthly expenses...until now...well a little while ago.

i went to get bread and milk this morning...so i could have breakfast this morning...something i havent done in a couple of weeks due to work comitments (all good...at least i have lots of work)

picked up the milk and noticed the price had gone up another R2...not cents like the petrol price...so now i start thinking...the cost to get to the mega spar in comaparison to the local tea room due to the cost of petrol...which is now costing me over R1 per km i travel excluding all the other bits and pieces...tyre services etc...we talking just petrol.

the milk at the local tea room is R6 for a 1 lt sachet x 2... the cost to travel to the shop and back R4...thats R16

to travel to the super spar R 10 plus now with the price increase to R17...thats R27...for a 2 lt milk

you do this every day it would start adding up...but most people collect on their way home from work...just using this as an example.

my point...is it getting so expensive to live nowadays...that we have to start taking our purchases of the little things like bread and milk into account

i did a quick rounded off calculation of my basic expensises per month (absolute basic)

bond R6000 ( this is for a R700 000 house) were do you find a house for R700 000 unless you live in the bush
electricity...water rates etc R1300 (i have reduced this from R3300 per month but fitting the 300 ltr per day restricitor...and use gas...solar lighting...invertors etc)
vehicle + insurance R4000 (what i would classify as a budget vehicle on a 60 month hp)

if i were an electrician working for a company (R10000 per month less deduction) i would already have to look at reducing my cost of living and i havent even added food...petrol...school fees...clothing...cellphone...etc and some of the other basic neccessities...and this is with my wife working...but addtional costs are taking inot account...now having to employ a domestic...her vehicle and expenses...insurance...

how are people surviving or are they...3 jobs...rolling credit cards...please tell me because i feel a crimminal paying the little wages i do...and wonder how my staff are living...

i would like to hear how you survive every month...or maybe you dont fall into this catagory...or maybe you still live like i use when living expenses were a lot lower and spent money like there is no tomorrow.

i was going thru my turnover 5 years ago...cost to run my little bussiness and what it cost me today in comparison to my hourly rate charged to the customer....looks like i am gona be joining the rest of the employers who exploit labour to come out ever month...because i can assure you if i had to increase my rates to the keep up with the cost of living...i could be out of bussiness.

or looking at it from another angle...maybe thats what i am doing wrong...under selling myself...increases in my rate...are not keeping up with the rate of expense increase.

help me out here...am i worrying about trivial things or should be looking at this from a diffrent perspective...like rather charge more for my time and not let the little things like petrol...cost per litre of milk interfere with my daily chores.

[Mike C]

I came across a comment once that has stayed with me: -

most people are only two paychecks away from living on the street.

I think a lot of people are living from hand to mouth - and if they lost their jobs they would be in serious trouble very quickly.

[Just Gone]

I sincerely hope that the Gauteng drivers are NOT buying e tags .........

[AndyD]

I agree a lot of people have cut their spending dramatically and are still hanging on by a thread. I regularly end up lending friends and neighbours a couple of hundred bucks here and there when they have cashflow issues and need to buy food or electricity. I know many people who no longer have medical aid or even vehicle insurance because they can't budget for it in their monthly expenses. I also know many who have cashed in investments or retirement funds etc just to make ends meet.

[murdock]

sorry to break the news to you but according to headlines in the paper this weekend...over 500 000 havealready been purchased...so much for the support of the masses

[murdock]

have you ever taken note of the people on the side of the road...at robots etc...the white man stands with a board begging and the black guys...are selling products...to the white people in the cars...havent really taken much note of it until yesterday...is this a sign that we have it too easy and fail apart tooo easily.

whenever a youngster asks me for a job the first thing i ask him or her is what are you doing...right now to pay your bills...like your smoking and drinking and partying habit...you know what 99 % of them tell me...the parents pay for everything...including the petrol in theirs cars which the parent bought...sorry but who is to blame for our situation in this country...when i ask them why they dont deliver newpapers or pack plastic bags at the till...or cut grass or wash cars or any other simple job which most of us are tooo lazy to do...sudden silence

maybe we all need to take a step back and start teaching our kids a little responsibility...instead of replying with an answer like...but i had it hard when i was a kid and dont want my children to work hard like i did...the question i ask you then...whats wrong with the way you turned out....i believe that simple things like...making their own beds in the morning...picking up their clothes...and washing the dishes will not kill them but maybe help them to survive in a tough economic enviroment...

and we all sit and wonder what is wrong with our society...we create the lazy little monster at home.

[kleva]

Murdock, welcome to my life... My last 2 years have been on almost exactly those figures and I am a business owner. Every month I have to figure out whether to pay Telkom or whether to pay Ethekwini. Already dropped the car and borrowing a friends, already cut out the luxuries like bread 2x per week. No-one can drink milk in my house because it is too expensive. I only have internet because without it I cannot work even at the little I get, and even then I had 3 months where I even had to borrow that from a mate. It's getting rough out there... any rougher and many more struggling survivors will fail. There is just nothing left to cut down on anymore.

PS: Anyone in KZN looking for a highly qualified and certified ICT & Electrical Project manager or IT Manager? Full time or contract

[Citizen X]

I agree a lot of people have cut their spending dramatically and are still hanging on by a thread. I also know many who have cashed in investments or retirement funds etc just to make ends meet.

The very basics are expensive. I've resorted to buying fruits and vegetables from hawkers as they far cheaper than Fruit n Veg and shops that sell vegetables.. Fruit n Veg is selling a bag of potatoes for R68. So, I appreciate the hawkers and yes many of them are not South African and they don't pay tax...

[AndyD]

I sincerely hope that the Gauteng drivers are NOT buying e tags .........

[Just Gone]

I'm not sure where they get these figures from because two weeks ago it was not even 30 000 - now all of a sudden 500 000 !!! I dont believe it - I think it is propaganda to make people think that the majority are buying the e tags !!

[Phil Cooper]

The SABC showed an etoll office with a LONG queue, as people are now "supporting" it.

The Newspaper showed an empty office, with a bored employee looking into the distance.

Take your pick.

[Just Gone]

And today I believe that it now has to go to court ............. fantastic ............... that is what happens if we all stick together and object as a whole !!!!

[shani]

The inflation rate and price rising level last year and this year both reached the top of recent years.

[Citizen X]

Kevin's comments definately have merit! I too have my qualms about these figures.

[Justloadit]

Well SABC is propped up by the government, hence the pictures of the so called support. Damn photo shop is getting better