Forums Forums National News UK Household Debt Warnings

New warnings that household debt has reached £40bn. Part of this is the consequence of Government debt being transferred to individuals through the austerity program. Government debt is still rising as well.

SOURCE

Well it's all very confusing and not clear all. What constitutes Household Debt ?

In 2008 to 2010, the Wealth and Assets survey estimated the combined financial debt of all households in Great Britain at 94.7 Billion pounds.

I should have made that clearer, that it is £40bn of debt in just one year (or deficit as it is often called). The absolute figure is roughly £1.5 trillion.

So that I assume includes property which has increased much in 5yrs ,particularly in London.

Total household property debt was estimated to be £1 trillion in 2010 .

Your article is a projected figure of 40bn, not actual.

Yes, very roughly £1.35 trillion of secured debt (ie mortgages) and £150bn of unsecured debt (credit cards and loans).

When house prices in London are £55 million for this, and house sales have increased in the last 5 yrs then it's difficult to really understand how these figures are arrived at.

It's not even nice

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54934451.html



or £50 million for this (can't even see the inside.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-56799575.html

Prices of non-essentials can only be blamed on the buyers.

Look at the silly prices of some mobile phones and branded t-shirts, we live in a very mixed up world where the quality of an item is secondary to the gullibility of consumers.

Only have to look in other peoples trollies, especially at this time of year! Even the cheap, gimmiky stuff is flying off the shelves in the budget shops. People get 'sucked in' and end up buying more and more fodder, whether they can realistically afford it or not-or, indeed ask themselves whether they actually need it.

Its very difficult to go against the grain especially with something so well programmed from a young age as Christmas is--add to that the clever marketing. Panic sets in with some when they realise around 10pm xmas eve they haven't bought any cream. Its a case of holding your nerve and realising its not the end of the world if you have no sprouts in for your xmas dinner. But hey folks do remember to take your turkey out the freezer to defrost otherwise it might be boxing day lunch instead.

One day a year the shops are closed yet people appear to be getting ready for rationing. How much food will be thrown away.

I read somewhere that 40% of food produced Worldwide is thrown out.
Something very wrong about that. What a sad bunch we are.

Not sure of the figure Snowshoes, but it is very high. Part of the reason in this country is because the blessed supermarkets put stock on the shelves that won't last. Potatoes go green and sprout in a matter of days. Carrots go soggy and cucumbers almost dissolve . Bloody old stock that they sell just a few days before it's got to be eaten. Doing a weekly shop at those places is a total waste of money, if you want fresh food.

Its the way they are stored in the house that is wrong.

Potatoes and carrots - put in a cool place in a dark ventilated place (Hessian sack), don't keep them anywhere near onions.

They keep longer in a fridge but it can make the potatoes sweeter doing that.

Keeping them in paper or plastic bags in a warm humid environment especially with light is bound to make them sprout.

Store all my fruit and veg in a fridge. Inc. potatoes ,but not bananas.
Used to get a sac of potatoes from the farmers in Kent. They lasted for months. Kept in the outhouse. Why should we have to put it in a fridge anyway. Used to have vegetable racks, where the air would flow. That would keep them fresh too, before we had fridges.
It's down to the way the supermarkets store the food in the first place and for how long ,we don't now. As you say..sweaty plastic bags and polythene wrappings.

Before the days of central heating, even the unheated rooms in a house are a lot warmer these days (says he sitting in 13.5C).