trottytrue

Jasper 123...How much exactly is the can of custard in the UK. Must remember to bring a bunch of tylenol with me. It seems alot of people in the UK take paracetamol.

DDL..If you buy your home outright in the UK would you have to pay tax on that. I know in the US you are exempt from paying tax on your last house once you are over a cetain age. I forget how it works and if you dont have to pay a morgage or rent then the amount you mentioned would not be bad. Have to look back and see exactly what you listed.

dunroving

Not sure if it's relevant to your comment above, but if you want to bring back some "paracetamol", it's the same as acetominophen in the US.

Why would you think someone would pay tax on buying a house? Are you referring to stamp duty? If so, it's payable regardless of whether you buy it (cash) or via the bank (mortgage) - as the saying goes, only two certainties in this world, death and taxes.

Taffy Duck

Hello Donroving just to clarify I think basic income tax exemption is 6475 pounds not 7475 pounds...here is the link...

http://www.worldwide-tax.com/uk/uk_taxes_rates.asp

cheers...Taffy

DDL

Sincere apologies, Cheers.

DDL

So did mine but I've taken Centrum for years and preferred to stick with it. Haven't been or seen a Super Drugs but sure there must be one somewhere around here.

DDL

Barb, yea, there's a Pound Shop in Staines town centre. It's always super busy. Last time we were there, all 3 check-out lines snaked all the way to the back of the store. It's a real pain in the neck to shop there - no pleasant experience! - but worth it I suppose for a bargain.

DDL

Sheltered Housing is indeed an option but remember: small island, lots of people. We've been on the waiting list since 7 June 2010 and nothing's come through yet.

Also, most Sheltered Housing schemes (apart from Housing 21) require that you be at least 60 years old. So if, like me, you are under age 60, your choice is limited to Housing 21 properties. Edited to add: I see that Anchor has the 55 yr. age rule as well.

£43.00/week is amazing and I've not looked at where that location would be but the properties I've seen - and I've looked at hundreds and hundreds in Greater London and all the way down to Hampshire, Wiltshire, Devon, etc. - I've never seen any lower than £100/week and that is not including the service charge which most places have and which can run around £20-30/month extra.

So again, it's an option but will probably take you much longer to get into than private rental.

DDL

Trotty, I don't have a clue. We'd never be able to afford a house here so I've never researched home ownership in the UK. We have very, very little cash on hand.

But you are right, if there was no rent or mortgage payment, I suppose a couple could survive on 24k/year (15,600/year NET) ... but it'd still be tight with Council tax and other basic living/automobile expenses.

cheers

Denise,

You mention the auto expense in a budget and from what I see that is a big percentage of the budget. I am like Rod, it is one thing I could go without.
One of the biggest attractions of going to America in 1955 was knowing I could have a car. My family didn't have a car in England. I got to America and got a car almost immediately (been broke ever since). No money just payments. But I digress. Would you agree you would need a lot less money to live on if you could eliminate the car.
Car=insurance, parking fees, car tax, car payment?, MOT, petrol, maintenance and repairs. I'm sure I've missed some of the car expenses.
I'm not saying I would always go without a car but I could if that is what it takes to be able to live there and within my means.

Rosie you are my idle right now. "Live simple and happy". Having said that I know you want to move up and you will. When we get a report 12 months from now things will have changed a lot for you. The most important thing at this time is you 'control'

Denise, again, you provide a lot of helpful information which I'm sure everyone on here appreciates.

DDL

Everyone would need a lot less money to live on if they could eliminate the car, wouldn't they?

I think living w/o a car would be much easier if a person were retired rather than still having to work...unless you are fortunate enough to find accommodation within walking distance of your job or on a bus/train line to your job.

Anyway, part of Tony's job requirement is that he have his own car because he has to go out and do inspections, etc. and the Council does not provide a car for that so the issue a non-starter for us at the mo.

dunroving

Your figure is for the 2010-2011 year, mine was for the 2011-2012 year (I said this in my earlier post, with the following link):

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/it.htm

On a side note this thread is getting silly - I had to go back almost 10 pages to find my post that you responded to - and I only posted it yesterday!

aviva

Perfect! Thanks DR.

dunroving

Welcome. I was with Lovefilm when I first came here, but didn't like their "preference/ordering" system (High, medium, low priority - not 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. like NetFlix) - it means you don't have much say in which movies are most likely to be delivered (and even with 20+ listed as High Priority, they'd often send me something from way down the list in my Medium Priority category). delivery also took a long time (often a week or more).

So I cancelled and changed to Amazon (they had a 1, 2, 3 method and were very good. Lo and behold, LoveFilm then bought up the Amazon DVD rental! (apparently they were buying uo loads of companies like Sofa Cinema, trying to get a monopoly). So I was back to LoveFilm - but I just read that Amazon are trying to buy LoveFilm - hoping it will go back to their better system.

I just bought a Freesat digital receiver/recorder, however, and am looking forward to being able to record movies for later viewing - you often get movies on TV that are not that old, these days, especially considering Freesat has 120+ channels!

DDL

Well, everyone's dream and desire with regard to moving to the UK is different, isn't it Cheers.

Some people moving back might be retired and drawing a pension and basically all they want is to be back home. They may be happy to move here and, like you said, not have a car and be happy living like that. And that's fine. It's what they want.

For my husband and I, we moved back to the UK to see and do and experience as much of England as possible, and we know what we have to do in order to achieve that. We know that we have to both work and we know where, generally, we have to live in order to visit the places we want to visit and see the things we want to see. And that's fine, as well. It doesn't make us wrong and it doesn't make other people in other circumstances right. It is what it is. (Mind you, I'm not saying that's what you are implying; I'm just ... well, er, um, I guess I'm just rambling! LOL)

In our situation, being w/o a car is not an option because that would not help us achieve our goals. And whilst our immediate goal is to be able to move out of Mum's and find our own place, we're not willing to live w/o a car in order to do it.

Mummy in the foothills

To go car free you do have to choose your location carefully. We hope to go down to one car when we move, but who knows with work and if we end up going in different directions. Dh says he wants to ride the bus, but it all depends, who'd picking up Dd from school, where he's working, how many bus changes it takes to get there.
I'm second guessing even living in the village my Mum lives in, she has train and bus service but I think it's expensive.