| EFFECTS OF THE CREDIT CRUNCH | | | | sewing lavender bags (the flower heads harvested |
| Watching the UK's Channel 4 TV programme | | | | from the garden), and raiding the 'bit bag' for fabrics |
| Dispatches on the human cost of the credit crunch | | | | and trimmings to be made into any number of useful |
| was heartbreaking. First there was the man (Jamaican, | | | | and decorative items. It was, my industrious girls |
| I think) who'd worked all his life on the buses. Masking | | | | declared, the best Christmas ever. |
| his emotion with a big, beaming smile, he told us that he | | | | GENEROSITY KNOWS NO BOUNDS |
| had never imagined that retirement would be so | | | | We found, too, the truth of the axiom 'it is more |
| frightening. He indicated his gas and electrical bills. They | | | | blessed to give than receive'. Having always, in the |
| terrified him, he said. | | | | past, been the givers, we now had to accept with |
| Then there was the single mother, wanting to do what | | | | grace the generosity of others. And generous they |
| all mothers want - to give the best to her children. She | | | | were. Like the widow's cruse of oil in the Bible story, |
| was easy prey for the loan-sharks who convinced her | | | | we never ran dry of gifts of food and toiletries which |
| that she could easily repay her loans and who, once | | | | appeared, anonymously for the most part, in the |
| she neared doing so, convinced her that it would be in | | | | cupboard, on the doorstep, or delivered by the local |
| her interest to take out another loan. | | | | grocer. Gifts of money arrived, as well. Sometimes |
| The divorced mother, who fled from her husband with | | | | from people we had never met. Friends of friends. |
| nothing but the clothes she and her children were | | | | I had applied for help from what was, then, the DHS. |
| wearing at the time, was similarly exploited. The | | | | But the list of questions about being in receipt of 'gifts |
| £400 she borrowed was quickly consumed by | | | | in kind' made me have to think again. I couldn't, in all |
| the cost of school uniform. Whilst the mother who | | | | honesty, say that I had received nothing. And to say |
| worked for the now bankrupt airline Excel, found | | | | that I had received something made me ineligible for |
| herself suddenly with no income, no money to feed | | | | financial help. I had phone calls from the Department, |
| herself and her children, and only a vague promise of a | | | | urging me to collect what I was 'due'. But I wasn't due |
| loan from Social Services. | | | | it, I told them. And even when they sent someone out |
| REVERSE MORTGAGE MARKETING | | | | to see me, I stuck to my guns. To have done |
| All three women feared the loss of the property they | | | | otherwise would have meant telling a lie. |
| had purchased, in order to create a home for their | | | | ALL GAIN AND NO PAIN? |
| children. But the worst, the most despicable treatment, | | | | It will be harder for the participants of Channel 4's |
| was meted out to a pensioner with Parkinson's | | | | programme than it was for me. I was brought up in an |
| disease. Promised a lump-sum if she agreed to a | | | | era when being frugal was commendable - whatever |
| reverse-mortgage of the home she'd bought when | | | | your means. Today's mothers and children have been |
| widowed, and lovingly improved, she found that the | | | | led to believe by government, banks and credit card |
| amount she had been spending on her mortgage more | | | | companies that they can have it all, and have it all |
| than quadrupled in rent to the loan company. When | | | | instantly; that it's all gain and no pain. The pain, for them |
| she was unable to meet the payments, her flat was | | | | I fear, is just beginning. But I hope, I just hope, that they |
| repossessed. And when she asked for the arrears to | | | | will look back one day, as I have done, and find |
| be taken from the promised lump sum, she was told | | | | something of value in the experience they're about to |
| that it was not payable for TEN years after the | | | | go through. They have my very best wishes that in |
| agreement. A swindle, if you ask me. | | | | the days ahead there will be something good in their |
| It made me so angry; distressed on behalf of ordinary, | | | | lives. |
| decent people. And it reminded me of my own plight | | | | Cold, hunger and isolation are the enemies of anyone |
| when my children were young. | | | | going through tough times. So what can they do to |
| DIVORCE SETTLEMENT | | | | help themselves? |
| We were left without an income when my children's | | | | TEN WAYS TO STAY POSITIVE IN NEGATIVE |
| father departed to set up home elsewhere. Unable to | | | | CIRCUMSTANCES |
| heat the large, Victorian, stone-built, family home which | | | | |
| had been awarded me as part of my divorce | | | | 1. Make the most of in store special offers whenever |
| settlement (with the encumbrance of a mortgage) I | | | | you can. But beware of offers that entice you to buy |
| used a calor gas heater in the hall in an attempt to | | | | perishables (like fruit) in greater quantities than you can |
| fend off the damp. To no avail! The windows | | | | get through before they start to rot. |
| streamed with condensation and, in no time, the | | | | 2. Use coupons for foods you know you will eat. |
| wallpaper was hanging from the walls of the dining | | | | Avoid the temptation of thinking you'll save money by |
| room. | | | | using coupons for luxury items, or foodstuffs you'll |
| As soon as the girls' schooling permitted, I put the | | | | never eat. |
| house on the market, and had a purchaser lined up | | | | 3. Use everything. Left over scraps, even peelings, |
| who agreed to the asking price. But this was the | | | | make nourishing soup. |
| 1980's when gazumping was the norm. My purchasers, | | | | 4. Swap items of clothing - yours and the kids - with |
| knowing my vulnerable position, kept me hanging | | | | friends. That way you'll all have something 'new' to |
| around for months. Then they dropped the price they | | | | wear. |
| had offered me by more than ten per cent. With the | | | | 5. Never half fill your washing machine / dishwasher. It's |
| vendors of the house I wanted to buy threatening to | | | | not economical. |
| pull out of my agreement with them, I had no option but | | | | 6. Share a bath / shower with your kids. |
| to accept the reduced offer. | | | | 7. Try to encourage your kids to help someone worse |
| A BETTER PERSPECTIVE ON LIFE | | | | off than you: the old lady down the road; the single |
| Nevertheless, my daughters and I look back on that | | | | mother next door. It will change your perspective on |
| time with mixed feelings: part horror, part gladness. We | | | | life and make you more positive about your own. |
| felt it taught us so much about what mattered, you | | | | 8. Never allow yourself to become isolated. Participate |
| see. Gone was the lavish lifestyle of fancy restaurants, | | | | in a fund-raising event. Serve meals at the local Day |
| ponies and racing dinghies that we'd known with their | | | | Centre. Volunteer to help slow-readers at your child's |
| father. Instead, I learned how to make a chicken last | | | | school. Helping others is the best way of helping |
| five days (I know! That's two days longer than the | | | | yourself to stay positive. |
| best before date, but we came to no harm). First | | | | 9. Have a laugh! Laughter is the best remedy for any |
| roasted, then stir-fried, then made into a pie which did | | | | dire situation. If you can't afford to go out to meet up |
| us two days, and finally simmered for stock and soup, | | | | with friends, ask them round to your house. Watch a |
| we considered ourselves well fed. I learned, too, that | | | | Comedy DVD or film. Better still, push back the |
| the butcher's trimmings from gammon joints and such | | | | furniture, and do Pilates with two or three friends. |
| like can be bought cheaply over the counter and were | | | | 10. Remember, bodies generate heat. Try to use one |
| useful to supplement the meagre filling for the chicken | | | | room for all events - eating, homework, computer, TV, |
| pie. | | | | ironing. |
| Christmas found us making sweets for presents, | | | | |