Neet it or just want it?

The CAB said 1.7 million people sought debt counselling during the last 12 months, an increase of 20 per cent on 2005. CAB is handling 6,600 debt enquiries a day.

Those with problems paying credit card bills and other unsecured loans accounted for 40 per cent of all enquiries and there is a "worrying rise" in the number of people struggling to meet day-to-day outgoings like phone bills.

Much of the problem has been the culture over the past 15 years or so, encouraging people to buy on credit. It's the have now, pay later attitude which is now hitting people hard.

It's come relatively suddenly. It's taken a few small interest rate rises to tip many people over the edge. But it could get far worse over the next few months.

We've seen the Northern Rock crisis and the panic gripping investors. We're seeing a spiralling rise in the cost of wheat which is reflected in the price of a loaf of bread going through the roof.

Oil prices are at an all-time high, so it won't be long before prices rise at the pumps.

The debt/mortgage crisis in the US is resulting in increases in mortgage rates in the UK. Abbey was the first and other lenders will follow. It's my guess that the house/price rise bubble is about to bust and that means negative equity rears its head again.

People should act now to rein in their spending. I can always remember my mother's philosophy brought about by her being a teenager during the war years.

She used to ask me whether I really "needed" to buy something, or whether I just "wanted" it.

There is a world of difference between needing something and just desiring it.

And if people were to ask that simple question each time they looked in a shop window, there would be many millions of people with a lot less debt today.

People could add to that by being much less wasteful. We buy far more food than we need and it gets thrown away.

We still leave lights on, run hot water down the sink when we could use cold.

Keep car/van/lorry engines running when there's no need. The list goes on and on.

Of course, if everyone became frugal the entire UK economy would collapse.

It's all built on our continuing to spend as if there's no tomorrow. But it's all so very false and it could all tumble down around us so quickly and easily.

Warning: another scam

A colleague of mine was caught by an annoying scam last week.

She received a post card through her letterbox from a company saying she needed to contact them immediately as it was about an urgent matter.

The postcard did not have her name on the front, but was addressed to the "occupants".

Worried it may have been an urgent issue about her flat, she rang the number but was informed by the automated voice on the line that she was in a queue.

After a long time on hold, a woman answered the telephone, but the company she said she was from was a different one to the logo on the postcard.

Before she could finish telling her she had no idea why she urgently needed to ring, she put her on hold again.

She then remembered hearing about scams where you are encouraged to ring, and, unbeknown to you, are then charged a fortune on your next phone bill, so she hung up.

She's now received her telephone bill and it cost 5.19. She contacted Virgin Media and they're going to credit the money back to her.

Why on earth do we have to have such things as premium-rate telephone numbers? I can see no good reason for their existence, they can be so easily used dishonestly to extract money from the unwary.

I think the government should get to grips with this and ban them. That would be one revenue source fewer for criminals.

Unholy yoga

Last week's Worthing Herald reported the story of yoga classes being banned by a "christian" church because it is "un-Christian".

The thinking behind the decision is that yoga employs ancient Hindu and Buddhist techniques which have no place in a Christian church.

Little chance for world unity with these attitudes, is there? God help us!