Sandra Chapman: Is it time to tighten the purse strings as an uncertain new year beckons?

In truth I miss the practice of not spending money because I’m not an avid shopper the rest of the year. It takes the festive season to get me going. I think this is down to the fact that once I left college I started working and simply never stopped thereafter. That was the period of the Sixties when society was changing more to our liking and our towns and cities were raising skyscraper sized stores. Spending was the new hobby.

That thrift drummed into us by our elders simply flew out the window. We were the new breed of shoppers. Soon we were addicted and I suppose the rest is history. Only now, into my middle age have I slowed down. After all how many coats and pairs of shoes does a person really need?

I sat down to read some newspapers to find out if money was being talked about much. In our Business and Finance section I discovered that while one of our well known companies Norbrook’s profits were down turnover was up. Yet the news isn’t so good in Germany for example where “companies were less satisfied and sceptical about the first half of 2024.”

My research showed that sales in Audi’s electric car business have been "disappointing” and hey-ho, a big headline declared that President Biden “scraps trade deal talks with Britain”. So anyone out there who feels Christmas has done terrible things to their bank account then just think of those spenders who one newspaper suggested will have to be aware that loan sharks are on the march.

A conglomerate here usefully calling themselves the Northern Ireland Business Alliance loftily calls for a “funding boost from London” to here. So just like that, we have an organisation here important enough to have a go at getting more money from Westminister.

Will Northern Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris speak up on our behalf? Will he also hear the plea of the DUP’s Gordon Lyons about the importance of us here getting the “right financial package from the UK government”. I suppose pigs might fly but I’ve always thought we get a raw deal here from “them” in London.

We think of the UK as being a healthy, wealthy, happy country but there is a lot to be frightened about. I needed an emergency treatment from my dentist recently and I got it. And that’s due in part to the fact he is not a free practitioner anymore. I pay a monthly insurance fee for treatment I once would have gotten free.

This newspaper had a front page story on this very subject last week. Dentists here, it said face “an existential threat” with many professionals currently “looking for the exit”. It’s a scary thought. But it could get worse.

Our health centres are bursting at the seams. So too are centres throughout the UK. Maybe sooner rather than later we will all be having to buy into medical insurance. And that will not be cheap. Life is changing at a rapid rate and as we move into another new year we need to get our eyes open. Is this the year we should start to live more healthy lives and put a bit by for a rainy day?