A year with the 'squeeze families'

In July 2008, five families agreed to open their finances to the BBC News website and share their worries about what, at that time, was known as the credit crunch.

Since then, the families have been through increasing fuel prices, a financial crisis and their own budgeting problems.

They have moved house, had babies, changed jobs and looked at creative ways to save money.

In this final installment, our squeeze panel families summarise their experiences and tell us about their hopes for the next 12 months.

Mary Ann Day is 61 and a pensioner from Leeds in West Yorkshire. She retired and moved to a new flat in Southport to be closer to her son.

This has been the most changing experience of my life, more than any other. I would go as far as describing it as traumatic. Trying to sell my house which wouldn't sell, moving to a new area, and finding problems that I did not envisage.

It was also a big strain on my finances settling into a new area, a new house and starting a new life. I am glad I didn't know what this process was going to be like before I embarked on it.

I am still trying to sell my home, I have had a very derogatory offer, which I turned down. August 2008 Read all of Mary's updates

I lived in my house for 34 years. When I moved there I was married and had two young children. Making the decision to move 34 years later by myself, I didn't know what was ahead of me. It was like jumping off a cliff.

I found selling my house a very traumatic experience. The viewings, the let-downs, constantly on edge, people judging your house and the constant worry of people backing out. The packing and the emotional aspect of it.

But it's all over now and I can enjoy the summer and enjoy spending time with my grandchildren.

In the coming months, I hope to be more settled and for life to be more even.

The Budget was a big let down. I feel like I have been verbally patted on the head, given a small biscuit and told to behave. May 2009 Read all of Mary's updates

I don't want as many surprises. I want to lead a normal life. Retired living on a limited income, it's the unknown to me. Petrol has gone up again.

From time to time I still wonder whether I have done the right thing - moving away from what I know and starting over.

I am glad I was a part of this panel. At one point I thought I didn't want to do it anymore. But it brings every section of society together and shows that everyone is affected by the current economic climate and gives you in a insight in to the way real people live.

It shows how real people struggle and it's nice to know that you are not going through this on your own.

Stuart Kidman is 27 and from Banbury in Oxfordshire. He currently works as a sub-editor on a regional newspaper. He is married to Holly and they are both now the proud parents of William, who was born last October.

I can't believe it's been a year. When I started writing these short insights into our lives during the credit crunch, I never imagined our situation would have changed so much.

In a few brief months we have become parents, I have changed jobs and my wife has reduced her working hours to part-time. Three complete lifestyle changes that have affected our finances in different ways.

Having William was the biggest change of all - and yes, buying his clothes, food, nappies and all the other bits and pieces you need for a baby, has stacked up significantly. But not for one second do we worry about that.

I hope that in the next year, the credit problems in the market will ease and the finance sector will be in recovery. Particularly as this may help us to make another property move, which is something we have discussed recently.

I begin my new job and Holly will be back to work part-time. Our savings have now been almost completely used up, having supported us while Holly was on maternity leave. May 2009 Read all of Stuart's updates

The process of recording our financial affairs month by month has been interesting, to say the least. It is fascinating to look back at the first entry to see how different things were just 12 months ago.

I hope it has been of interest to the wider public too, and it has helped me to realise that things sometimes get worse before they get better.

They certainly did for us before we joined the 'squeeze' panel, but judging it over the course of the year, I would say we are among the lucky ones out there at the moment.

Andrew Smyth is 25 and a project co-ordinator from Belfast. He lives with his civil partner Simon who works as a business excellence manager.

The most significant thing that has happened over the last 12 months financially was my change of job - the rise in salary has taken a lot of the pressure off us and while we don't have a lot left at the end of the month, we are coping better than we expected during the first year of our mortgage, which is always a difficult period of financial adjustment.

Our hopes for the next 12 months would be that the housing market begins to recover - while we have no plans to move or sell within the next few years, it's always a worry when so much of your finances is tied up in your home at a time when the market is so vulnerable. That said, if it weren't for the fall in house prices in the first place, we would never have been able to buy, so it would be hypocritical to complain.

Once I've paid for food, fuel and housing, I'm lucky if I have anything left, never mind luxury items. July 2008 Read all of Andrew's updates

Putting your finances into the public domain for this exercise has been challenging - it's been a little embarrassing at times when strangers have started random conversations about your gas bill in the pub!

It certainly has challenged the way that we view our finances, and one thing we have been aware of throughout but has been reinforced by the experiences of the other panellists is that we are relatively fortunate to have two steady incomes with no dependants.

Karen Norris is 43 and is a housewife from Peterhead. She is married to Clive and they have two daughters, six year-old Elspeth, and Karah, who is two.

I would say the worse thing that happened in the year was getting turned down for a further advance on our mortgage. We have never been turned down before for any credit. We believe the bank changed their criteria.

We are still going ahead with improvements to the house but we are using credit cards and our emergency savings. We have to do bits and pieces as we go along. Getting turned down by the bank has put us off going back to them even if their criteria loosens up again.

I hope in the next months our six-year-old's feet stop growing! She has just gone in to size 3 shoes. We are hoping our younger daughter gets the nursery place that we have applied for. We are also hoping fuel prices do not go up again.

We have stopped thinking about roast chicken for Sunday lunch as they are now 2 for £7, instead of the 2 for £5 that they were a month or so ago. September 2008 Read all of Karen's updates

In a couple of years time we will look at actually moving house. It's going to get tighter for space, so at some time we would like to move.

Realistically, we cannot bring any money in to the house at the present time, although that may change in two or three years when our two-year-old starts school and I can look at returning to work part-time. There is no childcare up here and if I go to work, childcare costs would wipe out any extra money that this would bring in to the house.

Clive already does a fixed amount of overtime and there wouldn't be any room to do any more.

I have enjoyed tracking my finances. It has made us more aware of the prices of everything. We have really noticed how the cost of food and fuel have changed over the 12 months.

We are still saving for Clive's big party in December. It is his fiftieth. We are not touching that money. We have booked the Scottish Blues Brothers to perform - so we have that to look forward to.

Barrie Lester is 28 and an electronics engineer from Bournemouth in Dorset. He lives with his partner Natalie, in their first home which they bought together.

This was our first full year in which we had a mortgage. We are trying to rein in the spending. In terms of outgoings, the reduction in mortgage as a result of cuts in interest rates has helped us considerably.

The money we have saved will have to be used to help purchase a new roof. We had hoped to use this money to pay for a new bathroom.

Food and petrol prices have fluctuated. Food and socialising is the only influence we have in terms of spending and controlling our finances.

We have not gone out in the evenings and the TV has become my new best friend! By doing so, between us we've managed to save a substantial amount of money. February 2009 Read all of Barrie's updates

Overall it's been a good year. I have changed to a better job. In a way, the recession has done us a favour. If we hadn't had that, we wouldn't have had a reduced rate on our mortgage.

I haven't been able to get credit to get a new car. We are maxed out with the mortgage and the running cost of the car is a big thing.

In 12 months time we are hoping the interest rates will still be low. By the end of August we will have paid for the roof and we can start saving again to invest more money in the house.

We want to be ready to move on. We are keen to get a property with a garden so Natalie can get a cat. We want to get on the next rung of the ladder.

It's been great to be part of the panel. I'm terrible at budgeting and if you do scrutinise your finances a little bit harder you are more careful. My rowing club were also very pleased that they got a mention on one month.

Colin McCormick is 43 and lives near Plymouth. He is self-employed, running a video transfer business. He and his wife Jane are expecting a new baby.

Business has been fine but every time it is quiet I worry it's a recession and not just the natural random effect of being self-employed.

As a family we got quite upset about the house we were thinking of buying. We didn't take into account stamp duty and this put the house we wanted out of our reach. We were annoyed with ourselves. We're not expecting to buy a house right now. But when that house became available we were drawn into buying it. The house was specially designed so a business could operate from the premises as well so it would have been perfect. But we didn't do our homework.

Our business takings for April were atrocious, the worst month for well over a year. April 2009 Read all of Colin's updates

In the last year Jane became pregnant and this will have an effect on our finances. In terms of the business it's been fine, but we do worry. Our takings for April were absolutely dreadful. You always worry that you are doing something wrong - that it has gone quiet because of the current climate. Makes you worry more.

Our business continues to be successful and we find ourselves in a position to buy a bigger house. If we become desperate, Jane will go back to work more quickly than she would like to, or she could increase the number of days that she does. Both of those options are possible, but we really would not want to go down that road.

We haven't changed our spending habits because of the panel experience. For us shopping isn't an expense that alters our finances greatly. For us the cost of energy for the home is more important than the cost of food. We do think about ways of minimising the cost of our electricity in particular. The machinery generates all of this heat and we are paying for it.

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