To be sick of sneezing and spending £20?

DH says 5p per litre rise on fuel duty is likely.
Thats 35p per gallon!

It’s actually a 23p a gallon rise. So, not so bad after all!

I was very intrigued given the title of this thread 😅 It's beyond crap though isn't it? 😥 Both me and DH (me late 30s and DH mid 40s) are on very good salaries (50-60k each), 2 kids, relatively large mortgage but definitely doable(around 200k left). We are not struggling as such but I'm aware that with our income we should be finding things very easy and yet that isn't the case. I often wonder how people on lower incomes or with more than 2 kids are managing. I'm from a single parent household where no-one worked but I wouldn't say I grew up poor (no holidays abroad, got free school meals etc) but that same single parent nowadays would be struggling badly. It's awful.

On the way back from work on Friday after a horrendous week I popped into the petrol station to get a chocolate bar. It was £1.70!!! Wasn’t even a big one. I was going to buy all my family a bar - but with 3 kids and a husband I decided against it!!!
Food is unbelievably expensive. Dreading the cost of half term.

I remember real hunger as a child. Actually going to bed hungry- I think it was a lot more normal in the 1970's.
There weren't the snacks.

Real hunger where the belly gnawed for food.
We walked everywhere, and were really skinny.

Only one girl in our class was 'fat' and she was barely fat compared to nowadays.

That's only in recent times, though. Not that I wish we go back there, but not many people were obese even 60 years ago, and that is partially down to the cost of food in relation to earnings and the need to walk or cycle more because driving short distances was frivolous. You cannot get obese even on UPF if your portion sizes are small because you have to ration what you can eat, even if you share a whole pizza, but between the family rather than eating one by yourself.
To make it clear, I do not wish for people to be persistently hungry, but it is a rather natural state of being to feel hunger - something we have long forgotten.

Shifts in how we live/eat/spend have always happened. The specifics of how we spend and save will constantly shift. But now we’re in a position where people who have incomes that should leave them feeling comfortable don’t. It’s not unprecedented. We’ve had economic squeezes before. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel uncomfortable. The equivalent is not whether your father could have afforded to eat out every day but if your middle class father could no longer save or afford to live on one income - currently people on decent incomes cannot afford to do what is currently considered the norm for that amount.

It may precipitate a big shift in how we all live but it doesn’t mean it won’t be painful, and the economic ripples profound. Of course the big issue really is not how many flat whites someone on 40k a year can buy but how the people already living on a shoestring are managing if the middle classes are struggling.

@ghicks ONE piece of cod, one portion of chips, one portion of mushy peas...£19.

Nineteen Pounds. -take away , not London.

For one person.

{We shared}

It was absolutely outrageous.

A lovely cafe used to do good coffee.

NOW, they have put the price up and the coffee is weaker and not as hot.

I think ''Fuckit'' and just don't buy one.

£3 for an unpleasant coffee is £3 down the drain.

If it's hot and rich flavoured, fair enough.

@honourspren "...maybe even a reduction in obesity in the long run". Research shows that poverty leads to people being overweight but undernourished - that is, too many calories but deficient in vitamins, minerals and protein. The poorer a community, the more pronounced this is, as a general rule (even globally). Of course this doesn't include when populations are so poor they're in an actual famine, but everything up to that point. It's because starchy, carb-heavy foods are the cheapest (along with the cheap vegetable oils they are usually baked with).

You also have to factor in other things such as people comfort eating, rather than say, going for a massage, and being priced out of things like doing sports or going to the gym.

Lots of things people mention on here aren’t needed. No one needs to stop in cafes all the time or buy stuff everytime they leave the house. It’s a want and not a need and if you can’t afford it then people need to stop doing it.

Tons of clothing online such as vinted. I got my son 6 pairs of winter pjs from one person for £8 posted! Took less then 10 mins to search and find something suitable.

I try and remember we are still paying a lot less than many European countries and USA plus what our Grandparents paid for food back in the day relative to household income but, by heck it's easy to spend £100 on pretty much nothing nowadays. Doesn't seem that long ago when £20 covered a simple pub lunch out for DH and I now it's more like £50.

I do think I have a better standard of living than my parents and grand parents had at my age though with a warm home, time for hobbies, less domestic chores etc which I'm very appreciative of.

I've never heard this saying before,I thought you meant you were buying those "stop your cold before it starts" sprays.
I totally understand,it's mad at the moment and I haven't even thought of Christmas yet.

Of course, I was generalising. Tea-rooms were a thing.

But it sounds like going for tea was a treat, even if a fairly frequent one, not a habit every time you went shopping. Today the 'normal' is to get a take-away coffee and a packaged sandwich or meal deal, or stop at a café or fast-food place, nearly every time you are out of the house for a few hours.

That casual pit-stop buying drinks and food instead of thinking ahead and taking a flask and packed snack is what people are having to grapple with - adjusting to a new normal.

@Wexone she really isn't interested enough in clothes to do that. She likes a colour or pattern but really wouldn't have a clue what brands to look for. She wasn't even with me in Primark. I know what she's roughly after and I grab it. I work a long week, I'm not fannying about online for something that she may not like it fit and have to return. The point is that the savings made in ££ cost in time, which I don't have either as a FT working single parent.

She doesn't have to buy one jumper she can look vinted depop etc. Search for her favourite brands etc and can find many brands avaliable some with tags on

if money is tight teenagers need to be told these things too. and understand where money comes from how many hours to earn taht etc

This in spades!!

Beginning of the month, we have proper meat, cheese, veg... I am flat broke until payday. OH went to Lidl today and bought a load of cheap UPF to get us to the end of the month. Breaks my heart to feed it to the children. I understand about nutrition etc and think it's really important, but can't magic a load of wholegrains and fish out of thin air. And before anyone says it, yes we do also eat lentils, chickpeas and porridge 🙄I also cook from scratch when time permits, but that's the problem with families having to work so many hours to make ends meet. Plus, cooking from scratch still requires ingredients, and is more expensive than a pile of chemicals in the shape of a Swiss roll...

I don't know, I was born in 1964 and I remember going to our local cafe with my mum quite often. Buttered teacakes and tea! Deffo not a greasy spoon - waitresses in black dresses with white aprons. Lovely.

We all have in the past few decades become accustomed to a certain level of unplanned spending, and that has become normal.
Sadly, the idea of 'what should be a comfortable income' is now wrong. The word 'should' is the catch here.
We have thought that £x thousand a year salary 'should' be enough for us to buy coffees and lunches and treats. The reality is now different.

Back in the 70's, my parents and grandparents were comfortably middle class, with my father and grandfather in good jobs (the women only earned 'pin' money). But we almost never went into cafes. Coffee or tea was carried in a flask on a day out, and we took packed lunches. That was normal for most people. Cafes were 'greasy spoons', restaurants were a once-in-a-blue-moon treat, and no-one bought coffee outside of the city centres (always to sit in, not take away).

Today's 'normal' has changed, and our expectations of 'should' have not caught up. We can expect a return to the economic conditions of previous decades.

And yes, lots of the leisure and food economy will go away forever.

I went shopping mid week to buy some bits, wasn’t a big shop. I love Weetabix Minis with chocolate chips. A box of 12 servings was £5.50. It was under £4 just weeks ago. My laundry liquid had gone up by £1.50. I’m dreading this budget. I think we’re all doomed. I couldn’t justify purchasing anything but a pack of yoghurts on the whoops shelf.

@Wexone but my teen daughter doesn't want to buy and have one jumper to last her 5 years. She's not into labels or fashion but she does get bored with clothes after a couple of years, plus growing issues obvs.

@easylikeasundaymorn I do buy sweets etc outside the cinema but we like popcorn and that's awkward to bring in, plus it just feels a bit miserable to say "yes we can go but given me 45 mins to dick about on apps for an offer".

We told Shell they can have £150 and get fucked for the rest. They can't cut you off, if you're paying something monthly. Something to consider x

Popped into Starbucks for the first time in months the other day, £5.50 for the small pumpkin spice latte. It wasn’t as nice as I remember and I won’t be returning. 🙈

dd is coeliac and the price of gluten free stuff is horrendous, £4.50 for a decent enough loaf of bread, £3.50 for 4x bagels.

You are not even safe indoors though. If you dare to put your heating on, just to check it still works, or to get a little warmth into your frozen purple fingers, through your gloves, just for ten minutes, five minutes ... you will soon find that you have no money left whatsoever.

YANBU. I said to DH just yesterday everyone I leave the house it’s 50 bloody quid.

Took my DF and DS to a cafe for coffee and cake today, not much change out of £20. Nipped into booths for a couple of bits £30 plus. So over £50 in bigger all. I know I didn’t HAVE to take my dad for a coffee but he’s in a nursing home and likes to get out and the weather is shite.

Everything is just so expensive.

Just so far today. For context, I am at an all day event so not at home.

Takeaway coffee
Tube journey
Sandwich and protein bar at the station
Takeaway coffee (to keep me going!)
Takeaway tea (see above)

Still to come:
Tube journey up to Camden for a date
Dinner (he might pay, but he might not)
Drinks (see above)
Tube journey home.

I have accepted that I have to spend money pretty much every day to live my life. I have no idea when I am going to get round to meaningfully saving for the future...

The vouchers, take your own snacks etc yes I get that but it takes the fun out of it somewhat when you're counting the pennies all the time.

I don't really get this. I understand the ethos that it's not fun always having to think 'can we afford this' in the back of your head but I've never enjoyed a film less because I've seen it on a Wednesday rather than a Thursday, so can use meerkat for bogoff. The malteasers I snack on taste exactly the same whether they are from sainsburies at £1.35 for a multipack or the cinema for £2.95.