To ask when is the cost of living going to go down?

Yup, it's stagnant wages.

Like many people I know, I am emigrating soon to somewhere where wages have not been stagnant for the past decade and where my role pays 80%-100% more as standard and COL is only 20-40% higher.

I 'did the math' and threw in the towel on building a career in London.

I empathise, OP
It’s so hard trying to get on the housing ladder 🪜 in ab expensive part of the Country.

Please don’t give up hope, even if it means moving further afield.

The one that gets me (on a lighter side) is the reduction to two Reece’s peanut butter cups from three (I know it’s also because of sugar content) but that just feels mean.

It just won’t improve. Like petrol, utilities, once companies inflate prices during a crisis, they’re always very reluctant to bring them down once the crisis has passed. Usually takes government intervention to try and force them. My local restaurant has hugely put prices up since utility prices have increased, to cover the extra cost, but I’m pretty sure they won’t bring them down when (or if) prices come down to what they should be at. Even more so now Reeves has increased minimum wage (affects mostly those in hospitality) and national insurance contributions.

I’m a consultant so work across industries. The idea that somehow you complete some training that leads to highly paid job is alien to me, yes. The only roles I can think of with outcomes like that- surveyor accountant solicitor data scientist- have very high qualification costs that someone who doesn’t have any money would be unlikely to be able to access.

qualified roles where it’s easier to access the training ie teacher social worker are poorly paid- although obviously better than minimum wage they’re unlikely to improve the long term prospects of a media worker/ freelancer.

Cost of living is unlikely to ever go down.

I remember when a bag of chips was 50p and you got a big bag. (Showing my age now.) Nowadays, a bag of chips is about £3 and the portion size seems to have shrunk.

When heating, oil and fuel goes down, the cost of shopping doesn't go down because the supermarkets/sellers all want to keep at the same prices for greed and profit.

Scotpancakes I retrained in nursing which is terribly paid in the South East but is an ok salary in certain parts of the UK. In your shoes with your experience I’d be looking for remote working positions though which would allow you flexibility in where you live. At the end of the day if the child’s father wants you live close by then he would have to provide more financial support.

It feels like for the last 25 years (I may not have noticed as much when living at home 😂) it’s been the following to contend with (and apologies if I have missed anything). So every time we get through something there is something else….

1. Paying for higher education that was once free
2. Global economic recession
3. Covid
4. Ukraine War
5. Brexit
6. High inflation and interest rates
7. Energy crisis

I don’t see an end. Politics aside we are where we are and frankly the country is worse off educationally, health wise (NHS) and economically than it was then.

Sorry OP but quickest way to double your household income is to have a partner.

They mean do some training in something that enables you to either earn more or save money in other ways. What that looks like will vary massively depending on individual factors.

What industry do you work in where no-one does any training/re-training?!

I think that rent is very high but also people now seem to have more bills than years ago. Looking back to when I was growing up there were no mobile phones, no subscription charges for various things, the only after school activity we did was Brownies/Guides. People walked more, nobody had pet insurance. There was no pressure at Christmas to fill December with loads of expensive events. Life was much simpler.

Prices very rarely come down. You have to decide what is important to you to spend your money on and not fall into the trap of feeling that you have to have it all.

The cost never gies down, the rate of increase might slow. Big and small businesses are built on capitalism- they don't reduce thrir profits, they expect to increase them annually so prices alway rise.

It won’t. They could hopefully stop rising, the rise seems less relentless now than it has been

i I think the hope is that eventually salaries catch up. But I don’t count on that happening for a long time, if ever

https://www.gov.uk/rent-room-in-your-home

We never recovered from the 08 crash & treating housing as an asset has fucked a lot of things.

Sorry to sound glum, but really don't think it will.

We are in late stage capitalism and unfortunately that is happening at the same time as global pressures of war and climate change.

Globally there are more and more people and less resources to support them. Add to that the loss in habitual and farming land due to climate change and human decision, and life is set to get a lot harder.

The amount of land in this country that can be farmed is shrinking, and the reduction is gaining pace. The new wetter climate we are moving is not conducive to food production at our latitude. Add to that how many displaced people there will be, and a complete worldwide shift in areas suitable for food production and the situation is dire.

Housing, food and fuel are going to become more scarce, and we will have to get used to having less.

I’m so sorry op, it’s about to get so much worse. All the growth predictions have been reversed, inflation is forecast to rise again, heating costs as we know have gone up, and unemployment is about to start rising, meaning benefits are stretched further, the value of the pound is dropping meaning out pound buys us less, and the nmw and ni increases are going to be passed onto us consumers, so all prices will rise. Landlords are selling uo due to the promised renters rights bill and the taxes that are coming, meaning fewer properties to rent and a huge increase in the rental charges where they are available.

we are in austerity and then some, with a major col crisis coming our way, what was already bad, but reversing, is about to get so much worse according to all financial institutions

i don’t know wnat people will do. I really don’t. It’s a very sad situation. But hey, maybe , waiting lists will go down, if the nhs doesn’t just chew up the cash.

Labour are probably planning to build on the farmland sold by farmers to pay their Inheritance Tax

We don’t need more shoddily built new houses .

It's not going to go down

This. The rate of increase may reduce but costs to a household only ever increase.

I didn’t retrain for a higher salary, just retrained in a job that could be done anywhere. If you are not forced to live in the South East many places have affordable housing and even council house availability.

The excessive costs of housing are a result of population increase, lack of house building, excessive profits by the big housebuilding & btl boom that allowed landlords to build portfolios (using previous cheap finance).

I know people who got into hmo's and they treat they tenants as cash cows. I would impose rent restrictions as it's the only way for landlords to stop using renters to pay their mortgages.

2nd home stamp duty is a good start as is stopping the large discounts on council homes. Vast home building in some areas will just reduce the quality of life for many people so population density has to be looked at as otherwise there will always be too many people chasing too few homes.

How old are you OP?

I don’t think it will unfortunately not with the ageing population. We are all going to pay more for less.