To wonder how people are coping?

Young people have little chance. My daughter is single, has been flat sharing for a number of years, but wanted a place of her own. She ended up on the outskirts of the city in a tiny flat in not a good area- wouldn't put out her rubbish after dark type place. And with that distance came huge travel costs to work in the city. There seemed now way round it. Thankfully now one of her jobs has offered free accommodation right in the city centre. She moved yesterday. It is such a relief for her.

Rent costs are crazy aren't they. I live in a Greater Manchester outlying town, one of the ones considered poorer and less desirable. We are not on the tram/Metro. My 3 bed semi bought 3 years ago with a 20% deposit was £190k so mortgage is reasonable. A 2 bed semi on the next street has just come up for rent at £1200 pcm. It was gone in a day. A 3 bed rental is about £1400. Nearly double my mortgage. I completely agree that rents make mortgages look cheap!

just another small example of how with a bit more money you can save more easily

I unfortunately don't have a freezer. My flat isn't big enough - my last one was (wasn't my choice to move). My last kitchen was four times the size of this one

I fill any space in the oven with bread that I freeze so that works ( if you have the energy to make bread !)

Not really so easy to do if you live alone. Filling the oven for me would mean having to eat things cold (which is OK depending on what you are cooking) or re-heating things. If I make a slow cooker meal I can re heat it in the move

As someone else has said - slow cookers are cheaper. I've had one for years. Until very recently I've not been able to afford to put my oven on. I'm also going to get an air fryer. I use my microwave much more than I use my cooker. It was you who made the reference to fast food in the first instance. You also don't have to live on the same meals daily if you have a slow cooker.

I personally wouldn't eat stew - I don't eat meat.

Used aroud 40p worth of electric when we did a lot of baking last week at a high temperature for about an hour ( thanks octopus app)

typical slow cooker 1.6kwh for an 8 hour cook that’s about 35 to 40p

so the cost difference isn’t that great is it?

especially as with the oven I will have 3 loaves of bread in at the same time and then pizzas or flans or roast or whatever for tea - if you fill the oven it’s probably quite cost effective

I've been using a slow cooker for ever. Advantages are it's very cheap to run, cheap ingredients can make a good result. Disadvantages, a very samey texture and a smelly house!

Cooking a casserole in the oven a few times in one week would probably cost the same in electricity as it would be to buy a slow cooker…I'm team slow cooker every time!

Slow cookers are probably one of the most accessible ways of feeding yourself cheaply.

Mine cost £7 a few years ago and the same one is still on sale in Asda for £10 now. They cost very little to run, can be plugged in anywhere and are designed to be left unattended. So you can prep the food in the morning (or the night before) and leave them running on low all day while out at work etc and come home to a ready to eat hot and healthy meal.

So no-one needs to 'get out the stew pans' after work and a slow cooker would probably pay for itself in no time. Plus if people don't know what to buy and cook, they have the internet at their fingertips, including videos on how to make it.

Did I say it was fast food? Slow cookers have been around a very long time, but some people don't have one.

Stews and potage are no different to slow cookers or having the oven on all day. Some people, including teachers and HMOs don't always have an oven, and microwaves do not feed a family and take longer to cook fresh food. With a hob, you can still produce nourishing stews (casseroles in ovens) and keep them going.

Is the 170,000 Gross or net? If it is net, and you cannot live on 14,000 per month. You are either very bad with money or have a very large house and a big mortgage, so you are living way over your means. You could downsize the house, but I get the feeling you like the big house. How much is your mortgage?

Earning around £30K +/- 2K quite common in NE Scotland. And energy costs more here than in London & the SE.

OP the votes are in and you have completely divided opinion here, with 51% in your favour!

We have a combined income of 60k. DH also pays £500 a month child maintenance, and our mortgage is £1157. We still have Disney+. 170k would be like winning the lottery!

They encouraged people to opt out? What terrible employers!

Mine encourages us to opt in by doubling our contributions to a max %. I put 5% in mine and they add 10%.

Hold up you have £900 pcm for day to day expenses?
your Mortgage is massive!!
and I’ve never spent £600 pcm on grocery shopping!
I can see how you don’t think you have any money, but you actually do, if you learn to shop at places like Lidl, don’t buy everything brand new (my children mostly get second hand stuff for school) and shop around for utilities. Think about restructuring your mortgage too - that’s bonkers high, when I looked into ours, we could roll our CC (2K) into it and still be paying less pcm than we were. There are options, it just takes some leg work!

We save over 2k per month and I don’t buy from shel or ethical brands, nor do I use vented. I just buy from high street stores, I don’t buy excessively tbh.

Absolutely agree with this. Can’t justify buying from ethical brands on 2k a month but can justify spending on shein. Definitely misplaced priorities. I think Shein should be shut down if I’m honest. Soo so bad for the environment.

You save 2k a month and yet buy from shein? Very misplaced priorities, very little value for the lives of others whose wages are being depressed by people who could but won’t pay a fair price that reflects their work time

I can’t justify buying from Shein tbh. I would never.
Buying pre-loved is better.

I am aware. I cant justify the cost of buying things in regular high street shops nowadays. We also buy from Vinted when we can.

Shein is really bad for the environment.

Very lucky and fortunate. We use this opportunity to save like mad for wedding and our own future home (which we should be able to get in the next 18 months or so). I am sure once we have a mortgage things will be much tighter.

We pay so little because we effectively pay for repairs in the house too, e.g. we are installing a new boiler today to the tune of £3k as the old one has bust, and currently getting some new windows quoted too.