To be absolutely sick of hearing about the cost of living crisis

I can’t see a reply to this but I bet its just ‘light the fire’. It said no heating which I took to mean no central heating.

I grew up in a house without heating but the coal fires in all the rooms kept us warm.

Funny thing. I bought a property in 2003 as well, a two bed flat in a nice part of north London. I was a housing worker, oh was a transport worker (not tube driver). We got 100% mortgage, no deposit needed. We were in our mid-late 20s, no family help.

Things Have Changed!

Totally agree op. People cry poverty but still seem to find the money to have their nails and brows done each month and maybe a new tattoo. endless days out with the kids, and you never see anyone driving an old banger anymore most driving fairly new or actually brand new cars.

£5 for softplay? Where?

I took DD to a park for the free Splashpad today. It's now £6 to park for 2hrs! The surrounding streets are all permit parking.

Went she wanted an ice cream, I had to say no!

Needless to say we won't be going to that one again for a long time!

@seascacilimeadar, we were in London, so I looked at London salaries rather than UK average.

I always have a little wry chuckle about letters informing one of benefit entitlement that include the phrase "this is how much the government says you need to live on" especially when it comes to LHA etc. Well it might have been at some vague point in the past, but sadly time travel eludes me....

I'm not questioning that it was tough then and it sounds as if you had to be very savvy and disciplined. But salaries have been squeezed hard for many of us, and housing has got very scarce. More people in their 20s have student loan repayments too now
And I am definitely not saying that it is easier nowadays. I agree that the housing situation is tough and young people have it so much harder getting their first proper jobs.

But they do also benefits from things we could only dream of. It's proportionally not significantly worse now, but the mindset has shifted a lot.

I think your AI is a bit out, and I wouldn't treat it as reliable.

The ONS reported last October 2025 that estimated median gross annual earnings for a full-time employee were £39,039 in April 2025: Employee earnings in the UK - Office for National Statistics

Your household earnings, excluding child benefit, were £87,630 in April 2025 terms, using the Retail Price Index to update their value: Measuring Worth - Purchase Power of the Pound

Why do you think that fewer people should be entitled to occasional luxuries?
I don't have any opinion about how people spend their money. People do what they want. I just can't find it in me to show sympathy to people who spend a good proportion of their income on luxuries and then cry that they have it hard and struggle to afford the rise in gas and electricity or their weekly food shop.

I also can't sympathise with those who imply that I had it so much easier than them because I bought a property in 2003 when to do so, I had to make sacrifices they themselves are not willing to make.

Also benefits were measured by RPI before 2011 but the coalition govt. switched to measuring by CPI which produced lower rates of inflation, thus reducing benefit uprating! What a clever wheeze, eh?

@Passaggressfedup I was paying £300 a month for a room in a shared house in 1998, so £800 for a two-bed flat makes sense.

measuringworth.com is saying £800 in 1999 is worth £1947 now, adjusted using the retail price index. You can find a few two-bed flats in zone 3 for £2000 pcm - but there aren't many rattling around.

I'm not questioning that it was tough then and it sounds as if you had to be very savvy and disciplined. But salaries have been squeezed hard for many of us, and housing has got very scarce. More people in their 20s have student loan repayments too now.

In 1997 job seekers allowance was £50 a week for a single person. If it had risen in line with inflation it should be £120 a week - it is £95 a week.

Benefits track CPI inflation - although there were also many years of benefit freezes between 2010 and 2020.

The cost of essentials has increased much faster than CPI inflation and poorer families struggle to absorb price spikes in the same way that families who are better off can.

Average weekly food shops seem to have risen in line with inflation, but don't take account of people switching to lower quality products, cutting back or food bank usage. Neither does it take account of the fact that some families have to shop in more expensive local corner shops than the big supermarkets as they don't have a car and can't get a 'big shop' back on public transport.

They can't get shopping delivered because they rely on having to pick up things that are reduced which you can't do online.

Average utility prices appear to have stayed in line with inflation but that doesn't take into account that poorer families are often on more expensive pre-payment tariffs.

The rise in transport both for cars and public transport has risen far higher than inflation and that is before you even begin to consider that public transport is far less available today than it used to be.

And again...the majority of working age benefit claimants are in work so benefits are acting as a corporate subsidy of low wages.

I moaned about this very thing.

Why do you think that fewer people should be entitled to occasional luxuries?

Where on earth have you got this idea?

Have you got any idea what people have to eat in slums in Mumbai for example?

£1,800 seem to be about the norm for a small 2 bed flat in the same area nowadays. Median salary is £49k, so more than us at the time comparably.

So it would seem we were not better off than the equivalent nowadays!

@Katypp There have never been as many massive new cars on the road,

Indeed. British consumers have still not worked out that cars are the biggest wealth killer, and if they only purchased small affordable cars, then manufacturers would be forced to change their production lines to accomodate.

towns are full of hairdressers, nail bars, brow bars, tanning salons, soft play, play cafes, coffee shops, ice cream parlours, dog groomers, most of which didn't exist 25 years ago and are probably the recipients of the money of the families who say they can't keep up with spiralling costs.

Keep in mind that some small businesses exist solely for the purposes of money laundering.

The real wage value of £18k in 2000 is £42,560 now, according to measuringworth.com
My AI is saying £40,500 in 1999.

But our rent was £800 which AI says is £1,800 now for a 2 bed flat in an unglamorous zone 3 area.

We didn't think it was outrageous. It was normal for the area.

https://www.essentialliving.co.uk/blogs-insights/the-cheapest-places-to-rent-in-london/#:~:text=What's%20the%20cheapest%20zone%20to,get%20into%20the%20city%20easily.

Well times have certainly changed - these prices mostly reflect 1 bed flats.

I wondered when @Passaggressfedup earned £18k a year, and their partner, and how old they were at the time
1999, we were 29 and 27. Rent was £800 in London for a 2 bed flat in zone 3. I had to save hard as only entitled to 90% of my income for 6 weeks and no tax credits or other help on our income. We got CB.

I’m glad people are getting angry about the cost of everything on this thread. We should be furious.

Just like we should have been more furious about the blatant destruction of the economy in 2020, but we were told to shut up and stop murdering grannies, when we tried to point out the economic of prolonged lockdowns. And look where we are now. I know it’s not the only thing making everything expensive, but I’m sure the government are glad to have Trump to blame, instead of admitting that they cheered on economic carnage (prolonged lockdown).

Or...and its just an idea, but maybe we should aim to make society fairer and ensure that everyone can enjoy life a little, afford a take out coffee or a night at the cinema, afford to live near where they work so that they don't have to travel 4 hours a day.

I don't want mine or anyone else's kids to have a worse quality of life than I did, just like my parents didn't want me to struggle like they did.

You seem to think that because you struggled everyone else has to, without even contemplating the fact that even with the sacrifices you made you still had more opportunity than young people today.

You were able to live in London and save enough for a deposit - because rents were a lot cheaper and house prices lower - particularly in the South East

You were able to commute to work with a one year old either because you had family help with childcare or used nursery or childminders - both were a lot cheaper years ago with more availability than there is today. Nursery fees did not equate to 2/3rds or more of salary back then.

I live in the midlands - my commute into London would be 1 hour and 45 minutes excluding tube or bus transfers - but the rail fair would cost me over £1000 a month today - a two hours commute either means expensive train fares or driving - again, much more expensive with increased insurance and fuel costs as well as parking, congestion charges, ULEZ.

Add to that more expensive utilities, council tax, food.

You could not do today what you did then on an equivalent salary.

No they just call the Benefits Vet who makes an immediate home visit. Brings cake too.

To be fair they probably need them for their free tax payer provided goats when they need to go to the vets.

Tell me you’ve got more money than me without telling me you’ve got more money than me!

3 members of our family have nice suvs, on finance, pay ridiculous amounts like £700 per month in finance, live in council houses and on benefits, face done, nails done, hair done they look like from towie, don’t work, not disabled, but yeah always moan how hard it is to be poor. You’d be surprised how important to some people it is to have a nice car! Banks know it that’s why the finance to get them is so high.