If you’re comfortably off, what are you doing to help with the cost of living crisis?

[Rainallnight]

We are very lucky, esp these days, to be fine for money. I’m feeling increasingly concerned at how the cost of living crisis is affecting people. So far I’ve set up a direct debit to an anti poverty charity that gives crisis funding to families who need it. And I think I’ll do the same to my local food bank.

Any other ideas?

It is just wretched how this country is going. DD asked me this morning if we could put the heating on and when I said yes I almost cried that so many other families can’t this morning.

I have found small, local charities via community projects, my dcs school & next door app if that helps others who are looking.

My neighbour has a collection bin outside of her house for local food bank so I help keep it filled-they list things they are low on so easy to get exactly what they need.

Huge community support for our local food bank-for me that is the most tangible thing-especially in school holidays (and now that it is bloody cold again) I worry about DC not having lunch etc

I am tangentially involved with a small local food bank and cash donations are not put to overheads as the churches in the area cover that, but are used to buy "gaps" in the donations.

Other than that, we are using small local businesses where we can, eg yesterday bought a gift for a birthday party my dd was going to from a small independent shop and a card from another independent. I could have saved a couple of quid buying the same from Amazon, bur hopefully this will help as many people watching the pennies a bit more will not have the spare money to do this.

As a side note, the party was at a local riding school. My dd doesn't ride but I got talking to one of the owners, after years of having long waiting lists for riding lessons, they currently have spaces, riding lessons are an expensive habit and middle class families aren't going down that route now, while at the same time the stables costs have gone up. Im not saying "take up riding lessons!" but think about where you spend your cash.

Donate to food banks via Ocado, which 100% matches all donations.

LadyCatStark .Yes I have noticed Food Bank Donations are quite a lot emptier in our local SB .Worrying as you say.We are not well off but donate a couple of tins a week .

I have offered my time to work with a local enterprise on an outreach project targeting families to make sure they are receiving all benefits, grants and know what help is available. It’s unreal how many people are still missing out.

I'm not always in a position to offer a financial donation, but I am helping in other ways:

Shopping locally - I try to spend some of my money in local shops as opposed to the big chains, to help local businesses (who will be employing local people).

Use charity shops - for donations and purchases.

School pta - I donate my childrens old uniforms, which is sold cheaply to help families and also to raise money for the school. I also help out at school events.

As someone who unfortunately has had to use food banks in the past & will likely need to again.... thank you! Thank you to all of you that donate what you can 💕

I’m continuing to spend a lot of money, I regularly go to the local hairdressers and beautician and tip well, I know they are really suffering. I treat my friends to coffees when we go out, I eat out a lot, book lots of holidays, I live in an area where a lot of people lost their travel related jobs due to the pandemic so I’ve seen the importance of this industry. I buy quite a lot of clothes and support the local high street, I’ve booked a few breaks in UK hotels as I know hotels have been really effected by the fuel price increase.
I’m actually in the best position financially in my life so am trying to not hang on to my money. I’m having a lot of work done in my garden and have finished quite a bit in the house, the gardeners etc seem happy to get the custom. My painter isn’t the cheapest but he’s very good and has a really young family so I like to think I’m helping them out a bit.
I set my oldest DC up in a flat as he was stuck in a house share and it was impossible to move because of price rises and I’ve put money away for my younger DC to help them.
I recently got rid of a settee, living room furniture set and a table and chairs set for free on Facebook to three different families so I hope this helped them out a bit.

How do food banks pay for the petrol to collect their donations without money being donated? I always give money

Supporting my adult daughters. Paying towards nursery for the granddaughter.

I've joined a local community larder scheme - it's not a food bank but for a low membership fee you can go along each week and pick a number of items from food that supermarkets would otherwise waste. It's open to everyone but obviously the more members it has the more viable it is.

I think in general joining in with almost any community organisation is good. People need to be connected and to know each other in these times, it's much easier to accept help from people you know.

I'm not sure if we are "comfortably off" but we are increasing our donations to the food bank. We'd always put extra in the trolley but now we are putting more in. Maybe it isn't much in the grand scheme of things but it's something.

We are comfortable and price changes essentially haven’t made any difference to us. I have however tried to buy as much as possible made in the UK.

Ultimately these are international problems causing the rise in costs and economic growth is the only thing that will reduce the impact for us. So I will most definitely be voting Tory.

The website Acts 435 is excellent because you can choose who to give to directly. lots of requests for small amounts to buy furniture or clothes etc so you know exactly who is benefitting. It is heartbreaking though seeing so many requests for just the basics of life like a bed or cot for a child.

We are reasonably comfortable ( for the first time in our lives) but it wouldnt take much to tip us back into poverty so at home have turned the heating off, try not to use the car if possible,buy locally and second hand etc.
Donate and support local charities.

We've upped our direct debit to the food bank.

Still using local businesses eg cafes, hairdressers, takeaways.

Donating outgrown clothes to local charities instead of selling them

Food banks - regular donation

Salvation Army or other local charity to help with Christmas presents

Local charity to help with kids clothes

Write to your MP a lot to protest, and ask for assistance for the poor, and some extra tax for those companies that should pay more, and extra money for local councils to provide meals for kids. Write to council ditto.

Don’t vote tory

Join the Labour Party and do your bit to remove the fuckwit collective that have made them unelectable. Especially if you have business experience, they really need members with good business experience.

If you have any time to spare, contact citizens advice who I’m sure need people or your local volunteer bureau.

Oh yes - as PP says, use local businesses as much as you can. Keep people in work.

@Asdf12345

We are comfortable and price changes essentially haven’t made any difference to us. I have however tried to buy as much as possible made in the UK.

Ultimately these are international problems causing the rise in costs and economic growth is the only thing that will reduce the impact for us. So I will most definitely be voting Tory.

@Asdf12345 Of course that’s true.

But the extreme inequality in how people are experiencing the effects is the responsibility of the government.

So if you want to vote Tory - at least join the party and campaign from the inside for them to treat our poorest people better.

We are ‘comfortable’ in that the rise in utilities and food prices aren’t causing us undue stress. We donate to food banks and have done for some years prior to now.

We’ve been in true poverty and freezing years ago and I refuse to be now. However I don’t do much other than food bank donations, because I also make sure I never vote Tory, and tbh nothing else other than getting them out is going to make any difference to this shit show.

Your direct debit to a charity will mostly be swallowed up in admin and overheads.

This is a really unhelpful approach. "Admin and overheads" are things that charities need to run efficiently. I used to be a volunteer director for a small local charity and we absolutely relied on the small number of paid staff to operate properly. Volunteers generally don't want to do the accounts or organise getting the toilet unblocked or deal with other volunteers needing to be managed. Overheads for us were the premises we needed so that clients could visit us, which needed to be centrally accessible to people without cars. The services charities are now having to provide, in the absence of functioning central government, cannot be provided by a bunch of well meaning volunteers from their kitchen tables.

Paying tax. We pay £115000 a year in tax to the government so that they can sort out precisely this kind of problem. If they wanna give up on running the country and give our tax back then I am happy to try to do it myself but I don’t see why I should pay twice.

Keep spending. Even though the increased costs for everyone means that those who can afford it will still feel like cutting spending so they can keep saving at the same level, it's most helpful to keep businesses going and people in jobs.

And of course never vote tory.

I would say whatever you vote, at least write to your candidates and tell them what you want to see them prioritise.