Cost of living - have you noticed any difference yet?

[Newhere31]

Just wondering how people have been affected so far.
Have your energy bills risen massively? Cost of food?
I have noticed a rise but it hasn't made much of a difference for us but see stories in the news of people not being able to eat ect.
Is it really that bad?
Live a fairly sheltered life in a small village, would just be interested to know what it's like for people in larger towns and cities..
For reference I live in a 2 bed terraced and my energy bill has only increased from £65 to around £80 p/m , food shop has gone up from £60 to £80 a week for 2 adults and 1 infant.

Thank you. I don’t have much hope; I started a thread on the subject a few days ago 😬. There isn’t much job-wise at all locally and we can’t afford to move nearer to my work. I’ve been idly considering moving somewhere else altogether, it may have to become reality soon though.

Petrol risen from £30 per tank to £49 per tank full

utility risen from £65/70 to £140 and that’s readings based, with readings each and every week for 6 month

food shopping has increased by £20 a week

so total £150 extra a month

I'm hoping to not use the car much over summer and save my weekly allowance for autumn/winter

I could technically cycle to work which I wouldn't mind it's just I'm doing a school run quite far away still.

We rarely eat out, we used to get takeaway more regularly but have one rarely but that's fine.

As I said previously our heating hasn't hit yet.
Petrol has..
I've just changed our shop to buy less meat so o spend the same just different food so it's not a mad stretch to think people are not necessarily feeling it yet

Food is crazy. Just look at the price of butter now - it isn't that long since you could buy 250g for a little over £1 and now the cheapest stuff is £1.50.

It is all horrible, but what I'm finding most shocking are the empty shelves in supermarkets. Our local Aldis and Lidls often have gaps and products that are always out of stock.

@Bloodybridget where do you tend to shop? I mostly go to Aldi, my nearest supermarket is Midcounties Co op but that was extortionate even before the crisis.

Are you taking the piss?

@allthegoodusernameshavegone
No. Thanks for the informative comment.

Yes definitely! Most notably petrol and groceries.
Projected cost for utilities this coming year are frankly terrifying and we have no option to cut further but no ability to pay anymore than we do. Scary tbh

Well my money in Asda doesn't go half as far 😅 but gas and electric prices for us have weirdly not gone up. Diesel costs a lot now.

Definitely noticing this. We hardly buy alcohol now and focus only on food at each shop
Can't justify it.

@Gentleness I think my post was actually inspired by today's food shop where I noticed the cheese I usually buy had risen by over 30p. Also noticed a lot of gaps, what's causing it? Any ideas?

Yep nursery fees up, energy up, food up our set amount for bills we are putting £150 in extra a month to cover it.
We are lucky and can afford this by cutting back other areas so no more takeaways, trip to the market and booze has gone (we had a subscription).

Yes and no. We are fortunate that our business pays for fuel, but that is up to nearly £1.85 per litre round us. I don’t have a massive commute though, but I am old enough to remember very clearly the days of 80p per litre, and filling my first 1 litre engine car with £20 😂We are not spending much more on food I don’t think, unless I’ve always been unobservant.

I fixed our fuel tariffs back in October so while they have jumped, in part due to us getting used to new underfloor heating etc they’re not crazy.

Council tax has gone up yet again…we are band c but when we first bought this place in 2015 it was around £1600 per year, now £2100.

And the award for most tone deaf post of the day goes to… 🙄

I know I'm fortunate enough to have absorbed most price increases so far. I've definitely noticed the diesel price and I'm pretty relieved I'm not often in the office.

Food has definitely gone up but I've tended to change what I'm buying so it's not hugely more per week. I really feel for people who were already struggling because I know there's plenty of people who were already following all the 'cut back on food shopping' tips and/or using food banks.

Given the news about the October gas/electric rises, I'm thinking about fixing. My big worry is about how safe (or not) my job would be in a recession

Petrol hugely increased, £1.72 here, electricity doubled and food prices increased.

We are lucky to have disposable income so not feeling it at the moment.

Me? Or the OP?

Since last year, gas and electric gone up by £200 a month. Cost £40 more to fill the car. Food shop has gone up around £25 a week, so thats another £100 a month. Coucil tax has gone up. I earn less (thanks to national insurance rise). So as a minimum I’m £450-£500 worse off a month. Probably more to be honest.

But fuel 'hasn't changed' for you only because you're using a lot less than you used to. You can't have missed that the price per litre has increased by about 50% or more in a year? Or are you one of those people who says 'it still costs the same, I still put £20 in each week' and actually believe what you are saying?

Likewise the price per unit of gas and electricity has increased by nearly 100% in a year and is predicted to go up by another 40% in October. If you've barely seen your price change, then it sounds like you're comparing spring/summer costs with winter costs, ie you're paying £80 for a much smaller amount of energy than what you were paying £65 for in February/March.

I don't know what food price inflation is as everyone buys different things and, as long as you weren't already buying the cheapest food, you can mitigate some of the increases by switching to cheaper brands, cheaper supermarkets, cutting out extras like snacks and drinks or buying less of the more expensive foods like meat and fish.

Surely it doesn't take that much imagination to see that the increases absolutely will have affected people who have still had to use their cars or were already buying the cheapest food and are now having to choose between heating and eating? And that's before it's going to get a lot worse when bigger bills hit next winter?

Council tax up by around £20/month. Mortgage up so far by around £30/month - it's gone up twice this year already! Nursery up by £36/month but I don't begrudge them that and it was less than I was expecting. Gas and elec up by ~£50/month. Petrol was around £100/month, now more like £130 and I have to drive for work, so I've stopped driving to the local town to see my parents/take DS swimming every week. I've started doing a food shop in Lidl/Aldi once a week which has reduced my shopping by at least £15, cancelled the Morrisons delivery pass and don't go to Sainsbury's at all anymore. Netflix up by £2/month.

Just worked out my outgoings are around £1,500 a year more. And that's without the energy price cap rise coming later this year (so possibly another £50/month more?). Between my possible 1% inflation in salary (MPs apparently not keen to raise public sector salaries in case it raises inflation more) and the NI threshold change, if I'm lucky I may be around £240 better-off by the end of the year. So just £1,260 to find. And with energy rise in the Autumn, potentially £1,860.

All luxuries will be gone from our lives at this rate (if you call an ice cream for my 3-year-old and a coffee for me once a week a "luxury". I guess it is now). Got to save for petrol for our 3-day camping holiday in Devon in August, too, as that's our only holiday this year (same last year). Thank god for my parents paying for the campsite. I don't even want to think about Christmas and birthdays.

Fuck. I'm actually crying now I've laid out all out like that.

Energy bill has almost doubled. I can afford it without cutting back at the moment. I'm on minimum wage so I'll get to take home an extra £30 in my pay packet from July and my child maintenance has increased as ex has had a pay rise so that will cover it.

I have plenty I can cut back on if necessary, we'll see what happens when the energy bill goes up again come October. First to go would be charity donations unfortunately. Then Netflix, Sky, Spotify and Amazon prime. I get my nails done once a month, I'd stop that if I need to and stop drinking alcohol and eating out/takeaways which we do a couple of times a month. DS does music lessons, horse riding lessons and swimming. They could stop if necessary but I don't want to if I can avoid it. Last thing to go would be holidays and days out, we really value those.

I think the issue is that you said in your OP that your bills and shopping had 'only' gone up by xx amount which the poster was pointing out was not a trivial 'only' amount- no need to get snarky.

We have noticed the rises - our gas and electricity bill has doubled and our weekly food bill has increased by around £30. Like you OP we can afford to absorb these costs but they are definitely noticeable and I would never trivialise them by using term 'only' as if it didn't really matter. We can tighten our belts but cutting out luxuries like nails and takeaways but if everyone did that then these small local businesses will no longer be viable and that's x amount of people that have lost their livelihoods.

Yes the monthly energy bills have doubled from £40 to £80 and we’re very low usage. I’ve been watching prices rise for basics, eg, jam was 99p last year and it’s now £1.50. It’s all adding up. And petrol is another shocker so I’ve barely used it outside of work. Next autumn will cause massive problems.

but I am old enough to remember very clearly the days of 80p per litre,

God, this thread makes me feel old. I can remember when petrol was 4/6 a gallon. That’s about 5p a litre in new money.