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.

Our gas and electricity direct debit has increased by £100 monthly, the cost of a tank of fuel has gone up significantly (and as a community HCP cutting back on travel is not an option) and food costs are noticeably more. We’re fortunate not to have to watch every pound but I’m thinking twice before buying coffees and unnecessary luxuries.

Gas and electricity DD has gone from £127 to £220 a month (3 bed semi, family of 4). Dreading the next rise in October.

That combined with national insurance rise and petrol prices has meant our household disposable income is less approx £200, that's before factoring in rise in food prices.

I am sending mine all back, they are costing me a fortune 🤣

Council tax gone up £4pm (can't really complain on that one), water £5pm, gas and electric £51pm (we're low users). Just been in Lidl and literally everything I wanted to buy had had 4p, 10p or 20p added. Petrol obviously gone up. So far we're not spending any more on food or petrol, as I'm being very careful with food choices now (ie looking for cheaper options that tick the box) and doing all food shopping on foot, as well as going out for more local walks.

My gas/electric DD has gone up £200 a month. We use alot due to DH being disabled and we were on a good fixed deal which ended at the beginning of April so great timing. I do think they have over estimated what we will use so taking readings and going to discuss it with them.

Food is going up, I notice it on thing we use regularly.

@EcoCustard

”seem to be surrounded by many with new vehicles, homes, expensive holidays, improvements etc”

if you’re my neighbour I am misleading you.

I have a brand new car - a loan vehicle for three years because mine died. fortunately it’s electric and that has been a life saver (£6 to get a full charge).

I am getting a lot of work done on the house because I’m raiding literally all the savings in order to get it done now while it’s cheaper (and it has to be done now for safety reasons in the most part).

i just went on holiday - because it was one I paid for three years ago and it’s been endlessly postponed due to Covid.

On the surface it looks fine. Under the water I am paddling frantically and the household budget and accounts are pored over nightly.

Yes feeling it massively. 2 sporty teenage boys who eat well, family reliant on us for various appointments, travel to work by car. It's all adding up.
Luckily the dc use their bikes more but I'm nervous as we're in London and there's lots of traffic.

We use alot due to DH being disabled

this is where help is really needed. Ds disability to mean we use as much extra power as many families with a member with disabilities but we still have to charge feeding pumps, we still have extra washing needs, we still have 50 mile round trips for appointments etc.

im dreading winter with extra heating and drying Costs.

@Newhere31 If it's a big shop, Sainsbury's or Aldi - obviously Aldi is cheaper! Top-ups occasionally at local Tesco or M&S. We are lucky to not have to count all the pennies, but I still notice of course.

My rent is £950 and he’s putting it up to £1050 for no reason than to ‘fall in line with rental increases’. No negotiation to be had. We told them we can’t afford this so we were handed our notice. We move out in three weeks and so far haven’t found another property, our flat hasn’t been rented yet and is still up for advertisement but I doubt our landlord will care as they are a corporate one and own the majority of the building I live in, which is a skyrise in the city centre so a lot of flats. Everyone else who lives here is having the same problem. They are also increasing the price of the parking space I rent from them from £90pcm to £130pcm!

Rental market is horrific. Every place we’ve offered on so far has at least 10 other offers, I’ve never seen anything like it.

We’ve been able to absorb price rises fortunately without worrying about it. However my big fear is when a recession hits as dh income will drastically reduce and I’m on a low nhs wage so don’t contribute to the household finances much.

we have three ds in early mid 20’s and I really want to be able to help them if they should need it with rising costs.

So, we are fine for now, autumn might be difficult if we go into the recession I am expecting.

Yes and no.

We dont' drive so aren't seeing it as family members who do are at pumps.

We do see it with the monthly big shop - but we are going less top ups at tesco express and more aldi.

We also now go out a lot less - covid affect we just don't seem to be in the habit anymore and when we do it's often with GP and we share the costs- children group havent come back or they've aged out - so we save there.

They've also hit ages where they don't tend to grow out of things as much and we made most of second hand influx during covid.

Longer distance train journeys - for uni open days or to see family there're more expenisve - fewer cheap options.

Bus fares are on the increase though it's more more an issue with reliablity - with lack of drivers and local pay strikes.

Heating not on - line drying is possible - and we using less electricty than last year as eveyone back in education/work.

We have sky - locked into a contract with TV but have plan for when it ends - we got the price down and two days later price increases meant we were back at same amount.

We have three years holiday saving so may do a big holiday this summer - depends when one passport gets back.

It's more knowing it will be an issue this Autumn/winter.

Energy costs increased by £70 pm
Food prices up 20% here - I'm now spending £150 a week on food
Double the cost to fill my car tank with petrol (and its only a 1 litre!) So now it's £60 instead of the £30 it was a few months ago
But it's everything...clothes, shoes, Toiletries, household items...
We are going on a UK break in July (first holiday since 2019) and we will be doing cheap/free days out instead of our usual NT/EH trips and days out.

Me and ds aged 17. Our gas has gone down from £29 to £22 owing to new Dbl glazing last summer plus me using it less this winter just gone. Electric gone up by £23 but I had a large Ninja Dual air fryer arrive last Friday so ds no longer uses the oven. Water same price and council tax up by just £6. Food so far now £15 more a week minimum. Petrol extortionate but apart from work I try not to go far in it (have cut down). We are very fortunate in that we have no mortgage on the property which really helps. I have downgraded most of my skincare to cheaper brands though as self employed and earnings is somewhat down owing to the price hikes.

Yes. Energy costs, food and petrol. We have an Aygo so fuel costs aren't too bad but we used to be able to put £20 for half a tank, now it's £30.
Food, I'm working out where is cheapest nearby for various things. I also take advantage of offers. Eg. I got a free loaf of bread on my M&S sparks card yesterday and have a Waitrose card, one of my offers this week is £2 off a box of 12 eggs so will use that and another useful one. I then make sure I don't buy anything else in the shop!
I did wonder about changing pet insurance but have learned my lesson from past experience so will stick with Petplan.

Why would it be a joke?
Its a perfectly reasonable question to ask. Lots of people haven't really felt the increase yet for a variety of reasons, that doesn't mean we aren't aware of it, not planning for when it does hit us, or dont sympathise for those that have.

For example for me:
Petrol -miminal - I wfh and don't use much petrol, so while of course I'm aware when I do fill up prices are very expensive I don't have to do so very often so it doesn't affect me.

Mortgage, Electric and gas - still on a fixed term contract so no increase

Council tax -goes up every year anyway, and for me the increase is slightly less than it was last year.

So really it's only food and that to date that has been more than covered by the 150 payment

Energy costs increased by £70 pm

Our increase was this - after inital panic/worry it seems to have been absorbed - though we got a £150 rebate and some money back for working from home - so maybe not felt it yet.

But calculations I saw yesterday suggest in Autumn it will be another 42% ish price rise on top of current payments and that will hit us and it won't be the only thing going up either.

We have things we can cut areas we can look at - but still a real worry.

I'm assuming we'll have a similar increase in October (so an increase of £140 pm from March)

Food prices are my main worry as I run a foodbank

We've just moved back from Denmark this week , so to me food still seems not that bad as I've got used to 'expensive' and varied our habits accordingly whilst away - - utilities- well I am on a DD now of £285 a month for gas/electric but they suggested£237 based on previous tenants bills- it's a fairly big 1980s 4 bedder , I'm overpaying just in case- to be honest I was expecting worse- our bills in Copenhagen were a similar level and that's with it nationalised AND extremely eco and our bills before we moved to Denmark 20 months ago were not that much less . Council tax- less than we paid before we left and 1 band higher- but it's a cheaper borough on council tax. The biggies in my opinion are diesel (wow) that's quite a bit higher than Denmark- smoking (yep bad I know and I'm going to stop but over double the cost here) and hugely increased cost of good 3 or 4 year old second hand cars- this is Brexit related due to import costs on new cars. Parking anywhere too seems mental as there's an awful lot of free parking in Copenhagen, including the big shopping centres etc and when you do pay its peanuts compared to here.

Food is about £30 more a week.

Electricity has gone up £43 a month.

Diesel is at £1.83 where I am.

Oil for my tank has doubled to £1 a litre.

Are you entitled to claim back the cost of hospital appointments?

Yep.

Electricity from 60 a month to 250
Fuel 45 to fill up, now closer to 60
Oil has doubled (we don't have gas)
Logs for the wood burner have gone up about 25%

I track spending/budget so I know exactly how much things have gone up.

Compared to 12 months ago I'm spending noticeably more on:
Council tax
Transport inc fuel & train
Gas/electric
Food
Internet/tv subs

I refinanced the mortgage a few months ago on an improved rate so that has gone down a bit which is great. Now fixed for 5 years.

Fuel has gone up by £20 a week to £50. Electric gone up £30 a month. Oil has doubled and I’m hoping price comes down in summer as I can not afford to fill tank.

food has gone up by £20 a week or so too. Financial death by a thousand cuts.

I’m most annoyed by dog food, of all things.
My monthly bill has gone up by £30-£40 for them. It’s annoying me way more than it probably should as it’s a drop in the ocean when you factor in everything else!

Diesel is another that’s killing us. I have a huge car that I doubt I can sell so we are stuck with that.

Dreading the energy bill increases.