What have you had to cancel or give up?

[tatteddear]

Just waiting for the interest rate raise news again this morning-which will make our mortgage again more expensive.
Due to cost of living/Interest rate hikes we have, like so many others had to give up on lots of stuff that was important to us: our planned wedding, our holiday this year, eating out ever, seeing my parents who live 2.5 hours away more than once a month due to fuel costs....my dad is 93 and I don't have much time left with him probably.

I had started my own business to accommodate our childcare situation but im now going to have to fold that and go back to full time work in a career that has really burned me out after 20 years (social work team manager) as that's all I'm qualified to do that will pay me enough to make it worth while.

I don't know where we will find extra money to pay the mortgage or if there are any emergencies.

It's utterly miserable and I just can't see an end to it.

So many people have had to give up on all the things that were important to them. It just sucks.
Feeling very gloomy this morning.

I’ve become very selfish. I stopped supporting a charity, don’t eat out, I usually buy the cheapest option at the supermarket I don’t buy locally produced food as it costs more. I don’t understand why the government thinks interest rates going up are a good idea. Yes it stops spending, but how can businesses survive and pay tax if we can’t support them?

Holiday this year.
Entertainment — theatre tickets for example just too expensive.
But I realise mine are luxuries, I can still eat and run a car, and have a roof over my head for which I am grateful. Mobile, broadband, utilities are cut down to the bone.

Buying cheaper versions of stuff.
Being mindful of what kids need compared to want.
Only 1 annual attraction pass compared to 3 different ones.
Yes these are all luxuries but i definitely have to think more

I just heard a woman on the radio who is 70 and wants to retire but can't. I just feel desperately sad for people like her-but for everyone really that can't afford to even have small pleasures in life anymore.

A car
Exercise classes
Eating out
Takeaways, not that we had many anyway

Will it stay like this? Will things ever get any better or is this just it now? No more non essentials ever?

Eating out mainly. We used to pop out for dinner midweek pretty often, now it's special occasions only.

Piano lessons (me, so a luxury but I was enjoying them)
Decent broadband (now have cheap but unreliable)
Any branded foods.
Raw dog food... back to kibble and cheap meat.

Strawberries even too expensive in Lidl

Eating out less, only with deals.

No it never does. Remember back in 2008. People thought the same. Things slowly improved. I think there is more pain to come but long term they will
Improve

It maybe like this for a while, interest rates were very low before and the rates now aren’t particularly high compared to what they used to be. I’m assuming you’re on a variable rate mortgage? Can you fix instead so you are protected against further interest rate rises?

To be honest we haven’t really been affected much. We fixed the mortgage last year for 5 years so it only went up a small amount, bills have gone up but we have had pay rises which have offset some of it. We’ve mainly cut back on takeaways so instead of every week we get one every other week and are a bit more careful about what we spend spare money on.

I don't remember my gas bill being this high in 2008 though. Or not being able to afford the weekly shop without a lot of pre thought.

We were lucky to fix for 5yrs just before it rose, but just general cost of living has affected us, neither of us think we will achieve our bonuses so major, much needed house repairs will have to go on hold :/ we dont eat out, go clothes shopping (i order essentials online), holidays all cancelled, cut down on days out and visits to friends due to fuel cost, dogs back on kibble from raw! DD has had to pick just one hobby to pursue as I cant really fund more.

Nothing being cut yet, we got in just in time and fixed our mortgage for 10 years last September so it only went up by £40 a month (we’d previously been on a higher than average rate as first time buyers or it would have been a bigger leap). We’re consciously trying to spend more money with small local businesses than the big chains as we know they are the things most other people will be forced to stop using.

This is not correct. Wage data adjusted for inflation shows overall pay levels have never recovered from thar financial crash.

Agree our wages have not kept up in line at all which is why this cost of living crisis is impacting us more

Can you fix your mortgage? Or extend the term to reduce the monthly payments for now?

No we are stuck with our current Moro gate for another two years.

Holidays, haircuts, new clothes, days out... it's not much fun. Thankful to be able to pay for everything but it's depressing.

There was a lady on 5live earlier whose mortgage had gone from £1200 a month to over 2k. She had to sell up and move in with her parents at the age of 43 as she couldn’t afford it anymore. It’s bloody shit.

can someone explain to me in very simple terms how putting up interest rates slows inflation? I don’t get it. All I can see it if harming anyone with a mortgage (which I believe is about 30% of the population so quite a hefty amount)

Higher interest rates encourage saving/less spending, which means demand and prices go down.

The government don't set interest rates the Bank of England do.

They are increasing rates to stop people spending to reduce inflation. This is because if people spend more, prices rise, and inflation continues to spiral up, increasing prices more and more. The economy is a delicate balance.

Have a look at this:

www.bankofengland.co.uk/explainers/why-are-interest-rates-in-the-uk-going-up

This is what happens when inflation gets out of control:

www.investopedia.com/terms/h/hyperinflation.asp#:~:text=Hyperinflation%20can%20cause%20several%20adverse,to%20have%20less%20purchasing%20power.

It's the situations you may have seen in other countries where people are taking wheelbarrows of money to buy bread as money has become so devalued. Savings are reduced to nothing and banks/financial services go out of business.

Although this is hard, no-one wants hyperinflation.

@Mitchumforthewin it was that lady that promoted the thread as well as our one situation.

But doesn't the idea of encouraging saving fall a bit flat if barely anyone can actually afford to save?