Is expensive living here to stay in the UK?

[BestThingAtThisParty]

Curious of people's thoughts, the MN wisdom and insight is often on the money, so to speak!

Obviously lots of us are either struggling or at the very least having to make a lot of changes to how we live, thanks to the combination of energy, food, mortgage rises. Plus, the knock on to everything else - whether that's businesses also paying out more for the above so charging more, and/or a spot of bandwagon jumping. I may be way off but I really feel there's a mentality in some places that 'everything's more expensive now, so let's just double our prices and see.'

We went out for cake as a birthday treat recently and the hot chocolate was £7! We all had tap water instead - and things like fizzy drinks now costing £4 just makes eating out so crazily expensive, even when it's budgeted for or for a special occasion. A few years ago there were a lot of offers flying around at places, and eating out, tickets to days out etc. were so much more manageable. Now, I feel like we need a minimum of £50 for a lot of stuff for me and the 3 DC. The average burger in a pub I'm sure was around £8/£9 - now it's more like £13-£15 - it's madness. We're in the midlands for reference.

Is this just how it's going to be now? Or do people forsee a change?

I'm definitely having to cut back, can't save much and would worry if a big bill came out of the blue, but can pay the mortgage, feed the kids and get by including still having holidays. But I know it must be so much worse for many people. I was on Universal Credits a few years ago for a year, alongside work, and I could still afford a UK holiday for me and the kids, but sadly can't imagine that's the reality now for people in that situation. And even if the holiday can be paid for, an ice cream or doughnut is probably minimum of a fiver now and fish & chips totally out of the question. It just seems ludicrous😕

@ Crushed 23
I think you have missed the point, and definitely misread the room. You do you, as is your perfect right, but other people can’t afford it!

Many families cannot afford frivolous spending when they are at the start of their family lives, and buckling under all of the costs of raising a young family. The cost of living has massively added to this percentage of families.

People who were previously comfortable, or at least previously expecting to be comfortable, at their current stage of life, are no longer.

It’s not about sucking the joy out of life, it’s about being flexible, realistic and finding joy in other things.
A treat is something that you can’t have every day, and when you have one, you enjoy it all the more for it’s rarity value. What form a ‘treat’ takes is different for each person/family.
The ability to ‘hoard’money for the sake of it ( excluding long term responsibilities such as pensions), must be a very rare thing, percentage of the current population.

@Crushed23
Appologies - I had not noticed that this was an old thread.
I am not looking to resurrect it.

I don’t understand the “hauls” hype on social media . How are people affording all this . Going to primark just coz they’ve seen someone on TikTok doing a haul and buying just for the sake of it .
Fast fashion was bad enough a few years ago but I don’t know how people can sustain the money they are spending on clothes that just sit there or go in the bin .

And don’t get me started on tik tok shop and Temu people must just be bored with their lives and love nothing more than a parcel delivery …

Yes, things aren't ever getting cheaper.

I think the majority of pensioners will still work even if just part time. I know I will have to. Impossible to save it really is and my private pensions I had to use during the pandemic. Though they would only have given me £180 a month.