UK cost of living is beyond miserable

[bookworm8500]

I'm just so sick of it and to read that council tax may be increasing where I live by 20% has sent me over the edge. I don't know where the government think people like us will keep getting extra money from.

It's pay day today (NHS). My pay covers our mortgage without much left over, so on 1st Feb my salary is gone. Both my husband and I have good jobs, but salaries have never gone up like other things have. Food, energy, mortgage, council tax, bills.

It honestly feels like we just work in order to pay for a house we are hardly in because our mortgage went up so much.

I find it all utterly miserable without a way out.

I don't need advice on how to make our money stretch further. We have a modest 3 bed semi, we both work full time, not alot of debt but everything has gone up to the point that it's utterly miserable. I know we are in a better position than many too

I remember being excited for pay day about 15 years ago, when my salary actually covered everything nicely and I had money left.

Anyone else find it relentless?

It definetly feels, on the whole, that there isn't much opportunity for joy. But then people are always going abroad or buying a new car and I'm not really sure how. I wonder if it's credit?

It's madness that your ft salary is basically your mortgage amount.

Would it feel better if you used your salary to pay half the mortgage and half of some of the other bills?

If it's any comfort, I live in Portugal and food prices have gone up a lot here too—it's sadly the effects of climate change. Huge problems with harvests in the last 12 months, all over the world.

Admittedly we've not seen a lot of other price increases, but food has been a big one. I suppose it is likely to be worse in the UK with so much more being imported there, and additional costs caused by Brexit.

Totally with you on this, it is relentless and so disheartening. DH and I are not high earners but we have salaries at a level that shouldn't leave us struggling, but we are being absolutely crippled by food costs and high nursery fees, it's totally miserable. Every month we transfer a set amount to the joint account for the month and within two weeks it's gone. We are lucky to own a home but we're outgrowing it with no prospect of upsizing in our current area, which would mean adding £100k to the mortgage. I feel grateful for what we have but also like it really shouldn't be this hard, and expensive, for working families to get by.

I would imagine she isn't literally paying 100% of the mortgage and having nothing left personally, just using that to demonstrate that even working ft only covers one of the household bills (albeit the main one).

It is tough, but 15 years ago did you have a mortgage and children? I also miss the feeling of having fun money to throw around, but the reality is I spend that money on wraparound care and swimming lessons and football boots and half term camp and children's birthday parties and a thousand other things like that. It isn't purely cost of living, and it certainly isn't specific to the UK - everyone I know feels the same regardless what country they live in.

I live in one of the most expensive areas for council tax, it's one of the poorest areas of the country.

I think it's extremely unfair that places in central London pay barely any, when they have multimillion £ houses.

It should be a much more equalised system.

And non-UK citizens should pay triple compared to everyone else, or have some other tax they're required to pay.

We are going abroad this year for the first time since 2017 - is inheritance. We couldn't afford it from wages.

And non-UK citizens should pay triple compared to everyone else, or have some other tax they're required to pay.

Why?

Because they're driving up housing prices and profiting from it. I'm referring specifically to landlords who never set foot in the UK buying in expensive/high demand places as investments, sometimes even leaving them empty on purpose.

Agree. I'm too poor to buy a house, my income is too low to rent in my area but apparently it is just enough to not receive any government support.

I am contemplating a move across the country away from family and friends just to get on the property ladder but the thought of days spent alone in a small flat is stopping me. It's depressing.

Landlords don't pay council tax, tenants do. It sounded like you were saying all non-UK citizens who are resident should have to pay extra taxes.

Our council tax is going up a massive amount. The council is also looking to make 750 people redundant (including dh) so it feels very grim right now.

It has always been like this for the majority of people with children. Bringing up children is expensive. I am 60 now but 30 years ago we were in the exact same situation, but we didn't have the Internet to see how many people were the same. Things seem worse now because people are able to post about it on line.

Things do get better. As your children get older, get part time jobs and then eventually leave home you will have more money. Hopefully your mortgage will be paid off and you will be in a better position.

But things are worse now. The gap has widened even more regarding house prices and salaries, even factoring in interest rates.

Hardly anyone I know now can afford to buy a house alone.

I live in Spain, where we have a lower personal tax allowance, way lower minimum wage and higher personal taxes. The equivalent of council tax is OK, but food prices are horrendous as are petrol costs, and in fact cars cost almost double what they do in England.

So, it's not just the UK. Nowhere is cheap to live.

If you're nhs could you move abroad?

I can commiserate op.

And the last thing we need is another effing runway and truckload of new houses that have no nearby infrastructure or amenaties.

It's grim.
I really had hoped something would improve for everyday people. Everything just gets sold off.

Been there done that, as a then single parent living on toast just to feed the kids a decent meal on benefits until next benefit day. That was 30 years ago, I was waitting for ex to stop dicking the CSA around and actually pay something. It took nearly 8 months, then there was shed loads of back money that just seemd to be written off😡

Council tax is totally outdated. There are
million pound houses in the south east of England in a lower council tax band than I am in a modest 3 bed semi in a bog standard area in Scotland. This dawned on me when there were rebates during the energy price crisis which people in such houses got and I didn’t! I have no issues paying more tax btw which is just as well as we are hammered up here but the burden doesn’t seem to be falling on those with the broadest shoulders.

We are lucky to be doing OK but when you have young kids it is hard

People struggled to buy a house alone back then too. I wouldn't have been able to.

Everything has gone up in price but i think its worse if you have children and pets as the cost of that just keeps rising.
I live alone and i dont feel the pinch like others do.
I still travel go out holidays shopping i have no debt etc.
But i do feel for them that cant.

Yes, it wasn’t easy then, not saying it was, but it’s harder now. I do know people who managed to buy alone in the 80s/90s.

And I fear for the next generation being able to buy at all, as the gap between salaries and properties keep on widening.

Early 80s you had to go on a waiting list for a mortgage so it was hard in that way. That said, my dad had a just above average salary job and mum didn’t have to work. Getting a mortgage for a 3 bed home in the South East, on a single, just over average salary, wouldn’t be possible now.