Is it just me or does everything feel more expensive lately?

[IndiraDarcey]

I was chatting to another mum at school pickup yesterday and we both ended up laughing about how every shop seems to cost more now, even the boring everyday stuff. She said she feels like she is constantly cutting back but never actually seeing the difference, and honestly that really hit home. I do the food shop and try to be sensible, but somehow it is still more than I expect every single time. It is not even big treats, just normal life things. I keep wondering if everyone else feels this way or if I am just bad at managing it.

I think this may be the definition of late to the party

Blimey, where have you been for the last year or so? Price rises have been one of the top topics of conversation and media coverage

You’re not wrong, life is becoming more expensive every week it seems!! I was having this conversation with a friend of mine recently, we’re both self employed and constantly realising we’re not even covering the basics with what we earn. We always take whatever work we can, and it never seems to be enough! I’m in the process of joining a temp agency to try and make ends meet, but I can’t imagine when I might have a whole day spare to do any work for them in reality! It’s just a really difficult time for everyone right now. You’re not alone.

Do you ever listen to/read/watch the news? It's really quite informative.

Groceries started going up quite a bit during 2020 because of the pandemic, which I can kind of understand, but then prices never came back down again. I’m assuming you’re in the UK as you said “mum” - Brexit was then blamed (pretty universally for everything) and prices have just continued to go up and up. It’s the same with everything - ALL of our bills have gone up, from utilities to insurance to petrol etc.

I’ve gone back to ordering groceries online and getting them delivered, as it’s been much easier to budget and stops there being any surprises at the checkout. It’s still a struggle though - we’ve gone from a weekly bill of around £80 to £105-£110. And it’s not like wages are going up that much to match it. 😔

I got my frozen raspberries and blueberries from Sainsbury's yesterday. They were a much smaller bag. They are now 360g
Used to be £3 for 400g now £3.30 for 360g !! I thought inflation was falling!

Cozzie livs babe

Why were you laughing about it though?

YANBU. I totally agree.

It must be getting chilly living under that rock OP!

I've noticed over the last two weeks that the price of Mince has gone through the roof!

🤣 na, it's just you. We're all rolling in it

Bit harsh! Maybe OP doesn't come on social media often

What does this mean?!?

Cost of living expressed in a way the OP may grasp, given she is 5 years late to this party.

Cost of living crisis 😂 I don’t know where I picked it up from

Social media!! I'm not in the UK but the cost of living crisis is mentioned every day on the news, in newspapers, people talk about it etc. I doubt it is different in the UK. How anyone can not be aware of it is mind boggling.

I totally get you. Yes, it's been gradually rising for years, but for the past few months food prices have been horrifying. I used to be able to go into a supermarket and buy whatever I wanted for the week, nothing mental like caviar and champagne everyday but good meat, cheese and veg. We eat student food like cheap rice and pasta dishes, all of the time now.

The other day I thought I'd nip into Lidl to get some picky Xmas food for the evening we were decorating out tree. I put most of it back. A tiny truckle of cheese was £3.50! The stuff I'd picked up for a mini spread was about £25. I bought some mince pies and thought we can just have some standard pesto pasta and have some mince pies whilst we were doing the tree.

Not just you. There’s even a Reddit sub called ‘MinceWatchUk’.

The price of British farm produced food has rocketed this year as the farmers lost a good chunk of their subsidy payment (Brexit directly caused this as we entered into Tory Gove’s “Agricultural Transition”.).

Next year the farm subsidy payment will be gone altogether so it will cost even more for meat and veg produced in this country.

The majority of farmers voted for Brexit too - definitely made themselves poorer and costs passed onto consumers. Yay.

Not on social media?
You just need eyes as you do a weekly shop
Prices jump week on week and have been for ages.

This is exactly the sort of thing that I do, i.e. choose a few things, realise how much it comes to, and re-think my plans!

It really is all so costly now.

Inflation falling doesn't mean that prices come down, just that will rise marginally more slowly

Yes, I had noticed the Bentley is costing more per week to fuel and I've had to drop a servant or two.