How do you cope with supermarket prices going up and up and up?

[WildEnergySupplier]

Just back from my big supermarket shop and I’m genuinely shocked at how much prices have gone up AGAIN.

It feels like every week there’s another increase - milk, bread, meat, vegetables, even the own-brand basics that used to be affordable. Things that were £2 to £2.50 about 4-5 years ago are now all about £4 to £4.50. It feels like since last summer, the prices have exploded.

I’m really struggling to keep the weekly food bill under control while everything else (energy, petrol, council tax etc etc) is still sky high.

This is despite the government telling us last week how brilliantly the economy is doing!! It certainly doesn’t feel like it to me. And I just heard on the radio that this navel gazing by-election is apparently costing us £5 million, as it will lead to another mayor election.

So many families are worrying about feeding their kids properly and keeping the heating on. How are the rest of you managing? Any clever tips for cutting costs without it feeling miserable? Are your shops coming in much more expensive too? I’d really appreciate hearing how others are coping because I’m starting to feel a bit despairing about it all. Thanks in advance.

@Ihateboris my post wasn’t about you. I just wanted to point out that not all posts are genuine.
Your monthly expenditure does look really tight. Hopefully, someone can come along with some useful advice on how to bring it down or what help is available.

Thank you. I think that the issue many of us are facing is that all our bills have increased so drastically over the past couple of years, and wages have remained the same. If I wasn't so old and knackered, I'd seriously consider sex work.

I may sound a little obsessive, apologies if this is the case. For items I purchase over £5 I have started using Chat GPT, i.e. we buy a lot of coke to drink so asked Chat where the cheapest place to buy was- Amazon. Did the same for some other of the most expensive branded products I purchase. It has helped.

Straight away I can see the issue - £320 spent on petrol. I'd be looking to move to closer to work that's a ridiculous sum to spending on petrol every month that must be a full tank every single week.
Electricity of £120 a month is also a lot for a single adult? And oil of £120? That's 240 a month on energy, we spend quite a bit less on elec and gas for a family of four in a house not a small flat with 1 adult? The typical UK household energy bill is £137 a month and that's for households so will include families using more. So right there is £100 extra a month you are spending on energy that could be spent on food or other stuff?

I had two pay rises in quick succession of the back of RR, however hilariously none of them were funded pay rises, meaning they have to come out of the budget and because of that we are losing three very important members of staff and a bunch of other staff (myself included) will find out who is being made redundant at the end of the week. Slow handclap all round.

Why didn't I think of relocating???? Jesus christ almighty....some people don't live in the real world

What a brilliant idea. I'm going to start doing this

You think the OP should save money on fuel by moving house? That’s smacks of living in some bubble to me, with absolutely no idea how expensive it is to sell and buy a new house, or how incredibly difficult it is to give up a rental and secure a new long term tenancy. Lastly the logistics of trying to find a house swap if the OP is in council housing or housing association housing and the stress involved even if you could achieve it.

The more achievable aim could be to find a job nearer to the OP, however I certainly wouldn’t be voluntarily giving up my job in this market.

I do live in the real world why do you assume I have never lived on a low income and made choices accordingly.

Why on earth is relocating such a terrible idea as a single adult struggling financially when your costs to get to work are prohibitive?! People on this thread are talking about only eating 1 meal a day.... Surely relocating to be 20 miles nearer work is better than not eating?!

I've relocated in the past when I was single. I specifically picked a location well served by public transport to ensure I didn't have to rely on a car as they are so expensive. That's life?!

I'm back to baking of a weekend, it fills lunch boxes throughout the week and at least I know what's in it.

I batch cook, which means I buy the bigger packs of meat/fish/veg for better value and utilise the freezer a LOT.

It's still ridiculous prices though.

Relocating costs money. Which I don't have.

I thought the same!
I recently commented under a video of Sadiq Khan advising a desperate women to get rid of her car through the scrappage scheme as she couldn’t afford to work and eat anymore due to the ULEZ charges he had brought in. When she said she would only get £2k scrappage and she had outstanding finance on the car that was far more than that, he said it was perfectly possible to buy a ULEZ compliant car for £2k. Errrrr, but what about the outstanding finance she still had running on the car? Well not his problem. Go and discuss that with your finance company, we know these companies are very helpful when your back is against the wall (except they’re not) 🤦🏼‍♀️

But people are talking about struggling and having to live on one meal a day that is surely also massively stressful?!
I have moved house at least 5 times in my life thanks I'm aware it's not free.
Love how you're all ignoring the £240 spent on energy too, literally about 40% more than the average uk household, because it doesn't fit with this woe is me narrative that everybody is struggling through zero fault of their own.

Look for a job closer to home?.

And try and reduce your energy bills (elec and oil) because those are absolutely huge

Exactly. If I took out a new tenancy, I'd have to not only pay more in rent, but would have to find the deposit. When people say they have zero available cash, that's exactly what they mean. It beggars belief.

She’s just said she can’t afford to move house. I would rather live on lentils forever more than try and move house right now.

Okay so start by trying to reduce what your spending on electricity 👌👌

I get it. I can remember arguing with my bank for a debit card when they would only allow me to have a cheque card. I had to beg them over the phone to allow me to have a proper card regardless of how low my income was. I also had to fight for a one hundred pound overdraft (which I still have twenty odd years later) and I had to beg for that also. Until you are on the bones of your arse you have no idea how impossible life is.

I live in a very expensive place. Relocating would only increase my costs and I could only relocate within the same, very expensive place (probably more expensive) to be closer to work and save on fuel.

Housing would cost more, council tax would go up, plus all the costs associated with moving would need to be factored in and budgeted for before it happened.

I agree for people struggling with the costs/time of getting to work it should be a consideration, but it's not some magic solution to saving money.

Well I'm not ordering any oil for the foreseeable. Electric is high because I was in arrears so paying more for the next 12 months. Any more ideas? Sell a kidney perhaps?

The next posts usually tell people to take in ironing.

So the real reason you are struggling is debt, and fundamentally that's presumably a temporary situation that will get better because at some point you'll have paid it off?

Most people don't struggle because they're in arrears, they get into arrears because they're struggling.

Talk to the energy company to see if you can spread the cost of paying back the arrears over a longer time frame to give yourself more breathing room?

Exactly! It's expensive moving. I've just had a notice of rent increase, and I would love to move. No chance. I don't have debt. And I'm still struggling.