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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Rising cost of living!

106 replies

CrawfordE · 08/04/2018 18:53

Hi, first time poster here! AIBU stressing about the constantly rising cost of everything? While fuel and food costs keep going up, our salaries have hardly increased from last year. On paper we may seem well off, but with so much going out it's sometimes hard to keep up. School fees have gone up yet again (by more than inflation) so we've now had to consider sending DC to the local comprehensive which we would really like to avoid if at all possible. We're hoping to pay down some of the mortgage with DH's bonus which should help a little at least. I know that we're still in a relatively fortunate position, but I can't be the only one feeling the pinch a bit?

OP posts:
tryandtryagain · 08/04/2018 19:39

(Plays worlds tiniest violin)

LoisWilkersonsLastNerve · 08/04/2018 19:42

Welcome Biscuit

newsparklythings · 08/04/2018 19:43

Are you so removed from reality you actually think you are struggling? Ffs

NoHunsHereHun · 08/04/2018 19:44

Are you the Catherine Tate mum in a 4x4?
Biscuit

TheHoundsHorse · 08/04/2018 19:46

The most depressing thing I have read in a long time, is this a wind-up? It isn't a very funny one! People are actually living in poverty, real poverty. Here are some links to the recent repercussions to people's lives cuts and rising cost of living have made. Educate yourself. God forbid your child end up at a state school. Jesus wept.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/education-43611527
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/london-murders-crime-knife-shootings-poverty-austerity-young-people-a8287006.html

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-43432715

rupertpenryswife · 08/04/2018 19:48

I call reverse, some people are so sad this is how they have to fill their time, don't waste your time responding has the OP responded yet?

flowerslemonade · 08/04/2018 19:49

I've noticed it on - specific items in supermarket like oranges,milk, freddo the frog, set meals. Council tax. diet coke lol. shoes (trainers).

Str4ngedaysindeed · 08/04/2018 19:49

It is actually very sad that some people have no real idea of what is actually happening in their own country. Or if they do, to be so incredibly thick and lacking in basic empathy. This thread has made me feel quite angry to be honest

flowerslemonade · 08/04/2018 19:50

Can someone please explain to me what the biscuits mean? Easter Biscuit

Biber · 08/04/2018 19:51

OP, I'm glad that you realise that you are comparatively better off than many. That said, Austerity has hit council fundings and since the brexit referendum the pound has devalued nearly 20% which of course has an impact on all our costs. The costs of brexit to the country are astronomical. Already it has cost us at least £350 million a week

" ... a range of estimates calculated by the Financial Times suggesting that the value of Britain’s output is now around 0.9 per cent lower than was possible if the country had voted to stay in the EU. That equates to almost exactly £350m a week lost to the British economy — an irony that will not be lost on those who may have backed Leave because of the claim made on the side of the bus."

www.ft.com/content/e3b29230-db5f-11e7-a039-c64b1c09b482

All the government's own assessments show that we as a country will be much worse off by leaving the EU. Jobs, companies and international agencies have already gone. Whatever happens about leaving, and I hope very much the country will cme to its senses as it starts to understand the impact, we have a lot of catching up to do.

This website is very clear on the financial impact of brexit from government figures. All this apart from the loss of individual rights, the weakening of our international position and opting out of the greatest international cooperative union ever.

Lillylollylandy · 08/04/2018 19:52

This is a joke, right?

Isadora666 · 08/04/2018 19:52

A local comp?! Oh the indignity! 😂😂

Biber · 08/04/2018 19:54

This website: www.isitworthit.org.uk/

Rising cost of living!
bluemoonchances · 08/04/2018 19:55

YANBU

And for everyone having a go just because she's not already on the bread line, bore off.

OP shouldn't get flamed for finding it frustrating for not being able to keep the standard of living she is used just because prices rise faster than wages. It is frustrating no matter where you fall in the wealth chain. These threads annoy me when it becomes a competition of who is the worse off. Grow up.

Zaphodsotherhead · 08/04/2018 19:58

Poverty is all relative though. Pinches are pinches, whether they mean you can't afford to privately educate or you can't afford to replace the car or you can't afford childcare.

I have to choose between heating and eating, but everyone's 'bottom line' is different.

Things are tough. Prices go up, pay doesn't and we are all feeling it. You are not wrong OP.

jellycat1 · 08/04/2018 20:02

zaphod what an incredibly measured and intelligent post. I totally agree with you. Can't help thinking OP's probably new to MN though....

jellycat1 · 08/04/2018 20:02

Oh she said she is! Doh.

reddressblueshoes · 08/04/2018 20:04

Actually, whether the OP is trying to be goady or not, what is worth noting is that she is part of a high-income family who are struggling.

Low-income and middle-income families are struggling.

You might assume from this that therefore everyone is struggling, but they're not, and accusing the 'wealthy' doesn't quite cut it either. There's been a huge shift in the past decade in terms of where wealth comes from, and increasingly its people with capital who are making returns, meaning the gap between the rich and poor is getting huge. At a low level, that means people who own houses and those who don't, at a higher level, its people with massive, usually inherited wealth, and those who have to work for their income.

We really need to seriously start looking at alternatives - be it a wealth tax, changes in policy as to how money is moved internationally (at the moment poor regulation means tax avoidance and money laundering schemes, again only available to a limited few, allow for a huge consolidation and hiding of wealth) or another option.

Its easy to say people with slightly more don't have it as bad, and its correct, but it distracts from why this is happening and its not all down to Brexit. Its an International movement that is consolidating wealth and power at the very top.

Dancingmonkey87 · 08/04/2018 20:04

FlowerslemonadeEver heard of the expression taking the biscuit ( ie taking the piss) biscuits are generally given to goady fuckers, which in this case is op who has no clue how many people live robbing Peter to pay Paul just to survive. Op have a Biscuit

ToriRay · 08/04/2018 20:09

No. it's just you feeling the pinch. Everyone else is brushing their teeth with golden tooth paste and burning fifties as their main source of heat. I'll consider you though when I drop off donations to the foodbank on Thursday.

jellycat1 · 08/04/2018 20:10

Not right Dancingmonkey. It's a take on the Gordon Brown interview of years ago. Started on MN about 3 years ago IIRC.

myusernamewastakenbyme · 08/04/2018 20:15

Why do people think its original and funny to keep using the 'grabs popcorn' phrase.....its really not original anymore.

bluemoonchances · 08/04/2018 20:17

*I'll consider you though when I drop my donation off at the food bank
*
HmmToriray give yourself a blue peter badge you're such a hero.

How do you know that OP doesn't support charity? I guess you never get frustrated with anything because you're giving to food banks rather than using them . You must have a lovely life never to be frustrated.

daytripper28 · 08/04/2018 20:20

Of course it's a wind-up

Look up gullible in the dictionary all those who responded seriously to this ridiculous post