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AIBU?

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Original poster

Everything is so expensive!

164 replies

Fuckadoodledoo2 · 22/09/2021 14:20

Seen today:

£27.50 for a bobble hat 🙄
£300 for a two hour kids party at softplay, limit 20 kids 😱

Am I just right, or are prices rocketing?

OP posts:
Sprostongreen21 · 22/09/2021 17:42

@NigellaAwesome

My joiner was telling me that he paid £42 for a sheet of mdf last week. A few months ago it was £17.

This will knock on across everything.

Our bathroom fitter was the same. He apologised for charging more for materials but everything had gone up in price!
Marguerite2000 · 22/09/2021 17:50

@camelfinger

I agree, but still think a lot of foods are pretty cheap compared to years ago, when you take into account wages. And cheap clothes didn’t used to be a thing.
Yeah, this. A lot of things are ridiculously cheap in the uk. Just as an example, disposable nappies and baby wipes cost less than what I paid for my son 30 years ago. The fact that you can go into primark and buy a complete outfit for a tenner is still a bit mindboggling for me. As for the soft play, just have a party at home. Put a buffet on and play some party games with prizes from poundland (the place I bought my bobble hat). It really isn't that difficult.
Ibelieveinghosts · 22/09/2021 18:03

Going to nick a shopping trolley from the supermarket to put all my cash in for the weekly shop. Not this incompetent government we need to consider it’s the very competent one in China sending the world into meltdown we need to be concentrating on.

ChardonnaysPetDragon · 22/09/2021 18:04

that depends if you have a mortgage & if you do how high

Not only your mortgage. BTL rates go up, rent goes up and when some rent go up then all rent go up, even rent on mortgage free properties.

Shops and restaurants rents go up, they pass the increase on the customer.

It's not just home owners with high mortgages that will be affected.

Marguerite2000 · 22/09/2021 18:04

@Ibelieveinghosts

Going to nick a shopping trolley from the supermarket to put all my cash in for the weekly shop. Not this incompetent government we need to consider it’s the very competent one in China sending the world into meltdown we need to be concentrating on.
Go away, you idiot.
ShanghaiDiva · 22/09/2021 18:04

@nockybocky

Very selfishly, I rather hope interest rates do go up. My retirement savings are being eroded by inflation

I somewhat agree, for most of my working life we've had low rates. I really want to not lose money on savings.

Me too. No mortgage and savings eroded by inflation.
Spysolation · 22/09/2021 18:08

Lurpak price is scandalous .

Cottonheadedninymuggins · 22/09/2021 18:09

@Spysolation

Lurpak price is scandalous .
You're not wrong - even before they changed the bloody sizes too! Again shrinkflation!
Scarlettpixie · 22/09/2021 18:14

Some prices are going up but the examples you give aren't great. You need to shop around a bit.

When DS was small, I used to think oh that looks like a good party venue/idea and then be shocked at the price. I limited it to 10-12 guests as prices is usually per head so it made a huge difference. If prices at that particular place have gone up it may in part be due to the additional cleaning required because of covid.

Nearlyadoctor · 22/09/2021 18:15

Our current energy tariff is £80 a month - fix runs out 30/11 , 10 days ago cheapest new fix was £121 today is £157 Confused. I’ll just hang on in there for now !

ChardonnaysPetDragon · 22/09/2021 18:16

Lurpak price is scandalous

Is it? It's gone up, but dairy has been very cheap for a very long time.

Do we even know the real value of things anymore?

Clothing that cost pennies, flights for a tenner, milk cheaper than water.

At the same time designer rubbish being flogged for ridiculous prices and people happy with that. There was a thread where a poster was encouraged to buy her child a designer hat costing hundreds of pounds.

Nearlyadoctor · 22/09/2021 18:25

@ChardonnaysPetDragon

Lurpak price is scandalous

Is it? It's gone up, but dairy has been very cheap for a very long time.

Do we even know the real value of things anymore?

Clothing that cost pennies, flights for a tenner, milk cheaper than water.

At the same time designer rubbish being flogged for ridiculous prices and people happy with that. There was a thread where a poster was encouraged to buy her child a designer hat costing hundreds of pounds.

Very true - things have been too cheap for too long and hopefully this may bring about a reset and change peoples mindset re unnecessary spending. About 2 years there was an old Argos catalogue online from 1981 ( I think) and the cheapest kettle was £17.99 back then, today you probably pick one up for £7.99
HalzTangz · 22/09/2021 19:30

@Fuckadoodledoo2

Seen today:

£27.50 for a bobble hat 🙄
£300 for a two hour kids party at softplay, limit 20 kids 😱

Am I just right, or are prices rocketing?

£300 for 29 kids for 2 hours isn't expensive (£7.50 per hour per head). Soft play in my area is £7.95 per child or hour

£27.50 for a hat is just a rip off though

Demelza82 · 22/09/2021 20:07

Yes prices are rising unreasonably and it's right to be very concerned but bobble hats are somewhere near the bottom of anyone's giving a fuck about list so you you are undermining your own argument

Notdoingthis · 22/09/2021 20:23

Yes things are getting expensive. I needed 'spare wellies to leave at school' for my ds apparently. So I headed to the charity shop today. I came away with wellies, 3 x outfits, 5 books and a DVD for £4.50.

Mammyloveswine · 22/09/2021 20:29

Bloody hell where I am I'm doing a kids disco and magician for less than £200!!!

XingMing · 22/09/2021 21:03

HOWEVER, people need to consider the cost of staff. My DS, who worked as a chef in a five star hotel for two years on NMW, before starting university, is now a very very valuable member of a team in Cornwall. So do you all think he should work for £9 ph, or should he hold out for £12 ph, or ask even more? Agency chefs at his level are getting £16 plus per hour (but on call stupid hours).

mightyducks · 22/09/2021 21:10

I agree, I went in Clarks for the first time in a while yesterday, back to the office shopping, a basic pair of black work shoes were £75, ankle boots were £100 minimum, they never used to cost that much

XingMing · 22/09/2021 21:25

I think we all need to get used to a new reality of what things are costing. If that means paying a fair price for the labour it takes, I don't have a problem. I shall just take a bit longer before I decide to buy.
There is imminent massive inflation in the pipeline. As a boomer who lived through it in the 70s/80s, this isn't new news, but I think it will really affect the thought processes of the next generation who have bought houses on very low interest rates.

Embroidery · 22/09/2021 21:37

Butter is £1 in M&S. £4 is shocking. Your morrisons and tesco places are conning you. You only think theyre cheap because they pretend they are.

Parties have always been about £300/ £400 since I started doing them in 2005 but did include cheap crap food

Looubylou · 22/09/2021 21:43

You can get a soft play party for 20 for less than 250 in my neck of the woods, including food. You are being robbed at 300 with no food.

XingMing · 22/09/2021 21:49

So lucky you. A soft play party hasn't cost less than £200 plus food locally for the last 20 years.

FanGirlX · 22/09/2021 21:57

@XingMing

I think we all need to get used to a new reality of what things are costing. If that means paying a fair price for the labour it takes, I don't have a problem. I shall just take a bit longer before I decide to buy. There is imminent massive inflation in the pipeline. As a boomer who lived through it in the 70s/80s, this isn't new news, but I think it will really affect the thought processes of the next generation who have bought houses on very low interest rates.
Problem is the impact on the wider economy.

Spending more money on essentials cuts discretionary spending.

XingMing · 22/09/2021 22:02

Yep, you are right @FanGirlX. Discretionary spending is about to vanish out of the window. We shall all be concerned about protecting our homes and families from the chill winds of economic reality.

WheelieBinPrincess · 22/09/2021 22:04

@Embroidery

Butter is £1 in M&S. £4 is shocking. Your morrisons and tesco places are conning you. You only think theyre cheap because they pretend they are.

Parties have always been about £300/ £400 since I started doing them in 2005 but did include cheap crap food

Butter hasn’t been £1 anywhere for about two years or more. I don’t know where you live but pics or it didn’t happen!