To ask for your rising cost of living examples

[CervixSampler]

Inspired by another thread but mainly by my own experiences today.
In February it was 20p to use the public loos at our favourite seaside town. Today it has doubled to 40p! There are now contactless points incase you don't have any cash. 40p to pee!
Mr Kipling cherry Bakewells have jumped to £1.90 in Asda and I'm sure they used to be £1.40 or sometimes even £1 and that was only a few weeks back. Cake isn't essential I know, but peeing is. Things have gone up generally but the odd pence here and there isn't always noticed but these are huge jumps.

@sunlight81

Nursery fees were £3099.85 for 3 kids full Time last month.

This month is it £3217.17

I'm going to have to cough up £3500 for 3 kids full time when my mat leave ends. I'm dreading it. And fees go up at the end of the year. It'll take some serious belt tightening to manage 😩

Oh! The fruit and veg stall on the market were selling a tiny punnet of strawberries for £4.

I fancied Rice Krispies for the first time in ages. So i bought Tesco Rice Snaps. 65p and just as nice.

@Hotelhelp YY DH has the sharing bags of Maltesers. And yes now £1.25 He also likes Anchor butter but at £3.75 a tub its too much. Got him Clover for £2

Ok so it's probably a while since I bought one of those 'cup drinks' you know the plastic cups that we used to freeze to make 'jubblies' bought one today for DS at a tourist attractions and it was 80p!!

Food is relatively cheap, tho with added fuel costs things go up, I like lots of others in the 90s, remember value stuff coming, like bags of flour for 17p, is still only 49p in Aldi.
Biggest savings for me reusable fabric kitchen roll ( I have about 18 sheets), about £25 per six, buy very little paper now.
Had them about a year ( cat and I) great, for those with babies buy reusable wipes, use loo roll too if needed.
Soapnut liquid I make , 16 nuts to 1 litre water, simmer for about 20 mins mash nuts remake up litre, about 50 mls, bag of nuts £14, lightly soiled clothes, add stain remover, eco bleach as needed.
I do think we needs to adapt tho

@mrziggycoco

I've been shopping in my Aldi for four years and when I picked up two full bags of our usual shop there the other day I realised it was literally twice as much as when I first moved here.

I used to feed my baby and myself for £30/week and our two cats with all household stuff too, that was 5 years ago. Now, I doubt you could do it. It's scary because I wouldn't have survived back then with these prices.

I have just under 30 a week to cover 2 adults 2 teens and 2 cats... it doesn't cover i skip meals and the kids always hungry now

@mmmmmmghturep

I fancied Rice Krispies for the first time in ages. So i bought Tesco Rice Snaps. 65p and just as nice.

I like Tesco Rice Snaps and I can't tell the difference!

Maybe we need a counter-thread of current bargains mind you, there have probably been quite a few already!

I bought a 2 kilo bag of Tesco Scottish porridge oats for the princely sum of £2.15. That makes me 25 breakfasts as I mill it down in the food processor, add a couple of spoonfuls of sugar free muesli and 1 of dried milk and put into my small Sistema container that I micro at work. Dash of milk on the top and it's a filling nutritious breakfast.

My rule is now to think carefully before buying anything "value-add" and stick to primary ingredients. I find some own brands are nicer than the branded goods.

The big example that I’m still interested in is the quadrupling of house prices between 1999 and 2002/3 ish, while wages did not.

You can chuck in the tripling of bus fares over the same period, again while wages didn’t move.

That’s when the economy started to collapse and working people were betrayed. That’s when generational inequality started and those of us who were in our 20s then are still paying the cost. Bullshit are the current increases in any way new. I’ve never known anything else.

A sofa going up from 500.00 to 675.00 since last year - and very quickly. Have now noticed this with a lot of furniture increases that are huge. Food jumping by very large amounts too.

Ordered a Chinese takeaway for me and 2 teens. 3 meals and 2 starters came to £42

Crisps! Need I say more? We all know how expensive they've become.

The mains ones that shocked me in Sainsburys were 72 box of Weetabix used to be £6 now £7.50
Paracetamol (own brand) was 19p but now 50p!!! Huge percentages for very basic products.

@JosieJasper

The mains ones that shocked me in Sainsburys were 72 box of Weetabix used to be £6 now £7.50 Paracetamol (own brand) was 19p but now 50p!!! Huge percentages for very basic products.

Sainsburys is shooting up rapidly, it's the closest supermarket and on my way to work so to save an additional journey tend to go there, but every week the same items are rising on a weekly basis with no signs of stopping. I suspect some of that is to offset their aldi price promise on stuff no one wants anyway.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

Premier Inn breakfasts.

Pre pandemic I always used to take my 2 dc for breakfast once every school holiday at our local Brewers Fayre that is attached to a premier Inn. I’m sure it was £7.50.

They've been £9.50 for the all-inclusive ones for ages (with up to two free kids' meals). Are you sure you aren't thinking of the continental-only option, which is a pound or two cheaper?

Yes I remember paying £9.50 a couple of years ago.

Like many I assume I was shocked at nearly £10 for fish and chips from the chippy last night!

I could fill up my car for £70 it's now £115
DD for British Gas was £150 now £260?!
Quick shop was £25 now £40odd
Premier inn stay always been around £50-£60 non-central mid week stay to see family this time £97 have to pay as for funeral. 🥴😭 Brekfsst on top always been £7.50 now £9.50.
Small bags of gravel in bnm 3 for £10 now 3 for £12.

Cab from my mum's was around £10 - now same journey is £13. I get buses to hers but often get the cab home as I'm so tired after looking after stuff for her. I'm going to have to knock that on the head as that gets expensive with several journeys per month. Also basic groceries have gone up and the recent pension increase has not kept pace. 🌹

Local cafe £4 for a large latte, it was £3.30.

Cat food seems to be jumping up by the week.

I buy the boxes of 40 sachets and I would get them for £9 or even £8.50 and now they are £10.95! That's a £60 a year increase to feed a cat just in wet food.

For those who like their magazines like Red, join your local library for free. Once you have a library card and pin you can often download an app / go online to website which gives you access to loads of magazines/newspapers.

@Claudiawinklemansfringe

For those who like their magazines like Red, join your local library for free. Once you have a library card and pin you can often download an app / go online to website which gives you access to loads of magazines/newspapers.

@mmmmmmghturep this is correct. My local library uses Libby, by Overdrive and Red is on there. No idea if there is a limited number of copies or if you can borrow at will but there are also plenty of other magazines for the family in there.

Libby does not have two magazines that I read every month (slightly special interest) plus am not sure it has as many back issues as Readly. But for most people the free app offered by their library would likely be enough and there is no need for a £9.99 Readly subscription.

Thanks for posting @Claudiawinklemansfringe. I use my library's ebooks and audiobooks app but they have magazines on a different app so I wasn't aware of Libby.

I had a quick wander around the local charity shops the other day and definitely noticed an increase in prices in nearly all of them.

Lovinglife45
I noticed over Covid when the supermarkets were selling out that the shelf life on fresh produce was shorter not according to dates but retaining freshness etc. Fish ,Vegetables and its become the norm across all of the supermarkets price gone up with a shorter shelf life as in the stock u buy is not as fresh. I was thinking its supply issues but actually its a way of profiting for them your basically pay a premium for old produce. I make sure I shop in person because the issue got so bad as I can’t afford to throw food away. Cucumbers are practically going soft before u even get them home. It’s like I am buying reduced food but paying more. You have to use within a day or two. If I could afford to go to the very expensive greengrocers I would the supermarkets are all about the packaging

My local Marston pub serve Hunters chicken, chips and coleslaw my favourite meal. Used to be £8.75 it's now £13.50!