Cost of living crisis: are you feeling it yet?

[whatthejuice]

Posting here for traffic...
Have you felt the cost of living crisis yet? Has your disposable income taken a nose dive?
I've noticed a massive increase in our food bills so that's the main difference at the moment and we probably have £150-£200 less disposable income per month as a result. I'm trying to save a separate money pot for help towards the heating bills this winter - but worried it won't be anywhere near enough to eat up the increase.
It all feels a bit terrifying at the moment, especially after I read the German government in local towns are bringing in energy saving measures already like switching lights off etc....

Yes. The day to day costs for especially petrol and food and generally keeping the house going, all cooking at home and no luxuries or going out, are adding up. I realised this most when I checked the bank balance this week to see what we've got saved up for a UK camping holiday in September. With petrol and campsite costs now higher than ever, I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that we can't even afford that now and will have to really shorten the break or stay at home.

I used to feel joy at being able to save money and be savvy and enjoy finding bargains to sort of 'beat the system'. Now, it feels like we're treading water day to day and finding bargains in food etc. is an absolute must, not a pleasure.

We’ve kept food bills the same by buying less treats and alcohol. Gas and electric bill has doubled and will likely do so again. We earn a good salary and no mortgage free so we can take the hit but it means no treats. I’m still worried about putting the heating on in winter though and worry how I’ll cope as I have a health condition that is worse when it’s cold.

Yep. I was saving about £200 a month but the past 3 months I've ended up spending the majority of it - mostly because of rising food, petrol etc.

This is a really good point. There's such a difference between relying on finding a bargain to be able to afford it and gaming the system and getting a bit more back than you thought.

I usually just copy one online food delivery from one week to another. I had noticed the total bill escalating but had not realised just how much individual items had increased in price - 6 pints of milk for example.
We are lucky in that it isn't affecting us badly as we have no housing costs and the gas/electricity is fixed for another year. I'm making plans to absorb that increase now by putting money aside.

Yes I’m not spending any more on food (less if anything) but my inflexibility with the food budget is taking more and more effort! - we’ve switched down on where we shop and what we buy. I’m snacking less.

Mortgage is up soon and that frightens me a lot. Energy costs are fairly irrelevant compared to the mortgage so … eek …

Yes, food bills.
Trying to stick to a budget but definitely having to think a lot more about what goes in the basket.
Went to a Farmfoods store this morning and was really impressed with their prices, so much cheaper than tesco etc.

Our mortgage is fixed until 2028 and we have a 2 yr fix on energy until Feb 24 (although that’s still roughly £100 a month more than it was before) I definitely notice a difference in food shopping - as I online shop I have a lot of the same things sitting in my basket and so many have gone up 10p- £1. I don’t use a lot of petrol and dh has subsidised petrol through work.

We are incredibly lucky that we can absorb these increases. We are still comfortable, still enjoy the same leisure activities and are still able to save. However I don’t take this for granted for a second - dh entire industry nearly went under during the pandemic and I am thankful every day that he still has his job but I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to relax properly again.

We are noticing the supermarket bills rising, so I’m trying to be a bit more savvy with it - more cooking from fresh, batch cooking, techniques for stretching the meat, end of day bargains etc.

We’ve also been largely insulated from fuel price rises by fixed tariffs (gas till April, electricity till November), driving an EV and having installed solar panels and battery at the end of last year. However, I have just refixed our electricity 11 weeks early. Bills will now double, but guaranteed not to go up any further for 12 months. OTOH, the solar and battery had reduced it to 1/3 of what it was, so I guess now we are back to 2/3. Thanks to fixing the gas, next winter’s gas will be “only” 50% more than last winter’s. We are getting off lightly - at least for now.

Other than that, we are starting to compare prices on things we wouldn’t have done before. And if we go into town shopping, whereas before we might have stayed in town for lunch, we are now more likely to go home and eat what we’ve already got in the fridge.

Food and fuel has probably made us about £300 a month worse off. we aren't high wage earners either so are feeling the squeeze a bit. We just have to be a bit more frugal.

Yes. I have resigned myself to the fact that we will never have any money and rather than cutting back on alcohol I am drinking more. It’s my only outlet. 🍷

Yep. I used to have to add stuff to my online shop to get it over £40
Similar shop now £60

I swapped jobs for one walking distance and upped my hours so we get the 30 hours childcare, but don't need any extra meaning child care will be free. We're selling the car and changing our lifestyle to be much more local. Buying nice snuggly clothes now while they're cheaper. Hoping everything comes together so we can heat the house properly while the kids are home and suck up being cold when they're at school/nursery. But we'll have to wait and see. But we're going from finally having disposable income after a decade of grind, so going back to the breadline. It's frustrating, but at least we're practiced at it.

No, not yet because I grow a lot of salad and our own veg/soft fruit, so while bread and meat have risen in price, I'm buying less of other things. I've also started buying my cleaning stuff in the £ shop.

I'm freezing home made tomato sauce and will bottle as much fruit as possible. The wood pile is head-height and growing.

The pain will come in the autumn when home grown veggies come to an end and it starts to get cold.

I definitely notice a difference particularly in food and petrol.
So far I have a small mortgage, cheap car and only me and half a person currently at home so it's been manageable. Plus it's made me be much more careful about money and to watch the pennies which is a positive.
I'm worried about the future though, there's a limit to how long I'll carry on coping for.
Plus the people I work with in my job and my hobby are often vulnerable and I'm beginning to see them struggle...which is worrying.

No.
Dp has had a significant pay rise.
My business is booming.

I've noticed fuel doesn't go as far. But other than that nothing has changed.

We're OK but purely as we're just on relatively decent incomes so the increased food cost is very very noticeable but absorbable. We fixed gas and electric for two years in March thankfully and have been overpaying on the account to cushion for the winter. Mortgage very manageable and car loan ended in Feb so I directed that payment to cover the increased gas and electric direct debit. 10 years ago this would have been terrifying for us as we were living month to month and I feel for those families who are genuinely feeling the pinch. I worry for the winter and how people will manage as I've been on the breadline and don't take what we have now for granted at all.

Energy bills have increased, so has food and also train prices. Don't use the car as much.

I'm seriously looking into renting out a bedroom come autumn but don't really want to do this.

Food bills have increased for us; now I try and balance between paying a little more but buying from just one shop, against the fuel cost (and my time) in driving around to get better priced items in a variety of shops. In that regard I am lucky that we have two major supermarkets, two newer supermarkets, three 'bargain' stores and two frozen food stores all within two miles of home. I haven't yet resorted to walking to the supermarket like we did 12 years ago when on benefits ...

I am surprised there hasnt been a thread on here with money saving tips for general households to look at areas to save money.

We say we have cut it to the bone, but have we really?

The family car. Do we really need 2? Do we drive our children to school where we could really be able to walk 1-2 miles? Have we looked at car sharing for school runs with other parents? Have we looked at getting our childrens bikes serviced so they can ride them to school?

School meals - Talk to the children and let them know how expensive school meals. My kids used to load up at home for breakfast so they didnt need to eat a big lunch so they saved me money. Then when they got home they got a big dinner. Either that or send them with packed lunch to save even more.

TV - Discuss it now and tell them its terrestrial tv only, or even moreso no tv. Broadband is dissapearing too.

Mobile Phones - Sorry, life wont stop without them.

Schools should be discussing the possibility of stopping school uniforms for the time being. Parents should not have to stress about purchasing uniforms until this issue dies down. Schools have a huge responsibility to help and encourage cash saving possibilities.

I know there are hundreds of ideas and i would welcome a thread that gave suggestions. Some will work, some wont but if one person gives a suggestion that helps another out it will be worth it.

Everything’s going up, I notice the difference with every shop. Our energy costs are fixed until October next year but we’re going to be hit hard then. Thankfully we haven’t got a mortgage any more. I feel so sorry for young families with kids and a big mortgage, they’ve in for a rough few years.

No. We’ve always chosen to live well within our means, which included delaying having children until we were well-established in our careers, and we’ve saved or invested rather than spending everything that we earn.

It means we’ve a smaller family than we may have liked, and had them later, but as a result we don’t now have to worry about the cost of living increasing.

Great idea, I'd really welcome a thread like that too

I'm quite anxious about energy bills & defo noticed food going up

This is all very well and good, but other than not necessarily taking your kids to school in the car for a mile up the road...

It is 2022, why are we just rolling over and accepting this???