Things have changed so much , so quickly?!

[doodlywoodlydingdong]

I just had my grown up kids around for dinner, not unusual but it got me thinking how much things have changed in the last 3 years. We are a very typical family. I'm 45 , 4 kids aged 13-25. Between me and my DH we have an income of around £34k but very soon it's going to drop by £4k annually.

Three years ago I would go food shopping and buy pretty much whatever I wanted. If I fancied it, it went into the trolley. Full English breakfast every Saturday, big fat roast dinner with a nice joint every Sunday. Two v cheap foreign holidays a year. I enjoyed making our money stretch as far as it possibly could with holiday bargains etc. Christmas was always glorious with loads of food and some nice gifts. Lots of entertaining. fast forward 3 years.

Today I was stood in the kitchen picking the meat off 6 chicken thighs to feed seven adults and a baby. The roast dinner was totally packed out with veg and spuds. Barely any chicken compared to what I would have served 3-4 years ago. I can't stretch to a joint of pork anymore, a whole chicken is a rare treat. So thighs it is. My kids are eating more and more pasta /noodles based dishes with hot dogs as protein. I have to think twice about what is the most efficient method to cook whatever meal it is to save money on the electric. My dogs are now on the cheapest possible kibble I can find. I was actually relieved when my lovely old cat suddenly died (?!) as I wouldn't have to find the extra money for vets fees as she was knocking on a bit. Thats now £ 18 a month I'm saving on litter and food and I feel like a monster for even typing that.

I use the l local food waste project wherever I can, save every penny I can, but ultimately I'm going to have to give up my mobility car as the money would be much better in my pocket . The trade off is that I will then be house bound and that "freed up " money will be going straight to EON from October .

AIBU to have a feeling of almost grief over all of this? It's been very slow and gradual trickling of price increases etc but suddenly it's taken 6 chicken thighs to push me over the edge and be ridiculously angry and upset about how our money can purchase so much less these days?

www.reuters.com/business/energy/bp-records-highest-profit-eight-years-2021-2022-02-08/

^

Link to insane profits made by BP in case people cba opening.

And you're asking the disabled op, whose husband works 50 hours a week to work MORE so they can afford a fucking proper roast chicken?

Scuse my French, but are you fucking shitting me?

Well said.

"Three years ago I would go food shopping and buy pretty much whatever I wanted. If I fancied it, it went into the trolley."

I never had the luxury of that, even with two adults working as f/t professionals. That's because we chose to save for a rainy day.

Sorry you are getting such a hard time on here OP. Those of us with a few wits about us can actually see what you are getting at, and it's not a contest for people to pile on and say how lucky you are compared to them (especially those who haven't even bothered to read all your posts!). Yes, things have changed so much, so quickly. I'm not actually in the UK, and I don't think matters are quite as bad here, certainly not the rise in energy charges, but times are certainly getting harder.

I actually think £34k is a good income as me and my OH and 2 dcs live on way much less than that on national minimum wage. Sounds like you've had a comfortable life so far but I agree the food shop cost are ridiculous and people will just become unhealthier as a result as decent healthy nutritious food is becoming way too expensive for low income families so are more likely to buy cheap unhealthy processed food as its all they can afford.

The crude fact of the matter is that billions of people from countries with huge populations like China, India, Brazil, Indonesia, and many others are now demanding a better standard of living. And some parts of the global economy - such as manufacturing (mass produced cheap stuff and quality products) and energy are a zero sum game, with the Western economies gradually being forced to adapt to smaller slices of pie. Welcome to the new normal.

Link to insane profits made by BP in case people cba opening

In 2017 Jeremy Corbyn and Labour set out a brilliant and ambitious manifesto to redress the insane levels of wealth inequality in Britain - almost the highest in the developed world - while simultaneously boosting economic output and possibly nationalising some key industries. But we were told left wing ideals is evil, magic money tree etc etc all while the government sweated to implement Brexit which government forecasts suggest will cripple our GDP by about 3% (magic money tree indeed) and allowing ever more billions to be squirrelled away in corporate profit if which huge chunk will end up in private offshore bank accounts.

for you, oh wonderful one

And yet despite decades of privatisation which have left the public entirely at the mercy of global corporate profiteering of basic resources, targeting the most vulnerable segments in society for the majority of “austerity” cuts, implementing macro economic policy which government itself forecasts will shrink our GDP (Brexit), starving public services of funds till schools and the NHS is on their knees, and taking the piss during the pandemic - still the Tories are polling around 30% ! No sympathy with the British electorate whatsoever.

YABU for thinking that hot dogs are a source of protein.

I used to have a female lodger mon to fri only which was a huge help. Or could yoi consider a foreign student? Churchs sometimes arrange these exchange programmes where you put up a student from china or elsewhere.

No wonder OP has left this thread.

I'm saddened by how right wing MN has become.

There wouldn't have been the responses like this on here in 2010.

so many of us are in the same boat op.
you need to learn to be thrifty in your meals.
waiting for payday, we eat chickpeas,
hey we try and eat peas, beans and lentils more and more and i have added chickpeas to any chicken dish for years.

It is system justification I think, which worsens as the overall situation worsens, and it is percentage-wise only a few people who are dreadful but they are vociferous.

The thing that stops me losing heart is it is far worse to actually be a cunt than it is to be criticised by a cunt. They have to get up every single day knowing deep down they are cunts. Whatever shit they tell themselves, they do know inside that no one likes them.

You're being punished on here as they don't like people who are on PIP. It's jealousy.

@Icantcope Scottish Power standing charges are less than £200 a year.. Please contact them if you are being charged so much, it can't possibly be right.

A big issue seems to be your child going to university. So you will have to pay their accomodation costs but also lose some benefits which come from having them at home?

Could they change to a university closer to home and remain living at home? I couldn't afford to live away at uni in halls so I stayed at home.

You’re getting some right flack aren’t you OP? I stopped reading responses after the first page or two so hopefully you got more than just outrage at the audacity of going on holiday and having four children!

Things are rubbish. And likely to get worse. It’s not wrong to feel that life should be better. I do too.

Regardless of the OP's tough situation, this is true. The next century is China's.

I see a lot of posts beginning 'In one of the richest countries in the world this should not happen.." and I wonder if the first part will be true in the future. I don't think it is supporting Tory overloads to say that.

Overlords.

Yes councils are desperate for 5 bed homes, but there's no surplus of 3 bed bungalows either! Everyone's assuming the council will be happy to do all the work of adapting it, only 3 years after doing the first place, when OP says they won't.

Also, she wasn't disabled when she had 4 kids, as I read it. So the self righteous "don't have 4 kids then!" is even more not the point than usual.

You've done very well to afford four children on that budget.

cross posts with one above!
she obviously didnt have that budget originally

This

Not read the whole thread, just the op posts, so this might have already been mentioned.

Could you offer online tutoring for reluctant readers? Even a couple of hours a week would bring in more money but also give you a chance to do something you enjoy.