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?

I think people are missing the point. It doesn't matter that their income is fairly low, or that they had four kids, or that their lifestyle was better than a lot of people's.

The point is that things have got worse for them through no fault of their own through shit/non-existent government and sheer greed from the super rich taking more money away from the majority of people.

The point is that society is becoming more unequal, divided and poverty is increasing. The point is that capitalism fails if the economy is so skewed that people are spending so much money on heat and light and not on other things.

This is not an inevitable consequence - we can have much better government making much better decisions and taking action to protect people and the economy.

Completely agree with this. This thread is a depressing example of the one thing our useless, irresponsible government stuffed full of personally wealthy and self-serving twats seems to be good at - getting us fighting among ourselves and blaming each other instead of them.

OP look for a remote working job that you can do from home to bring in some extra cash as you are losing the top ups when your son goes to uni...the job market is buoyant at the moment...sure you can find something.

this

well put.

just to expand on it the act of putting more money into the economy (literally printing more) is called quantitive easing

Well you could argue about choices. 4 children is a choice. It’s a choice many make and then come unstuck when all the benefits go.

The answer most people have is to tax everyone else more to make up for it. That is the issue I have and that is the problem many of the “squeezed middle have”. Share it out more. What does that even mean?

The post I quoted yesterday is a good example of that - tax is a great leveller in this country believe it or not. Someone getting 3k in a pay rise and someone getting £900 it looks unfair. Yet that person getting the 3k pay rise will see roughly only £300 more after compulsory deductions as they will pay 62% income tax alone. Over the year that 2.1k extra is reduced to about £300 because of the sheer amount of tax people pay. Society need these people to pay tax as they do most of the heavy lifting. People are happy to demand salaries are more equally spread despite not working for it, then the tax burden should be more easily spread. It can’t be because the country needs higher earners to pay in.

Everyone is happy to punch people down despite people in that example paying nearly 70% of a section of their income to the treasury. Where is the incentive to do well in this country? There isn’t really which is why there are critical shortages at both ends of the employment market.

If the 2 elder children stayed at home and contributed £300-odd towards keep whilst they were at Uni (far less than the cost of living in halls/digs) then the drop associated with the children getting old would be far less. And this shouldn’t have been a surprise to the OP, who’s had plenty of time to plan for such a drop in income.

Agree with PPs who state that it’s the squeezed middle who are going to get very angry - and it would take a saint not to be, frankly.

@Thesefeetaremadeforwalking
I'm tired of hearing how voting Labour would solve everything. I suspect this is spouted by those who know nothing about economics.

And yet we have the new Tory PM in waiting desperate to start implementing a macro economic policy that the vast majority of economists assure us will harm the economy yet further. Just like how the vast majority of respected economists stated that austerity was false economy. And how the government ITSELF has forecast Brexit will significantly hit GDP.

So perhaps better for Tory supporters not to talk about economics with relation to the UK. And I’ll save my ire for this useless bunch of extreme free market ideologues in power rather than those criticising them.

The most you will pay in the UK is 45% of any income over £150,000. Not sure where you get 62% from.

There is enough money for everyone to have a decent life if it was shared more equally

There always has been, but its never happened and its never going to happen. So maybe stop dreaming about a communist utopia and deal with the real world.
And the reality is that OP had a lifestyle most of the world coutld only dream of, and now she's feeling the pinch a little, and has to get on with it, same as everyone else.

Completely agree with this. Disabled. Chronically ill. Single and paying a tonne of rent. I dream of 97 quid a week. Yeah, I get it's tough when things change. It's also how life is for the vast majority of people in the world.

It is 62% as you lose your personal allowance at 100k. That is the effective and not so well hidden rate of income tax.

It is 62% as you lose your personal allowance at 100k

Good. £100,000 is a lot of money.

@SnackSizeRaisin
*You are misinformed. Inflation is caused by the government putting more money into circulation. It's mainly a result of measures taken due to covid. Oil prices have a minor effect only. Massive inflation is therefore almost entirely due to the actions of the Tory government.

The solution is for the government to spend money to get the economy going, preferably by investing in useful things such as infrastructure, housing etc. Tax cuts can only have a small effect and don't benefit the poor as much as the rich. Most poor people pay very little tax anyway.

After the war the NHS was invented and huge house building programmes . That was a labour government. That is what we need now, not more austerity and tax cuts for the rich.*

Well said. Truss hasn’t even taken over and she’s already a clueless disaster pushing her tax cut agenda against the advice of the vast vast majority of economists. Saving 5% in tax won’t mean a damn thing when your groceries, bills, consumer items have risen yet another 20%.

Regarding Haribo advert comment, I totally agree!

I do get your point OP, and I definitely have gone from throwing things in my trolley with no second thoughts to asking myself whether we actually need this item. I do worry about those that have no cloth left to cut and what that means for our society as a whole. I don't think food banks, warm banks, uniform banks or data banks are going to be able to fill the gaps sufficiently.

I personally think that a change of Government will make a difference, this current lot don't seem to be able to see beyond their own careers or bank balances. I never really agree with Gove but I think he is right when he says Truss is not in touch with the reality of the situation. Tax cuts are not the answer as someone has already mentioned, those on low incomes don't pay huge amounts of tax so won't benefit from this policy! Those of us who don't actually need the help will gain from this instead!

Attlee said something along the lines of..... Don't give us your charity or philanthropy, pay your taxes instead.......he was referring to the rich. I think this still applies.

So where is the incentive to do well then? After deductions that’s over 70% to the treasury. Should these people pay all of their extra in tax to support others? Is that what you expect, is 70% not enough. Should they work for free?

Clue, they pay more tax than any other people in the country so pissing them off so much they don’t isn’t probably the wisest idea.

I think the OP has a point for just about every income level.

Things have changed a lot in 3 years. We are definitely making very different buying choices.

In the midst of that we've also had a massive reevaluation of what is important to us in terms of lifestyle with many people massively changing theirs because they've realised they don't want to keep doing the same soul destroying career. I've lot count of people who have moved, changed jobs, retired in the last 18 months.

Those people who have stayed where they are, find themselves wanting better terms not just better pay. And I have to say I'm not sure I blame them.

The world is a very different place. I think life is going to get a lot harsh in many respects, partly driven by economics but also because of other things.

I completely agree OP that the cost of living has spiralled at an alarming rate. I really dread to think what will happen in the coming months/years to people's jobs/incomes etc. I guess you have been lucky (your living situation, not your health issues of course). £97 rent per week for a huge house, two holidays per year, and 4 children on one wage has been an extremely privileged position that most of the country could only dream of. I agree with PPs - if there is anyway you can hold onto your car try to do so, so you have some independence.

I’ve read a comment where you’ve said your house has been adapted so moving isn’t really an option….. my advice would be to contact the council… they should be able to adapt a smaller property for you or move you to one that’s already adapted. Your house can then be given to a larger family with a disabled member, 5 bedroom houses are few and far between and there will be a family somewhere living in an overcrowded situation desperate for a larger house with adaptations.

Hear, hear.

Could British houses get any smaller? Our house here in Southern Italy cost €60,000 and comes with three acres that we grow the vast majority of our food on. Another €10,000 covered our solar (that's all our electric bills) and an off-grid water supply. Our terrace in Huddersfield, which we sold for £120,000 had a garden the size of a beer mat! I don't think British people have got it particularly good, I can't imagine what our lifestyle in the UK would cost.

@doodlywoodlydingdong doodlywoodlydingdong
Have you checked if you and other half can claim UC? being on higher rate PIP means he would be entitled to carers element, this is different to carers allowance, you can still claim if you're working as long as caring takes up 35 hours a week, plus sickness element for yourself, standard allowance for DH, child element for any children at home in education and housing element. They'll deduct money from this taking your DH earnings into account but you may come put with some money.
Do you get disabled discount on council tax? The warm home discount?
Might be worth checking- entitled2 benefits calculator is good. If you struggle CAB offers the help to claim service and can go through your circumstances to check you're getting anything you can

Anyone claiming that the op is ‘lucky’ is ignoring the fact that she’s on the highest amount of PIP.
Firstly, disability benefits are damn hard to get. She must have a hard life in many ways, especially to get the highest amount.
Secondly, disability benefits are meant to provide at least an average life style to compensate for the fact that the person cannot work and is unlikely to ever be able to. They’re not meant to be a scourge.

Well said.
I'm sure anyone would rather have health and be able to work too.
But this thread shows how successful the tory policy of punching down has been.

The point is, the average family who just miss out on top ups and paying market rent can’t afford the lifestyle of the op. There is your problem. I can’t blame them for being utterly fed up. Especially when the answer is to “tax” them more to share it all more equally. There are many, many families set to lose their homes this winter. That’s where my sympathies lie in this crisis. Doesn’t mean I don’t sympathise with ops circumstances as a whole but in this situation financially at least, she’s better off than a lot of working families.

I'd look into downsizing from the 5br home. You'll have to eventually as you'll both be older and your DC will move out.
I reckon the new accommodations can be fitted to suit your needs and you'll free up the big house for a family in need.

There are many many WFH jobs these days. Even a couple days a week would replace your lost income.

YANBU. Yes it's shit, and it's down to bad governance, for decades, it started in the Thatcher/Reagan era. Yes other countries are also going through shit, because other countries also have had bad governance. Those countries who didn't embrace Thatcher and Reagan's neo-liberal capitalism, are having a less shit time. Where inequality hasn't widened as much as the UK, they're having a less shit time. Where everything hasn't been privatised to the hilt, they're having a less shit time. When will voters wake up and realise that their interests are not being served by their governments, and demand change?