To wonder how people will financially survive?

[Cupcakeicecream]

To think that many people are struggling already. Food price rises, gas and electric costs. The general cost of living due to inflation from either brexit since the pandemic and Ukraine war. But come on some people were struggling before any of those factors. Financially people will be pushed to breaking christmas will be off the cards general life will stagnate no meals out leisure activities cinema socialising new clothes treat foods. The threat of blackouts and wondering how we will pay bills to keep warm or keep a house running. Never mind buying food the price of it plus the large gaps on shelves. Winter will be miserable. It's becoming impossible to live in this country.

Charlize43
It’s going to be hard for EVERYONE. But if we are not going to allow a dictator to indiscriminately invade other countries in Europe then we are going to have to cope. Unlike the 1920’s, in Britain, we have a substantial benefit and support systems. More households take out than pay in but everyone tends to live to their budget and lots of the MN loathed middle classes will do the same and will now have to find the extra money for their mortgage / bills too.

people seem to always expect the government to give hand outs. ridiculous

@Noname99 Thanks for speaking up. I totally agree. I suspect you’ll get a lot of stick for it though.

I'm worried about my uncle. He's disabled, suffers with depression and bi polar amongst other serious illnesses, mid 60s, lives on his own, already struggles financially. Privately rents.
He's very worried. We are in no position to help him either 😪

It's going to be awful. As a family of 5 we have already cut back a lot. The kids have had snacks reduced but this was partly because they were wasting food.

The 2 youngest under Scottish rules are entitled to free school dinners so are going everyday for school lunches. We rarely takeaways now, have started buying far more essential ranges, cut back on all paid kids sports activities except swimming lessons, bought far less clothes than normal, shower after swimming sessions rather than home now, stopped using the tumble dryer, washing clothes at 20 on a quick cycle, haven't had the heating on in months though it has been cold some days, walk to work/school instead of drive, changed hair appointments to 8 weekly rather than 6 weekly and decided against booking any holidays for next year.

These are preventive measures so all the money saved us now aside for heating and electric in the winter. I fear for people who can't do this or those who have had my payments from the government to help and wasted it (heard of one who spent it on a new TV but yet hasn't factored in how to pay for the electric to run it over winter.

Businesses will collapse over the winter

Me too

@Noname99 So who do you think it will be harder for a pensioner living off a state pension of £10Kpa or a MN or Politician on an £80K pa salary?

I asked my energy provider what help they could provide and they responded that they were offering loans and payment plans - ie Debt.

Cancelling all non essential spends i.e streaming services, charity donations, magazine subscriptions
Kids losing an activity each
Will barely make a dent

No pub/cafe trips
Reduced takeaways/meals out

Have savings for xmas but going to majorly cut back

Going to be a miserable few months

And what about those people already living to their budgets who are already on the bones of their arse and who already don't have anything they can cut back on it order to pay for further price increases on essentials like food, housing, and heat?

Why are people blaming the government for how much electricity and gas cost?

Because both the energy suppliers and the opposition are seeking ways to ameliorate the increase and the zombie government won’t even consider them.

What was it Boris said again? Oh yeah, let the bodies pile high. It fits this situation too, tories don’t give a fuck about poor/vulnerable people or just people in general unless it’s someone who benefits them in some way.

Yep.

And like Brexit and Covid, there will probably end up being a Special Place on MN so that people who want to avoid reality can have the inconvienent truth and miserable stuff hidden away from them.

On the plus side (we we've long been told we might find the sunny uplands in stuff like this) I echo the poster who said about the end of insane laundry habits on MN. I also add the end of daily showers for the whole family. I also predict that the must have fashion items will be ponchos made from old blankets.

Winter 2022 is obviously looking smelly. Christmas is cancelled (again - congratulations to those lucky, lucky, households who make it three years on the trot).

[If you can't use black humour about another abject crisis we are about to face you'll go mad. Laughter is free. Give that and the gift of a smile where you can].

Why would you need to cancel Christmas? Christmas is more than sky high piles of presents and too much food that goes to waste.

Charlize43
I think it’s going to be hard for everyone. I don’t think it’s a competition. Most pensioners aren’t paying mortgages or commuting costs or childcare and have index linked pensions. My point is that although I would agree that Boris is personally both morally and ethically bankrupt and the worst conservative leader ever, he is not wrong to be supporting Ukraine with 54 million which was the post I was responding too. People don’t seem to realise that we are at war, a full Europe wide war, … it just looks different than in 1938.

Just want to check with @Noname99 if it’s acceptable for my gran who gave 2 brothers, her father and all her uncles, who scrubbed floors when she was 14 during the war to bridge the gap those men leaving left in her family budget and who survives on a pension to put on a jumper? She’s nearly 100 years old and has lived through more stretching of food than most of us can imagine. Incidentally she’s about as lefty as they come, is completely outraged Putin got this far got this long.

obviously we have told her to put the heating on as long as she needs and we keep her fridge and cupboards full but we can only do that because there’s 10 adults to fill the gap. Not every vulnerable person is that lucky.

im so pleased my kids school offer lots of free extra curriculars so they are still having fun and keeping busy. I don’t know how long they’ll continue though.

Yeah. Its visiting family or hosting the extended family. People made a massive big deal over how essential that was over the last couple of years.

Except, how do you do this, if you can't afford the transport to get there or you can't afford the heating/lighting of extra people or cope with the thought of someone constantly leaving the lights on when they aren't in the room or you can't afford to heat the tin of beans you have as the turkey subsitute?

The threads about how families handle not being able to give even the smallest gift or they go creative and how family members pull a face at getting something homemade are going to be a joy to behold (and will be another reason why people will decide to stay home for Christmas this year rather than deal with family members who can afford things). I do think it will be cancelled for many. Santa not turning up with anything, will be awful.

The food banks are going to be something else. It wouldn't surprise me if they run out of food with less donations and more demand, particularly around Christmas.

Doormatnomore
so I would imagine that she knows the sacrifices that are going to be needed to ensure that Putin gets no further? I’m not sure what your point is here? If she lived through all she did, then she knows better than all of us that the whole population is going to have to ‘sacrifice’ although thankfully not our children / brothers etc and that expecting ‘the govt’ to ‘do something’ with no impact on people is a spectacularly immature outlook in the face of Europe wide war

The knock-on effects of this will be huge. The wealthier middle/upper classes will absorb the cost by cutting back in other areas. Discretionary spending, shopping and eating out will shrink or disappear from some budgets, hurting the wider economy. We're looking at a downturn, perhaps a recession.

Then we have people on low fixed incomes, such as pensioners, disabled people and refugees. Many in this group cannot work or are barred from working (if you have an asylum application pending). They will suffer and some will die as a by-product of ill health in an unheated house.

Finally - and the bit no one is talking about - are public services. Libraries, schools and hospitals are looking at massive heating bills when budgets are shrinking. I think most councils will be running deficits by the end of the winter. I have no idea how private providers like care homes will cope.

But loads of us didn't live like that and were already frugal with heating, never used a tumble dryer/dishwasher etc. I have slept in a woolly hat in the winter for years. Perhaps our energy bills were less than yours to start with?
I agree it will be good if we consume fuel more thoughtfully, but some of the prices I have seen quoted on here are frightening. I am really worried for the poorest in society.

We'll be lucky if we get a recession in my book.

If all excess spending is going on fuel that takes out hospitality and leisure sectors in a big big way. It takes out huge amounts of retail.

Thats a LOT of jobs.

It has more echoes of the hallmarks of a depression rather than a recession.

Winds are lower in the winter, so no, we can’t meet our needs in the winter months with wind and solar.

If you are in a flat you can use very little heating if you are happy to have your temperature just a couple of degrees below the flats above and below.

@Noname99 that's all well and good, but I cut my usage last year. Heating on 2 hours per day at 16°, all lights and switches off, no hairdryer, no tumble dryer. I have nothing left to cut but my bills will still be unaffordable, we WILL get into debt, and our household brings in £60k. I can't even think how those on UC or minimum wage are going to manage - well they wont

You don’t have a sofa he could sleep on in your lounge when it gets cold?

If it's because of war in Europe and nothing to do with governments then why are French people only paying a 4% rise in energy costs?