What cost of living crisis?

[pagopago]

Beauty salons mega busy and some with waiting lists of a month or two.

People piling trollies high in supermarkets, carrying bags of shopping in shopping centres

Airports and flights busier than ever.

Tradesmen e.g. plumbers, painters/decorators, carpet fitters booked well into next year.

Is this people burying their heads in the sand? Or making the most of things while they can still afford to?

Right now it doesn't really feel like there is a shitstorm approaching.

We do not have a great income. But although I will not get into debt, I am aware we could all be dead tomorrow, so enjoy ourselves while we can. I do not go crazy, but we went out last night for a cheap pub meal. We are going out on Sunday for a cheap day out. I refuse to have us all sit in the house so we can save a few pounds that will pay for a few hours of heating in the winter.
I also believe the government will take action.

I've certainly got one eye on what’s coming, but still took the kids to football last night - for the first time I noticed the costs (not including tickets)
£14.50 for a group return on park and ride
£14 for a round of drinks
£10 for their food.

So £38 for one game, which will become £0 if energy bills do hit the forecast figure.

The words "poor" or "poverty" are thrown around by people who have no idea what that feels like. Sounds like you don't either.

I agree. I earn £31k which is above the average where I live. I am not poor. I know what poverty is like and my family's life is not it.
Poverty is food banks and having to buy the cheapest food for calories.

@Fivemoreminutesinbed

If you consider a fairly bog standard salary 'rich'

You are most likely poor

Well i know tradesmen who are saying it is slowing down
Everyone i know is watching what they buy , friends who have nails / hair done pushing it on for longer etc
So most around me very worried

@MillyWithaY and when you live in a flat how do you clean your car easily ? It cost me £8 to clean my car a couple times a year , hardly extravagance

We have a large household income and we’re hugely reining it in. I’m assuming those who are choosing to keep spending are prioritising their leisure/beauty/social lives over other things and good luck to them! We need people to keep spending to try and keep the economy afloat.

I know of a lot of people who are going out now before the next price rise in energy etc as they won't be able to afford it so having a day out whilst weather nice , a meal out etc but now knowing that kind of thing won't happen as have to find even more for utilities

A meal from my local chippy cost £2.20 or a burger and fries from mcdonald for £2.38... a ready meal from the supermarket costs more and then needs cooking (energy cost) or buying all the ingrediants, equiptment, seasonings, time and gas/electric to cook from scratch costs even more than that.

JustEat and Deliveroo often have offers on aswell like 20% of tuesdays.

I'll take sensible measures to be as economical as I can regarding energy use but I'm not going to live in one room and cook on a candle. Life goes on.

I live in the North. An individual earning 50k isn't bog standard around. Maybe combined is more common but that still isn't poor.

the people who can afford a trip to the hair salon, people with owned properties who get decorators in, people who can afford to go on holiday etc are not the ones currently being shafted that the newspapers are talking about. I'm not saying things aren't affecting them at all, or won't see any affect on them this winter.. but i can speak from my own experience that at the start of the year i was able to save some money here and there from my monthly paycheck, and now i am significantly reducing my spending every single day and i find myself with £0 in my bank account before payday comes. the cost of groceries, bills & everyday expenses such as bus prices have gone up, and every month they increase moreso. if my pay rate doesn't increase this winter (i bet it won't), im fucked.

We need decent UBI. I've started a thread in money matters but think it won't get traffic in there, here is the link if interested. www.mumsnet.com/talk/legal_money_matters/4624083-ubi-seminar

good public transport system... where? certainly not where I live

They removed us from the trainlines about 4 decades ago, built a bypass past the villages completely cutting the small ones off and the 1 bus that does go city to city connect out town in the middle goes around 40 different villages and takes over 2 hours.

That doesnt account for winter either when given that we live in a mountain range we get a LOT of snow and the bus just doesnt show up at all.

Britain has an appauling public transport system.

Never even heard of car club, we cant get bloody Uber or Deliveroo up here so I doubt whatever new fangled city idea that is is here.

It hasn't really kicked in for everyone yet and won't kick in at all for most if have enough money. Nothing has changed for me yet but come winter and with high heating bills it might its only the start. Plus I shop at aldi so I shop cheaply and don't live beyond my means.

@Fivemoreminutesinbed

You seem to be unable to grasp my comments

I'm not saying anyone on less than 50k is poor

I'm saying anyone who thinks being on 50k a year is rich, is most likely poor

Maybe the further north you go, the less solid reading comprehension skills become

We have decent salaries, have paid off the mortgage and have always lived well within our means ( as we both grew up in poverty).
As a result we are as well adapted to cope with the impending gloom of a recession as anyone.
Even so, we are taking extra precautions, I've booked next years holidays for May instead of August for half the price.
We've had a woodburner fitted and I've already bought heated blankets and throws.
I think some (frivolous) industries will definitely suffer more than others. I have always found paying £20 an hour to hire a field to walk your doggie in, a bit ridiculous. Our local pet rescue is so full of unwanted cats and dogs, that it can't take any more now, so I predict the fashion for £4k status dogs will end too.

@mam0918

good public transport system... where? certainly not where I live

Same here. We used to have a bus route through our village centre. It was scrapped about 20 years ago. We now have to walk nearly a mile to the main road/by pass where there's one bus per hour between towns A & B (just 4 miles away) or one bus every two hours to town C (4 miles in a different direction). No buses in an evening at all, and even fewer on a Sunday (I think every 2 hours for towns A & B) and just one in the morning, one in the afternoon for town C.

This is a big village with 7,000 inhabitants, so not a quiet hamlet with 5 houses!

Well yeah I am poor but I still think 50k is still pretty good to live on. I didn't say it was rich but it is a decent wage and shouldn't be in the same sentence as poor. I would say come North and you will be able to find you can live on less but no thanks.😂

People keep being given large sums of money from the government what do you expect

Consumer debit is higher than before the financial crisis. With low interest rates consumers have loaded up with mortgages and debit.
Not long now until increases in interest rates, rising inflation and fuel increases turn this all into the perfect storm for recession.

Just Eat and Deliveroo are loss making companies. Literally the only time they made profit was when they cornered the food market during lockdowns. Otherwise, it’s a money hole.

Expect them to follow a lot of tech companies that relied on naïve venture capital investment and cheap energy to run anything like a business.

So in my case I generally live well with my means and put a fair bit into savings every month. I don’t necessarily need to cut back but I will definitely be saving less for big holidays etc. you won’t notice the changes day to day though.. There will be plenty of people out there like me.

I don't plead poverty. We have a very good household income that we have achieved in successful careers. But I DO buy second hand uniform and I am often there early to get a bargain and the best items.

Should I also stop buying my kids sports kit, football boots, gymnastics costume, shin pads etc from charity shops and car boot sales?

I didn't realise that only poor people were allowed to buy second hand items. Or that we should declare our income before making a purchase.

My motto has always been look after the pennies and the pounds take care of themselves. I'm not about to stop that now!