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.

A lot of people were saving money during pandemic by working from home and not paying travel costs. Most of those are still working from home so still better off financially.

It's a bit of everything isn't it?

Some people are going to be relatively unaffected and will be able to carry on as normal.

Some people will have to make cut backs, but not on everything so may well get a plumber in to fix a leak, but won't have a big Christmas or will get their nails done but will cancel their gym membership.

Some people will.be hit hard, but haven't been yet and aren't planners.

Some people can't afford it but will put it on credit cards.

Some people couldn't afford any of that anyway and are now even worse off. You can't see someone who's not in the supermarket or who's sitting at home with the heating off. So, your data isn't giving the full picture is it.

Tbh you shouldn't really need it explained to you that in a country of 70 million people experiences will vary. It's just common sense.

There is absolutely a cost of living crisis.

Not everyone is impacted as badly as others though. Some people will just save less than they do usually but will still be fine. Mortgage rates have been low for a long time so lots of people will have benefited from overpaying etc. Also people with costly commutes who now do more homeworking will have been making savings. Restaurants always seem to be busy where I am. My gut says I don't think these people are maxing out their credit cards or doing it as a last hurrah.

Stuff that. I'm battening down the hatches, paying down debts and refraining from any unnecessary spending. These increased bills etc aren't going to pay themselves so it has to come from somewhere.

People are fools if they're not even thinking about it, or have more money than sense.

It's payday for a huge amount of people, of course they're stocking up on food. What a bizarre comment.

Houses still need to be maintained. Salon treatments often aren't as expensive as many people think and a huge, huge number of holidays people have taken this year are ones that were pushed back by covid.

We are at the start of the issue, not the middle or the end.

Right now at this very moment in time I'm not massively worse off, but I'm very aware that I will be very soon. I bought my family of 6 shopping today for £40 thinking about what I have already at home.

But if I had nothing at home I'd need to fill my trolly. I still have 4 kids to feed even if I was broke. Like in the pandemic, everyone judging what others are buying. You buy your 1 loaf of bread and one can of beans for the week. I can't make that work unless I leave the kids to starve. Dome people shop monthly. Try not to worry about what others are doing.

It won’t affect everyone, some people will be ok, very high earners MAY not be bothered, depends on circumstances.
Others will suffer and probably weren’t getting their hair and nails done to start with.

@Lunar270 yes and that is your choice. Its Becky, Karen, Linda's choice to have their nails done, pile their shopping carts high and book holidays.

There is absolutely a cost of living crisis. It is just effecting people differently because people handle things differently. We have just come out of a two year global pandemic and theres an impending recession. Let. people. be.

The UK has a feel of Berlin in the 1930s....

@Chevyimpala67

You were there were you ?

A lot of these posts are very aggressive! OP hasn't suggested she's judging anyone for spending, just pointing out the incongruity between the media headlines (and hundreds of recent MN posts), which are suggesting that 50% of the country are already struggling to pay their basic bills, and by January whole families will be huddling round a single candle blowing our hands to keep warm like urchins in a victorian garret, and the reality of actual life (at least as I've seen it!). Perfectly illustrated by my social media feed, which last Friday was a mix of 'OMG energy price hike,' and 'OMG Coldplay tickets! (at several hundred quid a pop)"

I think it's a fair point, and raises a lot of good questions, including if this is media shitstorming yet again and it actually won't be as bad as we fear, or if it's representative of an ever growing divide between the haves and have-nots.

Certainly the case where I live. We went to a local family attraction last weekend, tickets cost £25 per adult, and it was heaving. One of the staff said it was their busiest day all season. The nice cafés and restaurants in town are all busy too.

10 years ago there were hardly any nail bars and hand car wash places, now we're awash with them (I wash my own car and manicure my own nails). I said to my husband last week, when the nail bars and car washes close I'll believe there's a recession.

@Lunar270 if, more like when, people stop spending thats when the recession will hit. Basic economics. We need people to keep spending on things otherwise many many businesses will shut down, job loss etc etc. Its going to get tough so let the UV lights shine for now.

I don't think it's hit people yet , they've heard about it and food prices have gone up but the crippling energy costs and mortgage hikes haven't arrived yet .

Lots of us don't have debts bar mortgages hence we can still afford to spend some money. It's also about priorities. I prioritise holidays over some other things. Someone else prioratises the other things over holidays.
That makes millions of people going to restaurants, pther millions to fly, other millions have their nails done. It's not that hard to comprehend

No.
But I'm a historian.
I'm sure even you can find plenty to read/watch on the subject...

Yep and a staggering amount of people don’t understand how the price increases will affect their bills. I’m on a energy group on Facebook and every day there are people posting either shocked that their direct debits have been increased or that they suddenly owe money because their meters have been read. People just do not understand what is coming. Well, a lot of people don’t.

@latetothefisting agree the media isn’t helping, disagree people are being aggressive. Just opinions. What the post tells me is that the OP doesn’t know anyone poor enough to be effected yet..

Exactly what I thought! What a weird comment...

The media won't shut up with their doom and gloom.

Like Covid lockdowns it feels like they are talking us into a bad situation.

Looking around at who was shopping today it’s clear it was all back to schoolers and families making the most of the last few days of the holidays. Yes many can afford the increases but once they do hit, that’s when the cutting back will start to cause problems.

Those who live week to week only just getting by will have a massive shock once their bills start increasing, I think that will be when the shit hits the fan and reality bites. I’m trying not to spend unnecessarily and I’m one of those fortunate to be able to afford the hikes, my outlook would be very different if I was filled with anxiety and dread about how to get through the winter because of low income or circumstances.

I counted four people on our small estate having solar fitted yesterday ours get fitted soon. The cost of the solar panels over 8 years means if we use them as expected our energy bills won't rise over what we are paying now. We won't be turning the heating on much not because we can't but because I won't pay for it, going to have a cold winter in front of the fire.

Secure job - holiday booked and we went shopping at the weekend.

The media love a frenzy. Most people I know are ok, and we’re not that well off.

Beauty salons mega busy and some with waiting lists of a month or two. Salons here are ticking along. Not busy not quiet.

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

Some people shop monthly. Some people are stocking up whilst the can and have the money as they expect food to go up more.

Airports and flights busier than ever.

lots of holidays that were booked last year

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

Not sure about this where I am.

Is this people burying their heads in the sand? Or making the most of things while they can still afford to? I think part of it is that since the pandemic most people want to have a nice summer. Lots of people on fixed rate mortgages. Given that fuel bills stated to go up dramatically in April and most people have had the heating off all summer a lot lot of people don’t realise how bad it’s going to be this winter.

Covid and the 2008 crash has taught me that there seems to be a particular strata of society that appear to be bullet proof.

Lucky them.