Cost of living crisis - how are you affected? Is it just me?

[Eve223]

Name changed for this post.
How are people coping with the cost of living crisis? It is hard to believe there is one when the shops and supermarkets are packed, restaurants fully booked and people still taking expensive foreign holidays, buying new cars and houses etc. Are people just living on credit? Is it just me who has had to tighten my belt?

Genuine questions, not trying to be goady.

@SofiaSoFar That's really interesting; I always assumed pretty much everyone who owned and was my age (mid forties) or less had a mortgage and that'd hopefully be paid off mid fifties - mid sixties. I wonder if that still holds out. I'm assuming older people are much more likely to own their home, younger people much more likely to be in rented.

Whilst EVERYONE is impacted, not everyone is struggling.

We fall into the latter. Our energy bill has temporarily doubled, but it was low anyway.

Our food costs have increased, but I kept them lower than average anyway.

For us, it's just a bit less money into savings every month.

What we are doing, is deliberately shopping at independent stores, when I fancy some cake, I don't go to Tesco, I'll go to the independent bakery.

We also make sure we go out to eat etc. We can. So we do. It's our "duty" to do our bit to keep the economy and local shops in business.

If everyone who can afford to spend money, stops doing so, then we really are fucked.

Well we remortgaged with extra cash to do some major works on the house about six months ago at a low rate and fixed for five years.

Hadnt actually started the work due to lack of builder availability when COL crisis started to bite.

So we rethought our plans with what to do with the money and now thankfully have a cushion to see it through. We’re putting the money in a savings account that is higher interest than our mortgage and then when the fix comes to an end we will pay what’s remaining in the account off the mortgage straight away to reduce our payments a bit and cushion us a bit more. P

So there are a lot of different ways people are coping.

I think there's still a lot of people who aren't feeling it yet, fixed energy and fixed interest rates on their mortgages will help massively.

Now the cost of food is shooting up I think a lot more people will start to feel it unfortunately. I've said I'll go out for a meal with my friends once per month that's the only extravagant thing I want to do as I'm expecting my rent to go up and I'm on a variable energy rate. I need to pay for driving lessons so that takes a big chunk too.

They went into the workhouse and died young more often than not.

DH and I earn well but we have two children and they have expensive clubs. We are very lucky to have fixed for another three years at 1.59%. But the electricity and gas bill is now nearly £250. I'm cutting back on eating out and nice to haves. I'm buying less christmas presents. We aren't struggling but we are cutting back. We are also trying to save for some building work needed in the house and I have no idea how now.

We're doing a lot more local walks (taking a sandwich with us) rather than day trips, and only using car for essential journeys, mainly work. I'm doing all our grocery shopping on foot, luckily two supermarkets within 12 mins.

I find I'm actually spending more time in the supermarket, working out the cheapest option for whatever I'm trying to buy for. I was pondering over the cakes (sometimes I do this and buy, others walk away now), and the lady next to mean was doing the same as she commented how expensive they'd got. Could be some of those in the supermarket are spending longer in there, resulting in more people than average.

Could be more due to people doing a proper weekly shop rather than getting takeaways/ going to the local convenience store in the week. I know that's what we've started doing. I hardly ever meal planned/ did a weekly shop before now.

Our disposable income was obliterated by increases in rent, nursery fees, gas and electric, council tax and travel. Our savings were used for maternity leave and then Covid/cost of living hit and we have not been able to put anything back in and instead are creeping into debt.

Food and clothing is more expensive - i am trying to use vinted for DD clothes this year.

We are renting and are worried about LL selling as rents have increased by £200-£300 a month since we moved two years ago.

We are lucky that next September our nursery fees will decrease by around 40% and the year after be done with - they are our biggest expenditure (even more than rent). We know this is temporary.

Both of our employers are looking to pay cost of living bonuses at Christmas which will help massively.

Yeah. Also spending longer there because I have to look for alternatives because our freaking local one can't stock properly.
It's embarrassing and annoying and you see quite a few people staring at the shelves obviously trying to figure out what to buy instead of broccoli when there is absolutely none at all (and half missing veg anyway!).

We luckily fixed our mortgage for 5 years in June! Hoping by then things will be more settled

This is very much where I am. I earn well, and have a fixed rate mortgage that will only have a couple of years to go once the fix expires so interest will make up a very small proportion of my monthly payment anyway.

So while I'm noticing prices going up I can cope with it. I am trying to save money in some places to keep my costs closer to the level I'm used to - making sure I don't heat the house when we're not in it, but not cutting back too much when we're home, and trying to meal plan better to avoid food waste, but that's at least in part so I can still afford to eat out at independent cafes and put money into savings rather than because I need to cut everything.

My mortgage and energy are fixed.

Energy will go up in May, but I think that it's mainly renters, and people whose mortgage terms are about to end who will be affected.

Plenty of people have large amounts of savings & a lot of spare money each month. It’s not much of an issue for them. They’ll just save less.

We were in the process of buying mortgage free from inheritance when the crisis hit. Before we were in temporary accommodation for 7 months paying £1200 a month which drained our savings. We moved at the end of September so saving that rent money now, our gas and electric was £200 a month in the last house, this one is prepaid metre so we are keeping better tract of what we actually spend which is about £100 a month. My car is cheap to run and I've just moved schools to one that is walking distance. We have definitely noticed it, but also had 7 months of scraping by so almost programmed now to be careful.

I'm not sure @bloodyeverlastinghell but it's an interesting point regarding the age of people who are mortgage free. I imagine that as the population ages mortgage-free becomes more prevalent.

I got the figures from here, by the way: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/articles/researchoutputssubnationaldwellingstockbytenureestimatesengland2012to2015/2020

Just realised you'll need to click/tap the image to see the key.

In every recession or financial crisis,there have always been people who were sufficiently well-off that it didn't affect them as much. If you're on a high salary with not many outgoings, your sacrifices might be one less 5* foreign holiday a year, rather than no holidays at all. You can afford higher quality goods, be it clothing etc, so if you buy new, it's because you want to, not because you have to, because things don't fall apart quickly. Some people might be struggling to find all of next term's school fees without selling a few shares - it's a very different situation from people who have no school fees or investments. But it's how things have always been - some people are just far better able to weather the storm.

I live in London and despite all the news, I have noticed many restaurants in the west end being packed even on a weekday evening. I read an article that said a lot of young people who had been saving up for deposits for homes have given up after the latest interest rate rise and are now opting to spend rather than save towards this goal. This could explain some of what you are seeing. I know personally, that my grocery bill has gone up by about £30 a week so I am now ditching brands. My energy is fixed til 2023 so I can at least enjoy Christmas but I think the new bills will be eye-watering.

I live in a pretty deprived area of London and I am already seeing requests for (pointless tat) like christmas eve boxes and elaborate elf on a shelf shit. People will always find money even if it means going into debt.

I had to change jobs, a very risky decision, to make more money. So far so good, but while I can survive and I am making more money for now... I am overloaded with work, not enjoying life but paying my bills

We were lucky, in that my husband got a pay rise, and my daughters 30hrs of free childcare funding kicked in earlier this year - we haven't actually felt the benefit of the extra money as it has covered the increase in bills, so as it currently stands we are no worse off, but I imagine it is going to hit us soon so we are being very mindful of our spending.

Does anyone know when/if this will end? I'm worried that once all of the factors causing the COL crisis are resolved, the government will think 'sod it, they're already paying that much anyway, may as well leave things as they are' I really really don't want to be this skint forever :-( I understand there are currently factors out of anyone's control so we have to take a hit, I just don't want this to be my whole life.

To be honest though shops being busier might be a sign of people struggling more. Shopping is harder when you have less money, you're more likely to spend longer searching for better prices. Some people who food shops daily or every other day to but the marked down products rather than a big weekly/ monthly shop where you buy everything full price.

Luckily we have scrimped really hard to pay off our mortgage (about £122 k, within 6 years) early last year. DD is also at school now, so childcare cost is a lot less. Having said that, I am still tightening the family budget as I would rather increase my saving and live frugally.

My salary is circa £40 k, but I only allocate <£100/month as my spending money. I walk everywhere instead of taking buses, use pay as you go sim only, buy clothes/shoes only when absolutely necessary, go for a run instead of paying for a gym, twice a year haircuts, not going to cafes unless I really have to, etc. To be honest, I never really care what other people think so I don't feel the need to justify my status by looking or behaving in certain ways. So, as a family and an individual, we are not affected as much.

I do feel for those who are affected by increasing cost of living. I am from a developing country (no social welfare whatever), so I know what poverty means.