To , just once ,ask is anyone else fed up of being the squeezed middle?

[Wildandallthatjazz]

Thats it really. !

Yes , on mn , its seen as a privilege to have a mortgage, a job etc .

But sometimes it feels hard and you just wish that you got a break . Recognition of the hard slog maybe .

I am not begrudging those on benefits who got the extra payment support, its more about just wanting to have a treat / a bonus/ etc .. a spare bit of money.. a boost .. the heating on … or maybe recognition that the middle can struggle too ?

I totally accept that people can struggle and need help , sort of also feel the struggling middle are invisible ? ( and not seen to have the’ right ‘to have a little moan as it does you good sometimes )

I do think we are incredibly lucky to live in a county with a welfare state, nhs, free gp care I really do .
But sometimes, it just would be nice not to feel you are paying taxes , working as much as possible, and to be able not to feel squeezed all the time and the need to just have a grump about it .

sometimes it is good to let of steam .. when you cant IRL

and then you move on in a more positive fashion .

I'm fed up. We've done everything you're "supposed" to do. Worked hard, got stable jobs, raising two kids, mortgage etc etc.

Never claimed any benefits. Not even entitled to child benefit thanks to DH being above the threshold.

Stress tested our mortgage when we took it out to make sure we could survive any interest rate shocks etc. What we didn't stress test was that EVERYTHING else would go up in price. Food, childcare, fuel, energy, clothes etc.

So now we're just about managing. Heating is down the the bare minimum to prevent damp. Cancelled one of the kid's clubs as it was too expensive. Not going anywhere at weekends that requires money etc.

I get it, some people have it much worse. But it feels like if you do everything right you're still screwed over. We should be able to treat ourselves every now and again otherwise what's the point of working hard?

Meanwhile, the pension triple lock is apparently sacrosanct and pensioners get help with their fuel bills etc. There's a rumour that suggests that the budget will give more support for pensioners and other benefit claimants for energy bills whilst the rest of us will just have to suck it up.

I work for Adult Social Services. Sick of seeing cases where people refuse care packages at home because they have to pay for it and don't want to sell their massive house they're rattling around in. So they end up declining in health until the NHS picks up the bill. Meanwhile my kids' school can't even afford glue sticks.

We're nothing but a glorified care home. Everyone has to suffer to preserve the living standards of the Tory voting base.

Me and my DH both work full-time, we earn okay, but aren't high earners. Because of the cost of living we already have hardly any disposable income left. My car is 12 years old and literally on it's last legs, I can't afford a new one but I need it to get to work, so I am limping along. We are managing right now.

By June I expect our household bills to be an extra £800 per month (if we are lucky). We simply don't have that and don't have the capacity to save right now. It's as black and white as that. But we earn 'too much' to get any help or assistance. So the future is very very bleak.

Hopefully this won’t be the case

@Blossomtoes Hypothermia is indeed likely to be a problem if we have a very cold winter, as heat stroke was in the summer just gone, but our housing stock is a major part of the issue, especially as the climatic swings seem to be ever more extreme.

Is this a new thing at Amazon (since 2020)?

@OldPosterNewUsername I live by one of their major distribution hubs and hats off to them they can literally do no more in terms of flexibility, dipping in and out of the roles, their training is second to none. And actually if you wanted to make a career out of it that is most definitely an option too. But automation is coming and it’s coming fast, people will need to adapt and re-skill and up skill. With so many people retiring early the opportunities for the younger people to take a lead here and get a head are better than they’ve been in the last 20 years but obviously you can only lead a horse to water.

This won’t help the squeezed middle, but could help some of the unemployed? Aldi is advertising permanent distribution jobs, various locations. Around £12 an hour days, £13 twilight, over £15 night shift. Its not a fortune, but surely better than basic UC for anyone who can work?

Not zero hours, above minimum wage, paid holidays, pension scheme etc.

What a disgustingly ageist post. None of the old people I know vote Tory and suggesting that decent standards of income for old people is only possible at the cost of a decent life for everyone else is ridiculous, ageist and divisive. Not to worry though, this government love attitudes like this - it means they can avoid addressing the real issues in our economy.

Are you suggesting Labour would not do the same for older people?

Would they be poorer then under Labour

What do you mean cost of living payment ? Is this some new benefit or her employer is being generous?

Are you suggesting Labour would not do the same for older people? Would they be poorer then under Labour?

It’s just a nasty ageist rant. Never have old people been as reviled as they are now, it’s become just about the only prejudice that’s socially acceptable.

I only ask because I worked at one in 2019-2020 and they were ZHC through an agency only.

Often I would get up at 23:00 for a 01:00 start to get atext saying not needed at midnight.

If this has changed then that is good news.

Don't get excited but the triple lock at 10% could mean OAPs get.........

...........

..........

an extra £17 a week!!!

Seriously worth being old for, no?

👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻

It doesn’t matter. Pensioners don’t need an extra £17 a week. They’re doing better, as a group, than any other demographic in the country.

To be fair there were lots of people complaining and questioning the logic of so many of the decisions. Including some of the random furlough rules. And the huge cost of track and trace, mountains of PPE not fit for purpose etc etc. Because we knew we'd all be paying for it further down the line.

Yes! Had a pay rise last week ( not index linked ) but the increases on all bills and mortgage cancel it out! Do not claim any benefits and have been fortunate to never have needed to, apart from child ben. Then, stopped receiving child ben yrs ago as apparently earned too much! At 50 i am just sick of working full time since i was 18, all the early yrs working 2 jobs for a hse deposit when i was young, the childcare cost years, paying mortgages , scrimping and doing without, paying for cars, kids, sch trips, sch dinners, never been entitled to anything. Prescription charges for my Ventolin inhalers all my life, i get a chest infection and it costs me £18 in 2 courses of antibiotics to make myself well to get back to work. Paying for decades for life ass, hse ins, boiler ins, contents ins, redundancy ins, pet ins, etc etc and never once claiming on them in over 32 yrs. Paying for kids clubs, summer clubs and extra cur activities, Sat football, swimming lessons, The list goes on. Earned "too much" to never qualify for nowt but not enough to be left anything for me to actually enjoy life! ! Actually, would be more comfortable if i were deceased, well my children will be, £700 k in total assets and insurances due to them. My yrs of work , sacrifice and decades of doing without has set them up for their lives i see that but really, was it too much for me to ask to have 2 weeks in Italy each summer? Would be nice, still not likely! I have lived through various recessions and cost of living crisis, would be nice if i could just have day off from it all. I plan

to retire at 55 after yrs of paying into a pension and property but, suspect i will drop dead after i have completed my last day at work. I hope my two DS spend it wisely, although they do plan to buy themselves a Lamborghini each! Hey ho!

"I get it, some people have it much worse. But it feels like if you do everything right you're still screwed over. We should be able to treat ourselves every now and again otherwise what's the point of working hard?"

Yes, this is what i largely meant. Sorry for all the words in my post when, this concise statement would have sufficed!

How many prescriptions do you usually get each month?

@OldPosterNewUsername 2 Ventolin and 2 Fostair. Usually now every 7-12 weeks. Well controlled asthma, no attacks for over 25 yrs. Was previously on brown, then pink inhaler but recently moved across to Fostair. I have looked at pre payment certs over the yrs but not really worked out financially better for me so i continue to lay as i go.

Pay as i go! 😂

I love the way you knew what I was going to suggest with PPC!!

I just wish I could have been more helpful!!

@OldPosterNewUsername 😂. This is a great thread isn't it. A place to vent and express frustrations.

Thanks for thinking about the pre pay cert though, may be useful to others on long term prescription charges.

I think so many people are just bloody exhausted and it doesn’t seem fair and it’s not right. I can’t myself lucky every single day that I work remotely from home because I honestly don’t know how I could carry on if I didn’t the commute is just grinding and exhausting and the thought of doing all that just to cover the bills I think would push me over the edge.

Lucky those ones. As an older pensioner who didn’t get NI credits for looking after my pre school children, and not earning enough some years to pay NI, and who retired before 2016, 10% will give me about £9 a week.