To think many people are barely surviving Life in uk is unsustainable!

[Cupcakeicecream]

To think a normal standard of living is out of reach to the majority of the population. People are barely surviving as is.They have cut back as far as they possibly can and it's still not enough.Next month prices are rising even more. I know most people would say cut your cloth accordingly dont live beyond your means. If you stopped netflix and takeout coffee everything will magically be solved. That's not realistic there is people out there stressed wondering how they will afford the Bill's barely eating sitting in a cold house as they cant afford to heat the house. Yes there will be people on their high horse saying things are not that bad. But the uk has gone to pot. Wages arent high enough. Food prices are too high. This is just a general rant as its constantly on the news. And some people are just oblivious to the fact people in uk can actual be in poverty and really suffering right now even though we arent a third world country. And it seems will only get worse.

"My friends and I can all afford our expensive haircuts and dinners out, can't be that bad!"

That's what I'm getting from this thread. Maybe some of you need to remove your heads from your arses. It's not all about your little bubbles.

This thread is clearly full or privileged people who have no idea what life is like for some people in the UK right now.

Hear hear

Problem is the Tories - we need rid ….. they allowed Brexit with their lies, lies, lies!

The Tories will be relying on this complacency at the next election.

Things are trending downward. Wages have been stagnant for a long time, in general, but now you've got inflation and interest rates up and energy and food inflation is huge. People tolerated low wages while inflation and interest rates were kept low.

I remember in the 80s a lot of towns were on their arse but the pubs were still full. It doesn't mean anything.

Lots are finding the increases hard, but many are able to accommodate them. I have had to stop work due to long covid which has put extra pressure on. I know there are obviously tens (hundreds?) of thousands in the same boat, and I am luckier than lots as I had savings. Things are going to get dicier soon.

Added to the fact that Brexit has made the country a lot poorer as well, as Covid obviously has as well or the Ukraine war. All factors causing said issues. But the stagnant wages and austerity has been a 13 year problem.

Oh and our mortgage went up by almost £500 last year.

Not insulting at all. No safety net in much of the world which is awful.

Not insulting at all. No safety net in much of the world which is awful.

OK good, well if anything really shit ever happens to you, don't get too upset because there is almost definitely someone who has it worse.

What happens to people who tell outrageous lies on the campaign trail? Sweet FA. I'd love that to change. I wish there was a shred of genuine accountability for all the lies.

You're missing the point. I'm thankful for a safety net for myself and others and feel terrible that many people kn the world don't have this. Take your righteous anger elsewhere.

We are fortunate (is that the right word?) that we worked our arses off to pay our mortgage off. That means that we’re doing ok at the moment.

if we’d not done that, if we’d chosen to have more children, more holidays, more meals out, more time off work it could be very different.

So is fortunate the right word? Of course there is some luck in our situation, but lots of it is down to choices that we’ve made over the past 20 years.

Apologies, I can see I was wrong. I thought 25k was average but I think it's brought down by people who don't work full time.

I think a lot of people are struggling and then there are also another large number of people who think they are struggling because the media is screaming about the cost of living crisis all the time. Part of my job is doing benefit checks, we get lots of older people ringing up saying they don't have enough money and fretting about heating costs. When you look at what they actually have coming in you start to wonder what the problem is. Most are either mortgage free or getting most of their rent and council tax completely paid because they are on housing benefit or pension credit. They have also had a lot of help with cost of living payments, some up to £1500. I'm not denying there are some struggling, but the ones that are it's usually either because of debts or because they are not claiming what is available to them. As others have said though, there still seems to be a lot of cash flowing around. People have had low interest rates for years, many saved a fortune during covid by not spending on foreign holidays and going out, many young people still living at home have money to throw around. Food has gone up a lot and obviously that is going to hit a lot of poorer people hard because they spend a higher proportion of their income on essentials, but many others have a lot of options to cut down, buy cheaper food without going hungry. I think as a nation we normally have so much more than we need.

The so called safety net doesn’t seem to be working so well at the moment, seems to be developing holes.

This! I work for a charity and a lot of working people are massively struggling.

And I have a rush of intense rage every time I’m driving behind yet another Tesla. How on earth do people have that sort of money. It boggles my mind. I’m not struggling for food , but it’s difficult, as a single parent. My heating is off now until next winter.

This. Most people enjoy a standard of living unimaginable in the 1950s or even 1970s.
That's not to say many aren't struggling. But those at the bottom always have.

But lots of people aren’t. OP’s post clearly references “the majority of the population” and I don’t think that’s true at all. It might be true for some but it’s not the majority.

I wouldn't say most people at all, me and my peer group all seem to be doing ok.

I'm a loan parent, one income circa £23k. I receive a small UC top up and child benefit.

Are we rolling in cash, no. Are we enjoying life, warm and fed yes. Am I worrying about money, not at all. It helps that I have no debt (except car finance)

It could be worse...but we are far from destitute and do have little luxuries and I even have a little savings account I top up each month.

Of course some people are struggling, that has always been the case and always will be, but the majority are not. Still plenty of people out and about spending money.

And I have a rush of intense rage every time I’m driving behind yet another Tesla.

So people who are fortunate and have money for whatever reason should…what? Feel guilty? Give their money to someone else? Not spend it in case it makes someone else envious and angry? Jesus

Not the same as claiming 'life in the UK is not sustainable' which is overwrought catastrophizing.