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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Cost of everything. Race to the bottom.

195 replies

Eddyraisins · 08/10/2023 10:26

The cost of things are horrendous no point in denying that.

A mortgaged family are probably £400-500 down a month from a couple of year ago.
A non mortgaged maybe £300. For renters if landlord has put rent up then its the same as above. Food, the insane gas and electricity costs, petrol, food bills gone up 25 percent plus. Just everything. Any spare money doesn't go as far as it did anyway.
Now insurance is creeping up. Everything is up.

It sucks all round.

Why are people fighting at the bottom instead of looking up?

Yes people on min wage work hard and have many different challenges, time also stands still if work is boring. It can be really hard. I also see people that have studied hard and earning ok but they can't switch off after work, have students loans, have been sold the idea life should be slightly better. It should be! Both have their challenges.
Life is shit we are all down.
Battling at the bottom while the rich are fine.
It is representative of that cartoon. The guy with all the food pointing at a guy with some food, pointing at someone with an empty plate saying he is goong to take yours.

Lets compare up not down. AIBU to stop blaming each other and blame upwards?

Many of us are struggling lets not take that away from those struggling.

OP posts:
duchiebun · 08/10/2023 17:32

are not

AnotherTeaPlease · 08/10/2023 17:33

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Original poster
Eddyraisins · 08/10/2023 17:34

Bills have gone up, and I got an £80,000 pay rise.

You really have no clue do you?

*And you think thats the norm?

Ok and its me with no clue.*

OP posts:
duchiebun · 08/10/2023 17:35

Of course it’s not the norm, but it’s a counterexample to the imbecilic claim that everyone is worse off.

I'd argue the majority are 🤷🏻‍♀️

duchiebun · 08/10/2023 17:37

particularly young people

Littlemousesing · 08/10/2023 17:37

HettyWainty · 08/10/2023 17:26

You would get less than the equivalent shopping basket from a year, 2 years or 3 years ago but if you were previously well off, bought whatever you wanted but now think about it and have changed your shopping habits to buy cheaper things, then you won't have less than 2 years ago on food bills, just different.

You might even have more if this is the first time you've had to really think about what you spend on groceries.

But the people already buying the absolute basics to live 3/2/1 years ago are massively hit by the increases because they had no wiggle room and no more expensive things to cut back on as they were already cut to the bone.

Same as electric/gas bills. If you were heating your house like everyone should be able to walk around indoors in a T-shirt no matter how cold it was outside, actually thinking about it and putting a jumper on instead of the heating, having a 2 minute shower instead of 20 and not washing clothes after a few hours wear, could mean the heating costs were the same, or even less than before.

Whereas if you were already struggling to minimally heat your home, have a bath and wash your clothes, there were no economies to be made.

Show quote history

Thank god someone gets it!😂

Original poster
Eddyraisins · 08/10/2023 17:38

duchiebun · 08/10/2023 17:35

Of course it’s not the norm, but it’s a counterexample to the imbecilic claim that everyone is worse off.

I'd argue the majority are 🤷🏻‍♀️

Exactly.

Course someone is going to be better off if they have a new job or go from student to full time. Clearly!

However if they had received that new job 2 years ago the spending would have gone further! Simples!

Imbecilic I mean really. Your argument is ludicrous.

OP posts:
duchiebun · 08/10/2023 17:39

Of course it’s not the norm, but it’s a counterexample to the imbecilic claim that everyone is worse off.

We’ve 100 new graduates this year who’ve gone from living from student loans to earning £80,000 per year, and staff who’ve gone from unemployed to working.

I don't think it's imbecilic to not be aware of the above. Many people aren't privy to how much a very small % can earn

Littlemousesing · 08/10/2023 17:40

Eddyraisins · 08/10/2023 17:26

No, we are not “all” worse off. You are, many others are, but a great many people are not

Nonsense! So have none of you bills gone up?
Talk about dishonesty.

My bills are the same eventual cost to me because I've changed my habits and usage.

Ps it's really difficult to understand what is your post and what's a quote if you don't bold it.
I think that's why the thread is so confusing.

YesSirMam · 08/10/2023 17:42

Too many people live close to the edge. Fail to budget properly & have no savings. But then if people have no money to save then 🤷‍♀️ it’s hard to access as everyone had a different financial circumstances. I know people who live hand to mouth, cash out pensions etc then spend it all in 3 months. Some people can’t be helped. Also, debt. That’s the biggest impact. Debt repayments.

Zebedee55 · 08/10/2023 17:45

duchiebun · 08/10/2023 17:22

But there is more inequality now which is my point

Than when?

I've been through 6 decades and there has always been inequality.

We just heard less, because we didn't have 24/7 news, than we do now. 😗

Original poster
Eddyraisins · 08/10/2023 17:46

@Littlemousesing

Sorry it's the app. Even when I quote it doesn't bold not sure why.

The spending power is Les's that's all I am saying. I do agree with what you are saying and feel for those with no wiggle. Though some posters would say it's their bad choices.

OP posts:
duchiebun · 08/10/2023 17:47

@Zebedee55 the mid 80s I believe

Original poster
Eddyraisins · 08/10/2023 17:47

Less!! Autocorrect. Doh!

OP posts:
duchiebun · 08/10/2023 17:47

I've not claimed there was never inequality...

duchiebun · 08/10/2023 17:52

@Zebedee55 what's that emoji you are using it?I can't see it!

Castlerock44 · 08/10/2023 18:04

It's obviously what the government wants. We are slaves.

HettyWainty · 08/10/2023 18:08

Tapasita · 08/10/2023 17:23

@AnotherTeaPlease

*How well have you managed it though? How hard did you work at school? Which degrees did you do or which professional qualifications?

Did you delay having children until you were established in your career, find a good partner, and get married first?

At work, did you do your heat every day to deliver more for your employer, give your immediate management what they needed, and improve your skills?*

Sorry I’ve not read the whole thread but I completely agree with this as the starting point on these types of discussions. The FIRST thing everybody should do on an individual level is self-asses. How much ownership have you taken over your financial well-being, over your career and your ability to earn more? Have you made sound financial decisions, and are you acting in a financially responsible way, to the best of your ability?

If you can answer these with a “yes,” and your self-assessment doesn’t bring up anything ugly like overspending on things that you don’t need, not having a proper spreadsheet of finances worked out, overspending on credit cards, making really poor choices in your life like not taking up professional training opportunities, not staying in employment or not working hard enough in a job that recognises your efforts (as it’s also your responsibility to find one,) having kids you just cannot afford to keep with unstable partners who have no sense of financial responsibility themselves………..then and only then are you free to start moaning about the government, about other people who have it better off than you and anyone else you can vent your frustrations on in place of a good hard look in the mirror.

It amazes me how many people moan about being strapped for cash and then you find out they’ve booked an all-inclusive holiday in Corfu for two weeks, or they have regular takeaways, and buy the newest car/digital equipment on credit. They have TERRIBLE spending habits and should apply some serious self assessment and action to their lifestyles before taking to social media to grumble. It’s not easy to self-assess because it’s painful to admit that the failing is actually yours but it’s honestly the only way you’re ever going to turn things around financially.

You do realise just a simple thing as where someone lives in the UK can make a huge difference to that? And societal changes?

It's not all about making sound financial decisions and not wasting money.

Housing markets vary.

All of the people who purchased homes regardless of the area in the 80s and 90s for a few thousand and sell them now for hundreds of thousands or over a million or more were lucky and couldn't have ever anticipated that would happen. Many didn't have great high-earning jobs either.

When 'right to buy' on council properties was offered, virtually everyone who did it did it to have a home they could control and pass on to their children. They weren't thinking 'this council house will be worth a million in 20 years'

So those people had holidays, bought clothes and new cars all the while because in those days a mortgage which didn't take up the majority of your income was the norm.

So those people were lucky in not anticipating their terraced house would be worth a million pounds 20 or 30 years in the future and discovering they were sitting on a gold mine

Same as current homeowners are unlucky
because they couldn't have predicted that their mortgage payment would double or triple in a few years and didn't have a spreadsheet anticipating that.

Same as most people didn't anticipate energy or food costs doubling or tripling in a year or two so had a holiday or spent money on takeaways before that happened because they thought they had enough earnings and a bit of savings to cover everything.

People aren't psychic and able to predict Brexit, pandemics, wars in Europe and global inflation and interest rates.

Zebedee55 · 08/10/2023 18:11

duchiebun · 08/10/2023 17:52

@Zebedee55 what's that emoji you are using it?I can't see it!

I don't know. It's on my Apple keyboard lol 😉

duchiebun · 08/10/2023 18:12

I can see that one!

Zebedee55 · 08/10/2023 18:12

duchiebun · 08/10/2023 17:47

@Zebedee55 the mid 80s I believe

What? Under Thatcher? I remember the Yuppies, but I don't remember everyone feeling better off or more equal...in fact, there was uproar about the inequalities.😉

Littlemousesing · 08/10/2023 18:16

Zebedee55 · 08/10/2023 18:12

What? Under Thatcher? I remember the Yuppies, but I don't remember everyone feeling better off or more equal...in fact, there was uproar about the inequalities.😉

Show quote history

The feeling better off under the Tories is an illusion.
Like the past few years , interest rates low, people spent like mad.
They felt better off but in fact it was just cheap credit.

Willyoujustbequiet · 08/10/2023 18:19

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Utter crap

You really need to do some reading. It's recognised that dv frequently starts in pregnancy

I was married over 10 years before he tried to strangle me. He was a teacher. I guess I should have had a crystal ball.

Check your misogyny

Zebedee55 · 08/10/2023 18:26

Littlemousesing · 08/10/2023 18:16

The feeling better off under the Tories is an illusion.
Like the past few years , interest rates low, people spent like mad.
They felt better off but in fact it was just cheap credit.

Show quote history

Yes, and it was obvious that it wouldn't last. I feel sorry for young parents - I did the years of Kwik-Save (bucket shop lol) for shopping, shuffling working about with my ex, (no childcare vouchers then), and jumble sales etc.

Its hard and it grinds you down.

But it's not new.

duchiebun · 08/10/2023 18:29

@Zebedee55

@The new requirements are designed to address the inequality that has emerged between top executives and the wider workforce in recent decades (our research suggests that the CEOs of the UK’s biggest companies have increased from 10 or 20 times the average worker in the early 1980s to 45 times in the late 1990s to 120 times today – over the same period the share of total incomes accruing to the richest 1% of the population increased from 6% to 14%)."

"The IFS said children from poor households were finding it harder than 40 years ago to move into higher income brackets, made worse by years of sluggish growth in average earnings. It found that inheritances were becoming more important in determining lifetime income."

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