To wonder how the COL crisis has impacted others?

[Helfs]

I see quite often on here people posting about how ‘not everyone’ is impacted and people need to just get on with it when it comes to dealing with the financial impact of the COL crisis.

Despite being high(ish) earners, DH and I have been severely impacted so I feel a bit odd when reading those comments as surely most, if not everyone is impacted to some degree. Food prices have shot up and everyone needs to eat, lots of people drive and insurance costs are going up etc.

At the start we weren’t majorly impacted, our food bill doubled and our car insurance went up a lot but other than that were fine, that was until December last year when our fixed rate mortgage ended and DD started nursery a month later. All of a sudden we had to find an extra £2500 a month and it’s heavily impacted our day to day lives. Obviously the nursery fees we knew were coming, but I don’t think we quite realised how bad it would be until the first months payment came out at the same time as the highly inflated mortgage payment (that we are now fixed into for another 2 years)

I wanted to ask how the COL crisis was impacting others, as I think sometimes people downplay on here how bad it might be for them atm.

So how has the COL crisis impacted you and your family? Any tips on how you’ve managed to cut back?

Our Energy Bills have increased from £66 a month in 2020 to £240 a month. Our mortgage has increased by £210. And I think we spend an extra £150 on food per month. We've stopped the weekly takeaways and eat out less.

So financially about £584 a month.
Standard of living - we are much more bored!

Household income is £90K

130k income, we are not saving anymore. We can afford the increases but can't afford to save anything. Nothing left at the end of the month.

Household income just < 50k. Kids x 2 are teens and young adult. Mortgage paid but was relatively small. Have never been able to afford a fancy car or regular foreign holidays but I can’t say we are exactly struggling as our expectations are low. Have managed to save youngest child’s child benefit so he’ll have a fair amount when he goes to uni. Can afford the odd meal out or visit to National Trust property. I’m an experienced HCP in a niche area but DP is self employed so neither wages are amazing…

It has impacted us in the obvious sense that food/energy etc is more expensive. However due to promotions/job changes our household income has actually increased by £1.5k a month since last January so it’s more than mitigated the impact of CoL increases.

Not particularly impacted, might be if mortgage changes but other than that no concerns. I wouldn't usually post about it but just pointing out that it can be the case that some people aren't severely impacted right now.

Not much chance of getting a true picture of the impact of the COL crisis on here, OP.

For me, mortgage rates going up has had more of an impact as i had to downsize my expectations for the flat I hope to buy since mortgage rates would stay around 4% to 5% in the next few years.. I guess that is related to inflation. Our mortgage rate for our current flat will jump in July and our mortgage would increase by £235 (from £1017 to £1252) which is basically covered by DH paying off his student loan in 10 months (he has less than £4k student loan balance) as that would increase his net income by £397. Re everything else, our after tax income has increased from £4300 in 2019 to £6800 now and would be £7200 once student loan is paid off so there is more money for holidays and food. We don't have a car though tfl fares have gone up a lot. service charge for our flat will increase by 5% which is normal i guess since the price of repairs has also gone up so much.

I try to cut back by trying out cheaper brands for cosmetics (my main luxury) - a lot of brands from korea and japan which are just as good. Cut down on a lot of the skincare products i used to use and I basically only double cleanse and moisturize now using drugstore products. Dye my hair at home. Have a pret subscription and my lunch is basically £3.60 soup (20% discount). Wear a oodie instead of switching on the heating (gas and electricity increased from £90 to £140). We mainly go on weekend breaks every 2 months and dh tracks the prices daily, so we get the best deals. I buy clothes second hand a lot too.

However, we don't have any kids yet and ttc is going slowly, we haven't use contraception in 8.5 years. So in a sense, i don't feel the urgency to move and though flat is on the market, i feel like we can sit on the sidelines and see what happens re mortgage rates or perhaps save up even more to mitigate mortgage rises. Also don't feel like taking many risks given that childcare is likely to go up even more.

What I worry about is everyone else. I feel like the middle class is losing its wealth and i feel like I could be next if I don't actively try to increase our income every year. I mean, we are in our early 30s so such wage increases are easier at our age. I think a big problem is that for a lot of people in their 40s and 50s they may have reached their earnings peak and while they have similar or higher income than us, they tend to have more responsibilities and if inflation continues, it could really squeeze them in 5 years time if their real terms earnings hasn't gone up.

We have had the usual cost rises such as food, bills, insurance, nursery we were lucky however that our mortgage fix was up for rental before the major interest rise, so we are now fixed on a relatively low rate until 2028 when we’ll pay a big lump sum into it. We’ve also had decent pay rises over the last couple of years, our joint income has risen by around £600 a month. We actually feel a little better off now despite the cost of living rises.

Well.

My household bills are now in the region of 1800 including rent.

I have list my business because people are buying from Temu etc at cheaper prices than my wholesalers charge.

My landlord is selling up due to mortgage increase so I'll be homeless in April.

I'm 55 and my only career option is caring apparently.

I am moving in with my Dad and will receive around 350 UC while I try and get my shit together. Oh, and I'll be caring fir him.

I'm two years widowed and everything has gone to shit, in large part due to COL.

HTH.

Last winter I was barely affected as a single householder with a fixed term mortgage and a fixed term energy deal. Both of which ended in spring - the wheels have come off in the last few months! I’m still in a fortunate position as can save a bit but it’s definitely tighter all round.

So if you remove the nursery fees do you still feel massively impacted?

It's means that 4x foreign holidays per year will now be one, and a butlins trip.
We don't eat out multiple times per week anymore.
We have relied on credit cards more.
DHs car blew up about 6 weeks ago, we haven't been able to replace it. Given the extortionate cost of cars, and lack of spare cash we've not got the money to take out a loan to just purchase... can't really cut back any more to make the money to pay a loan back magically appear.
DH is working the next 8 weekends as well as tge 5 days a week- he returned to work a day after baby and I were discharged when I have birth 3 weeks ago. He also didn't attend scans or appts as he couldn't lose any of the self employed income.
I only buy the kids clothes from asda or primark now.
I shop much more carefully than I did.

DD said to me yesterday "Mum I don't remember the last time we shopped properly. I used to get bags and bags of clothes, now you buy less for all three of us than I ever had"

I am so sorry. These are the stories people need to hear.

If it helps i know of a couple (with a baby) who is moving back with family in their 30s even though both have jobs. They have a baby. This is in the usa but i think the UK is similar.

You are older than me but i think that when you were my age (31), you wouldn't think a professional couple would need to do that in a cheap area (michigan) which i guess is the equivalent of a news reporter and a creative media professional (married with a baby) having to move back in with their mum at 34 in Darlington.

It sounds quite incredible to me but this problem is global. Usa is just perhaps a few years ahead of us.

We have a net household income of £5.5k per
month (2 adults) We haven’t felt the pinch too much tbh, we managed a trip to America about 4 months ago which was £7k and we’re having the patio done in May, which is another £7k. The holiday was paid for in cash and the patio will also be paid for in cash.

We’re finding things are a bit tighter towards the end of the month and we’re not saving as much though. I’ve got an interview for a better paid job next week and DH has just applied for a promotion so fingers crossed he’ll get and interview too.

In the real world...

Price of food is really going up. I used to treat myself to a decent bar of chocolate but that is going up and up.

Similar to you, fairly well paid, had plenty spare each month not to think about money too much and then prices of food increased and nursery raised their fees by 10% two years running.

We’re still comparatively fine but all the buffer has gone and we have to decide if we will do a or b and consider the impact. We’ve booked no holidays this year for the first time ever.

Household income of over £10k a month. It's not impacted us really although we're more conscious to not show wealth in real life because we know we are fortunate.

I still buy the kids clothes on vinted, we have one car but we prioritise travel and life experiences. We eat out when we fancy it but we also shop at Aldi. I've not noticed our Aldi bills go up as much as when I occasionally nip to Tesco for a branded shop.

Thankfully we locked in our mortgage on a 10 year fixed because of something I read on Mumsnet. So we bought out our earlier mortgage - cost us £3k - but locked in when rates were 2.2%. Saved us a fortune! Thanks Mumsnet!

Doesn’t it depend what you consider impact? The cost of many things has increased due to inflation, everyone is impacted in some way but for some that’s saving less for a rainy day, pension, or cutting back on non essential services, fewer holidays, cheaper holidays, no holidays etc. And for some people it’s radically changing what they can afford to eat, where they can afford to live and is a week to week nightmare.

Might shop at M&S rather then Waitrose now and then I suppose but no real impact. Try and charge the hybrid a bit more perhaps but petrol is quite a lot lower than where it should be. Actually benefitting from the higher interest rates on my various ISAs and use the interest to pay for family holidays.
Personal income 142k, no mortgage. Family of 4.

The mortgage rise was £1000 a month so still pretty impacted by it

Yes this is the first year we haven’t booked any holidays

we were planning a big trip as well since it’s my 30th but that’s out!

I feel we have reached a point where as the top 10%, we have an obligation to spread awareness of the scale of inequality. Of course we are not the 'rich' but the gap between us and the rest of society, as well as the gap between us (top 10% in household income based on IFS calculator) and the top 1% is widening.

Many on mumsnet call on the top 1% to be transparent with their finances or feel that it is useful to point out that the money that rishi sunak spent as much on his swimming pool is enough to buy a London flat but yet pays a lower tax rate than my DH (who is paying 60% marginal tax rate). This is to highlight the scale of inequality. Similarly we too should be upfront about our relative privilege. If we hide it, the narrative is that 99% of us are suffering though that isn't really true.

https://theconversation.com/wealthy-but-worried-why-the-uks-top-10-are-turning-their-backs-on-the-rest-of-society-

I do think in future, it wouldn't be the top 1% vs the top 10% vs the 90%. But it would be the top 0.01% vs the top 5% vs the 95%. But still we have a responsibility to wider society.

Surely you can't be serious?

OP I'm in a support group for parents of children with additional needs. It's heartbreaking. Many are lone parents, most can't work due to the children's disabilities. 3 have been forced to move due to being unable to afford the increased interest rates.

Many have had to give up their therapies as they either can't afford them or can't afford to get there. Lots of the children have special/restricted diets and some of the mums go hungry themselves in order to continue providing for their children. Many are now hugely in debt to their energy providers as turning it off simply isn't an option when you rely on medical equipment.

It's a miserable existence for some and their mental health has suffered greatly. The disabled have been disproportionately affected by the COL crisis and the growing inequality disgusts me.

We’ve never had any money, as we don’t have very good jobs. Energy bills brought us to the limit last year. Nights out, concerts, holidays… Haven’t had them for five years anyway. Nothing done to the house, either. We’ve been standing still for a while, but last year was the worst of it, hopefully!

My sister, meanwhile, has done up the house, had an extension. Lots of holidays, concerts, weekends away coming up. Family events. New car. Many of my friends are the same. They have better jobs than us, but more kids as well…

Fuck me
AIBU to ask the super privileged yes I mean you missing your X4 holidays and , boo hoo "only one bag of clothes these days"

To pop off

I know Mumsnet was middle class but this is making me gag with shock envy / disbelief....