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?

One thing I’ve noticed about this at Lakeside is how many bags people are carrying. Unlike a few years ago, there are lots of people window-shopping and just eating out or only a couple things/very small bags.

I only see it because I used to be very very poor.

We affected but not starving. Covid and IR35 set me back so now earning much less than I was in 2006. DP self employed and hasn’t been able to increase prices for at least 10 years.
Had to change to interest only mortgage. Surviving but not saving or doing maintenance work on house etc
We have always been frugal - second hand for most things so didn’t have much to cut back on.

Realise we are fortunate compared with many.

if both are working then no, it’s not

Median wages for adults in the UK is £35k

ill let you multiply that by 2 if you’re able to

I'm on a low income, I'm disabled & on benefits. My rent is going up 7.7%, gas & electric £30 a month, food bill up £100 a month, in real terms my income has reduced by 25% & that's before I lost tax credits & child benefit as ds is now 20 which amounted to £187 a week. I'm managing but I don't know how I will manage next year when I get dragged into paying tax as the thresholds haven't increased.

Feel free to look it up.

Median HOUSEHOLD income in this country is £35k. It's simply an objective fact. You don't times by anything. It is what it is.

So clearly £60k is a household bringing in a lot more than average and so cannot possibly be classed as low income.

You're welcome

HungryBeagle

No kids at home anymore. One of my biggest costs is to run the self employed part of my work - insurance/professional fees/taking online payment percentage - none of that can be reduced legally and it's over £200 quid a month

Literally everything has doubled.

Last year my direct debits were £4,300 a month - now they're £7k ! Sure, £30 of them is Netflix and tv license - but I'm really not cancelling £16.99 Netflix when I can't afford to leave the house and work more than full time

I can pay everything from my wage in terms of housing, bills, food etc. But I am paying off a debt also, so the money left after that isn't much. So now I do a days overtime every week which I put straight into savings for a holiday. I wouldn't afford it out of my main wages, as I have in other years. So it has affected me in that way. Knowing how much other people are struggling, I don't dwell on it. It could be worse.

We don't have a massive income and the COL would have affected us more but I managed to negotiate a substantial payrise at the end of 2023 which has helped a lot. It would be nice if that payrise could have gone towards holidays and luxuries but instead it counteracts the impact of the higher mortgage rate, food costs etc and still allows us to go out regularly.

120k joint income. Noticing the pinch now, mainly down to DD being at university which is a little crippling!! Mortgage up, bills up etc. I only do 3 days, could do more I guess but not quite at that point yet. Definitely not eating out now, buying lots less, shopping on vinted etc, mainly because I feel ripped off in the shops and restaurants now! Still having a couple of holidays a year but saving way way less!!

I said household and you misread.

When you resort to personal insults you've lost the argument.

Yes, Shops and department stores in Manchester are super busy at the weekends….but take a good look around and you’ll see far fewer carrier bags being held.

I really cannot see how things are going to get better, it feels like the wheels have come off and the country is swirling the drain.

household income a bit over 100k, living in the north

of course we’re impacted but I wouldn’t say our lifestyles have changed dramatically other than definitely eating out less. You can never get change for £100 these days when the four of us eat out. We’re not a very “spendy” family though, we buy what we want in sainsburys but other stuff only when strictly needed. At sainsburys I definitely stock up what’s got a deal on and certain things like coffee and yoghurt I refuse to buy full price anymore.

but we worry about money more and save a lot less. So the mortgage will take far longer to pay off than we hoped. So yes. Impacted. And I can’t imagine anyone isn’t tbh. We luckily fixed our mortgage 2 years ago, I dread to think how people who came off a fixed rate last/this year are managing

Definitely agree on the eating out point, we went to a chain pub yesterday for Mother’s Day. A couple of years ago our meal for 2 there was about £20 including refill drinks. Yesterdays meal was £80 - only difference was an additional kids meal compared to last time (Since DD didn’t exist then)

Our rates went from 1.2% to 5.8% and it definitely hurts

I know you said household

You have used the wrong term and stats since the start, but can’t see it. Odd really

Single person here, renting privately. I've only been lightly affected - of course I've noticed food costs going up, but I'm lucky to live within walking distance of four supermarkets, so I'm savvy when it comes to buying food on offer. My rent is now the market rate and is fixed until next spring, but I work in health and social care, so there's always lots of overtime available when I want it, I've no debts, rarely drink and have no need for pets or a car. I live within my means and have saved up a fair bit since I finished studying last year. However, I think I'd be screwed if I wasn't getting regular overtime.

People are free to look it up on the ONS. A £60k household is well above average no matter what verbal gymnastics you attempt to try to save face. Others commented similar so you are the outlier.

I have no desire to engage with people who resort to personal insults when they are proved wrong. Doubling down isn't a flex. Thanks but no.

The PP said she had a household income of £60k. The average household income is £35k. Therefore as a household, they do not have a low income.

UK CPI food and drink 2023 | Statista

Not sure what you are buying @Helfs for your food costs to have doubled? You need to go back about 20 years on average for costs to have doubled. I know that some lower cost items have increased more (eg lack of availability of budget lines) but you say you are higher earners.

We're lucky enough not to have been impacted in a noticeable way. We both earn quite well so were comfortable before and comfortable after. Mortgage costs went up, but at this point we are paying off quite fast so interest is a relatively small proportion of payments, so the % impact is smaller. Gas/Elec went up, but we made a few changes (mainly getting rid of Aga!) at the same time which outweighed the increase.

We have however reluctantly started paying for private health insurance due to concerns about NHS provision. That's been our main increase in costs.

I'd be very happy to pay higher taxes for to invest in public services.

Obviously food has gone up circa £100 a month, energy is up £40 a month but nothing much else as mortgage was paid off 16 months ago. Biggest impact is that the more general global economic woes has affected dps company which means no bonus this year, typically £15k after tax. This is a global company so can't even blame Brexit

Thank you.

I thought it was quite clear too.

Energy bills gone from £120 to £350 a month

Food bill significantly increased - probably around 40%

However mortgage fix remains until mid-2026 so we’ve been fairly well insulated.

We only holiday in the UK once a year atm anyway and this hasn’t changed.

We’ve felt things get more expensive but aren’t ‘affected’ at the moment owing to fixed mortgage, good pay, and decent pay increases.

Very very fortunate so far.

We have managed to increase earnings so any COL increase hasn't been felt as increased prices have been covered by the additional income

We don’t have a mortgage, but we only have pensions.

Food bill can’t be cut any further. We’ve shopped in Aldi for years.

Energy bill has increased, so our use of heating has decreased.

We don’t have takeaways or eat out.

We don’t go anywhere that costs money.

I will struggle to buy presents for family this year.

No new or second hand clothes.

What we have tried to do is to downsize. That hasn’t worked. I don’t think there’s much else to cut back really. It’s pretty boring too.

Single parent earning £41k. Child benefit and DLA (middle rate care).I would be eligible for about £10 a week in UC but I have savings from an inheritance. I have no choice but to manage. It is impossible most months to not dip into the savings which I was reliant on for retirement. If I live past 70, I will need to consider suicide.