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?

@Bluevelvetsofa this would be my worry too, if I took early retirement eg. At 60. Is there anything you would have done differently or better prepared yourself?
I have decent pensions, although my already retired DH hasn't. So with a fixed income and increasing costs, that would start to pinch.
And what went wrong with the down sizing? Also an idea we've been mulling over...

Median household income is £38k. So the average household has only slightly more than one person in ft work. So you can both earn an average wage, and still have double the average household income.

@SmithfamilyRobinson no one is interested in viewing the house. COVID brought DH’s job to an abrupt end, so that had an impact on finances. He would have worked probably two or three more years, but he had to isolate initially and so it just dried up.

I have a reasonable pension, but it’s not really enough to cover all household expenses. We helped out the children with house deposits, thinking we could recoup the money, but that hasn’t happened of course. Our council tax is astronomical, fuel bills, car insurance - the same as everyone else really.

There are two things I might have done differently- bought a smaller house a few years ago and bot funded so much for the kids.

Do you have private pensions? Or only state?….. asking as my DD now retired ….has full state and similar amount local authority pension…..so ok but not great…..I’m wanting to retire ( 59) ….and will get a decent nhs pension but no state pension as yet…..but still wanting a fair standard of living ….ie holidays abroad …..U.K. short trips…..running a car…..just need to go for it I guess and then live within my means ……and dip into my savings as needed….that’s what they are there for.

Tbh, we haven't really felt a substantial impact. I'm very suprised by all those on very good incomes who claim to have been signifanctly affected - I can only assume that they were living far beyong their means and overstretching themselves, or had a change of circumstances.

We fixed our mortgage for five years at 1.84 in 2020. However if rates stay the same or continue to go down, we'll only be looking at an increase of £250 per month.

We haven't really seen an increase in our food bill, maybe £50 per month? Not sure if we have been subconsciously cutting back here. I plan meals for the week and just buy ingriedients so very little wastage or overbuying.

Bills have obviously increased, energy bills have doubled from £80 to £160. However this was over the course of several quarters so has just been gradually absorbed along with other increases. Other bills haven't really risen signifincantly.

We have an electric car and Ocutpus tariff that allows us to charge the car cheaply overnight £3.50 for 180 miles so haven't really felt fuel price increases.

We've both had 3-5% pay increases each year over the last few years and DH moved jobs 18 months ago for 25% pay rise. This combined with tax cuts has seen our pay increase by a few hundred per month and has more than absorbed COL costs. We managed two long haul holidays last year, two Europe city breaks, and several UK weekends away, as well as a few house renovations.

We don't tend to spend a lot on a day to day basis, hobbies include gym, hiking/outdoors, go to the cinema a lot with monthly pass etc

Joint income circa £100K. Overally I feel better off now than I did a few years ago.

We run our own business so can choose to pay ourselves more, which we have done.

Obviously we have seen the same price increase everyone else:

• duel fuel up to 280 from 130 (I remember being horrified when it went above £100 years back 🙄)
• council tax up again
• mortgage up £100 (not a massive mortgage and fixed before went too mad)
• food up in line with inflation
• fuel etc

So yes, everything costs more. We can cover it without any massive change to lifestyle, but it is bloody annoying.

I think it really depends on your mortgage. We fixed ours for 5 years at 1.87% just before rates went up dramatically. We've had a lot of savings to fall back on so we've been buffered quite a lot.
What has got to us is the price of everything apart from energy recently creeping up. Our food bills and clothes and shoes for the children cost a lot.
Our car broke last year and we'd usually buy a second hand car outright but second hand cars are so expensive now! We ended up getting a newish car on finance. It's a relatively low monthly payment and we own it at the end of the contract but it's an extra payment we didn't have before.
I wanted to take my children abroad for the first time now that they are a bit older but I can't understand how people afford it.
I could do with working more but can't afford the childcare needed.

I thought that when DC2 went to school (Sept 2024h I would be rolling in it.

Instead
Gas/Elec is £100 more expensive than a couple of years ago.
Food shop is about £200 more expensive a month.
Everything else up council tax, water, broadband, swimming lessons, petrol 20/30p more expensive per litre. Days out are not extortionate.
It looks like my mortgage is going up £250 per month in July.
So £550 per month extra but all the other little extra things that have gone up so I’m guessing £700 per month more. Due to 6 years of nursery fees (DC1 then DC2 we were looking forward to being able to save money. Car is 15 years old and on its last legs.

Mortgage has gone from £90 to £330
Food has increased from about £70 / 80 to about £120 to include two small dogs
Petrol / insurance . Not sure how much council tax will go up as haven't had bill yet .
The one that's the worst is energy from about £80 to up to £480 per month .
Luckily I'm of an age when I can absorb the increases without it impacting my quality of life

We’ve been impacted in some ways. We sold our house and bought a new one last year and this enabled us to pay off debts we had built up so in that respect we are better off but we took on a larger mortgage so we have to be careful with money.
Moving house to a more energy efficient one has meant that our energy bills have decreased but our food shopping has massively increased. Doesn’t help that I have 2 strapping teens that have big appetites so I don’t see a way of reducing my food bill

We are lucky to be better off than 2019, but I would never say this IRL. We've been able to increase our income and decrease our outgoings so we've been able to absorb the increases in council tax, food and utilities. We live frugally and I budget to within an inch of our lives after living through redundancy over 10yrs ago.

Mortgage went up from £850 to £1550 per month. Council tax has gone up. Energy bills from £120 to £260 per month. Food has gone up. Fuel and Insurance have gone up.
We have a decent combined income, but are struggling at the moment. We live in the North.

I've had quite a sizable promotion recently.

However, it's coincided with our mortgage deal being up, so it has been entirely absorbed by increased mortgage repayments and general COL increases.

Wheras a few years ago, it would have allowed for more treats, holidays, savings, overpaying the mortgage, etc.

When I got the promotion, my DH's response was "phew" not "yay".

I knew low mortgage rates would end at some point, and we factored in interest rates rising when we took it on, but it's just the cost increase of EVERYTHING that's the kicker right now.

@Kitkat1523 blimey are you me? Although not working in the NHS.

And @Bluevelvetsofa yes I can see your predicament.

We've experienced all the COL pinch point others have - fuel now £360 per month and food £140 per month. Luckily we are at the end of a fix after which the mortgage will be paid off (after 25.5 years) so luck rather than happenstance).

I see it more with my Gen Z kids - either no or little work and having to provide 100% meals as they are always here and only 1 has an income. And where are they going to live if we downsize especially as we are in a convenient place in the SE to commute?

We need all generations and parts of society to thrive.

We have definitely been impacted, our groceries are a lot more expensive as is our mortgage but, DS started school this year so we don't have nursery fees anymore. We just aren't saving as much as we used to and our disposable income has dropped.

Fortunately we haven't really been impacted. Any COL increases have been paid for with disposable income.
We live well under means. I grew up hugely in poverty though, and I think a lot of people who grew up like me live similarly now if they have a little spare money. I shop in sales, keep food pantry overflowing using food deals and bargains.
Joint take home 77k. I am mindfull IRL however about how tough things are for people, I hear it all the time from colleagues, especially those paying childcare also. Luckily ours are past the needing childcare stage now with what it cost's.

We have a decent income (mixture of income and benefits for disabled DD) but it’s definitely had an impact. Food bill has gone up probably by a third, mortgage up, every other bill has been added to. We rely on medical equipment for DD so electric bill is expensive. I’m a carer for DD but I’ve taken on a small freelance job of 10 hours a week which covers a bit of the increase. DH has had a small pay rise and we managed to pay off a car loan and that offset the mortgage. So we are lucky we can cover everything but we’ve had to juggle things to be able to do it.

Get you

Our experience of the CoL crisis has been skewed by us moving house recently. We’ve tightened our belts somewhat, but our mortgage & bills have gone up significantly and we’re also doing work to the house. We’ve had unexpected costs too such as boiler problems and needing to replace a car we hadn’t planned.

Our joint income is around £125k but I work part time so this could be increased to £150-60k if necessary.

We won’t be going abroad this year but went twice last year (two week holiday in Europe and a city break); we probably shouldn’t have done this having moved house but they were booked before we decided to move, so we’re cutting back with a week in the UK this year, and a weekend in France in June.

We have less disposable income currently, but this means less meals out / clothes for the sake of it. Our children still do lots of clubs, although we don’t pay private school fees (nor could we afford to x2). I’ve noticed the food shop has increased a lot, and I split this between Waitrose and Aldi, plus a Gousto food parcel for 3/5 meals weekly.

For us, I think the CoL crisis has meant our income - whilst we’re very comfortable - doesn’t afford us the luxuries a similar income would have 5 - 10 years ago. This isn’t a complaint, more an observation

Mortgage, Council tax, electric, fuel, childcare, home insurance and food have all gone up. We are paying out around 500 extra a month compared to 2020. We also have no savings as my car engine went last year and we can't afford to build it back up again.

Not very impacted BUT we’re very lucky we fixed at 2.56% for 5 years in October 2022.

Our energy bills are low though £88 for gas and electric, £28.50 for water… we live in a new build so it’s very well insulated - makes a difference! (Victorian terrace before)

I also had a £20k payrise at work as I qualified in my profession and my work gave us good increases for COL.

Little one starts nursery in October so I imagine we’ll feel the squeeze a lot more then!

We've been impacted in the sense that we have less disposable income and less to put in savings, but we're not struggling on a day-to-day basis.

Our mortgage only went up by £50 a month (but we only paid £300 to start with).

We're currently £900 in credit with the energy company so have actually reduced our DD right down now we're heading into the warmer months.
Car insurance went up for both of us but not by significant amounts.
We actually got a reduction in pet insurance - one of our cats died last year and when I rang to take her off the policy, they gave me money off all our policies until our renewals.
Council tax only rose by about £5 a month.

The major thing we've noticed is food and cat litter - those have all shot up in price but luckily we can still afford it all without any real issues.

My take home pay is usually 5.6k average a month.
but have always lived on 3.6k
i am now on leave so
and have not yet had to increase from the 3.6k living costs.