To be sick of sneezing and spending £20?

[ghicks]

Anyone else? I feel like everything costs more and more and I’d just like to moan about it. Every day it seems to be something else!

We are going back to the days in which living is hard.
It's been a long time since graduates/tradespeople working full time had to ration basics like food and heat. Even work and training aren't routes out of poverty anymore.

I think we recognise a lot of this is "needless". This isn't a thread about not being able to afford the very basics and I don't think anyone on here is ignorant of that. But when you've done it all "right" and are working 40 hour weeks, running a house and earning just too much to get any sort of help beyond CB its a bit galling to not be able to say yes to a day out with pizza and a film because it will cost £1-200 quid. Just standard cinema, pizza express, nothing flash. The vouchers, take your own snacks etc yes I get that but it takes the fun out of it somewhat when you're counting the pennies all the time.

I agree with that. Also "needless spending" is exactly what people do when times are tough and everything feels like a slog. You get your small pleasures where you can or else you'd go crackers. George Orwell documented this - people spending the last of their money on sugar rather than virtuous but dull food. It is dispiriting to leave the supermarket £100 lighter and only have boring everyday things to show for the work that went in to earning that £100.

DH says 5p per litre rise on fuel duty is likely.
Thats 35p per gallon!
That puts the cost of everything up.
We’re not really struggling but the hall and downstairs toilet radiators are on frost free rather than heated.
Changed from my preferred toilet roll to a cheaper one.
One plus is I am drinking no wine at home and I used to drink every erm I mean some nights. I very rarely go out.
I think inflation will rise because it seemed prices rose then plateaued but everything seems to be going up again.

Think you've missed the point of the thread. Of course my children don't NEED candles for a carved pumpkin. No one's arguing that. But people are sick of not being able to afford even the smallest of indulgences - if you read the OP, you'll see the thread is supposed to be where people can find solace in a good whinge, and solidarity with others going through the same.

This isn’t a thread about how to live on a low income. It’s about the frustration of not being able to afford fairly small treats on what should be a comfortable income. If we all decide that of course we shouldn’t ever eat out because it’s a luxury, then we bring the wider economy crashing, which helps no one.

We are similar. Shopping in Aldi, very few takeaways, buying clothes in Primark and charity shops. And if you knew what we did for work you’d think we would have no money worries. Younger me certainly would have done.

Not only is it very annoying to come on a thread like this and pretend things like a coffee from a coffee shop is a luxury reserved for the super rich but what do these PP think is going to happen to the economy when the average person can no longer afford a coffee out, a trip to the cinema, a takeaway pizza?

The economy needs us to spend on the “unnecessary” as much as we deserve to have a small bit of enjoyment in our short lives.

I agree with you OP, something needs to change.

Cost of everything going up and growing children. Eldest has just gone into adult shoe sizes which means costs are even higher.

I buy coffees out about twice a year now. I'd rather have the heating on.

Went our for lunch, just two of us and nothing at all extravagant. £64!

We don't go out much, no takeaways now as they are so expensive and I really resent the cost. Food shopping is so expensive. We eat a lot less meat. We are lucky to be OK financially and mortgage is paid off. but it still feels scary and I really feel for people with young kids and mortgage/rent to pay.

Coffee / lunch out (even supermarket meal deals) / big ticket items are few and far between these days.

Helps that I WFH so make something cheap and cheerful for lunch, don't particularly like coffee and we live in London so there is lots to do that is free or doesn't cost much.

In the summer we did most things with a packed lunch from home (but I'd take something "treaty" like a pack of biscuits or a multipack of crisps) and if kids wanted ice cream I'd try and find a supermarket so I could buy a 6 pack as opposed to visiting an expensive shop / van.

We still had treats but I made them the more affordable variety.

I rarely drop £4 on a coffee when I think that that's a week worth of "treats" for us all in the summer holidays.

Exactly. Shops and restaurants etc. are already closing down all over the place. It is really not good.

I thought this was going to be about the increased price of cold and flu medication

I did too! I thought it was an ultra-efficient single complaint about two completely seperate problems!

My husband usually does the food shop, but I did it yesterday. I can't believe the prices now. Everything seemed to be £3.50 and up, just normal things liked cooked meat for sandwiches, a packet of sausages.

Me three!

The only way I don’t end up spending is not going out. It’s ridiculous…. I’ll be out for pick up/drop off and milling around waiting in the shopping centre…. Next thing I’m carrying two bags with items that’s not even for me?! How on earth!!!!

I do that about once a month..pop to m&s to get us a nice dinner on a Saturday. By the time I've added a few treats, it's £50 odd.

Same it's fucking awful.
We've taken to avoiding the supermarkets as much as possible this has led to some very strange evening meals where we might have toast or a bagel that's hanging around the kitchen rather than going to buy an actual meal. The more visits to the supermarket we do the more we spend.
We have good jobs we can afford to add the odd extras we want into the trolly but it gets rediculous.

Same here.

I think I might go back to online shopping even though delivery is 7! At least I'll just stick to a plan then.

Agreed. Everything is so fricking expensive now. Actually l sneeze a lot and even tissues cost more now!

We've taken issue with Tesco (and I'm sure the other supermarkets) and how they do their offers.
The number of times DH has to go to customer service because one or more of their offers hasn't gone through on the till.

And they way they now restrict which flavours or items in a range that are now in the offer. You can have 2 for 2.20 but there's one flavour that isn't in the offer but they'll not make that completely clear on the shelf. It's just naughty marketing and they're hoping people don't realise or are in a rush to get out of the store, or only notice at home and just forget about it.

I use the self scanner and check every single thing that I scan to double check the offer, as I agree they seem to leave the offer labels on the shelves after the actual offer has run out.

Oh this boils my piss
I brought eggs from Tesco on Thursday the offer said X amount but it scanned as X I queried it and it was a mixed pack not the large but the mixed pack was basically mixed in with the large and it wasn't obvious what the offer was
Feel like they are constantly trying to trick us.
There obviously not but it feels that way.

Yes yes lets all sit in our dark cold houses all winter and literally have no fun or joy in life.

🙄