To ask when is the cost of living going to go down?

[scotpancakes]

When will working hard start to pay off? I scrape by every month. I can't afford to save, so I can't afford a house! I live in the South East and rent prices are crazy. Will this country ever become more affordable? For the past 16 years it's been doom and gloom and it just goes on and on!

Are you currently renting? I know it’s not an option for everyone but I had my DD and realised I was pretty stuck if I wanted to buy a house when I had childcare and rent costs (we are also south east). So me and my partner lived with parents whilst I retrained and we saved - took 3 years but it was a means to and end and we got our own place and I have a professional, stable career (no way we could’ve done this if we weren’t living with parents, I HATED every second but so glad I stuck with it and bit my tongue haha)

@Crushed23 good for you! Where are you going? Can you squeeze me in your suitcase?

@Waitingforthecold annoyingly my family moved abroad for a better quality of life 😂😂

most governments will act to avoid deflation, so prices won't go down overall, the best you can hope for is for your living costs to fall as a percentage of your income.

if you're renting privately, it will take a while, but any possibility of social housing?

I thought energy prices went up because of not using Russia to supply our gas anymore. Surely they won't be in war with Ukraine forever. I don't know why no one talks about this anymore.

It's miserable isn't it. I was definitely better off twenty years ago in the sense that I had more disposable income which of course I frittered away on having a lovely time. Have you thought of a side hustle? I paid for my Christmas presents by doing Vinted. There's a thread somewhere on here about earning £10 a day. Tutoring? Bit of FE teaching?

I noticed that yesterday when I thought about buying one! It definitely used to be three!

Sadly I agree with others, things won't improve until they sort out the housing problem in this country.

Nobody should have to retrain or move 100s of miles away from family/friends/school/work etc.

It’s a stupid statement to make.

Being a single parent in the SE will always be incredibly hard. If I were to be single in the future, I would just hold on tight until you meet someone you can share the mortgage/rent/bills with, whether that's a romantic partner or a friend.

@ThinWomansBrain no sadly not eligible. I earn just enough to afford private rent! I'm the squeezed middle. I'm very lucky to be the squeezed middle but it would be nice to have some spare pennies

Thank you to everyone who has commented on this thread! I've actually learnt a lot about how the economics of the country works! I just had hoped the struggle might not be so hard in the future. A joint income would be great but can't imagine meeting anyone let alone living with anyone!

Oh this sucks! It can be so disheartening ☹️ not a single person I know has managed to buy a house in SE without inheritance/help from parents so don’t feel down on yourself.

If you do retrain, and it’s of interest to you, allied health professional courses have better funding (you can already have a degree) and your childcare is funded 80%, if you have those costs!

@CoCoNoDough I do not understand the energy price cap! Surely the government can regulate this?

@Waitingforthecold ohhh this is interesting! I might have a look. To be honest I'm despondent in current work so looking for anything different

Ref change jobs

Example
Jobs which involve unsocial hours like
shift work or nights generally pay more, but are not child or family friendly. However, you could find someone to share the childcare if you covered their childcare in return.

I have also found that jobs which are historically classed as male jobs attract a higher salary than female jobs.
I used to work in one of these jobs in the past.
The females often performed better than the men.

The easiest thing is to moan & do nothing.

Take action !

@GettingThemFromHereToThere sending a massive virtual hug for your understanding! Xxxx

Hold up: the south east is massive. There are cheap parts. Let’s not get carried away here. If we want op to up and move to a cheap place she can do so and still stay in the Se of England.

But as a poster above said the idea that everyone just jumps up and moves to the cheapest areas to survive is madness.

cheap housing generally comes with poverty. It’s a pretty big decision to chose to bring your children up in a deprived area where you will often have relatively poor schools and lack of opportunity. What are you doing for their future?!

It's going to depend entirely on industry and circumstances isn't it?

To give you a specific example. I work in childcare. There are various qualifications that one could do to increase earning potential.

A nanny with sleep training qualifications will likely earn more than one without (and will have the opportunity to do extra freelance work).

A nanny who has experience working with children with SEN/specific medical conditions will demand a higher salary than one without.

A nanny earns significantly more than a nursery nurse, so making a move sideways would massively increase earning potential.

There are exams to move up within the police service. There are opportunities for classroom assistants to become higher level teaching assistants or teachers. If you work in a supermarket there are qualifications you can do to push your way up the ladder.

The OP works in the media. There are a range of jobs to be had, not all pay the same. There will be some training she can do or some experience to be gained or another job to consider that will allow her to earn more.

I'm really struggling to believe that you don't understand this tbh!

OP already works in an office job, I don’t think she needs to investigate the sort of work you’re describing.

This is absolutely immoral.
Those extremely wealthy people could easily pay for themselves.
Seedy Prints Andy is hopefully going to lose his free mansion at Windsor.

Everyone I know who is /was serious about buying their own place has somehow managed it- even if it means moving.
Shared ownership used to be a way in for some people ( Newbuilds)

🤞

Ref move & retrain comments

I was made redundant a few years ago
I moved 200+ miles away to secure another well paid job.
Better than living on very small amount of benefits !

Inflation measures the percentage rise in prices. So prices go up, it just depends at what percentage rate.
Now and again certain items might fall in price for a number of reasons, but inflation is based on measuring the prices of goods used by the modern consumer.
So we don’t measure the price movements of video recorders anymore or iPods for example.

This.

Also the Spanish phenomena which did this isn’t a one off so it is likely to happen again. Effectively causing more increases.

Aquapeer
Ref sort of job

You do not know what industry I worked in.

I also worked in an office !

Everyone I know who is /was serious about buying their own place has somehow managed it

@oakleaffy

Same. I don't recognise the whole 'everyone I know who bought in the South East got help from family / an inheritance' AT ALL. Virtually all my friends who bought a property in London did so without family help (we're millennial professionals).

This. Also, logistically the job market can't support everybody being in a 70k a year job so there will inevitably be some people who can retrain/chase promotions/change industry all they want but won't be successful.

Work more hours/get a second job is all very well if you don't have DC or have free childcare on tap, otherwise you're literally just working to pay childcare so you can work.

Lots of very smug replies to OP but the reality of the system is some people will be left struggling with little or no way to improve their lot.