To think this increase in cost is going to break me?

[Yummmyy]

I earn a decent salary. Whenever I go to Tesco for a basic food shop, sone items are going up literally 50p plus within a matter of two weeks. Orange juice was 2.20 for Tesco’s basic, the most expensive 4.30!!

Yes I know orange juice isn’t an essential but when you’re well above minimum wage and have to cut something like that out of your food shop it does make you question what’s the point… anyone else relate to this? I just don’t know where it’s going to end

@Skethylita that’s fair comment. On my own my grocery bill would be tiny in comparison! I’m just saying that I do do a lot of what you suggest as ways to bring costs down, as much as possible within the confines of my work and the requirements of the household, and so once the spend comes down to a certain point it’s very difficult to get it lower. It’s not simply a question of people not trying.

(I agree with you about line-dried washing. But at this time of year it needs airing indoors to get it bone-dry. However the pp who said it makes washing smell bad has a very unusual point of view- unless they didn’t get it bone dry, it smelled damp, and they blamed that on line-drying.)

It will get worse under any government that doesn't deal with growing wealth inequality.

@sometimesmovingforwards 'Who the hell looks at a job spec with ‘huge’ levels of responsibility coupled with poor pay and thinks “ooh yes, that’s a bit of me that is, exactly what I’m looking for! Where do I sign please?”
Nurses, carers, teachers, anyone working in youth or community work?
Or people who have previously been in high powered jobs, but need to find something part-time/local due to caring responsibilities? And then find out it still has a lot of responsibility but is paid appallingly?

@sometimesmovingforwards Ok, I'll just erase my disabilities and my son's should I? And go back in time to stop his dad dying? What the hell kind of choice do I have about careers?

It's amazing how bad the situation has got but it seems people are only bothered about immigration. We've just had the worst, most corrupt government ever. Labour are just pandering to the right wing in the country but those idiots hate them anyway.
If reform get in there will be no NHS, welfare state etc. We are turning into the horror show that is the USA.

Hi op,

Can you look into club card? Tesco does charge horrendously if no club card up to 1 pound for no reason I can think of.
Also all the points get turned into money so save it for the end of the month?

It isn’t so much about cutting but juggling.

Still not nice but that will get you out of rough patches.

Good luck op 🌺

And there will probably never a gov that doesn’t encourage growing wealth inequality either… they just market it differently 🤷🏼‍♀️

It's the cost of everything. My cat was a bit under the weather and the consultation plus antibiotics was over £100. It's exhausting.

It's ridiculous how much prices have gone up for everything everywhere and continue to do so. Even the cheaper shops aren't cheap anymore.

As far as I'm aware they're still making huge profits so there isn't a need to do this, like oil companies. It's because they can. I know people who work for manufacturers and the mark up from buy to sell costs are huge.

Tell me about it. I nearly had a fit at the price of Lurpak butter in Iceland a few days ago. £6.75 for 600g! 😱 Christ almighty. I can remember not long ago it was 3 quid.

Lancrelady80
NHS says average nursing wage is between £33 and £35k

NHS England need to update that webpage - the starting salary for a qualified Band 5 nurse is stated as £27,055 (2022?) - it's £29,969 now so the average wage will be more.

Let's hope they realise soon something has to be done, otherwise things will get even worse than they are now.

I shop at Waitrose and m and s but when I pop into Lidl/ Aldi/ Tesco/ Morrisons/ Asda I don’t find them especially any cheaper for the kind of things I buy.

How sad that people are suggesting giving up a grind of black pepper is a reasonable thing for working people to be doing in one of the wealthiest corners of the globe. I despise the race to the bottom mentality we seem to have in this country at the moment, I don’t want people to be making do the best they can with lentils and veg off cuts and sitting in the dark with 5 jumpers on when there are billionaires and companies that still aren’t paying their taxes.

It is only my bet but they won’t do something really…
baby boomers will, you know, not be around in 30years so that will be a lot of houses free, rent will go down except in nice « location, location, location » area.
with AI, not sure what the job market will look like but defo another shift and ladder for wealth has opened.

But yeah. That is a few gen stuck in the middle. It always has been the case though…

Everything costs far too much 😬

Oh gosh! I saw this and was like whhhaaaatttt???

That’s not accurate - I get a small amount of UC as I work full time and have a 17 year old . I get NO housing help and the only council tax help I get is a 25% sole adult discount !
IF I was in need of housing cost support , I could get a loan to cover only the interest for a limited amount of time ! This isn’t a gripe !
But , UC claimants bath hugely !!!!!!!!

Do you mean you get no housing help because you have no rent or mortgage ? because if you have rent to pay you should be getting a rent element on UC?

Jan 2025 Germany: Europe's largest economy is facing a third consecutive year of recession

German companies in the Fortune 500, including big names such as Siemens, Bosch, Thyssenkrupp and Deutsche Bahn, are reckoned to have laid off more than 60,000 staff during the first 10 months of 2024. Bosch, one of the country's most admired manufacturing companies, announced in November alone plans to let go of some 7,000 workers.

More of the same is expected in 2025.

news.sky.com/story/germany-europes-largest-economy-is-facing-a-third-consecutive-year-of-recession-13289549

But then you have equity release and costs of residential care, so there won't be a lot of houses left behind.

This isn’t right. Each area has a value for HB which they’ll pay- in my area when I claimed (my claim ended in 2022), HB for a 2-bed was around £600. Unfortunately, private rents in this area were approximately double that- even the grottiest places were well over £900. So HB doesn’t cover most people’s whole rent.

Also council tax discount (apart from the single occupant discount) is not given to everyone. I never qualified for it.

Lastly, you have to work or seek work on UC, unless you have a baby in arms. And they make you find and do work, never mind fitting around childcare, or they stop your money as a sanction. With a primary aged child you are supposed to work 25 hours a week.

Lots of rumours abound about the easy life on benefit, but for the vast majority it’s a complete myth. It’s in many ways easier not to claim, because claiming is so onerous and getting it even a little bit wrong is so damaging that it’s actually very stressful.

In Tesco it’s £5.10 for 3 litres. It’s called vegetable oil on the bottle, but if you look at the ingredients it’s rapeseed oil.

Totally feel you. My mortgage is going up by £200 a month next month and I honestly do not know how I am going to manage (one parent household) already at breaking point. I can’t work more hours as I wouldn’t be any better off due to breakfast club and after school club fees. It’s absolute madness. There’s lots of thing I just don’t buy now, like strawberries, £2.50 for a punnet. Erm no thanks we can do without them. My car insurance is up next month too so that’s another price hike, not to mention council tax going up in April. Seems impossible.

Oh yeah in terms of money…nothing will be inherited.

But there will be for the first time more places to rent than people needing a place as there were less birth than the baby-boomers. Not in the very nice areas but the rest…yeah.

They have that in Japan. You can find houses stupid cheap because there is just not enough people to rent.

Same im on uc cannot remember last time i done a big shop or went to the shops for that matter my dad gets me basics when i need them , when rent , gas and elec and ct is took out i have very little left for food