Am I just stuck in the past or are price increases recently out of control?

[newire]

I am late 40’s and so there is some change my idea of prices are stuck in the past but my DH had a day off yesterday and we went up to town to go to a film and then dinner at very basic but nice Greek place, we got up to town early so went to a café for a cup of tea and a bit of cake to share. By the time we got home we had spent £100. In 2019 we could have done the exact same evening out for half of that. Which does leave me feeling like the goal posts have been moved quite a bit.

Obviously, I know prices go up, that hospitality is under a lot of pressure but prior to this it took more like 20 years for prices to double and now they have doubled in the past 4 or 5 years and it shows little sign of slowing down. Same with anything you buy, a new paperback book can be £15! It feels like Tea is more expensive every week.

Like I say I know prices go up but am I crazy to feel that things have gone up excessively? Even though inflation is supposed to be falling the price of products and services never seems to fall. Or am I just getting old and stuck in the past?

Until recently we used to stay every summer at a BiL’s place near Dijon, and I always found food prices very high compared to the U.K. And this was Carrefour, the Tesco equivalent. I well remember paying €4 for a cauliflower, and this was a few years ago. Admittedly quite a big one, but even so….

As for chicken breasts, I once needed 16, so at their 😱 prices it was just as well another guest was paying - he gallantly said that since he didn’t do any of the cooking, this was his contribution!

Chez nous, it's picnics all the way

Egg custards in Tesco are still cheap. Something like 95p for two. These are our mid week treat !

I know.. been going to the same salon for years and it’s crept up then leapt up after Covid. Simple trim, no feathers or layers and simple colour (root tint for grey nothing fancy!) simply can’t afford it anymore and have considered travelling to Reading or Guildford as it’s likely cheaper even with train fare!

DH paid £6.75 for a large box of Maltesers in Sainbury’s last week. Insanity.

“Engineers, some Doctors and others are earning anywhere from 20% - 30% less than they would have been 15 years ago”

Do you have any actual evidence of that, or just what the unions can spin? An F1 in 2010 started on £22412 and an F1 today starts on £38831. Adjusted for inflation at CPI, £22412 would be £34825, and at RPI would be £42021, so nowhere near your 20/30% below.

I bought a single regular size packet of crisps today £1.85.

thats nuts!

Why? Wasn’t there a multipack available?

My shop energy costs went from 15p a unit to 69p. I had an energy broker trying to bully me into agreeing a 3 year deal at over £1 a unit I told them politely to sod off.

It's dropped back now to 25p but the daily charge has rocketed.

The government help at the time equated to 2p

I just returned from Lisbon where the prices were at least 30% lower. For example, I fancied a Tiramisu oat latte at Starbucks in Bristol but wasn’t willing to pay £7.99. 4€50 in Lisbon!

They’re not even the nicest. Branston beans are much better and obtainable at 50p a can. Rare if not impossible to find Heinz that cheap now. They don’t deserve the custom, absolute rip off.

£150 for cut and highlights today for Dd. I nearly died. I don’t pay that much, maybe £110.

I prefer branston and they’re not as much of a rip off. Most Heinz things are not even the best. Their ketchup is crap lol.

Lots of people went out of business. It's been a struggle for everyone to adjust after covid. We've had many years of this it's not sudden.

Friend of mine likes the Crosse and Blackwell ones

The average salary in Portugal is considerably lower than in the UK; it’s about half so your coffee was just as expensive for a native.

I’ve noticed that - beef mince seems to have gone up by more than anything else. Not sure why.

I’ve changed to pork mince for most things, which is half the price of beef.

I buy my period knickers in Tesco (just your bog standard granny pants for the time of the month) , stocked up last year and they were £6.50 for 5 pair.

I went today and they were £14!!!! Absolutely no chance!

It might not be across the board but it is a real thing similar to the situation with resident doctors its something like most people are 3% better off now than they were 15 years ago but certain professions are even with any recent pay rises 20-30% worse off than they were. To be clear this doesn't mean they have had a pay cut but adjusting for inflation their salaries are that much lower compared to someone doing the same job 15 years ago. I don't have the details to hand right now but there has been plenty of info on it in regards to doctors for example of late.

I know people can argue that you aren't guaranteed a specific wage but most people would expect to at least be in the same ballpark as their senior colleagues were when they were graduates and its not the case these days.

It's definitely an ever decreasing circle. The more the corners are cut and the menus and portions reduced whilst prices stay high, the less I'm inclined to go out to eat. Service is poor and it's just not enjoyable. Nothing is as good.

I agree with PPs that I'd rather go to a slightly elevated place like The Ivy chain and pay a bit more, but go less frequently, but then I had a bad dining experience there recently too. Eating out just isn't that much fun anymore even if you can afford it. (Unless you go really high end).

It’s insane. I barely see the point of eating out tbh

It’s mental. My water bill has just gone up by 40% 40%!!
for pumping shit into the sea !
i feel angry about how much everything costs, particularly heating, lighting, now water

I do care about it affecting people I'm not heartless but its inevitable that prices are higher than many people are willing to pay and that places will fold.

You read somewhere that somebody random might be 30% worse off so you’re extrapolating that to mean all professionals are worse off? Doctors most certainly are not 20/30% worse off.

What did you actually spend on your trip out? I think in general eating out has become cheaper as time goes on, and the cinema (certainly the big chains) has got cheaper too. £100 for a cafe, cinema and then a meal out doesn’t sound unreasonable, depending on what/where you ate.

I can't believe the cinema prices I'm seeing on here! £6.99 or £9.99 VIP at the Vue.