Cost of living....struggles....rubbish!

[IwishIcouldconfess]

Been into Manchester today.

I'll be honest, shops full, restaurants full, pub's standing room only.

I thought as a country we were in a cost of living crisis, not in Manchester, the amount of cocktails, bottles of wine i saw being knocked back today made me wonder, ate things really as bad as as the narrative we're being sold?

Surely if you were in Manchester today you also saw the many many beggars? The addicts around Piccadilly gardens?

Our overall lifestyle hasn’t changed in regard to trips away, nice food in the house etc , we do however eat out locally less often, rarely phone a take away, go to the pub for a quick drink etc and have less to save each month. I realise how fortunate that make me.

Well you were out too at those places. Of course not everyone is affected by the COL the same. We’re affected by it but to us that means we save a little bit less and have cut takeaways to every other week rather than weekly. We still go out the same amount for dinners, go on holiday, cafes for lunch.

There is plenty of people who can afford going out and even more people who can barely afford putting food on the table. Similar to Victorian times.

I live in a deprived area in the north east, average property rents are around 5-700 a month, with the minimum wage and benefits at nearly 2k per month people have plenty of disposable income where I live.
I've been around the pubs today (rare) and everywhere was packed for daytime drinking.
I sometimes think that I live in a bubble of cheap housing, people don't seem to be struggling. I also think the media make everything to be full of doom and groom and reality is nothing like you read about.

As I understand it, consumer spending in physical locations is also getting more concentrated in urban and affluent areas.

So some of the spending you saw today in Manchester might've happened in eg Bolton 15 years ago, but now people who live there and want to go out to pubs are more likely to travel into central Manchester. People who want to visit a lot of shops and live in the GM/Cheshire region are less likely to have access to a concentrated number of them outside city centres and large retail facilities like Cheshire Oakes. That kind of thing.

I think it depends on people's priorities. Im low income. Def feel the pinch but coffee out with a friend, the odd lunch now and again too, is what I prioritise. I dont spend on beauty products, hair cuts. Only buy clothes in the sales etc. I might be there enjoying my lunch but that doesn't mean I've not had to budget for it.

There's elements of the north west that are like this now, especially for people who bought a while ago. If your house cost less than 100k, you might have a fair bit of disposable income. Obviously there is also some very expensive housing in the region too, and lots of people struggling terribly, but the fact is that it's a region that does allow low COL options and this leaves room for a cohort of people who have money to spend.

There are haves (out drinking coffee) and have nots (at home worrying about paying bills eating from food banks)

Me and DP treat ourselves to one meal out or takeaway each month - usually at the last weekend, so actually if we had chosen to go into Manchester this month, we would have been one of the people you saw.. but we are very much struggling, and it would have been a treat.

We have credit cards, other debt etc - which we are absolutely dealing with, and it goes down every single month, but that doesn't mean we just sit in the house looking at 4 walls.

I'm on this earth to live, not just to exist.

True, OP is also missing out that Central Manchester is a place where people of all incomes want to spend any treat money they might have. If you like buzzy cities, it's the sort of place you might think it worthwhile to save up and go to. OP will have seen some people who've budgeted carefully for their day out, but not seen them during the time when they were doing the scrimping.

I was in a small town just south of Manchester and they were queuing out of the door to get into one of the Lounge chain, we had to go to plan B and swap to a restaurant. We eat in an array of local cafes for lunch and they are all doing really good business and not only with affluent pensioners.

We keep commenting on it, we don't understand it. These places are normally begging for business when the Christmas credit cards bill hits.

They probably are on credit cards

I'd second that. I know people who do it.

Also, some people have money. A CoL crisis doesn’t mean that no one has money.

Just for your information, it may/not interest?

There is a big difference between surviving and living the best you can . If you were expecting to see people living in extreme poverty with nil luxuries then you seriously are deluded !

There are more people at home than there are out. Your extrapolation from your observations is seriously flawed.

Such a lack of critical thinking, isn’t it? It’s like saying ‘apparently there are unemployed people in our country but every time I go out I see people at work so there can’t be’

Could just be people got paid, being the end of the month @IwishIcouldconfess

Most of us are worse off, food shopping expensive, energy expensive but can still afford to go out for the odd meal and drink. A lot if us in late 30s and 40's bought our homes years ago so have equity and can buffer these extra expenses luckily. Those just getting on the ladder is a different matter as thier mortgages / rents are so high. Going out for one meal and drink a month is not a massive extravagance! It is something in a decent society everyone should be able to do.

I think there are a few factors at work:

1. Payday
2. The country is at an all time high for consumer debt - credit card debt, payday loans etc. allow people to (in the short term) live the life style that social media tells them they deserve
3. Many younger people have more disposable income because they are living with parents rather than renting or owning a home
4. Some people aren’t struggling - a COL crisis is not universal. See footballers for example.

Did you somehow imagine everyone was struggling? That the COL was affecting everyone?

That's really silly. Plenty of people have plenty of money.

and not only with affluent pensioners

Not all pensioners are affluent. A minority of pensioners are affluent. Most pensioners money is tied up in the house they bought and paid for and live in.
Their income, however, is limited and can never be increased. Any savings they have has to be used for house maintenance. It's not like they can get a better
job and up their income. Not all boomers are swimming in money.

It's so frustrating trying to get this message across to anyone who has wealthy parents with substantial pensions.

The coat of living affects everyone but the effect on people depends on their individual situation.

The people out eating and drinking in the city might have downgraded their spending from 3 foreign holidays to 1. And eating out five days a week to 2 etc.

The people who would normally eat out twice a week have swapped to take aways instead and swapping a couple of shops a month from Waitrose to Aldi.

The regular take out crowd are doing more cooking at home and food prepping for weekday lunches.

The problem is that as you go down the levels of wealth and security there comes a point where there are no more saving to be had, no more belt tightening or down sizing. And those are the people who are in crisis.

The lady behind the bar said the same, yesterday and today, the place was crammed. She put it down to pay day.

I'm going again Wednesday.

I'll report back xx