To be absolutely sick of hearing about the cost of living crisis

[Katypp]

I surely can't be the only person sick to death of hearing about the cost of living crisis?
I am tired of reporters interviewing middle-class (usually) mothers inside paid activities such as soft play and hearing them moan about how they are struggling to make ends meet.
Have we completely lost the ability to cut our cloth according to our means or does 'struggling' now mean carrying on spending as usual then complaining when there's no money left?
There have never been as many massive new cars on the road, towns are full of hairdressers, nail bars, brow bars, tanning salons, soft play, play cafes, coffee shops, ice cream parlours, dog groomers, most of which didn't exist 25 years ago and are probably the recipients of the money of the families who say they can't keep up with spiralling costs.
Yes, some families will have been hard up before prices started to go up and will have nothing else to cut back on. They have my sympathy.
But i am utterly fed up of hearing how hard households ars being hit by the cost of living crisis when all that's needed is a few minor cutbacks which they don't want to make.

People are struggling to maintain the standard of living they had before.
Yes there are some that are loaded anyway but if your one treat a week is a £5 soft play and you’re told to give that up then it’s frustrating.

As the GC said “don’t worry”

And children will get free bus travel in August!

free bus in July and August would save me around £50, that would be more useful!

but who cares!

if everyone could just stop moaning so the OP can keep themselves oblivious please!

I shall go cut some more of my cloth…..

I partly agree with you.

However, if your life has to reduce down to the absolute bare necessities just to survive I think its ok to be bloody fed up of it.

Grinding away at work doing long stressful hours just so you can pay your rent/mortgage and eat something every day isnt exactly what I'd call "living". Its existence. It's the hamster wheel of constantly just keeping your head above water and it's really stressful. Waking up at 3am worrying that it would only take one electricity bill to push you further into debt is not a pleasant way to live.

I am not suggesting you have to be a multi millionaire to be happy, but the ability to have occasional treats, a nice holiday, drive a car that isnt constantly breaking down is not a bad or immoral thing to want. Maslow's hierarchy of needs shows that.

If you cant occasionally do something nice for yourself then whats the point?

The gap between the rich and poor is widening.
The fact there are massive new cars on the street just tells you some people are doing well, it doesn’t say anything about how easy it is for normal people.

If they are going to ask members of the public, then they generally need to be in a public place. Therefore the people who cant afford to go out at all won't be there...🤷‍♀️

You have completely missed my point.
I have every sympathy with people who are genuinely struggling. I have said that.

Nice things for everyone, please.

There is a real gulf between the haves and have nots in our society. The rich are definitely getting richer and the poor poorer. And the difference between their life styles is more and more marked.

With the cost of living crisis more and more people, even those who are working, are being dragged into the struggling category.

I'm on a pretty low fixed income. I don't have an extravagant life style by any stretch of the imagination and i'm careful with money. I'm lucky enough to own my own house outright which helps tremendously. . But i'm worried about how paying for basics of life is eating into my income.

We are nowhere near the breadline and have some emergency savings; but we really do notice how much everything has increased in price while wages have stagnated. People are allowed to complain about a reduced standard of living:
especially if the rich are getting richer at the general populations expense

Yes, let's not listen to those people at all and pretend that everything is fine. Let's pretend that only people who are starving have a right to feel aggrieved that their standard of living is falling and that things are about to get worse again. We can pretend that the closure of hospitality and leisure businesses are because people would simply prefer not to go and that those who lose their jobs will enjoy cutting their cloth all the more. Isn't life good?

Why should middle class families be ok with making cutbacks though? Why should anyone?
Professional jobs at least should allow for a good standard of living. It's scandalous how people have to struggle while businesses offering essential goods and services make billions in profits. It's pathetic that we are conditioned to accept the bare minimum. Life shouldn't be this miserable and it is a scandal.

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel Cars are often company options. They aren’t bought with cash. Some people will be cutting back and others never ever have managed! The dogs get better food than the dc. Choices are made that aren’t sensible and we all know that. Most people are still managing but they have less spare money so eating out and expensive activities are reduced. It’s easy enough to not go to a theme park in my view. Inexpensive activities are there if parents look.

The poor are still better off than they were 50 years ago, who were better off than the poor of 100 years ago. My Dad used to remind us that during the 1930s, kids suffered from Rickets.

You’ll probably get your arse handed to you but I tend to agree with you. Same round here, my hairdresser put a SM message on the other day she’s fully booked till end of July. Plenty people still going expensive holidays, driving expensive new cars etc while I clatter around in an 11 year old car. Look how quickly concert tickets at £100 plus a throw sell out. I appreciate we are lucky because our kids are all but grown up and we have no mortgage now, and I appreciate bills have gone up more than wages, and food is expensive. But there’s been tough times before. We fixed our mortgage at a quote high interest rate not knowing the financial crash was around the corner and when we had 2 tiny kids and we were absolutely strapped then and no one gave a shit. I don’t know what people expect the government to realistically do. They didn’t cause the pandemic or the wars that have led to the current situation.

I think the frustration is that people are working harder and harder but not seeing ant benefit from it. DH is on the highest salary he has ever been (my nhs salary has stayed fairly static in real terms) but we have no money left at end of each month, whereas a few years ago we had some spare money for a yearly holiday even though he was earning less. We drive 2 x 10 year old cars - essential to get to work as live semi rural, can't afford any holidays, are having to top up our daughters schooling with tutoring as her class is so disrupted by poor behaviour and cuts means no TA's, paying for private dentists as can't get an nhs one.

Yes, I fully appreciate we are in a privileged position compared to many as can pay our bills each month - but that should be a given for a home with 2 professional full time working parents.
I have a progressive disability, can still work as have a very supportive employer. But if a few years I won't be able too, and then we are going to be stuffed. We wanted to save some money as a cushion for when this happens, but thats impossible right now, which is a bit scary.

As an aside. In my local Waitrose, the shoppers put a disc in boxes to vote on 3 charity donations. The dog refuge came in top and the food bank came last. So Waitrose shoppers prefer to help dogs than humans.

They still do now, and malnutrition, due to poor diets, and in some cases medical conditions.

I think the years from the 90's until around covid were an anomaly. Food and holidays were cheap, you could find a job if you wanted one, the NHS worked etc. Life was good / easy. It softened us and make us think this was normal.

However none of this was sustainable. There has to be a re-set - and that time is now. It's a bloody shame the billionaires are not part of the it though.

Shut up little Timmy I know you’re hungry and we won’t be able to put the heating on this winter but at least you don’t have rickets don’t you feel much richer now?

some people on this site are absolute fucking melts

Yes, "at least you dont have rickets" could solve half the problems posted on threads in actives today 😂

No. There are too many people around for whom it is nothing but convenient for others to be on the bones of their arse. Disaster capitalists, currency speculators, the funders of Brexit, Trump with his ridiculous pathetic wars. I refuse to shut up so they can make a few more quid as the cost of living soars and the country sinks into high interest debt. Why should I?

@Danikm151 £5 for soft play? Where the heck do you live? It is £13.75 for 90 mins at my local softplay if your kid is 4+ and £11.00 for under 4s.

I do think people should cut their cloth if everyone suffers equally but when you see the super rich getting richer and richer it is galling to be in the “squeezed middle”.

My Dad would buy a big bar of chocolate and dole it out one square at a time. If we moaned, he would regale us with stories about how harsh life in the 1930s was. His Aunt told us the truth, she and his Mum, both smokers then, gave Dad their chocolate rations.

I would ask what does mothing off about it achieve?

I don't blame you. It is a pity that people are not out in numbers, on the streets protesting those facts though.