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.

Sorry people struggling are killing your vibe ...

All this talk about 'there wasn't X, Y and Z 25 years ago is excruciatingly boring. Times move on – what once was 'luxury' moves into affordable, What once was scarce moves into abundant. And that isn't due to people's feeling of entitlement towards having things – it's due to the way in which progress in manufacturing and industrialisation makes things more affordable and easier to obtain.

How far back do you want to go when insisting people 'accept their lot'. People didn't used to have a TV, four children would share a bedroom, diets could be restrictive to the point on nutritionally deficient, no one wore sun cream or went to the dentist either.

People had better. They worked hard and worked upwards and they got something back. Now they experience working hard and being in backwards motion. It's demotivating. And it's allowed.

I think people would stomach temporary cut backs for a reason, like rationing during war. But what we have is two working parent families who are scrimping their way through. Someone suggested they shouldn't put their kids in clubs. But a family with two full time working parents should absolutely be able to support a kid to learn an instrument or go swimming! Why can't they? We're not in austerity, we're not at war, we're just accepting poorer lives for harder work.

What makes you think Pension Credit is solely for people who didn't work? Are you deliberately twisting the truth or have you not bothered to check?

Also unsure of what you mean by "people claiming for MH concerns and PIP". Claiming what for "MH concerns"? Why do you think - and you'd only need to think for about 30 seconds - that claims for PIP might have gone up post- COVID? There was an interesting report in the BMJ the other day linking reduction in healthy life expectancy directly to austerity. Could that have an effect? Or is it all these fibbers looking at social media and plotting to scrounge a few quid out of the "hardworking (sic) taxpayer"?

Honestly, it's pointless trying to challenge half the bilge on here but from time to time I like to try because there are decent people posting who are devastated by the lies, misinformation and casual cruelty that gets spouted on threads like this.

It's typical of the youngster generation to glorify how easy it was for the previous generations

But owning a house was easier. More social housing & salaries vs wages ratios plus different lending.

It’s typical of some of the older generations to refuse to acknowledge this 🤷🏻‍♀️

All this talk about 'there wasn't X, Y and Z 25 years ago is excruciatingly boring. Times move on – what once was 'luxury' moves into affordable, What once was scarce moves into abundant. And that isn't due to people's feeling of entitlement towards having things – it's due to the way in which progress in manufacturing and industrialisation makes things more affordable and easier to obtain
Good! Then move on, stop comparing with your parents and stop moaning about how hard done by the new generation is.

It's your life now, with more luxuries available and more expensive food.

So even if you don't consider it standard to go to softplay on a regular basis, it should concern you that people on good salaries are struggling to afford their normal standard of living.

Because if people on good salaries struggle, imagine how tough it is for people on lower salaries/minimum wage.

You lot brainwash the Gen Z into believing it's the Boomers fault.

I partly disagree on that - ‘some’ country’s do - but often those country’s are very expensive on other things too , USA and Australia as examples - when we lived in Denmark the pay wasn’t ‘much’ higher than UK on comparable jobs, minimum wage was similar and tax much higher with next to no tax free allowances - - the big difference though was no council tax, no NI good childcare at £250 a month from babies upwards , lots of good quality social housing, utilities slightly less and an expectation that in a couple both worked unless totally unable to do so and as near as full time as possible across all income spectrums. There were a lot more proper dual income households, a lot less bit of part time - because the gvt put the money into childcare .im not saying that’s good or bad , but that’s how it worked- far less benefits needed too as plenty of Danish single mums and families had very good social housing if on modest incomes. Complete with lovely little play parks, well kept public areas, well connected public transport, tons of nursery’s on tap -

But owning a house was easier. More social housing & salaries vs wages ratios plus different lending
It was nowhere as easy as younger people think it was though.

I provided my situation. Few people in their 20s earned £50k in 1996, even in London.

Yes, with two ft working people, it was just about possible, but none of my friends were able to afford a house then, they all started with flats with no gardens.

We are retired on private pensions, no old age pension yet. We both got an increase in April but other direct debits went up leaving us 5 pound per week more for ‘spending ‘ money inc petrol and supermarket. These have all gone up by £20 a week leaving us with £15 less per week even after a ‘cost of living’ rise to pensions. We are ok but will have to cut back a bit.
If you take this over the population as a whole where rises in income no where near cover rises in expenditure there is no wonder people moan

Oi!! Gen X here, able to see that our parents for the most part weren't actually the root of all our current economic woes.... it was, and always is those with power and money and influence, and NABWLT.

Ha! Yes. Every time I see the Gail's and M& S at Finsbury Park station I remember what it was like round there in the 80s and almost faint dead away.

I think it is the lack of affordable housing that is the problem, mainly for those in the south of England. And if you are living in cramped accommodation then getting out and about e.g to softplay becomes much more important. Not sure where you get the idea that people didn't go to hairdressers much before either.

"At least we don't have rickets " Holy shit. That's ok then.

So even if you don't consider it standard to go to softplay on a regular basis, it should concern you that people on good salaries are struggling to afford their normal standard of living
Well it all comes down to what is included in 'normal' standard of living.

As a poster above mentioned, what was luxuries before have now become the norm. So yes, if these are included, it might feel like a struggle, but for those who accepted a lower standard of living as the norm, these luxuries are not synonyms of struggling.

I think there is an expectation to be grateful that you aren't starving and to shut up and put up with it but why should we?

I work in a sector where I will never be rich but I love the job and making a difference, our pay rise this year was 1.8% which is essentially a pay cut! Yes I could leave, but if everyone took that attitude there would be quite dire consequences.
A few years ago we lived a very comfortable lifestyle without thinking too much about costs. Now we can cover the bills, put food on the table and have the odd treat here and there. Scrape a summer holiday together away. We are by no means any way near as bad off as some people I know - I have friends who every month have a week or 2 where they don't have any money left for food! But our standard of living has certainly shifted considerably. Why wouldn't people be annoyed by that. We work more and more hours for less and less pay! I am looking at upping my hours just to maintain our standard of living which comes at a cost of less time at home with the kids.

Rickets is back

@Passaggressfedup

It was nowhere as easy as younger people think it was though.

Easier doesn’t mean easy though.

I provided my situation. Few people in their 20s earned £50k in 1996, even in London.

Where did I claim otherwise?

Property in lots of parts of London was cheap in the past, Hackney was nothing like it is now! Plenty of younger people could get on the ladder.

Sums it up perfectly!

(When I rule the world, this will be my goal.)

You don't get it though - the fact that 2 people on good/high salaries are finding it hard to afford the previous "luxuries" now, which you should be able to on a good wage, means that people on lower salaries probably will find it hard to pay their rent/food/heating.

This is not about well-earning people, it is about how the cost of living crisis affects the most vulnerable in our society the worst.

We have a household income of just over 100k and quite frankly it does piss me off that we can't afford more. Why shouldn't we be allowed to also feel annoyed at the cost of living. Mortgages went up an insane amount. Luckily we can afford the change but it is upsetting we can't afford more luxury when we both work so hard. Although I do sometimes think are we accustomed to higher standards of living. like when I was younger a holiday abroad was a real luxury. I am now gutted we can only afford two holidays a year. I don't feel like it's fair that middle earners can't moan too!

Why is getting your hair done seen as a luxury now? I remember all the pensioners getting their perms and blue rinses when I was a kid. I have to conciously save up for my 4 monthly cut and dye because it's so expensive!

I remember all my middle class friends going on two holidays a year, and even some of my working class friends had a yearly holiday in Spain. We had our first family holiday last year, and that was because I got a bonus from work so it was spare money.

I think there are a few things here that I would like to address:

1. This cost of living issue is so prolonged that people are seeing their own living standards actually get worse; and the next generations are never likely to live at a similar standard as their parents. That’s a massive problem because it creates a sense of futility and resentment.

2.If you can’t afford big stuff, you might treat yourself to small things like nails and hair. It’s a way of finding hope and a lift amid stress and despair. It’s very easy to ask what the point is of working so hard if your wages seem so meagre when the bills come in, and if you can’t even buy a coffee or take your kids to soft play, then life gets smaller and more miserable.

3.Small businesses represent employment and income for individuals, who in turn can then pay their bills and maybe support another business. When people can’t afford to get a haircut, buy a coffee, or pop to the pub those businesses close and people lose work, places lose charm and character and interest. Then you get degrading high streets and vandalism and betting shops, vape shops etc moving in (with all that comes along with that).

It’s a vicious circle but it also has repercussions for bigger state of the nation issues around the social contract, social cohesion, and other fundamental questions which are actually quite threatening- rise of the far right and so on.

That was literally the entire point of my post - that whereas before we were saving and having small treats, now in order to save we do not have treats. And if that is the case for someone on salary, then it must go double and treble for someone on an average wage.

No nail bars, soft play centres, only two hair dressers, a fish and chip shop that was open for over 100yrs has just closed. I live in a county town.