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.

I think its so wrong that its become the norm to use food banks/hubs. It shouldn't have to be that way 😓

It’s easy enough to not go to a theme park in my view. Inexpensive activities are there if parents look

I never took my children to a theme park when they were little, in fact there weren't that many to go to anyway. Nor soft play - same. Or coffee shops, Babycinos were unimaginable. Nobody felt deprived because nobody else went to these places either. Which was just as well because nobody could have afforded it.

It just gives companies an excuse to put prices up so they can rip us all off and blame it on the cost of living.

No OP, I have no problem hearing about the CoL crisis because it is a crisis and not talking about it will not make it go away.

The CoL crisis is simply the consequence of the poor policies that multiple Governments have implemented over the years and the high cost of just living a basic life.

Everyone should be shouting at the top of the rooftops for as long as it takes for real changes to be brought into law.

Simple one for example the use of zero hour contracts. If you are employed for more than 6 weeks it should be changed into a minimum hours contract, you should know exactly how much money you have per month. Then maybe you could lower the numbers of people having to apply for UC. Businesses should pay for their staff not the taxpayers.

I went clubbing on a tenner as a student in 2015 never mind the 90s 🤣

There’s little sign of a COL where I live . Waitrose / M&S foodhalls are rammed . Pubs bars restaurants and all services are busy . People are extending their homes etc also booking holidays . It’s a split picture .

And imagine, this is the most well to do country in the world, with everyone who needs a home for free given them and all their living costs covered....the media just needs material to chew on , this is all

Is that you Rachel?

Are you not absolutely incensed by the supermarket prices going up at the rate they are?

If you aren't then that's the weird thing.

this is another point of view which makes sense to me...why only certain type of population need to live OK and not the rest...we are all humans and have human rights....is it not this that Tony Blair created for the future of the UK

Yes. When during Covid they made an absolute bomb.

When there is a crisis I am afraid it is an excuse for many businesses to increase their prices. Whether or not the crisis is actually impacting them.

Someone will say their profit margin is slight. But blimey. What profits they are.

Of course. Historically they were more likely to vote Tory though. Now? Who knows? The age of "turning right" so to speak is rising.

@ForWittyTealOP I thought they had turned to Reform

I think to fear is a big factor. We seem to be getting hit with one crisis after another and in New Zealand we have had some major weather events that being a farming country have hit hard. Normally we can see an end or a way out but the constant hits when people were already struggling with housing is wearing down a lot of people's resilience.
Social media conspiracies and political divides are not helping.
It's all well and good to tell people to grow vegetables like we did in the old days but in the old days we had decent yards that we owned and most mothers didn't have stressful jobs with long commutes and hours.

Iirc babycinos were generally free!

I was lucky to have most of my children under a Labour government that was committed to eliminating child poverty. My oh and I still had to work but essential public and third sector workers like us didn't have to worry about putting food on the table and a weekly trip to soft play wasn't out of the question either. Really felt the difference when I had a baby under a Tory government though. Even the local library closed down, no more toddler groups there.

I think some services such as dog walking and grooming have become popular as people become more time poor due to long working hours. Same with people paying to get their lawns mowed. It would have been unheard of 30 to 40 years ago.

Be glad to you dont feel that ,such complaining about you don't have idea!!

If you can go on holiday, if you can run a car legally, if you can do your shopping at the supermarket ,albeit not like the prices, if you can feed and clothe your children you are not in a cost of living crisis.

For me, people who are are those who cannot run a car, cannot buy a holiday, cannot buy enough food or heat their house. Cannot buy bedding or pay their rent. They are in a crisis.

I honestly don’t know how people earning a low wage or on benefits are supposed to support a family when water is over a £100 per month for most. Water!! All the bills but especially groceries and household items have rocketed but income hasn’t, so if their only treat was soft play once a week and now even that is out of the question I can understand how miserable they must feel! The big cars do not mean those struggling aren’t struggling. It just means the rich are getting richer.

Getting heard. And the more people that do it the more the government will be forced to listen.

if we all put up and shut up nothing will change. The roar against plan 2 student loans, for example, is now getting loud enough for people to start taking notice. It starts to become an issue at the ballot box. And that’s the only point when things change. If people accept the status quo then things only ever get worse for those on the receiving end, not better.

50% of the benefits bill is pensioners. In 2008 it was only 45%. Over the last 20 years the proportion of the population that are pensioners has increased from 15% to 19% and is expected to increase to 25% in the next 20 years. This means that the proportion of the benefits bill that goes to pensions is also likely to increase as this cohort will only get bigger.

Of the remainder (e.g. working age people claiming benefits) around 30% are working, 10% of sick / disabled. The remaining 10% are made up of those who aren't working including parents of young children and those with caring responsibilities.

The % of the benefits bill for the 10% who aren't working and who aren't sick hasn't changed much in 30 years.

The fact that 30% of the benefits bill goes to working people essentially shows that a large chunk of the welfare bill is actually corporate welfare - the government essentially subsidise businesses by allowing them to pay wages that are not enough for people to live and tops it up by providing benefits.

Other than sorting the NHS out and making employment more accessible to reduce the 10% of the benefits bill that goes to people who are too sick or disabled to work, the only way to realistically reduce it further is to somehow get business to pay more wages so the government don't have to subsidise people's income with benefits which they could do through tax incentives.

Unless you are willing to significantly reduce pensioner benefits by making the state pension means tested or drive low income, sick or disabled working age people into absolute poverty, there is no other way to realistically reduce the benefits bill.

A treat for the child - not the parent. Although TBF it can mean a bit of a rest with a coffee while your child is enjoying themselves.

The pension is not a benefit in the way that people normally use the word.
It is something that has for years been sold as something you pay in for. That you can buy more years for. That you can even check your forecast.
Attempt to reduce it by means testing it will cause a huge amount of litigation. And administrative costs.
And of course if implemented would be reduced and reduced and reduced to the point where there in reality would be no state pension at all.

No. We have to find a more positive approach. For everybody. Those who are younger now believe me, you will be older faster than you realise.

Er not as it is now. Has it escaped your notice that the welfare bill is presently unsustainable? And that the NHS is broken? Or that private schools being forced to close due to VAT has only succeeded in placing a higher burden on state schools? The irony of the very people supporting these policies being the very same ones complaining about the cost of living!

If you can afford your gas guzzler you are not in a cost of living crisis.