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.

That’s very true.

Holidays abroad, salon nails & hair, paid for children's activities, modern technology have become more affordable to all, so much so that we feel relative poverty when we can no longer afford them. Even the DWP expects anyone claiming benefits to have access to a phone.

There are still a lot of people out there who are not ‘struggling’ from the COL crisis, despite what they might claim on here. I find it disingenuous when those with a considerable household income around 100k claim not to be able to afford a holiday. Tell that to households trying to survive on an income of 30k. It just seems a bit tone deaf. If it is the case, it is because of other choices they have prioritised. One poster and her partner were both Band 7 NHS - starting at around 49k each! I am not sure if it’s people trying to live a lifestyle they cannot afford or if they are just daft. I’m amazed they are competent enough to earn such a decent salary.

Been pondering the whole subject, and I wonder if it's due to the fact that cutting one's cloth as it were means maximising what you get out of it, plus the "expectations" that people feel they have to meet. So if you earn 100000, you move in circles where it is expected that your children are privately educated, your house is at the top end of affordability, your clothes are "designer", you pay to be polished, fit and healthy. These things are linked to your social life and networking. Going against that grain may affect peer perceptions.

A bit like having a huge handbag - you tend to end up lugging around a whole bunch of non essential crap.

I honestly have never had enough money to meaningfully improve my circumstances, for many complex reasons. People with little have to be more inventive, rather than just buying the solutions to their problems. If I magically found myself with 100000 a year, in my current situation, I honestly think it would take a long time to feel confident in spending it. I'm so used to, and comfortable with "making do" a major upgrade would feel really alien.

So someone having to go the other direction, because they can no linger afford the lifestyle that was apparently secure and guaranteed would also struggle, especially if the reason for it was down to external forces changing the value of something they assumed would be stable.

I think the psychology of people's relationships and attitudes to money, wealth, poverty etc is quite fascinating, and very complex.

There was virtually no chance of raising a family on a single low wage income in the 1990s either. (80s I have no direct experience of) Poverty existed then too, but I agree that the lack of affordable social housing has made it even worse now.

Do you have any direct experience of being able to buy a house and raise a family on a single low wage income during these times, as I’m interested what your reference point is?

Nobody earning £100,000 is putting more than one child through private school. It’s not enough.
And nobody should be paying it out of income. It should be saved in advance with the interest compounding.

Handy tip!