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.

No one is interested in other peoples woes and moaning
Particularly people who are silly with money and play the victim when they cant afford their bills
Generational trauma on a massive scale is completely different and denying that is ignoring history

We like to think we are all altruistic/ hail fellow well met but honestly I give zero shits about anyone elses finances
Cant pay your bills because you cant stop spending
Just bloody grow up

Because it has been tried before, it achieved all i said but also never delivered growth.
Even you acknowledge that and i quote "...its not pleasant...."

But i agree, record numbers of children with SEND, double that of our European neighbours, free childcare provision given to people on up to 100k incomes...

We could start there....

If we want growth, then the state needs to kick start it, madness that under the Tories, a world leading Solar company, couldn't get Govt backing, moved to Germany, under Labour, a world leading Drone company cannot get Defence contracts, so is considering moving to the USA, where their Govt will invest...

In Cornwall, a dockyard didn't a re fit contract on the David Attenborough ship, that went to a Danish 'yard.

The idea cutting benefits to the disabled is some sort of solution, is just wrong headed and will lead to further stagnation.

So no real idea of what you'd do.

Sure you have the right to your money but i assume you had a state education or the teachers that taught you did, you use GP and other NHS health services and or your parents did, maybe you took Furlough? or had energy support? got a free vaccine?
Drive on the roads? sell goods to people who were educated in the state system and now have decent well paid jobs....

We are all interconnected, only fools think that they have the right to all their income.

I’m sorry but most of the examples you mention, don’t relate to a welfare state.

They relate to a state providing stimulus to emerging tech and / or home grown companies. Which I agree we should be doing more off.

That’s not the same as not recognising that we must still cut our cloth as fundamentally, we (not the government with some magic money tree) can’t afford to spend more than we generate. Simple.

Honestly, I'm tired of people going on about everything negative, anyway.

The UK seems to think that moaning is a charming part of our British culture but it's exhausting and soul destroying.

Everyone in the world has struggles but it's only here where it is a mainstay of conversation.

It's depressing and adds to the dire weather, present week excluded.

TF for social media. I like seeing the positivity from other countries.

Gosh, the bar is uber low. Yeah and my dad eat chickpeas every day for 12 years as a kid. He was one of the lucky ones. The queue of six people outside my grandmother´s house with a bowl in hand waiting to get some of the leftovers were less lucky and those who had an empty dusty bowl to look at every day where the least lucky of all. I hope n Western Europe we can aspire to more than that, don´t you think? While corporations declare their record sky high earnings.

Strict welfare checks, and no welfare or social housing for non-citizens at all

Foreign aid

EV subsidies and net zero obligations such as ZEV production mandates

Raise Immigration Health Surcharge and Skills Charge

Introduce zonal planning

Scrap the triple lock

I think some people don’t understand human nature in this country - it’s always been a bit ‘ they get more than us’ and at the moment we have a bunch of people at the bottom end of the pay scale who rather than think ‘what can I do to upskill or make life a bit better to ‘get on’ rush to ‘entitled to’ to see how little they can work to maximise benefits - whilst I totally disagree with this attitude I have to be very honest and think if I was in that position , would I do the same? My 3 big bugbears are the following ( and I’m not in the position of them affecting me personally ) I’m a centre left voter, sometimes Labour, sometimes Lib Dem and am all for strong social underpinning - but I’m also for fairness.

1. Lack of NI paid by anyone taking early retirement 55-67 - currently if not working and living on private pensions/savings - they pay zilch -

NI is only paid on earnings- presumably health care and future pensions still expected and yes I know many have a ‘full card’ for state pension - I would charge £20 a week flat payment towards health - a total vote loser I know , so it won’t happen - I think it’s mad- the only positive of an insurance system in my opinion is that ‘all’ ( with just a few exceptions and usually under 18s ) pay it .

2 child maintanance - it is mad that single mums ( or dads) receiving this and claiming benefits get no deductions based on that -and there are no limited on amounts - someone I know gets full UC, rent paid and almost £1000 a month on top in maintenance . No wonder she isn’t rushing to do much work and has far more disposable cash than those other single mums working their arses off but receiving little maintenance.

3 free childcare hours fall off level - it’s totally wrong that those contributing the most end up earning less with very young children due to not receiving this - when we lived in Denmark it was fixed ( and cheap) payment regardless of income.

Nonsense - some people have lived here for years and contributed through doing valuable work and paying tax. Some British citizens including British born people haven’t paid a penny in tax. Why would you deprive a whole group of people from receiving benefits if they needed it?

Imagine a woman comes over from India, gets married to another Indian who happens to be an NHS workers , has two kids and he vanishes or dies or something when the kids are say 8 years old. She has to give up her office 9-5 job and maybe get a teaching assistant job so she can look after her kids now. Reduced or low income and private rent has been hiked.

Do you think it’s fair to deprive her and her kids of a house and benefits?

What is a citizen?

What a vile response. The first thing said I wasn’t minimising.

Im similar too but working at a much higher level and longer hours are the norm no 9/5 since 2006

Someone who is a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

child maintanance - it is mad that single mums ( or dads) receiving this and claiming benefits get no deductions based on that -and there are no limited on amounts

It isn't mad. It's a very sensible acceptance that we would need a much more reliable child maintenance system than we've got in order for it to be taken into account for benefits.

has two kids and he vanishes or dies or something when the kids are say 8 years old. She has to give up her office 9-5 job and maybe get a teaching assistant job so she can look after her kids now.

Here's an example of the changed attitude of today. In the past, mums would have said, oh no, I am the sole provider now, I need to make sure I earn enough to support my family. Today, it is how many hours must I work and how much can I get as a top up.

I wasn’t thinking about top ups when I mentioned the newly single mother getting a TA job.

I was talking about her having to get a job eg, TA work where the hours fit around her kids since now she is the sole parent looking after them and after school care for two kids can be very costly!

i disagree - surely fix the system - mandatory PAYE deductions etc - a separate coding so employers can see a mandatory payment is in force ? self employed have to provide bank statements if failing to pay etc -and in meantime claimant paid in full as not receiving any etc?

You get help towards childcare though if you earn under 100k

How much do you get? I imagine not enough to cover all the costs, unless you’re in a fairly high earning job and can make up the shortfall .

In the scenarios I outlined I’m not imagining the woman is leaving some high earning office job for TA work btw.

If they do get it all covered fab but either way the point was my fictional woman wasn’t leaving to get top ups as that post had suggested.

I don't know how much tbh. It's a long while since my kids were in childcare and there wasn't help for my eldest 2.

I'm sick of living the cost of living crisis.

Lucky you if you're not very effected by it. Many can no longer afford basic bills/food/petrol, not to mention housing costs. It's very frightening.

Haven’t read all the replies. I am sick of it too, but finding it a struggle. Me and DH have a relatively high household income (well, maybe not hundreds of grand a year high, but think top 5 percent of earners high), and yet - things are very tight. We barely go out and generally live quite frugally. 3 kids and live in London, so obviously we incur high costs- but the point is, our wages have pretty much stagnated over the past decade and everything is so expensive.

There’s nothing leftover at the end of the month and barely anything for treats, even a few drinks at the pub feels like it could tip the balance into overdraft some months. I am so sick of living like this when we work hard and should be able to enjoy ourselves once in a while!

Yes, if we had actually fixed the CM system you'd be arguably right. But we haven't. That has to come first, and until it does, the current disregard is the optimum way to do things.

But you were suggesting a newly single mother would choose to reduce her working hours and get a really low paid job. Where is the logic there? Why wouldn't their thought be 'must earn as much as I can'? That was exactly my point.

But when your finances are tight, you have to do whatever you need to to maximise income and cut costs. Nowadays, that often means reducing hours so that you become eligible for UC, help with house rental costs, help with council tax, free prescriptions, etc., and of course, as seen in the news recently, cheap entry to attractions etc if you're on UC or other benefits, plus reduced childcare costs if you work less and need less wraparound care etc. No sane person, who is literally one the bones of their arses, would work more to have lower income/higher costs. Yes, it's obvious not good for the long term in terms of missing out on future career opportunities, future pensions, etc., but when you're on your arse, your behaviour morphs into short term survival rather than long term planning.