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.

Then ignore the rest of it, really, turn the page, change the channel, click another link, move on...

But those 'hairdressers, nail bars, brow bars, restaurants, cafes, coffee shops, ice cream parlours, dog groomers, cleaning services etc' that you think people should get over not be able to afford equal actual livelihoods for many, many people. The UK is primarily a service economy. Without it, the people running them and working in them don't have jobs. And there aren't a lot of places actually 'manufacturing' things that they could go to, even if they wanted to. So if people can't afford to continue to use the services on offer in the country, the economy will be in even more dire trouble than it already is.

Who goes to soft play for a treat? I would rather pay a teenager a fiver to punch me in the ovaries, rather than go to soft play

I would say we have around 90k income pre tax. And we bought a house in 2020 when earning less than we do now, but with interest rates going up our mortgage is now £2k per month, when we took it on it was £1600. Our council tax was 3k, now its over 4k, on a 3 bed house. Without anything else, thats £500 a month we are spending extra without changing anything. That was our saving/treat money. So we werent over commited, and now we are, through bo fault if our own.

@Bushmillsbabe we never recovered from the 08 crash. Super low interest rates inflated assets & hid the wage stagnation. The government & businesses didn’t invest in much during that time. Shit has hit the fan now.

You get that kids like it though?

Also..the irony of starting a thread about the COL crisis ..literally encouraging people to talk about the COL crisis!

There is a serious issue though when the middle classes are having to cut back.

OK, we're not on the breadline, and we're not looking for sympathy. But we're eating out less. Spending less on clothes, day trips etc.

That has a knock on effect on the entire economy which does then impact the poorest in society.

Some of them are paid so little by large corporations who avoid paying tax that the rest of us ordinary tax payers have to support them via Universal Credit, which, if they are renting, will include help with their inflated rental costs

How many people have to struggle before in your eyes it's a crisis, though?

Why should people who have worked hard, been careful with their money and budgeted to afford a certain standard of living not being upset that they can't do it anymore? Why should they not be allowed to worry that they're going to end up in the bucket of "genuinely struggling" people, who you say are allowed to be there?

People are worried. It's not great for a lot of people financially. And it's getting worse. Just because you don't like hearing about it doesn't stop that fact.

I agree, OP. The coffee shops, the nail bars, the hair salons and the restaurants are all 'business as usual'. I don't see any sign of people cutting back on luxuries.

I tried to post something positive about the economy yesterday, and got ripped apart on here!

The point made by a pp is correct re not seeing the full picture. You might see my family on a day out this half term or enjoying a meal out. Normally we would be holiday though.

I’ve cut back completely on takeaways & eating out. I shop for most things in Aldi. I’ve not had the gardener in this year & stopped the window cleaner. Sold a load of old clothes & toys on eBay/Vinted. But if you see me getting a pedicure later today you may assume nothing has changed.

Kids enjoy it, parents get a coffee and possibly some socialisation with their friends while the kids are entertained.

I don't particularly like it but I can see how other people might view it as a treat.

What signs would you expect to see though to make the COL crisis real in your eyes?

My nail salon has just put their prices up by £5 for a manicure and pedicure. My hair salon have put their prices up too. I've been going there for 10 years and the prices have doubled.

With two adults working full time we shouldn’t have to ‘cut back’ we should be able to have a decent standard of living. We should be able to afford a meal out or a wee holiday otherwise what is the point of working hard. I was looking through bank statements and pre 2020 my dual fuel bill was £45 a month, it’s three times that, my mortgage has gone up by £200, council tax up by £50 a month then add food and fuel..,wages haven’t kept up.if I go into the local shop I blink and my bill is £16 for a top up of basics.

Hmmmm, @Katypp does it not grieve you to be less well off than you were before?

I'm in my mid 50s and I live a fairly modest middle class life. I've worked since I had my first Saturday job when I was 15, worked through Uni doing waitressing during the holidays and obviously worked ever since then, just taking maternity leave whilst I had my DC.

I earn well above the average income but not 6 figures. I do feel fed up that I feel poorer every year and that my salary is not keeping up with the cost of inflation and that because the situation is so crappy for the current graduates and housing is soooooooooooooooooooooo expensive, I am still providing more support for my adult children than I had imagined I would be.

I'm constantly "careful" and very much cut my cloth. I feel really fortunate that I am able to do that and feel desperately sorry for those who can't cut their cloth anymore, because there is none left to cut.

However, I want people to bang on about the cost of living crisis and something to happen about it and the lot of ordinary people to improve! So, no I am not sick of hearing about it and I hope that things will change.

Yup, if only they cut back on Netflix and smashed avocados all would be well in the world 🙄. Where have we heard that one before….

Because we haven't seen anything yet. Wait until the Autumn. Prices are going to get eye-watering.

I do have sympathy and don’t intend to minimise but as someone who’s parents starved in the Second World War as children and had to eat bread infested with worms, it’s all relative.

Hmmmm, does it not grieve you to be less well off than you were before?

Im pretty sure I have seen this poster lamenting her own drop in income on here before 🤔

It isn't that people are spending however much on a soft play area, it's the fact that a couple working full time with kids can't afford a decent house. That's not just this COL crisis, that's a generational thing and very real. I'm surprised younger people aren't more cross about it tbh (probably too busy working and looking after children) and totally get that they would want to talk about that. Whilst my parents never ate out or spent much on clothes or cars, they were able to buy a decent houses in a lovely area whilst still young on one salary.

Are “nail bars and tanning salons” the new “sky dish and flat screen TVs”?

I find it funny that every single example OP has used to berate “people” spending money are places largely frequented by women. The “massive cars” are obviously the “school run SUVs” It smacks of the old “Welfare Queen” dog whistle politics.

No mention of pubs, golf courses and football stadiums still being absolutely rammed to the rafter?

Yes, a good point. By media talking about it as some sort of fact for everyone ( it isn’t ) it does I think encourage people to say everyone is struggling. When not everyone is.

Shall we go back to that? What level of dropped standards of living are we supposed to accept as a society before we say “right, this is actually a problem now”

My parents also have “stories” of the terrible hardships they faced. But, they lived in relative comfort compared to someone in the developing world who had to walk 4 miles a day to find clean water……