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.

What a load of rubbish. I don’t have any debt bar the mortgage (we didn’t stretch ourselves) and I can notice the price increases.

This!!!

Why shouldn’t we be aspiring to a better quality of life for everyone? Why shouldn’t people who work hard have to compromise their standard of living while the wallets of the rich get fatter and fatter?

I am all for paying a fair price for something and often say expensive doesn’t automatically mean overpriced. But a lot of simple things these days cost so much more.

several years ago my job would be earning me a decent wage. Now I know people in the same role as me who have to use the food bank.

You cannot have a genuine conversation about this without addressing how disaster capitalism, market manipulation, widespread political corruption, proxy wars and decades of stagnant wages have contributed. I am more angry about these factors than a mother taking her child to soft play. The myth of meritocracy cannot override the fact that this system was designed to exploit and extract every last penny from us.

It's also a pretty miserable life if you cannot take your children to softplay or the zoo anymore. I regard this as standard
And that's how things have changed. Why my kids were small and I was a single mum earning just a bit above average, these two things were definitely not the norm. I considered myself lucky that I was able to afford these occasionally. I never considered that it was part of my essential spending.

The economy has shrunk, but people's expectations of what they should afford as standard gas also changed quite a bit.

@Fluffybuns88 yes, please do share how to warm a house in the middle of winter with no heating. This is a genuine question! My house has no heating. Winter was grim. We wore many layers, used hot water bottles etc. Sometimes succeeded in warming ourselves. Never succeeded in warming the house without heating. We all got far more bugs than normal, were freezing. I'd really love to know what I could do differently this coming winter.

Just quoting this to give it more attention. Agree entirely.

@Passaggressfedup ypu need to think
logically about it. There were far more zoos in the past so people did go to them!

Please get in touch with local community resources, unofficial food banks, FareShare etc if you haven't already.

but my point was spending on “treats” isn’t new
It's not new but many things that are now considered to be included in a family monthly budget were only that previously, treats.

And that was when people didn't moan about the crisis of living.

It’s not a crisis when it’s permanent. It’s the new norm.

Unfortunately, this country’s decline is accelerating and is almost complete. We’re not even a rich country anymore. The UK is a poor country attached to a rich city.

I do think it's the food that has quite rightly pushed people into panic. Things like bread and milk are still relatively reasonable (although a 4 pint bottle has gone up here by about 40p) but mince has nearly doubled, as has something like a family pie from the fresh food section, children's lunchbox snacks, cheese, frozen fish portions...

As someone who always puts the blue disk in the animals box (when stocking up on Chateau Lafite and swan in Waitrose 🙄), I agree 100%. I also think supermarkets asking for money towards food bank charities is like the church asking for money for the poor. Erm, isn’t that what you should be doing?

Yep it’s not possible. Also due to various heath conditions for some having too cold a house can cause further health issues for them and it’s not enough to wrap up.

I know for many they need the air in the house to be warm too or they end up getting a cough or infection or new asthma symptoms etc.

ypu need to think logically about it. There were far more zoos in the past so people do go to them!
Not sure that's true but ultimately, there was much fewer choices of paid entertainment for children compared to today.

@Passaggressfedup how are you quantifying that? Feels or do you have actual statistics to back that up? Because younger generations spend more on housing vs previous generations at the same age.

And that was when people didn't moan about the crisis of living

Yep we have never had protests, riots or revolts in the past have we?

I have not argued that there isn’t more choice but zoos became popular in the bloody Victorian times so they aren’t a new thing.

Also - think about what many of us were pedalled at school: work hard, go to university, get a good job and you’ll have a good life! Be able to buy a house etc

there are so many people who feel like they’ve been doing the “right” things their whole life and now are not getting any reward. Of course people are not happy

This. It is depressing that they would come out in such numbers for that, when they should be focusing on the power structures that are keeping them down, in the first place. The people at the top, are laughing, from their safe havens, watching all the destruction going on, that they have fostered, while they are getting richer by the day!

how are you quantifying that? Feels or do you have actual statistics to back that up? Because younger generations spend more on housing vs previous generations at the same age
How do you quantify that the opposite?

The zoo in our area has been there for 25 years or so. It has expanded and expanded every year. Yes, it's now about 1/3rd more expensive but also offers twice as many activities and three times more places to eat. It is always full, and ram packed during school holidays despite an entrance fee of £30 per person.

Thing is those expectations have been encouraged to "grow the economy".

It would be considered psychological abuse to let a child have an ice cream every day for a week, then berate it for enjoying it when it has become "normal" and blame it because it has become unaffordable, yet the parents still buy ice cream for themselves.

That's how life for lot of people feels right now. It's understandable that having been encouraged to follow a formula for success and progress, people are bewildered and resentful when the goal posts get shifted for the benefit of the much better off. And it's done so slyly "we're all it together" is a political slogan I remember, but are we heck! Likewise "jam tomorrow" carrot dangling, with the stick barely concealed behind our overlords backs. See also every version of bread and circuses.

@Passaggressfedup and the big one you are completely overlooking is that people in previous generations chose the biggest expense ever, more dc. People aren’t making that choice today.

My Nan says that in her day most people didn’t go on holidays, they saved up to buy a sofa or TV for a house, even if it meant you used hand-me down garden furniture for months and an old radio.
A chippie tea was a treat once or twice a year.
If you had a car, it was an old car that you lovingly kept on the road as long as possible.
There were certainly no soft play centres and activities for kids. You entertained them in the garden or the park.

People have got used to having everything. Buying on finance or credit. Big holidays abroad. They buy a house and instantly want to be able to furnish the whole thing. Weddings are huge affairs that cost thousands. My mums wedding reception was a homemade buffet at Nan’s house!

The world has gone crazy.

I am not a MC earner or on the basic living amount, somewhere in the middle.
I am definitely feeling the squeeze.
I have given up the nail salon, most fun days out, lunches out, the increase in food prices, activities, electricity, heating, housing has knocked the shit out of us, we were able to live and enjoy some treats in the past, now I’m not even saving.
I tried to save in April while trying to keep up. We had Easter, 3 cousin birthday presents, School tour payments May x 2, everything costs money.

@Passaggressfedup how do I quantify what?

That zoos were popular in the Victorian times or that younger generations spend more on housing.?

I can post links but I suggest you read more…

Quite agree that the moaning is tiresome. The COLC is however real. People should stop meaning and DO something. Participate in local schemes aimed at helping, write to your MP, vote in local elections (how many of those moaning actually voted on 7th May, I wonder).
World events and former governments are being blamed for the crisis, but the answer lies in the here and now with the government and councils that we have. Make sure they know who we hold responsible and that we are relying on them to come up with a solution.