Anyone else getting very fed up of rising costs?

[InNeedOfAMoneyTree]

I thought we were doing ok until recently. Our food bill has increased dramatically but we’re getting less and less for the money. I was paid last week and I’m already wondering where I’m going to find the money for next week’s food shopping.

We are fortunately not in food bank territory and I know the summer break is always expensive with new uniforms, outings and such like, so I’m hoping we can sort ourselves out this month.

We are certainly starting to feel the pinch and it’s frightening. Does anybody else feel this way?

@julia09 I genuinely don't understand why you needed to be so unpleasant. Are you like this in your face to face interactions?

I totally get it. My fixed rate mortgage ended last week and my mortgage has now doubled. To top it all off, I hadn’t fixed when I remortgaged as my partner kept saying he wanted us to move in the next year, but he packed his bags and left without any warning two weeks ago. So, I’m even worse off without his contributions. I earn a decent salary and though I’d made various cut backs, I’m now going to need to be much more frugal.

Absolutely. We were managing to absorb the increases but food keeps on going up and up. We're hardly going out to eat or just going out in general.

I have seriously cut back on frivolous spending which has made a huge difference, wish I'd done it sooner. Dread to think of all the money I've wasted over the years.

We've switched to all own brand groceries. The kids are older teens both with part time jobs so pay for their own social lives and contribute to uni.

DH has just been made redundant which is a worry. He got a decent package so we're ok for a while but the job market isn't great😟so I'm very stressed even though he seems quite chilled about it.

I hear you OP.

I honestly feel as though every single company I interact with is trying to extract as much cash from me as they possibly can.

It's the sheer naked obvious greed that I get annoyed about.

2008 was bad. So many job losses and housing plummeting

We had so many upset people redundant at work . The prices are hard but at least there are jobs

I hope inflation does keep falling it’ll help

It's getting a bit silly now with interest rates 1% on a mortgage of 200k is an extra £167 a month way more punishing than 10% on the grocery shop of £400 a month which is only an extra £40!

I refuse to pay it, luckily I'm on a diet so having two protein shakes + a main meal, DH has a light lunch + main meal and DS has all three plus snacks! Going veggie has kept ours around the same price to be honest. We also eat in season and intend growing loads of veg next year.

Just ordered the wood for the log burner over winter as it's dropped in price due to the warm September being forecast. No doubt gas will stay high despite being around the 10 year average.

Yes, the cushion has gone. I think the shit summer hasn’t helped: so many rainy days, it feels like we haven’t had a summer… and now winter on the horizon for more energy bills 😱

Agree with this, I remember counting down the cold months whilst in the thick of winter, but it took an age for the warm months to come (or rather for me to be able to turn off the heating!) and after a completely shit summer, winter is looming again, feels like we haven't really had a summer.

We've moved onto a tracker price plan with octopus. Much cheaper than price cap rates. But you have to keep an eye on gas prices and switch to price cap if they start rising. You need a smart meter.

Definitely feels like no end in sight. I'm in my early 40s and feel like my generation is just going to struggle for decades now. What will happen when we all reach retirements age and haven't been able to save enough when all our money has gone to bolster the profits of British Gas and the like?

I'm self employed and have a specialist training to do my role but now work is thin on the ground because no one can afford to use the service I provide. Have been looking at other jobs but many don't even pay enough to cover my basic bills and food, let alone having something nice as a treat after working 40 hrs a week. It's hard to imagine salaries going up anytime soon either.

Truth.

Yes so fed up, we are having to dip into savings more and more.

Yes once savings or cushions have dwindled, it is more stressful. DH and I had a plan to have serviced some outstanding loans for home improvements soon but the extra funds for this have been absorbed now.

It is difficult to reliably plan financially when there’s no end in sight.

Same :( I’ve budgeted enough for travel to and from school/work and did a huge food cupboard stock up last week but I now have £20 until the 20th. Yikes.

Gosh wonder how they did that! We were too scared to go to the supermarket so ate every last scrap basically!

Too scared? People still went, or had it delivered.

@caramond our plan is to retire to a low cost country, probably Asia. We have friends there who have already retired. They live extremely well on £25k pa including private healthcare. If you have state pension you only need £5k on top.

Everybody why does there own grocery shopping will have noticed the high prices. Some things I just don't buy because I refuse to pay their daft prices. A lot of people have over reached themselves with high mortgage borrowing due to the extremely low interst rates. And now they've gone up, gas/electricity gone up food prices gone up.

And in charge Rishi Sunak who has never had to worry about these things in his life. Enough said.

I totally get this. Despite my DW and I earning what I think is a very good combined salary, our disposable income after food, bills and kids essentials has dwindled.

I have some hope that a change in government will lead to improvements in the medium term. But for now it just feels like every business going is on the take and nobody cares. The costs of absolute essentials like utilities is obscene, and there are just so many little inescapable charges everywhere.

I join you in your fed up-ness, and really feel for people less fortunate than us.

I’m glad your happy food prices are going up. Meanwhile I’m having to eat one meal a day in order to make sure DS is fed. Oh and that one meal is smaller thanks to shrinkflation as there’s less to go round. I have to go to my important public sector job that the government sets the pay for with brain fog and blurred vision but need to make sure everything is done properly or I’m accountable. I’m not overweight either, I’ve gone from a size 8 to a size 6 in a month and lost a stone.

You’re right OP about the sheer relentlessness of it. Rishi says we need to “hold our nerve and we’ll all be OK” but some of us have no nerve left to hold. I’m sure he’s alright though…

@Idratherbepaddleboarding I didn’t say happy. I never said happy.

I really am not being rude, but why are you buying sauces?. They are expensive and bad for you.

We stopped eating all sauces years ago. It means that you can actually taste your food and it is much healthier and cheaper.

I grew up having tomato sauces, sauces with avocados etc but there is no need for them at all.

Oh for christ sake. Why are you eating sauce? Maybe cos she likes it?

Vegetables are quite cheap. When you factor in costs of soil and possibly pollytunnel etc it’s cheaper to spend 50p on carrots or a lettuce for less than a pound lol

But people eat so much ultra processed food which is expensive and bad for them.

My food bill has hardly increased because I eat very little ultra processed food.