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?

Yep, I get it.

I feel cheated tbh.

I work hard and am careful with money. We are always told if you do that then all will be well.

But, it seems that now that's not the case. Now you can work hard and be careful with money and still be screwed.

So, just exactly what the fuck are we supposed to do?!

What about if you make your own @IMustDoMoreExercise - we make mayo, mint sauce, ketchup etc. you can still taste food but the sauces compliment it.

(I also buy ketchup for the youngest autistic and the prices are obscene)

I love sauce. I buy own brand though

Well yeah we had to queue and they were all like STAY AWAY FROM OTHER PEOPLE OR YOULL DIE

It's frightening as even simple things like buying child an ice cream when out is soooo expensive! I'm having to think twice about these things and never had to.

Had to give up drinking coffee during the day as too expensive to buy when out the house.

I buy for hollow legged teen ds and myself. A week's food and basic cleaning materials was £50, is now regularly £60 even after economies.

eg, I buy milk in 4 pint containers, split it into 1pt sterilised bottles and freeze .
I do the same with meat & fish, buy larger packs, less per kilo, and split them down. I've frozen pounds of cooking apples and french beans from the garden

I've made my own jam, chilli sauce, and bottled fruit this autumn and stashed it all away to use through the winter.

I have a log burner and I've been stacking wood since April, so I can use the central heating less.

I've turned into my mother in terms of thriftiness 😱, I'm working my arse off to make sure we are warm and well fed. It just doesn't feel much like the 21st century.

I got through the last two winters by giving false meter readings. I got switched after my provider went bust, took ages to be assigned a new one and when I got one told them the readings were loads higher than than they actually were, and my subsequent readings have been lower so I can get back to where the meters actually are. So I paid for a big chunk of gas and electric at a lower unit rate, effectively in advance.

I've had to do some fairly complex calculations to keep it up but they still haven't been to read meters so I'm going to keep it going this winter too.

Might be worth others considering setting up now as prices look like they're going to rise next year.

Why are you buying sauces 😂😂 only on mumsnet would tomato ketchup be a crime!

Well, it won't be ultra processed if you make your own but it still costs moneyh.

It is amazing how quickly you get used to not having sauces. You really don't miss it.

My husband was brought up unable to eat eggs without putting aromat on them. I refused to buy it because it was expensive and full of rubbish. He now just puts black pepper on his eggs.

@Borough that's exactly it! I budget really carefully, we work really hard and still struggling... It's killing me. Im exhausted from worrying about it. I never used to!

I think she’s got the message by now. I genuinely don’t understand why you needed to carry on a pile on?

The news that there’s been a “blip” isn’t helpful either 😩 I get shocked every time I pay at checkout and I always shop at Aldi!

@Entwhit Say what now?

How much time does it take? Genuinely wondering

@honeyandfizz lol I probably didn't explain it too well.

I told my energy company that I'd used loads more energy than I actually did, just before prices went up. So I overpaid, but using a cheaper cost per unit. Then when prices went up I gave meter readings that suggested I was using less. So I haven't been charged as much per unit.

It sounds like there's going to be another hike next year so people might look into doing the same now.

I find it stabilising a bit but I spent £75 in Morrisons today on what looked not much at all. Our Aldi is an absolute dive so I don’t go any more. Tbh I think their prices had gone up and quality decreased anyway.

I am in Scotland where we get hammered for more tax as well. I’m not even a particularly high earner. But it’s a race to the bottom in SNP land. I pay about £2k a more tax a year than if I lived in England. So rising prices and £2k out of my pay packet. And it’s the people who don’t work who keep voting them in

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?

My honest belief is those that in the future reach retirement age without a house or decent pension...Well there will be no retirement age as such... you'll be assessed as got for work until you aren't at which point you'll be sent to z 'big house' full of people in a similar situation, a bit like student halls, although they will let couples stay together, and you'll basically stay there with 3 meals a day and a bit of pocket money until you either shuffle off this mortal coil or Nedd more specialist care in a care home.
.
I mean you won't be locked in, you'll be allowed out but you probably won't have enough money to do much other than the odd trip to visit relatives or see z local attraction.

I honestly don't know what else they will do if no one can afford buy a house in the future.

I absolutely feel the same.
I feel like every time I find a way to make some extra cash, or do extra hours, something goes up in price to eat up the extra, leaving me with nothing to save even though that was the purpose of getting more money.

I worry how people are managing. Food bills are through the roof

@SecretShambles they won't even care enough to do that.

We're already seeing the first tranche of substantial numbers of older people retiring without assets and they're just expected to get rooms in shared houses. If housing benefit doesn't cover their rent they're working for the difference.

That'll just become more normalised.

Personally I think it is appalling for older people to have so little autonomy and privacy but it looks to be the way things are heading. You work forever and all you do is pay money to private landlords and megacorps.

@Borough One of my neighbours, a retired lady, has taken in two lodgers to provide her with an income. They are all single retired/semi-retired people and seem to get on fine.

At least they aren't lonely, the house is well maintained and they seem to make it work

Yes it'll be back to house shares with strangers either as the relatively lucky owner or less lucky lodgers.
I thought the days of post it notes on the milk were behind me

https://www.lancs.live/news/cost-of-living/martin-lewis-warns-households-not-23533891

Anyone planning on doing this needs to be aware you will be committing the criminal offence of fraud. You may not get caught and if you are, the energy company may not prosecute (I have no idea what their policies are) but the risk is sufficient for Martin Lewis to warn against doing it.

@MintJulia I'm sure it all looks lovely and civilised from the outside.