Who else is depressed at not being able to afford to do anything since cost of living crisis? I find life really boring.
Also sick of some people on mumsnet who earn over £50k and are pleading poverty. Absolute c*s
Thats it thats the thread.
Use our Cost of Living forum to discuss budgeting and energy saving with other users.
Cost of living
It's just so depressing.
Karenanderson2057 · 23/03/2024 21:05
THisbackwithavengeance · 24/03/2024 09:11
I find it equally irritating with people acting like the COL crisis is a new thing and no one before has ever encountered it. Because interest rates have been so low for years, people have got into a lull of low mortgages etc and having plenty of extra cash and are now whining because suddenly life is harder.
Those of us over 50 will have been there, seen that and got the T shirt.
I said on another thread that as a professional working in London in the late 90s I was on the bones of my arse. I would be paid and my bank balance would revert to zero on the 1st of each month and then I would gradually go into my overdraft to live. I didn't have a car and lived in a shitty, stinking flat. I had to get another job in the evenings to survive. And my experience was not uncommon. In fact it was normal. I was considered lucky amongst my peers because I owned a flat with a mortgage; most of my peers were flatsharing or had digs.
Food now is as cheap as it's ever been - relatively and the internet has meant that it's a buyers market as there's so much competition.
People older than me will remember the crash in the mid 80s (off top of my head). My mum did 3 jobs at one point.
It's all cyclical.
Karenanderson2057 · 23/03/2024 21:05
Who else is depressed at not being able to afford to do anything since cost of living crisis? I find life really boring.
Also sick of some people on mumsnet who earn over £50k and are pleading poverty. Absolute c*s
Thats it thats the thread.
Frugalfruit · 24/03/2024 10:22
I was a teenager the 80s and we had completely different expectations. For years we didn't go out for a meal but even when we did it would be once a year or so. No takeaways ever. I've carried that on.
I do feel sorry for those who are struggling but our expectations have changed so much. I don't have haircuts and I've never had my nails done. My dd is having these things done and eating out constantly. I don't have my heating on, I just run a dehimidifier to stop damp and go to bed with hot water bottles and she taps me up for £50 a time to eat out.
My income is low, part time min wage. But my expectations are also low. I can see that most people would not want to do all the weird things I do to save money.
My own dc will never have houses. They consider luxuries to be neccessities. I get free vegetables and tins of soup given to me from time to time and dd won't touch any of that. I have saved hard for my dc since they were born. Tiny amounts, regularly. They consider these savings to be for frivolius spending money, when I consider them to be a house deposit.
I've been largely insulated from the cost of living crisis because I have low expectations. I consider luxuries to be for other people. I am content. My dc want life to be fun and exciting and to go nice places, wear nice clothes. I can go for a walk for free.
I hate the Tories with a passion but living under Thatcher taught me to have extremely low expectations, and that is how I have coped.
My friend grew up in poverty in Poland. She eats cabbage twice a day, every day. She is very frugal despite having a well paid job. She is appalled by the waste of money she sees around her.
Food has shot up but it is still relatively cheap. The meals we had in the 80s were horrible. The first time I ever enjoyed a meal I was 16 and my mum bought a jar of pasta sauce and we had spag bol that was (to me, then), delicious. We lived on microwave baked potatoes and horrible slop from the slow cooker. There was no removeable inner from the slow cooker back then either so it was inconvenient or dangerous to wash. There were no value ranges. Interest rates were 15%.
In the 70s my mum collected bits of wood for the fire. To her the crappy, dangerous slow cooker she got in the 80s would have been a luxury. My parents were extremely frugal, much more frugal than I am. They consider me a spendthrift.
Sad to say the sooner you get out of the mindset of thinking life will be enjoyable or confortable the more content you will be.
Having said all that I feel terrible for those who are dying due to mould. I have lung problems that have developed over the last few years, and I have mould on ny windows. I am so lucky to have my dehumidifier or the whole house would be covered. It is so frightening when you can't breathe and people have no choice but to live in these conditions and die gasping for breath.
Same with people with no food. Horrendous.
Our country is on the wane and we need to adapt and manage our expectations accordingly.
Frugalfruit · 24/03/2024 10:22
I was a teenager the 80s and we had completely different expectations. For years we didn't go out for a meal but even when we did it would be once a year or so. No takeaways ever. I've carried that on.
I do feel sorry for those who are struggling but our expectations have changed so much. I don't have haircuts and I've never had my nails done. My dd is having these things done and eating out constantly. I don't have my heating on, I just run a dehimidifier to stop damp and go to bed with hot water bottles and she taps me up for £50 a time to eat out.
My income is low, part time min wage. But my expectations are also low. I can see that most people would not want to do all the weird things I do to save money.
My own dc will never have houses. They consider luxuries to be neccessities. I get free vegetables and tins of soup given to me from time to time and dd won't touch any of that. I have saved hard for my dc since they were born. Tiny amounts, regularly. They consider these savings to be for frivolius spending money, when I consider them to be a house deposit.
I've been largely insulated from the cost of living crisis because I have low expectations. I consider luxuries to be for other people. I am content. My dc want life to be fun and exciting and to go nice places, wear nice clothes. I can go for a walk for free.
I hate the Tories with a passion but living under Thatcher taught me to have extremely low expectations, and that is how I have coped.
My friend grew up in poverty in Poland. She eats cabbage twice a day, every day. She is very frugal despite having a well paid job. She is appalled by the waste of money she sees around her.
Food has shot up but it is still relatively cheap. The meals we had in the 80s were horrible. The first time I ever enjoyed a meal I was 16 and my mum bought a jar of pasta sauce and we had spag bol that was (to me, then), delicious. We lived on microwave baked potatoes and horrible slop from the slow cooker. There was no removeable inner from the slow cooker back then either so it was inconvenient or dangerous to wash. There were no value ranges. Interest rates were 15%.
In the 70s my mum collected bits of wood for the fire. To her the crappy, dangerous slow cooker she got in the 80s would have been a luxury. My parents were extremely frugal, much more frugal than I am. They consider me a spendthrift.
Sad to say the sooner you get out of the mindset of thinking life will be enjoyable or confortable the more content you will be.
Having said all that I feel terrible for those who are dying due to mould. I have lung problems that have developed over the last few years, and I have mould on ny windows. I am so lucky to have my dehumidifier or the whole house would be covered. It is so frightening when you can't breathe and people have no choice but to live in these conditions and die gasping for breath.
Same with people with no food. Horrendous.
Our country is on the wane and we need to adapt and manage our expectations accordingly.
GoodfortheGoose · 24/03/2024 10:38
@Frugalfruit
I agree with some of what you're saying. We definitely are accustomed to a higher standard of living, and we don't consider luxuries as luxuries anymore. It's just what we all expect.
But I don't think it would make a substantial difference to cut these things out of you're trying to get a deposit.
The best way is to have family who you can live with. That saves you £1000-1500 pm.
Cutting out 'luxuries' saves you £120 pm.
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