Cost of living.

[Myusername19]

Anyone feeling put off from doing things because of rip off prices now? I cant seem to get used to them. I have a family of 5 now and that combined with cost of living means that if i wanted to go on holiday in the uk, im looking at £200-£300 per night. A week abroad 5k. A ten year old car with 3 full seats for car seats 5k. A takeaway £30. A meal out £70. Hardly seems worth it!

Im in northern ireland so we dont have any of those places here. We do lots of free things like hiking and the beach, playgrounds etc. dont drink, dont smoke and dont drive either 🙈 our monthly groceries is £800 a month. Have children with allergies so the price of alternatives bumps it up a bit.

I dont drive either and the public transport system here is terrible. Im in northern Ireland. There is a good deal for £24 all day travel for a family but the services are shockingly bad from towns with no bus station.

Family of 6 here on one salary (I'm a sahm/carer for disabled DC) and costs seem to be increasing every month!

We go to Toby carvery for meals out as kids eat for £1 at the moment and we just drink water. A "proper" restaurant is at least £100.

Cinema we only do the kids morning ones for £2.50 and take our own snacks.

All clothes except pants and socks are from vinted and I sell lots on there too.

10+ year old car, we buy our cars outright and run then into the ground 😂 luckily we aren't fussed about the latest models etc.

No dishwasher, no sky etc

Lots of lovely days out to national trust, we all enjoy the outdoors which is fab

We use our local library most weeks

Takeaway is a every 6-8 week treat it used to be weekly 😱 DH and I always share a meal between us.

Holidays are just to visit family in the UK .

Swimming/gym is a bit of an essential luxury. We need the pool for disabled DC for exercise so that's an expensive cost but we save up for it and get alot of use out of it

So quite a simple frugal life but we are happy!

Very similar circumstances here minus the car.

We tend to only do/buy things that we can get discounts or deals for. There always seems to be deals if you can be flexible. Can't remember the last time we ate in a restaurant without some kind of discount voucher/code - there's always something, somewhere, if you go digging for it via Google and the discount code websites. I think some places are deliberately charging more for the "mugs" who'll pay it (those with money or who don't care), whilst at the same time making it pretty easy for people to find discount vouchers/codes which basically bring the price down to what it should be anyway!

With pub food, places often have special deals on particular days of the week, i.e. 2 burgers for a tenner on Tuesday, 2 Curries for a tenner on Wednesdays, etc., so with a bit of planning, you can just choose your day according to what you want. Again, google is your friend as most places have menus/offers on their websites.

Same with supermarkets. Eg, there is ALWAYS a discounted offer on McCoy crisps multipacks at one of the main supermarkets, just as one of them always has discounts on multipacks of coke cans - the manufacturers have the discounts/deals on a kind of rotation around the main stores. Again, by googling and using online shopping websites, you can find which supermarket has the highest number of deals/discounts for things you want and so you plan to go there to do that weeks' shopping.

Same applies to cinemas, childrens' attractions, etc. If there are no particular discounts/offers, then you can usually find other ways, such as discounted attraction tickets if you go by train, or using Tesco clubcard vouchers, etc.

What doesn't work, unless you're happy to pay "mug" pricing, is not planning, not being flexible, etc., as you end up with fewer options for discounts/deals.

That isn't expensive for golf, our local one is £5 per person for 18 holes, it's outdoors though so weather depending. Mr Mulligans was more like £40 for 2 adults and 2 kids which I think is a lot

We've had a lovely meal out today, 4 adults, 4 kids, all freshly made food plus soft drinks and a bottle of wine, £103.

Some things are very expensive for what you get, chain restaurants in particular but there are still reasonable places around

I live in northern Ireland, far from a city so there are no chains so no discount codes for takeaways or restaurants. No discounts on cars or holidays in the uk or abroad. I never mentioned days out because i can do lots of days out cheaply and take a packed lunch.

I don't know if it's a rip off or just inflation hitting everyone hence price rises, but I only buy second hand clothes for myself and DC now (used to buy supermarket clothes, still buy underwear and shoes brand new) and if DD wants to stop at a coffee shop when we're out and about or she's hungry, I used to buy food/lunch for both of us but I've been buying only for her recently. I might get myself a coffee, but then again I might not depends on how much her lunch is. I'm fortunate though that I can still afford to buy her lunch and not have to take sandwiches every time we go out for a period that might cover lunchtime 🤷‍♀️

I get it. We definitely go out less and eat out less. Only go for the cheap morning cinema tickets.

My local council run bowling alley wants £45 for 2 games for an adult and 2 children. Insane!

I was at blackpool pleasure beach the other day and was surprised at how empty it as for a weekday in peak holiday season. Great for the rides as queues were short! I didn't think it was bad value for money at just under £100 for me and 2 DC although that was the advance price, gate price would have been about £40 more.
It seemed quite dead inside certainly compared to previous years so i can only imagine how quiet it must be in term time/ out of peak season. People must be tightening their belts this year.

The government go on about people spending more to stimulate the economy. That’s all very well but, with below inflation wage increases, most people are more focused on paying their (overpriced) mortgages/bills than going out to eat/the cinema etc. I haven’t had my hair done in over a year because it’s got so expensive.

I’ve said that about companies going bust (some already have) If they put their prices up too high then people won’t just turn their backs on them in frustration, they literally won’t have the money to spend. A month’s wage only goes so far.

I cannot imagine life without a car, so I really feel for the people on this thread getting by with limited and expensive public transport.

I can afford to spend money as we have two decent incomes but I do feel things are just crazy expensive, I don’t feel I’m getting value for money.

I do pay for a swimming membership which is £21 a month at my local town pool and since my dc2 has paid-for lessons he can swim for free whenever he likes. It’s unbelievably liberating to think “oh we’ll pop out for a swim” and we go more often because every visit reduces the average cost per visit. I swim usually 4 times a week!

At least it’s sunny now - my dc like cycling and playgrounds a LOT so we explore our local area.

And Vinted has honestly been a life saver - thank you to all the people who spend their time selling me their lovely clothes! I’ve been using it for years and I’ve really only had half a dozen things that’s disappointed me. There’s nothing like picking up a gorgeous top for £8 inc p&p and knowing I didn’t have to drive out to a shop and pay to park and trawl round everywhere.

Depending on where you are, it can be worth getting your DC to apply for Blue Peter cards. Some of the attractions e.g. Kew Gardens have a cheaper entry fee later in the day so it can mean having a few hours out for a tenner.

Agree that prices have gone bonkers generally but attractions have always been very expensive without annual passes or deals.

Lots of people complaining about cost seem to have 3 or 4 children. This is really something people should take into account when deciding their family size. Of course it’s expensive to take a family of 5 or 6 swimming or to the cinema. I have to say for a family of 4 most things are reasonable as a once a month treat. Local to me (in an expensive area):
Swimming for 4 £19 - session 2 hours
Softplay for 4 £15 - session 2 hours
Cinema - would do either kids viewing at £2.50 each or our local does 2 for 1 on a weekday. This would be a rarer treat.
Farm £44 for 4 - larger day out or there are country parks with lakes and playgrounds where only cost is parking for £2

Meals out are costly regardless but generally things can be found at a reasonable cost

I agree OP. In fact the other day I found a budgeting list I’d made for us for when DC2 (now 4!) was in preschool, then with the future 30 funded hours at the time then at school. It had all our predicted outgoings and incomings and wow! Everything has gone up sooo much. Out outgoings are £1k more than I predicted in 2020 due to rises of food, mortgage, bills etc. no wonder it feels tighter than when we were paying nursery fees even though that £800/month seemed huge.
I don’t know what the solution is. My sister lives in Canada and she said things are similar over there right now although food has always been more ££. My friend lives in Kenya and has an amazing life so maybe we will decamp to Africa on retirement!

Having said that I’m from a family of 5 and I remember my parents baulking at the prices of days out and we were fairly comfortably off! I’ve stuck with 2!

I think part of the issue is the places are actually awful too.

When it was quite a cheap day out you could put up with the 'rough edges' of customer service but now when you are paying £££ you think hang on a minute this is a rip off.

Takeaways are really pricey too. If you order on deliveroo it ls even more expensive than eating in the restaurant. We got a takeaway a couple of weeks ago from an Indian which was lovely but it was £81!!! .

As someone else said we are mainly doing hobbies now.

Ds' golf membership for the year is £200. In the summer he has played probably 4 times a week and will probably play every weekend until the weather is really bad and often will fit in the odd round over Christmas. We're lucky that DH has taught him how to play but it's actually great value for money compared to a £30 trip to the cinema and Nandos.

The most mental prices seem to be fresh fruit and veg! Being school holidays, DDs are going through fruit at a rate of knots and it’s costing us a fortune. DH always goes to Lidl as it opens on a Saturday morning to get the £1.50 boxes of wonky stuff, but the mid week top ups are really adding up. Luckily lots of the veg in the garden is now ready, but the fruit isn’t. It would be cheaper to feed the kids crisps and biscuits.

Why have so many kids? I calculated everything 10 years ago from school uniform, food, school trips abroad etc, driving lessons, days out, holidays and my baby ws only 6months at the time. We decided the extra cost for 2 or more children didn't have any benefit than a life we would five our child as one. Even if you had 2 why bother having more and increasing further financial strains?
70.00 for. Family of 5 eating out and 30.00 for a takeaway iunds like a bargain!! We are more than that on a family of 3.
Try centre parcs ....you pay for the cabin and not per person. The trick is to go when schools are on to get it for 300.00 for the 5 days and if you're kids arnt at school then make the most of it s the new rules changing this month mean that noone will be able to take kids out apart from once every 3 years .

I second the meerkat thing as recommended by Martin lewis. Buy 1 day travel insurance for a few pounds and get 2 for 1 cinema tickets for a year and also lots of the same deals for eating out through the week. I did this every school holidays for my 3 and parent friends often swap them on fb.

Yes wages have not increased in line with rising costs.

For example

My dad paid 6k for his house in todays money it should be worth 76k it's actually worth £120k

I went to a big festival 15 years ago and paid £175 for 5 day ticket. That ticket is now £355. In 2009 my wage was 16k. In a similar style role it's now 25k. So roughly a third more pay yet the ticket has doubled.

We were paying around £300 pp for a decent 4* star holiday around 15 years ago in June. Recently did average 3* star for £600 each in may.

I’ve def noticed the cost is extortionate. We went to IOW on holiday recently and it’s now over £100 for 4 of us into Blackgang chine (albeit you get free returns within 7 days so we did go twice) and £70 for Tapnell park.

we also made the mistake of having lunch in the cafe at moors country park in new forest £60 and was disgusting.

we have now decided that when away we will just take picnics - a fraction of the cost and usually better!

locally to us the restaurants are now Uber expensive and much lower quality. We’ve just stopped eating out and started spending slightly more on “weekend food” and cooking at home (also saves taxi and booze costs).

we’re trying to focus more on hobbies and free things - take kids to park or beach with picnic so it feels more of a treat. Bikes, walks, treasure hunts in garden etc.

just feels like life got so much more expensive very quickly

our nursery fees have just gone up to 1404 a month as mother in law now won’t have DC2 1 day a week (not in uk so no free hours) which we are also feeling.

Definitely agree with all of this and is the reason we've decided to stick with one child (born in 2022 I don't judge anybody who chooses to have more than one child so it's not a judgement comment) we have an household income of just under £100,000 but taking everything into account and the lifestyle we want for us and our child more than one child just doesn't make sense for us which is very sad.

Feel like as soon as we leave the house we end up spending £20 on nothing at all.

@Fiddlerdragon

"So he’s stuck a couple of old computers in his house and registered it as an internet cafe"

I love this! The rules and regulations (and cost) of living in the UK have ruined it for me.