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!

@KievLoverTwo

I have never been so thankful to have left the south east and I feel so sorry for folks who are stuck with those horrific increases.

There've been massive price hikes outside London/South East too. My son is having to pay an extortionate amount for a tiny one bed flat in a northern city. It's not even a town centre flat - it's right on the edge of the ring road. He had to offer a years' rent in advance and 10% over the already steep asking price to get it. That was after 3/4 months of trying to find a flat, and not even being able to get a viewing as demand is so high. If he wanted a town centre flat, he'd have to pay double the rent, which is basically the same as his monthly net wage, so completely unaffordable. Even renting a room in a shared house is minimum of £750 per month. Holiday lets and Uni student lets have basically sucked up all the property. Estate agents say that all viewing slots are taken within the first 30 minutes of a property being listed.

I’ve also noticed how expensive things are becoming, and set to become a lot more expensive when minimum wage goes up next year.

I have no problem with the min wage, but employers are then offering barely anything above that for qualified, skilled positions.
DH has just taken a skilled role with an advertising agency on 25k, just above min wage based on a 40hw.
People wil begin to question why they bother to get qualified, usually at great expense and subsequent debt. I can understand, economically, employers forced to fund a mw increase will avoid salary increases for non mw staff. But it feels rather unfair.

I am in a large northern city, moved here in 2010 and rented a 2 bed flat in a decent area for 650/ month.
Now it's easily double that.
650 will get you a room in a shared house in a grotty area.

That’s horrific. We had unpleasant experiences trying to rent a large countryside home in the midlands and then in the North in 21 and again in 22. Landlords saying no to pretty much anything and sealed bids and asking for a guarantor as well as six months rent (on a six figure salary with no kids!!). But it sounds like your son is experiencing something far more extreme. I am really sorry to hear this :(

@KievLoverTwo Ah, if it suits your circumstances and you love the outdoors and quiet life, fantastic. I just meant that you needn't feel sorry for people "stuck" in SE (I mean, everyone can move!) because there are excellent benefits to it. I had so many friends and colleagues who moved during covid, and half of them love it (because they have little kids and they enjoy the outdoors) and half can't stand it (there's nothing to do after 5pm!), so it's very much about personality/circumstances in life. I'm fairly sure I'll be that oldie at the gig in 30 years, reminiscing about seeing bands in early 00s in London 😁

Re: holidays, there's nothing saying you have to pay premium with going with a UK tour operator. I get that for most people "holiday" means putting your feet up by the poolside, but we did a week-long trip to Prague and Krakow this summer. The flights were very cheap because we booked them about 6 months ahead of time, and the hotels had great deals - nice family rooms with an extra single bed for DC were cheaper than any basic hotel I've seen in the UK. Train between the two cities cost almost nothing, and food/drink/local transport was much cheaper than in the UK.

I agree. People have got used to the luxuries of living in a 'rich' country, but the country is getting poorer and I think it will continue to decline, as will the US. The new superpowers will rise in Asia.

There are lots of poorer countries in the world where people don't have the things that we've become accustomed to, and they don't expect them either.

Sadly I agree. We are where we are and things aren't going to get better. The "peak" times have been and gone. We need to accept that the good times are over. Moreover, we need to all learn to be more self reliant and look after ourselves. Yes, sadly, it's going to become "survival of the fittest" in the decades to come. Politicians don't have any answers, they're just now in the mode of managing the decline. Basically the entire Western developed economies are in decline and there's no way of reversing it. As history shows, all empires rise and eventually fall and collapse. The "rich" are dangling Western countries like the UK on a string like a puppet - they control us, and we're just the puppets now. The more we look after ourselves on an individual level, the better, as we can't rely on politicians or the rich to keep looking after us.

@taxguru

Exactly. The country cannot afford to spend huge sums on public services, and welfare, and winter fuel payments, and all these other things that people demand, but people don't want to accept this. They are luxuries of a rich, prosperous country that the UK can no longer afford - and it's only going to get worse in the future.

@MidnightMeltdown and WhiteButtonMoon

Not an attractive prospect, but I fear for a large amount of people, your predictions will unfortunately come true.

Education and hard work may well be more valued again, and less taken for granted, as hard work and academic success may well be the only way the majority will have the prospect of higher living standards through wage growth.

It was this way in the past and all the current signs indicate that it will be in the future.

Excess money and property driven inheritance will dry up - unless the trends of the last few decades will unexpectedly reverse…

With you on the take aways and Spice Taylor kits, @IDontHateRainbows . And even those I only buy when on offer.

I've found the Fiery Goan Curry is a really good substitute for a hot Indian takeaway style curry, BUT, I have to add a tin of coconut milk to it (I have pretty good tolerance for hot/spicy food, but that one needed so softening! The added advantage is that it goes further.

@Fifiesta

Yes, people who haven't made any preparations for retirement, and expect to be supported by the state, should look at history, and poorer countries for an idea of where we are headed.

It wasn't very long ago that these people would have been dependent on charities, churches and the generosity of family members.

This sounds great, really inspiring! I hope you're enjoying your adventures.

@IDontHateRainbows agreed. Many jobs that I would consider 'mid tier' are now paid the same as a 'first' job. The minimum.wage is great, but around us kids doing a weekend job in hospitality are getting paid almost as much as their parents doing skilled jobs.
The other problem with this is there's no desire to move up the ladder and take on more responobikty as the renumeration often doesn't reflect the extra work and hassle. Why bother when you're onky getting £1 per hour more? It's easier not to have the bother.

It sucks. Here's a little tip.for the takeaway lovers: I bought a sistema rice cooker, one cup of rice and two cups of water, 18 minutes in the microwave makes 500g of lovely fluffy rice. Add that to the bought dishes rather than egg fried rice might save a bit.

I find the cost of egg fried, mushroom, all the different rice's at the Chinese takeaway astronomical for what they are.

I use the American long grain rice that's called easy cook. Takes less time. I still love a Thai curry from my local but no jasmine or coconut rice now.

@Crucible We do the same on the rare occasion we get a takeaway now. Our local has increased the price from £3 to £3.50 then a big jump to £5 for a small egg fried rice. To be fair, it is a good amount but partner inhales his in one go and I like to have it the next day.

A main is £8-£10. So, we just get two mains now and do rice at home.

A muffin and a coffee £6.75. Honestly. But I was hungover and DC2 was hungry (shared muffin).

Top top: they seem permanently on offer (£2.50) at Waitrose. Trick is to just buy them and not be tempted by expensive Waitrose food or it's a false economy!
With you on the goan curry...it's the best!

Some of you need to shop around, who pays £10 per person for the cinema? Get meerkat when you do your insurance, use kids pass or pic iq tickets, octopus do two free child tickets and two adults for £10, there are loads and loads of offers around you need to find them, also ask friends and family if they have codes etc. I just bought my DNs bike for her birthday with my blue light discount and my brother gave me the money. No problem for me.

Also why would you think having three children would be cheap?!
The crazy golf example of £24 that's £6 per person for a couple of hours entertainment, I don't think that's bad at all.

We went with a group of DS's school friends and parents to the beach yesterday. All took a picnic , local parking permit £12.50 a month so parking covered. DC all had a great day.

Groceries continue to rise while the supermarkets make record people go it's anday off staff, that's an issue, unaffordable childcare so parents can't contribute economically to their family and the country, that's a problem. The cost of optical activities not so much

It’s because minimum wage keeps increasing. All these places rely on minimum wage workers, restaurant staff, food production workers, cinema staff etc. As soon as minimum wage goes up all these businesses adjust their prices. The folks on minimum wage can’t afford the associated increase, the people above whose wages often haven’t increased proportionally then can’t afford to do all the things they used to do and cut back and this continues up the food chain. Now there is a smaller pool of people actually able to afford the activities and days out that did feel affordable pre-covid. I usually despise going any where in the school holidays as it’s so busy. This year everywhere seems much quieter.

We were at a tourist attraction yesterday and a pasty and chips was £12, it looked disgusting. The salad bowl was £8 and again looked revolting. I have the money but I’d rather not eat, than eat that crap! So much is just not worth it now.

Urgh, I'm with you. It's train fares that I cannot get my head around.

We went to Spain a while back and did a two-hour journey in the most stunning train for 3 Euros each. We were saying it would be hundreds in the UK.

I've got mobility problems - not enough for a disabled rail card, but I cannot stand for a train journey. After several journeys sitting on the filthy floor for hours, I've started paying First Class.

So that's really where most of my holiday money is now going. Money that I would have spent on weekends away or eating out.

And the greedy train drivers already on 70k are striking again so fares will only increase

My DSs are now in their 20s and I recall lots more offers of attractions with Tesco Club card when they were little, not so many it seems now. Even our weekly Tesco spend of £125 will only get us enough points for RAC membership and then a bit off the Christmas shop.
DH retired early with some nice perks for discounted entry to attractions (unfortunately on a pauper's pension). The only one left is getting in free to Royal Palaces (and visiting the Tower of London 3 times is enough I think!) He used to get into Kew Gardens for free, now it's £26ish pounds. I remember going for 1 old penny, 10p and then £1! (It is terrific though!)

Another little known tip I learnt in MN that has served me well - blue Peter cards get your kids free entry to lots of places

my kids are still really young so I can get away with a trip to the park with a football to tire them out or get them colouring. When they get older I know they are going to get more expensive. We have just been away for a week dog and house sitting. We stayed in a massive house with a huge garden and had so much space, really feels like we’ve been on holiday and had a nice break away but it was completely free. Im banning eating out because of the cost of it , we will have to take a picnic everywhere we go