How much has the 'cost of living' gone up by?

[KatyMac]

Either a proper figure from somewhere or people impressions over the last 18 m or so please?

It depends on who you are and where you are. For example, if you're a retired person then you might think it has gone up sharply because you don't buy many white goods or make mortgage payments (two things that have reduced in price), but you spend a relatively high proportion of your income on on food and fuel (two things that have gone up).

I keep track of my income and expenditure carefully. My mortgage is fixed so no changes there. Expenditure on food has increased but total spending on utility bills has stayed the same. So my 'personal inflation' measure is probably quite low.... 1 or 2%

OK

That makes it difficult to work out a price increase; fuel & food are the things I am struggling with

Maybe I need to think about standard published figures

Even within food there are big divisions. Imported food went up sharply last year because of exchange rates, for example, but the price war between supermarkets and discounters means that a lot of basic staples are actually cheaper

Try googling 'cost of living calculator'. The www.thisismoney.co.uk often has comparison tables broken down by expense category.

We have found our shopping about £40 a week more expensive than 18 months ago

The food we buy is very (scarily) similar (we have records because we run a business) - it's quite odd

There's a tool on BBC money that works out personal inflation

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7669072.stm can't link on phone sorry

If you only put food in it says there is no change in the cost of living - so it must be weighted somehow

I'm still no wiser how to calculate a price increase

Is the reason for your question so that you can bargain for more money from somewhere? Pay-rise? Maintenance?

If you're stuggling, the best way to see where your money is going is to keep a careful track of it and itemised. Sometimes it feels like 'everything's going up' when, in reality, it's one or two specific things that are skewing the picture. If you know what those are you can tackle them.

I childmind & I am finding the food very expensive comparatively speaking to the rates I am being paid

I normally put my rates up in Sept but I am struggling this year as I feel very adversely affected by the food prices (& petrol)

But just because I am struggling I can't pick a number out at random - it needs to have justification/explaination

It doesn't seem that long ago that there were blockades (OK I know it was year & year) because petrol was going to be 80p......& it's £1.15

Start with published inflation rates (CPI) from the Office of National Statistics. It's currently just over 3%. But do be aware that most people are not getting inflation-based pay-rises any more and you could get a few grumbles.

I expect to

But tbh if they want nice food they will have to contribute - I won't buy value chicken [shudder]

God I am a ponse

Riven, I buy value brand butter (Tesco or similar), and it's exactly the same as Kerrygold etc and quite a bit cheaper, about 90p.

Katy when I put in £400 a month for food into the BBC calulcator and select the East of England it says 4% increase. This looks like a reasonable starting point for you.

Food is definatly our biggest increase. We used to get a weeks shopping for 5 of us for about £40-50 and now £60-70 a week. Not helped by the fact I have a GI and a GI/LI child which makes it more expensive.

My personal shopping would be much, much less

I used the back button after doing it for me - maybe that's why didn't work