Surviving the Cost of Living

I don't subscribe to the BBC/TV License so I can't watch it (and honestly, don't like BBC content), but even so it's not hard to cut down costs.

Don't always have lights on (even swap for economic bulbs), TV/Monitors always on unless in use, use coats or blankets to be warm than have heat on, etc.

Anyway, during the day I like having windows open to let fresh air in.

Getting used to cold/fresh weather has its advantages too so a person doesn't just rely on warm weather

We watched it last night. I felt sorry for all of them. I am ridiculously careful with what I spend money on, how much energy I use, the amount I drive etc.

What I found amazing was that one of the families who were struggling, was donating clothes to their local church for the Ukranians, because as the mum said, we have more than they do. I loved that it showed how generous and kind people were, even when they didn't have much.

What annoyed me was when one mum said her daughter had been made fun of when her shoes had broken at school. I recently sowed the Velcro back on my sons shoes because they still fitted him and there was nothing wrong with them otherwise and it saved me money as I didn't have to buy him a new pair.

I just watched it and it's scary that people are living like this everyone is struggling I know I am

This sounds interesting, unfortunately i missed it so will watch it tonight.

I am appalled at the rises in the cost of living. They keep saying it's about 3% or so but normal everyday things I buy are mostly 10% dearer lately. Butter now £4 a tub, a favourite cereal up from £3 to £3.30 even Greggs sausage rolls are over a pound now with no option of buying 2 or 3 at a reduced price, and don't even go there with petrol!

Blatant profiteering by them as they were selling what they already bought at the lower prices and selling it at higher price.

Everything is being blamed on Russia well just how much did we previously buy from them, it would seem our very existence depended on them prior to the war. Sadly, that may yet prove to be correct with a madman at the helm.

Today it is fish and chip shops closing down because we buy 40% of our white fish from them......really? We are surrounded by sea and Scandinavian countries are a lot nearer than Russia.

Everyone is jumping on the higher prices bandwagon and justifying it on the Russian/Ukrainian war, sorry I am not buying it....... literally. I will avoid paying more as much as I can and urge others to do the same except for absolute necessities.

Sadly they are 3 families the government couldn't give a **** about like the millions in the same boat.

I missed it but will try and catch up tonight. Sadly its just the start. The Conservative party have already put 3 million more children into poverty before the pandemic started. I dread to think the number will see it rise to now.

Well, today they reckon inflation is at 9%. I beg to disagree. I am expecting an online shop soon and while ordering I was clocking a few of the price rises. Block butter (I use for cake baking but will now cease), cheapest Sainsburys brand was £1.48 a month or so ago, now it is £1.90. spreadable butter has gone up even more from about £2.75 to £4. Milk quite recently was 99p and today it is £1.29. I could go on but all of these rises are well over 20%. Sainsburys have their substitute price promise and my favourite coffee 190 gms was on offer for £5.50 instead of £8. However, it is sold out so an email informs me they are substituting with a 75gms jar, another make, for £3.50. Mmmm so no refund but far less coffee......that will be going back!

Thanks I’ll take a look

Much of the world has become much poorer due to the pandemic and now this war. There isn't much that can be done except adapt to it or try to earn more money which admittedly may not be possible. We are quite an obese nation so can afford to lose a few pounds. Also we don't put sales tax on a lot of food which helps. Yes food price inflation is pretty dramatic but not as surprising as energy price inflation. Most people can economise a fair bit unless of course you are very poor and there is really no place for you to go with regard savings. I went in Aldi earlier and still a lot of great price fruit and veg but did notice some items that have had a 30-50% increase.

Unfortunately like many countries we are destined to get a lot poorer. In the next few decades with global warming many crops will fail and importing food may be difficult so we need to become self-sufficient in food as a priority but sadly we have staggeringly incompetent politicians in this country of all parties in my opinion and future planning is minimal at best. We need to set a realistic population level to aim for and maximise food production. The right policies could make the future much easier for us.

My 1st port of call for the cost of living crisis has always been Martin Lewis and from there you learn so much stuff which I have applied to since I 1st came across him so many years ago . Once you gain a foothold in knowledge then it opens up other doors and I do use youtube for educational and moneymaking ideas and its not just a port of call for music . There is some amazingly good ideas on here as well and I would recommend people look into some of the amazing facebook groups which will ably assist you and your family in keeping the cost of living crisis at bay .

I have today discovered what I feel is a deceptive money maker for a particular supermarket. After running out of milk I picked some up from my nearest supermarket rather than my further usual one. When I picked up the 4 pinter I immediately felt it wasn't quite right as it seemed smaller but chunkier, thicker plastic. However, I gave it no further thought until yesterday when my online shop arrived from my usual supermarket. As I went to dispose of the old container I decided to place them side by side and yes, my suspicions were correct, the suspect container had only 2 litres of milk instead of 2.2 and there was nothing to show how many pints it contained. The new, usual one stated 2.2 litres AND 4 pints as (to my knowledge) they always have done.

Now 0.2 litres may not sound like much but multiply that by millions sold and it is quite a lot. This seems especially weird to me as the government are considering going back to imperial and how much did it cost to reset machinery to make these slightly smaller bottles that contain almost 10% less!

I will not name either supermarket in case I get sued, even though facts are facts!

The suspect bottle is definitely slimmer but they have tried to disguise this by making the plastic thicker, so much for saving the environment.

It’s a duvet day so this should be interesting to watch

I enjoy watching these kinds of programmes because you get tips from other people for cost cutting on the other hand by them showing this they obviously realise alot of us are struggling yet the bare minimum is being done for us

So astounding how the house prices are rising and there is such a huge demand despite this rise in cost of living. I just hope we don't fall into a rescission

Thank you for the link to the BBC program which I’ve just watched. This must be out of date already so I can only imagine what those families must be feeling after the latest bombshell with energy prices increasing again.

So today they reckon inflation is 9.4% and again I ask where do they get their figures from? All my household bills (council tax, energy, water, mortgage, sky, tv licence) come to x amount. The energy rises alone take the total to well over a 9.4% rise. Sky and council tax also went up so I would say the total has risen by almost 20%. And there is more to come and these figures do not include the higher energy prices to come nor the increase in food and fuel prices!

Omg I keep coming back here with a new shock every time. Last week I did an online shop and ryvita was £1.60 a pack (this is Sainsburys so I'm sure other stores will differ). Anyway, that was a delivery last Tuesday and today I am doing my next order ready for next Tuesday and Ryvita is now £2!!!!!!!!! That is a 25% rise in just 5 days.

Don't know why I'm writing this really as we all know it's gone stupid, inflation that is. But I can remember when ryvita was less than £1 and I'm talking months not years ago.

I haven't watches it but sounds interesting I will lye on couch watch it later I feel so sorry for a lot of families especially single parents with small children we are struggling and we both work and my kids are grown up and only have my 23 year old son in the house

We all know spreadable butter has increased to a disgusting degree. But today I went shopping and saw block butter down from £2 to £1.70 with nectar price so popped a couple in my trolley. On closer inspection I found it was 200gms instead of the usual 250gms. So even at the lower price it would be over £2.10 for 250gms and at the normal price of £2 it would now be £2.50 for a 250 gm block.....absolutely disgusting. How are they allowed to do this?

I am absolutely disgusted..in our country..families having to negotiate what goes in the shopping basket..shall we eat or put some warmth into our home..I hope the government sleep well in their nice comfy beds waking up to a full fridge and can't decide what to have...year's ago criminals like them were hung or put into stocks for this behaviour of robbery....you should be ashamed of the poverty you have brought to this country.

Butter has shot right up in price. I get Sainsburys own usually unless an offer elsewhere but I try to use less.

It is becoming laughable how people in the 5th richest country can find themselves in this position

I really feel for people at the moment. I’m lucky I am very savvy

Correct me if I am wrong (I am seeing shrinkflation everywhere now) but I have thought for several weeks now that cornetto type ice creams have shrunk in size. When unwrapped they almost disappear into my hand from base of little finger to tip of thumb. I am sure they were fatter and taller previously.