Cost of Living - How are you handling it?

Lagamorph wrote:

Return_of_the_STAR wrote:

Grumpy David wrote:I'm in Ireland for a few days and the cost of renting a car has skyrocketed. Thursday to Sunday is equivalent to £115 per day. The Ryanair flights there and back are incredible value by comparison. The last time I needed to rent a car in Ireland it was about £35 per day.

Petrol gave me a heart attack too seeing the 1st number start with a 2 and the 2nd number start with a 1.

RTE reported that Ireland is along with Denmark the joint most expensive EU country.

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2022/0621/1306070-ireland-and-denmark-most-expensive-countries-in-eu/

Chicken fillet rolls still great value for money though.

Car rental prices seem to have shot up everywhere over the past year and a lot of this was prior to the explosion in coat of living. I'm not exactly sure what's caused it. I used to rent a vehicle in Spain every year for about two weeks. The most I've ever paid is £400, prior to the pandemic it was £257. Now it's a grand for a smaller car than that.

Probably to do with the rocketing cost of second hand vehicles and general shortage of new cars on the market. I'd imagine rental companies are basically having to pump more money into maintenance of their existing older fleet rather than being able to easily replace them.

Cost of new cars, massive massive cost of repairing cars and parts shortages. Car repair and part is probably a biggy in it as that has been going up and up for a long time now.

jawa_ wrote:

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:Did you get an alternative then like try a lower priced version if there was one? Or have you just gone without your usual yogurt and coffee?

Yeah, I got some different brand yoghurts that were on offer but I made do without the coffee. I read in the news that one supermarket (can!t remember which) said that customers are generally cutting back; spending roughly the same in total as they did previously but getting fewer items or cheaper variations.

That would suggest that people's budgets are already as tight as they can get and there's no more to give.

Winckle wrote:That would suggest that people's budgets are already as tight as they can get and there's no more to give.

Definitely, Winckle. I do wonder what's gonna happen when we get to the winter months and the energy bills increase (again).

It's those struggling the most already that will be continue to be clobbered by price rises on food because ideally you need to be stocking up on all your essentials now to beat the price rises. Obviously not everyone can magic up £300 now and go on a bulk shopping spree (and not everyone has the space to store it, either). Rice, pasta, oil, tomatoes, butter...these are staples that are up massively. I regularly see people loading up their cars with those mega bags of Tilda, whereas before it was more of a rarity to even see them in supermarkets not named Costco and Booker.

I bet sales of chest freezers have gone through the roof these last couple of years but I'd have nowhere to put it.

Fuel on St Helena has gone up to £1.98 for petrol. £2.22 for diesel.

The islanders are much poorer than us Brits as well.

However, this place would be IDEAL for electric. Shame they don't have the infrastructure or mindset to do it.

Hell, them electric Scooters you get in Cities like Tel Aviv would probably do the job !

Another thing that seems to have shot up in price is cinema tickets. 2 Cineworld "superscreen" tickets to Thor are costing a total of £36.48 inclusive of the bullshit booking fee that buying online incurs.

The medium popcorn + medium drink combo is around £10 too.

Return_of_the_STAR wrote:

Grumpy David wrote:I'm in Ireland for a few days and the cost of renting a car has skyrocketed. Thursday to Sunday is equivalent to £115 per day. The Ryanair flights there and back are incredible value by comparison. The last time I needed to rent a car in Ireland it was about £35 per day.

Petrol gave me a heart attack too seeing the 1st number start with a 2 and the 2nd number start with a 1.

RTE reported that Ireland is along with Denmark the joint most expensive EU country.

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2022/0621/1306070-ireland-and-denmark-most-expensive-countries-in-eu/

Chicken fillet rolls still great value for money though.

Car rental prices seem to have shot up everywhere over the past year and a lot of this was prior to the explosion in coat of living. I'm not exactly sure what's caused it. I used to rent a vehicle in Spain every year for about two weeks. The most I've ever paid is £400, prior to the pandemic it was £257. Now it's a grand for a smaller car than that.

2nd hand car inflation has been going up since March 2020 but car rental doesn't seem like it should suffer the same level of inflation since it is so heavily linked to holidays which were on pause for most people for 2 years.

I also rented a car in February this year, fair to say that it's not as busy compared to the summer period but a Thursday to Sunday car rental cost me just under £100.

I suspect it's because expected inflation matters too, and the leniency to which consumers treat price increases - elasticity of expectations.

An example of this is the company Hasbro, they raised the price of Magic the Gathering cards by 11%. In the investor call, they say that revenue and profit have never been higher, and they're doing it because consumer perception of inflation will allow consumers to accept this.

Return_of_the_STAR wrote:

Grumpy David wrote:I'm in Ireland for a few days and the cost of renting a car has skyrocketed. Thursday to Sunday is equivalent to £115 per day. The Ryanair flights there and back are incredible value by comparison. The last time I needed to rent a car in Ireland it was about £35 per day.

Petrol gave me a heart attack too seeing the 1st number start with a 2 and the 2nd number start with a 1.

RTE reported that Ireland is along with Denmark the joint most expensive EU country.

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2022/0621/1306070-ireland-and-denmark-most-expensive-countries-in-eu/

Chicken fillet rolls still great value for money though.

Car rental prices seem to have shot up everywhere over the past year and a lot of this was prior to the explosion in coat of living. I'm not exactly sure what's caused it. I used to rent a vehicle in Spain every year for about two weeks. The most I've ever paid is £400, prior to the pandemic it was £257. Now it's a grand for a smaller car than that.

They sold their stock for cheap during lockdowns as demand plummeted and are now having to buy new stock at premium which is being passed on.

Short term corporatism

Edit - Here's two opposite side sources

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/ ... -up-prices
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/ca ... risis-turo

jawa_ wrote:

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:Did you get an alternative then like try a lower priced version if there was one? Or have you just gone without your usual yogurt and coffee?

Yeah, I got some different brand yoghurts that were on offer but I made do without the coffee. I read in the news that one supermarket (can!t remember which) said that customers are generally cutting back; spending roughly the same in total as they did previously but getting fewer items or cheaper variations.

O cool that's alright then. Gives everyone a reason to try other brands. As long as there is an alternative and people don't have to make without.

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:

jawa_ wrote:

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:Did you get an alternative then like try a lower priced version if there was one? Or have you just gone without your usual yogurt and coffee?

Yeah, I got some different brand yoghurts that were on offer but I made do without the coffee. I read in the news that one supermarket (can!t remember which) said that customers are generally cutting back; spending roughly the same in total as they did previously but getting fewer items or cheaper variations.

O cool that's alright then. Gives everyone a reason to try other brands. As long as there is an alternative and people don't have to make without.

...

Rocsteady wrote:

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:O cool that's alright then. Gives everyone a reason to try other brands. As long as there is an alternative and people don't have to make without.

...

Yeah, I can only assume trolling at this point because I felt exactly the same reading that.

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:

jawa_ wrote:

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:Did you get an alternative then like try a lower priced version if there was one? Or have you just gone without your usual yogurt and coffee?

Yeah, I got some different brand yoghurts that were on offer but I made do without the coffee. I read in the news that one supermarket (can!t remember which) said that customers are generally cutting back; spending roughly the same in total as they did previously but getting fewer items or cheaper variations.

O cool that's alright then. Gives everyone a reason to try other brands. As long as there is an alternative and people don't have to make without.

Sorry if I'm putting 10p in the idiot here.

Alternative brands? People are going without basics, never mind alternative brands. Not many people can afford just the basics at the moment. People are telling the check out people stop scanning their items because they can't afford any more food on the conveyor that they've placed on because the price has gone over their budget. People are going without, you muppet.

You seem to not realise how dire this whole situation is for so many people and families right now. It's not good that Jawa had to go to an alternative and go without his coffee. Yes it's just coffee. But that coffee he went without next time could be something else he needs.

Heskimo wrote:

Rocsteady wrote:

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:O cool that's alright then. Gives everyone a reason to try other brands. As long as there is an alternative and people don't have to make without.

...

Yeah, I can only assume trolling at this point because I felt exactly the same reading that.

I was trying to see the silver lining in this and remain upbeat. Did not mean to come across as trolling.

Tsunade wrote:

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:

jawa_ wrote:

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:Did you get an alternative then like try a lower priced version if there was one? Or have you just gone without your usual yogurt and coffee?

Yeah, I got some different brand yoghurts that were on offer but I made do without the coffee. I read in the news that one supermarket (can!t remember which) said that customers are generally cutting back; spending roughly the same in total as they did previously but getting fewer items or cheaper variations.

O cool that's alright then. Gives everyone a reason to try other brands. As long as there is an alternative and people don't have to make without.

Sorry if I'm putting 10p in the idiot here.

Alternative brands? People are going without basics, never mind alternative brands. Not many people can afford just the basics at the moment. People are telling the check out people stop scanning their items because they can't afford any more food on the conveyor that they've placed on because the price has gone over their budget. People are going without, you muppet.

You seem to not realise how dire this whole situation is for so many people and families right now. It's not good that Jawa had to go to an alternative and go without his coffee. Yes it's just coffee. But that coffee he went without next time could be something else he needs.

Ah no I totally understand. Especially for families with children. Thanks for discussing it further with me anyway... sad times.
I think the key is to shop around and not buy all your groceries from one shop as there are different offers on in each store. I often check the supermarket websites before I buy somrthing in case it's cheaper elsewhere.
In terms of the yogurt going up by 20%, that is a ridiculous price rise. I would also not have bought it out of principals.

Prototype wrote:

"Just shop somewhere else" shows zero regard to a lot of people.

Wife's sister is single parent (plus a useless ex husband) 3 kids and doesn't drive. Not much shopping choice in centre of Ripon so either just shops at Sainsburys (since the other option is Booths and lol that's expensive) or goes without.

Not everyone has the ability to change the habits based on an increase of everything. Some areas have zero alternatives available if you live in a small village with one shop.

Lurpak has been spotted at £7. For strawberry floating Lurpak! It's a complete crisis and there's no empathy or care for those unable to live their life to any degree of comfort.

Benzin wrote:"Just shop somewhere else" shows zero regard to a lot of people.

Wife's sister is single parent (plus a useless ex husband) 3 kids and doesn't drive. Not much shopping choice in centre of Ripon so either just shops at Sainsburys (since the other option is Booths and lol that's expensive) or goes without.

Not everyone has the ability to change the habits based on an increase of everything. Some areas have zero alternatives available if you live in a small village with one shop.

Lurpak has been spotted at £7. For strawberry floating Lurpak! It's a complete crisis and there's no empathy or care for those unable to live their life to any degree of comfort.

True that's fair. But what about online shopping? Surely she could order online from another supermarket and save money that way. Must be such an inconvenience not being able to drive with 3 kids. No offence but I don't get why some people still don't drive especially in the UK where it is very much needed as the public transport network isn't that good. One of my cousins doesn't drive because she wasn't able to pick it up and kept failing so fair enough.
Yeah Booths is expensive I only go there for there sometimes (when I'm back up north) to treat myself to their own branded stuff (as other brands can be found cheaper elsewhere) like their own carrot cake and black pudding sausages .

Moggy wrote:

Prototype wrote:

huh lol

N1FFF, I would encourage you to look up the "poverty premium".

Going to multiple shops to buy products where they're cheapest is a luxury only those with ample time (i.e. the already wealthy) have.

Online shopping from multiple retailers is not feasible, because those retailers charge for delivery, so you would end up paying more. Unless you're already paying on an ongoing basis for membership, which again, is an unaffordable luxury.

Driving lessons are expensive and, unless you have the privilege of being born into a family with a vehicle (yes, that is a kind of privilege) that you can practice in for free, you need a lot of them to learn to drive safely. Then there's the cost of the test, then a vehicle itself, maintenance, fuel, plus insurance, which is exorbitant for a new driver.

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:

Benzin wrote:"Just shop somewhere else" shows zero regard to a lot of people.

Wife's sister is single parent (plus a useless ex husband) 3 kids and doesn't drive. Not much shopping choice in centre of Ripon so either just shops at Sainsburys (since the other option is Booths and lol that's expensive) or goes without.

Not everyone has the ability to change the habits based on an increase of everything. Some areas have zero alternatives available if you live in a small village with one shop.

Lurpak has been spotted at £7. For strawberry floating Lurpak! It's a complete crisis and there's no empathy or care for those unable to live their life to any degree of comfort.

True that's fair. But what about online shopping? Surely she could order online from another supermarket and save money that way. Must be such an inconvenience not being able to drive with 3 kids. No offence but I don't get why some people still don't drive especially in the UK where it is very much needed as the public transport network isn't that good. One of my cousins doesn't drive because she wasn't able to pick it up and kept failing so fair enough.
Yeah Booths is expensive I only go there for there sometimes (when I'm back up north) to treat myself to their own branded stuff (as other brands can be found cheaper elsewhere) like their own carrot cake and black pudding sausages .

You really are something of an idiot aren't you? That or completely deluded to how people are having to suffer right now.

What if she doesn't have access to other supermarkets online? If you aren't in a certain mile range, they won't deliver. That and you have no clue about their situation. She might not have time to go online or have the extra money to pay for delivery.

Do you really need answers to why people don't drive and have to use public transport, especially around this time where people can hardly get by? Really? Do you really think that people have the money right now to learn to drive, get a car and keep it running when they can't buy the basics? Public transport needs improving drastically for everyone, especially right now. And you've seen quite clearly how much petrol prices are rising.

"I only go to Booths sometimes". Cool. Good for you, but there's people who just can't afford to go there on the first place. Especially at the moment. Bloody consider yourself lucky you can go do that.