Cost of Living - How are you handling it?

I got mine last week, which was a few weeks after my brother who's in the same council.
As far as I can tell they just seemed to be going through postcodes 'in order'. He was TS6 and I was TS10, so he was just earlier in the order.

Ours is issuing to those who pay by Direct Debit automatically, but if you pay by other means, they contact you to arrange payment. It may be the same for other councils.

Our remortgage should complete today going like for like and as it's taken a couple of months since application we are due some money back from the old mortgage so I think we will keep that in the joint account so we have a winter buffer. I Think we're due about £1,000.

We have had our council tax rebate to.

Also going to take the Tory party advice to a degree as my work are willing to pay for my CMAP qualification and I'm going to go for my next lending mandate which once achieved will also mean an increase in pay. (I'm not endorsing there advice)

I feel very lucky and fell into my career by mistake and before that I was working in call centres hating life. I felt low pay was here to stay for me.

I'm trying to save money so I have it in case of a emergency.

On a side note my father in law is to retire in December and his pension will be £400 a month plus his government on top. His income will literally half which is scary, I hope he has enough to survive on.

Martin Lewis on OFGEM's propose changes (the every 3 months price cap change from the current 6 months isn't even the worst of the potential changes).

Sprouty wrote:I have been looking at new jobs as a result. The jobs market is bonkers, there's so much out there that any business not paying their staff an increase in line with inflation is going to risk a big churn in staff. The 'not paid enough, find a new job' attitute of the government stinks, but I would recommend that anyone who is struggling has a look at what else is available, because there seems to be a gulf between what a new staff member would be paid and what existing staff are paid. Ultimately, a business that doesn't support it's staff does not deserve your loyalty.

We recently crossed over into there being more job vacancies than there are unemployed people seeking jobs. The ONS said that's the 1st time that's happened since records began.

Office clearout leaves Britain with more jobs than workers to fill them

The comparison to the 1970s (with 1990s Tory sleaze) does seem quite accurate but at least for now we don't have the high levels of inflation combined with high levels of unemployment.

We recently crossed over into there being more job vacancies than there are unemployed people seeking jobs. The ONS said that's the 1st time that's happened since records began.

Office clearout leaves Britain with more jobs than workers to fill them

The comparison to the 1970s (with 1990s Tory sleaze) does seem quite accurate but at least for now we don't have the high levels of inflation combined with high levels of unemployment.

Does this count zero hour contracts? Because people are working 3 jobs with those and they're still not making enough to live. They might as well be unemployed in the figures given how gooseberry fool it actually is to work one.

It's not a fun time to be an employer. Increasing energy costs, increased shipping costs, (justifiable) inflationary pay expectations, increased prices from all suppliers, increased NI rates and customers resisting the passing on of costs.

Its tough all round, and a lot of us have never experienced inflation anywhere near this high before.

Just stop watching Netflix and get a better job!

Qikz wrote:

We recently crossed over into there being more job vacancies than there are unemployed people seeking jobs. The ONS said that's the 1st time that's happened since records began.

Office clearout leaves Britain with more jobs than workers to fill them

The comparison to the 1970s (with 1990s Tory sleaze) does seem quite accurate but at least for now we don't have the high levels of inflation combined with high levels of unemployment.

Does this count zero hour contracts? Because people are working 3 jobs with those and they're still not making enough to live. They might as well be unemployed in the figures given how gooseberry fool it actually is to work one.

The employment figures include people on zero hour contracts. The figures aren't reliable.

Victor Mildew wrote:Just stop watching Netflix and get a better job!

I'm going to become CEO of Netflix. Check mate Tories.

Brought up inflation today in my monthly manager catch up, sent them a spread sheet showing I was paid 5.2% less gross (never mind net after tax rises following the NI rise) than when I started, with projections of circa 14% by the time of the next pay review in March.

Qikz wrote:

Grumpy David wrote:We recently crossed over into there being more job vacancies than there are unemployed people seeking jobs. The ONS said that's the 1st time that's happened since records began.

Office clearout leaves Britain with more jobs than workers to fill them

The comparison to the 1970s (with 1990s Tory sleaze) does seem quite accurate but at least for now we don't have the high levels of inflation combined with high levels of unemployment.

Does this count zero hour contracts? Because people are working 3 jobs with those and they're still not making enough to live. They might as well be unemployed in the figures given how gooseberry fool it actually is to work one.

Employment figures would cover people employed on a ZHC. Approx 800k are employed this way.

It would include bank/locum NHS doctors and nurses which as far as I can tell is just an obfuscation of ZHC but unlike the unreliability associated with ZHC, there's no shortage of additional shifts in the NHS and it pays well above min wage.

I think the main issue with the job vacancies exceeding the number of unemployed people is that whilst most would be full time or part time vacancies, they are often in min wage jobs that have working hours unsuited to also looking after young children (overnight and weekend work in care homes for example).

Victor Mildew wrote:Just stop watching Netflix and get a better job!

You joke but I think we're actually going to have to cancel our Netflix subscription

Royal Mail has just announced further price rises are on the way, though nothing specific yet...

Sky News wrote:Royal Mail has said it will need to raise prices and cut costs in the face of soaring inflation.

The company warned that it sees "significant headwinds" from rising costs including wages, energy and fuel.

Royal Mail revealed that it aimed to make cost savings of £350m over the course of its current financial year in an attempt to bolster its position.

Inflation hit its highest level in 40 years yesterday amid the deteriorating cost of living crisis.

The cost of a first-class stamp currently stands at 95p and a second-class stamp costs 68p.

Those Christmas cards are going to be expensive!

Roonmastor wrote:It's not a fun time to be an employer. Increasing energy costs, increased shipping costs, (justifiable) inflationary pay expectations, increased prices from all suppliers, increased NI rates and customers resisting the passing on of costs.

Its tough all round, and a lot of us have never experienced inflation anywhere near this high before.

Our electricity estimate from September for the year goes up by 50k at work. It’s mental. Considering we were shut for nearly 12 months of 2020-2022 and are nowhere near where we were in 2019, bleeding money really from last Summer - Feb this year it’s not looking good.

I can see some businesses just going under with the costs going up further. Which in turn will cause more hardship for staff too.

If only there was an easy way that many businesses could massively cut down on costs by getting rid of buildings and paying utility costs by having their employees work from somewhere else.

Sadly that just isn't possible and jobs can only be done from expensive office spaces

A relatively new website has launched tracking supermarket prices (there used to be a website similar to this a few years ago but it unfortunately closed) called http://www.Trolley.co.uk. Unlike that other site it doesn't easily compare own brand products, so you've got to look through them all manually yourself. Still a very handy website though. For example, did you know Birds Eye Waffles are currently 99p at Morrisons for a box of 18?

Zilnad wrote:

Victor Mildew wrote:Just stop watching Netflix and get a better job!

You joke but I think we're actually going to have to cancel our Netflix subscription

Right now I should probably cancel my current Netflix and Disney+ subs... but I really don't want to. I'm spending a lot less on games than in the past so hopefully that'll be enough for now.

Lagamorph wrote:If only there was an easy way that many businesses could massively cut down on costs by getting rid of buildings and paying utility costs by having their employees work from somewhere else.

Sadly that just isn't possible and jobs can only be done from expensive office spaces

Absolutely, you can't work from home if you are a manufacturer, in the supply chain as a lorry driver, a taxi or bus driver, work on the wards in a hospital, are employed as a cleaner or work in the hospitality industry, a labourer, a plumber or tradesperson.

Roonmastor wrote:

Lagamorph wrote:If only there was an easy way that many businesses could massively cut down on costs by getting rid of buildings and paying utility costs by having their employees work from somewhere else.

Sadly that just isn't possible and jobs can only be done from expensive office spaces

Absolutely, you can't work from home if you are a manufacturer, in the supply chain as a lorry driver, a taxi or bus driver, work on the wards in a hospital, are employed as a cleaner or work in the hospitality industry, a labourer, a plumber or tradesperson.

At which point did Laga say that all jobs should be WFH?

Roonmastor wrote:

Lagamorph wrote:If only there was an easy way that many businesses could massively cut down on costs by getting rid of buildings and paying utility costs by having their employees work from somewhere else.

Sadly that just isn't possible and jobs can only be done from expensive office spaces

Absolutely, you can't work from home if you are a manufacturer, in the supply chain as a lorry driver, a taxi or bus driver, work on the wards in a hospital, are employed as a cleaner or work in the hospitality industry, a labourer, a plumber or tradesperson.

Odd reaction given that there was a clear caveat in the original post.