Cost of Living - How are you handling it?

Continuing to dump branded food items is one of the biggest and best changes I've made and it's practically halved the shopping bill, even though the prices are now gradually going up there too.

People can be funny about supermarkets in this country though. There's a weird class system to food that doesn't really exist elsewhere in Europe that I've seen. If I bought a tin of Heinz baked beans for a £1 in Morrisons it wouldn't garner that much of a reaction. I purchase a tin of Essential Waitrose baked beans for 30p and it's all 'la-de-dah', you're a bit posh' when I've actually just spent 60p less than you have, you fool. I go and get my fruit and veg from Aldi or Lidl and now miraculously I must be poor. It's all a bit ridiculous really. There's a mother I know who insists on buying Birds Eye fish fingers in Iceland. I think they're about £3 for 10 or something like that. I've previously bought the Waitrose ones for £1.90, Tesco I think they were £1.80, both contained about 20 or 30g more cod than the brand. Probably even cheaper in Lidl or Aldi.

But yes, if you haven't already, start binning off the brands. Listen to Greggs Wallace.

Binned brands off awhile ago, Aldi supremacy

We buy from Lidl, and then I write my own brands on the packaging with a felt tip pen.

Mildew Beans

Ecno wrote:Aren't council tax rises capped at 2.99% without a referendum still? The Mayor's charge increased by like 6% last year, but it's not a huge percentage of the total?

Just checked the breakdown on my CT letter last year.

2% local Borough
3% adult social care
9.5% Greater London Authority

And total charges amounted to a 5.9% overall increase.

KK wrote:Continuing to dump branded food items is one of the biggest and best changes I've made and it's practically halved the shopping bill, even though the prices are now gradually going up there too.

People can be funny about supermarkets in this country though. There's a weird class system to food that doesn't really exist elsewhere in Europe that I've seen. If I bought a tin of Heinz baked beans for a £1 in Morrisons it wouldn't garner that much of a reaction. I purchase a tin of Essential Waitrose baked beans for 30p and it's all 'la-de-dah', you're a bit posh' when I've actually just spent 60p less than you have, you fool. I go and get my fruit and veg from Aldi or Lidl and now miraculously I must be poor. It's all a bit ridiculous really. There's a mother I know who insists on buying Birds Eye fish fingers in Iceland. I think they're about £3 for 10 or something like that. I've previously bought the Waitrose ones for £1.90, Tesco I think they were £1.80, both contained about 20 or 30g more cod than the brand. Probably even cheaper in Lidl or Aldi.

But yes, if you haven't already, start binning off the brands. Listen to Greggs Wallace.

I don't really eat processed food. I guess I could buy generic brand washing and cleaning products. I tend to buy them in bulk from Costco.

YouGov wrote:Cost of Living: The average household’s yearly energy bill will increase by £693 in April, thanks to the unprecedented rise in gas prices, while prices for household goods and taxes are also rising

Despite this, one in five Britons (21%) say they expect their finances to get better over the next six months, but this includes just 4% who think they will get ‘a lot better’

A quarter (26%) think there will be no change to their personal finances

But 47% say they expect their personal finances to get worse over the next six months, including 19% who think they will get ‘a lot worse’

Pret a Manger is raising the price of its coffee subscription service to £25 a month (from £20). OK, it's quite a price-hike, but it's still outrageously good value if you're in a position to make good use of it - five drinks a day! (It's no use to me, but if I lived or worked close to a store I'd make great use of the offer.)

But I had to laugh at the naive entitlement of one berk who commented (unsurprisingly, his twitter account now deleted).

@Pret This isn’t acceptable. You can’t put prices up without consultation, especially when the quality of produce is deteriorating. I’ll be cancelling my subscription. Disappointing. pic.twitter.com/gnHiNX0I6T — Sam Anton (@samsonleonanton) February 2, 2022

"You can’t put prices up without consultation". Bless.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60223226

Hoping for some big returns on my crypto investments to see me through.

I think we're lucky that it's just me and my wife and we can shoulder any increase.

It will just mean we have less disposable income.

Anyone who is struggling now is going to be strawberry floated.

We and the other half are starting to look for our own place and all of these increases, when we look at our budgets, just makes it harder and harder

rinks wrote:Pret a Manger is raising the price of its coffee subscription service to £25 a month (from £20). OK, it's quite a price-hike, but it's still outrageously good value if you're in a position to make good use of it - five drinks a day! (It's no use to me, but if I lived or worked close to a store I'd make great use of the offer.)

But I had to laugh at the naive entitlement of one berk who commented (unsurprisingly, his twitter account now deleted).

@Pret This isn’t acceptable. You can’t put prices up without consultation, especially when the quality of produce is deteriorating. I’ll be cancelling my subscription. Disappointing. pic.twitter.com/gnHiNX0I6T — Sam Anton (@samsonleonanton) February 2, 2022

"You can’t put prices up without consultation". Bless.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60223226

What the strawberry float, 5 per day?

So you could have 150 coffees a month for £25?!

Tomous wrote:

rinks wrote:Pret a Manger is raising the price of its coffee subscription service to £25 a month (from £20). OK, it's quite a price-hike, but it's still outrageously good value if you're in a position to make good use of it - five drinks a day! (It's no use to me, but if I lived or worked close to a store I'd make great use of the offer.)

But I had to laugh at the naive entitlement of one berk who commented (unsurprisingly, his twitter account now deleted).

@Pret This isn’t acceptable. You can’t put prices up without consultation, especially when the quality of produce is deteriorating. I’ll be cancelling my subscription. Disappointing. pic.twitter.com/gnHiNX0I6T — Sam Anton (@samsonleonanton) February 2, 2022

"You can’t put prices up without consultation". Bless.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60223226

What the strawberry float, 5 per day?

So you could have 150 coffees a month for £25?!

Yep, it's nuts. I guess they're banking on people only using it once or twice on week days, on their way to/from work (still a bargain), but if there's one nearby, it's a crazy good deal.

rinks wrote:

Tomous wrote:

rinks wrote:Pret a Manger is raising the price of its coffee subscription service to £25 a month (from £20). OK, it's quite a price-hike, but it's still outrageously good value if you're in a position to make good use of it - five drinks a day! (It's no use to me, but if I lived or worked close to a store I'd make great use of the offer.)

But I had to laugh at the naive entitlement of one berk who commented (unsurprisingly, his twitter account now deleted).

@Pret This isn’t acceptable. You can’t put prices up without consultation, especially when the quality of produce is deteriorating. I’ll be cancelling my subscription. Disappointing. pic.twitter.com/gnHiNX0I6T — Sam Anton (@samsonleonanton) February 2, 2022

"You can’t put prices up without consultation". Bless.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60223226

What the strawberry float, 5 per day?

So you could have 150 coffees a month for £25?!

Yep, it's nuts. I guess they're banking on people only using it once or twice on week days, on their way to/from work (still a bargain), but if there's one nearby, it's a crazy good deal.

Can you order 5 drinks at the same time? Because could office teams not just do an order every day for everyone?

Things are a bit tighter cause I'm having to travel a lot more now, but I think I can shoulder it okay if I'm careful. It will mean less disposable income and less money I can put away each month, which is shite.

Squinty wrote:Things are a bit tighter cause I'm having to travel a lot more now, but I think I can shoulder it okay if I'm careful. It will mean less disposable income and less money I can put away each month, which is shite.

Might see some increases in savings accounts interest rates now for the slim amount anyone can afford to put away.

Tomous wrote:

rinks wrote:

Tomous wrote:

rinks wrote:Pret a Manger is raising the price of its coffee subscription service to £25 a month (from £20). OK, it's quite a price-hike, but it's still outrageously good value if you're in a position to make good use of it - five drinks a day! (It's no use to me, but if I lived or worked close to a store I'd make great use of the offer.)

But I had to laugh at the naive entitlement of one berk who commented (unsurprisingly, his twitter account now deleted).

@Pret This isn’t acceptable. You can’t put prices up without consultation, especially when the quality of produce is deteriorating. I’ll be cancelling my subscription. Disappointing. pic.twitter.com/gnHiNX0I6T — Sam Anton (@samsonleonanton) February 2, 2022

"You can’t put prices up without consultation". Bless.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60223226

What the strawberry float, 5 per day?

So you could have 150 coffees a month for £25?!

Yep, it's nuts. I guess they're banking on people only using it once or twice on week days, on their way to/from work (still a bargain), but if there's one nearby, it's a crazy good deal.

Can you order 5 drinks at the same time? Because could office teams not just do an order every day for everyone?

Don't know. I would assume not.

Time to start scalping PS5s.

As far as energy is concerned, I don't really use the heating a lot during the winter and now it's getting warmer that's going to drop off anyway. Likewise, as it gets lighter I'll be using electricity. I'm on campus most days, all days so I'm happy to charge devices while I'm there. I need to look at ways to save on food. I tend to buy stuff on campus and that adds up so I'll start buying off-brand stuff.

I'll be getting a £500 bursary from the university so that will come in useful. I do have savings but ideally I don't want to touch that money as it's earmarked for my year abroad.

I already walk into university most days but I'm happy to drop using the tram already

I'm not overly concerned about myself right now but like others have said I'm really angry about the effects on other people.

rinks wrote:

Tomous wrote:

rinks wrote:

Tomous wrote:

rinks wrote:Pret a Manger is raising the price of its coffee subscription service to £25 a month (from £20). OK, it's quite a price-hike, but it's still outrageously good value if you're in a position to make good use of it - five drinks a day! (It's no use to me, but if I lived or worked close to a store I'd make great use of the offer.)

But I had to laugh at the naive entitlement of one berk who commented (unsurprisingly, his twitter account now deleted).

@Pret This isn’t acceptable. You can’t put prices up without consultation, especially when the quality of produce is deteriorating. I’ll be cancelling my subscription. Disappointing. pic.twitter.com/gnHiNX0I6T — Sam Anton (@samsonleonanton) February 2, 2022

"You can’t put prices up without consultation". Bless.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60223226

What the strawberry float, 5 per day?

So you could have 150 coffees a month for £25?!

Yep, it's nuts. I guess they're banking on people only using it once or twice on week days, on their way to/from work (still a bargain), but if there's one nearby, it's a crazy good deal.

Can you order 5 drinks at the same time? Because could office teams not just do an order every day for everyone?

Don't know. I would assume not.

Yeah it's 30 mins between drinks

Tomous wrote:

rinks wrote:

Tomous wrote:

rinks wrote:

Tomous wrote:

rinks wrote:Pret a Manger is raising the price of its coffee subscription service to £25 a month (from £20). OK, it's quite a price-hike, but it's still outrageously good value if you're in a position to make good use of it - five drinks a day! (It's no use to me, but if I lived or worked close to a store I'd make great use of the offer.)

But I had to laugh at the naive entitlement of one berk who commented (unsurprisingly, his twitter account now deleted).

@Pret This isn’t acceptable. You can’t put prices up without consultation, especially when the quality of produce is deteriorating. I’ll be cancelling my subscription. Disappointing. pic.twitter.com/gnHiNX0I6T — Sam Anton (@samsonleonanton) February 2, 2022

"You can’t put prices up without consultation". Bless.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60223226

What the strawberry float, 5 per day?

So you could have 150 coffees a month for £25?!

Yep, it's nuts. I guess they're banking on people only using it once or twice on week days, on their way to/from work (still a bargain), but if there's one nearby, it's a crazy good deal.

Can you order 5 drinks at the same time? Because could office teams not just do an order every day for everyone?

Don't know. I would assume not.

Yeah it's 30 mins between drinks

Good excuse to say you're going on a coffee run, then taking two hours.