Cost of living crisis.

[stripeyfox]

In terms of budgeting I use YNAB (You Need A Budget). It won't make things cost any less of course (in fact there is an annual subscription), but it certainly encourages better budgeting and most of it's users are quite evangelical about how it has helped them.

 

Most peoples budgets fall down by only taking into account regular bills. So you say "I earn x, my bills are y, so I have z left over" - and usually looks ok. But you don't always factor in holidays, birthdays, christmas, unexpected car repairs, house maintenance and a multitude of other things which take a big bite out of z.

 

YNAB encourages you to save for these expenses. When you get paid for example you might move £50 to your Christmas fund and YNAB keeps track. When you spend, you enter the transaction and choose the category you want to pay from and it all updates. You can of course move funds from one pot to another.

 

Note - your money stays in your bank of course, YNAB just mirrors your spending / saving. Also, they don't harvest or sell your data.

 

It's a bit of a learning curve, and it probably isn't for everyone but it has definatey helped me no end.

 

https://www.youneedabudget.com/

 

 

[blabyboy]

I'd recommend this as well, lots of free practical advice and templates to help you along: https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/  especially under the Buggeting and Saving section.

[Leicester_Loyal]

I've always used V Power or Shell/BP/Esso fuel but it's about 15-20p higher at the minute so that's one expense that has to be cut sadly, think I'll be sticking to supermarkets from now on, even if it's their own 99 brand.

[Nalis]

Self confessed tin foil hat alert....

 

A decrease in supply of goods traditionally sourced from Russia to drive up prices.. there's something about Russian invasion of Ukraine and the West's lack of action seems a bit 'covenient' for all bar the poor Ukrainians, I can't put my finger on what exactly but something doesn't add up for me.

[Nalis]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0013xch

 

The Decade The Rich Won - a decent but depressing watch regarding the 10 years following the 2007/8 recession.

 

We are basically seeing history being repeated with the policies in place. One biggie being the stamp duty holiday that boosting the value of property for those with property, just like help to buy 10 years ago.

[ozleicester]

1 hour ago, Dahnsouff said:

Thats an impressive amount of correlation dressed up as facts there   

 

edit Except the extinction bit, that seems a sure thing!

which bits are which?

[Dahnsouff]

9 minutes ago, ozleicester said:

which bits are which?

I am just unclear why capitalism always seems to carry the can for personal greed. Its like as a species we are unable to make social derived decisions without governmental dictat, its ridiculous.

If this is truely the case, then extinction is our only possible final destination as human greed or hubris will eventual undo any good intentions.

And why you target the middle class is odd and insulting to that perceived (I am working class), we are all culpable regardless of class, and yes there is significant change for sure, but its also important to see what has been gained, not just what has been lost.

[leicsmac]

4 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

I am just unclear why capitalism always seems to carry the can for personal greed. Its like as a species we are unable to make social derived decisions without governmental dictat, its ridiculous.

If this is truely the case, then extinction is our only possible final destination as human greed or hubris will eventual undo any good intentions.

And why you target the middle class is odd and insulting to that perceived (I am working class), we are all culpable regardless of class, and yes there is significant change for sure, but its also important to see what has been gained, not just what has been lost.

TBH evolutionary history proves rather well this is the case - the only thing that holds back an individual from dominating a particular part of a species is a response from a group of other members of that species. Whether or not that might be defined as government is open to question, but it's certainly the idea of curtailing individual power by means of the judgement of the "many".

 

It is also true that in times of stress (ecological or otherwise), species either survive together, or die alone.

[ozleicester]

10 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

I am just unclear why capitalism always seems to carry the can for personal greed. Its like as a species we are unable to make social derived decisions without governmental dictat, its ridiculous.

If this is truely the case, then extinction is our only possible final destination as human greed or hubris will eventual undo any good intentions.

And why you target the middle class is odd and insulting to that perceived (I am working class), we are all culpable regardless of class, and yes there is significant change for sure, but its also important to see what has been gained, not just what has been lost.

..."Competition subordinates every individual capitalist to the immanent laws of capitalist production, as external and coercive laws. It compels him to keep extending his capital, so as to preserve it, and he can only extend it by means of progressive accumulation.”

[Wolfox]

5 hours ago, HighPeakFox said:

After all, we have our own version of that. Whilst acknowledging that we have relative wealth here (at least some of us do, but again there's huge denial about the massive poverty in this country), let's also not pretend that we aren't being gamed out of money by our own mega rich. 

This is so true…. It’s quite disgusting…. Jeff Bezos and his empire still game tax systems and end up paying little or nothing, but, it’s the rapaciously greedy appetite of the super wealthy to gain and then retain wealth at all costs (why would they want give it away to build schools/ hospitals?)

 

The super wealthy don’t pay little or no tax
The wealthy can pay advisors to minimise tax
The average punter gets taxed ‘til they squeak

Edited 10 March 2022 by Wolfox

[Dahnsouff]

14 minutes ago, ozleicester said:

..."Competition subordinates every individual capitalist to the immanent laws of capitalist production, as external and coercive laws. It compels him to keep extending his capital, so as to preserve it, and he can only extend it by means of progressive accumulation.”

Yet again you excuse humanity for ther slavish greed, preferring instead to blame stark systems, systems which in reality need not be absolute with sufficient will.

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, Dahnsouff said:

Yet again you excuse humanity for ther slavish greed, preferring instead to blame stark systems, systems which in reality need not be absolute with sufficient will.

That's true. They are only human constructs, after all. Not immutable. Nothing is.

[Dahnsouff]

2 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

That's true. They are only human constructs, after all. Not immutable. Nothing is.

The very recent pure example of this binary thinking exists in the recent mask wearing fiasco.

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, blabyboy said:

Yes mate, they're probably also front-loading the payments so that the account is in credit and less of a risk exposure to them - it may be that you're not the only one and it may be a policy of everyone that's been transferred to BG.

 

I know it sounds a bit sad, but I always take photos of both my meters when I submit monthly readings - not sure if you have had to do monthly readings?.It has saved my bacon twice with previous suppliers.

Outside shot is that maybe also one of your meters has gone faulty and is mis-reporting?

It's all been done by smart meter as I didn't know the dates they did the readings each month. Now I know it's the 4th of the month so I'll be monitoring it, obviously from April onwards this becomes an absolute bloodbath anyway.

[ozleicester]

27 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Yet again you excuse humanity for ther slavish greed, preferring instead to blame stark systems, systems which in reality need not be absolute with sufficient will.

 

25 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

That's true. They are only human constructs, after all. Not immutable. Nothing is.

This assumes free will

[leicsmac]

6 minutes ago, ozleicester said:

 

This assumes free will

Yes, and I'm not going to derail the thread further there; I've made my position on that clear in the past.

[Dahnsouff]

25 minutes ago, ozleicester said:

 

This assumes free will

and this assumes not  

 

Anyway, don`t want to get on the naughty step so will let others return to the topic of this thread!

[Focks]

Don't worry about money

[Sly]

15 hours ago, kenny said:

Raising the minimum wage is a vote winner but all it does is increase the living costs for those it is supposed to help.

If the minimum wage increases, all companies will do is raise costs again to

maintain profits, or even stay afloat for many. 

 

[Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot]

Companies are making record profits and the cost of living is going through the roof anyway, so the idea raising minimum wage would make it worse is not right imo, as it's all absolutely screwed before that's happened anyway. If a business can't run without paying its employees a living wage then you're business is crap and doesn't deserve to survive. 

[goose2010]

3 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

It's all been done by smart meter as I didn't know the dates they did the readings each month. Now I know it's the 4th of the month so I'll be monitoring it, obviously from April onwards this becomes an absolute bloodbath anyway.

make sure you submit a meter reading on the 31st March.  As can see them lumping the new cost in with your last months usage. 

[Dahnsouff]

4 minutes ago, Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot said:

Companies are making record profits and the cost of living is going through the roof anyway, so the idea raising minimum wage would make it worse is not right imo, as it's all absolutely screwed before that's happened anyway. If a business can't run without paying its employees a living wage then you're business is crap and doesn't deserve to survive. 

Some are, but many smaller companies are struggling due to the same things that effect the everyday employee. There is no wide brush that can be used on this. Unless you are some large or mega corp of course.

[Hollism]

Just paid 178.9p for diesel at Tesco. Got to £45 before I realised how much it was and nearly threw the pump handle to the ground. Even BP down the road was 165p.

 

Food, warmth and shelter isn’t far off becoming a luxury that me and millions others can’t rely on as a given.

Edited 10 March 2022 by Hollism
Sp

[Leicester_Loyal]

5 minutes ago, Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot said:

Companies are making record profits and the cost of living is going through the roof anyway, so the idea raising minimum wage would make it worse is not right imo, as it's all absolutely screwed before that's happened anyway. If a business can't run without paying its employees a living wage then you're business is crap and doesn't deserve to survive. 

Only the mega companies mate, the average joe like you and me is struggle like mad usually. As an example look at local takeaways, people cutting their cloth, means they're selling less food, then more expensive gas and electric means the cost to produce the food is going up, which in turn means they'll probably have to raise their prices, which makes it even more unlikely for people to use it.

 

Another one, a transport company, all the same issues with gas and elec, albeit less of it, but they've now got record fuel prices to contend with, which means the prices of them transporting is going up, which means everyone will feel the negatives of that, as each item will go up in price to compensate for it.

[Leicester_Loyal]

2 minutes ago, Hollism said:

Just paid 178.9p for diesel at Tesco. Got to £45 before I realised how much it was and nearly through the pump handle to the ground. Even BP down the road was 165p.

 

Food, warmth and shelter isn’t far off becoming a luxury that me and millions others can’t rely on as a given.

The VAT and fuel duty has got to be cut surely soon? Wonder if we'll start to see a maximum price for fuel, it'll be over 200p in the next few days at this rate.