Cost of living crisis.

[Sly]

17 minutes ago, Footballwipe said:

Quite. We're not talking about football tickets, alcohol or plasma TVs anymore. We're talking about essential things being out of reach of so many people. It's all well and good comfortable people not getting it, but so many people are going to suffer when these prices rocket. No amount of "oh stop watching Netflix" will stop families of all types having to make sacrifices to afford their energy bills.

 

With inflation going up food will easily be one of them. Things are spiralling and it seems absolutely endless. Those predictions of next April are going to scare the tits off of everyone. I am genuinely fearful of what's going to happen. Some will see it coming, others probably won't, or are complacent to it all. It is staggering.

 

It feels like we're going to have so many people defaulting on their DDs, have their energy switched off, choose between food or gas/electricity, defaulting on other DDs, loans or mortgages to afford these essentials. Desperation will strike everywhere. Horrible thought.

I actually think this was on the horizon pre covid. 
 

Covid actually delayed it, then potentially made it worse by pushing the housing market skyward.

 

It’ll hit people on all incomes and people won’t understand the reality of this until January / February I wouldn’t have thought. 
 

As prices rise at crazy rates, it’ll drive unemployment as businesses struggle if the government doesn’t intervene to some degree.
 

That level of public unrest and unemployment, ultimately drives up crime and places further stress on the NHS and our emergency services and which is struggling. 
 

Lots of things have lead to this situation, however it’s now coming at us like a Tsunami. 

 

Some of us will ride it out, as we’ll come out the other side. However many are going to struggle and that is the stark reality of a recession.

 

[st albans fox]

Evidently the price cap isn’t a price cap - the values given are for a typical household

 

if you use less than average then you’ll pay less than the quoted cap numbers 

 

if you use more than average then you’ll pay more 

 

 

[FoxesDeb]

24 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Evidently the price cap isn’t a price cap - the values given are for a typical household

 

if you use less than average then you’ll pay less than the quoted cap numbers 

 

if you use more than average then you’ll pay more 

 

 

Yes the price cap refers to the rates the energy companies can charge, it's not a cap on the total cost to the consumer,  people will always need to pay for their actual usage. 

 

It's similar to people on 'fixed direct debits' who think this is all they need to pay. The direct debit payment is designed to cover estimated usage over 12 months, it's always open to change depending on actual usage.

 

I read a post on FB the other day from someone who is leaving their hot tub switched on 24 7 because they're on a fixed DD with BG  They'll be regretting that when they get their bill, but they wouldn't listen when people tried to explain how the billing actually works 

 

BTW this isn't particularly aimed at you St Albans,  more just general info for anyone who might be reading 

Edited 26 August 2022 by FoxesDeb

[Thefox81]

One of my best mates is on universal credit. His rent gets paid for him and he is left with 340 a month to get electric, gas, water, council tax (reduced) and food. He is s***ing it at the moment. He has already stopped putting tv on until the evening, stopped drinking coffee because of the kettle, living on microwave meals as the oven is to expensive and cut his showers down to every other day and makes do with cold/luke warm ones at that. He is not workshy by any means either. Welcome to modern day Britain. Seriously f****d up country.

Edited 26 August 2022 by Thefox81

[Fazzer 7]

1 hour ago, yorkie1999 said:

Things were actually better at the end of the 70's beginning of the 80's, there were no fat birds for a start, and no mobile phones so you could get away with stuff without some cvnt videoing you.

Very few, every other one these days is a lard arse. This is going to be a massive problem for our dear old NHS, No wonder GP's can give you a prescription for exercise.

[yorkie1999]

i used to take the mick out of a couple of work colleagues from stockton for collecting coal from the beach, now it looks like the thing to do.

[FoxesDeb]

1 minute ago, Thefox81 said:

One of my best mates is on universal credit. His rent gets paid for him and he is left with 340 a month to get electric, gas, water, council tax (reduced) and food. He is s***ing it at the moment. He has already stopped putting tv on until the evening, stopped drinking coffee because of the kettle, living on microwave meals as the oven is to expensive and cut his showers down to every other day and makes do with cold ones at that. He is not workshy by any means either. Welcome to modern day Britain. Seriously f****d up country.

Suggest he buys a slow cooker, they're about fifteen quid brand new, and batch cooks meals. You can cook pretty much anything in them. They cost pennies to run  and the meals will be cheaper than ready made microwave meals and more nutritious. 

 

Air fryers are also cheaper to use than an oven, I'm not sure how much they cost new in the UK though? I haven't used my electric oven in months and I don't miss it.

[yorkie1999]

1 minute ago, FoxesDeb said:

Suggest he buys a slow cooker, they're about fifteen quid brand new, and batch cooks meals. You can cook pretty much anything in them. They cost pennies to run  and the meals will be cheaper than ready made microwave meals and more nutritious. 

 

Air fryers are also cheaper to use than an oven, I'm not sure how much they cost new in the UK though? I haven't used my electric oven in months and I don't miss it.

a nija one costs about 150 quid but are brilliant

[Brizzle Fox]

2 hours ago, Trumpet said:

Nadhim Zahawi advising the public to cut back on energy usage. Could we not get into politics and claim the costs on expenses, like he did for his wife’s livery business? Blokes a weasel.

[Foxdiamond]

Not an expert by any means but something my wife and I have noticed. Halogen ovens are worth purchasing. They are very efficient compared to standard electric ovens and use 75% less electricity. Just a thought

[Bellend Sebastian]

I was taking the p*ss about my friend's house rule where you're allowed to use the shower to get wet and rinse off but not during "soaping up"/washing and now my 10 year old son has adopted this rule himself without being asked to thus proving he's a better person than I am

[Vlad the Fox]

10 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

I was taking the p*ss about my friend's house rule where you're allowed to use the shower to get wet and rinse off but not during "soaping up"/washing and now my 10 year old son has adopted this rule himself without being asked to thus proving he's a better person than I am

My kids have gone one better and seem to have stopped washing all together, despite the wife and I continually telling them to get into the shower or bath they all show total devotion to the cause and refuse. I tell them we’ll done and commend them for their beliefs and consideration (with all the windows open and my head stuck out of it), but come winter I’m turning the hose on the dirty gits. 
 

 

[Bellend Sebastian]

4 minutes ago, Vlad the Fox said:

My kids have gone one better and seem to have stopped washing all together, despite the wife and I continually telling them to get into the shower or bath they all show total devotion to the cause and refuse. I tell them we’ll done and commend them for their beliefs and consideration (with all the windows open and my head stuck out of it), but come winter I’m turning the hose on the dirty gits. 
 

 

My kids are at an age where that might not be too bad but adolescence and the worst smells known to man will soon be upon us 

[st albans fox]

1 hour ago, FoxesDeb said:

Yes the price cap refers to the rates the energy companies can charge, it's not a cap on the total cost to the consumer,  people will always need to pay for their actual usage. 

 

It's similar to people on 'fixed direct debits' who think this is all they need to pay. The direct debit payment is designed to cover estimated usage over 12 months, it's always open to change depending on actual usage.

 

I read a post on FB the other day from someone who is leaving their hot tub switched on 24 7 because they're on a fixed DD with BG  They'll be regretting that when they get their bill, but they wouldn't listen when people tried to explain how the billing actually works 

 

BTW this isn't particularly aimed at you St Albans,  more just general info for anyone who might be reading 

It’s ok deb, I don’t have a hot tub !

[StanSP]

3 hours ago, Trumpet said:

Nadhim Zahawi advising the public to cut back on energy usage. Could we not get into politics and claim the costs on expenses, like he did for his wife’s livery business? Blokes a weasel.

He's a fvcking cvnt. Absolutely no touch or feel of reality because they're probably all sitting comfortably on their bank notes.

 

They have no fvcking clue how people are living, and how people will struggle to cope. 

 

'Cut back on energy usage' basically screams 'sort yourselves out while we sit back and do nothing, but we'll say we'll look into it and 'find solutions' while you freeze your tits off'. 

 

All of them in power are so out of touch. So disengaged. Their world view is so distorted to what actually happens.

[urban.spaceman]

2 hours ago, Footballwipe said:

Quite. We're not talking about football tickets, alcohol or plasma TVs anymore. We're talking about essential things being out of reach of so many people. It's all well and good comfortable people not getting it, but so many people are going to suffer when these prices rocket. No amount of "oh stop watching Netflix" will stop families of all types having to make sacrifices to afford their energy bills.

 

With inflation going up food will easily be one of them. Things are spiralling and it seems absolutely endless. Those predictions of next April are going to scare the tits off of everyone. I am genuinely fearful of what's going to happen. Some will see it coming, others probably won't, or are complacent to it all. It is staggering.

 

It feels like we're going to have so many people defaulting on their DDs, have their energy switched off, choose between food or gas/electricity, defaulting on other DDs, loans or mortgages to afford these essentials. Desperation will strike everywhere. Horrible thought.

We haven't even begun to talk about the social side of things, about the increase in crime, domestic and sexual violence, drug taking and drug gangs, burglaries and anti social behaviour. Less resources available for people to get out of those situations.

 

That's what makes Sunak so ****ing evil in my opinion. Actively taking funding and resources out of deprived areas in giving it to rich areas quite literally destroys lives. 

[Parafox]

2 hours ago, FoxesDeb said:

Suggest he buys a slow cooker, they're about fifteen quid brand new, and batch cooks meals. You can cook pretty much anything in them. They cost pennies to run  and the meals will be cheaper than ready made microwave meals and more nutritious. 

 

Air fryers are also cheaper to use than an oven, I'm not sure how much they cost new in the UK though? I haven't used my electric oven in months and I don't miss it.

 

2 hours ago, yorkie1999 said:

a nija one costs about 150 quid but are brilliant

Yep. Bought a Ninja, package included a food processor for just over £200. Fantastic thing. It's amazing what it can do besides being cheaper than cooking on a conventional electric oven/hob. It's transformed a lot of how we cook. We expect it to pay for itself in about 18 months in terms of the savings on energy costs. Yes, really!

[dsr-burnley]

This thread keeps swinging about between two arguments.

 

1 - our parents and grandparents had it easy and everything was given to them.  We deserve the same.

2 - our parents and grandparents had rotten lives with no central heating or mobile phones or computers or cars and we don't deserve the same.

 

Look at the housing argument.  On the one hand, our recent ancestors could buy cheap houses and it's not fair that prices are going up; on the other hand, we have had very low interest rates where they had high rates and it's not fair that we should have high rates like they did.

 

Look at the food argument.  On the one hand, in the 1950's the average household spent 30% of its income on food.  On the other hand, the average household now spends 10% of its income on food, but it's not fair because we now have so many other essentials like computers, central heating and cars and that takes our necessary spend to somewhere like their's was.

 

Nearly everyone now is far better off (in terms of possessions and lifestyle, rather than in terms keeping up with the Jones's) than our ancestors, in the fifties, or the seventies, or the nineties.  And even if the average standard of living hasn't gone up in the last 20 years or so, it hasn't gone down either - and I bet the average working week is shorter.

[dsr-burnley]

2 hours ago, Thefox81 said:

One of my best mates is on universal credit. His rent gets paid for him and he is left with 340 a month to get electric, gas, water, council tax (reduced) and food. He is s***ing it at the moment. He has already stopped putting tv on until the evening, stopped drinking coffee because of the kettle, living on microwave meals as the oven is to expensive and cut his showers down to every other day and makes do with cold/luke warm ones at that. He is not workshy by any means either. Welcome to modern day Britain. Seriously f****d up country.

It's cheaper to cook a proper meal on the hob or in the oven than a microwave ready meal.

[yorkie1999]

26 minutes ago, dsr-burnley said:

This thread keeps swinging about between two arguments.

 

1 - our parents and grandparents had it easy and everything was given to them.  We deserve the same.

2 - our parents and grandparents had rotten lives with no central heating or mobile phones or computers or cars and we don't deserve the same.

 

Look at the housing argument.  On the one hand, our recent ancestors could buy cheap houses and it's not fair that prices are going up; on the other hand, we have had very low interest rates where they had high rates and it's not fair that we should have high rates like they did.

 

Look at the food argument.  On the one hand, in the 1950's the average household spent 30% of its income on food.  On the other hand, the average household now spends 10% of its income on food, but it's not fair because we now have so many other essentials like computers, central heating and cars and that takes our necessary spend to somewhere like their's was.

 

Nearly everyone now is far better off (in terms of possessions and lifestyle, rather than in terms keeping up with the Jones's) than our ancestors, in the fifties, or the seventies, or the nineties.  And even if the average standard of living hasn't gone up in the last 20 years or so, it hasn't gone down either - and I bet the average working week is shorter.

I do feel sorry for young people getting on the property ladder but it’s really no different to 30 years ago when I bought my first house apart from everyone has all the mod cons and everything new. I was on the limit and had to have a lot of donated stuff from family, over the years you buy stuff as and when you can afford it and do all the renovations etc, I didn’t have satellite, mobile phone contracts,  new car etc cos I couldn’t afford it. Nowadays people have all that when they buy a house and then complain about the cost of the house, how about lose the grand a month on extras! it’s all swings and roundabouts though, my kids will inherit a damn sight more than my parents did so they’ll end up with a far more comfortable lifestyle but they don’t think of that.

[Parafox]

36 minutes ago, dsr-burnley said:

It's cheaper to cook a proper meal on the hob or in the oven than a microwave ready meal.

I googled this and the answers aren't conclusive. Cooking on microwave seems to be more energy efficient than an oven or hob as it's time efficient. But then microwavable meals cost more to buy. 

[yorkie1999]

51 minutes ago, Parafox said:

I googled this and the answers aren't conclusive. Cooking on microwave seems to be more energy efficient than an oven or hob as it's time efficient. But then microwavable meals cost more to buy. 

I knew this info might come in handy one day. Although I don’t cos I ain’t very keen on them, but from my recent costing survey,  a pizza in a microwave is about 8 minutes at 900watts, a pizza in a electric oven is about 15 minutes at 2kw plus the preheat. So it costs about 4 times as much in an oven. 60p an hour to run an electric oven means it costs 15p to cook a pizza compared to 4p in a microwave.

 So for the sake of cost saving, buy a pizza that’s 15p cheaper than you normally buy and it’s free to cook!!!

Edited 26 August 2022 by yorkie1999

[dsr-burnley]

3 hours ago, yorkie1999 said:

I knew this info might come in handy one day. Although I don’t cos I ain’t very keen on them, but from my recent costing survey,  a pizza in a microwave is about 8 minutes at 900watts, a pizza in a electric oven is about 15 minutes at 2kw plus the preheat. So it costs about 4 times as much in an oven. 60p an hour to run an electric oven means it costs 15p to cook a pizza compared to 4p in a microwave.

 So for the sake of cost saving, buy a pizza that’s 15p cheaper than you normally buy and it’s free to cook!!!

Or as he's unemployed, he could buy the raw ingredients and make the pizza himself.  Relieves boredom and saves money.

[Heathrow fox]

5 hours ago, dsr-burnley said:

This thread keeps swinging about between two arguments.

 

1 - our parents and grandparents had it easy and everything was given to them.  We deserve the same.

2 - our parents and grandparents had rotten lives with no central heating or mobile phones or computers or cars and we don't deserve the same.

 

Look at the housing argument.  On the one hand, our recent ancestors could buy cheap houses and it's not fair that prices are going up; on the other hand, we have had very low interest rates where they had high rates and it's not fair that we should have high rates like they did.

 

Look at the food argument.  On the one hand, in the 1950's the average household spent 30% of its income on food.  On the other hand, the average household now spends 10% of its income on food, but it's not fair because we now have so many other essentials like computers, central heating and cars and that takes our necessary spend to somewhere like their's was.

 

Nearly everyone now is far better off (in terms of possessions and lifestyle, rather than in terms keeping up with the Jones's) than our ancestors, in the fifties, or the seventies, or the nineties.  And even if the average standard of living hasn't gone up in the last 20 years or so, it hasn't gone down either - and I bet the average working week is shorter.

Agree with all that except the last bit.I would wager that we work longer hours now than 50 years ago.

[leicsmac]

5 hours ago, dsr-burnley said:

This thread keeps swinging about between two arguments.

 

1 - our parents and grandparents had it easy and everything was given to them.  We deserve the same.

2 - our parents and grandparents had rotten lives with no central heating or mobile phones or computers or cars and we don't deserve the same.

 

Look at the housing argument.  On the one hand, our recent ancestors could buy cheap houses and it's not fair that prices are going up; on the other hand, we have had very low interest rates where they had high rates and it's not fair that we should have high rates like they did.

 

Look at the food argument.  On the one hand, in the 1950's the average household spent 30% of its income on food.  On the other hand, the average household now spends 10% of its income on food, but it's not fair because we now have so many other essentials like computers, central heating and cars and that takes our necessary spend to somewhere like their's was.

 

Nearly everyone now is far better off (in terms of possessions and lifestyle, rather than in terms keeping up with the Jones's) than our ancestors, in the fifties, or the seventies, or the nineties.  And even if the average standard of living hasn't gone up in the last 20 years or so, it hasn't gone down either - and I bet the average working week is shorter.

This is the key part though. Right now, there is stagnation and a real threat of regression, rather than progress.

 

It's alright for people to be pissed off at that and to demand better, especially when it seems to be being driven by the avarice of those at the very top.