How is the cost of living crisis affecting you?

[Anju]

My bank balance was down to £25 this morning. Lowest for 25 years and my wife had to dip into overdraft to pay our electricity bill. Partially due to rising costs but also because we're both taking a more relaxed approach to working. We can earn more so we won't end up in financial difficulties but normally it's easy to put in a bit more work to pay for fun stuff. Doing it just so we can survive not so much.

Also suffering from energy envy as I visit a lot of people's homes and many of them are clearly not at all concerned with saving money or the planet. Yesterday I was sweating away as my customer had their heating on all day with the thermostat set at 27C.

Couple of friends who survive on benefits and were already spending a bit of time with no gas or electric and occasionally food every month are running out much sooner. The effects on their health, mental and physical are already showing.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Just got my first pay check of the new tax year. My take home pay has gone down by 50 a week. 200 a month. There's nowhere I can find that. I'm completely fucked.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Much as I think stopping or greatly reducing car use is a Good Idea ... which it is, no question !

I have a problem in that I live 800 ft above and 1.5 miles from the local railway station, and whilst I occasionally see the local bus service, it is highly seasonal - as in it starts at Easter ! - and the route isn't useful to me as only a few of the journeys go down into the local "town", and because of the route it might even be quicker to walk down. The service is about as useful of the one out & return bus journey for weekly Market Day for a village near to where I went to school.

Like a lot of people in this rural area, cars are essential for us to do almost anything & everything in a timely manner, especially as we aren't spring chickens.
However, we are making serious efforts to reduce the car journeys !

Would an electric bike be an option for some journeys? If a journey isn't do-able on a regular bike because of a climb, the pedal-assist of a e-bike might make it a breeze.

 

[MickiQ]

Just got my first pay check of the new tax year. My take home pay has gone down by 50 a week. 200 a month. There's nowhere I can find that. I'm completely fucked.

What other deductions are on your payslip? For the NI rise to cost you that sort of money you'd need to be on Premier footballer wages. I'd query that with your payroll dept.

 

[cybershot]

Just got my first pay check of the new tax year. My take home pay has gone down by 50 a week. 200 a month. There's nowhere I can find that. I'm completely fucked.

Check they are using the right tax code for you, that doesn't sound right.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

What other deductions are on your payslip? For the NI rise to cost you that sort of money you'd need to be on Premier footballer wages. I'd query that with your payroll dept.

Anyone earning approx £32K or less will actually be paying a bit less NI, but only from July. Until then we’ll all pay more.

I think.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Check they are using the right tax code for you, that doesn't sound right.

It's because I was on a tax free bursary for half of last year and my taxable earnings after that were just under the threshold for a whole year. So I've gone from just paying NI to paying income tax as well. Weekly PAYE doesn't take into account the fact I'll have no earnings for the two weeks this month when school is closed.

Also I'm on this bullshit thing where they take my holiday pay off the top and give it back to me later, so my daily rate is not what I actually get paid. Gonna have to tell my agency that I need more pay or I'll not be able to keep doing this job. What else I could do that will actually pay the bills, not really sure

 

[cesare]

From Jan to April this year my mortgage has gone up by ~23% (£650 to £800).

I was paying ~£78 per month for gas and electricity and that was the right amount to come out even over the year. However, in the last 6 months, I'm now -£350 (i.e. in debt) at the same rate of ~£78 per month - so that debt'll need paying plus making increased provision for ongoing together with hiked prices from 1 April.

Water for 2 of us now costs more than previously water for 3 of us (metered) and I assure you that we're not using more water - if anything less due to one less person each day taking shower.

Groceries so much more £. We tend to cook from scratch and have stores of dry goods and importantly spices so we've been keeping food costs as low as possible for a few years but we are still very much aware of adverse impact on £basket.

Transport. Well, I now get the Oyster subsidy card which has been very helpful when I go out after 9.30. But I've mostly been WFH plus we haven't done much socialising, so while I do really appreciate the card I haven't really reaped many benefits to date. Fuel - big increase here. We've needed far more trips re house-clearing and the cost of fuel has escalated so much. It's something we have to factor in e.g. lots of small trips in car with increased fuel cost v paying for a house clear. Plus trips to north to see partner's folks.

We're very fortunate though, we can afford this so far, via increased stress and bereavement. If not for increased stress and bereavement we would have struggled far more. It's so horrible that the deaths of my aging parents leave me financially better off to buffer the effect of all these hikes in the cost of living. I'd have them back in a heartbeat rather than this.

 

[Turkic755]

I was going to the school by my car several times a week, now I only use public transport. Public transport fares were also increased by about 60%.

 

[Elpenor]

It's because I was on a tax free bursary for half of last year and my taxable earnings after that were just under the threshold for a whole year. So I've gone from just paying NI to paying income tax as well. Weekly PAYE doesn't take into account the fact I'll have no earnings for the two weeks this month when school is closed.

Also I'm on this bullshit thing where they take my holiday pay off the top and give it back to me later, so my daily rate is not what I actually get paid. Gonna have to tell my agency that I need more pay or I'll not be able to keep doing this job. What else I could do that will actually pay the bills, not really sure

You may get a tax refund if there’s going to be a few weeks without pay what with the Easter holiday. Not much help I know :-(

 

[brogdale]

Not about me (I'm fortunate enough not to have to use food banks)...but, fuck me...when a corporate retailer talks about losing customers to food banks...that's tory Britain, right there:



e2a: the interview referred to was on C4 news last week...I saw it live.

 

[spanglechick]

It's because I was on a tax free bursary for half of last year and my taxable earnings after that were just under the threshold for a whole year. So I've gone from just paying NI to paying income tax as well. Weekly PAYE doesn't take into account the fact I'll have no earnings for the two weeks this month when school is closed.

Also I'm on this bullshit thing where they take my holiday pay off the top and give it back to me later, so my daily rate is not what I actually get paid. Gonna have to tell my agency that I need more pay or I'll not be able to keep doing this job. What else I could do that will actually pay the bills, not really sure

Any luck with interviews for a permanent job? It’s just becoming prime season for September starts, but not unheard of for NQTs to be offered a July start and be paid over summer.

 

[spanglechick]

I am worried. I’ve set the thermostat to 14 and have stopped using the (electric) oven. Can’t afford to visit family this Easter because of petrol. Have started doing one shop per month and topping up with random Too Good to Go* grocery bags.

I don’t earn badly (though teachers have had an effective 10% pay cut since 2010) but I’m heavily financially committed with my mortgage - probably foolishly so - so I was already feeling the pinch and tightening my belt: Haven’t had a holiday in five or six years, apart from a couple of family weekends paid for by my mum instead of birthday presents. I am horribly overdrawn. Just over £5k. I need to sell stuff and for expensive things to stop going wrong (flat tire and emergency locksmith in the same week this month was just not fair!) I can’t get shot of my car because I’m disabled and can’t actually walk out of my road (steep hill) any more.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Any luck with interviews for a permanent job? It’s just becoming prime season for September starts, but not unheard of for NQTs to be offered a July start and be paid over summer.

Only had one interview so far. Which I failed. But the place seemed like a nightmare anyway. One of those schools where every interaction has a script and a legion of deputy heads roam the corridors checking for deviations from it.

They called their head of behaviour a head of 'culture and collaboration' or something, because they'd apparently solved behaviour already. Which explains why they had about forty kids in their three different naughty rooms

 

[Elpenor]

Seeing a big increase in people opting out of the (public sector) pension at work.

 

[cesare]

I now know that:

18 months ago a full tank of petrol cost me ~£65

60% of a tank now costs the same.

I make that ~55% increase, have I done the arithmetic right?

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

I now know that:

18 months ago a full tank of petrol cost me ~£65

60% of a tank now costs the same.

I make that ~55% increase, have I done the arithmetic right?

I make it 66%

 

[cesare]

I make it 66%

Thanks. Even worse then!

 

[platinumsage]

Unleaded was 113p 18 months ago, now it’s 162p, so that’s a 43% increase unless you now have a car with a larger tank perhaps, or don’t buy petrol from averagely priced places?

 

[cesare]

Unleaded was 113p 18 months ago, now it’s 162p, so that’s a 43% increase unless you now have a car with a larger tank perhaps, or don’t buy petrol from averagely priced places?

It's an old car, normal unleaded. I was kind of guesstimating it, the tank was approx 40% full and I topped it up to full when we went away, cost £65. Just the local BP.

 

[brogdale]

Seeing a big increase in people opting out of the (public sector) pension at work.

Straws in the wind, like that, tend to make me think there's always a method to the madness of the neoliberal state.

 

[weltweit]

In the past few months I have taken to popping into my village shop and buying for a couple of days at the most. I get the receipts and know that I would save money by travelling further and doing bigger shops at Morrisons but trips there are a whole load more hassle. Thing is popping in there while I am already on my way home doesn't involve a special trip.

I might be forced to do it, because items are a lot more costly in my village shop.

 

[brogdale]

One of my arch-boomer (Chelsea fan) neighbours spoke to me over the garden fence the other day and told me that him & the missus had discovered that they could "save tonnes on booze by going to Lidl".

Who knew?

 

[Elpenor]

Straws in the wind, like that, tend to make me think there's always a method to the madness of the neoliberal state.

Well yes.

My anecdata is I process far more opt outs than opt ins. The reasons people write on the form are usually “I can’t afford it”.

They can rejoin at any time but few do because once you get that money in your pay packet there’s always a reason for it

 

[nottsgirl]

Toothpaste is a fiver in Tescos (half price with a Clubcard).

 

[8ball]

Toothpaste is a fiver in Tescos (half price with a Clubcard).

Massive tube, I'd hope.

 

[nottsgirl]

Massive tube, I'd hope.

Just average.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

I feel very lucky. Things have really gone up recently. I figure that I'm out an extra $400 a month. But, I got a larger tax return this year than I was expecting. I was wondering how I was going to pay a few bills and now I have what I needed. I am becoming more and more concerned about the future, tbh. There's no pay increase coming this year so I'm just going to have to find a way to cut back on basics. I've always told myself that all I need is food, a warm place to sleep, and a book to read and I'm ok. I have that. It wasn't always the case.

 

[Calamity1971]

Massive tube, I'd hope.

Nottsgirl earlier

 

[danny la rouge]

(((Everyone struggling - on this thread and everywhere)))