I don't know about anyone else but I find food shopping and paying various bills isn't getting any easier, i bought a small roll with a bit of salad and that plastic sliced chicken for £2.50 this morning, I was shocked, not even real proper cooked chicken, and I'm not getting another mobile phone contact as the last increase was absolutely shocking. Food has shrunk and prices constantly rising and the reduction in ingredients has made food tasteless, as for utility bills we are expected to pay even more in October around 9% , food banks and warm banks are the only banks doing a roaring trade unless you've found your mortgage being hiked up, we are now normalising things that are a necessity to survive, and we're getting less for our public services and don't start me on the state of the water companies, they've let our rivers and streams been used as a dumping ground and claiming they need MORE money to replace victorian sewers, the wanton waste of money is eye-watering and profiteering is a product of pure greed, I was a sitxy's child and were meant to improve things as time goes on, but we're going backwards and the average age for living has dropped, a bad state of repairs!
Are you still struggling with the cos... - Anxiety and Depre...
Are you still struggling with the cost of living 😕
I am totally shocked at the price of everything, from energy prices, council tax (which is an abomination ) and having to pay extra for garden waste collection is unbelievable, when it used to be part of the council tax, and a single person living alone, the reduction is only 25% when i believe it should be half. Supermarkets' are making a killing and yet their waste is enormous, and yet their profits are soaring, and any reduction is a few pence. The price of cheese is now as expensive as fillet steak. If you look worldwide, globalism is behind it all.
Yes its grim 😬, we are having our pants pulled down, but you notice that the richest in society never seem to struggle, they'll be constant rises if the gas and utility companies let this endless greed run riot, and making vast and obscene profits, but there's a bigger picture there's over £3 billion in " owed" debts to these loan sharks of utility companies and its been added onto our bills, and you've paid approximately over £400 to have the privilege of having " smart meters " fitted and normalising electric blankets or refusing to turn your heating on is pretty abysmal, the money in the economy affects everything and people's welfare, but the money that the taxpayers cough up somehow ends up in the wrong pockets, we are meant to improve things as life continues, but I can say we have been dragged backwards.
Well many of the poorest kept voting for a certain party and the facts show that the gap between the have and have nots is at its widest ever level now for many years.
Most of the wealth in this country is given to the rich elites with crumbs from the rich man's table for the rest of us. Still many of poorest still support this so it must be what they want.
One of my friends from swimming told me how they have doubled the price of the children's bus fares to school and back and she has 2 kids and says she has no extra cash to spare!On days when I go to swimming I take a packed lunch with me with ingredients I have at home and yesterday I was in so I took advantage and cooked a pile of pasta in cheese sauce and put in a load of casserole veg from the freezer and had it for lunch giving the takeaway a miss and then put half in the fridge that I took with me today to have for lunch after my swim which I enjoyed!
A fair few of my other friends have received tellings off from their banks for only paying the minimum payment on their borrowings!
To keep them off my back I pay £20 extra a month in addition to the minimum payment!
What I decided to do was a compromise still go out but a couple of times a month for roast dinner at the pub and take packed lunch say rice and veg or pasta and veg with me on the days I come swimming and need a lunch rather than get ripped off buying one out!
How are you and the dogs getting on?
Baby is great and still getting spoilt!
I remember when I first moved last year and got accused of not paying the rent and yes I had and I had demanded for them to put in writing that yes the rent was paid both in full and on time and I did receive an apology!
I had proof in writing that yes the rent was paid both in full and on time on my bank statements!
Always get things in writing then they look stupid when they ring you accusing you of things and when you have proof in writing then they just look stupid and incompetent!
What I have done is I signed up to a fixed price tariff for both electric and gas which is until 2026!
I use olio when I can for free food which helps.
I take packed lunches from things in the pantry when I go out as well rather than getting ripped off!
Back in May at the market it was £1.45 for a swede which I thought was a bit much and went to marks and sparks and got one for 65p which is more like it!
One thing that gets me infuriated are those who look down on you claiming they are trying to help and no they are not they are just being malicious!
Yes certain foods are seasonal but even a punnet of strawberries are a ridiculous price, and many foods grown are reliant on the weather, even microwave meals have been shrunk in size, even pet food which I had to generate an email to purina about them discontinuing crunchy and tender cat nibbles have now been replaced with a newer type product at 750 grams compared to the discontinued bag at 900 grams and 10p dearer, and don't start me on the tin of soup from hienz or there tomato ketchup, it's corporate greed, all on the back of covid which made many people extremely rich and still avoiding the prosecution they should face!
That was plain old greedy when heinz put their soups up to £1.70 when it wasn't warranted!
Frozen fruit and veg I find are great value for money as you take out what you need so less waste!
Back in March I felt really really upset and angry and had cried when I found out my mother and sister were going to Japan and it's not a cheap do and I was like it's not fair!
Thing is I only wanted the same things but never got them and decided that I had made the right decision not to waste my time visiting them!
What upsets me is being unfair over things!
An offer to visit them to me felt like a right smack in the face as it was a pity invite and I never did either!
I stopped buying any Heinz's products many years ago as thought they were too expensive then! Even Tesco basic tomato soup has gone from around 35p to 55p now though.
I have coped by stopping shopping much at Tesco and Iceland and go much more to Lidl's and Farm Foods instead. I can get butter at FF for £1.
The larger Pound shops are cheaper too.
Yep it's become a monopoly occasionally our local Co Op have a decent yellow sticker process, and I try and grab a bargain but tescos are still ripping folk off on their so called reduced items, I've seen how cheap they are in England but up here in Scotland they hardly reduce anything 🫣
Tesco Express is still very expensive. Its the only ones I have access to.
I stopped shopping at Co-Op a couple of years ago.
Yes I've seen a can of shaving foam in the Co-Op for £13!!! Absolutely shocking 😲
The co op are a load of crooks in my view!
Tesco are the greediest supermarket by a mile.
Yes they are. Apart from Iceland they are the only supermarket in my town. They used to be a Metro until 3 years ago they changed it to a Tesco Express as an excuse to put prices up. And they did too. Greedy gits.
They've got some great stuff in Iceland haven't they especially the Keelings veg!
I shop very little in Iceland now. Its more geared up to families than ever with buy 3 for a fiver and things. I live on my own and that's no good for me.
I do like their sultana scones but they went from a pack of 4 each times 3 packs for £3.00 to £1,35 each. I buy them from Farm Foods for £1.50 for a pack of 8.
I've not been into Iceland for years, even though we have one in the town, however I believe they do 10% off if your over 60 but I'm not sure if this offer is still going and how much you need to spend 🤔
I find Iceland are good for small purchases like fruit and veg and their stew pack is excellent value for money and i did buy some margarine from them a couple of weeks back when i was in Pontypridd and they do some great offers on things like Pasta and Sauce packets as well!
Up the hill from us there's a shop called Heron Foods who are a northern company who I find are excellent value for money and they sell Northern brands like Ben Shaws pop!
Ah but did you get the " Alpine " wagon, cheap glass bottles of fizzy juice the bottles had a riven circles around the bottles with white caps, my favourite was pineapple aid 🫠
I do remember the glass pop bottles when you took the bottle back to the shop and got 10p!
Yes always wondered about the "muck" that goes down the drain, exactly whereto most of it can't be recycled, its building up somewhere, don't give me the old story of it goes into the sea, been saying for decades [more 🙄] ANY tap water I drink, I ALWAYS filter, [funny smell off it😖] Lough Neagh down the road from me in Northern Ireland, covered in blue-green algae🤮 We are meant to be a "greener" world OH!😲😤 YEH! We will be putting into the salad section at Tescos next?🍀🙄
Yes and the various plastics that are used in washing powder or liquid is now being ingested by marine creatures as well as fish we are literally killing ourselves, " mankind " is the exact opposite and they want to have a colony on Mars, we can't even look after this planet.
The washing capsules you stick in the washing machine [fully recyclable 🙄] "keep away from children"🕵️♂️all the "drain cleaner" not fully recyclable🤮 Yuck! They sent a monkey up into space, back in the sixties, maybe that's a good idea, colonise Mars, there won't be any humans left down here🤐
Yep,I think back to the good old days, certain things have changed like the foggy nights, but I dunno if that's to blame for pollution or greenhouse gases back then, more likely the coal fires , and now electric cars which need a vast amount of materials to produce these things on mass production, most batteries have a shelf life, where they going to dump these, I remember an advert in the early 70s saying how they were going to dump nuclear waste in containers into the oceans with the " waste" about the size of a match box, really, honestly I give up, humans create bigger problems rather than solving them, the planet has become a dumping ground, oh well I better get some sleep 😴 catch you later
Well I will only say it was the older generation who were more likely to vote a certain party (not me) so they got what they asked for.....
However we have a new government in now so fingers crossed.
Not me either! The privatisation of public utilities began under Thatcher in the 80s.
Yes it did. Everyone I knew at the time seemed to be in favour of it. But I remember thinking we already own the public utilities so how could they sell off shares in them? It was all a big con.
I have learned that when any government promotes something to do the exact opposite lol
Yes your bang on with that statement 👏
Yep 😁😁
So how are things going to be different then if ANY government promotes something then does the opposite, they’ve already started by stopping the winter fuel payment unless you’re on benefits !
Yes they have and I am annoyed at that too. But everything else is hitting the better off the most. This makes a nice change from the other party who did the opposite.
Also it was the last government who added together the state pension and any other income to charge us more tax.
Also the stealth taxes. Due to rises in the state pension and my small private one I was dragged back into the income tax net last year and had to pay £126 in tax for the year.
I prefer direct changes which are at least open and honest to sneaky stealth taxes, or eg cutting the rate of NI conts and dressing it up as helping everyone when it fact the better off benefited the most. Or drastically cutting council subsidies and allowing them to raise council tax even higher.
At least this current government has said they will increase the lower tax thresholds when they can, something the other one had no intention of doing.
Seems to fool a lot of people though.. lol
They are all as bad as each other to my mind, they promise to do wonders if they get in, but rarely fulfil their promises ☹️
I work on the principle they can't possibly be as bad as the last lot. I am a pensioner and they were by far the worst government I can remember - and my memory goes back a long way.
If others support them then that's fine as its just my view.
Funny😁 as they are removing the winter fuel payment and will be taxing pensioners heavily, and council tax is heading for a huge increase, and energy bills are set to soar again. Is that what you voted for.?
Apart from the fuel allowance we had the rest of it already under the tories.
Hmm, it's hot potato this subject, especially when politics are involved, unfortunately people are used like pawns in a game of chess, and the blame game begins, I'm absolutely disgusted with the tories the way they lied, the scandals, the misappropriation of taxpayers money and ultimately using the pandemic as an excuse to line their own pockets, who uses the publics finances and pretending to do us a favour. If they can lie in parliament what else do you think they've got away with, the so called apologies were pathetic, and now labour are in we're paying again for the tories, however it's left me with a bad taste in my mouth as I don't TRUST any of them, we've gone backwards, and I can't see labour pulling us out of this hole especially when those greedy utility companies whack our bills up by at least 9% in October, if these prices dropped food would be cheaper, as for the so called green energy who could even afford a heat pump, which fails to deliver adequate heat, and means destruction of the inside of your house, yes that's my moaning over with 🤣
Well historically under the tories the gap between the have and have nots always widens. Under Labour it always lessens again.
We will have to wait and see how Labour do as its far too soon to judge them. I just don't see how they could be worse than the last government.
Yes, but it's the damage that the tories have done is more concerning, the public are paying for failure on an industrial scale, and people are being conditioned into a lower living standards, we need to move forwards and not backwards we are normalising food banks, warm banks and are expecting people to shiver under electric blankets, meanwhile the corporate companies are absolutely coining it in, and small businesses collapsing under the lack of money in society
Shiver under electric blankets ? Labour Stopping the WFP won’t help !
Obviously i know that 🙄 this is the price people are paying for, every government goes after the most vulnerable in society perhaps I should have said trying to keep warm under electric blankets 😉 I'm disgusted how the tories and their chums profited from the covid crisis and a certain " lady " Mone could have created havoc with her so called ppe equipment, it was unworthy of even being used and could have infected more innocent victims like the NHS staff.
Yes, I think there’s worse to come for us this winter.
Yes, our bus passes with be next to go I expect😳
Yes I fear they might. And the travel passes for people living in London.
I was till I won 25 million.
I don't normally do this but could you start my " go fund me" perhaps a million will do for starters and when I get another million in gifting I'll give you your money back 😉 🤣
Oh Kenny has already given me £1 million as we are mates 
Well I'm disappointed,I've been checking my bank details and nothing has arrived as yet 🤣
I am aged 68. living alone, just on a pension so had to be tight with my finances, have a seven foot fridge freezer, which my relatives used to tick me off for, a weekly journey to local supermarket, BUT check on use by dates, have to check this more than before, where does all the past stuff go to? Used to get coffee capsules in pack of ten, now pack of six, definitely more expensive. Tesco own brands, stay away from them, especially "medical" goods. Three years ago weekly bill £60 today same stuff now circa £90. Electric meter four months ago £95 a month, they suddenly went up £138, now they implemented a new meter, thought MIGHT bring price down, checked vigoursly, fine print, NOT a smart meter, no installation costs Whew! BUT no demise in price, had enough now downsizing, been there 21 years, but finances just too tight😖🙄
Yes prices are ridiculous now and is largely a result of 14 years of tory policy.
I spend around half what you do on food though and have a reasonably healthy diet. Which is why I shop mainly now at Lidl's and Farm Foods.
Have got diabetes 2 since 2021, no "junk food" now, even Tesco loyalty card, you HAVE to have smartphone to register, they are not getting my call & text phone [sorry Ccleaner is telling me I have some junk files, nasty way of getting rid of some of my really old files, I'm a retired historian so🖕 to them] I cannot walk far, transport extremely restricted, Belfast firm runs the taxis, just out of their range 🙄 so am ALWAYS beck and call, second choice taxis🙄 "you will just have to wait....."😖
You don't have to have a smart phone to get a Tesco club card because I didn't. You can ring up and they will send you one in the post.
Are you getting pension credits and/or extra benefits due to your health conditions? Are you claiming everything available to you?
I said text & call phone, not iphone or smartphone, I suppose I could get it if I brought my laptop [this] along to Tescos, [I really hate this world being run by technology, AI, IT, etc, although been using "computers" since mid 1990's, I know what they are doing to mankind, but its too late now 😖] I have been promised a club card via my nephew🤫 [manager of a computer game shop🤫] quite frankly Aldi supermarket about 100 yards away 😉 is better value👌 I have a lot of friends in Tesco's staff, been going there near 20 years, it does not save me money though🙄
I suppose I could like everything over here, 6 monthly waiting list, you have slow, dead slow💀, then you have Northern Ireland? Then you have Civil Service gaps over here 😵there are prehistoric cave paintings down there💀 My GP agrees I should have PIP, I lost it seven years ago because I said "I could walk 200 yards!" but he has no sway in the process! I've known my house is too large, there used to be a family of four next door, other half of semi detached for twelve years, it was just a matter of time.
glad someone else like me, i use a desktop computer but don't use a smart phone or indeed any mobile phone, my landline suits me enough.
I embraced the mobile technology, as I didn't want broadband in my flat, it was just another bill, and a way of avoiding big brother into my place, there's talk everyone will have to have broadband installed in the next few years, it's trying to sort out those who will refuse it and how they rearrange the television licence.I decided to get a phone contract on a business plan which more or less gave me unlimited data, obviously the biggest concern is if I lose my phone I'd be in all sorts of trouble, technology is great but it shouldn't be used to invade our privacy, we are treading into the unknown as everything you do is being monitored already, biometric information, facial recognition, and anything else that tracks your movement's, there's not much difference between a prisoner on an electronic tag and normal folk walking around, except your freedom, we've seen how the recent exploits of the recent crash around the globe affected various outlets, and that's before we even get digital currency forced upon, there's enough scams already and wait until AI takes over, they'll be those who created this monster singing it's praises and we'll be in danger of accepting this technology without a choice, there's you freedom gone in the simple press of a computer button 🫣
I'm a retired genealogist/historical researcher, used to use desktop [still got some old floppy discs🙄] as memory got better switched solely to laptop, found my landline too expensive, so just call & text, and laptop, the pressure I get from apps being sent to me to get smartphone (for greater security🤭🙃) wot a load of💩! but trying to find a good call & text is hard enough, battery length, volume, even half decent camera [has to be at least 4g, old Nokia 2g [now no! no!🤫]
The cost of living keeps a lot from living... I've spent money on think that never get done, and get mad at myself for it...
Not me though as I look at ways to compromise like going for Sunday lunch say once a fortnight which I think is fair enough!
I have been on the receiving end of spiteful people who have nothing better to do than sit and criticise over going out on a weekday as in their small simple minds the golden prize of life is a 9/5 Monday to Friday job and I got told after I had dared to have gone out on Friday afternoon heaven forbid I thought you were working and I lied and said yes I was in the morning but the afternoon was free so I took it which was fair enough!
I bet they were disappointed when I said that as they were just looking for something to pick at due to being unhappy with their lot in life!
Next week we are planning a day out on Wednesday to Victoria Park in West Cardiff as we haven't been there for ages and perhaps lunch out at a carvery.
Lunch out a couple of days a week I think is a fair compromise!
Thing is I'm not stealing the vindictive people's money directly to go out and not doing them any harm!
If it's not harming you then butt out!
My friends say they do it because they're jealous.
Theirs also the issue of finally getting a small amount of $ but being too depressed to want to use it. Finally getting excited for food to get sick, or not have anyone to share it with. Or taking the time to finally get a book but have no ambition to read it anymore... I do really try hard. I smile, I laugh, people would never tell how much I hurt. But I'll eat later, can't hurt to lose more weight... Or I'll read the book another time, forgetting something else can't be that bad.... Or maybe one day my friends will ask me how I'm doing one morning.
Gah sorry it's been a really hard time... Thank you for your reply... I'm going to try to love myself more
Thing is though tomorrow isn't guaranteed to anyone is it is the way I approach things and decided on going to outdoor swimming this Friday coming as my usual leisure centre is shut for an event so why not do something different?
Last year I lost confidence when I got evicted from my old apartment but with time and effort it has come back and I am getting out and about again like I used to!
Me and my mate have agreed to go out both Wednesday and Friday next week as we are free those days and do packed lunches the other days and next weekend it's a stay at home weekend which is fair enough.
Today we have been out for lunch and been making plans to go out and tentative ones for the autumn as well!
The hardest part is I was trying so so hard. I even broke a toe recently I think but hate complaining about physical pain so have just been walking on it. I just saw over 4 Dr.s and had a Dr admit I've tried almost every med for O.C.D./Depression.I will keep trying but it's been so dark, my body doesn't even want me to eat, I feel sick, and I get feavers when I stress. I just want to be better
These setbacks make you want to cry in despair don't they when they strike?
I had just moved up here and had paid the rent both in full and on time and one Monday morning the day after I had worked up my confidence for a day out that Sunday I received an officious phone call accusing me of not paying the rent and I had become ever so upset!
When I had calmed down I had rung them back to demand I get it in writing that yes the rent was paid both in full and on time and that I did receive and also an apology as well so I let the matter go!
There's ways and means of speaking to people without being nasty though!
After that setback I got back on the horae and tried again when I was ready!
I came to do my share of complaining about prices climbing endlessly higher, but when I converted the amounts you're paying in the UK to the cost where I am in the US, I can't believe the price gouging here. The prices you're naming haven't been around here since before Covid.
Weren't those Covid hikes supposed to be a problem in transportation? What's the new excuse?
It's just a licence to be nasty when they hide behind these excuses!
I can't afford healthcare, and work forced me out, I" attempted" 6 years ago and would never EVER do that to people I care about... But now I'm stuck again, and now I can't hurt myself anymore because I want to move forward and somehow that's harder... Using coping methods is so hard, and knowing I might not have an apartment, or need to sell a vehicle, or start accruing dept because I'm "sad"
It stings. But we got this.....
I do hear you. It hit me hard reading "might not have an apartment, etc. -- because I'm sad."
Trauma now colors many abilities I used to take for granted. How much I can lose terrifies me, all because I lost the me that was functional enough to survive.
We'll find ourselves again... If you do I will too haha
I think I should add a potential trigger warning here. ⚠️
There's a hard deadline I'm up against. Just because the world works that way.
Healing from trauma doesn't. (Did I mention, I'm no spring chicken. 🐔 I make good soup though. Heh)
I'm terrified homeless is in my future. Is it sensible to think, when it comes, it'll be my fault, because I'm broken?
I didn't ask to be broken, but I am. I can't wave a wand and function again. Physically or emotionally. It takes time, work, and realizing there's only so much you can do.
This future self: Disabled, in constant pain, living on the street. I don't have enough imagination to think I'll survive. Certainly not when my home-in-a-box gets buried under three feet of snow.
Or... It's a miracle! Sunshine and light breaks out all over the world and... and... I'm cured!
Nope. I don't believe that one either.
Trouble ahead... trouble behind
Yeh prices going up everywhere it's a rip off Try shop around if you can
Not sure if you have or under pension age
Apply for
Pip
Unable to leave house 4 days a week
Should get mobility award
Happy days are here again: it can happen to you.
For All Of Us Struggling Tonight
Struggling with job and living situation 
