Discontent #10 food, energy, transport, cost of living, society etc

[Ro98]

The nursery fees / childcare cost / housing costs in general are so depressing.
We are due our 1st in April and I plan on leaving work until he goes to school.
We are already having to leave London as house prices are too high, and jobs in my career outside of London don’t pay enough to cover even a portion of full time childcare fees.
So it would be useless to work & be completely broke, when I could not work & we can still go on holidays/afford days out etc.
I find the maternity pay & pension whilst on maternity leave a disgrace in this country.
I’m lucky in that we are in a position to split my OH salary after bills down the middle but I really feel for those who aren’t in that position/those who barely make ends meet despite earning a very very good wage.
Something has to give in the next few years as it can’t continue like this.

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

No one ever explained to me how the interest rates work when I took out a student loan - it definitely would’ve deterred me.

My parents sent me to private school and honestly if they just gave me the money it cost as a house deposit instead I would be so much better off even if I wasn’t in a job that paid as much ad I am now. I don’t think it’s worth it and there are better ways to invest in your child’s future

We’ve looked at shared parental leave but it seems the enhanced pay I get from my company (six months full pay then three months half) would be much better than stat shared parental pay would be.
Although I think we would definitely do ShPL for the last three months as I couldn’t afford unpaid.

See I’m almost glad I was somewhat ignorant to it because I kind of had to go lol. But now I’m logging in every payday and watching it like a hawk and recently every login has shown a new interest rate (that I then put into my repayment forecast spreadsheet ) on my interest free loan

I’ve modelled what you’ve just described basically the opportunity cost of money spent on school fees versus a deposit and you’re right, like the average income my LO would have to earn in order to out earn the housing crisis would mean years spent in high pressure jobs and that’s not a life I want for her. There’s more to be said on the private school thing but seeing the Instagram alumni of private schools really puts you off cos most of them are thick as tit.

Your company’s package sounds absolutely amazing, that’s brilliant! If it’s any help I wish I’d cut my mat leave short at around 9 months, but this was during the pandemic, or done one of those gentle transitions back some companies offer that make use of your 10 KIT days (fully paid) so that might be worth considering too. Also you accrue holiday during mat leave that you could take as paid leage so combine that + KIT to gently go back in those last 3 months maybe.

 

[Jc456]

I wish I never went to uni, I didn't want to go but my mum pressured me into it so I did some crappy foundation degree in horses that I failed and had to retake the 2nd year. I wanted to do something like beauty but my mum kept telling me her friend says NVQ's were "not very qualified"

 

[Folkevermore]

I wish I never went to uni, I didn't want to go but my mum pressured me into it so I did some crappy foundation degree in horses that I failed and had to retake the 2nd year. I wanted to do something like beauty but my mum kept telling me her friend says NVQ's were "not very qualified"

I really hope the push into higher education stops. It’s not for everyone, and it’s kind of pointless if you don’t have a career path in mind that requires it

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

I wish I never went to uni, I didn't want to go but my mum pressured me into it so I did some crappy foundation degree in horses that I failed and had to retake the 2nd year. I wanted to do something like beauty but my mum kept telling me her friend says NVQ's were "not very qualified"

Someone must have written a book about the political push to attend uni, the British class system, upwards mobility, and vocational versus academic outcomes - or at least a phd surely?!

It’s like some of that chat a few pages back with Pearl clutching over what trades earn versus what a manager or [other trad MC profession] earns is inherently a classist attitude that’s been socialised into us because of these weird political pushes for everyone to attend uni. I know that there’s debate over what even is MC when it’d be easier for a plumber to become a HRTP and multi property landlord and build genuine wealth in their lifetime than a teacher but all of that is dissolving, which again probs links back to property prices

Btw I’m not bashing uni at all because I wouldn’t have my life or salary without it, but I didn’t have a family home to go back to and still believed there was upwards mobility in this country and tbh there still was in the mid 2010s. But now I’m seeing more and more people enter tech roles as self taught and I think that’s brilliant. My degree wasn’t in my role but now running coding tests it’s actually incredibly rare to see candidates from computing courses passing them whereas self taught usually do, which is yet another reason to reconsider the whole uni thing for my LO I guess.

 

[Jc456]

@Folkevermore @heretoreaditall2019 I think for my mum it was the first in the family to go to uni brag as well as thinking NVQs weren't good. I agree that unless it helps in some way with your career then it's not worth doing. I think I'd encourage my kids to do an apprenticeship, they go up to degree level and your earning while gaining experience

 

[Yel]

University became a big business imo.

The push to get people to go gave university inflation so that even what was a "entry level" job then asked for a degree. Other people had to go on to do a masters as an undergraduate degree alone was no longer enough.

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

@Folkevermore @heretoreaditall2019 I think for my mum it was the first in the family to go to uni brag as well as thinking NVQs weren't good. I agree that unless it helps in some way with your career then it's not worth doing. I think I'd encourage my kids to do an apprenticeship, they go up to degree level and your earning while gaining experience

That was such a thing though at the time!! I was the first in my family to go and again, I’ve been socialised to be really proud of that but now the economy/country/society has changed so much idk if that is still a thing?

The apprenticeship scheme isn’t perfect and there are defs some bad players but I’ve seen young ppl go from them into “grad level” employment but with +9% more salary as they’ve not got the SLC deductions coming out. Which is brilliant!

But it is sad that people are priced out of 3 years of learning and becoming fully immersed in a subject they enjoy. But that’s a whole other thing, realistically a 3 year undergrad could be seriously compressed especially in a remote/digital era!
---

Other people had to go on to do a masters as an undergraduate degree alone was no longer enough.

Most the people I know who did a masters straight after undergrad did so because they couldn’t get a job. I’ve never heard a masters be spoken about favourably in just a normal commercial working environment, obviously if I worked in science or academia that might be different but it was a lot of money too as my undergrad cohort were the last to have £3k fees so those coming out onto masters got hit with the bigger fee and ridiculous repayment terms.

 

[FlipFlop0706]

Heartbroken. My friends family business is closing after 25 years of trading. They’ve put everything into it, but can’t continue any longer. Business rates have shot up, energy costs have gone up, the rent on their building has increased by an extortionate amount, they’ve had to cut back on staff they have had working for them for years. Since the pandemic, they’ve looked physically ill with stress.

How long does this government expect people to carry on like this? It’s a joke.

 

[Chickenandgravy]

I just got my energy deal in (mine ends the end of this month) and my gas standing charge has gone up by 10p a day and my electricity 15p. How the duck can they do that?! I can understand unit price but that should be illegal

 

[BaxterBillions]

I just got my energy deal in (mine ends the end of this month) and my gas standing charge has gone up by 10p a day and my electricity 15p. How the duck can they do that?! I can understand unit price but that should be illegal

The standing charge is a bleeping diabolical liberty, 90 p a day in total for my gas and electricity from British Gas. It's in the news today that they've made record profits so you'd hope they'd maybe ease off the charges but I won't hold my breath.

 

[NowIsGood]

Heartbroken. My friends family business is closing after 25 years of trading. They’ve put everything into it, but can’t continue any longer. Business rates have shot up, energy costs have gone up, the rent on their building has increased by an extortionate amount, they’ve had to cut back on staff they have had working for them for years. Since the pandemic, they’ve looked physically ill with stress.

How long does this government expect people to carry on like this? It’s a joke.

I honestly don't know how any small/ medium sized businesses are going to survive the next few years.
A vintage clothing business on another forum was telling me the electricity for their unit was increasing from £2500 to £15500. I mean that's an increase that no one can absorb It's evil what's happening to hard working people.

 

[FlipFlop0706]

I honestly don't know how any small/ medium sized businesses are going to survive the next few years.
A vintage clothing business on another forum was telling me the electricity for their unit was increasing from £2500 to £15500. I mean that's an increase that no one can absorb It's evil what's happening to hard working people.

Sounds similar to my friends family. They have done everything possible to hold on to the business, they cannot cut costs anymore than they have. My friends just told me that she’s just found out her dad hasn’t taken a wage since the pandemic as it would have meant making more people redundant. He’s now up to his eyes in debt. Everything he has worked for just gone. People are going to lose their lives trying to get through this and this sodding government is doing duck all. Growing the economy?! They can’t grow a bleeping cress seed on a wet paper towel!

 

[265]

Anybody with Tesco Mobile? They seem so much more affordable than Ee who I'm with now. I'm not bothered about the latest phones .

Yes, I have contract (sim only) and a PAYG sim, my contract is a year old and it's £7.50 for 6GIG which is more than
enough for me. In the past few years I'm paying less for more data when I change the contract. This current contract
to me is dirt cheap. Tesco PAYG £12.50 for 3 gig per month, bit more expensive but if I wanted 6 gig it would cost
£17.50.

 

[Jc456]

Yes, I have contract (sim only) and a PAYG sim, my contract is a year old and it's £7.50 for 6GIG which is more than
enough for me. In the past few years I'm paying less for more data when I change the contract. This current contract
to me is dirt cheap. Tesco PAYG £12.50 for 3 gig per month, bit more expensive but if I wanted 6 gig it would cost
£17.50.

You can get a rocket pack on payg

 

[265]

You can get a rocket pack on payg

I was forgetting the Rocket Packs, I don't use them because I use data only.

 

[Jc456]

I was forgetting the Rocket Packs, I don't use them because I use data only.

Yea my daughter only really uses data. Sent 0 texts (uses WhatsApp), 16 mins and 8gb out of 10gb. Hers renews tomorrow, she's got the £10 for 10gb pack

 

[265]

Yea my daughter only really uses data. Sent 0 texts (uses WhatsApp), 16 mins and 8gb out of 10gb. Hers renews tomorrow, she's got the £10 for 10gb pack

You can't do that on the main networks, which is why I'm with Tesco.

 

[Jc456]

You can't do that on the main networks, which is why I'm with Tesco.

I'm confused, my daughter is with tesco payg too but I do the £10 10gb rocket pack for her. Your paying more for less data without the rocket pack

 

[IngressUK]

I honestly don't know how any small/ medium sized businesses are going to survive the next few years.
A vintage clothing business on another forum was telling me the electricity for their unit was increasing from £2500 to £15500. I mean that's an increase that no one can absorb It's evil what's happening to hard working people.

It is due to there being no real cap on the prices business pays for their energy.

Whilst the public currently have some kind of cap on energy, it is no good if the businesses that employ them go under due to punitive energy costs.

With a growing population where on earth is our energy coming from, considering most of our coal fired plants have been bulldozed and we only have a couple of Nuclear plants. Wind and solar isn't enough for the rest.

Net Zero is utter financial suicide for the country, until the technology improves that will provide enough clean energy at reasonable prices for the consumer. I also don't see why the hard pressed public should have a premium added to their energy bills to fund this - especially when all the energy companies are making record profits. They should be the ones funding it.