Discontent #4 Food, energy, transport, jobs, housing, cost of living etc

[Slothgang]

As a 'poor person' I find the whole discussion on healthy food so insulting. I'm broke, I'm not stupid ... I know how to cook and I know that vegetables are healthier than takeaways. The vast majority of us know this. But at the end of the day if I have a few quid left to get me through the week I am obviously going to spend it on foods that are cheap and that I KNOW my kids will eat. Of course I don't want to have to feed them frozen pizza, chips or toast as much as I do but they are cheap foods that fill them up. I would love to have the money to experiment and expand their diets. Lentils etc may be cheap but I can't take the risk of them not being eaten.

 

[bozlem3080]

So I lost my job today, not enough work, I’m absolutely petrified I’ve got no money till my wages come in next week, which won’t even cover half my bills, I’ve applied for over a dozen jobs today, applied for Jobseeker’s Allowance too, I don’t know where to turn anymore, I’m a single person living on my own, I’m due to sell my home, then I have nowhere to go once it’s sold so will be homeless, have no family or friends & I’ve just hit rock bottom.

 

[Purrrrrrr]

Come on it's not all bad!
Woohooo another foodbank








WTF are they smiling about, celebrating cutting the ribbon on yet another foodbank, they should be hanging their heads in shame not laughing like its a great thing.

 

[Yel]

I really hope the support package is for everyone and not just tested. I worry we will become the forgotten majority.

Everytime I hear "hard working families" it makes me wince. Are those that don't have children less deserving? Childless people are way more likely to fall through the cracks as there's way less support for them.

It's going to be tricky to decide who the support should be aimed at. If it's at benefits it misses out lots of people struggling, if it's at council tax bands it's not targeted at those most in need, if it's universal it'll help lots of those that are able to afford the increases. The tax system is so complicated that using that would be a right mess.

 

[bozlem3080]

My gas & electric bill is extortionate, I work 40 hrs a week so out of the house, live on my own & paying £229 a month, they are now saying I’m not paying enough so want to increase it to £246 a month! I’ve literally gone round my home & switched everything off, I don’t watch tv anymore, don’t use my oven, I live on sandwiches & cup a soups, plus coffee, I was thinking of emptying what’s left in my fridge/freezer & turning that off next, use my washer once a week, shower daily for a few minutes, don’t have heating on sit in bed with my coat on & blankets/duvet, hot water bottle, I’ve got £14 last me till the end of the month, did a shop in Aldi yesterday £8.50 so that should last me the week, it’s not a pity post it’s just I’m finding it so frustrating, feel I’m paying fuel for the whole street

 

[Zulkraa]

 

[Codiaeum]

I've been accepted for a job I had applied for and they sent me the compensation details - it includes a food allowance and some compensation for increased electricity bills for people working from home (which I would). Couldn't believe it I'll accept the position, not only because of these extremely generous benefits, but they are certainly a very welcome surprise.
I work from home now already and my current company is not offering to pay anything for it.

 

[Brigitjonesbuttcheek]

But won't there be a natural shift when people stop having money to spend.

I Remember the 90s when everyone wore hand me downs, people did their own home and car maintenance. Holidays were UK or drive to France at most. People had one shitty car. Weekends were just playing with kids in the street or round to others houses.

Then stuff got cheap, credit got readily available, wages went up.

Now everyone has two flash new cars, foreign holidays are expected, no one does anything for themselves you pay someone else to do it. Weekends are hundreds of pounds on treats and junk food and days out.

So my guess is, things go back to people having more basic lives, the corporations lose money because people don't have it to spend on cars and toys and days out. So there will be a natural shift and stuff will become more affordable again. Remember the days of the supermarket price wars. That will all come back.

 

[a.pain]

The platinum jubilee celebrations just feel wildly inappropriate just now. You only have to go on bbc news page to see a lady smothered in jewels having lavish celebrity parties being thrown for her next to news articles about unaffordable energy, poverty, NI crisis and Ukraine war. Come on.

 

[kneedeepsnow]

View attachment 1377651View attachment 1377654
My daughters account.. She’s never had a decent meal at school yet. It says breakfast but that’s the entire day

I pack her a snack bag along side it but it’s still costing me about £40 a month to top up for stuff as shown.

Love that she just had hash browns, chips and a fuck tonne of condiments one day for her lunch genius.

 

[chapterthree]

All this housing benefit to pay mortgages stuff sounds very much like the return of subprime.

I did think it'll be more props to keep the plates spinning on the broken housing market, but there's going to be such a small amount of people that can make use of it. Doubt it's going to boost the government as yet again those in middle are left behind.

Unpopular opinion, I think it’s disgraceful. So many people who work are worse off because they have to pay private rent, prescriptions, dental work etc and yet housing benefit is going to be used for a mortgage. I wish the government would address the elephant in the room… build more council homes. Oh, wait. They won’t, because they don’t generate enough profit.

 

[grumpy_curry]

Just quickly getting on my soapbox here: This is the intrinsic dissonance within Capitalism. You have the working class who are the backbone of any economy being forced to work for less, work more hours, and then in the end have no money or time left over to spend on extras, or even the necessities. Since this is what props up any economy, this obviously leads to a crash, a reduction in profits, etc. But the owning class continue to blame the working class (or high taxes, which is basically the same thing, as they see themselves as being exempt from paying their fair share, since they are soooooo generous with providing us plebs with jobs in the first place - their "duty" is done).

In theory, you get a huge market crash and the system "rights" itself by having those go bust which do not provide any value. Who needs a new sofa or a trading account or a mortgage when you can't afford food. But since the state and the owning class are one and the same, they just pull from our taxes and our social systems and our hard earned money to enrich themselves further. "Too big to fail" etc. We've been here before.

Please, honestly, tell me - who here believes that Lord Sugar, or Bezos, or Musk or all the other rich bastards like Bojo work a million times harder than we do?

Just look at the propaganda they put out:
- "Stop spending money on avocado toast and lattes then you can afford a home" but completely ignore the fact that the housing market is insane
- "Just move somewhere else where rents are cheaper" - where, fucking Grimsby? (No offense to anyone from Grimsby, replace with your town of choice)
- "Stop moaning about little wages and be grateful you even have a job, no, we can't pay you more" but making record profits
- "Stupid benefit claimants, how dare they, they're all moochers and don't want to work" (see Life on the Dole, etc. all making sure you get presented one "good" benefit claimant and one "bad" one so you'll be disinclined to complain when they cut Benefits because it will hit "the right people")
- "If you're poor, you just need to budget better" i. e., it's your fault, just pull yourself up by your bloody boodstraps

The list goes on.

It's clear and utter contempt for the working class.

 

[WilmaHun]

I know you shouldn't compare yourself to others on social media, but it's hard not to sometimes. When I see people the same age as me, with a mortgage, like me, but they're driving round in flashy brand new cars, and constantly going on holiday or nights away I can't help but think HOW?! I know what jobs they work, in fact, one of them works my old job in a call centre so I know roughly what her wage will be and I just can't understand how they afford it. My partner and I work full time, we work our arses off and at the moment I feel like we're only just covering the necessities with very little, if anything, going spare each month. I know in reality these people are probably just sticking everything on credit to worry about another day, but it makes me feel so shit like I'm failing because I'm only just managing to get by each month. At 26 I thought I'd be out enjoying myself, going on holidays etc, and don't get me wrong I am so proud of myself that I have a mortgage, I own my car as I've now paid off the finance, and I know I've achieved what some can only dream of but I don't feel like I'm enjoying myself in the same way others somehow manage to. It's just depressing. I don't feel like I'm living, I'm just surviving and with everything continuing to rise I can't see how I'll ever afford a holiday again, or not least in the next 5 years! I know you shouldn't compare, but when I see people in similar situations to me I can't help but think how I've failed as I can't enjoy myself like they are

 

[Moth]

In my experience through Citizens Advice people regard debt very differently. I've had people breaking down because they have a bill for £200 that they can't pay and others laughing and joking with me while describing debts of £50,000 or more. Equally I've had people that are just reckless with money and don't worry about the long term consequences and others that simply can't manage money and don't see the consequences coming. Everybody is different and it is pointless trying to measure yourself by the standards of other people.

 

[Lollyy]

Im so grateful Rishi lowered fuel prices of 5p about 4 weeks for them to be 10-12p higher now.

 

[hol20x]

I already work full time and if I took on any more hours I’d just lose it in tax. These arseholes are so out of touch with reality, they’ve never had to scrimp and save to be able to afford anything. I’ve had to sell stuff on Depop just to be able to afford my daughter’s birthday gifts.

 

[Doc]

We want to start trying for a baby but I'm really worried about the cost of living. I work for the NHS and the maternity leave allowance isn't brilliant (about half pay overall) but as the breadwinner I need to start saving to allow us to afford it. It's so sad as I have a good job but at the moment the idea of having a child of my own doesn't seem wise financially at all.

My humble opinion is ordinary working class are never financially ready for kids, but we all somehow manage and muddle through x

 

[Whatamadworld]

Makes you think what life is all about. Cost of living is rising exponentially. We are being told to cut back on this and that, go green to save the planet etc. It's almost like we are being conditioned to live a life of tedium. We grind, grind, grind, and for what? Life just feels like one big grind and then we die. Some people are more fortunate than others of course.

Heck, I know I am more fortunate than homeless people or those literally living on the breadline. I think about the hard lives my ancestors would have had and realise I have lived a far, far more comfortable life than they ever would have, which is sad to think about.

 

[Melian]

What happens if you can only work part time? Such as a parent due to childcare costs. Not everyone is in the situation where they can get better jobs.

 

[a.pain]

Yes. We will be buying extra warm pjs, lots of blankets, hot water bottles etc.


Telling people to work more is a kick in the teeth. Some people are already at breaking point and what about those of us with kids or caring responsibilities? Who’s going to have them while we work every hour under the sun? They want us to suffer.

So if everyone follows that advice what do they expect us to do when all the carers/cleaners/supermarket staff etc ‘get a better job’?! Someone has to do these jobs and they should be able to earn a decent living. Any politician who says get a better job clearly doesn’t understand why 1) it’s not always possible and 2) that would leave society massively struggling. Although they’d maybe have to start doing some things for themselves once their servants get better jobs