Discontent #8 food, energy, transport, cost of living, society etc

[Caffeine Fiend]

There is no point in us turning on each other.

In every demographic across the nation there will be families struggling and families doing ok, pensioners struggling to turn the heating on and other pensioners who are spending half the year at a holiday home.

We need to band together and demand better for everyone. There is not one group of people who you can point to and say theyre the worst off they need help.

My household are the squeezed middle, we would typically be the type funding restaurants, local coffee shops, kids recreational clubs. If things get worse we will cut back and if everyone in our circumstances has to cut back on similar things its disastrous for the local economy.

 

[daisychains_]

I've been paid this morning, after transferring my bill money to the joint account, and my usual direct debits going out I've about £300 to last me the month - and with that I've got to get food shops as well so really I've closer to £0. It just makes me feel really sad as it feels like there's no room for enjoyment anymore I used to look forward to pay day and now I just feel deflated and depressed when it arrives because it's getting tougher and tougher each month to make it stretch.

I don't want to sound ungrateful because I know that I'm lucky enough to be employed with regular wages coming in, some people don't even have that and I do understand that from that perspective I'm in a better position but it still feels like an awful situation

 

[Bubbledoggyyeah]

I had no central heating at all until I was 18. And even now, my house is under 10 degrees over winter and only about 22 in summer. As a society we’ve forgotten it’s a very recent thing to have heating like we do and completely lost the ability to cope without it (which actually isn’t all that hard if you are used to it).

I really dislike thinking like this. Just because heating may be a ‘recent’ thing, doesn’t mean we all don’t deserve to be able to afford it. Electricity and having an abundance of food in the shop is also fairly recent and we all deserve that too. Basic human rights.

 

[Xales]

Do you have kids if I may ask?

Not together, I have 1 son.

That is why he is leaving. Covid has made him re-evaluate life. He wants them now and I am too old.

 

[a.pain]

I’m sure I’m going to sound very entitled here, but I filled in one of those online ONS tools that tells you where you sit in terms of household income in the UK. My husband and I earn £64k between us, with two relatively decent jobs, and the tool said we are on the 81st centile for household income. We are in the 9th richest decile in the UK. We have just bought a small house, talked about it on here already, for £205k which is a 3 bed terrace and it’s absolutely tiny. I work from home so need a desk really and there is no space for one so I’ll be working at the kitchen table on my laptop, no space for a desktop set up which for full time home working is fairly essential. In an ideal world I’d like a fourth bedroom so that I could have a tiny office room. The bedrooms are so small that my kids couldn’t share, there’s no space for a bed and a cot. All the 4 bed houses within a 40 mile radius start at £300k, which we cannot afford. How can we be in the 9th richest decile, an average family, earning a decent amount and not be able to afford a house big enough? I’m not wanting a mansion here just to have a bit of space for us all to be comfortable. That is the entitled bit, I’m sure I’ll get all the stories of people back in the 50s having 13 kids in one room etc, but I don’t see why I shouldn’t be able to afford what I’m looking for on what we earn. And that was before interest rates hit 5/6%- any higher than that and we wouldn’t be able to afford the house we are currently buying. And to not be able to buy a tiny 3 bed house for 200k when both of us work full time is insane.

 

[Thetruth123]

So I came downstairs with my two year old as are both I’ll, bit nippy so I put our electric fire , stupidly I fell asleep with it on we were down here since 2am so yea indeed silly it’s been on for 4 and a half hours but look at the cost!!!!!
Wont be doing that again

 

[maharini]

I’ve spent this evening helping a 61 year old single woman with no family who has been ‘let go’ by her hospitality employer (oh, sorry, but don’t worry, because there are plenty of vacancies in hospitality - just not if you’re 61) to complete a benefit claim online, as she has no computer, no computer skills, no broadband. (She’s a brilliant cook, though!). I am honestly bloody furious. Could they MAKE it any more difficult or bureaucratic or hard to understand? We should be marching on Westminster in our millions. Good, honest, hardworking people will die of poverty this winter while corporates guzzle away at the trough. It’s absolutely disgusting. First it’ll be ‘warm hubs’ - next it’ll make sense to reinstate the workhouse. FFS let’s wake up and feel the RAGE.

 

[candyland_]

I’m going down the ignorance is bliss route. I realised I’ve made myself unwell worrying about one thing after another the past few months and listening to the media scaremongering does no good. The bills will be paid regardless and the food shop done so I can’t see the point in thinking about it anymore. It’s a massive drain on your mental health when you can’t change it anyway.

 

[Zulkraa]

This was shared on memes and made me

 

[candyland_]

One thing fucking me off is influencers and there ‘Please support my many upcoming ADs as we approach a busy time of year!’ Fuck right off.

 

[Zulkraa]

 

[BaxterBillions]

Do people even cook anymore?

I am always brown away by the amount of people who talk about cooking when all they do is shove pre-made food in the oven. It is frightening to see the amount of adults who cannot cook a meal from scratch.

No wonder we have an obesity epidemic all over the world.

Probably because people are so time-poor nowadays. Factor in the increasing time and distance to get to work plus working 8+ hours a day, I don't blame people wanting to just get a takeaway or shove something in the oven. Plus the increasing amount of people who house-share, it just isn't practical to hog the kitchen. I'm sure it would be lovely to be Nigella Lawson and have a wonderful big kitchen with all the indegridients and time in the world to cook a meal but for a lot of people that just ain't going to happen.

 

[Burrito88]

Just a reminder that food banks are happy to help anyone who needs it - even just as a one off if you’ve had a rough month money wise.
You can get a food bank voucher from GPs, health visitor, social workers, citizens advice or by Contacting your local council’s emergency support team.
Please don’t ever feel like you’ve failed or are too proud to ask for a voucher - it’s there to help all of us. You can pass it forward by making a donation in the future to help another person or family in need.

 

[candyland_]

Are they fucking mad talking about blackouts? It’s 2022 and they’ve racked our bills up to extortionate amounts as it is. Do they not think it’s bad enough without scaremongering even more!?

 

[Ro98]

This is all so depressing. My partner and I are due to move back into my parents next year whilst house searching and all of this with mortgages & house prices looks to ruin having our own home.
We count ourselves very lucky to have a roof over our head for nearly rent free with a new baby but Jesus Christ what a shit show this country is.
I never thought I’d be forced (hello sky high rent & piss poor mat leave) to move back in with parents when having our first born. I seriously feel for those stuck with sky high mortgages / in the process of getting one as I can imagine it’s so bloody stressful!

To add- all those of you with kids feeling guilty for not providing them xyz, they will be so grateful to even have YOU there caring for them and sitting watching a movie / playing with them.
I had nothing growing up as we were very poor but I didn’t even notice, they got us charity shop everything/passed down from friends and I didn’t know the difference. You’re amazing parents for giving them a safe loving home. Please go easier on yourselves xx

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

I think you answered your own question. Don't go for something that is at the maximum end of your budget.

Rent something that is not perfect, but will do, till you manage to save something.

This is not theory, it's experience, it's what I lived thru.

Thats not possible for many though if the smallest house available in the area you live is already at your maximum budget for both rent and buying.

The cost of housing is the issue not people going to max budget.

A normal 3 bed semi which is hardly over stretching yourself if you have 2 kids of different sexes is over £200k where I live and I appreciate thats cheap compared to many areas. To rent a 3 bed semi its about £900-£1000 again in a cheap area.

People cant even afford 'will do' right now.

 

[maharini]

My friend whom I was helping last night actually said ‘it’d be better if I was disabled or sick, not just old and useless’. I wanted to cry.

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

You’re right, we have been fortunate with property, and I had an (almost) free university education, but I’ve worked hard all my life and sacrificed a lot too. I’m too young to be a WASPiE but like many, my retirement planning was absolutely stuffed by pension changes. Just making the point that it’s not ALL beer and skittles if you were born in the sixties! Still. Am living a simple and happy life now.

No I agree with you and it’s definitely a nuanced conversation and seeing my MIL’s experiences have definitely made me think about this stuff a lot more… Like my MIL worked from 16 to retirement, single mum to multiple children and worked all hours god sent to pay her mortgage and went without as did the kids at points. So I don’t begrudge her her house, but I can also think wow she never earnt over £30k a year and now has a property worth over half a mil? Whereas no one I know around that salary now can think about anything more than renting a single room… Like there definitely is a consumption/consumer debt problem in my (Millennial) generation and lifestyle inflation has hit us hard, but that feels chicken/egg cos I see people say with property so unaffordable can you blame us for buying xyz to make our lives less miserable? Like wasn’t it reported the other day the avg FTB deposit is £120k in London, like buying a monthly fast fashion drop or going to glasto isn’t going to change your situation if you don’t have intergenerational wealth paying that for you. Sorry for the essay but fundamentally this government/capitalism isn’t for the working classes or working people so whether you’re 22 or 62 it’s gonna shit on us one way or another.

 

[jackolantern]

I’m really grateful for other comments also horrified at this, I did think twice before sharing it as I appreciate a lot of ppl have concerns much bigger and sadder than some birds or certain types of plants or timber framed houses. But it’s so fucking bleak and we should want more for generations to come instead of selling it off cheap - and for what! A 50 year or 25% ownership mortgage for a v2 cladding ridden house that’ll probably have subsidence cos they scrapped the ground checks?? Bizarre.

Everyone should be horrified! It’s not just some birds and plants. We are part of nature and more species loss affects us all. For everyone who thinks they don’t care they’d soon be eating their words (cause that’s all that would be left!) when they are running out of food because of pollinator loss. I could go on but that’s for another thread. I have a masters in conservation biology so I recognise I’m biased here but it gives me the absolute rage when people say they don’t care about nature and don’t accept that we depend upon it for our very survival. We need to educate people on just how vital conservation is, we absolutely do not need more concrete and tax breaks for rich cunts

 

[instasham13]

I'm really struggling. The kids are off school this week (scottish holidays) and they just don't stop eating. I go to Aldi every other day for snacks things like grapes, sausage rolls and cold meat. It's constant. I can't afford to do anything with them because days out and expensive. It's also chucking it down here. I'm so fed up of them moaning they are bored.

They could also do with new trainers that I simply can't afford atm and they keep asking for things that again I can't afford.

I'm on 26k. Hubby is on 48k. We pay 850 per month mortgage, 280 council tax, 420 on cars, 315 gas and electric and all the other bills good, fuel, virgin media etc. We are the squeezed middle.