The Winter of Discontent #2 Food, energy, transport, jobs, housing etc

[fireflies]

The best thing I ever did was not change the pre-pay meters when I moved into my old flat that the previous tenants had. When I moved to my bungalow I ask them to put pre-pay in. No bills no surprises. I know many think they are horrible but feel I am in control, not the utility company putting how much I pay on a whim

I top up by phone and don't let it run low so it has to go to emergency. People tell me I'm paying over the odds but to me, it seems less than they pay. If I have a larger purchase to make like dishwasher etc. I can look and see how long the money I have left on the meter will last and plan around that.

I haven't had a meter since 2003 I think .
A shared house in uni had electric and gas meter.
A flat I had with ex in Bath only had electric no gas and we had pre paid meter and use go local shop top up but we also had night storage heaters which people say is more expensive.
I ended up splitting with ex and moving into one bedsit flat which must have had faulty boiler as ended up with 1k gas bill in 2004 and spent most 2005 paying off.
Then got married and moved to 2 rented houses and now own and always paid energy monthly.
We moved to octopus last year and was overjoyed at £120 month dual fuel but since march its upped to £188.
I think we were fixed price for year husband deals with it and reads meter monthly and uploads online .
We do have drier and dishwasher plus 3 tvs.
We were I n 50 quid credit doubt that will last.
We don't have a comvbi boiler and the control panel is broke so have switch heating and hot water at the same time .

I think if we had meter we be paranoid we already turning off lights and telling kids put a jumper on!

Speaking of jumpers I brought a fluffy 50p jumper at community jumble sale yesterday 50p.
They also had cheap food items tesco/ coop had donated.
Was mainly oaps that go community cafe but its saved us loads this year.
Always really random food stuff mostly bread and bananas.

The weird latest shortages I noticed neither lilds or aldi have 22 p noodles that my 12 year old loves like a cheaper super noodle.
Morrisions discontinued 14p noodles.

Discovered Morrisions do 6 pack small free range eggs 50ps as even when skint don't ever like to buy cage eggs thought maybe useful for some.

Lilds not had any veg boxes last few days.
Crisps in lildls look wrecked and their own brand hula hoops gone upto £1.19 now aldi they still 99p..
Today in aldi noticed kids fresh chicken goujons gone up 10p to £1.15.
Aldi was also very light on oven chips no 65p bag of frozen fries!

Went poundland other day 1st time in ages not a lot is a quid these days.
We have one below locally and what was £1is now £1.25.
Home bargains and b&m still cheaper than pound shops these days.

The days cheap carton drinks lunch boxes are over cheapest found is 6 for £1.05 aldi lilds only have this odd brand don Simon 79p 4 tiny carton and no straw.
Weirdly that brand appeared in morrisions now and seems be overrated to covet the huge gaping gap morrisions had for months I refuse pay 99p for 3 cartons.

 

[Purrrrrrr]

I haven't had a meter since 2003 I think .
A shared house in uni had electric and gas meter.
A flat I had with ex in Bath only had electric no gas and we had pre paid meter and use go local shop top up but we also had night storage heaters which people say is more expensive.
I ended up splitting with ex and moving into one bedsit flat which must have had faulty boiler as ended up with 1k gas bill in 2004 and spent most 2005 paying off.
Then got married and moved to 2 rented houses and now own and always paid energy monthly.
We moved to octopus last year and was overjoyed at £120 month dual fuel but since march its upped to £188.
I think we were fixed price for year husband deals with it and reads meter monthly and uploads online .
We do have drier and dishwasher plus 3 tvs.
We were I n 50 quid credit doubt that will last.
We don't have a comvbi boiler and the control panel is broke so have switch heating and hot water at the same time .

I think if we had meter we be paranoid we already turning off lights and telling kids put a jumper on!

Speaking of jumpers I brought a fluffy 50p jumper at community jumble sale yesterday 50p.
They also had cheap food items tesco/ coop had donated.
Was mainly oaps that go community cafe but its saved us loads this year.
Always really random food stuff mostly bread and bananas.

The weird latest shortages I noticed neither lilds or aldi have 22 p noodles that my 12 year old loves like a cheaper super noodle.
Morrisions discontinued 14p noodles.

Discovered Morrisions do 6 pack small free range eggs 50ps as even when skint don't ever like to buy cage eggs thought maybe useful for some.

Lilds not had any veg boxes last few days.
Crisps in lildls look wrecked and their own brand hula hoops gone upto £1.19 now aldi they still 99p..
Today in aldi noticed kids fresh chicken goujons gone up 10p to £1.15.
Aldi was also very light on oven chips no 65p bag of frozen fries!

Went poundland other day 1st time in ages not a lot is a quid these days.
We have one below locally and what was £1is now £1.25.
Home bargains and b&m still cheaper than pound shops these days.

The days cheap carton drinks lunch boxes are over cheapest found is 6 for £1.05 aldi lilds only have this odd brand don Simon 79p 4 tiny carton and no straw.
Weirdly that brand appeared in morrisions now and seems be overrated to covet the huge gaping gap morrisions had for months I refuse pay 99p for 3 cartons.

I hadn't thought about it like that but yes if I didn't have pre-pay I would be fretting and proberbly not using my dryer or dishwasher, but seeing the money is already there and I'm not going to get a bill is very reassuring I have a prepay now for 20+ years and thinking about it, before that, I never had this peace of mind before getting pre-pay.

 

[Pesky Tarian]

I haven't had a meter since 2003 I think .
A shared house in uni had electric and gas meter.
A flat I had with ex in Bath only had electric no gas and we had pre paid meter and use go local shop top up but we also had night storage heaters which people say is more expensive.
I ended up splitting with ex and moving into one bedsit flat which must have had faulty boiler as ended up with 1k gas bill in 2004 and spent most 2005 paying off.
Then got married and moved to 2 rented houses and now own and always paid energy monthly.
We moved to octopus last year and was overjoyed at £120 month dual fuel but since march its upped to £188.
I think we were fixed price for year husband deals with it and reads meter monthly and uploads online .
We do have drier and dishwasher plus 3 tvs.
We were I n 50 quid credit doubt that will last.
We don't have a comvbi boiler and the control panel is broke so have switch heating and hot water at the same time .

I think if we had meter we be paranoid we already turning off lights and telling kids put a jumper on!

Speaking of jumpers I brought a fluffy 50p jumper at community jumble sale yesterday 50p.
They also had cheap food items tesco/ coop had donated.
Was mainly oaps that go community cafe but its saved us loads this year.
Always really random food stuff mostly bread and bananas.

The weird latest shortages I noticed neither lilds or aldi have 22 p noodles that my 12 year old loves like a cheaper super noodle.
Morrisions discontinued 14p noodles.

Discovered Morrisions do 6 pack small free range eggs 50ps as even when skint don't ever like to buy cage eggs thought maybe useful for some.

Lilds not had any veg boxes last few days.
Crisps in lildls look wrecked and their own brand hula hoops gone upto £1.19 now aldi they still 99p..
Today in aldi noticed kids fresh chicken goujons gone up 10p to £1.15.
Aldi was also very light on oven chips no 65p bag of frozen fries!

Went poundland other day 1st time in ages not a lot is a quid these days.
We have one below locally and what was £1is now £1.25.
Home bargains and b&m still cheaper than pound shops these days.

The days cheap carton drinks lunch boxes are over cheapest found is 6 for £1.05 aldi lilds only have this odd brand don Simon 79p 4 tiny carton and no straw.
Weirdly that brand appeared in morrisions now and seems be overrated to covet the huge gaping gap morrisions had for months I refuse pay 99p for 3 cartons.

Yes the drinks carton thing is very annoying. Thinking of getting a couple of these..

Also we like the lidl breakfast biscuits, I'm sure there used to be 4 in a pack as I used to get bored of eating them..now there's 3 and I dearly miss my other biccy

 

[Jc456]

My old house had a pre payment metre when I first moved in and it cost a fortune, I was putting £50+ a week just on the gas. Luckily my landlord let me change metres and it went down to £50/60 a month for both gas and electricity.
Noticed the shops seem to be better stocked recently

 

[Ibrokethegoddamnwheel]

We had pre payment meters in an old house a few years ago. It was before you could pay online or via an app so I hated it in winter when I’d have to go out first thing to top up the meter. Nowadays with being able to pay via an app it wouldn’t be so bad.

My old energy supplier went bust a few weeks back and the process for being switched over to the new supplier is taking ages. Apparently we are already being supplied by our new supplier but the direct debit won’t transfer over until January. No details on how to log into the new suppliers app or anything yet. No idea if this is normal or not. I don’t know how to submit meter readings in the mean time since the option has gone from the old suppliers app now. Hoping new supplier utilises smart meters so I don’t have to faff around giving readings every month, although I’ve lost the little gadget you get with smart meters that shows you your usage and stuff.

Went shopping on Sunday and there was no mayonnaise in aldi. Non at all, only salad cream went to farm foods and ended up paying over the odds for hellmans.

 

[Purrrrrrr]

My old house had a pre payment metre when I first moved in and it cost a fortune, I was putting £50+ a week just on the gas. Luckily my landlord let me change metres and it went down to £50/60 a month for both gas and electricity.
Noticed the shops seem to be better stocked recently

It was proberbly set wrong, bet you were paying off an old tenants bill I don't even pay £50 an mth for both on prepay.

 

[Jc456]

It was proberbly set wrong, bet you were paying off an old tenants bill I don't even pay £50 an mth for both on prepay.

No debt. It wasn't the most economical house, they did wall and attic insulation too which probably helped bring it down too

 

[fireflies]

Feeling annoyed now at the constant rises.
Its week payday as pay on 30th tue.
So this weeks shopping strategy is buy only what we need, try and find some reductions and stretch what money we have so we buy the most amount possible for money.
So this weeks supermarket all local walking distance to me lilds/ morrisions/ aldi.
I said lidls had seen some big rises and although aldi price fix some items generally aldi is slightly cheaper and better availability.

Take for example own brand ready salted crisps lildls went up from 52p to 65p then has gone back down to price match aldis version 55p.
Today aldi version is 59p!

Jelly Aldis been 35p forever thats now 43p.
2 p difference in milk chocolate digestive 41p paid lilds 2 days ago but 43p aldi today.
So this is the 2nd round of price increase this November for ALDI.

Morrisions the savers range chocolate mouse was 50p now its 60p 10p increase.
All the end of ailss grocery deals like crisps that would been £1 now £1.15 or 1.25.
They also have £1.50 end too.
Eggs thankfully still 50p but who knows how long.

Planning on doing big shop pay day and bulk buying as so many things change from week to week.
So buying multiple of common items.
We get through a lot ketchup/ coffee/ sugar/ squash.

 

[Droosie123]

Everything has gone up, when you are on a limited budget that makes it hard.

Petrol was £1.50 a litre when I put my standard £25 in on Monday …god knows what it will be this Monday.

We get a UC top up to my husbands wage so it’s all really hitting us and because my son is disabled I can’t work. I do get CA but UC take that off pound for pound as it’s considered a wage. They do add a carers element though.

Dreading next year when my son leaves his placement as we will lose all the child elements of UC. Already worked it out….what we get will not even cover the rent. Hubby needs a higher paying job but not sure what else he could do.

 

[emmer_moans]

Everything is going up, this month feels like the longest wait for payday. I budgeted not to need petrol again until after payday but the new petrol just disappears now and I need to fill up again 3 days before I get paid. Just about have enough but the food shops this month have been higher than the budget. Think I need to redo my budgeting for December.

 

[rainbowlemon]

I'm currently staying with my sister in Brighton and the closest shop within walking distance is the CO-OP. For anything else we would need to buy a bus or a train ticket. We spent almost £7 on 1 can of tomato soup £0.70p, £1.30 for 2.27 L of milk, Ready Brek was £2.75. Water was £0.65p and 1 packet of crisps £1.30.

I honestly think it will continue to rise. It really does make sense to stock up if you can.

General Mills reported they will increase their prices by 20%.
Meat in the US from Tyson foods is 38% up.
Shipping container fees have already gone up by as much as 500%.

 

[Whatspopping]

I heard rumours from a friend who works for a national supermarket that they are being briefed for food prices to double in 2022.

 

[Thank(space)you]

I heard rumours from a friend who works for a national supermarket that they are being briefed for food prices to double in 2022.

I really hope that's wrong

 

[HotesTilaire]

I love a bit of food hoarding but it’s only ever a small buffer isn’t it. Eventually you have to pay the higher prices.

 

[Whatspopping]

I really hope that's wrong

Me too, I'm not sure if it is imported, domestic produce or both.

 

[rainbowlemon]

I'm not an expert in all things supermarket related, but if a Billionaire supermarket owner ( John Catsimatidis ) in America is warning food will go up "tremedously" within two months maybe it's time to listen. Just because things are happening in one country doesn't mean that we won't be effected in the UK.

The biggest companies like General mills, Coca Cola, Kraft-Heinz, Proctor & Gamble and Kimberly Clark have already announced price increases. The thing is it's not just one item but on lots of different ones which does add up. It obviously doesn't matter if you're already a millionaire but will effect the poorest the most as usual.

 

[emmer_moans]

I get that prices will inevitably go up for food because of shortages/delays in production etc, but so many people are already making sacrifices in their trolley, going for the cheapest options/bulkiest options in order to feed themselves. Doubling the prices of most things is essentially meaning we will be having to choose what to miss out. We will have people skipping breakfast etc, and less people likely to afford takeway treats and restaurants. I know if I have a tight month, we rely just on the supermarket for food, we don't eat out.

I agree we can stock up the odd multipack of tinned soup but you can't hoard fresh stuff, so prices will hit us all whether we like it or not. Our wages won't go up to cover the price rise either, I bet.

 

[Misssj80]

I popped in Sainsbury's yesterday, my nearest shop, and some things we regularly buy had gone up by 15p or 20p.

 

[Saddlesoap]

I heard rumours from a friend who works for a national supermarket that they are being briefed for food prices to double in 2022.

That seems dramatic! Hope it's wrong

 

[YellowLadybird]

I know I'm luckier than a lot of people, and don't worry about being able to afford the basics - but I really feel like between these Economic/Brexit woes and Corona Lockdowns (which I appreciate are all deeply interrelated) that I'm left wondering when/if I will be able to actually get a life and not feel like I'm waiting for things to start.

I moved back with my parents in Feb 2020, as we were all moving to a new area and I was starting a job so it made sense to start with them and maybe save a bit to get my own place. But two years later, I'm still going to be here. Still mostly WFH and don't have many friends as it's been difficult to get out and meet people; the same with relationships. My life isn't awful, but it feels a bit constricted and disappointing sometimes. I just wish I knew when it was all going to end. I would like to have a family of my own and I just wonder how on earth I'm supposed to contemplate doing that in such a chaotic world where it's also so difficult to meet people!

I absolutely appreciate others have it worse, but you have to wonder what the long term consequences will be for lots of us - educationally, socially, romantically - that will persist long after any virus might have been conquored.