Why is life so expensive?

[MaryJaneShoes82]

Does anyone else try and save as much as they can, but for months things just stall and savings don’t move for months? Or movement is downwards.

I just feel life is so expensive all the time,need to have emergency work done to my car £1,000+ and just think I’d never be able to spend that on myself on something I actually want. Is it just my shit dumb luck or do others feel this way too?

 

[Yel]

The price of houses is so out of sync with wages and it's slowly ruining the country. Most people couldn't afford their house if they had to buy it now.

Time to stop celebrating when a pile of bricks goes up in value every month. More and more jobs will be lost as the workforce is uncompetitive (especially in the coming months/years as people have now done the case study for remote working) and money is diverted away from investing in something productive when people keep speculating on homes.

 

[star_star]

Oh are you a mind reader? I've been thinking about all morning. I think what bothers me the most is the huge inequality gap. I do not wish to live a lavish life of endless luxuries but thinking that few people accumulated wealth beyond what they could actually spend in their lifetime (including the future generations of their family) maks me angry.

 

[Isa Drennan]

I feel the exact same, sometimes I wonder if it's just bad luck or my fault, but then realise I simply don't earn enough

Feel like even when I budget there's always something unaccounted for like a birthday or Christmas

 

[thatstupidcat]

In one respect its all down to Life's chances.

You could be born to a billionaire family in America, in which case you would be fretting about that $16m second home, or the $12m private jet you ordered.

Or you could have been born in true abject poverty in Africa, with absolutely nothing other than a roof over your head, and nothing else - no electric, gas or running water; and certainly no shops.

I guess in that context we should be grateful for what we have - not the perfect lifestyle, but certainly not the worst. But such sentiment doesn't make it any easier to keep ahead of the game with costs always going up and income levels going down.

I know you’re being kind and reminding people that someone else has it worse than them. However, it can come across as a race to the bottom. That no one could possibly complain because someone else has it worse than them.

Maybe, we shouldn’t have a minimum wage because they don’t have one in South Sudan. Maybe, people in poverty in the UK need to just start eating millet because that’s the staple diet of the peasantry in rural North Korea. Also, quit complaining about houses and cost of flats - there are people living in shanties surrounding Buenos Aires. Where does it end?

After fifty years of increasing life expectancy and improved living standards in the UK, we are now going backwards. I‘m going to statistically have a shorter lifespan than my parents and I do not have a pension. The state pension is now at 68yrs for access to me and will only go up. My energy bills are double than five years ago.

I don’t think I’m the only one to question why this is, and how to halt it for my generation and those that follow, rather than shrugging my shoulders and thinking at least I’m not in Darfur.

 

[TheScarletgirl]

I know a financial advisor who told me people who earn good money still struggle because they spend more e.g. will have a bigger mortgage or a car on a high finance .

The cost of living is so high and wages are not improving . Employers will use covid-19 as an excuse not to give pay rises for years so i can't see things improving anytime soon! I do believe things are going to get tough over the next few years. I blame capitalism & greedy bosses.

Food is also too expensive.

 

[judgejohndeed]

Capitalism

 

[thatstupidcat]

It isn’t enough for companies to just make a profit - it has to increase year on year, which only makes sense if there is an infinity amount of money in the world. Margins are tightened and costs always go up. Quality suffers which means those jean I bought for £30 in the nineties are still going while the £30 jeans I bought two years ago now have a hole in the arse seam, meaning I need to go out and get another pair.

In reality, wages haven’t moved since before the 2008 crash but costs have gone up. Something is going to give, especially when the Tarquins and Izzy’s of the UK have to start stacking shelves alongside me when their family money disintegrates abroad or into the coffers of care homes. I fear that it will only be once the middle and upper classes start being personally affected, nothing is going to change.

 

[Guacamole123]

This has been bothering me lately too!!! My take home pay looks amazing on paper - but once I’ve paid off debts, bills and essential shopping I have not that much left over. Soooo shite

 

[TheRoyalHousekeeper]

I feel like the UK is a very difficult place to live, grow and enjoy your life. I would move abroad if it wasn’t for my family, I’m a home bird.

 

[Blakelycakey]

Same! We currently live with our in laws with 3 kids as we had been renting but our landlord decided to sell up. Whilst renting we go into a lot of debt, not even on holidays or expensive dinners out purely putting food shops and bills on credit cards. My MIL said we could stay with her whilst we save to buy and settle our debts. We’ve been here two years and we are finally debt free, trying not to spend unnecessarily. We live on the south coast and we do need quite a sizeable deposit. He works full time and I work part time to avoid nursery costs. Our car blew up last week so have just had to pay out for a new car. Feels like one step forward three sets back. I know my children are fed, warm and loved but it kills me that everything now is very materialistic and I feel dreadful that I can’t buy them what their friends have as I know having our own home will be worth it in the end.

 

[Kim Mild]

There is always something else to buy

 

[Bexybest]

I know a financial advisor who told me people who earn good money still struggle because they spend more e.g. will have a bigger mortgage or a car on a high finance .

The cost of living is so high and wages are not improving . Employers will use covid-19 as an excuse not to give pay rises for years so i can't see things improving anytime soon! I do believe things are going to get tough over the next few years. I blame capitalism & greedy bosses.

Food is also too expensive.

Agreed. I am a relatively high earner but jeez I feel poorer than when I was a student.

I am very lucky that I've been able to buy a house but every payday I end up with just a few pennies leftover because life is just so expensive. I am 100% guilty of lifestyle creep and am slowly trying to rewind that but contracts and debt take a while to clear.

 

[Mulholland Drive]

In one respect its all down to Life's chances.

You could be born to a billionaire family in America, in which case you would be fretting about that $16m second home, or the $12m private jet you ordered.

Or you could have been born in true abject poverty in Africa, with absolutely nothing other than a roof over your head, and nothing else - no electric, gas or running water; and certainly no shops.

I guess in that context we should be grateful for what we have - not the perfect lifestyle, but certainly not the worst. But such sentiment doesn't make it any easier to keep ahead of the game with costs always going up and income levels going down.

 

[Hope77]

Oh god I know! Its so frustrating! I never seem able to have anything spare to save, despite cutting back. Costs just continue rise sadly

 

[Sw4]

Agreed. I am a relatively high earner but jeez I feel poorer than when I was a student.

I am very lucky that I've been able to buy a house but every payday I end up with just a few pennies leftover because life is just so expensive. I am 100% guilty of lifestyle creep and am slowly trying to rewind that but contracts and debt take a while to clear.

Same tbh. And while I feel so lucky that I have a house, it's tiny and was in an awful state when we bought it since that's all we could afford (I'm a 30 min train journey from central London). We've spent a fair amount doing it up including buying things like a new kitchen, carpets etc on finance.

Yet I see people up North etc own much bigger homes than me on a much lower salary. The difference in house prices between the South East and everywhere else is just ridiculous. I want to move but things like jobs and family keep me here for the time being.

 

[1001 others]

Oh yeah ... I envy people who manage to squirrel away savings, I really do.

 

[Rippedjeanmaybe]

I think it depends on your outgoings more than your incomings. Even if you earn a high wage, if you got debts and a high rent or mortgage to pay, it wont stretch.

the way I work it with saving money is when I get paid, I deduct the bills, deduct an amount for savings and then split the rest by five, to give me a weekly budget. Anything left over from the weekly budget also goes into savings.

anytime I get any bonus money from anywhere, that also goes into savings. It can be hard. When I first bought my house, my savings account was low for a long time because things kept popping up I needed to pay for. I think it took me nearly 3 years to build up my savings account after buying a house.

do you do spreadsheets or anything to see where you money is going and if any changes can be made? Or go through your direct debits to see if anything can be cancelled or cut down?

 

[Isa Drennan]

Why do household appliances all break at once?! No joke, so far this month these have broke:

*Hoover (motor burnt out)
*Kettle (wouldn't switch off when boiling)
*Washing machine leaking (hole in the rubber seal)

Toiletries, make up etc always continently run out at the same time too

 

[Itsalwayssunny]

Does anyone have success with couponing? I see people online with huge hauls for like £3 but then I think, is it stuff I would even use!

I remember watching extreme couponing years back and looking at it. From what I gather its really an American thing and the UK just doesn't have good deals like they do