tightening our belts

There does seem to be a real social divide. On the one hand families struggling to feed and heat themselves. On the other queues at airports and ports for those going on holiday!

Chestnut

Sinamae I just checked my old finances and in 1996 you could buy 200 cigarettes for £12.50 so that's £1.25 for 20. The main salary we had was about £1,200 per month. I wonder how that compares to the proportion of a normal salary today? I'm pretty sure we would not have been able to afford the equivalent of £330 per week for 20 per day which is what it is now.

????.. so glad I stopped ??

Sinamae I just checked my old finances and in 1996 you could buy 200 cigarettes for £12.50 so that's £1.25 for 20. The main salary we had was about £1,200 per month. I wonder how that compares to the proportion of a normal salary today? I'm pretty sure we would not have been able to afford the equivalent of £330 per week for 20 per day which is what it is now.

Chestnut

geekesse

Smoking takes the edge off hunger, and is easier to access than prescription medications for stress and anxiety. I’m not condoning a nicotine habit, but I understand why those in poverty may choose to smoke.

The cost of smoking:
10 a day costs over £38 per week / £165 per month.
20 a day costs over £76 a week / £330 per month.
No-one in poverty could possibly afford this.

I finally managed to give up smoking a few years ago but recently I found out that the super kings i used to smoke are now over £11 a packet,as I used to smoke at least 20 a day, wow I can’t even believe what it would’ve cost me…. well over £300 a month.?‍♀️? so now if I have to buy something for instance a new pair of boots but I think It’s extravagant I just think how many packets of cigarettes would that be? That was all before this ridiculous cost of living crisis we’re in now obviously…?

Galaxy

Yes I have no idea why people are weird about having mobile phones, frequently much cheaper than landlines and much more useful. You never hear anyone say bet they all have landlines.

If I'm not much mistaken, the unemployed are expected to make a certain number of online job searches / applications, and there are forms the DWP prefer to be completed the same way?

If you've ever attempted to use the internet on a basic mobile, you will know why a smart 'phone is an essential device.

There are those though that don't possess them, they have to find a library that offers the use of computers when they have to complete various forms online.

And I'm wondering where the evidence comes from that indicates struggling families regularly use deliveroo.

I do however know one impoverished individual who has her nails 'done'. Her best friend owns a nail-bar business and does them for free!

I have a similar deal oldnproud. I use giffgaff and would absolutely recommend.

Yes I have no idea why people are weird about having mobile phones, frequently much cheaper than landlines and much more useful. You never hear anyone say bet they all have landlines.

jane1956

how many who "are struggling to feed the family" have smart phones, get nails done order from deliveroo etc???

A phone is an absolute essential in the modern world. Could you manage without either a phone or access to the Internet?

My smart phone costs me £8.50 a month, with the initial cost of the phone included in that. That's way less than a landline connection costs, even before you make any calls from it!

Maywalk, Thank you for your post, it was most interesting. It was certainly challenging managing in WW2 due to rationing, people were healthier due to it I think. There were all mainly in the same boat though and in it together, I think people helped each other out a lot, no tempting advertisements and the open display of the very wealthy we have now.I do think society is more divided now. The trouble now is that many have got used to fast food, eating out and different cuisines, buying on credit cards so easy.The area in which I live there are some really struggling but also lots who do have the frequent foreign holidays and top of the range cars, quite a few with two homes. I can see food banks struggling to get donations from those that give it now. Due to circumstances I had a long period where I literally scraped by, often not eating properly so my children did, but I never borrowed and lived a very pared down life. What it did do was make my two children determined to do well, they had my work ethic, they and their children have a very good life. I worked and every job increased in responsibility and pay, I remarried very happily so had a good life for many years before he died prematurely. I’m not wealthy but I manage and glad I did well for my children.

And to think that in Australia we had a Prime Minister who in 1987 promised "that by 1990 no Australian child will be living in poverty"

So much for that!

That wartime list is only portions of food that was rationed. All other foodstuffs were not rationed. people could fill up with fruit and veg and of course there were all the supplementary sources of food, such as liver, kidneys etc which were not rationed and could be had from the butcher if you were in favour, many people raised chickens, rabbits, even pigs in their gardens. My mother kept chickens in our suburban garden for eggs and eating. lots of people grew fruit and veg in their gardens and in allottments.

Country people had access to all kinds of foodstuffs on the side. My father was liaison officer at a USAF basese in Somerset, driving round farmers placating them when their cows were spooked by fighter planes. They soon discovered that my father loved cheese and cider, and each farmer, as my dad got out of his vehicle in the farm yard would give him a plate full of bread, butter and cheese and a tankard of cider - all off ration. then there were food parcels - from the USA and from family members stationed in other countries with access to food.

Food in wartime was complex and uncertain, but there was plenty of it.

I mean... "proper food, safe home..."

OP, I think the point you made is a valid one. Replies that include notions such as 'both parents have to work now', 'being poor isn't the same as it used to be', 'we're not young/single parents so we can't put ourselves in their shoes" all seem a bit trite. Unless everyone recognises that poverty is STILL here as it always has been we cannot change anything about it.
We can share our experience of how we coped with the same problem, in order to help others cope with it on a daily and personal basis. Such things as prioritising
the blueprint of living well such as heat, proper freelance safe home, travel to work and education over such things as cigarette/alcohol indulgence, junkfood/takeaways, overly manufactured cars, countless wardrobe items and utter junk to decorate our houses. (Notice how bypassing these things also have a knockon improvement on the environment, sustainability and physical and mental health).

On another tack we can ALL help to improve on the debilitation that poverty causes US ALL by refusing to support politicians and businesses who increase poverty, at the preference of pandering to those who can already afford basic needs and alot more besides, or constantly pushing 'trends' into the world, or treating customers as an inconvenient necessity to get at their 'wallet share'.
Here's a poem:
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people’s gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple. -Jenny Joseph

jane1956

how many who "are struggling to feed the family" have smart phones, get nails done order from deliveroo etc???

I don't know how many struggling families have smart 'phones, get their nails done or order from deliveroo.

Do you?

When you think of the gross gluttony that goes on today that rationing list is eye popping. We have supermarket shelves bursting with every kind of food imaginable. I go sailing past several aisles that stock sweets, chocolate, crisps, biscuits, cakes, fizzy drinks, alcohol, all the bad stuff. And it's amazing how many aisles are devoted to these things. People will be lost without their fill of processed foods.

The explanation is that people's incomes cover an enormous range from virtually nothing to millions of £s.

Average household income varies.
The bottom 20% have an average income around £14.5k a year
The next 20% have an average income around £23k
The next 20% have an average income around £31k
The next 20% have an average income around £42k
and the top 20% have an average income income around £63k

This distribution of income covers both those struggling to manage and those with incomes that can afford foreign holidays. Although, speaking for myself, and I am sure it applies to others, we are having holidays this year that we paid for in 2020 and 2021, but were unable to take because of COVID.

Thanks Shirley48

Callistemon21

Shirley48

You can make your own mini loaves…..

www.lakeland.co.uk/70178/lakeland-12-hole-loose-based-mini-loaf-tin?src=gfeed&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIg-yxm4az-QIVhf93Ch3YNg5LEAQYASABEgIOs_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I had a look to see if you can buy Hovis wheatgerm flour but couldn't find the original type.

www.thebreadkitchen.com/recipes/hovis-recipe-old-style/

But not the holiday they had first planned

Yes, DS and DIL's was the fourth attempt at using the holiday vouchers they were given by an airline and at last they managed to have the holiday they had saved for pre-pandemic.

lolajoy

I’ve been reading all your posts about the current economic climate and the struggles that people are facing in terms of rising energy/fuel costs and food bills. It is truly frightening. I am a 61 year old widow and self employed and will have to work beyond 67 years old as I will not be able to survive on my current small NHS pension and a state pension , well not if I want to have any quality of life. Like maintaining my own home. Which I am fortunate to have. What I don’t understand is how so many people are able to go on holidays abroad ( I haven’t been abroad for 4 years) and have regular staycations. I feel so cut off from friends and former colleagues who seem to be still spending vast amounts of money. How can there be so many reports in the news about people struggling etc and at the same time so many people going away on holidays abroad? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

Everybody I know who has gone abroad on holiday this year has been taking the holiday they had booked before Covid struck, or that they promised themselves in lockdown and had saved for over two years for. I think after this summer overseas holidays will reduce dramatically because people just won’t be able to afford them.

Shirley48

You can make your own mini loaves…..

www.lakeland.co.uk/70178/lakeland-12-hole-loose-based-mini-loaf-tin?src=gfeed&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIg-yxm4az-QIVhf93Ch3YNg5LEAQYASABEgIOs_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I had a look to see if you can buy Hovis wheatgerm flour but couldn't find the original type.

Gabrielle56

inishowen

I think there are elderly people who would happily pass on frugal tips to the young. I'm not talking about my generation of baby boomers. I mean those that lived through the war.

Blimey how many left at age 90++?!

Me Gabrielle.
I was born 1930 during the Great Depression. Its all in the book I wrote that has gone worldwide. I lived survived being machine gunned twice and being bombed out twice during the London Blitz, plus being evacuated. We had to make do and mend during the war years and we were on rations.
In January 1940, the British government introduced food rationing and we finally came off them in 1954. List of rations for one person was......

WW2 Food Rations.

This is the ration for one adult per week.

BACON and HAM ……… 4ozs ( 100g )
MEAT …………………… to the value of 1s.2d ( in today's money I would imagine that now to be around £2-50). Sausages were not rationed but difficult to obtain : offal was originally unrationed but sometimes formed part of the meat ration.
BUTTER ………………… 2ozs ( 50g )
CHEESE ………………… 2ozs ( 50g ) sometimes it rose to 4ozs ( 100g ) and even up to 8ozs ( 225g )
MARGARINE ……………… 4ozs ( 100g )
COOKING FAT …………… 4ozs ( 100g ) often dropping to 2ozs ( 50g )
MILK …………………… 3 pints ( 1800ml ) sometimes dropping to 2 pints ( 1200ml ). Household ( skimmed, dried ) milk was available. This was I packet each 4 weeks.
SUGAR …………………… 8ozs ( 225g )
PRESERVES ……………… 1lb ( 450g ) every 2 months
TEA ……………………… 2ozs ( 50g )
EGGS …………………… 1 shell egg a week if available but at times dropping to 1 every two weeks. Dried eggs - 1 packet each 4 weeks.
SWEETS …………………… 12 ozs ( 350g ) each 4 weeks.

In addition, there was a monthly points system.
As an example of how these could be spent, with the 16 points that you were allocated you were allowed to buy one can of fish or meat or 2lb ( 900g ) of dried fruit or 8lb ( 3.6kg ) of split peas.

Babies and younger children, expectant and nursing mothers had concentrated orange juice and cod liver oil from Welfare Clinics together with priority milk.
This milk was also available to invalids.

School meals were started in the war because mothers were working extremely long hours to help the war effort.
It is surprising how many folk are looking for these recipes now. the1940sexperiment.com/100-wartime-recipes/

Folks seemed to be a lot healthier then AND slimmer.

You can make your own mini loaves…..

www.lakeland.co.uk/70178/lakeland-12-hole-loose-based-mini-loaf-tin?src=gfeed&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIg-yxm4az-QIVhf93Ch3YNg5LEAQYASABEgIOs_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Definitely a treat Callistemon!