Cost of Living Increases

DaisyAnne, good to hear about your coffee jars!

I've never learnt how to do spreadsheets but I find totalling things up quite therapeutic, so that's OK.

Thank you for the pensin/benefits information.
I'm on the new state pension, just got it last year, although I retired nearly 8 years ago on health grounds. It's not the full amount but I am disposed to believe it's the right amount due to a works pension being contracted out . Or something. Slightly ashamed to say I don't understand.

I Am eligible for housing benefit but not a vast amount. The House manager is dealing with it, with my permission, although I'm not convinced more will be forthcoming. It's doable. Not fun, but doable.

Dee1012

That is a lot more than 40% increase (which is what it is going up by) and I am fairly sure that they can’t increase the DD without your permission. So I suggest you message them and offer a smaller amount, then after a few months you will be able to see for yourself what you are using.

I live alone with just my salary as income and manage pretty well.
My bills are paid, I have no debt, apart from a fairly low amount on a credit card and I am able to save a little.

Today I received a revised Direct debit notification from my energy company, I currently pay £96 per month for gas and electricity. From March they are requesting £232 per month!
I'm stunned and actually beginning to feel a real element of concern.

There are just certain things I will do without. Heating and food are my priorities. I don't go out an awful lot and don't see that changing. I never really holidayed abroad( only on special occasions), so it's not as if I will miss that either.

One other thing I should have mentioned for anyone who finds they are struggling - and who knows what this year will bring.

I remember watching a programme where the person was on an exceptionally low income but she had always managed - and then she couldn't. She had a spreadsheet and knew how to budget to the penny. She had enough income to offset her outgoings (just). But she was still going into overdraft at some point each month.

When the programme help team looked at her budget, they found the problem was her DDs were going out before her income came in. They rang the companies and asked them to change the date and everything fell into place. It was as if this very efficient woman had frozen from fear and could not look past the problem. Help is sometimes not about getting more money but about reducing the anxiety a low income can produce.

It is about choices, of course. However, some people will be left with choices no one should have to make.

In our family, we call the budgeting method described as the "coffee jar" method. I use a spreadsheet rather than Word as it can be set up to do the calculations for me. All expected outgoings for the upcoming month are listed at the beginning of the month and I then copy over the actual payment, as it goes out of the bank below this list, as they are paid. I then delete the anticipated amount above. I have an amount for food from which I delete the weekly shopping so it reduces through the month. There is an amount is in the budget (coffee pots) for things other than food, one for hairdressers and one for any savings I can make. The "other than food" amount is transferred to a separate bank account and this pays off my credit card at the end of each month. I use a credit card but not for credit, if you see what I mean. I buy almost exclusively online and this gives me more protection. I see it as extra insurance. I check the main spreadsheet daily and it gives me great peace of mind. It means nothing is left to chance

Ailidh, and others who pay service charges and rent. If your income (from all sources) is not much above the Pension Credit rate and you are on the old State Pension or not much above the basic rate of the new State Pension it is worth checking on a benefits calculator whether this "reduces" your income enough to make you entitled to benefit. There is a "Pension and Benefits" Forum on GN with lots of lovely, helpful people if you have questions.

Surely it is very much individual choices
I can remember many years ago, when we were really struggling an article by a journalist saying how difficult life was for their family and they were actually having to consider having wine only at weekends now!!!!

Each person needs to decide what is really important for them. Heating is a must, a healthy diet is a Must. After that what else really matters? Particularly for the more elderly of us. Wifi to me is an absolute MUST also.

I gave up my car a few months back for a variety of reasons. Have good public transport where I live, as well as a daughter and Son-in-law who will help out for those journeys that require a car. My home is as I want it (except for my new kitchen being nstalled in May). I like to be able to give my g.children a small gift for birthdays, etc. I prefer to eat at home rather than out. Rarely go to theatre or cinema. My social life is mainly around groups in U3A, so I do have to allow about five pounds each week towards those.

As I neither smoke nor drink alcohol (do not like the taste), provided I have my tea (loose not bags), I am quite happy, it is reasonably easy for me to live well within the means of the State pension, even with increased prices at present.

I am very fortunate in that I've just moved to a supported living flat, where a main meal at lunchtime is part of the enormous rent/charges.

Even so, that rent is set to go up by 5% from April 1st (alas, my income, entirely from pensions [work pension plus state pension finally] is not) because of the risen fuel costs; when I shop for my breakfast and evening meal I find myself exclaiming silently at the price of thngs - How much for six apples???; and when my final rental expenditure has settled down, I'm definitely going to have to go back to a budgetting regime that I haven't done for years -
I call it my Tins on the Mantelpiece method:

I calculate what I have left after the DDs have gone out (direct debits, not dear daughters) and then divide up the rest into categories such as Household, Dogs, Car, Clothes, Gifts, Savings, Emergencies and others that I haven't thought through yet.
It all stays in the one bank account but mentally I've put £X in a tin on the mantlepiece for each, as for the milkman in days gone by, and physically I've created a word.doc page for each amount in and out. If it's not in its "tin", I don't spend it.

I find it a good discipline, and it really helps to keep check of what I've got, how much I've spent, and where I could cut back.