Am I alone in feeling punch drunk at the cost of living?

Me too LovesBach - car insurance has doubled - so will my house and contents insurance , I guess. 😫

Lovesbach, I am with you all the way,! We are all getting squeezed every which way. Our council tax is already £330 per month and looks set to go up again. It will soon be the cost of a mortgage. Your woodland retreat sounds great!

As a single pensioner living alone and with an income just above the limit to claim pension credit by a few pounds per year I am with you on this. Life has become a constant struggle to pay for everything.
Sometime soon it must stop surely?

It won’t stop whilst Reeves is increasing taxes on businesses and they are, predictably, passing the cost on to consumers along with their increased borrowing costs. The much vaunted triple lock increase goes nowhere when viewed against the ever increasing cost of living, especially if you receive the old sp. I see no light on the horizon.

Me neither, Barleyfields - it has made me feel down today; a kind of 'final straw' with the volley of increases in just twenty four hours. The dog groomer was apologising but said she can't make ends meet, her profit has gone down - she is tempted to sell the business if she can and work for an employer. I am on the old SP so, as you say, no relief there. Perhaps a lottery ticket for tonight, and if that fails I will find my camping chairs, warn the dog and cats and start a cheaper life in the woods.

Just renewed my house insurance.
Very little change.

Big increase when I paid my road tax last month. Didn’t see that announced. Surely the ‘working man’ pays road tax unless he has enough money (and the inclination) to buy an EV?

Most insurance companies are upping the prices, it does pay to shop around but there isn’t a lot in it at the moment.
I feel your pain OP and agree.

No, I don’t feel despair at all.

I hope you have taken Martin Lewis's advice about the best time for getting renewal quotes for home (and car) insurance.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/11/martin-lewis-halve-car-insurance/

I insure with Policy Expert and pay just over £200 a year for structure and contents. That’s for build costs up to £1m and £75,000 general contents cover plus some specific items of jewellery. This is my second year with the company. The price rise from 2023 to 2024 was 80p a week.

Considering I went to hear some lunchtime music yesterday and paid £4 at the venue for a small cup of coffee, £4 a week to insure my home is very reasonable.

Whether I have to pay regular bills annually, six monthly, monthly or weekly, I break costs down into weekly and sometimes even daily amounts. As well as helping me to budget, it helps me to compare costs and keep things in perspective.

My council tax is due to go up by 3.75%. This comprises a 1.75% general increase and 2% increase in the adult social care precept. For 2024/25, the county council budgeted to spend 2.2 million PER DAY on adult social care which will increase in the coming year. Both percentage increases are below inflation. I will be paying an extra £1.60 per week.The adult social care precept is necessary if we want the most vulnerable in society to be cared for.

My Denplan has just gone up by 70p a week.

Car tax (VED Band D ) is up by £10 pa from last year an increase of 19p a week.

www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/buying-and-selling-guides/car-tax-bands-explained/

I eat a mostly plant-based diet so my food bill isn’t very high at all. I rarely spend more than £30-£40 a week if that. I figure I can feed myself for £3-£4 a day.

Nobody of pension age should have an income of less that £218.15 pw if they live alone or £332.95 for couples. Householders may be able to get housing benefit and or council tax benefit on top of that.

I’m just touching on the costs mentioned in the thread so far. I don’t think rises: for home insurance 80p pw, dental care 70p pw, car tax 19p per week and council tax £1.65 per week unreasonable.

I've dealt with the insurance thing by checking whether the figure I'm quoted each year is no more than "last year plus inflation" and, if it is, then I'm onto the comparison sites and checking. I think about the least hassle way of doing this has turned out to be to go onto the relevant section of the www.moneysavingexpert.com website and then I get sent an email list of their suggestions for me that starts with the cheapest option. From that I pick the cheapest well-known provider - so this year I'm with the Post Office.

The biggest issues I feel personally are:
- Concern that some Councils are planning on using a loophole to increase Council Tax by a noticeable amount (the loophole seems to be to do with whether they are one of the bankrupt ones or no). I don't know if this is an England only thing or across the country - and suspect it's countrywide. It looks as if this is down to the fact that some Council costs are legislated as mandatory spending. So across the country there are "social care" type costs (which, I understand, are something any of us could have as a necessity - so I don't complain about them)

- In Wales it's also mandatory to have everything printed in Welsh, as well as English - and that adds to costs and I've never even been able to identify the item in the budget for "extra 2nd language printing costs" to know how much is being spent on that - as it always seems to be hidden under some other heading or other. There doesn't seem to be a way for council taxpayers to swerve that portion of their CT bill and opt out.

Our house insurance was £126 last year, the proposed increased for this year was plus £50, so I’ve gone elsewhere and it’s £124, it does take a lot of time to research.

NotSpaghetti

Just renewed my house insurance.
Very little change.

Our house insurers have written to saying they will not be insuring property in future. It's a well-known, large firm so we were surprised.
Now we have to look elsewhere, probably at an increased price.

Yes, everything is going up at the moment, some bills way above the rate of inflation eg car insurance.

The renewal notice for my house insurance arrived recently and I was horrified at the huge increase. So I did some research online and found one that is £200 cheaper. Amazing. So I phoned them, and, - making sure that the cover is what I need,- I have now switched. It pays to shop around.
But, yes, prices are increasing alarmingly. The water company is the next big increase I think. And food etc seems to be endlessly getting more expensive.
My car insurance is due in March, so I'll be researching that soon.

I've just been calculating the monthly credit card bill - only 2-3 weeks into the month at that. From that - the conclusion is quite a noticeable chunk of my income (we're talking a 3 figure amount in a month) is going on "NHS bills" as I call them (ie buying own healthcare type stuff and books for information on how-to from Am*zon).

I've given up totally on the NHS pretty much and deal with things myself pretty much + private dentist.

So I think the single thing I'd most like to reduce personally is have the NHS cover all their own costs - so I don't have to pay them. Even covering just seeing any medical professionals (not including "bits I need to buy") and that adds up. It's been particularly expensive in the last few months and one big toenail ingrowing alone (without counting "bits and bobs" items to do with it) has cost me:

£250 for podiatrist who turned out to be worse than useless and mucked up my toenail badly (guess I found out why one doesn't have to wait long to see her.......as a lot of people have cottoned-on to her)
£70 taxi back from her (this is remote West Wales - and we don't have a podiatrist level person in this town - so had to travel)
£30 footcare woman here - trying to fix nail mucked-up by bodger podiatrist
£40 appointment with another podiatrist to fix bodged nail and £70 taxi (as I couldnt stand spending an extra hour winding round everywhere on the bus and taking twice as long to get to that town as a car would)
£40 appointment with podiatrist no 2 again and £160 for taxi both ways (to avoid longwinded bus for both journeys). Two hours travel time is a lot and so I won't now do "4 hours and bus waiting time" to make those journeys.

There's £60 + another £160 for taxi both ways to see another podiatrist in that other town coming up - and that should finally fix the nail Bodger Podiatrist mucked-up in the first place.

So - "NHS" bills is something I could seriously do with reducing. Fingers crossed that the only ones for the next year will be 2 visits to the dentist for normal maintenance type purposes.

Just as well I can find that money at least - rather than thinking "I've not got it - now what do I do?"

Shopping around can help but the government has a tin ear to public feedback about the cost of living which they have made worse by cutting the WFA, increasing employer's NI, lowering the NI threshold and increasing minimum wage - all cost likely to result in higher prices. Talking up 'growth', 3rd runways and the Oxbridge arc is jam tomorrow (in fact, many tomorrows hence if they happen at all) and does not help ordinary folk now. They have to be better than the Tories but they seem to lack initiative.

I have limited places I can insure my house because half of it is in a trust. I found out it's cheaper to insure the buildings then take out a separate insurance (with the same company!) For the contents. That just doesn't make sense.

There really does seem no end to these price rises,like someone said the next big one is going be the water bill 🤦‍♀️
I am 72 next Sunday and I’m on the old state pension but luckily I still work part-time 18 hours a week in a high dementia care home… Luckily, a job I really enjoy..

I think a lot of us feel like you do.

I have only one electric light on at a time, only wash clothes when I can fill the machine, and shower quickly every second day.

Eat a lot of potatoes, porridge etc.

The housekeeping is really the only place where I feel I can save just a little. Things like insurance, well as you know, we can't find one that is cheaper, so we have to put up with the increase.

Do you need a dog groomer? To me that might be an expenditure you could save, but of course, I don't know what breed of dog you have, or whether you have the strength in your hands to brush him/her yourself.

AuntieE

I think a lot of us feel like you do.

I have only one electric light on at a time, only wash clothes when I can fill the machine, and shower quickly every second day.

Eat a lot of potatoes, porridge etc.

The housekeeping is really the only place where I feel I can save just a little. Things like insurance, well as you know, we can't find one that is cheaper, so we have to put up with the increase.

Do you need a dog groomer? To me that might be an expenditure you could save, but of course, I don't know what breed of dog you have, or whether you have the strength in your hands to brush him/her yourself.

AuntieE I have tried to find cheaper insurance - it seems that although I live in a quiet area, have made no claims and there is nothing exceptional about my property (or me!) I will have to bite the bullet and pay. As for the dog groomer - you are right, I really do think I shall have to tackle this myself, although I can see it being a three ring circus - my dog turns everything into a game. Showering her is daunting. Previously I have had to strip to bra and knickers and wrestle with her under the stream of water, getting even dirtier than she was. The bathroom looked as if a huge mud fight had taken place. However, nothing ventured...I shall look for some electric clippers, and perhaps I could sell tickets to my family for the event - a new source of income. I shall feel guilty about the lovely, kind groomer though - another nail in the coffin of her business, I fear.

Oh dear
We bought a large dilapidated cottage (Cracks in walls, a ,'window' stuffed with rags. guttering hanging off) more than 50 years ago. ..... the price was reasonable for our large family even though the mortgage company made numerous demands on us to refurbish and replace
Then suddenly there was a new round of 'Listings' made..... yes that additional tax..... with imposition of requirements made by people who really did not seem to understand anything
eg there had been a huge repair project done here in 1948. Post war materials were in short supply and those able to use them , similarly We needed to have doors replaced that had been put in during this building frenzy. The local authority suggested we had this part rotted 1940s ' structure broken down into component parts( slats of wood) They needed photos of this so that they could advise the poor carpenter we had found on the best way to proceed After he had sanded them all to show their basic condition, they decided that 2 of the slats should be replaced by MDF. It was all expensive but he did an exceptional job.
Why interfere so much 'They' could have bought the original building ( 18c) and chosen any interim date for the refurbish ment so why insist on a 1940s replacement door as being the most appropriate?
Fortunately we had started on our planned repairs before the listings brigade stepped in so I did exactly what they would have done but without their permission
Maybe this was why the household insurance went up by almost 400%
FOUR HUNDRED

At the same time I was doing my bit for the country ... in my salad days I taught Science as a qualified graduate

My husband joined the armed forces and we were posted abroad after I had completed only 2 terms in the UK

The interesting point ( in my estimation) is that my pension for this service amounts now to about 12.5/ 13.5 pence a month on top of the old age pension

The estimate for replacement of windows now approaches £40,000( Single glazing)

My children have fled the country and I am not surprised

Unfortunately, the council tax is exactly that - a tax. For most services I pay for by direct debit it's usually a contract and I get a guaranteed level of service, if I don't I can go somewhere else. With council tax we are obliged to pay whatever they decide despite reducing the levels of service provided. I wish I could pay for things the council provides as and when I receive an acceptable service.

Yespricesare getting out of hand Yorkshire tea up from 4 50 to 6 50 milk and more

What's the reason milk and tea keep going up

Yorkshire tea in my co op is £8 and change for the big box. Went to Iceland £5.49 for same.