Council Tax - why do seniors have to pay the full amount?

What tosh, caretaker. I'm often in Waitrose - my corner shop - and often meet other pensioners there. I am equally likely to run into them in Aldi as we are all cost-conscious. I have never seen any of them with a trolley full of bottles in either supermarket. The young professionals of my acquaintance are more likely to stock up with bottles of wine - the poor dears live such pressurised lives!

I shop regularly in Waitrose and I have not noticed much alcohol in other people's shopping, regardless of their age. I think the income of older people shopping in Waitrose may well be higher than average, although, if how people dress is any guide, the income and age of people shopping in my local Waitrose are pretty evenly spread across all income levels. This is the problem the customer profile and spending patterns in any chain of shops will vary from store to store for myriad reasons.

I hate silly generalisations from a sample of 1.

I am on Denplan and seriously thinking of stopping it as the next year (and it goes up every year!) will cost me £8.44 per week which is outrageous. I am 65 and got made redundant about 4 months ago after working as a Secretary in an Estate Agents for 9 years.

That's a lot, Peaseblossom! I pay around £12 per month to Denplan which is bad enough as you only get a 20% discount on treatment.

Perhaps you should check which plan you're signed up to as I know they vary in price.

People who shop in Waitrose are not necessarily representative of the general population. The prices are higher there and I would imagine most people on a very limited budget would go somewhere cheaper.

I think that sensible pensioners shop at Aldi, Lidl and Iceland. Waitrose my friendly (yet grasping and expensive ) local store, has persuaded me to take the 10 minute (albeit freedom pass ) train to Lidl rather than the 5 minute walk to Waitrose. Why? It's easy to spend £25.00 on very little at Waitrose, and actually difficult to spend as much as £25.00 on two full bags of goodies at Lidl. Plus, lugging two full bags of groceries home must be good for my core strength. I rest my case.

It may be useful here to add that the BB can be issued for a mix of disabilities some of which are not obvious. Just look at some of the claims for DLA which admittedly cover a wider range but not being able to walk is just one.

As for paying council tax then it is the elderly who rely more on council services, in general, so why a discount? And for all those who argue about the ones who have no money worries to resolve that can only be done by means testing which is destructive and very costly.

I shop at Lidl
I also shop at Waitrose

I got an £8 voucher off £40 for Waitrose the other week.
Together with other discounts, a coffee and a free newspaper the shop came to less than my normal weekly spend.

I went to Lidl and bought some little presents for the DGD, a cardigan, DH bought some DIY thing or other, so it came to more than my normal weekly spend.
I also bought some stuff to take over to the food bank across the road.
So in fact about £30 more than usual

I'm a widow and my NHS pension is not very big but I pay very little tax and no N.I. so my income is not so much less than when working. Apart from free prescriptions and bus pass, both of which save quite a lot, many places give concessions. My hairdresser charges £22 for a cut and £14 for over 65s, some pubs/restaurants give pensioner discounts at lunchtime, B&Q give discount on Wednesdays, some charity shops give 25% discount and adult education concessions (in some areas).
Most of my savings have gone on maintaining my house but I think I'm better off than many young families and pensioner couples are better off than me. I think most pensioners do OK these days.
Oh, and you can still get a student loan to study at the Open University or other degree level course.

Waitrose = Posh Lidl = working class

Therefore Jalima, you must be middle class --- simples!

I have never shopped at Aldi because every item of food I have been given which I knew came from them has tasted absolutely disgusting or been a con.

I do not find Waitrose significantly more expensive than other supermarkets when I occasionally visit them. It depends what you buy, stick to their Essentials range and it is competitive with the other supermarkets. The difference is that some of their food is better quality than elsewhere and therefore costs more.

I shop in Waitrose because it is in the town centre and their car park offers one and a half hours free parking. I can do the weeks food shopping, visit the bank or get my hair cut, collect shoe repairs, browse through several clothes shops, go to the library all without having to pay for parking or drive from place to place. It saves petrol, time and hassle.

What a snobby thing to say M0nica I have shopped at Aldi for 2 years now and apart from one or two things I have had no problem with their food. Many of my friends and neighbours are converts.

What is snobby about what I said? I have no objections to shopping in Aldi, but as my experience has been that I would not enjoy their products and the nearest Aldi is 5 miles away in a town where I do not usually shop. What is the point in spending all that extra money on petrol, to get to the shop, thus negating any savings I would make, to buy products I may not enjoy. This branch of Aldi is not convenient for the town centre as there is a busy road between it and the main shopping area. I would probably need to make the journey by car and the hassle of visiting it makes it not worth the trouble.

I really cannot see what is snobbish about that.It is a rational decision based on doing my shopping as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

I used the wrong word there so I apologise for that but to say that the food you have been given tastes absolutely disgusting or is a con denigrates the taste buds and the wisdom of shopping at Aldi of the rest of us.
If you had posted that the reason for not shopping there was pure convenience and not because you probably feel Aldi is downmarket, I would have understood ,but you didn't.

Hoy you lot I only past on what my sister told me. No one has ever left me or my wife a penny everything we have we have worked for and still continue to to work part time. We only shop at Aldi or Lidl. A lot of pensioners are well off and like the rest of society there are a lot who are not. Wind you necks in you are all too so high and mighty, Not like me of course.

My MIL who, as I have mentioned earlier, was on Pension Credit always made me do her shopping at Waitrose. Her week's groceries - basic branded products cost around £30. She wouldn't have any thing from Aldi or Lidl because "I wouldn't like it"

I do most of my shopping in Aldi because it's just round the corner and their foreign stuff is better than the big supermarkets (Lid's Italian range is the best, but Lidl is further away) I shop in Waitrose for odd things that I can't get in Aldi (and because I get discount there ) I buy bottles of wine in both of them - not sure what that makes me?

Aldi's alcohol range comes out well in tastings- I've been bought their London Gin and some decent wines. At Christmas, I've also had their panettone, stollen and mince pies - yummy.

(sorry, my was to Caretaker but it might just as easily apply to your post, Deeda!)

Monica, your comments about Waitrose v Aldi just scream out for this wonderful clip of Michael McIntyre.
Enjoy!!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwAKsADk-aQ

Aldi have a lot of excellent foodstuffs. Their Greek feta cheese is better than that of any of the other supermarkets. They have a fantastic range of frozen deserts in a German style lovely fruit tarts etc.
My local Waitrose is not far away but it not in a direction I usually go.
Home Bargains do a really good quality museli. It beats the cheap and awful Alpen and most other brands.

Bad news is that you won't get a free paper in Waitrose unless you spend £10 and not just at weekends. And I think you will have to have shopped before you can have your free coffee. I know that there are some people of my acquaintance who claim their coffee and have no intention of buying anything.

That's a bit cheapskate of the monied pensioners caretaker was inveighing against.

I did not say that all Aldi food tasted disgusting or was a con. I said the items I had eaten which I knew came from Aldi tasted disgusting or were a con, which is something entirely different.

If I have not enjoyed the items from a shop that I have tasted, why should I put myself to considerable inconvenience and extra cost to make a special visit to a town I do not normally shop in to buy more of their products, which may be entirely acceptable, but may not.

My regularly used supermarkets are Morrison's, Lidl & Waitrose, so pick the bones out of that!

Lidl steak tastes better than Waitrose, Morrison's special noodles with veg are just brill, Waitrose chilli noodles are good and micro wavable, Morrison's have a better range of skin care, toiletries & hair colours, Lidl cat food pouches are unbeatable on price, and the boys actually eat them!, Lidl cauliflower is cheaper than either Morrison's or Waitrose, but they don't sell loose carrots, by that I don't mean badly behaved veg with low morals, rather that they are only sold in bags, so not much good if you only want one or two.