Cost of Living - Shrinkflation is speeding up at an alarming rate

just going through some receipts from January last year up until this week, here are some of the approximate price changes in ASDA of some items in no particular order:

frozen potato wedges +60%
frozen green beans +33%
frozen peas +50%
fruity yogurts +50%
carrots +60%
broccoli +50%
swede +30%
mushrooms +20%
red onions +55%
lettuce +60%
cucumber +80%
wholemeal bread (was +60% until a few weeks ago, now +25%)
Passata +100%
butter mintoes +100%
liquorice allsorts (store brand) +35%
bourbon biscuits +35%
custard creams +35%
mayo +80%
bacon bites (crisps) +50%
 
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cheesefest said:
Some people have no financial planning or budget.

Everyone who has worked has had one as a colleague. Pay day, splurge most of it on a night out, new coat etc. Five days later after pay day, they moan that they are skint.
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Yup, pay day splurge...
Council tax
Rent
Electric
Gas
Home insurance
Internet
Phone
 
GIBURROWS said:
Yup, pay day splurge...
Council tax
Rent
Electric
Gas
Home insurance
Internet
Phone
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I probably have an out of touch way of thinking about it but my personal expenses are:

Council tax £92
Rent/mortgage £303
Electric and gas £50 (octopus tracker)
Home insurance £10
Internet £27
Phone £5
Boiler insurance £20
Water bill £14
Car insurance £50
Car tax £15
Petrol £40

Under £600 a month, then say £80 odd for food. With at minimum £1500 a month in wages.

I live in the North East and I have plenty of people/colleagues who are always saying they are skint.

I honestly don't get where people spend their money. I get the whole enjoy your life you can't take it with you but come on. Most people I work with are waiting for pay day every month because they blow it all. Does no one put money into a savings pot of some kind every month anymore?
 
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MatsyLR said:
I probably have an out of touch way of thinking about it but my personal expenses are:

Council tax £92
Rent/mortgage £303
Electric and gas £50 (octopus tracker)
Home insurance £10
Internet £27
Phone £5
Boiler insurance £20
Water bill £14
Car insurance £50
Car tax £15
Petrol £40

Under £600 a month, then say £80 odd for food. With at minimum £1500 a month in wages.

I live in the North East and I have plenty of people/colleagues who are always saying they are skint.

I honestly don't get where people spend their money. I get the whole enjoy your life you can't take it with you but come on. Most people I work with are waiting for pay day every month because they blow it all. Does no one put money into a savings pot every month anymore?
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You have some very cheap bills there. Add £50 to the council tax, then add £200+ to the rent / mortgage, add another £200 to the gas / electric, another £30 on to the water bill etc etc etc...
 
MatsyLR said:
I probably have an out of touch way of thinking about it but my personal expenses are:

Council tax £92
Rent/mortgage £303
Electric and gas £50 (octopus tracker)
Home insurance £10
Internet £27
Phone £5
Boiler insurance £20
Water bill £14
Car insurance £50
Car tax £15
Petrol £40

Under £600 a month, then say £80 odd for food. With at minimum £1500 a month in wages.
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This your share of the bills or do you live alone?
 
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Richie said:
This your share of the bills or do you live alone?
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Alone, no kids.
I've been in all day with the TV on used air fryer, kettle and microwave and my energy monitor is at £1.57 for the day (including SC) . Under £1 on a work day

Technically less as I pay car insurance/tax/house insurance yearly.

I have a colleague who earns the same as me and has a partner who earns nearly double. They are both skint at the end of the month and she's maxed out credit cards and always in her overdraft.
 
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Some people just cant budget whether they earn £700 a month or £7000 a month. As already said, there are some who empty their load on payday and others who are fine (who havent) at the end of the month.

Most people live by their means so it'll seem like they're earning the same when they were on 20k/year, even if they're now on 60k - expenditure jsut goes up as does prices of goods.

"Back in my day I remember when a pints were £2" Yeh great, but you're now also earning 3x what the average salary was in year 2000
 
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Guest2 said:
Some people just cant budget whether they earn £700 a month or £7000 a month. As already said, there are some who empty their load on payday and others who are fine (who havent) at the end of the month.

Most people live by their means so it'll seem like they're earning the same when they were on 20k/year, even if they're now on 60k - expenditure jsut goes up as does prices of goods.

"Back in my day I remember when a pints were £2" Yeh great, but you're now also earning 3x what the average salary was in year 2000
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Has average wage really tripled since 2000? I dont think it has. :)
 
MatsyLR said:
I probably have an out of touch way of thinking about it but my personal expenses are:

Council tax £92
Rent/mortgage £303
Electric and gas £50 (octopus tracker)
Home insurance £10
Internet £27
Phone £5
Boiler insurance £20
Water bill £14
Car insurance £50
Car tax £15
Petrol £40

Under £600 a month, then say £80 odd for food. With at minimum £1500 a month in wages.

I live in the North East and I have plenty of people/colleagues who are always saying they are skint.

I honestly don't get where people spend their money. I get the whole enjoy your life you can't take it with you but come on. Most people I work with are waiting for pay day every month because they blow it all. Does no one put money into a savings pot of some kind every month anymore?
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My Internet is cheaper but rent is almost triple and electric and gas almost quadruple that.
 
I used to work for a bank in their collections dept. Mine area was credit cards. If the customer has bank accounts too, we could see their transactions.

One young woman, 22 at the time said she couldn’t pay her bill until payday later that week. Think her bill was £100

Looked at her transactions and saw a £180 payment at Toni and Guy. If you claim to be skint, you don’t spend £180 at a hairdressers. If she went to a local hairdresser she spent no more than half and able to pay off her bill (or most of it)
 
cheesefest said:
I used to work for a bank in their collections dept. Mine area was credit cards. If the customer has bank accounts too, we could see their transactions.

One young woman, 22 at the time said she couldn’t pay her bill until payday later that week. Think her bill was £100

Looked at her transactions and saw a £180 payment at Toni and Guy. If you claim to be skint, you don’t spend £180 at a hairdressers. If she went to a local hairdresser she spent no more than half and able to pay off her bill (or most of it)
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But on the same side of that the bank waiting a week did what, whereas the hair appointment probably made her feel extremely happy so mentally much better than clearing a debt.
 
GIBURROWS said:
But on the same side of that the bank waiting a week did what, whereas the hair appointment probably made her feel extremely happy so mentally much better than clearing a debt.
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Just LoL mental health excuse strikes again. Try paying off your debt so you don't need to worry about it... Jeeez louise.
 
chrcoluk said:
Has average wage really tripled since 2000? I dont think it has. :)
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Looking at 'Median annual earnings for full-time employees in the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2022' they certainly have not. £18,848 > £33,000 in 2022.

I would like to think most people earn 3x what they're on in 2003 compared to 2023, but thats taking into account they are now 20 years older and would hopefully have progressed somewhat - like myself, tomato factory / warehouse work to current position. ~6x increase
 
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GIBURROWS said:
But on the same side of that the bank waiting a week did what, whereas the hair appointment probably made her feel extremely happy so mentally much better than clearing a debt.
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Getting hit on your credit score because of not paying a credit card when had the money to do this but decide to think having hair done, which only lasts about a month. A poorer credit score lasts much longer on your record.
 
Guest2 said:
Looking at 'Median annual earnings for full-time employees in the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2022' they certainly have not. £18,848 > £33,000 in 2022.

I would like to think most people earn 3x what they're on in 2003 compared to 2023, but thats taking into account they are now 20 years older and would hopefully have progressed somewhat - like myself, tomato factory / warehouse work to current position. ~6x increase
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I'm on a base 2.88x (can be higher depending on premium rate uplifts) what I was in 2003 but I know loads of people who've seen wage suppression a lot of people won't have seen huge rises unless moving from minimum wage to an average job.

A lot of jobs which paid an OK wage in 2003 haven't gone up inline with the changes to minimum wage, etc. I know quite a few in jobs that were paid say £8/h in 2003 who are only a few pence above minimum wage now.
 
Rroff said:
A lot of jobs which paid an OK wage in 2003 haven't gone up inline with the changes to minimum wage, etc. I know quite a few in jobs that were paid say £8/h in 2003 who are only a few pence above minimum wage now.
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A lot of salaries will be interesting from about Nov this year onwards when Sept inflation rate is known as this is what NMW and Benefits are increased by... If it sticks at 7%-8% then would it be unreasonable for other workers to demand a similar increase to their own wages?

If Sept inflation is 7.5%, that would mean NMW has increased by 18% in 2 years, 26% in 3 years.
 
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