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

gingergundog said:
Its obvious that certain people should not be having children, if you cant afford them don't have them. Change your circumstances to enable you to have kids.

There are situations where relationships break down and some mothers end up single which is a bit different, you cant foresee every eventuality.
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Nonsense.

There are a ton of utterly essential jobs that only pay minimum wage and yet modern society relies on them to function.

What are you essentially saying is "only the wealthy should have kids".

Not everyone can "change their circumstances", There will always be those in minimum wage jobs doing "essential work". Why should they not be able to start a family too?

The issue is that "minimum wage" is not enough to cover the cost of having kids, not that people on minimum wage shouldn't have them.
 
Devilman said:
Nonsense.

There are a ton of utterly essential jobs that only pay minimum wage and yet modern society relies on them to function.

What are you essentially saying is "only the wealthy should have kids".
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Erm I just said don't have kids unless you are financially stable.

Devilman said:
The issue is that "minimum wage" is not enough to cover the cost of having kids, not that people on minimum wage shouldn't have them
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That's pretty much what I was saying though, you cant suddenly make it more affordable to have children so play the cards you have.
 
gingergundog said:
Erm I just said don't have kids unless you are financially stable.


That's pretty much what I was saying though, you cant suddenly make it more affordable to have children so play the cards you have.
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You're pretty unlikely to be financially stable on minimum wage right now. And yes, the government are taking tentative steps towards encouraging people to have children but giving free/subsidised childcare from a younger age. My partner and I earn good money but to put our twins into childcare full time so we could both work would require essentially a £35k year salary dedicated entirely to the childcare costs. Thats madness. Especially considering most households need two incomes for any quality of life.
 
Problem with many young people is that many of them don’t know how to cook. If they were brought up in a household with eating junk - they don’t know anything different.

I grew up with family who cooked. Picked up tips from them. Rest was self taught and picked up other tips from other sources - online, books, magazines etc.
 
Devilman said:
Nonsense.

There are a ton of utterly essential jobs that only pay minimum wage and yet modern society relies on them to function.

What are you essentially saying is "only the wealthy should have kids".

Not everyone can "change their circumstances", There will always be those in minimum wage jobs doing "essential work". Why should they not be able to start a family too?

The issue is that "minimum wage" is not enough to cover the cost of having kids, not that people on minimum wage shouldn't have them.
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It is quite annoying that the most expendable jobs seem to get pay the most. "Chief information officer" and "chief diversity officer"... millionaires. The people maintaining the systems the whole company needs to function...get in the breadline.
 
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gingergundog said:
Erm I just said don't have kids unless you are financially stable.


That's pretty much what I was saying though, you cant suddenly make it more affordable to have children so play the cards you have.
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The problem is that it is becoming harder and harder for more and more people to become financially stable. Look at the number of homeowners under 30, for example, and how much that has fallen while the cost of just about everything else has risen.

You can be on a salary well above the minimum wage and still struggle to make ends meet if you're the sole breadwinner in the household, or if your partner is on a low wage and on statutory maternity pay.

1 in 3 adults in the UK have less than £1000 in savings, and if you want real financial stability for a family, you need a significant amount more than that to not be left up **** creek if something happens and you can't immediately find another income.

A population collapse would also be catastrophic for this country in the short to medium term, labour shortage, economic contraction, public finance strain, stress on health and social care systems etc.
 
noted the other week that Waitrose staff have first dibs on 'still good to eat products' after saw one with a basket full.
Local sainsbury's have now put up internal fencing to corral us suspected shop-lifters - maze prison would be proud.

but, with yesterdays shopping basket cost announcement, I need to change my diet.
The monthly drop in food prices, of 0.4%, was the first since September 2021, with the cost of bread and cereals, cream crackers and chocolate biscuits falling, the ONS said.
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Considering the seeminngly endless inflation of cacao prices I can't really understand how chocolate biscuits can possibly be said to be 'falling'... but perhaps it's a case of lag between what was purchased months ago and what will be true soon enough.
 
GIBURROWS said:
I see, I don't really get the whole "fat people bad for the NHS" argument, are many fat people going to hospital and just fat as a disease?
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Apologies, I didn't reply to this.

Yes, overweight is a huge issue for the NHS because of the conditions it can lead to....for example Diabetes and a whole load of other stuff. I'm sure there will be some crazy stats which show how much more likely you are to develop certain conditions based on weight.
 
Devilman said:
Nonsense.

There are a ton of utterly essential jobs that only pay minimum wage and yet modern society relies on them to function.

What are you essentially saying is "only the wealthy should have kids".

Not everyone can "change their circumstances", There will always be those in minimum wage jobs doing "essential work". Why should they not be able to start a family too?

The issue is that "minimum wage" is not enough to cover the cost of having kids, not that people on minimum wage shouldn't have them.
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Correct. But you can also make an argument that there's no need to stay on minimum wage your entire life. My MIL has been on minimum wage her entire life, been complaining about it (presumably) her entire life yet turned down every opportunity offered to her to make more money, but she 'doesn't want the stress and she's happy where she is'.
 
Postage seems a bit steep


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A cheap frozen pizza chicken nuggets and fries from aldi is cheaper than cooking from scratch if you want meat and veg. Yes some people can't cook and eat too many takeaways but it's true.

Bet you aren't on minimum wage so probably have no idea
 
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I wonder how small will things get before people just say no, not having it.

For me, pork pies, as I mentioned earlier, they're almost as small as mini pork pies now, not buying.

Toblerone, stopped buying when they halved the pyramids, that was yonks ago.
 
Kelt said:
I wonder how small will things get before people just say no, not having it.

For me, pork pies, as I mentioned earlier, they're almost as small as mini pork pies now, not buying.

Toblerone, stopped buying when they halved the pyramids, that was yonks ago.
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Poundland twin peaks Toblerone clone are quite good. as long as you like easter egg style chocolate. always grab one if I'm passing by as it's good value
 
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Eurofighter said:
A cheap frozen pizza chicken nuggets and fries from aldi is cheaper than cooking from scratch if you want meat and veg.
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but that contains neither? :confused:

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Some ridiculous shrinkflation going on with cheese over the last couple of years.

Used to get Lake District cheddar from Morrisons. Over the past 2 years or so it's gone:

£5 for 1kg
£5 for 840g
£6 for 840g
Picked up a pack last week and noticed it's even smaller, now £6 for 700g

So from 50p/100g to 85.7p/100g

That's a 71.4% increase! I know everything has gone up, but surely production costs can't have increased that much?
 
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