Cost of living crisis.

[Legend_in_blue]

1 hour ago, yorkie1999 said:

2008 crude peaked at $140 a barrel, today it's $115, petrol was £1.03, 2 days ago it was £1.88, the government ain't going to stop the hikes cos they're 2 years from an election and they're making a shedload of revenue. It's just one giant uncontrolled rip off. The only way to stop it is for every motorist agree to boycott one supplier, BP, asda, whoever, and force them to drop their prces therefore creating competion.

 

This is true however back in 2008 I remember you got around $1.80 to £1.  Brexit has further screwed us over in terms of the value of the £ against the $.  

[yorkie1999]

1 hour ago, Legend_in_blue said:

 

This is true however back in 2008 I remember you got around $1.80 to £1.  Brexit has further screwed us over in terms of the value of the £ against the $.  

The internet is the biggest communication instrument ever, yet we still can’t organise a simple protest. There’s just too many people with too much to say

Edited 21 June 2022 by yorkie1999

[Sly]

I do feel we’re going to plunge into a recession shortly. If we’re not already in it. 
 

Striking to get a wage increase might be counter productive, if people actually start reducing head count. 
 

 

[Sly]

Also, we all purchased a car, knowing we have to put fuel into it.

 

As brutal as it is, we purchase fuel

from companies that are set out in life to make money and not be a charity. 
 

I won’t disagree that the businesses have a duty of care to employees. Dragging them into offices when we’ve learnt to be flexible etc throughout the COVID years, seems crazy. For things like the rail

strikes etc, they should support workers and let them work from home. 
 

The bottom line is, that people will need to fasten up for the next 6 months, as we’re all In for a rough ride. This is going to bite all of us. 

[Rain King]

Shopped at Aldi for the bug shop for a while.

Went tonight, got pretty similar to always.

 

Tonight cost £167, compared to around £110 on average a few months back. Utterly depressing.

 

 

 

[yorkie1999]

4 minutes ago, Sly said:

Also, we all purchased a car, knowing we have to put fuel into it.

 

As brutal as it is, we purchase fuel

from companies that are set out in life to make money and not be a charity. 
 

I won’t disagree that the businesses have a duty of care to employees. Dragging them into offices when we’ve learnt to be flexible etc throughout the COVID years, seems crazy. For things like the rail

strikes etc, they should support workers and let them work from home. 
 

The bottom line is, that people will need to fasten up for the next 6 months, as we’re all In for a rough ride. This is going to bite all of us. 

The problem with this is that fuel companies tap into our nation’s resources. Brent oil is in U.K. waters and therefore we all have a stake in it, just because a company has been given the rights to extract it, doesn’t mean they have the right to rip everyone off with it. How about I say, hey that’s my oil as much as yours, I’ve not given you permission to take my bit so F off.

[Sly]

7 minutes ago, Rain King said:

Shopped at Aldi for the bug shop for a while.

Went tonight, got pretty similar to always.

 

Tonight cost £167, compared to around £110 on average a few months back. Utterly depressing.

 

 

 

Wowzers! That’s a jump and a half! 
 

We’ve noticed ours for the three of us has gone from £80ish per week, to around £100. 

[Sly]

Just now, yorkie1999 said:

The problem with this is that fuel companies tap into our nation’s resources. Brent oil is in U.K. waters and therefore we all have a stake in it, just because a company has been given the rights to extract it, doesn’t mean they have the right to rip everyone off with it. How about I say, hey that’s my oil as much as yours, I’ve not given you permission to take my bit so F off.

Windfall tax is the answer really. 

[Spudulike]

10 hours ago, yorkie1999 said:

So, EDF emailed me to ask if if want a fixed deal energy price. Lot of If's and may's. Question i ask is why? No-one gives you something for nothing. Are they expecting the government to step in on energy prices later this year therefore locking customers into a deal that's more than they currently pay. Are they expecting a price competion with their competitors. All seems a bit odd considering they've never offered me anything before. 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/-are-there-any-cheap--fixed-energy-deals-currently-worth-it--/

 

[The Year Of The Fox]

11 hours ago, yorkie1999 said:

So, EDF emailed me to ask if if want a fixed deal energy price. Lot of If's and may's. Question i ask is why? No-one gives you something for nothing. Are they expecting the government to step in on energy prices later this year therefore locking customers into a deal that's more than they currently pay. Are they expecting a price competion with their competitors. All seems a bit odd considering they've never offered me anything before. 

Martin Lewis believes prices will come down next april

 

I’m with EDF too and have offered me a 2 year fixed deal

 

Im taking my chances

 

 

EDIT Though I’ve just read the link above and am now having second thoughts on that 

 

ML said about prices dropping in April next year on 5Live last week. I didn’t know he meant that they’d still be higher than they are now. 

Edited 21 June 2022 by The Year Of The Fox

[yorkie1999]

1 hour ago, Sly said:

Windfall tax is the answer really. 

But where does that windfall tax actually go, not to us for a start, and if they tax petro companies, they’ll just pass that cost onto us and it becomes a never ending spiral.

[yorkie1999]

42 minutes ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

Martin Lewis believes prices will come down next april

 

I’m with EDF too and have offered me a 2 year fixed deal

 

Im taking my chances

 

 

EDIT Though I’ve just read the link above and am now having second thoughts on that 

 

ML said about prices dropping in April next year on 5Live last week. I didn’t know he meant that they’d still be higher than they are now. 

There’s got to be a cut off point where the government will have to intervene. If there’s a major swing against the government and a great deal of discontent in the country, they’re not going to through away leadership of the country. There will be a point when the majority of people can’t afford to live in their own homes.

[ren]

12 hours ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

Well done on getting the new job and good luck. 

Nice one!

 

12 hours ago, coolhandfox said:

Well done.

 

Make sure you look into any tax breaks you can get from home working Claim tax relief for your job expenses: Working from home - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Thank you, I will look into this for sure. 

[Kopic]

I must admit, that despite pushing 30, I know very little about bills etc. Until I left for uni I was at home, at uni it was always bills included, after uni I lived at home again before buying my first home end of last year. I'm on whatever it is where you submit your readings every month and pay for what you use. In the winter I paid about £120, this month I have just paid £80. I don't want to be paying 200+ whilst I'm only actually using 80 quids worth as money is tight, but should I be fixing? When I got the house in December the best (2 year) fixed rate I was offered was £240 a month and at no point have I ever paid close to that, which makes me even more unsure. I can imagine with the cap increases I'll be paying more than that in winter but at the moment and until the next cap increase its still going to be around £80 so I look at it as I'm saving over 100 a month now that I can use later when I need to.

[dsr-burnley]

3 hours ago, Legend_in_blue said:

 

This is true however back in 2008 I remember you got around $1.80 to £1.  Brexit has further screwed us over in terms of the value of the £ against the $.  

The pound was worth $2 in early 2008, and just 12 months later it was worth $1.40 and bumbled along at that level until 2016.  I have my doubts how much of a factor Brexit was in the fall from 2008-09 - don't you think the London Olympics, the Ukrainian War, covid, and the accession of Prince George to the throne were just as relevant?

[The Year Of The Fox]

5 hours ago, yorkie1999 said:

There’s got to be a cut off point where the government will have to intervene. If there’s a major swing against the government and a great deal of discontent in the country, they’re not going to through away leadership of the country. There will be a point when the majority of people can’t afford to live in their own homes.

I’m not sure I have any faith in them doing so. Whilst none of this is the governments doing, it’s incredibly convenient after COP26 and Boris’ ridiculous promises there.

 

It’s tike the of the cost of tobacco tripling and us hoping the government are going to cut the costs for us so we can carry on smoking. 

[leicsmac]

8 minutes ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

I’m not sure I have any faith in them doing so. Whilst none of this is the governments doing, it’s incredibly convenient after COP26 and Boris’ ridiculous promises there.

 

It’s tike the of the cost of tobacco tripling and us hoping the government are going to cut the costs for us so we can carry on smoking. 

That's about the size of it, yeah.

 

Though one might hope that there is a way for government to ease the pressure on energy/living costs while at the same time working towards and applying technological changes for energy generation that must be done, in short order.

[fox_favourite]

My mother in law was quite upset yesterday. Her and husband are both retired and they usually pay about 90-100pm on gas/electric. SSE had quoted her in February £180pm, now they warned her it will go up to £367pm?! How on earth can they expect retired people to pay that?!! It’s mental at the moment. 

[grobyfox1990]

7 hours ago, dsr-burnley said:

The pound was worth $2 in early 2008, and just 12 months later it was worth $1.40 and bumbled along at that level until 2016.  I have my doubts how much of a factor Brexit was in the fall from 2008-09 - don't you think the London Olympics, the Ukrainian War, covid, and the accession of Prince George to the throne were just as relevant?

I think we got to over $2 in 2007 in those crazy days of brits going to nyc to do their food shopping as it still worked out cheaper even with flights. We fell off a cliff in 2008 due to the crash and our over reliance on the financial sector, which is why it was overvalued at $2+ when that sector was booming. I think cable was $1.22 when I logged off yday, about fair value with very little upside for gbp apparent 

[Bayfox]

9 hours ago, Sly said:

Wowzers! That’s a jump and a half! 
 

We’ve noticed ours for the three of us has gone from £80ish per week, to around £100. 

This has been going on for a while tho. I lost my job about 3 and a half years ago. Had to start using aldi to survive. I could comfortably survive of about a 60 quid weekly shop for a family of 4. 

 

Within a year that was 80 and a year or so ago hit 100. At that point I went back to using asda as there's really not much in it now and luckily I found a new job last year. Rest said currently laid up on SSP so may have to attempt an Aldi shop see how it compares now.

[Bayfox]

2 minutes ago, fox_favourite said:

My mother in law was quite upset yesterday. Her and husband are both retired and they usually pay about 90-100pm on gas/electric. SSE had quoted her in February £180pm, now they warned her it will go up to £367pm?! How on earth can they expect retired people to pay that?!! It’s mental at the moment. 

Yeah my grandads DD has gone from 70 to 140 and been told to expect further rises in October.

 

My wife managed to get ours fixed for 12 months at about 80 last year so we have missed 1 rise and I'm guessing are in for a big shock when it expires in October.

 

Coupled with our fixed rate on the mortgage ending in Nov. Christmas sounds like fun

[FoxesDeb]

7 hours ago, Kopic said:

I must admit, that despite pushing 30, I know very little about bills etc. Until I left for uni I was at home, at uni it was always bills included, after uni I lived at home again before buying my first home end of last year. I'm on whatever it is where you submit your readings every month and pay for what you use. In the winter I paid about £120, this month I have just paid £80. I don't want to be paying 200+ whilst I'm only actually using 80 quids worth as money is tight, but should I be fixing? When I got the house in December the best (2 year) fixed rate I was offered was £240 a month and at no point have I ever paid close to that, which makes me even more unsure. I can imagine with the cap increases I'll be paying more than that in winter but at the moment and until the next cap increase its still going to be around £80 so I look at it as I'm saving over 100 a month now that I can use later when I need to.

When you're comparing energy quotes it's the actual rates you need to compare rather than the monthly amount. The figures in pounds is just an estimate, you'll only pay for what you use, but by paying by DD the idea is that it spreads the cost over 12 months. So many people see credit building up over the summer months, ask for it to be refunded, and then struggle when the higher bills come in over the winter. 

 

Many companies offer a slight discount for paying by DD too, so it might be worth checking that, and weighing up if it's worth it, but then obviously the company has your money, and that's created problems for customers with the smaller firms who have gone out of business recently. 

 

Hope that makes sense 

[Sly]

Inflation hitting 40 year high at 9.1%, that’s crazy. I’m pretty sure forecasts were 5%. 
 

We’re set for a steep rise in interest rates I’d imagine as well. 

[Innovindil]

1 hour ago, Sly said:

Inflation hitting 40 year high at 9.1%, that’s crazy. I’m pretty sure forecasts were 5%. 
 

We’re set for a steep rise in interest rates I’d imagine as well. 

I honestly want to see the logic behind interest rate rises right now. I don't understand how having higher interest rates will make people save more and lower inflation when the biggest driver of inflation is energy prices. It's not like everyone is spaffing money on stuff they don't need is it. 

[ozleicester]

Almost a guarantee it will exceed 12.5% before it falls