‘I have to give up food for sanitary products’: UK readers on the cost of living crisis
A box of own brand tampons – OK, not everyone’s sanitary product of choice – is in the £1 to £2 range for perhaps a month’s supply. About the cost of a tin of Heinz baked beans. That sorta range.
OK, so trading off food for sanitary products, might well happen, everything in life is a trade off after all. Not hugely convinced that it’s an important one…..
Also pretty good if you’re a vampire – real recycling!
For fuck’s sake Tim – no-one is supposed to really believe this shit, so ‘fact checking’ it won’t work.
This is about creating the environment in which they can justify various otherwise insane actions – to themselves, possibly, on some sort of weird psychological level, but certainly to low attention axe-grinding morons who won’t notice what’s happened until it’s far too late.
See also the Covid scam, which was really about locking people down and monitoring them (if not killing a significant number of them off).
Or the Ukraine bollocks, which has seen Ukraine go from being chided in the Guardian as a fascist dictatorship to being championed in the same Bill Gates-funded rag as the last best hope for a free world (and incidentally the perfect customer for untold billions in arms shipments in an endless war against a country that refuses to bow down to the western hegemony, run as it may well be by a mad dictator).
Or the all-girls-are-really-boys and look-kids-here’s-a-drag-queen-at-your-infants-school abominations? It’s clearly aimed at dividing parents and destroying families, but just wibbling about their science being bollocks won’t really help.
Or the Green scam – do you really think that they believe eg that farming is going to destroy the world through a contribution to a modelled 1 deg C temperature rise over the next hundred years?? Or that confining people in Oxford and elsewhere to fifteen minutes from driving their homes will have the same effect? (I know they’re not techincally confined, yet, they’re just making it very awkward, but fuck me we should on this blog be more aware of the slippery slope and the direction of travel than most!)
Of course they don’t. But sniping and moaning about it and pointing out it’s bullshit just creates two competing sides – people who know this is bollocks and the above-mentioned morons who can’t think further than step 1. We need to point out the fucking effects, which will be closing down agriculture and lots of people starving to death, and confining the remaining few to small geographical areas once they ban cars and introduce vaccine passports, digital IDs and CBDCs.
“Marc, 37, an office worker in the food industry from Salford, was faced with an impossible choice last July when his landlord said the rent would have to nearly double.”
Salford is one of the most expensive places around Manchester. BBC put a centre there and it shot rents up. It’s like complaining about the cost of living in Ascot instead of Bracknell.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/property/cheapest-most-expensive-boroughs-rent-24162978
“Vicky Page, who lives in Warwickshire and works for an environmental charity, says the family has had to switch the heating off almost entirely this winter despite working from home and having young children.”
Charity work pays shit. Get a proper job.
“In November my energy bills rose to £175 a month. My flat has very old heaters which are really expensive to run. I work from home and have requested to go in more, but I’m only allowed in once a week due to limited office space,” the 34-year-old says.”
Would it actually be cheaper to do this, though? How much are you going to spend on bus fares?
‘I have to give up food for sanitary products’: UK readers on the cost of living crisis
I shall modify my weekly food bank donations accordingly – that should help….
“Marc, 37 … Vicky, with small children…”
No mention of a spouse to share the bills, as usual.
Very much agree with Interested here. Starting a debate with people concedes they have a point of view worth debating. You’re on your way to undermining your own position because the results of debates can be compromises. You’ve given ground you didn’t need to give.
The best response would be along the lines of “Tough. Not my problem, your problem. Why do you expect me to be concerned about it?” One has rejected that debate. Now the debate would be: why it would be your responsibility? One it’s much harder for them to win.
It would have worked with the climate debate. “OK. Show me incontrovertible evidence of global warming.” Then shoot down every attempt they offered. They’d still be trying.
This is something every club bouncer knows. Never enter into discussion with the punter, why you’re not allowing him entrance.
“Vicky Page, who lives in Warwickshire and works for an environmental charity, says the family has had to switch the heating off almost entirely this winter despite working from home and having young children.”
Congratulations for doing your but for the environment.
£40 grand a year for being a make-up “technician” works out at £2,600 per month after deductions yet she’s still managed to build up £7k in credit card debt since the pandemic.
Assuming that means 2 years she’s actually burning through nearly £2,900 a month. Her mortgage is £1,100 so where the hell is the other £1,800 going particularly as she’s “watching every flipping penny”?
Putting the money towards a house purchase would have been out of the question, as it would have taken 15 to 20 years, Marc estimates, to get a 25% deposit together.
5% deposits are a thing still…
Which would take a lot less time 3-4 years.
I’ve had to borrow £15k to make the attic livable. I’ve put windows in, a shower, plumbing, and electrics
Huh. Sounds like some bad decisions there. You could quite easily do without a shower or plumbing and just use the main one. Might require some compromise with the other inhabitants, but this isn’t meant to be long term… And now they’re stuck paying back this £15K, which they could have put towards a deposit.
For Natasha, a full-time civil servant from Leeds paid £30,800 a year, many smaller cost-cutting…
She should be alright surely?
After tax, her income is around £2000
“In November my energy bills rose to £175 a month.
…
I used to spend £25 a week on groceries. Last week my usual shop came to £60,
Even at £60p/w that’s £240 a month-ish. That’s £425. Where’s the other £1500 going? Something is wrong here. Is her rent £1500 a month? What aren’t we being told?
Next week on “Poor Choices Make Bad Outcomes” We’ll be speaking to Mr E. J. Thribb of 123 Acacia Avenue. He says he now regrets burning his house down to keep warm. He blames the Government and says they need to do more to help people like him.”
A spokesman for the charity BARS (The British Association of Rent Seekers) said “Whatever problem this man has, whoever he is, the obvious solution is that our members should be given much more money. We might not be able to actually help him but I haven’t had a holiday in a month and the car is getting dirty so I’ll need a new one.”
Here’s a question for the commentariat:
I work from home and have requested to go in more, but I’m only allowed in once a week due to limited office space,” the 34-year-old says.
He’s in the civil service. He must have a contract of employment. Have the CS started re-writing contracts of employment so they no longer specify a place of work & now make WFH an obligation? Seems highly unlikely.
I feel pity for those without enough money to get by. I feel contempt for people who falsely claim that they don’t have enough money to get by. Is there some way of feeding the second lot to the first?
(Answer: maybe using lobsters as intermediates?)
These stories are always utter bollocks, either downright lies or the person’s circumstances are entirely due to poor decision-making. I’m surprised they didn’t put a smack head in there, they usually do.
Still, for what it’s worth (nothing):
The Bloke in Salford: you can buy a 4 bed house in Salford for £250k and within five miles for well under £200k. And you wouldn’t need a 25% deposit.
The WFH charity case: A sitting room full of people and a wood burner but it’s only 15 degrees? Fuck off love. BTW, thanks for confessing you only do 30 hours a week full time.
The civil servant: Rented a bigger home she couldn’t afford so she could adopt a child she couldn’t afford. Sound. Although it seems possible to rent a 2 bed in Leeds £800, which plus bills and food should easily leave her with £500 a month spare
The fucking make-up lady: The article says she takes home £40k a year. So more than £3k a month but can’t afford to keep up a £1.1k mortgage? Although, I accept that the article writer might be too thick to know the difference between gross and net. Even if we accept the dodgy numbers, she says she has £600 a month after mortgage and bills. That is £140 a week; not riches but you can certainly live on it.
I know it’s all bullshit, but for fucking fuck’s sake.
Single motherhood averted so not all bad.
““I was looking to adopt so I moved to a two-bed flat in March,” she says. “But I’ve had to put that on hold indefinitely because of my financial uncertainty.”
Hold on, have I read that right? Lady is *renting* and has spent 15 grand doing construction work on her landlord’s house????
@jgh
No. Marc from Salford spent £15K doing up his mum’s attic with plumbing and leccy and windows.
And Mr. Marc from Salford, if he paid asking price for the cheapest 4 bed on rightmove in salford (£240,000), with a 5% deposit – mortgage payments are £1400pcm. (Halifax website calculator)
No mention of what his wife does, or his salary. But that isn’t catastrophic, and its over 25yrs. Take it for 30 and it becomes more affordable.
If only he hadn’t just taken a big loan out to do up his mum’s attic.
The fact he did makes me think his actual plan is to stay in the attic for a long time.
He could have got a 3 bed house instead a 4
“Hold on, have I read that right? Lady is *renting* and has spent 15 grand doing construction work on her landlord’s house????”
Thats nothing. Liz Jones (the mad cat lady ‘journalist’) spent £59k on a property she did not own:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11423261/LIZ-JONES-terrifying-insecurity-having-rent-60s.html
And this is after she was made bankrupt……..
Thats nothing. Liz Jones (the mad cat lady ‘journalist’) spent £59k on a property she did not own:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11423261/LIZ-JONES-terrifying-insecurity-having-rent-60s.html
And this is after she was made bankrupt……..
OMG.
I try not to laugh at people in hard times… unless it’s their own fault.
This had me in stitches.
No matter how long you’ve lived there (for me, four years) or how much you’ve spent on the place (in my case £59,000 — I cashed in my pension and got a loan to pay for everything from a new kitchen to underfloor heating, new bathroom and white goods) you can be summarily dismissed.
She’s a fool. A complete fool.
I have rented nine properties in my adult life and been evicted four times — and the older you get, the harder it is to bounce back.
Nine! Four evictions? WTAF? Its quite telling that the reasons for these evictions aren’t discussed.
When I was made bankrupt in 2015, I was forced to put it on the market for £400,000 less than I paid for it.
Yes, that’s what happens. No reason given for going bankrupt though…
As a bankrupt, my rental choices were limited. I found a small house nearby, just outside the market town of Richmond in North Yorkshire, for £1,700 a month.
That’s this woman’s idea of a limited choice budget?
I couldn’t find anything in less than 10 miles from Richmond on rightmove with a minimum of £1750pcm
The first result is this. Hardly poverty spec
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123266603#/?channel=RES_LET
I had a lot of furniture. Conran sofas. A 1920s desk. An Eero Saarinen marble table.
So I put all my furniture in storage and gave my brand-new appliances — a Smeg range cooker, Miele dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer — to a friend.
That same year, I rented a one-bedroom flat in North London at more than £3,000 a month — to save on hotel bills for work.
‘It will come unfurnished.’ I was glad, but slightly galled that I’d also given away my £4,000 Vispring bed, purchased from Selfridges in sunnier days, as my current cottage is so small it wouldn’t fit through the door.
Gave them all to friends?? These are expensive items.
I’m beginning to see why she went bankrupt…
In all, I spent £59,000. I updated the heating with a new boiler and radiators upstairs and replaced the fusebox. I put in flagstones, I had the chimney swept, installed new blinds and shelving and I spent more than £12,000 on a beautiful Neptune kitchen.
WHY??!?!?
How does this muppet have a national newspaper column??!?
Liz Jones is not only batshit crazy, she is so full of shit that even a Guardian section editor wouldn’t run her nonsense.
I owned my own home from 1983 until 2016. I’ve never not had a good job and I’ve never taken a day off sick. But in 2016 I lost my home — a Georgian mini mansion, with floor-to-ceiling windows and a lawn that swept down to a river…. When I was made bankrupt in 2015, I was forced to put it on the market for £400,000 less than I paid for it.
She bought a house in 1983 but was then forced to sell it in 2015 for £400k less than she paid for it? House prices rose sixfold between 1983 and 2016.
She was earning enough post-bankruptcy to rent 2 homes at a combined annual cost of more than £50k but after cashing in her pension she still needed a loan to find £59k to do up someone else’s house?
She paid for storage for her furniture, but not for £10k worth of kitchen appliances? Fuck off love.
They could sell them for 50p a go and still make a very tidy profit.