Yup. “We” (the population of the world) actually keep getting richer, but all (well 2/3 of) new wealth gets grabbed by the already highly wealthy, the top 1%, with what’s left (1/3) distributed among the remaining 99% (and mostly to the top half of that).
My train fare, which is a huge chunk of my salary is capped this year, which means a lot, but I have 4 kids- 15,13 & 2x8 are not cheap to maintain!!
The knock on of all of this is what we're feeling at home. Food prices rises because of tariffs (Trump), increased transport costs (Wars), large scale criminality in shops (Public Spending and Poverty) increased utilities (Privatisation and War) Increased Council Tax (Deficit).
Most of that I have no dispute about, but has Trump tariffs really increased your food costs (I assume you live in UK from your other comments)? How much of your food is produced in the USA or am I missing some indirect way that tariffs cost us money for our food?
Nearly all food costs are affected by oil prices, both fuel and fertiliser. Buckle up…
Just had my council tax letter for the year ahead, the maximum 5% increase as expected.
Nearly all food costs are affected by oil prices, both fuel and fertiliser. Buckle up…
Very much this I expect.
I'm another one who feels the official rate of inflation doesn't reflect 'modern life' costs.
I'm also a excessive bargain hunter. I just HAVE to get costs down for all sorts of things. That really helps.
What doesn't is feeding 4 adults....my word food is expensive.
Fortunately Rachel from Accounts has her Fifty million pounds widow to buy her clothing for her.I wouldn't want I see her suffer. Keir's son has a £15,000,000 study pad to help him along.These folks are well aware of our struggles.
Today I was working on our mag archive. Involved searching through old issues. An issue from 2005 had a review of a Fox 36 fork. RRP was 699.
Bank of England inflation calculator suggests that would be £1250 today. A Factory 36 today is £900. So why does everything feel like it’s way more expensive? Because despite the low inflationary price rises of some stuff our wages have not kept up.
I'd say a Fox 38 is a fairer comparison at £1398.99 The 36 was the top fork in the day but now it's old hat and the price reflects that. It would be like comparing a current Sandero with a 2005 Clio because the spec is similar when a fairer comparison is a current Clio or better still Renault 5 EV.
We're doing OK. No Netflix, no fibre, no subscription services just a basic Android phone each at 20e and 11e - we have different operators so one phone can be used as a hot spot because they work better in different places. The horse isn't cheap but our holidays are, and junior still gets subsidised, and probably always will.
And yes, the fixed costs such as local taxes, insurance, food and water are rising well above rises in income.
Keir's son has a £15,000,000 study pad to help him along.
You mean during the 2024 election campaign he got to stay away from the maelstrom and study for his GCSEs at someone else's pad?
And politicians getting their 2024 election campaign clothes paid for says nothing about their lives, or what they know about ours.
Because despite the low inflationary price rises of some stuff our wages have not kept up.
This is the at the nub of it, wages haven't kept up with inflation for many (most) of us. Meanwhile the wealthy have increased their wealth at a faster rate than inflation.
The 36 was the top fork in the day but now it's old hat and the price reflects that.
Not really. The 36 still has the same place in the range, for the same kind of riding, same kind of travel. 180mm stout single crown forks are a different proposition entirely. Will we see a new 38 tomorrow by the way, that gets the updates the 36 has already received? Oh, if you really want to compare apples and oranges, why not talk about the Podium... as the 38 is "old hat".
Nice to see you're still here to chat!
I'd say a Fox 38 is a fairer comparison at £1398.99 The 36 was the top fork in the day but now it's old hat and the price reflects that.
Does a modern Fox 36 perform worse than an older Fox 36 though?
Does a modern Fox 36 perform worse than an older Fox 36 though?
It depends. Fox 'innovation' goes around in circles. Where are we in the cycle right now?
As an observation from someone who's visited in 2023, 2024, and 2025, in comparison to rising Australian prices, the cost of virtually everything in England and Wales seemed to have increased far more than 10 years ago, and particularly in 2025. 2025 may have been partly due to exchange rates though.
Groceries in Italy were on par with what we pay in Australia, but in the UK (and to a lesser extent Canada) they were more expensive. The other difference I think is that wages have increased more in Australia. Personally, I'm pretty much guaranteed to get 2-3% increase each year, but i'm aware that's not common in the UK and hasn't been for years.
And yet, my car obsessed kids couldn't believe the amount of tyre-clad bling on the roads. Admittedly luxury cars are probably comparatively less expensive in the UK than they would be here, and we did spend a bit of time in Sussex.
Flipping bleak atm. Every single bill has increased well beyond the rate at which our pay is going up by. I'm also in the Stage 2 student loan cohort where the repayments on that are really starting to take a chunk out the paycheck whilst my debt has increased by nearly £20k since leaving uni. Fiscal drag is really starting to hammer home on us, especially with it now applying to Student loans from next year.
Having serious discussions with my partner over whether we want to have a kid, and how the heck we'd actually afford it.
couldn't believe the amount of tyre-clad bling on the roads
yep, massive motors pretty much everywhere these days 😕
All paid for on the never never.
The car selling gangsters refer to the UK as 'Treasure Island '.Here in Rip-off Britain we truly are a nation of mugs.
Pah, you ungrateful plebs,
But hey…….the ftse is up, corporation profits are up, ceo pay is 100+ times the lowest paid company wage, many more millionaires/billionaires have been created - just work harder/grift longer and you too can escape the tax man knocking at the door
Yeh,no spare money for the plebs.Those Billions in share buybacks are money the govt couldn't possibly touch.
Yeah it's all quite depressing really. My outgoings are going up this year as well as I have to do some additional borrowing on the mortgage and not sure how I'm going to cope, I'm already stretched pretty thin. Luckily my car and some other finances have just been paid off so I have a bit extra to take it up, but would have been nice to have that extra money to actually be able to save a bit.
Going out for a ride is one of the few things that helps clear my head, so I just hope nothing big on my bike breaks otherwise I'll be waiting a long time to replace it.
yep, massive motors pretty much everywhere these days
My Mum couldn't understand this (as in, how people could afford massive new cars) until I explained about leases deals - and that was only because I'm in the market for a new (new to me) car and work do offer a salary sacrifice scheme.
As someone who has always bought cars secondhand paying full price, she was amazed to hear of this opportunity to spend £500+ per month in order to be seen driving around in a top end car.
However the car companies and the finance companies absolutely rely on each other, it's the only way that either of them survive.
The whole country is totally broken.
Hyperbole much? No doubt things are economically tough for many. And I’m sorry to hear about your single person living costs and subsequent council tax discount OP.
it’s a bit better than ‘broken’. The outlook for employment and ‘fair wages for a fair day’s work’ has been better. But things tend to work OK. We have water, power, transport. Businesses are still open. And the streets are fairly orderly day to day. I’d suggest that we got where we are now through increasingly conservative politics. Moving right makes things s#***.
There’s no doubt that wages have failed to keep track with inflation. For me this is the biggest gripe I have. Not so much for myself as despite losing a fair margin over the last 10 years I’m in an OK position. I’m more concerned about folks on ‘get by’ and less income. Together with a punitive benefits system this wage regression is a day to day demotivator. I put the blame for this on larger employers and their ‘shareholder value’ nonsense and disempowerment of unions by conservative governments. The mantra of ‘wage rises cause inflation’ is frequently repeated and has blunted ambition and opportunity while giving employers just cause for cutting wages in real terms while pushing fewer people harder.
rises in council tax have been restrained for years. Together with reduced real terms funding from central government and no tax band reassessments this has meant councils having to make increasingly hard choices. Much like healthcare professional wages, council tax needs a BIG change to start redressing the balance.
so, not broken. Tough for many for sure.
My local Co-Op is definitely more expensive than the local Aldi if you just look at the price at the till, but I'm sick to shit of Aldi perishables not lasting. Carrots and peppers particularly that turn liquid in a few days, onions that magically are either rotten or have the brown wrapper inside, and meat where the packs aren't sealed properly meaning they are either already spoiled or go off well withing the use by dates.
We do a scandalous amount of our shopping in the local Co-op, mainly because anything else is a 20 minute drive away (something I factor in to the extra cost).
I also like to consider it as the 'Just-in-time' equivalent to grocery shopping, i.e. we only buy small portions of what we need, when we need it. I reckon this drives down food waste and allows us to eat a bit fresher/ healthier, although it's bo doubt still more expensive overall and probably results in more packaging waste as we're not buying big packs of everything but multiple smaller packs.
I like them though, they seem to always serve the smaller communities which (I had presumed) weren't profitable enough for the big boys.
What we need to do is live better lives. Use our resources more efficiently, be kinder to each other, and focus on what matters ...
Amen.
Carrots and peppers particularly that turn liquid in a few days, onions that magically are either rotten or have the brown wrapper inside, and meat where the packs aren't sealed properly meaning they are either already spoiled or go off well withing the use by dates.
We used to buy all our fruit & veg at a local place that bought direct from covent garden & it was noticeable how much better all the fresh produce was, reckoned it was because of the lack of handling & processing, sadly the owner retired & it went downhill.
Don't forget peeps that because of geographics one of the cheapest council tax rates is in Westminster.... Band C in Westminster is £904, here in leafy bucks £2109.....
As an observation from someone who's visited in 2023, 2024, and 2025, in comparison to rising Australian prices, the cost of virtually everything in England and Wales seemed to have increased far more than 10 years ago, and particularly in 2025. 2025 may have been partly due to exchange rates though.
Groceries in Italy were on par with what we pay in Australia, but in the UK (and to a lesser extent Canada) they were more expensive. The other difference I think is that wages have increased more in Australia. Personally, I'm pretty much guaranteed to get 2-3% increase each year, but i'm aware that's not common in the UK and hasn't been for years.
And yet, my car obsessed kids couldn't believe the amount of tyre-clad bling on the roads. Admittedly luxury cars are probably comparatively less expensive in the UK than they would be here, and we did spend a bit of time in Sussex.
I get all my Aussie economics knowledge from Chris Kohler's youtube shorts, but hasn't Australian house price inflation gone absolutely nuts - leaving UK averages in the dust?
8.77% council tax increase here - Scotland (are England/Wales limited to 5% increase?). That's after last year's 15.6% increase. We're comfortable enough managing the increase but I'm eternally frustrated at our council's spending priorities - I wouldn't mind the increase if it was prioritised properly, but instead there's multiple vanity projects and generally pissing it up against the wall. IMO obviously.
Food cost increases are what I notice most, probably because it's me rather than Mrs a11y who does the big weekly shop and have seen the change over the past 5-6 years. Mostly £200+ weekly not including some big items we get elsewhere (who gives a crap toilet roll, Smol dishwasher and laundry stuff, etc). No alcohol either.
I'm also very conscious about complaining about cost of living when on the same forum where many of us are spending £££ on non-essentials.
What we need to do is live better lives. Use our resources more efficiently, be kinder to each other, and focus on what matters ...
Nailed it 👍
Nobody take this the wrong way, but it's nice to know there are normal people here who are feeling the pinch. We're not exactly skint, Lord knows we used to be, not that long ago. But, I'm stuck on 3 days a week at work and they keep denying any request to increase my hours and there are no other jobs advertised yet. We're preparing to tighten our belts while the Mrs is on maternity pay because it drops dramatically. She's already planning to go back to work early.
There have been so many threads on here over the years like 'What do I do with this enormous windfall?', 'Where would you live with a 700k budget' etc. It's easy to believe that everyone on here is minted and I stay away from the finance threads because it's just depressing.
p.s. Our council tax just went up 4.99% and our water bill doubled. Yay.
When I took my current job 3 years ago it meant starting to commute by train. I budgeted for 5-10% increase each year. The reality has been a 280% increase in that time. It's quite alarming and I don't think it's hyperbole to say something is broken when this kind of rise is being seen in various other costs too - the whole point of the social contract is that we expect some return from our money but for a long time now the price has gone up and the service has gone down.
Nobody take this the wrong way, but it's nice to know there are normal people here who are feeling the pinch.
TBH, I think most folks experience is similar, I know ours is, and our circumstances aren't impoverished by any stretch of the imagination. Like other's we see it most in the weekly shop, what used to be £75-90 for two of us, (were veggie) is now routinely £120-140 and in the Tesco mini-mart/garage, butter! is security tagged.
As an observation from someone who's visited in 2023, 2024, and 2025, in comparison to rising Australian prices, the cost of virtually everything in England and Wales seemed to have increased far more than 10 years ago, and particularly in 2025. 2025 may have been partly due to exchange rates though.
Groceries in Italy were on par with what we pay in Australia, but in the UK (and to a lesser extent Canada) they were more expensive. The other difference I think is that wages have increased more in Australia. Personally, I'm pretty much guaranteed to get 2-3% increase each year, but i'm aware that's not common in the UK and hasn't been for years.
And yet, my car obsessed kids couldn't believe the amount of tyre-clad bling on the roads. Admittedly luxury cars are probably comparatively less expensive in the UK than they would be here, and we did spend a bit of time in Sussex.
I get all my Aussie economics knowledge from Chris Kohler's youtube shorts, but hasn't Australian house price inflation gone absolutely nuts - leaving UK averages in the dust?
That’s entirely possible. I actually don’t pay much attention as I’m not planning on moving anywhere. Looking at a land valuation notice we just received (government has to provide a land valuation for all properties) our unimproved land value has gone up massively - it’s actually worth more now than the land and the house combined cost us in 2012.
butter! is security tagged.
years ago a colleague who worked in large scale architecture projects, town planning type stuff told me the easiest way to work out how nice a neighbourhood is, was to go to the tesco express/sainsburys local and look at what had security tags on.
Big corporation loss prevention would give you an actual analysis rather than going by someones feelings.
just the spirits would be good
meats average
cheese poor
butter...
spend £500+ per month in order to be seen driving around in a top end car.
yep, I sometimes take a look at these 'deals' and it's all strings attached stuff of course, ie limited mileage, liability for damage etc, so basically it's car rental--I am old school when it comes to buying and owning cars, which is probably why I still have a 2010 reg Passat estate!
I'm the same. My ex made a decision for us to trade in the 2010 Passat I bought when I moved here (1.4t that could run on ethanol) for a lease eNiro. We got decent money for the trade-in, but not as much as a private sale would have got, but then she did more than the lease mileage and had to do a trade-in of that car to another one on a new lease with the right mileage level.
It was a nightmare to organise.
Meantime, I bought the newest, cheapest Dispatch I could find that had decent mileage and was not battered hulk. So glad I did given that she dumped me three months after I bought it and took the Niro with her.
ANYWAY... filled up last night and a tank cost me 200kr more than two weeks ago. 1200+kr for the cheap diesel, not even a full tank and at the cheapest place I have locally. Last time I tanked it was 16,34kr/l or something. Last night 22,04kr/l or something. A place down the road was over 23kr/l.
I'm actually glad I do not have to drive to Västerås this weekend and can save 300km of the tank. Summer tyres should also help a bit with economy.
I did my first self supported trip to the UK in 20 years last year, and yeah, prices have gone up here, but it's "reasonable". Was not the case in the UK. Really not. Even when you factor in exchanges rates etc.As an observation from someone who's visited in 2023, 2024, and 2025, in comparison to rising Australian prices, the cost of virtually everything in England and Wales seemed to have increased far more than 10 years ago, and particularly in 2025. 2025 may have been partly due to exchange rates though.
town planning type stuff told me the easiest way to work out how nice a neighbourhood is, was to go to the tesco express/sainsburys local and look at what had security tags on.
Interesting, I noticed the security tags when shopping in Brum. My local Aldi has no security tags on anything, no security guard and in quiet periods no-one on the till "y a quelqu'un !?"
My local Aldi has two security guards on at all times.Staff seem to be on high alert as well.
Could this be moved to the chat forum? I don't need real life intruding when I want a bike-shaped distraction.
My local Aldi has two security guards on at all times.Staff seem to be on high alert as well.
...that'll be to protect the mig-welders, not the Nordpak! 🙂
Aldi? You are a posh un and no mistakes.
Home Bargain and double security for some of us...
Yip, we're in a bad place when you come out of Aldi or Lidl and think that the trolley of shopping you have just bought is about a third more expensive than about a year ago...and that doesn't even cover the shrinkflation or watering down of the ingredients of the food stuff?
Our council tax has seen an increase of 19.9% over the last 2 years (Scotland, midlothian). We're lucky that we have solid jobs but we feel the differences and wonder how badly those with very little are being really squeezed!
^No need to wonder mate,just ask the shop staff how their self-defence training is coming along.
No security guard at our Aldi - just the nice Eastern European lady who helps with the self-scanning.
Not really cost of " living" ..but costs rising affecting my long riding.
Bike Packing or even extra long day rides are now so much more expensive even when you factor in JUST the calorie replacement..
If you add in overnight accommodation then it starts becoming a "cost fest."
An audax was always cheap to enter but when you factor in travel, food, the mandatory cafe stop etc .it's not a cheap day out esp if you choose the fancy snacks
I used to stare at the riders who ate home made sandwiches before going into the cafe for a coffee, but if you ride regularly its actually a smart idea and a big cost saving.
Rehydration tabs, snack bars etc I now ration out.
I used to have the odd Rehydration tab as a convenient top up to help hydration during a normal non cycling day as it made me drink more as well . But too expensive now to do regularly.
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