Cost of Living - Spending Insights

[Turkish]

2 hours ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Price of cod everywhere. Due to shortages and rising costs.

Supermarket packs pushing £7 only down to £5 when on offer.

Chippys phasing it out too.

we've started to use Basa a lot more, it tastes fine and can get two fillets for less than 2 quid in Aldi

[egg]

7 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

https://bradleysfish.com/love-cod-here-are-5-alternatives-to-try/

You can add Ling to that list. At least as good as cod, but a bottom dweller so not easy to fish. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

2 hours ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Price of cod everywhere. Due to shortages and rising costs.

Supermarket packs pushing £7 only down to £5 when on offer.

Chippys phasing it out too.

Wow. A quick check shows the online price of a fish supper at my local chippy to be £12. I always go in, so will diligently research in shop prices this weekend. £12 has smashed that magic £10 barrier! 

[egg]

6 minutes ago, Turkish said:

we've started to use Basa a lot more, it tastes fine and can get two fillets for less than 2 quid in Aldi

Basa is great. Very good as a smoked fish too. There's loads of alternatives. I remember years ago regularly eating hoki. That was when we were trading more with new zealand, and it seems to have disappeared.

[egg]

1 minute ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Wow. A quick check shows the online price of a fish supper at my local chippy to be £12. I always go in, so will diligently research in shop prices this weekend. £12 has smashed that magic £10 barrier! 

Yep. We rarely buy it now. Fish and chips for 2, with peas and a curry sauce, costs us north of £30. Difficult to justify when we can get a feast from an Indian takeaway for that sort of money. 

The owners will talk of the overheads which have gone through the roof, but they're pricing themselves to closure. There's a chippy in Shirley which does alunchtime/afternoon menu. Chips, sausage, fish cake (home made, delicious), peas, curry sauce, and a few other things, all at 99p an item. It's crazily busy, and the owner says he makes money at those prices. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

2 minutes ago, egg said:

Yep. We rarely buy it now. Fish and chips for 2, with peas and a curry sauce, costs us north of £30. Difficult to justify when we can get a feast from an Indian takeaway for that sort of money. 

The owners will talk of the overheads which have gone through the roof, but they're pricing themselves to closure. There's a chippy in Shirley which does alunchtime/afternoon menu. Chips, sausage, fish cake (home made, delicious), peas, curry sauce, and a few other things, all at 99p an item. It's crazily busy, and the owner says he makes money at those prices. 

From my local's menu regular chips £4.20 and large chips £6.20.

There's plenty of local non chippy competition, that also stay open later. I'm just a bit hard wired into going there. Particularly from local football. 

Now here I am, counting the calories from my half time pie (that the local club notice if I don't buy one every match) and knowing I can get much cheaper, healthier fish based meals from the Iceland 3 doors down from the chippy.

[spyinthesky]

44 minutes ago, Turkish said:

we've started to use Basa a lot more, it tastes fine and can get two fillets for less than 2 quid in Aldi

I'm with you there.
Particularly like the chilli flavoured option.

[spyinthesky]

5 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

I'm with you there.
Particularly like the chilli flavoured option.

Whilst enjoying Basa Fillets, consumption of this type of fish needs to be approached with a degree of caution.
It is farmed mainly in the Mekong Delta where there are contaminants in the water and some of the owners of the Fish Farmers there use chemicals to promote growth.
As a consequence of this, the import of Basa fish is controlled by UK Health Authorities.
Hopefully that provides some protection for those of us who like eating the fish but maybe this may explain the reason for the growth of what seems to be a fin on my back!!

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

1 hour ago, Gloucester Saint said:

https://bradleysfish.com/love-cod-here-are-5-alternatives-to-try/

Shame my wife only likes cod. 😐

Personally they all taste similar to me! The last one I have not tried though.

Edited Wednesday at 09:26 by JohnnyShearer2.0

[Turkish]

40 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

I'm with you there.
Particularly like the chilli flavoured option.

i tend to get them plain fry them at home with a few spices at home, have it with a salad and rice for a quick, cheap and easy lunch

[egg]

14 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Shame my wife only likes cod. 😐

Personally they all taste similar to me! The last one I have not tried though.

Pollock is very similar. I reckon she'd be hard pushed to notice the difference. 

[egg]

11 minutes ago, Turkish said:

i tend to get them plain fry them at home with a few spices at home, have it with a salad and rice for a quick, cheap and easy lunch

Yep. Grilled or shallow fried, sometimes with just a squeeze if lemon, and the jobs a fish as they say. 

[Gloucester Saint]

2 hours ago, spyinthesky said:
Hopefully that provides some protection for those of us who like eating the fish but maybe this may explain the reason for the growth of what seems to be a fin on my back!!

Be careful that the old bill don’t force you into the away end v Pompey!

[badgerx16]

When I was much, MUCH, younger, we used to catch bass, whiting, eels, and mackeral when fishing in the docks.

Edited Wednesday at 12:44 by badgerx16

[whelk]

5 hours ago, egg said:

Yep. We rarely buy it now. Fish and chips for 2, with peas and a curry sauce, costs us north of £30. Difficult to justify when we can get a feast from an Indian takeaway for that sort of money. 

The owners will talk of the overheads which have gone through the roof, but they're pricing themselves to closure. There's a chippy in Shirley which does alunchtime/afternoon menu. Chips, sausage, fish cake (home made, delicious), peas, curry sauce, and a few other things, all at 99p an item. It's crazily busy, and the owner says he makes money at those prices. 

I daren’t ask what is in those sausages and fish cakes at that price

[egg]

43 minutes ago, whelk said:

I daren’t ask what is in those sausages and fish cakes at that price

Sausages I haven't risked, but the fish cakes are homemade so no ultra processed rubbish, and contain a decent amount of actual fish. That there's a profit at those prices is remarkable, but volume pays I guess. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

5 hours ago, egg said:

Pollock is very similar. I reckon she'd be hard pushed to notice the difference. 

I always found them hard to swallow.

Just setting out my credentials for the next IQ slagging match. 🙂

[Farmer Saint]

4 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

I always found them hard to swallow.

Just setting out my credentials for the next IQ slagging match. 🙂

[trousers]

19 hours ago, Turkish said:

Energy bills to go up 20-25% in January then. Meanwhile all the big companies are posting billions of pounds of profit per quarter once again

 

I'll see your 25% and raise you a 60% increase for my domestic heating oil...

Why the f*** does the government regulate one source of household energy but not another...?

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 15:50 by trousers

[trousers]

Still, looking on the bright side... One of the benefits of the "cost of living crisis" is there's not so many riff-raff cluttering up my local Waitrose supermarket these days... #everycloud 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

11 minutes ago, trousers said:

Still, looking on the bright side... One of the benefits of the "cost of living crisis" is there's not so many riff-raff cluttering up my local Waitrose supermarket these days... #everycloud 

"Still, looking on the bright side... y'cant, 'cause the powers been shut off."

[Turkish]

[Weston Super Saint]

4 hours ago, Turkish said:

Has the black hole gone yet then?

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Has the black hole gone yet then?

 No it won’t we need more tax, we’ve got black hole, climate change, the NHS, the list goes on. We can sort it but we all need to pay more tax, just pay more then it’ll all be okay. By the way did you know your mortgage payments are going to go up by at least 10% soon yes that’s right through no fault of yours you’ll pay loads more for the same thing, and if you want it to be warm in winter you need to pay 25% more. But pay more taxes and we can sort it for you. Honestly we can

[Farmer Saint]

8 hours ago, Turkish said:

 No it won’t we need more tax, we’ve got black hole, climate change, the NHS, the list goes on. We can sort it but we all need to pay more tax, just pay more then it’ll all be okay. By the way did you know your mortgage payments are going to go up by at least 10% soon yes that’s right through no fault of yours you’ll pay loads more for the same thing, and if you want it to be warm in winter you need to pay 25% more. But pay more taxes and we can sort it for you. Honestly we can

This is why windfall taxes were introduced, to ensure that profiteering by the fuel companies didn't continue without an increase in tax.

Fuel duty for the Government will have decreased LFL as demand wanes due to increases at the pumps, so not sure they're the best example to use. However, I think we all agree, as per your point above, that capitalism is a bitch.

Mortgages are also only an issue for those with mortgages, or those not fixed, and I can't believe there would be anyone with any sort of sense that hasn't been fixed for a long time.

[Weston Super Saint]

8 hours ago, Turkish said:

 No it won’t we need more tax, we’ve got black hole, climate change, the NHS, the list goes on. We can sort it but we all need to pay more tax, just pay more then it’ll all be okay. By the way did you know your mortgage payments are going to go up by at least 10% soon yes that’s right through no fault of yours you’ll pay loads more for the same thing, and if you want it to be warm in winter you need to pay 25% more. But pay more taxes and we can sort it for you. Honestly we can

Not a chance they will 😎

[egg]

46 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

This is why windfall taxes were introduced, to ensure that profiteering by the fuel companies didn't continue without an increase in tax.

Fuel duty for the Government will have decreased LFL as demand wanes due to increases at the pumps, so not sure they're the best example to use. However, I think we all agree, as per your point above, that capitalism is a bitch.

Mortgages are also only an issue for those with mortgages, or those not fixed, and I can't believe there would be anyone with any sort of sense that hasn't been fixed for a long time.

On the last point, the masses do have mortgages on their homes, and most property investors have mortgages. The latter is reflected in residential rents which has a massive impact on people the wider economy, and commercial rents impact the punter.

Re fixing, people may fix for 2, 3 and 5 years, but nobody who's fix ends now or in the foreseeable could have foreseen that the world would be as it is now, with the consequences we're starting to see.

I'm mortgage free on my home, but I've got friends and family who's fixed is ending and they're shitting themselves, quite rightly, despite having done the right thing. 

On the wider point Turkish made, we plainly need to finance ourselves, and having borrowed to the hilt with increasing borrowing costs, only so far we can cut spending, a need to spend more in defence, it's obvious that taxes will rise. 

I've lived, and been in business, through several recessions, and I think we're building to something pretty horrific unfortunately. 

[Turkish]

12 minutes ago, egg said:

On the last point, the masses do have mortgages on their homes, and most property investors have mortgages. The latter is reflected in residential rents which has a massive impact on people the wider economy, and commercial rents impact the punter.

Re fixing, people may fix for 2, 3 and 5 years, but nobody who's fix ends now or in the foreseeable could have foreseen that the world would be as it is now, with the consequences we're starting to see.

I'm mortgage free on my home, but I've got friends and family who's fixed is ending and they're shitting themselves, quite rightly, despite having done the right thing. 

On the wider point Turkish made, we plainly need to finance ourselves, and having borrowed to the hilt with increasing borrowing costs, only so far we can cut spending, a need to spend more in defence, it's obvious that taxes will rise. 

I've lived, and been in business, through several recessions, and I think we're building to something pretty horrific unfortunately. 

Our five year fixed ends in May. We got the deal just before rates started to rise so looking at a big hike in monthly payments. 

fully agree with your last point, increased borrowing, cuts, ever rising taxes, rising cost of living, rising inflation everyone being squeezed for every penny, it does feel like there is no end to it with it only going to get worse 

[egg]

5 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Our five year fixed ends in May. We got the deal just before rates started to rise so looking at a big hike in monthly payments. 

fully agree with your last point, increased borrowing, cuts, ever rising taxes, rising cost of living, rising inflation everyone being squeezed for every penny, it does feel like there is no end to it with it only going to get worse 

I feel for you having to re fix. My daughter is in the same boat, and being a youngster at the early stages of career, she doesn't have the income headroom for it. Whatever peoples circumstances, however, it's obvious that the combination you highlight is a perfect storm. Difficult times ahead for many, and opportunities for others. 

[whelk]

56 minutes ago, egg said:

I feel for you having to re fix. My daughter is in the same boat, and being a youngster at the early stages of career, she doesn't have the income headroom for it. Whatever peoples circumstances, however, it's obvious that the combination you highlight is a perfect storm. Difficult times ahead for many, and opportunities for others. 

Fundamental issue is property is so overpriced compared to previously. Couples have to/choose to overstretch or pay exorbitant rents. Immigration/population rise and wealth inequality means miserable futures for so many as housing demand is always there. The country was broke in the seventies but at least working class people on average incomes could aspire to having security of owning their own home. GDP increases ain’t a measure of people’s happiness that some seem to think it is.

Even many rich middle class have a pretty average life compared to what they should be enjoying as tie it all up in a mortgage - more philosophical really but if you will buy that 3 bed semi in Fulham for a million.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

2 hours ago, Farmer Saint said:

This is why windfall taxes were introduced, to ensure that profiteering by the fuel companies didn't continue without an increase in tax.

Fuel duty for the Government will have decreased LFL as demand wanes due to increases at the pumps, so not sure they're the best example to use. However, I think we all agree, as per your point above, that capitalism is a bitch.

Mortgages are also only an issue for those with mortgages, or those not fixed, and I can't believe there would be anyone with any sort of sense that hasn't been fixed for a long time.

When the long day of consulting detective work is done, and the cries of the beggars and workhouse bound have subsided, Watson and I like to look fondly back on the days of mercantilism.

Upon which much of the industry, nationalism and foreign policy was built for our empire, which from our vantage in the 19th century, we're sure will never end.

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, egg said:

I feel for you having to re fix. My daughter is in the same boat, and being a youngster at the early stages of career, she doesn't have the income headroom for it. Whatever peoples circumstances, however, it's obvious that the combination you highlight is a perfect storm. Difficult times ahead for many, and opportunities for others. 

Its the younger ones i feel for. I'll be alright and find away, either cut back on other stuff or if the worst comes to it got a decent amount of equity so can sell up and downsize, there is always a way. The likes of your daughter who are just starting out are the ones who get clobbered by it, lower income, had to battle to just buy their first place and now getting squeezed ever further. When i was about 14 my dads mate who wasn't a wealthy man by any means told me and i never forgot it that if you can keep your mortgage payments at 25% of your income you'll always be able to afford it. Kids today have no chance of that whatsoever. It's a market that can very, very easily collapse and leave thousands of people in the shit and none of it is their fault. 

[egg]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

Its the younger ones i feel for. I'll be alright and find away, either cut back on other stuff or if the worst comes to it got a decent amount of equity so can sell up and downsize, there is always a way. The likes of your daughter who are just starting out are the ones who get clobbered by it, lower income, had to battle to just buy their first place and now getting squeezed ever further. When i was about 14 my dads mate who wasn't a wealthy man by any means told me and i never forgot it that if you can keep your mortgage payments at 25% of your income you'll always be able to afford it. Kids today have no chance of that whatsoever. It's a market that can very, very easily collapse and leave thousands of people in the shit and none of it is their fault. 

Yep. We got caught in the early 90's with our first house. Prices plunged and rates went through the roof. Our mortgage was about 2/3 of our joint net income. Life was shite, but we were dealing with a £30+k mortgage for a starter home, whereas for these youngsters, it's £200 + k. Frightening, and as you say, not their fault in any way. 

[Turkish]

49 minutes ago, egg said:

Yep. We got caught in the early 90's with our first house. Prices plunged and rates went through the roof. Our mortgage was about 2/3 of our joint net income. Life was shite, but we were dealing with a £30+k mortgage for a starter home, whereas for these youngsters, it's £200 + k. Frightening, and as you say, not their fault in any way. 

We moved to a much bigger house nearly 5 years ago. There was nothing wrong with our old house, 3 good sized bedrooms,  semi detached with nice neighbours, okay area, drive, garage. The only small issue was as i work from home a lot i worked in the dining room so got quite busy when everyone was home. Had a relatively small mortgage and quite bit of equity on it which meant we had loads of disposable income at the time. Then when they built a new build estate and were offering great deals like stamp duty paid and upgraded packages we decided to move with a much bigger mortgage. Still affordable and and it's a lovely house in a nice area, but soon as we moved everything exploded, council tax, mortgage rates, inflation and general cost of living sky rocketed. In hindsight moving was a big mistake, obviously didn't know what was about to happen but had we stayed put we'd have only had a few years left on the mortgage at the old house and the mortgage rate increase impact would have been negligible, im just glad we didn't so what some people told us to do, which was go for the most expensive house you can afford, there was another 2-3 available which were 100k more and certain people were saying we should have gone for those ones, would have got the mortgage for it but if we'd done that i'd be fucked by now. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Turkish

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 hour ago, egg said:

Yep. We got caught in the early 90's with our first house. Prices plunged and rates went through the roof. Our mortgage was about 2/3 of our joint net income. Life was shite, but we were dealing with a £30+k mortgage for a starter home, whereas for these youngsters, it's £200 + k. Frightening, and as you say, not their fault in any way. 

Just as you say egg, it's a frightening weight, at such larger sums, in a very uncertain world.

I probably paid more than I could have right the way through my mortgage. I just wanted as much security on the payments as I could get, so had a couple of longer fixed periods in there. Around that, interest rates fell and stayed low for some decent periods. I bumped a bit about it, but I had the comfort of being safer from sharp rises.

I also had the advantage of a bit of equity going in, which made it liveable, with a bit of headroom. Something, as Turkish said, is so often not an option when to get anything, you're already having to overstretch.

[iansums]

We've always been very cautious of over stetching ourselves, perhaps due to the very high interest rates in the late 80's and the subsequent negative equity. As the interest rates gradually fell, we kept paying the same amount and managed to bring the term down by several years, now mortgage free thankfully. I do feel for the youngsters now though.