Inflation , It Will Hit All of Us , Are You Prepared ?
Money Saving
I do keep my eye on such things - Years ago I acted like an Ostrich and buried my head in the sand when the bills came in (they didn't go away 
) . Gave me a good slap on the backside and I have been a "moneysaver " since then .
Now I can easily handle the rises in all prices (as I realise many cannot ) . Maybe a taste of reality for all of us ?
My energy company has just gone bust (I expected it ) so my energy bill will go up by 30 % .
Driver shortage , wages are being rightly increased . Same with agricultural pickers .
Forget about shortages(which there will be ) , normal folks like us should just realise that our weekly shop will cost about 5%-10% more .
Not scaremongering - it's real !. Hopefully just raising awareness amongst fellow members and giving a bit of advance info .
I dare say this will be reported as a duplicate on various counts , for dubious reasons . Members you must take this seriously - You may not want to hear it , but your finances are going to be seriously stretched in the next few months .
There is no "magic cure" after all we have to all pay our way . But do not be an Ostrich - it fixes nothing , but perhaps members have advice to share ? after all we are a members site here to help each other
I totally agree I noticed shopping rising weekly and buy same stuff.
Take Xmas toys this years prices up by ยฃ5 or more checking on invoices.
Fuel rising
My energy company wrote to us saying paying to much so they reduced but the downfall that they would be taking still gets paid as if a direct debit so hopefully not hit with a huge bill
I was with Igloo and had built up a comfy ยฃ200 credit balance during the summer which would have kept it about right during the winter . OK it's protected and I will get it back (eventually ! ) .
TBH I can afford the hit (learnt my lessons many years ago !) . I am worried about fellow members who don't have that luxury .
All I can do is make fellow members aware and advise not to bury their heads in the sand (It doesn't work ! trust me !)
Golfforall no it donโt work and wonโt go away I used to be like that at a young age hide the electric bills water bills.
Ann1984 Think most of us have been there (and learnt from it ) . Posted this as I feared many of our members maybe not be aware of the horrendous rise in their weekly bills .
Hopefully some may take the hint and take their heads out of the sand and prepare for the inevitable . All I can do is advise and pass on personal life experience . That's if they take any notice 
.
Golfforall Others should remember that if getting back a credit built up by DD payments at this time of year, that it shouldn't be regarded as a windfall. At this time of year a good credit balance will help pay for the extra fuel required in winter. And those of us who get a winter fuel payment should remember it's (supposedly) to help with the cost of extra fuel required in winter.
I've heard so many in the past discussing what they're going to spend their Winter fuel payment on - then a few months later moaning they can't afford to pay their energy bill.
davidstockport Indeed , if you haven't built up a healthy credit balance by October then you are in for some nasty shocks over the winter even in normal times !
This year with energy prices rising by over 30% winter bills will be so much larger . Remember the "Cap" is a per unit cap not a bill cap (and is based on annual usage ) .
If your summer bills have been , say ยฃ60 a month , it is likely your winter bills will be ยฃ130 - ยฃ150 a month 
. Not nice for many but a "fact of life" that folk must address and be prepared for .
Inflation is a fact of life and will impact everyone. Unfortunately itโs harder for those with little or no savings.
You can get heated USB jackets nowadays, typically used for cycling and outdoor use but they consist of heating elements and are safely powered by a USB powerbank. Wearing such a jacket would mean you could massively reduce the heating in your home and could also work outside in the garden, shed or garage without issues in the colder months. Heating yourself rather than a huge area is much more cost effective and environmentally friendly. The jackets heating is subtle it takes while to kick in but then you get quite toasty. They typically have something like 3 heat settings. Depending on the capacity of the powerbank used they can last a very long time. You could be heated for a whole day on the lowest settings and recharge over-night for just a few pence.
As for food if you are overweight why not have a single fasting day per week. This can be massively beneficial for the body, helps fight cancer and other health issues. Allows the body to do some self-repair and detox. If you google fasting benefits then you will see how wide reaching the benefits are. The human body was never designed to have access to food all the time. In nature it is natural to fast for longer periods before your next meal is available. A huge amount of people are obese in the UK. When I say fast I mean no snacking or main meals just hot and cold drinks ideally with little or no sugar. This will also have the benefit of dropping your weekly food bill by about 14%.
Think about all your monthly payments and how you can lower them. Maybe you have monthly subscriptions to services you don't really use or maybe you have services where you could downgrade easily as don't use their full capacity like broadband. I've heard of people who have run out of stuff to watch on Netflix so why not cancel for a few months and re-subscribe again later when more shows are there for you to watch.
Think about walking or cycling instead of driving for short journeys. Perhaps your existing bicycle could be converted to an e-bike. Kits and batteries can be as low as ยฃ350 and some complete ebikes are less than ยฃ500. They make hills much easier and still give huge health benefits. The benefits to the environment are also huge. This can save a staggering amount of money over the long term. You can recharge an ebike battery for a few pence and can give a range of between 20 and 60 miles depending on how much effort you put in yourself. A gallon of fuel which would have a similar range would be over ยฃ5. Cycling can also extend your life by 4 to 5 years which is a huge figure.
I like the idea of a heated jacket this could be a great gift for my father in law who refuses to heat his house.
BonzoBanana or you could just buy a decent coat what doesn't need usb heating lol.
are you saying fat people shouldn't eat one day a week? i think thats a bit offensive, if they have bought and paid for that body it's up to them..
We had an email from our energy company saying our bill was going up ยฃ20 a month. We can afford the hit as the rise means it is the same as what we were paying in our old house.
I noticed yesterday whilst shopping that things had gone up slightly, 5p on each item adds up.
I'm pretty thrifty, my husband always jokes that every penny is a prisoner and recently I've been trying to save even more money. We always have savings to cover any emergencies, although I know this isn't possible for everyone.
If your local council is still giving grants during the pandemic this might be an option to reduce heating bills
It might only apply to older homeowners though, but worth enquiring about
Here is an example , grants up to ยฃ5,000
https://www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/info/200245/grants/887/home_improvement_grants_for_homeowners
Boris has said he is not worried about the shortages - and isnt worried about inflation as we move to a higher wage economy - although it remains to be seen if the enthusiasm for higher wages extends to public sector workers this year. so no need to panic if you cant afford the basics - Boris is happy
Higher wages are generally counter productive, all that happens is that the extra wages paid to those who deliver, make, or even sell anything causes the price to increase. Even those who get the extra wages aren't any better off... they have to buy those things... furthermore they have to pay more tax.
The only people who benefit from this type of inflation are those who are heavily in debt.
davidstockport This is one of the most non-sense comments I ever read in my life.
- Are higher wages counter productive? Why?
- "furthermore they have to pay more tax". Exactly, it means MORE money in general everywhere being invested and society receiving better services.
- Why do you think Scandinavian countries have such a high quality life overall? High-prices for tourists, but for them it means nothing, because the salaries are high as well.
- Same case in Switzerland. Higher prices, and higher salaries.
Do you prefer to pay ยฃ1 for a T-shirt at Primark other than have a higher life standard as a society?
bzortead Either you think the extra wages workers get grows on the money tree or haven't done much reading. May I suggest you read this: https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/2921/economics/2921/
I simply can't work out why anyone can think Scandinavian countries who have much higher suicide rates than elsewhere can be considered to have a higher quality of life than others. Perhaps someone needs to tell them. 
https://nordics.info/show/artikel/socialist-suicide-in-scandinavia-a-historical-view-of-a-common-myth/
As for T shirts I never buy them... I usually get two FREE ones at most Karaoke nights: The first for singing then a second one to shut me up.
bzortead , davidstockport An interesting discussion could be had on economics We must do it one day ?
Higher wages do of course bring higher inflation and so the merry go round goes on . One way to stop this chain of events (tried by the majority of "developed " nations ) is to bring in migrant workers to provide cheaper labour and keep prices for services and goods lower than they would otherwise be . However the populations of most developed nations (the democracies that is ) have decided they don't want migrant workers ( Doesn't seem to bother such as the Gulf states ?) Obviously workers rights and conditions etc are not really relevant in China and it's vassal states
The other way of course is to invest in increased automation - but there is only so far that can go . Strawberries for instance are awkward little blighters and i doubt a robot could be invented to pick the nice ripe ones (without bruising them ) and leave the others to ripen .
Sadly as an economy develops certain jobs are deemed to be "beneath " the traditional population , particularly in the current situation where many have been furloughed for 18 months (and got quite used to it ) .
No I haven't got an answer , It's the way economics work these days . It's not a UK problem , it's even worse in the USA and many countries in the EU . No country can find the vital manual workers they need at the wages they previously paid .
These manual workers will inevitably get the wages they deserve (to fill the vacancies ) which will feed through to prices and round and round will go the merry go round 
.
davidstockport You probably didn't even read the article you posted, or if you did, you didn't know how to interpret it.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/suicide-rate-by-country
The first Scandinavian country on the list is in the 26th position, behind countries like the USA, Japan, South Korea, South Africa, etc., even suffering from prolonged and dark winters.
bzortead Let's just say that Sweden has a suicide rate of 12.4 per 100k of population compared to the UKs 6.9 and leave it at that.
The USA's rate shouldn't come into the equation; their rate is probably infuenced by visitors/losers who visit Las Vegas and throw themselves out of hotel windows, they've tried welding the windows shut but that doesn't stop them finding some other way. https://www.quora.com/In-The-Hangover-they-say-that-you-cant-open-hotel-room-windows-in-Las-Vegas-Is-this-true-If-yes-why-not
Golfforall It's unlikely there could be an interesting discussion. There are too many who think interesting discussions involve throwing insults at each other And far too many who think that if they've made themselves look a little foolish they can fetch politics or religion into a discussion to get the topic removed.
There is a big difference between increasing the Minimum Wage and the natural increase in wages (supply and demand). Most likely, the world economic system does not work the way it should for society, and this is the biggest problem, not the increase in wages per se.
In the end, it is all about balance.
davidstockport So this is your explanation for saying that there is no quality of life in Scandinavian countries. "Sweden has a higher suicide rate than the UK." Congratulations, now I understand why so many people here can't take your knowledge classes about absolutely everything anymore. You must be a misunderstood genius, you're wasting your time on the internet instead of teaching at Oxford.
I don't give knowledge classes - I usually back up my knowledge or opinions with actual provable facts. A recent example was someone posting to say that stealing a dog wasn't a criminal offence "because a dog is property". I possibly prevented a spate of dog thefts by pointing out that because a dog is property the theft of a dog (1968 Theft Act) is punishable by up to seven years imprisonment.
I felt it was my civic duty to point out the misinformation.
Please point out where I said there was NO quality of life in Scandinavian countries? I actually said "I simply can't work out why anyone can think Scandinavian countries who have much higher suicide rates than elsewhere can be considered to have a higher quality of life than others. Perhaps someone needs to tell them".
davidstockport "Scandinavian countries who have much higher suicide rates than elsewhere"
Finland is the highest ranked at position 26th behind many other developed countries.
So no, you are not backing up your knowledge with provable facts. Scandinavian countries are recognized for the entire World as one of the best places to live, but I'm sure that you knows more than anyone to say otherwise.
bzortead You seem to be like another member who can't answer questions - I actually asked: "Please point out where I said there was NO quality of life in Scandinavian countries? I actually said "I simply can't work out why anyone can think Scandinavian countries who have much higher suicide rates than elsewhere can be considered to have a higher quality of life than others. Perhaps someone needs to tell them".
Incidentally ELSEWHERE doesn't necessarily mean EVERYWHERE. The one you remind me of thinks MOST meant ALL. (if as you claim) "This is one of the most non-sense comments I ever read in my life". You obviously haven't read his. He's still trying to work out how he hadn't heard of Latest Deals until about 14 months ago - when posting from an account that dated back to 2017. (My guess is he thought he was posting from another more recently acquired account).
davidstockport I am here for the competitions, and sometimes I stop to read some of the Chat topics. That's why I wrote that after reading someone on a Deals website complaining about wages raising hahahahaha This is absolutely incredible because you don't even know the difference between the Gov raising the statutory wage and the market raising wages.
But again, you write texts and blablabla texts, as if you were the greatest connoisseur in the universe. For 10 years, newspapers, the UN and all kinds of research have placed the Nordic countries in the Top 5 of the best places to live on the planet, with the highest quality of life indices, balance between work-social life. I AM SURE YOU ARE RIGHT otherwise.
bzortead How strange did you see someone else use "blablabla" or did you make it up yourself? The only texts I have ever written are to people I know via my mobile phone. (none have appeared on this forum).
Statistics can be correct but misleading. I remember when it was once said that 5% of preventable road accidents were caused by drunken drivers, that some sources quite rightly pointed out that it meant 95% of preventable road accidents were caused by sober drivers.
As for "That's why I wrote that after reading someone on a Deals website complaining about wages raising hahahahaha" If it was this site could you point out where anyone has actually complained about wages rising?
davidstockport These Quality of Life Index by Country 2021 figures at Numbeo may help you to better understand why Scandinavian countries consistently beat most other countries in the World Quality of Life rankings.
https://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/rankings_by_country.jsp
Rank Country Quality of Life Index
1 Switzerland 188.36
2 Denmark 186.25
3 Netherlands 180.27
4 Finland 178.95
5 Australia 178.41
6 Iceland 177.64
7 Austria 176.36
8 Germany 175.24
9 New Zealand 173.6
10 Luxembourg 171.81
11 Norway 171.72
12 Estonia 171.16
13 Sweden 170.19
14 Oman 168.82
15 Slovenia 165.74
16 Japan 164.06
17 United States 163.6
18 Spain 163.48
19 Lithuania 160.29
20 Portugal 159.83
21 Czech Republic 157.49
22 Canada 157.25
23 United Kingdom 156.94
24 United Arab Emirates 156.94
25 Croatia 155.41
In this research:
Quality of Life Index (higher is better) is an estimation of overall quality of life by using an empirical formula which takes into account purchasing power index (higher is better), pollution index (lower is better), house price to income ratio (lower is better), cost of living index (lower is better), safety index (higher is better), health care index (higher is better), traffic commute time index (lower is better) and climate index (higher is better).
Johnny That is so naive (as I'm sure you know ) . Depends who is surveyed surely . I doubt if the migrant workers in the Gulf were asked about their quality of Life ?
Makes for good discussion (which I obviously Love ) but has little bearing on reality ?
Golfforall Perhaps, but most studies seem to come to exactly the same conclusion, i.e. the quality of life in Scandinavian countries is actually excellent, and they consistently rank higher for quality of life than most other countries.
I used to go to Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland regularly for work, and I'd say it's true, the Scandinavians live well.
Johnny Wouldn't disagree , however they were always very keen to get hold of a bottle of duty free whiskey that I always took (though can't stand the stuff myself 
!)
Johnny Thanks Johnny but my criteria for judging quality of life is how happy the population are. This although only covering Europe does indicate that in Sweden depression amongst the young is triple that of other places in Europe and explains why.https://www.euronews.com/2019/07/05/14-young-europeans-at-risk-of-depression-sweden-tops-the-list-study
I've not been to Sweden since 1980 and although I liked Swedes generally did find them not to be the happiest of people, the prices there were horrific.
I definitely wouldn't want to live there.
davidstockport Forty-one years is a long time to make a judgment 
The world has changed a lot since 1980. As far as I know, prices are high for tourists, the same problem in Switzerland. You have to pay twice for a McDonald's, etc. However, it is more than affordable for their salary.
kikogpe I do realise that FORTY one years is a long time but the link I provided does indicate that there is still a higher rate of depression in Sweden. So in my opinion that lowers the quality of life.
Quality of life should not be based solely on money (although not having enough can lower it).
"my criteria for judging quality of life is how happy the population are"
To be frank, happiness is insufficient criteria to judge the quality of life in a country. At a minimum one needs to consider quality of health, quality of education, and the standard of living. If you take a look at the UN's Human Development Index which measures quality of life, yet again you'll find the Scandinavian countries at the top of the rankings, ahead of the UK.
But thanks for the EU study.
In that EU study, I was interested to see that the UK was also one of the worst countries (No.5) for young people at 'high risk of depression' at 20%.
That's worse than Denmark (13%) and Finland (7%).
I find Finland having one of the lowest figures in the EU for young people at 'high risk of depression' (i.e. best) particularly curious.
Statistics eh!
bzortead The issue is the UK has huge debts and a trading deficit. Just declaring high wages or paying more doesn't help. They have to be earnt through a well run economy with level trading or a trading surplus. If we are to pay our debts we have to move to a trading surplus. We need to export more goods and services and that could be because they are better, more desirable or simply cheaper. The longer we keep borrowing to prop up our economy the greater the austerity to pay back these debts. Ultimately we need to do this now and its going to be painful. We need to stop importing as much and export more. A lower value ยฃ will help but wages if anything need to be lower to return more manufacturing to the UK and other services. There just isn't the will to do this though and I feel the economy will pretty much have to collapse before people come to their senses and be more realistic.
We should never have borrowed in the first place, we have no moral right to live beyond our means and expect future generations to pay off our debts.
Golfforall My comment "It's unlikely there could be an interesting discussion. There are too many who think interesting discussions involve throwing insults at each other". has this evening (Thursday 7th October) been vindicated. You might have noticed our resident racist, misoginistic, ageist, foulmouthed, sycophantic, alcoholic and semi-literate member made it quite clear in a topic we were both involved with. If you didn't notice it it was perhaps because it was removed very quickly, but not before I had chance to copy it into my complaint. (the second in the past week - I intend just reporting and ignoring them here).
You, GFA, will know how annoying it can be when irksome members send, by tagging you, things, often just GIFs, to topics you have no interest in, then get their associates to do the same, I've noticed it has happened to you. I'd call it harassment but "the management" don't seem to think so.
(I'm wondering how many more dormant accounts some have to try to disguise who they are).
BonzoBanana A fair comment , but some of this debt wasn't really a choice ? The 2 world wars for instance which are still a massive part of the National Debt . Think we have gradually been reducing said National Debt - but then COVID hit so we borrowed more so we could implement all the measures that were generally applauded?
I see earlier today that the USA Senate agreed to extend their ยฃ21 trillion National Debt to avoid them going into default . UK National Debt is about 2500 billion . All developed nations have similar debts .
The viability of both these "mind numbing " amounts is , as you say , dependant upon the economies being deemed capable of paying the debt off within 100 years or so ! Another reason why interest rates ( based on the base rate ) will stay low while inflation due to external factors will rise to about 5% .
davidstockport To be quite honest I can only feel sympathy for those who try to "purloin" vouchers from the site . We know who they are and I dare say Latest Deals do as well .
My beef is that they deliberately take "rewards" from the site on an industrial scale thus shrinking the pot available to genuine members (many of whom rely on these rewards for presents etc ).
Latest Deals must have the expertise to know about these multis ? but choose to do little about it .
I have an occasional rant against these serial site abusers (just to remind them that some of us know their game and will keep bringing it to light ) But to be honest they are not worth the effort . It is Latest Deals and more importantly their members who should be concerned - but they appear not to be . So why should I be ?
Golfforall Of course they know about people having more than one account "I've told them" one who definitely has more than one account admitted it (accidentally) when "playing the innocent" saying he hadn't even heard of Latest Deals until about 14 months ago. He probably got confused thinking the account he was posting from was one he formed about 14 months ago. But was actually posting from one he formed in 2017. THAT SLIP UP WAS ALMOST LAUGHABLE (he still can't explain how a person who opened his account in 2017 and first posted in 2019 didn't even know about LD until mid 2020) I don't know how many more accounts he has - but do know since he realised he's been rumbled, he no longer harasses me in the same 2017 name. If you recognise who I'm talking about please ignore any insinuation from him that we're friends. Some people simply don't know when to stop telling porkies.
Regarding my email telling LD - it was totally ignored, although another posted a few hours earlier was acknowledged but no action taken YET although I'll persist in reporting rather than engaging with these trolls. I have actually asked, perchance my email was lost or overlooked, if they'd like a copy.
Incidentally I don't have any sympathy for those who cheat to "purloin points" in my opinion they're on the same level as shoplifters.
I hope this comment (because no individual is identified) is allowed to remain - IMO it should be if postings containing blatant lies are.
It might even amuse some and might even cause one troll (with several user names) to squirm.
In closing may I thank the moderator who locked the topic I referred to - it did prevent MrMultipleusername editing his comment, although I had screen grabbed it just in case I wish I'd screen grabbed some earlier comments that have been edited. I don't like being called a liar.
Golfforall As you can see from this chart. The WW2 debt was paid off by the seventies and eighties, this is all new debt. We have transferred a huge amount of money to the EU, at the time we had oil revenue, a trading surplus (which is what paid off the WW2 debt) and the Conservatives had a huge amount of privatisation which sold off a huge amount of assets to raise funds. Of course with a trading deficit, huge payments to the EU and no more oil revenue we were forced to borrow. Also need to look at our NIIP rating (net international investment position). No not all countries have debt the same as us and many have much more in the way of positive assets like Japan. We are in a very weak damaged position currently, more so than many nations when you look at the overall picture and this is pretty much indicated by our borrowing requirements.
BonzoBanana Sorry all your graph proves is that there has been an underlying debt back to the world wars (as I stated ?) .
Various governments (with differing policies ) and various worldwide economic climates have obviously affected the graph . I'm afraid "without getting political" it does not show a great deal except that we, as a nation , have to work our way out of it by increased production .
Golfforall Can you not see the huge peak of debt after WW2 and around about 1990 it was only about 25% of GDP before it started climbing again?
BonzoBanana But GDP was an awful lot less in those days . I don't go a lot on historical data ,as times , economics etc were so different .
Golfforall GDP is also significant and definitely the best way of comparing debt levels because GDP is our capacity to pay. I think GDP is mainly following inflation anyway. However GDP is just really a calculation of business going on in the country. Even house price increases effect GDP. That's why GDP shouldn't be used as a benchmark on the health of our economy. Our real capacity to pay back our debts is our trade balance, is the UK increasing the level of assets and capital in the country or is it increasing debts with reducing assets. Sadly the latter. Nothing surprising really we can all see the huge reduction in British companies and manufacturing, really only the service industries are doing well and they can't carry the whole economy.
I remember "Black Wednesday" in 1992 when
The UK withdraw European Exchange Rate Mechanism and the Bank of England interest rates was 12% and warnings that they would go up & the effect on mortgage rates. That led to the housing market crash. I remember how scary it was at the time, thinking will we be able to afford the mortgage. Which made you think you always needed something for a rainy day. I am definitely showing my age 
If you think you're showing your age, how do you think I feel! My sister's late husband's coffin cost exactly as much as their first house.
It's not just the cost of LIVING that has increased.
I remember those interest rates, 15 percent on my ISA. I think it started my saving habit, people have less Incentive to start saving with todays rates. Funny how both sides of the coin caused the same outcome.
I am also of an age where I remember it well. I remember my parents watching the news each month to hear if interest rates were going up again - as each small increase would increase the mortgage payments almost straight away. Its easy to forget just how volatile rates were - something that has not been the case for quite a few years now. I doubt if it will get quite that bad again - but there is a danger for the economy - its all every well telling employers to pay higher wages - but these will be paid for in higher - resulting in higher cost of living - we are already seeing that before we start paying for the higher wages. The next round of pay deals for many sectors will be very interesting. Worrying times for many people even if Boris thinks its all a joke - many people wont be laughing over the coming months
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