Cost of living crisis

julieq

ILW wrote: »

Not if you grow your own.

It's very difficult to grow vegetables cheaper than in-season retail prices, because the overhead costs mount up very quickly.

On the other hand the taste of home grown stuff is miles better. Courgettes and Tomatoes are dead easy for anyone to grow too, they can be done in window trays and hanging baskets, all you really need is a sunny spot.

Most people could cut the costs of living a lot anyway, there is a lot of "waste" in the average shopping trolley - people are often trading off convenience (processed food and packaged veg) against their time (and nothing particularly wrong with that incidentally). There is a lot of slack though, so plenty of wiggle room when times are hard. A lot of the weekly shop is habit, and if you break habits and drop branded goods it's quite easy to save a lot.

I tend to buy almost exclusively discounted end of shelf life groceries too. I don't live far from a couple of supermarkets and a Lidl, and it's quite easy to pop in at times you know discounting is taking place and fill the freezer with 75% discounted meat. The best time is Christmas Eve and the Saturday at Easter when they've overstocked and the shop is closed the next day. And at the end of the day on Tuesday in Waitrose the fresh bread is sold off cheap - 29p for a baguette and so on. So despite eating very well, we pay very little for groceries.

Thrugelmir

ILW wrote: »

I have asked a similar question in the past, why does every genaration feel the are entitled to a higher standard of living than the one before?

Maybe we've reached a reasonable standard of living, i.e. food, shelter, clothing. That wasn't even the case just 50 years ago. Time to refine what we have to be more efficient in terms of consumption and distribution.

The_White_Horse

i think we should bring back slavery. anyone who is able to work but hasn't for longer than 12 months can be bought from the state. once bought they are your personal chattel to use and abuse as you like. the slave will have no rights at all. however, kindly lefty morons may buy the slave from you and set them free to be a free man if they want to be responsible for their upkeep forever.

bring back slavery.

ninky_2

The_White_Horse wrote: »

bring back slavery.

i don't think it ever went away. the masters just changed and became more kindly.

chucky

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Whatever the work is , its a job for somebody.

so you think that businesses that are struggling should keep these people in their jobs just because "its a job for somebody."

great joined up thinking there - the same people against benefits are the ones saying that people should be maintained in their jobs even if the business is losing money and will go bankrupt.

edinburgher

Originally Posted by The_White_Horse
bring back slavery.

i don't think it ever went away. the masters just changed and became more kindly.

Or got better at hiding the fact that they weren't any kinder than the ones who went before?

shamrock77

CLAPTON wrote: »

Much of the present price inflation is due to imported goods (oil, commodies etc); this truely means people will have to change their spending habits.
Where possible they will cut back on imported goods as these have increased more than domesticly produced goods.
UK made and sourced goods and services will be in increased demand hence increasing employment

Not all negative then.

Yip try & buy British keeps people in jobs makes sense. I have heard a few people saying this now..:beer:

fc123

blueboy43 wrote: »

1) It doesn't matter where food or energy is produced, if commodity prices go up, they go up.

2) UK was self sufficient in gas until 2010

3) God help us if people think the UK's future is making clothes. It was poorly paid work in the 1960's never mind 50 years later.

??? What's wrong with it? Why not part of it's future?
Some places may be min wage (and I have been in those types of places) but no different than many supermarket type jobs (either packing or till tending) and many roles in a decent factory pay way over min wage as they couldn't recruit otherwise. A good cutter is on at least £10 - £12 per hour, pattern cutter £20 per hour, skilled machinists can earn over £10 p hr if on a bonus scheme per piece.

Obviously it does depend on what items the workers are actually making as that is the key to the factory thriving or dieing. Factories are still very disconnected from those that design and innovate the products. The ones that do both (thinking of places like John Smedley knitwear) tend to offer interesting rewarding work at decent pay rates......sweatshop free zone.

And as below, it all depends what you are making but agreed you can't compete on labour rate but you can on speed to market, cost to transport and so on.
Maybe loads of small specialist places is the future rather than bringing back huge souless sheds designed to do mass production?

blueboy43 wrote: »

Would you use the same argument about some of the government unproductive jobs.

Apart from some high end specialists - no one in the UK can compete against South East Asian labour making clothes - we couldn't even do it 50 years ago and resorted to mass immigration into the northern mill towns.

The only thing that would make it work would be tarriffs or tax credits to subsidise the wages.

You may as well call for "pure collectors" to return in helping to rejuvenate the UK leather tanning industry.

After all, a jobs a job.

Ricardo was clearly wasting his time.





*pure collectors, collected god !!!! which softens the leather, when the hides were soaked in it.*

O WH..........what you been drinking today ? I forgot to write on this in original post and wanted to post some roly smilies.

The_White_Horse wrote: »

i think we should bring back slavery. anyone who is able to work but hasn't for longer than 12 months can be bought from the state. once bought they are your personal chattel to use and abuse as you like. the slave will have no rights at all. however, kindly lefty morons may buy the slave from you and set them free to be a free man if they want to be responsible for their upkeep forever.

bring back slavery.

blueboy43

fc123 wrote: »

??? What's wrong with it? Why not part of it's future?
Some places may be min wage (and I have been in those types of places) but no different than many supermarket type jobs (either packing or till tending) and many roles in a decent factory pay way over min wage as they couldn't recruit otherwise. A good cutter is on at least £10 - £12 per hour, pattern cutter £20 per hour, skilled machinists can earn over £10 p hr if on a bonus scheme per piece.

Obviously it does depend on what items the workers are actually making as that is the key to the factory thriving or dieing. Factories are still very disconnected from those that design and innovate the products. The ones that do both (thinking of places like John Smedley knitwear) tend to offer interesting rewarding work at decent pay rates......sweatshop free zone.

And as below, it all depends what you are making but agreed you can't compete on labour rate but you can on speed to market, cost to transport and so on.
Maybe loads of small specialist places is the future rather than bringing back huge souless sheds designed to do mass production?



O WH..........what you been drinking today ? I forgot to write on this in original post and wanted to post some roly smilies.

Sorry - should have prefaced it with something about high end retail.

We will never be able to compete with the tat that Tesco / Asda / Primark et al sell. £2 T-shirt, £4 jeans and the like.

No reason why decent shoes / suits / knitwear / handbags can't be continued to be made in the UK - and I know there is a decent export market for this.