Scottish Elises

Nothing earth shatteringly newsworthy, but I have been doing a fair bit of the daily / weekly food shopping recently and it struck me how much more expensive general "stuff" is these days. There have certainly been a few times over the past week where I have actually looked at the receipt to check that something hadn't gone through twice or a multi-buy hadn't registered or the like. Thing that brought it to mind was that we often stick a 6-pack of the small diet coke bottles in the trolley at Tesco for £3 and I just realised today that it is now up to £3.85ish. I am sure if I paid more attention there would be other similar examples. Suppose I tend to blank it out when it is petrol or non-essential luxury things but it is worry when you pop into the shop for very little and take out a £20 note and expect change, then have to fumble around for more money.

renmure wrote:Nothing earth shatteringly newsworthy, but I have been doing a fair bit of the daily / weekly food shopping recently and it struck me how much more expensive general "stuff" is these days. There have certainly been a few times over the past week where I have actually looked at the receipt to check that something hadn't gone through twice or a multi-buy hadn't registered or the like. Thing that brought it to mind was that we often stick a 6-pack of the small diet coke bottles in the trolley at Tesco for £3 and I just realised today that it is now up to £3.85ish. I am sure if I paid more attention there would be other similar examples. Suppose I tend to blank it out when it is petrol or non-essential luxury things but it is worry when you pop into the shop for very little and take out a £20 note and expect change, then have to fumble around for more money.

Couldn't agree more. We have a joint account that we both put money in at the start of the month to cover food, toiletries, cleaning materials etc. Over the last year we've really noticed how much extra we need to put into it - probably an extra 25-30%.

Of course that will only increase again now we have our wee addition to the family - but we can at least budget for that to a degree.

I find it incredible that a can or small bottle of juice from a shop or garage can be 95p plus - and even in the supermarkets the prices are steep. I guess the increases in fuel affect everything we buy and it is really starting to bite.

Cheers

Alistair

20% increases are the norm on lots of things but unless you check prices you don't pick up the difference.
I noticed an extra £2-3 on the bill for when I pick up stuff mid week so started taking note and was shocked at some of the increases.

Actually what is more of a shock is that I can contrinute to a thread about the price of groceries

I feel very fortunate to be in a position where this has as yet not affected the way I have to live.

For those however on low and fixed incomes these increases can quite quickly affect the way they live and make for some difficult decisions. The essentials like food and energy are fast becoming 'luxuries' for some.

We notice it in our shopping but just have to suck it up, for some that's not possible.

renmure wrote:Nothing earth shatteringly newsworthy, but I have been doing a fair bit of the daily / weekly food shopping recently and it struck me how much more expensive general "stuff" is these days. There have certainly been a few times over the past week where I have actually looked at the receipt to check that something hadn't gone through twice or a multi-buy hadn't registered or the like. Thing that brought it to mind was that we often stick a 6-pack of the small diet coke bottles in the trolley at Tesco for £3 and I just realised today that it is now up to £3.85ish. I am sure if I paid more attention there would be other similar examples. Suppose I tend to blank it out when it is petrol or non-essential luxury things but it is worry when you pop into the shop for very little and take out a £20 note and expect change, then have to fumble around for more money.

Times are tough - some people are even struggling to afford their next Ferrari doncha know

I have noticed the price of the weekly shop has been going up over the year. Luckily that is Ann's department so I am protected from that

Very noticeable difference in supermarkets for me. Used to go to M+S without thinking twice about it, now I notice £50-70 gets us not much. Especially if you include luxuries such as wines, spirits, nicer meats.

I'm a bit of a savvy shopper (well, at least I like to think I am!), whilst I don't subscribe to driving all over town for the cheapest X, Y and Z, I am happy to switch brands if there is a decent deal, and buy in bulk (to a certain extent) if it's a decent deal.

I have noticed though that the 'deals' in the main supermarkets now are often just selling the same item for what it used to cost anyway, and there seems to be less deals around. Also, the prices often don't work the way you'd immediatly expect, ie it can often be cheaper buying 2 or 4 small things instead of 1 large pack, of the same brand etc..

Also, prices fluctuate SO MUCH!
Muller yoghurts/rice, and cheese like cathedral city are great examples. The cheese is 2 for £3.50, or £4 every 3 or 4 weeks, so I sometimes pick up 4. In between times, it's 3 quid a block, so there's your £2 difference on 1 produce alone!

Same thing with fizzy juice, £1 a bottle one week, then 1.99 the next.

Also, you used to be able to buy a 500ml bottle / can of juice / mars bar in a supermarket for an ok price, but now it's more or less the same price as anywhere else.

The moral of my story, look at the prices before buying the goods.

Indeed - in tesco's case the deals tend to be priced in yellow, plus (especially with beer ) I always check the specific price i.e. Price per litre/kilo/item etc...

And the best deals are quite often at the aisle-ends.

Been given a few insider tips from one of my best mates who happens to be a sainsburys store manager

rossybee wrote:Been given a few insider tips from one of my best mates who happens to be a sainsburys store manager

ceejam wrote:

rossybee wrote:Been given a few insider tips from one of my best mates who happens to be a sainsburys store manager

Theft

rossybee wrote:Been given a few insider tips from one of my best mates who happens to be a sainsburys store manager

Shop in Asda if it's not 10% cheaper they refund the difference

The rate of inflation is higher than the rate of pay rises for 18 - 25 year olds. So how exactly am I expected to cope? Help if my workplace were not liars and gave me not only what they promised me but also what I deserve.

S111Y TT wrote:The rate of inflation is higher than the rate of pay rises for 18 - 25 year olds. So how exactly am I expected to cope? Help if my workplace were not liars and gave me not only what they promised me but also what I deserve.

Not just 18-15 year olds, try the vast majority of the population....

RDH wrote:

S111Y TT wrote:The rate of inflation is higher than the rate of pay rises for 18 - 25 year olds. So how exactly am I expected to cope? Help if my workplace were not liars and gave me not only what they promised me but also what I deserve.

Not just 18-15 year olds, try the vast majority of the population....

Didn't want to say as I only saw the figures for that age range so wasn't entirely sure.