Cost of Living #8

[November]

November said:
We have free tip passes!

What is that?

Entry free Passes to the rubbish tip, er Garbage dump? Waste station? So we can take our own rubbish to the growing mounds of rubbish on the outskirts of town. The place where the bin man "tips", empties, his rubbish truck. This one surprised me! I didnt think language was SO different, but I guess I am coming to understand why I am often misunderstood here lol.


Im getting annoyed at old people on facebook. There have been a number of stories about the increasing homelessness of older women and the failure of social/state housing to keep up with demand (that they cause). People commenting that poors dont deserve heating and cooling, dry homes, or safely locking doors. "Back in their day..." Dickheads. Its not their day anymore, its 2026 and a mineral rich country like this should be raising the standard of living for all. Not just telling people to suffer cos they did back in 1956. Although, if we had evolved as humans we wouldnt be having war either.

 

[hoponlilmama]

You're absolutely right. This reminds me of a job I was once fired from. I was asked to sign a paper that said I had been let go because I "didn't mesh with company culture." No joke.

I am an incredibly friendly, easy going person, and most people like me. The boss loved me, so much so I was promoted only months into working there.

I refused to sign it.

A few months later, I ran into a woman I had worked with and she told me I was fired because the other women at the office were offended that I didn't want to get happy hour drinks with them after work. I didn't have an interest in socializing with them because they were all super negative and gossiped a lot.

Post automatically merged: Jul 20, 2026

What is that?

What a joke.
Silver lining - you no longer had to be amongst people like that any longer.

 

[nightshade]

@November the tip is free here too, but we have to book in, I did book one for yesterday but it got too hot for me to go up the allotment and load it up. I'll wait for it to get cooler.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Entry free Passes to the rubbish tip, er Garbage dump? Waste station? So we can take our own rubbish to the growing mounds of rubbish on the outskirts of town. The place where the bin man "tips", empties, his rubbish truck. This one surprised me! I didnt think language was SO different, but I guess I am coming to understand why I am often misunderstood here lol.

Oh, nice! I wish we had that in America. Here, if you have rubbish you need to get rid off, you have to pay to bring it to the indoor dump, which is this horrible, stinking thing. The city refuse will take some items, like an old washer that's broken for instance, but you have to schedule a pickup and also have to pay a fee as well.

Im getting annoyed at old people on facebook. There have been a number of stories about the increasing homelessness of older women and the failure of social/state housing to keep up with demand (that they cause). People commenting that poors dont deserve heating and cooling, dry homes, or safely locking doors. "Back in their day..." Dickheads. Its not their day anymore, its 2026 and a mineral rich country like this should be raising the standard of living for all. Not just telling people to suffer cos they did back in 1956. Although, if we had evolved as humans we wouldnt be having war either.

That's awful. Everyone deserves housing, it is a human right.

On that note, I'm so sick of people blaming others for being poor, as if it's a character flaw. People are poor not because they don't work hard, they've poor because the cost of living is increasing and wages aren't. These people are totally out of touch and privledged and refuse to acknowledge how much things have changed.

 

[Kendar]

Entry free Passes to the rubbish tip, er Garbage dump? Waste station? So we can take our own rubbish to the growing mounds of rubbish on the outskirts of town. The place where the bin man "tips", empties, his rubbish truck. This one surprised me! I didnt think language was SO different, but I guess I am coming to understand why I am often misunderstood here lol.


Im getting annoyed at old people on facebook. There have been a number of stories about the increasing homelessness of older women and the failure of social/state housing to keep up with demand (that they cause). People commenting that poors dont deserve heating and cooling, dry homes, or safely locking doors. "Back in their day..." Dickheads. Its not their day anymore, its 2026 and a mineral rich country like this should be raising the standard of living for all. Not just telling people to suffer cos they did back in 1956. Although, if we had evolved as humans we wouldnt be having war either.

I work for the Texas abuse hotline (so CPS and APS). And financial issues are a common reason for us to take cases for APS. Elderly/disabled are often on fixed incomes, so if A/C goes out? They can't afford to get it fixed. Surgery will cost you $500 out of pocket? They don't get the surgery.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Elderly/disabled are often on fixed incomes, so if A/C goes out? They can't afford to get it fixed. Surgery will cost you $500 out of pocket? They don't get the surgery.

It's so sad in one of the the "richest" countries in the world, people still have to forgo life-saving surgery because they can't afford it. I had to cancel mine because I couldn't afford it either. It's a scary space to be in.

We need universal health now. Actually, yesterday.

So, I went to the food pantry at the Catholic Church near my house today, for the first time in several months. When I got paid last, I paid all my bills and had little left over, so I thought I could stretch my food budget by at least getting some items there, like rice and local produce, which they always have plenty of. The line was around the block. I've never seen it that long. I waited two hours, and still couldn't get in. I'll try again tomorrow. Times are tough for a lot of people right now, especially here. I was next to a Mexican lady in line with had five kids with her, all under the age of five. I can't imagine how hard life must be for her. Definitely gave me some perspective.

Anyway, how is everyone faring with the cost of living now? What cost are you struggling with the most? Interestingly, I got my report from the electric company and my overall usage is down since last year. The only thing I can think of why this is that I'm out of the house more now because I'm having to work a lot, so I'm not using the air as much. My gas bill was higher than usual though so any savings I could have gotten from the electric was eaten up with that. And auto gas (petrol) has creeped up to $4/gallon here, and I'm definitely noticing I'm spending more on gas but compared to other people who have to commute for work, I can't really complain because thankfully I only live ten minutes drive from where I work. I know people that have to commute forty minutes each way.

 

[nightshade]

Cost of diesel has jumped up again. Gone up over 20p a litre in last few weeks and no doubt still going up.

 

[NotASlayer]

I should have bought petrol on Monday not today.

 

[November]

They put the fuel back up to full price here so its near $2 a litre now. My need for home entertainment is going to increase lol.

 

[nightshade]

They put the fuel back up to full price here so its near $2 a litre now. My need for home entertainment is going to increase lol.

My diesel was around $3.50 a litre

 

[HowiMetdaSlayer]

Frugal. Pfft, they can worry about my bills when I I'm dead. 😃

 

[Stake fodder]

I bought some packaged sliced meat on sale, but the sale price is what the full-cost price was a year ago, and the package is now 14 oz instead of 16 oz. I bought it, anyway, but you need to pay attention and have a good memory to know when they've changed the size!

 

[NotASlayer]

I bought some packaged sliced meat on sale, but the sale price is what the full-cost price was a year ago, and the package is now 14 oz instead of 16 oz. I bought it, anyway, but you need to pay attention and have a good memory to know when they've changed the size!

Cadbury's chocolate is one of the worst offenders for that here. A bar that's maybe 80% of the size it used to be - and reportedly lower quality chocolate since it was taken over by an American company - is only the price it was for a bigger bar when significantly reduced.

 

[November]

Me and the dogs have a tin of sardines every few days. Now there is a nationwide shortage cos the fitness gurus decided to go frugal.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Gas gas creeped up to $4 a gallon here, and I'm feeling it! I feel like I'm always putting gas in my car.

Money has been real tight lately. My boyfriend finally got a new job, but we're waiting on his first paycheck. If I wasn't able to go to the food pantry this month, we would definitely have run out of food! And I really really don't want to go into savings.

I also feed bad because I've been feeding my dogs cheap, low quality food, but I just can't afford better now.

 

[nightshade]

$4 a gallon is so cheap compared to here 😭

That's just over a dollar a litre, roughly half the price I paid! I think I want to play anywhere but here.

I did an Octopus referral the other day, so waiting to get my £50 credit which will help with that bill a little.

I do need to get back into surveys and get £50 from there.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Hey all! So, I was bored today and thought I'd do some research of cost of living and "living wage", in hopes it could me understand why I'm having such a hard time financially lately. I learned that the cost of living were I live in 17 percent below the national average, and the "living wage" for one adult with "typical expenses" living alone with no children is $21/hr which is about $43,000 a year. I make a little less than this, and I am barely getting by. What am I missing? I don't think this "living wage" is accurate.

How about you guys? I'm curious! How does the cost of living in your area measure up to the national average? And what is a "living wage" in your area?

 

[nightshade]

Hey all! So, I was bored today and thought I'd do some research of cost of living and "living wage", in hopes it could me understand why I'm having such a hard time financially lately. I learned that the cost of living were I live in 17 percent below the national average, and the "living wage" for one adult with "typical expenses" living alone with no children is $21/hr which is about $43,000 a year. I make a little less than this, and I am barely getting by. What am I missing? I don't think this "living wage" is accurate.

How about you guys? I'm curious! How does the cost of living in your area measure up to the national average? And what is a "living wage" in your area?

Oh now I feel really poor! $40k is roughly £30k,and I don't earn half that!

However the average is obviously higher than what I earn, do I cope, yeah mostly. I probably shouldn't have booked the holiday as that's definitely stretching the finances. However I don't buy any fancy foods, and rarely socialise anywhere that costs money unless it's a special occasion. If I meet up with people it's for a cup of tea or hot chocolate, either at the pub for £1.50 (free refills) or at someone's home. I probably have a proper night out maybe a handful of times a year, so it's special when we do, silent disco at the end of the month is the next one, but it'll be maybe £15 for the night, including the tickets.

 

[NotASlayer]

How about you guys? I'm curious! How does the cost of living in your area measure up to the national average? And what is a "living wage" in your area?

In the UK, the "living wage" - it's literally called that, but there's no guarantee that's an accurate name - is £12.71 (US$17.21 at current exchange rates).

 

[nightshade]

In the UK, the "living wage" - it's literally called that, but there's no guarantee that's an accurate name - is £12.71 (US$17.21 at current exchange rates).

You know America isn't sounding too bad, half price fuel, higher wages, the weather is a bit too extreme though. The fact that we have free (ish) health care will keep me here though.