How is everyone ACTUALLY doing during this cost of living crisis?

44 comments

1. Looked for a new job, got an offer, current employer counter offered even higher to keep me. Not easy but that’s how I pulled an additional $12k base salary even after my annual bump

2. i did not notice there was a crisis tbh…

3. To be honest, I’m in the lucky position where I haven’t really felt any kind of squeeze. The cost of things is more annoying than it is stressful.

4. I make enough to absorb it without any painful cuts, but I can’t help but laugh when the government keeps insisting I buy a brand new $60,000 electric car on top of my already-doubled cost of living.

   At this rate we’re all gonna be driving Mad Max frankencars for the next forty years.

5. Not bad, but not as well as I’d like.

6. All depends on how much of a ‘buffer’ you have in terms of disposable income per month to account for the situation. I’m fairly fortunate in that I have enough after bills, savings accounts etc, to accommodate the rising costs of things.

   But it’s definitely been noticeable, very much so. Not in an “Am i choosing between dinner or heating the house tonight?”, but moreso a “Wtf, a coffee in that shop was £2.20 last year, then £2.50 around Xmas, and now is £2.80”. The costs of basic goods, and of course luxury goods, are rising right before my eyes to the degree that I can actually identify it and notice it, ***even though***, I’m not strapped for cash – which is very telling imo.

   I truly empathise for people who live pay-check to pay-check and just scrape by, because this level of cost increase for consumer goods is just not sustainable.

   This is all before we get onto the cost increases for ‘leisure’ things like flights, hotels, Airbnb, daytrip packages, and activities (for example paintballing, going to the spa, board-game video-game arcades, life-drawing class, etc). My parents have an apartment in Spain which I use sometimes. I used to pretty reliably get return flights from London to Malaga for like £40-60ish if I booked a while in advance. It’s now £100 minimum for the same times of year, and that’s if you’re lucky. It goes up to £200 easily for flights at the more popular times of day. Absolute madness.

7. In a awkward stage where I can’t decide if it’s cheaper to rent or buy in my area. It’s becoming difficult to afford a 1 bedroom apartment on your own

8. I’ve been hustling for money these past few years so I’m actually doing alright. Been using Hello fresh for like 2 months now and found a love of cooking.

9. Oh you know, Just watching the government hand out billions of dollars to other countries while my fellow citizens get backdoor tax increases and sink deeper into debt.

   Wheeuuuuuuu canaduh!

10. Yea fine.

    We’re DINK’s, so pretty well set up financially. Our mortgage rate doesn’t expire for a few more years, and we’ve swapped jobs and increased the incomes a few times, so all fine here. Very privileged/lucky position to be in I’m aware.

11. I‘m honest- My monthly bill didn’t raise that much. It feels like only discount grocery stores are affected.

12. My expenses for 2022 were 20% higher than 2019. Take-home pay has only gone up about 5% in the same time.

    I have a fairly frugal lifestyle so my standard of living is not changed in a meaningful way as long as the job market for my profession is strong.

    If it does not remain the same I’ve got the savings to survive while retraining myself to something else.

13. I was in a pretty bad place last year (electricity bills and some other stuff did me bad). So I already was in saving mode. Spending way less money than before, whenever possible. Thanks to this and more payment from work, I’m doing “fine” at the moment. But feels like it get’s harder by the week.

14. Maintaining.

    Which sucks because I wanna be climbing. I wanna be traveling and experiencing. I wanna be building a life and future and wealth and creating a future with my hard work.

    But I can’t complain because I’m maintaining. I’m keeping myself and my girlfriend and my asshole cat afloat and in a relatively comfortable position without too many sacrifices.

15. Knock on wood, hasn’t affected me too much.

    My mortgage hasn’t changed since I refinanced it down in 2020, cooking for one has never been super expensive, and I take mass transit to work so my commuting costs haven’t gone up as gas prices have risen.

16. Literally had to start escorting on the side

17. I’m just lucky because my landlord has only increased my rent by 50/ year. So since the pandemic even started my rent has only increased $150. Meanwhile in that time I did graduate school and make decently good money and I got a roommate. I don’t have kids either.

    I’ve definitely cut back on going out significant though.

18. We’re doing pretty good actually.

    I found a job that pays a lot more and my wife got a massive promotion last month so things are looking up for us. I get it though. Lots of folks out there are struggling and I feel for them.

19. Surviving, but not quite thriving. Paying the bills and feeding the family, but larger expenses like car stuff and doctor visits are looming, and certain quality of life things are being put on the back burner.

20. The only way to keep up with inflation is always be applying and interviewing. That or be on “fixed income” which ironically means automatic cost of living increases.

    In the “bad old days” when inflation rate was 1% and companies gave out 2% raises it wasn’t so bad to stay at a job. Now they still give out 2% pay raises, but inflation is like “welcome back to the 1970s”. Always be applying and interviewing.

    Personally I’m tired of re-enacting the 1970s and look forward to re-enacting the 1980s. Aside from economics, both clothing styles and music were better in the 80s than the 70s.

21. Lots of mental math, but I’m doing quite okay for someone my age. I’m having it way easier than others, and I’m lucky to be that way.

22. I saw a price increase with groceries but otherwise didn’t feel it much since my mortgage and car have been paid off a long while back. Work laid of a lot of people but i was one of the ones that got a slight raise instead to keep me around.

23. Makes it feel like all my achievements were for nothing. I make almost 500k a year, and between mortgage, car payments, groceries, etc it feels like it’s still not enough. I would probably need at least 800k a year to make my financial goals.

    It’s also really made me hate our bullshit progressive tax system. Hurts those of us that work the hardest.

24. I have been trying to dig myself out of this huge hole of debt that I’ve fallen into because of being unemployed for a few months, and it’s getting harder and harder to not only unbury myself but just keeping up.

25. I’m an extreme miser so honestly I’ve lost a good amount of my financial buffer but I’m still not really hit that hard

26. let’s just say i barely eat. beans and bread has been my diet for months

27. I’m doing fine. I’ve lived below my means for 20 years exactly in anticipation of hard times such as these, so I have a decent cushion of savings to weather this, and continue to spend less than I earn. I haven’t lived paycheque to paycheque since my university days.

    Unless I get laid off, I’ll be fine. And even if I do get laid off, I have enough set aside to be fine for a long time.

28. Awful.

    I do alright, but my girlfriends a teacher and doesnt make shit.

    Im irritated when people tell me everythings fine and the economy is great, because work if artificially slowed down for us based on uncertainty. Costs skyrocketing are destroying any form of financial flexibility i had and im having to be more and more conservative to make sure i can afford the random bullshit of life.

    This shits getting stressful, im happy for all of you that arent struggling, but dont pretend its not hurting the middle class. This has been a horrible couple of years so far economically.

29. At my place of employment we are so short handed I make more in overtime then I do my regular pay. Thankfully my kids are grown so it’s not a hassle leaving my wife to take care of everything solo. If anything the extra money is a blessing with weddings coming up that I’m paying for without putting anything on credit cards

30. What cost of living crisis? Are my groceries a bit higher than they were Pre-Covid? A bit. But not really at a level that is alarming to me. And I’ve been living below my means for more than 20 years and I’m still able to save plenty of money every month.

31. I make an income I dreamed of 5 years ago and now am just barely comfortable due to how much the COL has increased. So Im not struggling but I dont feel like Im thriving either. Which is really annoying given how much Im making now.

32. I make 105k/year. I don’t feel the stress of that housing problem, but instead I feel the nightmare stressors of having to fight my kid’s mom for custody issues.

33. I’m in a good financially state right now despite that my country’s economy is going through shit with all these loans and devaluation waves but I’m scared of the future so I’m limiting spending and studying more about investment. Currently investing in gold

34. Where i live it always was like this, inflation to the roof. Actually we are a little bettet than in recent past

35. Honestly?

    Fine is the exact word for it. Financially I would say stable. But that’s probably because we don’t have children and are struggling with infertility.

    So the days begin to blend together as my 30s pass. I feel guilty that I am not being productive enough. I can’t out work being unable to get my wife pregnant.

    I would love to help. I would love to adopt. It’s 40,000 dollars. I don’t understand. Meanwhile i know people with more abortions then children.

    I make the same money, but my body breaks down little by little. Things just cost more.

    I can take it. I am strong.

    I’m fine.

36. Struggling and in debt. Not too deep, though. A couple thousand. Also trying to maintain a house by myself.

37. Im lucky. Im single no kids and able to rent a room from my buddy for like less than half of what a 1 room apartment would be for me in the same city.

38. Eh fine, I get annoyed at the cost of meat but it doesn’t really impact me beyond that. In theory i have thoughts of buying a house, but good “starter homes” that were 190k are became 350k and now they don’t exist at all in my city so idk bout that now lol

39. Cost of living is the same for me.

40. I’m only fine because I have a living situation that keeps my expenses low.

    It is quite frustrating that if I got this job I have now just one year earlier, I probably could have been in a reasonably affordable house in a fairly good neighborhood. Home prices in my area have risen somewhere between 80-150% (from 2019) in the price bracket I was looking at. Apartments are just out of the question because they’re the same cost as a mortgage. I make too much to qualify for low income housing, but I don’t make enough to buy my own fucking house.

    I’m in that weird spot where I actually have quite a bit of expendable income, but *only* because I’m not paying out the ass for living expenses and that expendable income doesn’t cover the cost of a house and utilities. I’m in line for a raise that should be put me right around where I need to be, but I’m just going to save that money for a down payment. I already save quite a bit, and the raise will just allow me to save more.

41. Pushing my 30’s and living with parents. I have an ok wage, but I did the math and the average rent in my area + gas/car insurance would take 60-75% of my net income.

42. The clowns that laugh on the outside, cry on the inside, and stare into the abyss inside the layer of fat and skin that separates the sides.

    “Clown” only label for one quarter of Punnett Square encoding {Crying,Laughing} / {Inside,Outside}. Other four left as exercise for reader.

    Möbius clowns have only one side; hence come in exactly two distinct varieties, Crying On The Side and Laughing On The Side

    CS-Clowns and LS-Clowns both induce the ‘crying’ state in others by proximity, behaviour presumably governed by quantum rules.

    “Entanglement” of möbius clowns cannot be modeled in three spatial dimensions plus time (and only serves to increase crying)

43. I’m no longer able to make ends meet self employed so I now have to seek gainful employment for a company/business that will probably pay me less than what the job is worth and suck my soul out of my body just so I don’t end up homeless. And I still can’t afford to go to a doctor about my medical stuff which hopefully may get covered by benefits at whatever job I get (doubtful).

44. I’m honestly not even sure at this point. It seems like everything is fucked and between Covid and getting sick (I developed an autoimmune condition), the last couple of years have felt like a tornado.