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Cost of Living

The only good thing about the cafe in our office building closing is that it's likely saved me £12 a week in coffee (now I'm having to do three days a week).
 
Jack Regan said:
The only good thing about the cafe in our office building closing is that it's likely saved me £12 a week in coffee (now I'm having to do three days a week).
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Blimey, what’s that, £50 a month on coffee… half a grand a year? I used to take a flask or have to use the cheap instant at work with the skanky spoons.

Shows how times and expectations have changed though. The staff at the place my lad works at are up in arms because in a cost-cutting measure although there will still be free coffee, they are having to let go the full time barista.

Don’t get me wrong, I love good coffee now but it does seem to be getting a bit out of hand.
 
EpsomWolf said:
Blimey, what’s that, £50 a month on coffee… half a grand a year?
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This is the bit I think many don't realise - the cumulative impact of these regular "treats". It's only a fiver can become quite a large outgoing.
 
Also, petrol creeping up again (local garage increased their price 4 times in the past week and a bit) and the winter weather is apparently going to impact food prices again.
 
EpsomWolf said:
Blimey, what’s that, £50 a month on coffee… half a grand a year? I used to take a flask or have to use the cheap instant at work with the skanky spoons.

Shows how times and expectations have changed though. The staff at the place my lad works at are up in arms because in a cost-cutting measure although there will still be free coffee, they are having to let go the full time barista.

Don’t get me wrong, I love good coffee now but it does seem to be getting a bit out of hand.
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The only time I drink coffee is when I'm in the office as I'm not a fan of instant. I don't think I would have been having one all three days anyway but probably two of the three would have been likely.

lemonjelly said:
This is the bit I think many don't realise - the cumulative impact of these regular "treats". It's only a fiver can become quite a large outgoing.
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Yep and coupled with all the additional petrol costs involved (in my case) it would likely have been around £100 month in total. As is I can't be arsed to walk to the local Costa so I'll be sticking with tea whilst in the office.
 
While we're on coffee, I recently tried doing pour-over coffee using some medium roast coffee grounds. I have to say I didn't see any better flavour than a good instant like Douwe Egberts. Plus there's the faff of doing it too and if you get the ratios wrong it comes out bitter or way too strong/weak. Plus once you add milk it's not hot enough any more. Can't say I'm a fan of that method.
 
If it was just supermarket/shop bought coffee then the beans will be too old to make any kind of identifiable difference to instant when using pour over, if you are then adding milk into it then there isn't really any point/benefit to making the coffee via PO method, just use instant.
 
Totally random question
What is now considered a livable salary in the UK?
Typical town, city dwelling, outside of London
I understand the question is really broad, but wanted to get a general idea
 
This could be interesting!

From personal perspective we bought out first house when our combined household income was somewhere between £50-55k, 3 bedroom house in a fairly average post industrial commuter area in the Midlands. Never really had to make a concerted effort to scrimp and scrape to live the life we wanted at that point, still went away somewhere each year, did some work to the house, odd meals out, etc.

In hindsight probably could've made that move sooner with lesser income and/or savings but we were both cautious to ensure we didn't have to sacrifice many of niceties we'd become accustomed to when we made the move.
 
MARKakaJIM said:
This could be interesting!

From personal perspective we bought out first house when our combined household income was somewhere between £50-55k, 3 bedroom house in a fairly average post industrial commuter area in the Midlands. Never really had to make a concerted effort to scrimp and scrape to live the life we wanted at that point, still went away somewhere each year, did some work to the house, odd meals out, etc.

In hindsight probably could've made that move sooner with lesser income and/or savings but we were both cautious to ensure we didn't have to sacrifice many of niceties we'd become accustomed to when we made the move.
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You don't have kids, which makes a significant difference
 
UKYankieWWFC said:
Totally random question
What is now considered a livable salary in the UK?
Typical town, city dwelling, outside of London
I understand the question is really broad, but wanted to get a general idea
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Average salary is £27.5k I believe. Too many variables to say what is liveable, but to afford your own home, have 2 kids and not be on the breadline you'd need to be making more than that across the household.
Obviously this is very broad, but a weekly shop for 4 is going to cost £125+ unless you are scrimping
Bills somewhere like £450pm for gas, electric, council tax, tv licence and water
Full time childcare now I believe would cost you a grand per month if it's not with family
 
Tony Towner said:
Average salary is £27.5k I believe. Too many variables to say what is liveable, but to afford your own home, have 2 kids and not be on the breadline you'd need to be making more than that across the household.
Obviously this is very broad, but a weekly shop for 4 is going to cost £125+ unless you are scrimping
Bills somewhere like £450pm for gas, electric, council tax, tv licence and water
Full time childcare now I believe would cost you a grand per month if it's not with family
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Thanks!
Reason for asking, as previously mentioned somewhere on the forum, the company I work for has another facility just outside of Coventry.
The folk over there are coming here in a few weeks for a quick visit
There are a few opportunities / possibilities in the area to either transfer (and move back home) or bag a job down the road at one of their customers as a supplier quality engineer.
Average salary I believe is £40-50k per year for each position
We'd be moving back with 2 adult kids
We'd probably sell our house which we got super cheap so would probably use that for a decent car and possibly down payment on a house...
 
Stan Hullis said:
If it was just supermarket/shop bought coffee then the beans will be too old to make any kind of identifiable difference to instant when using pour over, if you are then adding milk into it then there isn't really any point/benefit to making the coffee via PO method, just use instant.
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Cheers. Pretty much what I thought, that I'd have to grind it fresh myself to be any good.
 
UKYankieWWFC said:
Thanks!
Reason for asking, as previously mentioned somewhere on the forum, the company I work for has another facility just outside of Coventry.
The folk over there are coming here in a few weeks for a quick visit
There are a few opportunities / possibilities in the area to either transfer (and move back home) or bag a job down the road at one of their customers as a supplier quality engineer.
Average salary I believe is £40-50k per year for each position
We'd be moving back with 2 adult kids
We'd probably sell our house which we got super cheap so would probably use that for a decent car and possibly down payment on a house...
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Unless you have family issues pulling you back I wouldn't bother if I were you. This country has gone to the dogs, although I appreciate you would be escaping another Trump Presidency
 
Tony Towner said:
Unless you have family issues pulling you back I wouldn't bother if I were you. This country has gone to the dogs, although I appreciate you would be escaping another Trump Presidency
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No family issues pulling back per se, even MrsUKY stated she'd move back in a heartbeat
And, yes the uncertainty of US politics plays on my mind quite a lot and the next 4 potential years could be interesting and divisive even more than it already is
And as for going to the dogs, the US ain't much different at all right now either...
 
Not sure how long you've been away, UKY, but Tony is right - this country has become a complete shithole during the past couple of decades. Can't blame you for wanting to get out of the US, but if the world's your oyster there has to be somewhere better you could pick than here.
 
The country ain't that bad, some decent areas with investment planned, no idea what standard of life you have in the states, if your wife works etc, and how that would compare. Only you would be able to decide how the variables stack up.
 
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