Things are already hard enough and every week it feels like it gets harder to be able to afford food shopping alongside petrol. My son needs new clothes and I just can't keep up with the increased cost of everything. It's really hard to be watching the pounds this tightly.

That is media propaganda. Living cost crisis are not over yet as millions of people are struggling to end meet. It is true that some basic food prices have gone down but still too high for millions. Petrol prices still not reached to previous level. Interest rate and inflation are still high. So how we say that living cost crisis are over?

Certainly not, while the price of some things has gone back down a bit in price such as gas, electricity and fuel, there are still millions of families like mine that are going to have no choice but to leave the heating turned off this winter and stay cold in our own homes due to the cost. I am unable to afford to cook food on a daily basis, often having to eat cold meals instead that do not require the use of gas or electricity. In the shops the price of some foods has also come down slightly such as fruit and vegetables but again the cost of fresh fruit is still far too high to enable us to afford the recommended amount, also I am sure most people have noticed that apart from price increases in a lot of supermarket prices there has also been a reduction in the amount / size of package simply meaning another increase.

I also feel this has a larger effect on those receiving Legacy benefits that did not get any increase along with other benefits earlier in the year and also missed out on most cost of living payments. My situation on Legacy benefits means myself and my daughter are living on the same amount as we we were five years ago apart from the small increase in child benefit, with no help from my previous partner this is all we have to survive on. So simply, NO the cost of living crisis is not over and is yet a long way off. I am starting to lose hope that anything will change for low income families no matter what government is in place within my lifetime. Whenever there is a price increase in utility bills, internet connection, food or anything else it means I have to make more and more cutbacks in other areas to stay afloat.

It is not a case of if and when things will change, it is NOW that changes must be made in order for a fairer society where we can all have a reasonable standard of living, bring up our families to have the best possible start in life that is achievable and be in a situation to lift themselves out of a life of poverty.

The way I see it, the cost of living crisis is DEFINITELY NOT OVER, nor looks likely to be over in the coming months or years.

I believe the ongoing cost of living crisis is pushing up prices in every sector of the economy and the country as a whole is still suffering.

Around where we live petrol costs have crept back up again. (Were down to £1.35 p/l now back at £1.52). An average weekly food shop for 1 adult /1 child is coming in around double what we were paying back in early 2022. We've basically quit buying anything other than what meals we might like a few days at a time to avoid throwing away food that perishes easily. So no choice with fresh fruits or veg, dairy produce or fancy extras like dips desserts or pre prepared salad items. Even supermarket pizza is around £6 upwards. That's a pizza meant for 1 person by the way - at home.

We ate takeaway last week. I was shocked it came to £20 two meals. I had chicken cashew nut with fried rice, the sauce was watered down, the meal was full of large watery onion & green peppers with about 5 half cashew nuts in the entire serving?! Seems to me everywhere is feeling the pinch!?

I've had car insurance renewal up over £100 on last year's price which is an outrageous amount to have to pay. Thankfully I've shopped around to find cheaper but not easy to do.

Nothing is any cheaper. Quarterly water rates jumped up by £30 earlier this year!!!? Not just a few extra pound.

Obviously I've also seen an increase in energy bills over the last few months.

There's no increase in my payments to account for the extra costs. In fact it's been both in the news and social media that the government are looking to cut benefits for those with long term health conditions. I am livid with their measures. I jump through enough hoops to take their rigged tests already! If I could work I would. I loved my old job.

I have basically gone without so much of this last year just to afford to cover the day to day bills. I've been wearing old bikini tops as I haven't been able to afford new underwear as it's no longer fitting or falling apart. Does nothing for your self esteem at a medical appointment to not have clean well fitting underwear.

Once upon a time I could take my two youngest shopping and tell them, "no problem! We can afford the luxury products", at the supermarket!!! We didn't have to worry about the bank balance or the account having enough in it to cover meals out when I couldn't face shopping /cooking, or the cinema to cheer up up/end of the week treats, etc.

So in my view, no it hasn't gone away. The cost of living crisis is still very much alive and kicking and here to stay by the looks of things. 😤

No, I don't honestly think the cost of living crisis is over, the price of food and slightly petrol seems to still be sort of raising. It's not very steady, it's not very stable and obviously my bank now has decided I've got an online bank, online only bank. And they used to pay interest each month, few pennies. But now they've changed their way they do things and you now have to have a set minimum amount of money in that account before they pay interest. It just seems everyone is trying to penny pinch, even the major corporations. So no, it's not over by far.

The cost of living crisis is far from over. Just because the media portrays what it wants to does not mean it's true. The cost of petrol is going up to more than what it was at the peak. Gas and electric hasn't come down. No bills have come down. Everything's going up. My mobile phone bill, they went up 10%. That's not come down. Nothing's come down. Food shopping hasn't come down. Nothing. We're just having to survive any way we can. It's definitely not getting any better, if not worse. Nothing's changed.

So sad to see petrol going up and up every day, not looking like gas and electricity are coming down, or food prices – really worried about the future.

I have no new beginnings to look forward to. There's nothing more I can do. I'm a single parent, I already work full time, I'm not on minimum wage, and yet I still cannot afford to pay my bills or do the shopping. And I'm sat here now, almost crying because I've just come back from Aldi with a calculator in one hand, trying to not go over the ten pound that I've got left until the 25th. And, I mean, we're on the 9 August, I've almost got no petrol in the car. I can't think of any new beginnings, so I can't look forward to any because there's just nothing. There's no hope. There is no hope whatsoever. And.

I've saved and saved to treat the kids this school holidays but with everything going up there was no chance I could afford the extortionate prices most places are charging and the fuel to get there.

I discovered vinted recently and although it's a lot of effort and hard work I've uploaded loads of the kids old clothes and shoes and my current clothes and shoes and made enough to take them on a treat day.

Honestly hope my kids never have to sell their own belongings when they are adults to treat their kids. But for now that's where I'm at

For me

Low income = financial insecurity

Cost of living = food insecurity

Interest rates rising = Home insecurity.

Increase in fuel costs= Further insecurity, cold winters, less travel in my car, less cooked meals .

All this creates serious anxiety for me when I begin to plan for my future.

We have the right to plan for our future, but when you are desperately trying to keep your head above the water on a daily basis its very hard to think ahead.

I am a lone parent with 2 kids on UC, and I am in full-time work. I know I am luckier than some. What I have to do to plan is daily budgeting.

The biggest change for me was when someone suggested using cash for my food shopping. I always thought paying by card kept everything accounted for and so was the easiest way to budget.

But I've been using a cash budget for my food since the beginning of this year and I don't go over. I really don't know how this happens, but at the end of the week I find I have £1-£2 left. Not much, but I haven't gone over.

However, that doesn't help with the long term planning, which I cannot do. I set myself a plan 3yrs ago to get out of debt. This was when petrol was low, and the energy and food interest-rates hadn't hit so high. I learnt to cook really good, cheap meals. Or I'd have cereal as a main meal. It was doable and I could pay-off more debt than the interest.

Or so I thought. Uniform, school trips, living up to supporting my daughters as much as their mother (who is on a much higher wage than me) have left me, 3yrs later, with the same amount of debt. I'm not swimming anywhere I am just treading water. It's not the worst, but it is getting harder and I feel more and more deflated each week.

My son is due to go on a 5 day residential next week. His dad whom i am separated from has paid for it all and everything needed for the trip as I simply cannot afford anything additional at this time. With this I have been shamed and ridiculed that I can't provide these things for my children. It's heart breaking that as his mum I simply cannot help right now.

On top of this we have the cost of new high school uniform which is supposed to be affordable but with everything needing to be logos it's definitely not affordable. I have no clue what I'm going to do with 3 kids.

Then there are end of year discos, sports days, non uniform days, the expectation of thank you cards and gifts for teachers. Its enough to make you ill with worry.

I have no clue how I'm going to get through this next month other than not eating what we normally do and walking as many places as I can to cut costs on fuel and bills