The cost of living and you

"The rising cost of living is dismantling many families and small businesses before our eyes. I would like to see Rishi Sunak announce more grants for the small businesses who have struggled all the way through the pandemic only to be met with this. Small businesses only have so much fight left in them. We are seeing businesses close every day and more needs to be done by the Government to stop this. I am better than most people at saving money because of what I do for a living and because I was once £40,000 in debt. I finally managed to get myself debt-free within five years but even I’m struggling in the current climate. It's an absolute nightmare out there at the moment. Luckily, because our business helps people with the rising cost of living, we are doing ok. But people are extremely cautious about spending at the moment, and we help people to save money when they spend."

"In almost all areas of personal spending, prices are increasing, from food and fuel to energy and council tax. Meanwhile, wage increases are failing to keep up meaning that many households are seeing a noticeable reduction in living standards. Many on the lowest incomes are having to choose between 'heat or eat' and even those on middle incomes are feeling the pinch. The result will be a continued slowdown in retail spending that we saw last week, a reduction in meals out and hospitality spending, and less holidays being booked, all of which will potentially contribute to a recession in the foreseeable future."

"The rising cost of living is seriously affecting my business as customers no longer have as much disposable income. Haircuts, beauty and holistic therapy treatments are not deemed essential, and I am having a lot of customers make last minute cancellations or simply not show up. No customers equals no income. And guess what? No Government help. People like me in the beauty industry face an extremely hard year, which is devastating considering our industry was hit really hard by all the Covid lockdowns with no help whatsoever."

"The increase in the cost of living hits small business owners personally, as they have household costs like everyone else, and commercially, as they have to make big decisions about whether they up their own prices. Inevitably, many businesses have no choice but to pass the impact of rising costs onto their customers or clients, and this is especially the case with small businesses that often have no way to cover these additional costs. I am currently seeking new ways to add value for my clients while remaining viable. Climbing costs for running businesses and households will leave a lot of people having to make tough choices."

"When I took the decision to be self-employed a few months ago, I worked out a weekly target of how much I need to earn to enable me to live within my means and continue to develop and grow my printmaking skills. Recently, everything seems to have have become more expensive and bills are rising across the board. I'm based in Chesterfield but regularly travel to Sheffield or the Peak District to run workshops or visit shops that sell my artwork. As the cost of petrol has increased, I've had to adapt my weekly target to take it all into account. After two years of the pandemic, the current cost-of-living crisis couldn't have come at a worse time."

"It has become apparent to me that I will need to increase my income significantly (15%+) to absorb the price hikes. As a landlord of an HMO, a house of multiple occupancy, the utility bills are included in the rent. It is not possible to simply raise the rent for many different reasons. That means that we need to be able to absorb the huge energy bill rises, plus the other hikes, too. So that is a hit to income. I sense a real danger area here, for landlords and tenants alike. Add a couple of interest rate hikes in the mix along with a remortgage and I think we will see many landlords sink."

"After reading countless articles with tips and tricks about how to save on bills, I started to panic, which led me to write down all my memberships, subscriptions, direct debits and any other bills and see what could I cancel or downgrade. After all the reductions, I am now saving around £200 monthly, which will definitely help me to pay for any gas and electricity increase as I work from home. I forecasted to sell more than what I am selling at the moment but due the circumstances it is understandable why so many small businesses are struggling. Everything is going up in price but I am trying to not raise my own prices up as much as I can."