Victoria S

I miss pre-Covid days, when payday meant a week of relief, sometimes two. Now payday comes, bills get paid, food gets ordered, then it’s the dreaded "see what’s left" moment. I’ve a little over £30 left from today’s payday—to use towards Easter, getting out ’n’ about, getting to appointments later in the week.

It’s too little to even add to my emergency fund pot that’s been dry nearly a year now. It’s so depressing. I’m a master of budgeting—cuts here, coupons there, vouchers there—and yet even after all that, there’s no spare pennies left.

And I have PIP. It blows my mind: pre-Covid, when I didn’t have PIP, money stretched. It was tight—I had to be creative (and still skipped meals to fund kiddo’s activities)—but it stretched. Now, years later, I have PIP and the health element of UC, yet pennies just don’t stretch the same.

Utilities cost more for a flat now than I ever paid for a detached house before. Food’s gone up by over 300%, and quantities for those inflated prices have shrunk. Paying more for less. Kiddo’s activities are 200% more on average. Transport costs—up. Clothes costs—up. Cleaning supplies—up.

It’s depressing.