Is the cost of living crisis more a living with costs crisis?

Inspired by one of many recent conversations with my 90-year-old grandmother.

“Growing up, we had the same meals each day of each week – a lamb would last our family of five three days of lunch-time meals. No fridge, freezer, television, washing machine or wi-fi. Our outgoings were spent on eating as we didn’t have heating.”

Albeit my great-grandfather was a butcher and a baker, so food was prepared and planned and my great-grandmother did (unpaid) work cooking, cleaning the house and raising three children, in a modest three bedroom home on the west coast of the Isle of Wight.

Household outgoings consisted of feeding both the family and the gas meter. Read that again.

No food was wasted. Be honest with yourself, how many bananas or avocados are either too ripe or brown by the time you get to eat them?

My grandmother has been on approximately 10 short-haul flights in her near-century on earth: one to Guernsey on holiday and some trips to Northern Ireland to visit her sister. I take over half that number per year.

There were no electronic devices plugged into their home. The only subscription they had was for daily deliveries of fresh milk.

Each Sunday the family would take walks across the local beaches and across the downs to Tennysons monument.

By no means am I saying this is the life we could live now, but how close could we get?

The cost of convenience and mass consumerism is perhaps the biggest factor of all.

We are individually buying, wasting and emitting more in one year than perhaps my grandmother has done in her long lifetime.

How did we get here, in such a short amount of time?

Due to massive innovation in technology and the availability of goods in the last 70 years, funding is available to large organisations and influencers to create compelling and affective marketing campaigns.

Marketing campaigns exist to change consumer behavior and increase spend. We are simply consuming more of what we don’t need – but are told we want.

These campaigns are pushed (literally as notifications) into our immediate surroundings, instantly and rigorously promoting one-time offer deals, all-inclusive holidays, unrealistic beauty standards and ideologies of a lifestyle that has increased our living costs.

Are we choosing to spend our money, or have we normalised doing so?

According to data from Moneyfarm, the average cost of raising a child to the age of 18 in the U.K. is ￡202,660, approx. ￡11,250 a year or ￡938 a month.

Speed of life and busy schedules mean grabbing a takeaway lunch from Pret is standard practice for full-time workers - approx. ￡8 per day (excluding coffee).

This is where you would expect to read about inflation, electricity, petrol and train ticket prices, but we all know how the story goes…We are in a crisis.

We are paying a premium for convenience, and not questioning it.

We are spending a bit here and there, and not questioning it.

We are buying online with little consideration for how that product is sourced, manufactured or transported straight to our door, and not questioning it.

Cancelling our Netflix subscription will not directly contribute to us getting on the housing ladder, but where can we make small changes to our daily life to decrease our cost of living, consumption and carbon impact?

Here’s what my grandmother and I discussed:

• Take time away from scrolling and working late, to plan meals and your week ahead
• If you need to buy coffee out and about, use a re-useable cup to save money and unnecessary waste
• When purchasing products, ask yourself if you really need this or are you being told that you do?
• Where possible, pay upfront to manage costs and decrease debts – stopping and asking yourself if you need to purchase something should help
• Look at sustainable options (and not just products that say they are). Where is this sourced? How much plastic is contained or can be recycled? Is it organic/vegan? Can you find a locally produced alternative? Is this available second-hand?
• Have a break from screens and get outside and/or read a book/spend time with friends and family sharing stories
• If you are taking flights (and there is no train alternative) – reduce your emissions by flying economy and offset the remainder via the airline/travel operator or personal offset schemes
• Journaling, writing a diary, manifesting with a pen and paper to set intentions and focus relives stress and helps you with small or large achievements in life and a sense of purpose

We need to declutter (recycle, re-use or donate), disconnect, decrease consumption and decarbonise our lifestyle. For ourselves, and for the planet we live on.?

In 2022, my grandmother does have wi-fi, so that our family can video call her from anywhere, and I am so grateful for this.

I’m confident her beautiful garden that she walks in everyday (after doing the crossword and puzzle, of course) offsets the small amount of carbon that she personally emits.

She has no car and feeds herself, her tortoise and the neighbour’s cat twice a day.

She is so very happy.