{"id":172,"date":"2022-03-08T16:50:47","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T16:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/?p=172"},"modified":"2024-12-05T11:36:27","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T11:36:27","slug":"coping-with-the-cost-of-living-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/coping-with-the-cost-of-living-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Coping with the cost of living crisis.\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I\u2019m sure you will have seen, heard or felt the increasing costs of some of your basic utilities over the last few months.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the well-documented coverage on the increasing costs of energy prices, weekly food shops and interest rates (known as the cost of living crisis) many families will be feeling the pinch.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, whilst some temporary relief measures have been announced by the Government this situation isn\u2019t going to get any better, as it\u2019s estimated that families could end up paying around \u00a3700 more for gas and electricity with the increases in April. And the Bank of England warning further increases likely to happen in the latter half of the year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re employed then you\u2019re likely to have noticed that, while these costs have increased, your wage hasn\u2019t. For families and households across the country this represents a real challenge. Affording items we class as essential (heating, food, electricity) as well as the products and lifestyle we\u2019re used to (running a car, purchasing food brands, meals out) has put an increased strain on our finances, with many people falling into arrears or using credit to pay for everyday items.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re worried about these costs, and the personal impact it will have on your family, then the most important thing is to acknowledge these increases, and make a plan.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Listed below are four things you can do to help you tackle your money worries, remember it is always better to face these than ignore them.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What you can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Review your expenses.<\/strong> It sounds basic but given that many of these costs are essential, now is the time to review your income and expenditure, thinking about where you can cut back and what\u2019s essential.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Listen to trusted sources<\/strong>. Although it\u2019s very tempting to start switching accounts and suppliers, the official advice on energy suppliers is \u2018don\u2019t be tempted to move, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneysavingexpert.com\/news\/2022\/02\/martin-lewis--most-should-do-nothing--stick-on-the-price-cap-and\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"With the price cap rising 54%, should you fix or do nothing and stay on it?\">\u2018do nothing is the answer\u2019 <\/a>on MoneySavingExpert.com. When there\u2019s a lot of talk, it\u2019s important to listen to trusted advisors and not speculation or headlines from organisations who don\u2019t have your best interests at heart.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Talk to your suppliers<\/strong>. If you think you\u2019re going to struggle to pay some of these bills, talk to your current suppliers about what they can do to help. In terms of energy companies, friendly and emergency credit can be arranged. For other things like mortgage payments your mortgage or loan provider may be able to offer some temporary relief while you put a longer-term plan in to action.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Take action<\/strong>. If you\u2019ve done your sums and you\u2019re still worried about how you\u2019ll manage your bills with the recent increases then the single, most important thing you can do is to take action. Speak to someone who\u2019s qualified and experienced in debt advice who can help you. This doesn\u2019t mean going down a route which might not be right for you. Engage with a debt advice company who can offer one-to-one advice, and talk you through all of your options.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re worried about debt, talk to someone who can help. There\u2019s no debt problem which can\u2019t be solved or improved with the right advice and support.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the well-documented coverage on the increasing costs of energy prices, weekly food shops and interest rates (known as the cost of living crisis) many families will be feeling the pinch.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[29,32,30,28,27,31],"ppma_author":[78],"class_list":["post-172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-bills","tag-cost-of-living","tag-costs","tag-electricity","tag-gas","tag-income-and-expenditure"],"aioseo_notices":[],"authors":[{"term_id":78,"user_id":11,"is_guest":0,"slug":"iain-wrenshall","display_name":"Iain Wrenshall","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5da630bf4c571f09624ec1c965da64d5b6ec158173234a52f41b1d5469fbc39a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177,"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions\/177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}