‘We will be skint this winter’: one family’s struggle to manage in cost of living crisis

theguardian.com:

“Winter is our big fear at the moment because we don’t know exactly how it’s going to shake out. All we know is we’re basically going to be skint,” says Dan Collins, of the impact rising living costs are having on his family.

Dan and his partner, Lucy Woolhead, welcomed identical twins Scarlett and Beatrix in February and their short lives have been in step with the cost of living crisis. While official figures published on Wednesday showed runaway inflation dipped below 10% last month, as lower petrol and diesel prices offset dearer food, Sarah Coles of the analysts Hargreaves Lansdown said this was just a “pause for breath”.

Coles said that motoring costs were more of a concern for those on higher incomes, and low earners remained under pressure. “Those on the lowest incomes, who are suffering the most as a result of rising prices, are still facing impossible energy bills and horrible hikes in the cost of food,” she said.

The rising price of the weekly shop is putting household budgets under intense strain, with the average annual grocery bill now £5,181, up £571 or 12.4%, according to the market research firm Kantar. Dan and Lucy, who are in their mid-30s, rent a terrace house in her home town of Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. They had “just about enough money coming in” to cover their outgoings and buy groceries until April, when their energy bill increased by £130 a month.

When the price cap rose to almost £2,000 for a typical household back in April, their direct debit almost doubled to £270, forcing them to slash their food budget. Most of their shopping now comes from Aldi, the grocery discounter that, amid a dash to save money, has just overtaken Morrisons as the UK’s fourth largest supermarket.

“We were buying some