Whether we’re being called lazy, entitled or spoilt, we millennials get plenty of stick. But do you know what? I’m getting tired of being lectured by people who lived in an era where property prices were reasonable, tuition fees weren’t extortionate and Freddo chocolate bars were an affordable 10p.
If you’re in your mid twenties, you probably remember the 10p Freddo years well. Those were the days! But now, not only are they a whopping 29p on average, they’ve gotten smaller too! Yes. As if the trusty Freddo wasn’t already the smallest chocolate bar to grace the shelves of our local newsagents, the bastards at Cadbury’s have made them a whopping 20% smaller. Yet another nail in the coffin of hardworking millennials around the country. Not only did some of our elders inadvertently drive us into a recession and not only did some of them intentionally vote us out of the EU, the big guys at Chocolate HQ have screwed us over once more by hiking up the price of our favourite bite size treat at a faster rate than inflation.
The infographic below by Vouchercloud speaks volumes about the financial hardships we millennials face. Deliberately being dramatic here.
We’re fighting a losing battle. Far too often, it feels like we’re taking one step forwards in this journey we call life and then being hurtled a million steps backwards because of the ridiculous cost of living. Help us, please. Help us.
And it’s not just chocolate bars that have shot through the roof price-wise. Just look at how the cost of cinema tickets has risen in recent years too. In 2000, a cinema ticket cost a respectable £4.40 but now a trip to the cinema will cost each person more than £9. If the cost of a trip to the flicks continues at this rate, it’ll be £12.97 a ticket by 2030. Who wants to bet wages won’t have increased at the same rate by then? Thank heavens for Netflix, that’s all I can say.
Of course, chocolates and cinema tickets are non-essential items that we certainly can live without. Going without these things can, obviously, save money. However, when you factor in the astronomical price increase of essential living costs, the above things are just a drop in the ocean. They’re pretty trivial. I mean, for those living in London and forking out upwards of £1,000 a month in rent, it seems ridiculous to suggest they give up Freddos and all trips to the cinema and all fun things to save for the future. Something needs to change.
On Can’t Swing a Cat I regularly share tips for millennials looking to save for the future and I really believe we can do it if we’re ambitious and work smart as well as hard. I’m a big fan of second jobs and side hustles to make extra money for the future but, at the same time, I do think it’s insane that we have to work so ridiculously hard for a standard of living that many of our elders achieved much easier than we did. I’m not saying they had it *easy*. Of course not. My parents worked incredibly hard throughout their whole lives. So did my grandparents. But it’s even harder now. They know that themselves.
We shouldn’t have to work 9 -5 in our day jobs followed by 5-9 in our side hustles every single day to afford the things that our parents have. We shouldn’t have to choose between buying a house, having kids, and saving for retirement. These life milestones shouldn’t be unrealistic for the majority. I’m working as hard as I possibly can and I still can’t afford to buy my own home - and I lived with my parents for almost two years in an attempt to save a deposit! If I still don’t have a deposit together, how long is it going to take those who can’t slash their living costs so drastically to save for their own place?
