Where is the cost of living crisis exactly?

The cost of gas oil electricity is going up, meanwhile you go to the shops, food, grocerys are going up in price, rents are not going down. People on low fixed incomes may face a choice of turning off the heat or buying food. This effects small shops pubs too, they are facing high esb heating bills. I see no solution to this, russia cutting off the gas supply to Europe is causing prices to rise. People will switch to buying non brand food items at Tesco aldi I think regulators never thought that the cost of energy would rise so high or that there would be a war in Europe.

Well I really would rather not work and play computer games, but that would be a terrible irresponsible use of my time and money

Different people will face different levels of inflation depending on personal circumstances, preparation etc.

On electricity and gas for example, my bills are lower now than in 2018 because of solar panels, new boiler, insulation etc. They will go above 2018 levels with the next increase in October. However, I am paying back a loan (thankfully fixed-rate) for those. Where I really benefit is that the return on investment will be much quicker.

You can't even distinguish on age grounds. A young FTB who bought an A-rated house near public transport on a five-year fixed-rate mortgage is facing a lower inflation rate than someone who bought second-hand D-rated on a variable rate hoping to fix it up.

Ditto for fixed pensions versus other pensions etc.

Whilst I can see the logic of a contribution pension that you have to opt out of it will ultimately have a negative effect.

Employers will I expect increase prices by at least 10% to cover their contribution. So expect the cost of goods and services to go up accordingly. Therefore the cost of living will continue to pushed upwards.

The govt is not taking any fundamental steps to tackle why living here is so expensive. Until they do increasing hourly rates and other employee benefits are likely to be gobbled up by increased prices.

This is it increasing prices eat into wages. Like energy prices, food etc. It’s not so bad in summer with the milder weather but come winter it’s a different story.