The cost of living crisis might be a good thing...

There are benefits and reduced consumption is on the list. When the big crash occurred my road went from every 2nd house having a 4x4 to only 2 houses out of about 80. This in suburban Dublin where these vehicles never saw a dirt road in their use. It always amazes me people are surprised about fuel prices rising like it has never happened before.

While your childhood memories of the 80s are fond you wouldn't really have been aware of the suffering others encountered as adults. I distinctly remember when in school the "buy Irish" groups would arrive at the schools. They would say when you leave the country remember to buy Irish because the belief was at least 50% of the class would leave Ireland to get jobs. Unemployment was 17% back then and interest rate of 16%.

Of the children who grew up on my street most of the group over 50 left the country to work and didn't come back. Those below 50 most stayed or returned.

Good to see people are getting the idea of what is happening. That modern "emergencies" coincidently benefit the ideologies of big corporate and the likes of Bill Gates, EU, Russia and WEF. But its all coincidence.

Thanks,

I don't know much about Christopher McCandless except that I remember he was eventually poisoned by toxic mushrooms, and while I admire the impetus to go live 'in the wild' I think the idea that he lived an 'amazing time' might be a little overstated, going off my own experiences of camping/wild living! Simpler, yes, survival based, yes, amazing? perhaps not (notwithstanding any trips he may have had!)

Regardless, I think the reason we are so trapped on the hedonistic treadmill, imho, is that we are still working to an industrial revolution time scale, and we are so so deeply unhappy and unfulfilled as human beings.

We have never had so much technology to make life simpler, and have never needed to work so hard (mentally I mean) to maintain homeostasis in what society deems acceptable.

A four day week would be the minimum action I would see as appropriate to readjust modern life to a more appropriate balance of living and working.

We can only afford to be altruistic (imo) when we have reserves of emotional and physical security and pursuit of other physical goals can be piling expectation on top of exhaustion in some cases.

Even meeting with friends can be an exercise in caution where some are earning more than others, a lot of people have to avoid those social outings due to the cost involved.

We are capable of living better lives, society constrains us in so many ways when we are led to believe that a life revolves around spending money to even socialise

Yes and no. People will opt for cheaper and grey/black market options for heating etc which aren't always cleaner options.

'Green' in many cases costs huge money which people don't have.

Many things manufactured these days aren't intended by their makers to be fixed for obvious reasons.

It is more to do with the visible disparity. There were less signs of others being overtly more wealthy back in the 80s. People were also in communities where most people were in similar financial situations. Due to the massive changes in property prices there now a lot of people with massively different income levels close to each other. You can now have a family still renting the corporation house beside somebody who bought the neighbouring property from the original owner and is a professional earning way more.

The late 90s were very odd for shows of wealth. Lot of people in poorer areas got and bought fancy cars and huge TVs as they were used to borrowing as their parents did but this was large amounts of money as opposed to living expenses and necessity. Many people used to rent TVs in the 80s so paying a loan for a TV wasn't strange to them.

Yes it.ll be good if people travelled less, maybe take holidays at home, buy more secondhand goods, maybe grow some vegatables at home. People used to actually rent tvs. A 50 inch TV is hardly a luxury nowadays. People used to drive cars for 10 years, then they started buying suvs . We went from one extreme to another. I think gen z have to be careful with money as they are paying high rents. We are still recovering from 2008, due to the sudden stop in house building it would be good if more people starred cycling as fuel prices rise.

It’s just price gouging it really is a big thing here. Good on you for asking why the increase in coffee most people wouldn’t bother and therein probably lies the problem. They know they’ll get away with it so just do it anyway. Guaranteed other nationalities aren’t as roll over as we are probably one factor in why it’s so expensive here .

During the last crisis a deal was almost brokered by govt for Public Sector to have pay substantially reduced and also working hours substantially reduced.

But the govt changed its mind.

I think it's a big pity they didn't follow through. It would have laid down a marker for working less as a society. The biggest con is that we all still consider the 5 day week as normal.

Surely the effect of the canal blockage has subsided by now?

Would anyone like to read my theory? At the risk of being thought of as "far out" and "tin foil hat wearer" here goes.....

During every debate, TV Special, documentary etc about "climate change" and what we MUST do to prevent disaster I never once hear anyone factoring in that in the next 25~30 years world population will increase to 10 billion.

Those extra 2.5 Billion people are going to consume even more of the earths resources than we do now.

I think most will agree that the planet is struggling to support the 7.5 Billion alive today...another 2.5 billion? Think about that for a second.

Look at the state of some parts of the world now. Add the extra population in to the mix and I wonder what life will be like in 2052?

It might sound like a long way away but its only as far away as we are from 1992. Our Children are going to inherit that life...whatever sort it will be. Good or Bad?

Plain to see its the human race that's driving this. No one wants to really change...they want someone else to "Fix it". Most are too comfortable in their own little world to make big changes(including me). "Ahh sure..it'll be Grand. The scientists will think of "something" 😄

What to do?

Unless population growth and mindless consumerism is slowed could it be "Goodnight Vienna?"

25~30 years? I'll be gone. I wonder what the future generation will think?

Genuine question

Just out of curiosity why turf over coal, turf is dirtier, more expensive per btu produced, more work and burns dirtier than coal, I used to burn turf but its a non runner when I actually sat down and researched it, science aside its like burning cardboard compared to coal, per unit burned coal is a far better source of fuel, timber is still relatively cheap also, I burned 12 bags of coal last year and 5 ton bags of timber, my house was built in the 1860s so not a modern construction

Per ton coal is more expensive but per btu produced turf is a non runner, lead is heavier than copper and weighs the same per ton but I'd prefer to have a ton of copper any day, turf is widely accepted to be the least efficient way to heat your home

I really don't want to get into a discussion on the merits of Coal versus Turf, there's ample amount of threads dealing with these topics.

I have what works for me, access to Turf, one delivery a year, I can't and won't be dragging bags of heavy coal around my property and Coal technically suitable for my Stove.

Not wishing to avoid a discussion on this but did mention lectures in my OP.

OP raised a good question on cost of living, I've shared my experience, that's all, people can agree or disagree, it is what it is.

About 15 years ago I got external insulation on my home. We were the first people to get it done on the street. The neighbours were all very interested with many calling in to ask about it still to this day. There was also some very odd comments from a few saying it was a huge waste of money and the insulation was way too think. One guy was really vocal about it and how colder countries don't even have that much insulation. Bit of a moany old man and has been all is life as I remember him as a customer in shop I worked in some 30 years ago. He focused on the fact that the insulation costs would take decades to recoup the costs. I assured him that fuel prices will go up no matter what and at some point there will be some big upset and fuel would jump significantly

It has definitely paid for itself in the improvement of the house from reduced heating, better functioning heating, noise reduction and keeping cool in the summer. Our heating bills dropped to about 50% but the house is always warmer than it was before. It also covered the horrible pebble dash. I think in another year we will have recouped the monetary value but I would do it again even at todays prices which appear to be about twice the price we paid then.

Best investment we made on the house for comfort alone but doesn't seem to make much difference on house prices strangely. I don't think people realise how much of a difference it makes

I think in a discussion about the cost of living it's fair game to point out where posters are stating that x is expensive when x is the most expensive way of doing something. 25kgs of coal weigh the same as 25kgs of turf - so the point about carrying it is moot, but you'll have to burn more (a lot more in fact) turf for the same thermal output.

If someone said "it's gone terrible expensive to keep the house warm while I have the windows open" the first comment would be to close the windows - even though what they had stated was true.

I wasn't saying the insulation would cost 100-150k, that'd be a typical cost of a total renovation of a 3 bed house in Ireland atm (re-wiring, plumbing work, new kitchen/bathroom, insulation, heating upgrades, re-decoration etc.).

Insulating an attic or blowing some insulation into cavity is one thing but external/internal wall insulation is only an option for some (e.g. they'd lose too much floor space doing internal; or are forbidden from altering external appearance due to planning) the real issue is the cost of the heating upgrades the government are trying to push us to switch to: heat pump systems / solar etc. or even having to retrofit floor insulation on older houses. I was talking with a customer not so long ago and the cost of replacing a broken heat pump system was so prohibitive he actually had to downgrade and get an oil boiler fitted!

Even changing your windows can be crazy money in some circumstances (personally speaking as I live in an ACA where the specific tri-partite sash windows form a key feature of the area, each window on the front of the house will cost me roughly €3k to replace, add a new door to match the neighbours and just doing the front door and windows I won't leave much change out of €15k, doing the back in the same fashion and I'd be well over the 30k mark!)

Most vulnerable like those living in council owned property? The council in Dublin North are upgrading their properties with external insulation with no cost to the tenants. I did it on rental properties as the grant was originally per household so the Georgian house actually cost the least as 3 grants were applied. The installation costs are covered by the general price per sq metre. You would need to have a pretty large house to have 200Sqm exterior wall space to get to €40k costs.

You are over inflating the prices and I am not sure why. There are loads of houses that can just be insulated without needing to replace the heating and wiring. I did it on 3 properties as I said and I didn't replace the heating or wiring. It does a lot more than just save on heating costs as I stated earlier. That few hundred may very well not stay that way and people often forget that money is your after tax pay on it. Then again being self employed I look at tax a little differently as I can see directly what I am paying.

The thing is with RPZ it makes it way less appealing to upgrade rental properties now as you won't get any extra rent for it. I wouldn't upgrade the rentals now and it is bad financial planning to do so. I don't want the tenants not heating the property because they can't afford it but 2 of them in one building got the gas cut off so they didn't have to pay a standing charge during the summer then don't want to pay a re-connection fee. Then use small electric heater which are expensive to use. You can't teach stupid

The people I know getting their homes insulated are OAPs living in council housing but a person who owns there own house even with a mortgage aren't the most vulnerable. Those renting would be far worse off and those homeless people in hotels worse again but they aren't paying for heating

A complete retro fit is different to insulation. Internal insulation is a much more inferior product to external insulation and pumped cavity worse again. Solar panels means a lot of different things so depending on what you want it for it may not be worth it at all. Lots are just for heating water as opposed to electric generating and really doesn't work out economically.