Mark Perrie has a daily struggle to keep his head above water.
Mark, 26, earns £36,000 a year and has a take-home pay of about £2200 a month. He said most of that is taken up paying his rent, council tax, food, clothing and other daily expenses.
The computer programmer moved into a one-bedroom flat in Dalry, Edinburgh, two years ago and has seen his rent rise from £625 to £660. However, he expects the next increase to make it over the £700 mark, which he cannot afford.
Mark is thinking of moving back to Motherwell and commuting to work to save on accommodation costs. His flat uses an electric fire and his monthly bill has risen from £50 to £110.
Food costs have doubled from £60 a week and his usual lager is now more than twice as much.
Mark said it is now cheaper to buy fast food than cook from fresh and he has stopped going to restaurants.
He said: “I am struggling and the cost of living really began to bite in the last two months.
“When you meet other people who are in the same situation, you can see anxiety about the future.
“When I moved to Edinburgh, the rent on my flat was the cheapest I could find. I do not feel that I am getting value for money.
“The amount I am paying is a lot for one person and there is no central heating.”
Mark enjoys home cooking, particularly making vegetable curries, but the cost of the ingredients has shot up.
Instead he finds himself picking up a pizza to feed himself. He said: “These unhealthy foods are cheaper but they are better value for money.
“I like to make a red lentil daal but I can’t afford that any more.
“For example, the price of something like a pepper has gone up from £1.10 to £1.70.
“These are small things but they all add up. When I was living in Motherwell, the price of a pint of Carlsberg was £2.15 and it’s now £5.
“Things are bad enough for me but I can’t imagine what it must be like for someone with children and getting them fed.”
Mark’s biggest worry is another rent increase.
He said: “I don’t want to commute or live in some satellite town but it is beginning to look that way.
“There needs to be more purpose-built affordable accommodation for people. The housing system that we have is just broken.”
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