Spending calculator: See which prices have gone up or down
The rate of inflation grew to 2.2% in July, up from 2% in June. How has your spending been affected? Use our calculator to see how much your groceries, clothing and leisure activities have changed in cost.
The rate of inflation grew to 2.2% in July – the first time since December last year that the rate has increased, rather than fallen.
However, this increase is less than what central bankers at the Bank of England and economists polled by Reuters had forecast. They anticipated a rise to 2.3%.
Read more:
UK CPI inflation reaches 2.2% – the first growth in more than six months
But how much has your individual spending changed?
Use our calculator to see how much prices are rising on the groceries, clothing and leisure activities you pay for.
Which prices are increasing fastest?
Olive oil costs nearly two fifths more than it did last year, with prices for 500ml-1 litre rising from £6.39 to £8.83 in just 12 months.
Experts have put that price rise down primarily to poor olive yields due to last year’s heatwaves in southern Europe.
Plums, meanwhile, are up by a quarter, from £3.08 per kilo to £3.57.
Food and drink products are responsible for seven of the 10 highest increases since last year.
For fans of a slicked-back hairstyle, non-food items like hair gel increased by a third, and for any pet owners, the price of a small mammal cage nearly hopped up by a fifth.
Top five price rises:
• Olive oil (500ml-1litre): up 38%, £6.39 to £8.83
• Hair gel (150-200ml): up 33%, £3.08 to £4.10
• Plums (per kg): up 25%, £2.85 to £3.57
• White potatoes (per kg): up 20%, 74p to 89p
• Cauliflower (each): up 20%, £1.07 to £1.28
Fifty-six of the 156 types of food and drink tracked by the ONS have actually become cheaper since last year. Many of these were store cupboard staples like pulses, dried pasta, and canned tomatoes.
Overall, 154 out of the 444 products in our database are cheaper than they were this time last year.
Top food price decreases:
• Pulses (390-420g): down 13%, 77p to 67p
• Frozen prawns (per kg): down 8%, £18.77 to £17.24
• Cheddar cheese (per kg): down 8%, £9.49 to £8.77
• Spreadable butter (500g): down 7%, £4.18 to £3.90
• Frozen berries (per pack): down 6%, £2.53 to £2.37
Of non-supermarket items, electric heaters have been some of the biggest price fallers – by 22%.
What is the effect of long-term inflation?
The price changes described above compare the cost of items to where they were a year ago.
However, inflation has now been at high levels for an extended period of time.
The war in Ukraine, COVID, Brexit, and other supply chain pressures have all contributed to spiralling costs in recent years.
Inflation reached a 40-year high of 11.1% in October 2022.
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While the headline inflation figure is finally starting to come down, any amount of inflation means that prices are still rising, and building on already inflated costs.
We’ve compared the costs of shopping items to what they were three years ago to see what the cumulative impact of inflation has been.
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The biggest price rise for groceries over that time has been for olive oil (500ml-1 litre) which has increased nearly two and a half times (142%), from £3.65 to £8.83 in the past three years.
Sugar is up by three quarters on average, with a kilogram bag costing £1.21 now compared with 69p in July 2021.
Use our calculator to see how much prices in your shopping basket have risen in total since three years ago.
Who is worst affected?
Richard Lim, chief executive of Retail Economics, says: “It’s the least affluent households that are going to see much higher rates of inflation as they spend more of their income on food and energy.”
We’ll continue to update our spending calculator over the coming months so you can see how you’ll be affected.
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Methodology
The ONS collects these prices by visiting thousands of shops across the country and noting down the prices of specific items. There are upwards of 100,000 prices published every month, from more than 600 products.
The items that form the “official shopping basket” change each year to reflect how the purchasing habits of the population have changed. For example in March 2021, after a year of the pandemic, hand gel, loungewear bottoms and dumbbells were added, while canteen-bought sandwiches were among the items removed.
Where there aren’t the exact equivalent items available at a survey shop, ONS officials pick the best alternative and note that they’ve done this so it’s weighted correctly when the averages are worked out.
Shops are weighted as well, so the price in a major chain supermarket will have a greater impact on the average than an independent corner shop.
We will be updating these figures each month while the cost of living crisis continues.
During the pandemic, more of the survey was carried out over the phone and work is ongoing to digitise the system to be able to take in more price points by getting data from supermarket receipts, rather than making personal visits.
Data journalists: Daniel Dunford, Amy Borrett, Ben van der Merwe, Joely Santa Cruz and Saywah Mahmood
Interactive: Ganesh Rao
Design: Phoebe Rowe, Brian Gillingham
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open-source information. Through multimedia storytelling, we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
