But with gas and electricity bills set to increase by £693 a year (around 54%) in April, benefit rates set to rise by around 3% next month and everything else (except wages) under the sun going up, it’s all beginning to cast a rather bleak shadow over our lives.

And I’m choosing to get that little sliver of sunshine where I can – and treat shopping here and there seems to be the thing that’s doing it, for better or for worse.

While in conversation with my friend while sipping on watered-down margaritas that should’ve been a lot cheaper than they were, we began to dissect the dreaded daily news and what we can and can’t afford.

But in the midst of that, my friend shared the numerous trips she has planned over the year, including visiting family in Germany, a baecation in Thailand and, most importantly, my 30th birthday trip to St Lucia in December (which I’m saving all my pennies for, I add).

There’s a cognitive dissonance between us discussing our millennial financial woes while at the same time planning to live our best lives IRL, but it’s a dilemma many of us are facing and at a time when we should probably grab our planners and start counting the pennies.

“Defiance or delusion? How we’re feeling about treat shopping in this cost of living crisis”