Why do I feel so skint this year

[justalittlelemondrizzle]

Last year I smoked. I quit in the summer. Yet I feel poorer than I did in the run up to last christmas. I remember going out for meals, buying dd expensive presents for her birthday which is mid Dec and buying everyone's presents without too much stress.
This year, even though I'm saving over £200 a month not smoking and mine and dh's wages have increased (slightly) I am panicking about how I am going to afford Christmas. I'm considering making excuses for events and meals I have been invited to and have been very careful in what I have bought dd for her birthday.

Has the cost of living gone up so much that, despite having more money at my disposal in theory I am actually poorer than I was this time last year?

[justalittlelemondrizzle]

Just to add DH also quit smoking in Jan so we should have even more money for Christmas this year.

[PinkHeart5914]

It certainly sounds like you should b better off!

Think about how much your Mortgage/rent is? Household bills? Petrol? Food shop? And then you can look at what you are doing with the rest, it’s so easy to just be spending it on takeaway coffee/crap you don’t need and even a £1 here and a few there soon adds up and you’ve frittered all your money away on needless things

[justalittlelemondrizzle]

Good idea. I'll do that tonight. Mortgage payments have also reduced this year so we should be rolling in it😂

[sailorcherries]

The cost of living has gone up. I'm not 100% sure but I believe the Brexit vote and subsequent impact on the pound has impacted a lot of our living costs.

Last year a shop in Aldi cost me £50, this year it's about £65ish which isn't too much but still adds up to being £60 per month more. So over £600 a year on basic food shopping alone.

[SparklyLeprechaun]

Did you take on additional expenses this year (kids activities, gym, sky packages and such)? Because otherwise there's no reason why giving up smoking alone shouldn't cover the rise in basic living expenses.

[Want2bSupermum]

I bet you are eating more. When I quit I had terrible munchies and snacked a lot.

[KimmySchmidt1]

Brexit-induced inflation mate.

[SilverSpot]

Check your energy tariff and switch if you're on the standard rate.

[PoisonousSmurf]

Even Brexit wouldn't cost that much! Food has gone up, so yes, maybe your shopping costs have crept up.

[BarbaraofSevillle]

You must be spending more on something. Food and petrol has gone up a bit, but not £400 a month. You need to look at what you've been spending your money on. Any big purchases, house/car repairs?

[justalittlelemondrizzle]

No nothing new. The Dcs actually do cheaper activities this year. We haggled a better sky deal a few months ago. But there is a big school residential coming up that weve been paying off. But still no where near enough for us to be worse off than We were smoking. We have switched to Aldi as food prices have sky rocketed so I'm probably spending about the same as I was pre aldi.
Maybe I'm just becoming tight in my old age 😂 I will look into our energy tarrif as weve been on it years. Maybe I need to tot up what I now spend on wine! 🤣