To think most people could save a small amount regularly if they prioritised it?

I think so op. Obviously there will be lots of people who genuinely can't.

I guess the wider question is what you class as 'wasteful' and 'essential' and I would argue that sometimes luxury spending is actually essential in a way - we all need to have a little fun in life to protect mental wellbeing. So I guess it depends on how you're looking at that which makes your question hard to answer.

I think we could do more to educate people on how to save well. I was always bad with money until I learnt about having a longer and shorter savings pot so I've been prioritising that and it means I've been able to slowly build an emergency pot and a long term pot I never use which alleviates that stress of - I'm saving for xyz but never get there because something unexpected crops up . I also worked a second job in order to make that happen initially.

So yes some people probably could save more than they do but I'd say there are a LOT of people now who are really struggling with col.

Erm, did I ever say the article was primarily about the CoL? No. Things can relate to more than one element at a time! Very few conversations exist in a vacuum!

And, if you'd actually read the article properly it ALSO refers to takeaways in terms of their monetary cost as well as health, direct quotes:
"If you think about all the discount apps... they are making it cheaper and easier for you."
"He said he would "probably" get more if he could afford it"
"she could not understand how young people could afford that many"
"it is more expensive"
"people were seeing less difference in price"
and even, literally "the cost of living crisis was also having an impact."

When you genuinely only have £10-20 spare a month then I think it’s pretty understandable that you might want to use it to go out for a coffee with your friends rather than putting it in savings only to end up with a couple of hundred in there after a year of going without.

I think we have to accept the world has changed.

we are now in a world where the norm is to buy things on the never never (as my parents used to call it). It’s an ‘instant’ society and social media places expectations. We have expensive tech that never used to exist….

Sure, people can save, they can go without and live like we are back in the 1930s to do so, but it’s entirely up to the individual whether they want to do that.

When I was younger (despite being educated otherwise by my parents) I totally bought into the never never instant culture. Now that I am older I prefer to save and only have my mortgage as debt.

At the end of the day people have to do what suits them and it’s down to them to manage whatever choice they make 🤷🏻‍♀️, not sure it’s any of our business.

Yes I have.
No matter how little you have (and believe me, we had literally NO income for about 8 weeks), i have always had a safety net. I can't imagine buying lattes when it's using your last money for that month.

Nice. If you haven't got anything constructive to say, fling some insults.
How old are you?

FFS, the OP clearly stated she was not talking about people on the breadline.

And some of us are talking from experience. My childhood was Victorian by MN standards. I've had significant periods of financial hardship as an adult.

But I've been brought up to not instantly blow every bit of spare money that comes my way. To think more than 5 minutes ahead and not be surprised when Christmas comes around, the washing machine breaks or the insurance is due.

Spend less than you earn.
Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves
Also that Dickens? quote that's again 'Spend less than you earn'

Be aware of how regular small spends can add up hugely over time. Cutting out a single daily coffee could free up enough money to completely pay for the price of a very decent second hand car.

Budget and know what you can afford
Financial flow chart

Etc etc etc

Except the part you quoted was £3k over 5 years, not £30k, which is very out of reach for many people. Actually I’ve been able to save much more in my 50s than earlier decades. A combination of higher salary, no childcare costs and a mortgage nearly paid off. It’s very hard in younger years when you’re starting your mortgage, have mat leave, early years childcare, reduced working hours.

Spoken as someone who's never been on the breadline. Judgemental bellend.

I think it depends to some extent on whether or not you have a mortgage. If you lose your job at 50 and still have a mortgage, then 30k in the bank could be a lifeline in terms of allowing you time to find another job. Same if you have a big, urgent repair.

Personally, I think that building up savings in your 20s, 30s and 40s is really important, as things will be much tougher in your 50s and if you are made redundant and have no buffer. Plus, lots of people don’t have the same earning capacity in their 50s for a variety of reasons.

If you are someone who intends to rent for life, then maybe it’s less important.

I used to save work expenses payments towards a holiday when DC were younger
Round ups also help
I stock up food on yellow stickers which reduces food bill and helps me save
Lots of small steps can mount up

But there is no indication that the people buying takeaways (which includes supermarket sandwiches, by the looks of it) are the same people financially struggling - and towards the end of the article, it says

She said the cost of living crisis was also having an impact, as concerns grow about the cost of everyday essentials such as milk, bread and eggs.
Barnett suggested people were seeing less difference in price between a takeaway and ingredients than they did before.
"It is more expensive, but people think that it's already costing me so much to buy the individual ingredients.

None of that gives enough information to reach a conclusion that people are unable to save because they're spending on takeaways.

Saving is a habit that is hard to start, if you weren't encouraged to do it from childhood. It's clear from a lot of the responses that many people think saving for future events equals depriving yourself of something better right now. It needn't be one or the other, and I don't see anywhere that the OP suggested it should be. You can save some and spend some too.

I've been at both ends of the scale, both in debt with no savings and no way to repay it, and being able to salt away £500+ per month. Right now I'm somewhere in between, and despite a dwindling income, I still save every month, as it's no fun not knowing how you're going to pay for something and I don't want to go back to that place again. However, I also allow myself pocket money for the month and spend it on whatever I fancy, so get the best of both worlds. But once it's gone, it's gone. No dipping in to the pot unless it's for an essential.

Might not work for everyone, but I think at least trying to save is a good discipline, as we never know when we're suddenly going to have to live on a restricted budget.

Erm, no. It is not an article about the CoL. It is about unhealthy eating.

a) just because the primary focus of an article is one thing doesn't mean you can't take additional meaning from it.
b) if it's nothing to do with money why are words like 'afford' (twice) 'cheaper' 'discount' 'price' 'expensive' etc. used throughout it?

That article is nothing to do with money though, and more about unhealthy eating habits.

Quite. We are so used to the idea that a few people are billionaires, we have lost sight of how fucking weird it is to hoard resources on a scale no human could ever possibly spend in a lifetime, like a greedy dragon in a fairy tale. If an animal was stockpiling thousands of years’ worth of food while the rest of its herd starved and fought over scraps, we would think something was horribly wrong with it. Yet here we are. Fighting over scraps.

"Just hang in there," quoth Rishi Sunak, protected by his billions.

The billionaires, who have a steady income simply by being billionaires, simply don't understand how less wealthy folk live. Those who have the most to pontificate say on this often have no experience of living hand to mouth.

I think this is the exact mindset shift that is needed to kick-start people though.

So maybe it's just saving £50 a month and that might get swallowed up buying a new washing machine or car repairs. But if someone hadn't been putting that £50 aside they'd be in debt of £600 potentially. Then having to spend an extra £55 a month to service the debt. It starts small and then the mindset shifts when you start to see that you aren't so reliant on debt. Maybe the 2nd year someone can afford £60 a month and only needs to use half that so a buffer remains and it all keeps adding up. Then people can start to think of things like "I'd love a new carpet or to go on a weekend break" and have a target amount of savings required and decide to tighten the belt a bit more if possible to achieve it.

Eventually someone can have lots of different savings funds... emergency, holidays, Christmas or whatever. But ut starts small with a mindset shift.

Concern as quarter of young adults have two or more takeaways a week - BBC News
This is timely for the thread!
Not to go all "stop eating avocado toast and save a deposit within a year" but there is some overlap between people moaning about being priced out of "big" spends like a house/affording kids etc. and spending on luxuries, without seeming to correlate the two.

Two takeaways a week at about £20 each equals over 2 grand a year, and somehow I highly doubt the people buying them don't also buy a few other 'little treats' every week as well - whether that's false nails/eyelash extensions/botox/season football ticket/subs to multiple different streaming services/few pints/starbucks every morning/pret for lunch, cheap ryanair weekend away twice a year, concert tickets, new phone, etc.

Nobody is suggesting you should cut out everything that makes life pleasurable but cutting down to one takeaway a week is hardly living on the breadline.

If someone can save £2k a year in a LISA the govt adds 25%, plus the normal interest = in five years time they'll have about £13k. If they are buying with a partner that's £26k which is more than enough for a decent house deposit in most of the country. If they could both save £4k (the maximum), they'd have £52k between them!

There's a reason why 'every little helps' is a saying!

Definitely OP. I have a relative that complained they never had a holiday away ever, not even overnight. I suggested she save $5 a week for two years. That would almost be $500.00 - sure not a luxury vacation but enough for a long weekend if cost cutting measures were used. But it fell on deaf ears.

Things also get cheaper when you are able to 'borrow' from yourself instead of credit or have the cash for a really good secondhand bargain instead of having to finance a brand new washing machine. That first boost of saving over a year made an amazing difference to my peace of mind too.
As you say wantmorenow its the option or freedom to choose that is truly life changing when the chips are down.

I have always “saved” but until fairly recent it was always for things. There were no savings that were just savings just to have and not intended for anything else.

now I technically save £850 a month. But only £50 is not to be touched.

The rest is split between £450 for holidays and fun things in life.

£200 money to help dd2 through uni.

£150 emergency money for car repairs, replacement of household appliances if they break etc.

it’s only really in the last 5 years or so that I have been able to split my savings up in this way. Before that I had to just save what I could and if something went wrong with the car then that would be most of it gone.

Recently my DD ( aged 34) told me she had £27k in savings. I am beyond impressed! She does things like not run a car, as she lives close to the city centre, can easily get a train/bus & happily rides a bike everywhere. For a long time she was a spender, but shifted her attitude a few years ago. Any extra money (work bonus, the odd gift from her DF) goes straight into a high earning savings account/ISA. She & her partner have well-paid jobs, but pick up extra money pet & house-sitting & a few other side-gigs. There are a few things she learned from home: do not value status symbols, always make a sandwich & take a flask, never buy new, and just generally be financially literate. We were always open about money as a family, & we’re not ashamed to look for bargains (and we were relatively high earners).
For myself in the run up to retirement, I studied my options carefully & worked a full 7 years past my retirement date to maximise my state pension. I did not enjoy this, to say the least, but now that I am retired, I am comfortably off, which I wouldn’t have been had I retired at the first opportunity. I “saved” in the sense that I put every pence I could spare into my pension, which is also very tax efficient.
I think the key is to be financially literate & evaluate your spending/budget regularly. And deduct your savings first from your earnings, not last.

I would assume that most people do save unless they absolutely cannot. I have always saved even when I started my weekend job. I think people will if they can