What are you realising you can do without/can't live without?

[SouthWestmom]

In terms of spending when/if things get back to normal?

I'm going through all my samples and left over bottles of hair/skin stuff.

Realised although it's nice, I can do without any sort of face scrub. Don't need my three different hair curl type products but will keep buying bumble and bumble gel oil.

Love the Clarins rose cream but looked it up and it's £75 usually !

Am using up the elasticiser, not sure I really want to invest in it.

Cheap shower and bath oils are fine - have noticed no difference between the posh stuff and the Tesco own.

Takeaways - not essential and just overused I think.

Robinsons lemon barley: even British Corner Shop is out of stock.

Takeaways! Realised they are mostly crap!

I'm going through samples too! 2 Christmases in a row I had the Boots advent calendar which had a ton of sample sized creams/lotions in.

Hair dye. Normally spend a fortune getting my hair done at the hairdresser. Gone back to boxed dye. Much cheaper! Going to have to attempt a trim at some point though. 🙈

Not had so many takeaways so saving a fortune and lost some weight.

Not been going into town on a weekly basis so haven't picked up odds and ends etc that I don't really need. Not spent anything on parking and petrol.

I've saved a fortune so far!

Oh takeaways is a good one.

I'm adding alcohol - decided to drink only when out (!) so haven't had a drink for ages now - don't miss it.

Make up - I don't miss eyeshadow but I do need eyebrows and eyelashes as a minimum

Sport 🥴

Cards. We’ve had 3 birthdays and Mother’s Day- and I would much, much rather display drawings from the DC than shop bought cards. From here on in, I don’t want any bought cards from DC or DH.

Definitely takeaways. Haven’t even tried to do any type of ‘fakeaway’ and we’ve been eating really well overall.

I’ve realised that I like socialising virtually more than actually going out which I’m not sure is healthy

@Lynda07, my local Asda has this in. Not much use to you if you either don't have a local Asda or you do but yours doesn't have it. It's on offer at £1.

Not missing make-up, but really really missing my hairdresser, whatever she gets paid, it’s not enough. Turns out there’s a whole lot of skill in taming my mop...

Also not missing non-elasticated clothes

Basin I haven't done a button up for weeks

I'm not missing antibacterial wipes - realised I'm more than ok with my zoflora in a spray bottle & a regularly changed cloth.

I am missing Aldi colombian coffee. I have something specific on my regular shopping list that I can only get from a certain supermarket which isn't Aldi so I'm doing without as I don't think popping to Aldi for coffee is essential.

Although I’m craving a takeaway, I can definitely do without them. Haven’t had one now for a month! It’s easily saved us £100 which is amazing. We’ve said that after this is over we’re going to try and just have one a month which for 3 of us will be no more than £35 depending on what we have.

Having to use whatever toilet paper we can find has reminded me why we buy a specific more expensive brand; not something I particularly expected to be saying

Missing my hairdresser and didn’t realise how much the six weekly event kept it looking good as it’s just habit.

Not missing the monthly takeaway but the social side of it I shall look forward to but just cook instead.

Not missing meals out as much as I thought I would have. Not missing takeaways but dp is pining for authentic curries. Really top notch Indian takeaway nearby opens back up soon.
Overall we have eaten really well, taking turns to cook some pretty delicious stuff.

Missing the gym and swimming and relaxing in the sauna steam jacuzzi.

Basically an excess of food and the need to shop weekly. Living off of what I have in storage, using batched cooked meals, frozen veg and fruit and basically going a heck of a longer without shops (no food top ups essentially).

I must be saving an arm and a leg in meal deals and takeaway coffee's!

After grooming the dog ourselves, we've decided we dont need a dog groomer.

I’m desperate for a haircut (short crop so gets messy and shapeless very quickly) and to get my toenails done, neither are essential but I feel so much better for having them.

On the other hand I’m not missing socialising, going to work (am wfh) or the general mad pace of life at all.

I do miss my DP very much so I guess he counts as an essential 😊

My three grandchildren have been living with me for nearly nine months. Since then, I've been cooking three hot meals and preparing three snacks a day every single day for them. Because we are a family of seven, we can't have a takeaway or eat at a restaurant because money is tight. Nearly nine blinking months.

I'm totally over it.

The first thing I am going to do once everything is back to a semblance of normal, I am taking myself out to a restaurant and let someone else cook for me and clean up after me!

I will also add that these past few months, I am grateful for the internet.
But I will also say that I could do without television for a very long while.

as long as I can buy yarn (for knitting) online, not missing a thing.
Especially not missing commute.

I'm just missing ”I’m just popping down to see (friend’s name) for a cuppa” which I've realised happened most days.

That and butter/eggs which are in very short supply and usually not available on shopping deliveries.

I don't need to go to five different supermarkets to buy all the different cheeses, beers, types of pasta blahblahblah I used to. It's lovely to have the choice but there's no need to do it every week. And in not doing it, I've saved a fortune.

DH doesn't need to spend three hours a day commuting. He can work from home and actually finds he's more productive doing so. And again, we're saving money on his fares.

I don't need to dye my hair. I've been desperate to get off the three-weekly dye treadmill for years. I haven't dyed it now for almost two months and I've got over an inch of silver (against black, it looks delightful). While the skunk look isn't great, it won't always be skunky and it's in the best condition it's been in for years.

One thing I've decided I do need when this is all over - my hourly evening walk. DH has so much extra time now he's wfh and when he finishes for the day we go out for a wander. It's lovely. We chat and do any shopping we need then come home and make dinner. We're doing 10-15000 steps a day - before we were lucky if we managed 5000. He plans to continue wfh so this is something we're definitely keeping up.