If you are financially comfortable, have you started cutting back on non-essentials?

[LabraDabraDoo]

I realise that we are very fortunate to have the financial headroom to choose to cut back and at the moment we spend quite a bit on non-essentials. We did a budget last night to look at likely price increases (especially fuel) and it looks like, while our jobs are secure ( although our investments are in the doldrums) we will be cutting back on quite a few non-essentials. Anyone else also making this choice yet?

Our list includes:
Back to buying decent quality supermarket meat and reining in trips to the farm shop.
I’m not buying clothes this Spring, I have enough to clothe a hundred middle aged women. We aren’t heating unused rooms in the house. Horse riding lessons are being suspended ( kids didn’t seem too bothered so that’s an easy £200 saved). We’ve cancelled our plan to refloor downstairs (wooden floors, so that’s a big saving). I planned to raise the children to a cottage in Norfolk for a couple of weeks in summer and we’ve arranged a house swap with a friend instead. We are not going out to eat for the foreseeable, and outings will be free swimming at the gym, dog walks etc. All other home improvement plans and big spends ( I considered renewing my car) are on hold. There are some things I hope we don’t have to cut, like cancelling holidays, music lessons and our lovely cleaner. We are still saving money into pensions and investments.

Anyone else making cutbacks? Do you think it’s going to start having an impact on people who provide non-essential services or are they still enjoying a post-Covid boom?

Yes. Trying to use less electricity (we don't have gas, it's all electric), shelved some (minor) home improvement plans, being more careful and mindful with food shop and keeping track of what I spend, trying not to buy clothes (or sticking to cheap ebay options), and planning to do more cycling instead of using the car. I wanted to do that anyway, just in such a hurry all the time that I end up using the car, but I'm trying to plan better so I can set off earlier.

I am trying to bear in mind that me spending less will impact other people's businesses. So I'm trying to use the local shops and make savings in creative ways, eg going to the vegan shop for refills of cleaning products etc. And I am still going to local cafes for a coffee, don't want to cancel music lessons/fitness classes unless I was desperate.

I know I'm very lucky not to have a commute as I WFH, I also drink very little and don't get out much!

Honestly, I've just bought a new, more energy efficient, tumble dryer. We'd been talking about getting a new one for ages as ours is absolutely crap, but I figured this cost was one I was willing to take a chance on. We have 5 children and, although I'll put as much washing on the line as possible, it's just not practical for us to do all our drying without using the dryer a bit. Hopefully it'll last a good few years and will save me money in the long run.

Other than that, we've turned the heating down and certain radiators off. We've cut down on takeaways and have a budget for food shops. I've started getting more second hand stuff and, even then, only stuff that we need.

We were saving for a loft conversion so have a reasonable amount of savings, but don't know whether to continue with our plans or not now.

I think this thread is really relevant. If those who could previously afford the luxuries all suddenly pull back then that has massive impacts on those small businesses. The amount on this thread saying they will cut back on eating out, coffees and takeaways is scary and has huge implications. That’s a lot of jobs and a lot of tax.

Council tax and national insurance is increasing. Food and fuel and the knock on effects. We are a family of four and this will mean about 500 extra for us a month. We are cutting back on work on the house and a new car, eating out and savings. We are the lucky ones.

We have turned the heating off its usual automatic cycle and we only put it on for a burst if we really need it and extra layers and blankets won’t do. When I cook something in the oven I leave the oven door open afterwards to make use of the heat! We also have a log burner and lots of wood in stock. We will do as many free day trips with packed lunches as possible this year.

The poor - spend
Middle - class save
Rich - invest

People will be stockpiling shares right now in anticipation of yhe next upward cycle.

We are comfortably off. The only thing I'm really cutting down on is fuel. I no longer have the heating timed to come on and off morning and night but just turn it on manually when I feel cold. The radiators are turned off in the halls and rooms that aren't used regularly and the HW only comes on once in the mornings , I no longer have it heating for a couple of hours at night as well.

For other things, I'm actually planning (CoVid permitting) to go on holiday a bit more than normal this year. Prices seem very competitive and I think they will go up a lot soon so I'm hoping to travel now while I can afford it.

I think if you have repairs needing doing on your house etc and can afford to get them done, I would do them now.
We nearly cancelled getting a new roof due to covid and are so pleased we didn’t as it would be almost double the price now.
The inflation is probably going to be way higher than any interest on savings and stock is looking very unstable.

The knee jerk reaction is to cancel big purchases but prices are only going to go up.

Obviously if you can’t afford it then that’s different but if you already have a buffer then don’t put things off.

We haven't been putting the heating on during the day even though WFH and in morning/evening very briefly- literally 30 minutes.

No top up shops and weekly food shop only when we have used all the veg purchased the previous week.

I think maybe instead of comfortable the word should have been "wealthy"
We are not wealthy but we can manage a comfortable life with a nice home and the odd treat/holiday.
We will definitely need to make changes such as not having heating on in the day and careful food shopping.
We have started this already and are trying to store more wood for next year as we have a log burner. We have also decided to cut short journeys where possible like popping to town or just for something to do etc.

I knew this thread would reach over 10 pages, by dint of the title.

Peacock feathers of 'we are so so lucky and well off' abound

I will be cutting back on paintbrushes - there are far too many already lying around my £300,000 studio conversion...

I think maybe instead of comfortable the word should have been "wealthy"

No one thinks they are wealthy, though, in general. Everyone thinks they are average. It’s a well documented fact.

Ive locked the Nest thermostat so only i can whack it up above 21 if that helps

[quote Hellorhighwater]**@ReadyToMoveIt* and @tentative3* well, that was a waste of a comma. Good job they’re free!

It would be an irrelevant argument if benefits were adequate. They aren’t, so it needs to be mentioned. (Of course, you’re all lobbying hard for UC to be raised, aren’t you?!) It’s pretty usual for comfortable people to be against higher benefits (and remains in their best interest) because of the belief they earned their money, and anyone else could too, so people need to ‘encouraged’ to be better off in work, but it’s not completely universal. So I think it’s fair. And if it’s the only thing I said people take issue with, we’ll all be better off.[/quote]
It was a waste of a paragraph! No need to be supercilious about your own grammatical prowess, particularly given you go on to state that you do think the two things are linked.

I do take issue with other things you've said, too, which is a shame because I agree with you on some other points.

@Woollystockings

You must realise how tone-deaf your post is. Eg, How do you get “free” swimming at the gym? You mean you pay for gym membership, which you’re not cutting back on? So no hardship there.

Some local authorities do have free swimming for residents - Southwark does, for example. Free free, with no membership. You get take in your council tax bill or some other proof of address, and they give you a swimming card. Others do free swimming for under 12s, or over 65s.

No...we are in a comfortable position and in the greater scheme of life if we reigned it in, it would make no difference to our overall financial wellbeing. We are by no way money wasters but we will be carrying on as usual as our eating out, going on holidays and buying stuff will ultimately support and retain other people's jobs.

I don't think this is tone deaf at all. A large part of the rural population really relies on this spending bracket. That horse riding school will really struggle, so will the farm shop. Horse feed will go up in price massively. Less kids in lessons to feed them. Let's hope British hay is cheaper this year.

People's spending habits have a trickle effect and it is really concerning that even this income bracket is making savings at this scale.

Yes. I've just changed the heating to go off an hour earlier. The children are already in bed by then so DH and I can sit under blankets or watch TV in bed. I'll be driving DH's more efficient car from now on unless we're all going somewhere together. He is WFH 90% of the time so it doesn't get used every day. I'll be stopping our monthly savings in April to offset energy increases and food cost increases will have to be offset by spending less on days out, clothes, eating out, stuff for the children etc. We don't eat out that much in term time, just the odd coffee and cake really so there's not much to cut there but we do in school holidays.

It's the push I need to stop using the car so much and get the bike back out. I don't need to but I'm tight as cramp with money and I refuse to pay the extortionate prices!

No... not cutting back, but we are frugal anyway.
My kids are mostly grown up & most are earning, saving.
:( for folk who have to make hard choices.
I still have savings & high inflation will reduce them, of course.
I can live on a pittance I suppose. That kind of talk is easy to make when you're not living it, tbf.

Tone deaf maybe, but I think it's actually a really important indication of "how things are going" when the comfortable and affluent are starting to go "oh, shit".

We'll probably nix trampoline lessons (£100/term) and we've banned the tumble dryer. Swimming lessons are staying for now. We're holding off booking the big holiday (~£10k) we were planning for husband's 40th next year.

If life gets more expensive we will SORN our second car as it's a luxury not a necessity. Can't get rid of it as it's a classic and a hand-me-down and FIL would never forgive us!

We're being strict-ish on our food shop (Aldi and sticking to food planning). Aiming for £150/week for the four of us (Inc cleaning stuff, the odd takeaway)

Hot water and heating no longer go on in the morning.

Normally I raid the sales and start building the kids a clothes stash 1-2 years ahead but now I'm going to just replace things as they're worn out. I've just paid off my next store card and closed the account to stop me being tempted by the sales!

Otherwise we're throwing some money at the problem- boiler, solar panels, new fridge freezer, new oven. All things that were due in the next 5 years or so anyway (current oven is 30 years old, boiler is 40 years old, fridge freezer is probably 15 or so and in a bad way) but we'll dump some money out of savings and up our monthly payments back into savings to replenish them. We will be putting foil down the back of the radiators, and we are putting in draught excluders.

We're waiting for BT fibre optic cables to come to our street then we're sacking off the virgin package (£50/month) in favour of a broadband only option. We'll keep our Netflix/Disney+/prime video subs instead.

The main thing is that my sibling and I have started to discuss an emergency survival plan in case either of our families lose income- mainly them moving in and taking a floor in our house and renting their house. That should cover both our mortgages at least.

Have always watched my spending on non-essentials, hence why I am comfortable. I grew up in the 80's when nothing was certain from a family financial perspective where we were.

All of these small acts combined are exactly what cause a recession, cutting asset prices and causing job losses, deepening the pain for everybody.

Yes I am really having to shift. We are lucky to have disposable income but it feels tight and to be fair its because we want to go on holidays.
I wont be stopping dc horse riding weekly lessons as its the only activity she does and enjoys.
But we have stopped our weekly food delivery from Gousto
We have cut back on takeaways
Dh and i work in same town so fixed our office days to commute together
Considering doing my own nails but as pp have said this means my nail tech misses out
Yeah were not on the bones of our arse but its tight

We are financially comfortable although very tight with things such as heating which we only put on if we are very cold. This will stay the same. We currently live in the city centre and once our tenancy ends we will be moving out of it which will probably save us around £300 a month so unintentionally will be saving money there. Although I do realise some of this will be negated by having to drive more and the cost of petrol has risen massively.

Apart from that we haven’t planned on any cut backs.

@SamphiretheStickerist

We have the heating in low in 2 unused rooms, it avoids damp. But we have very old house and have to work at keeping up air flow to keep damp at bay. Having said that, the heating is only ever set low anyway.

This. Our 400 year old house gets damp if it’s not heated so leaving rooms unheated is a false economy. Our Cineworld memberships are a distant memory, I’ve just cancelled my subscription to The Times and will just buy it on a Sunday now. The gap between my hair appointments will lengthen. We’ll probably get rid of our second car before too long.

We planned long and hard for our retirement and it certainly won’t be as comfortable as we hoped now.