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?

I fall into the financially comfortable bracket too, OP.

I've been thinking about it too. I think I'm going to delay big purchases (again), so no home refurbishment this year.

In terms of regular costs I'm looking to cut - the only 'big' ongoing thing I could really cut would be therapy. It's been really helpful in terms of coping with depression. I'm now trying to assess whether my mental health is worth it or not.

I mean, I can afford to pay for it, and it's helping, but maybe I should be saving the money instead. It's not cheap.

@Landedonfeet

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

I certainly don’t feel I’m average
I know that I’m financially fortunate and surely a quick google of average income will reveal the facts of where you are in terms of average?

I've actually just been and googled this. I consider myself comfortable. I've plugged in my income and apparently I'm average!

Never heard of this! What is it? Is that annual cost?

I'm pretty sure I know which private library this is (BH?). It's the annual membership. However if it is the private library I think it is then its in a city/county which has extremely good public libraries which are still operating effectively and so its an easy saving to make.

Yes, exactly. If you have savings - and how much savings - you won’t need to cut back - because you have savings; that’s what they are for - for managing hard times. I would expect people to use their savings before they even start to feel financially uncomfortable.

I think this depends on your age. When you are young, it's easy to get more savings. As you reach retirement, you are expecting your savings to last you another 20 or 30 years, and to cover new fridges etc over that time.

We are comfortable but are stopping our Hello Fresh and we wont be buying any new clothes etc. This year. We have been ttc for 9 cycles now though which is probably a bit mad in the current climate and I suppose if by some miracle I do get pregnant I'll need new clothes

[quote Landedonfeet]@LuluBlakey1

* membership to a private library - £133*

Never heard of this! What is it? Is that annual cost?[/quote]
It's a private library, funded by membership fees in Newcastle. Yes this is the annual fee. Amazing place but we wanted to continue to pay a contribution to two animal charities so this had to go- we were both members
www.litandphil.org.uk/

We are comfortable. We used the car for a journey yesterday and I’m still a bit shocked at how much that cost in petrol so yes I will be cutting down on its usage although it has already gone down since covid.
I have said that I’ll continue to buy coffees and have meals out at Independant shops, use the butchers etc as long as I’m able to as I’m sure they will be hit hard and I want to support them.

It's a private library, funded by membership fees in Newcastle. Yes this is the annual fee. Amazing place but we wanted to continue to pay a contribution to two animal charities so this had to go- we were both members
www.litandphil.org.uk/

Ah, not the same place. There is also one in nottingham - Bromley House

No we're not cutting back, we are at the stage of being very comfortable financially and going on lots of nice holidays.
We'll be happily keeping the economy going especially the hard hit travel industry.

OP your cutbacks are how I live anyway. We are financially comfortable but I’ve never been a splurged. Shop at Aldi, enjoy the simple things in life, enjoy U.K. holidays and love a bargain.

Yes, no new clothes, no takeaways, eating out only for birthdays (or a takeaway) and one hobby is going on a spending freeze. I have a massive to-be-read pile so no more spending on books until everything has been read cover to cover. We don't have holidays as DH is a workaholic. We also have savings but also have an 20 year old DD at uni and we are doing our best to support her until she leaves. I don't want to dip into savings unless it is a life or death situation. I also think we should look at how much we spend on sweet treats in a week, we all have a sweet tooth and it is shocking how much this stuff adds up. DD could do with reining in her spending on luxuries and pay a few bills, like the diesal in her car, but to be fair, I think the news headlines are getting through to her. There will be no big purchases this year either, emergency spending only. Myself and Dh are both freelance and work is good, but I am spending a lot more cautiously now - I would rather do some thing now than find myself reacting to a situation.

We were going to buy Merlin Passes and hammer them until they bled this year. But that would involve a lot of driving in addition to the tickets so nope. We already have local zoo, and Duxford (IWM) passes that we might not renew next year but will try to get maximum use out of.

We're lucky to be in a position where DH and I have life membership of English Heritage, and DDs have life membership of NT. Each ticket allows a guest to be taken so that's the 4 of us. Everything else will go but EH and NT can be our go to.

There aren't many things we could cancel - it's more letting Disney+ go at the end of the year (as that's paid). DDs go for extra Maths/English Tuition but childcare vouchers pay for that at the moment, and I want that to continue. DD2 needs speech therapy and while the school had just had her assessed there's a private practice nearby and I really want to help her before she starts secondary school in Sept. They go to karate and swimming and DD1 has music lessons. They'd be happy to give those up and play minecraft, we're less keen.

We can cut our food/drink spending. Have days out at the closer attractions and save refuelling often.

I'm also a landlord, had a property before I met DH, and haven't raised rent in quite some time, and let a couple of months rent go when he struggled during Covid. I am determined to replace the ok, but hardwood doors for PVC to help with his fuel bills next winter. The loft insulation was done recently, as was the boiler replacement. Trying to keep tenant's costs down is a bit of a balancing act with the increase in interest rates but I'm in it for the house, not pure profit

We are finally very comfortable (t'wasn't always thus) we have a FSalary pension, we have another twenty years of company pension savings and sadly I will inherit in the next year once probate is sorted.

So for the first time in our married life, we are not feeling as though our backs are to the wall, I am very aware of how fortunate we are and have set up a DD to our local food bank.

I am 64,hubby 66 comfortably off. Think we can carry on as normal but will probably end up helping our kids out which isn’t a problem.
We give all we can to local Community Centre.
I really do feel for people on the breadline,we have been there in the early days,surely things can’t get any worse.

We are OK, do not HAVE to cut back, but we regard it as prudent in case things get much worse.
I think that is the OP's point.
The subscriptions for Beer25 and The Times have just gone.
I was intrigued by the private library sub though.

We're having a new bathroom fitted as I type and we have a big long haul holiday already booked for next month so I'm currently just swearing loudly every time I fill up the car, and turning the heating down. I do know how incredibly fortunate we are.

surely things can’t get any worse

Unfortunately they can get a lot worse. Like me, you’ve lived through recessions before - you can’t have forgotten how brutal they were.

@marykitty I love my cleaner but also I love my robot hoover - might be worth looking for deals as I only have a basic one but it really helps

@FinallyFluid Re final salary pension, some have an inflation cap. In the 1970s, my father's pension was decimated by high inflation. It's worth checking. (My DH has a small one, as he didn't work for the company for long, and it is capped at less than 3%, so that's going to be hit by inflation.)

Missing point of the thread but would love a subscription to a private library - no fines.

I think what a lot of us do know about is inflation - living with high inflation has not happened in our working lives.

Surprised at what others have cut back on. We haven't made any changes as yet. But then we don't have much that I can think of. Dh pays for sky but that's because he likes football, so that's never going to be cut.

No. If you are financially comfortable why would you cut back on the things that bring you a bit of comfort and joy in your life? In the last recession when things were a bit tougher we still ate out at weekends, visited zoos etc and paid the dc's school fees. We just had to decide what we're the most important things for us and having stuff to look forward to was very high up there. We didn't have expensive holidays or cars at that time as those things weren't as important to us. But I wasn't fretting about buying the odd takeout coffee.

I suppose it depends what you mean by "comfortable" OP?

I think life is for living.Talk of putting off ttc and not buying clothes for a year or going out anywhere because of the current climate is just depressing! I'm not about to start eating budget baked beans and knitting my own bed socks from dog hair just because energy bills have risen or whatever. I might get run over tomorrow!

I don't want to be the richest corpse in the graveyard. They can drag the takeout latte and designer shoes I may or may not have just bought out of my cold, dead hands!

@Blossomtoes

surely things can’t get any worse

Unfortunately they can get a lot worse. Like me, you’ve lived through recessions before - you can’t have forgotten how brutal they were.

I remember and that is why I am cutting back now! We live on a smallholding and have adopted or bought so many animals because we have the space and I am making sure there is a cash buffer there to keep EVERYONE here and safe, well fed and with all medical needs attended to. My dad worked in the building trade and the 80s recession hit us very, very hard. My mother's wage was the only thing that kept us going and the fact we had an affordable council flat. Plenty of my dad's mates lost their homes and had to start all over again, we ate soup for dinner and were in bed by 8 to save on bills and I was told to stay behind at the school library to do my homework and use their heating. I remember my mother patching her own shoes to get to her secretarial job and cutting down to one meal a day. And she cried, a lot. My dad walked the length and breadth of London asking on building sites for work because he couldn't afford a travel card. I am really scared about the next few years and the only thing I can do that brings me any comfort is to save as much money as I can.

We are comfortable however the cost of heating has now become like burning a pile of £10 notes in the middle of the living room. Yesterday we were told our estimate for energy was £9k, we have an AGA, it's going to be switched off. I do know it isn't environmentally friendly anyway however it's my only way of cooking so I am going to have to buy a hob/oven and I'm going to miss it because I love it.

We are fairly frugal anyway, DH and I are not big spenders. I have always 'saved up' my journeys so I go out and do multiple things rather than popping out every day, we live rurally. I basically have a list of things that will not go and things that can go. We love eating out however to be honest I not only find it expensive now but often times the standard of food and service is poor, I am happy to support businesses however not if it's crap. I try and do as much of our DIY as I can, it's actually really easy to paint etc.

I do think it's going to get a lot worse unfortunately.